What are you afraid of.

Hearing that question, Cha Seohu’s eyes widened slightly. His dark pupils trembled clearly.

“...I...”

After a long while, Cha Seohu finally managed to open his mouth. The voice that escaped him like a pained groan was unstable and rough.

“I... that is, I...”

He didn’t know how to begin.

What he was afraid of...

It was difficult in a different way from explaining himself or the unbelievable things he had experienced.

Silence filled the darkened room.

Ryu Sunghyun didn’t bother breaking that silence. But he didn’t step back either. He lowered the hand that had been holding Seohu’s chin and simply waited.

Quiet, with only moonlight entering this dark and familiar space. That somehow calmed Cha Seohu’s anxious emotions instead.

“Hoo...”

Letting out a small breath, Cha Seohu leaned back against the headboard.

'Right. This really is the best time to explain.'

No one else was here to interrupt, and it was quiet. Ryu Sunghyun would also need time to process the truth after hearing it; in every sense, this was the ideal moment.

Steeling his heart, Cha Seohu slowly spoke.

“It’ll be hard to believe. It might even sound close to delusion—too unreal.”

“Is that what scares you most? That I won’t believe what you say?”

“...That’s part of it.”

Cha Seohu hesitated, then added:

“After hearing it... I don’t know how you’ll take it, Deputy Guildmaster. I don’t know what you’ll think. And that’s... what scares me.”

This was the fear he had kept deepest inside.

Telling someone what he had gone through wasn’t actually the hard part.

Most of it had already been revealed through various incidents, and whether the listener believed him was up to them.

But having the path he chose be misunderstood—that was a different matter.

He had already been reproached by ‘Ryu Sunghyun.’

[So? You accepted the Catastrophe that killed me, the Guildmaster, and all of us... as family?]

Even if that had been a calculated provocation thrown out with intention... was there truly not a shred of sincerity inside it?

No matter how he tried to justify it, the fact remained the same: he had saved Cha Sahyeon—who had killed everyone to save the world—and brought him home, lived with him, and accepted him as his younger brother.

“...Hunter Cha Seohu.”

After watching Cha Seohu for a moment, Ryu Sunghyun finally spoke in a low voice.

“I won’t make the kind of false promise saying I’ll understand everything you say. Even if I tried, I wouldn’t be able to fool your eyes. You seem to know me better than I thought.”

He let out a short, self-deprecating laugh.

“But I can give you this answer. No matter how unrealistic your story is... I will believe it. I’ll believe it, and accept it. Whether my reaction ends up being positive or negative, I don’t know. Still... yes. This is my honest answer.”

“......”

I will believe you. That firm response made something hot spread inside Seohu’s chest.

The hand lying weakly on the blanket curled tightly on its own. Cha Seohu pressed his lips together and swallowed the trembling emotions.

'...I really can’t win against him.'

Cha Seohu gave a faint, bitter smile.

If Ryu Sunghyun had said he would understand everything no matter what, it would’ve been easier to harden his heart.

Then he would never have told the truth. He would've filled the dangerous and unfavorable parts with lies and given a vague explanation. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

But when confronted with sincerity like this... he couldn’t lie. Not to Ryu Sunghyun, of all people.

Cha Seohu took a deep breath, met Ryu Sunghyun’s eyes, and nodded.

“...Alright.”

After much hesitation, he began from the beginning of everything.

“The truth is... I used to belong to the Circle Guild.”

Cha Seohu didn’t start with the fractured worlds that Chronos had told him about, or with regression.

He began with himself. One story at a time, as if recounting the contents of a book.

“I was a B-rank Supporter, and I was trapped inside a research facility. After I was rescued... I met someone I was grateful to. He saw that I had nowhere to go and tried to persuade me to come to the guild. No matter how poorly I treated him or even cursed at him, he didn’t give up. And so...”

Cha Seohu’s story flowed smoothly, like water.

How the Circle Guild had become like family to him.

How the world had grown increasingly unstable.

How the existence called the “Catastrophe” created by a death-worshipping cult had destroyed everything.

“I definitely died. Right there, where everyone else died. Holding Sunghyun-hyung’s... body. I closed my eyes like that, and when I opened them again—”

He had returned to the past and awoken once more inside the laboratory prison.

Cha Seohu intentionally left out the part about the System. Not to deceive—rather, because even he still didn’t understand what that unknown entity really was.

A being so obscure that even Chronos, the administrator of the world, could not perceive it. Something that had led him into the past—no, into a new world.

For whatever reason, it was better for the current Ryu Sunghyun not to know.

“The Catastrophe that would destroy the world was imprisoned inside that facility as well. The facility itself was deeply connected with the cult that destroyed the world.”

The story continued to move forward.

How Cha Seohu chose not to join the Circle Guild again but instead to live with Cha Sahyeon. How he began operating with his newly awakened skills.

How he helped as Cover during the competitive match, began tracing the cult’s trail, and searched for Song Jiwoon, whose fate had changed.

The story gradually approached the present.

And when he reached the part about learning of the Unidentified Rift and entering it, Cha Seohu could no longer meet Ryu Sunghyun’s eyes.

“What that ‘Ryu Sunghyun’ said inside the Unidentified Rift is probably true. The monster originally meant to stop us must’ve been some kind of doppelgänger that read my memories and copied the person most precious to me. But the flower the cult planted gave the doppelgänger’s power an overwhelming boost... and that’s how that result came to be.”

Cha Seohu’s lips parted as if he wanted to say more, but no words came out. He closed them again.

A heavy silence settled over the room.

Throughout Cha Seohu’s long story, Ryu Sunghyun had not interrupted even once. He simply sat and listened.

In the end, unable to endure the tension, Cha Seohu spoke first.

“...I’m sorry.”

His voice was extremely rough and trembling.

“For getting you involved in something like this. What happened inside the Rift... even if I didn’t intend it... I still made you go through something unpleasant—”

“Hunter Cha Seohu.”

Ryu Sunghyun cut off the stream of apologetic words spilling out from guilt.

The moment he did, Cha Seohu flinched reflexively. And then warm heat touched the back of his hand.

At some point, Ryu Sunghyun had gently covered the pale, trembling hand that had been clutching the blanket.

“I understand now. Why I’m different from that ‘Ryu Sunghyun.’”

“......”

“It wasn’t an unpleasant experience. Now that I know the truth, I understand why that ‘Ryu Sunghyun’ said what he did. Why my meeting with him was necessary.”

Ryu Sunghyun rose from his seat. Then, rubbing his hand lightly, he said calmly:

“Hunter Cha Seohu. I know how much you treasured me—and the Circle Guild. I’ve known for a long time. I could feel it.”

“......”

“I promised earlier, didn’t I? That I’d believe you no matter how unrealistic your story was. And I do believe you. Your face, your voice—everything tells me it’s the truth.”

Cha Seohu’s hand was lifted. Ryu Sunghyun bent slightly and pressed a kiss to the back of his hand.

“So in that case... why not think of it this way.”

“......”

“I am definitely different from ‘Ryu Sunghyun.’ I am me. ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) And the me who exists now—Hunter Cha Seohu... you created.”

At those completely unexpected words, Cha Seohu’s eyes flew wide open.

“The me you created might still be weak and clumsy right now, so perhaps I’m not very reliable.”

“......”

“But someday... like that ‘Ryu Sunghyun,’ no—more than him—I’ll become someone you can depend on.”

Ryu Sunghyun’s voice trembled slightly.

“So instead of looking at ‘Ryu Sunghyun’...can’t you look at me now?”