‘No.’

He had to protect them.

He had to protect his friends and the people around him.

He wanted to become a hero who shielded people, someone who could bring smiles and happiness to their lives.

‘Se-hee.’

Han Se-hee, his "friend" for the past four years.

Even though she had never once called him a friend, he believed she was.

She had refused his request to be friends, but after spending four years together, he had convinced himself that their shared time naturally made them friends.

Yet, he had failed.

He had been defeated by a villain, unable to prevent Han Se-hee from being taken.

Not just her, but Lee Ha-yeon as well—the daughter of the Angel Guild’s guild master, whom his beloved parents had encouraged him to protect as a way to strengthen their ties to the Angel Guild and raise his prestige.

He had failed them all.

‘Why?’

He knew the answer. He was too weak.

‘Damn it. I need to get stronger… I need to protect them.’

He needed to become a righteous hero, someone who could shield people from senseless suffering.

As Baek Seo-jin wrestled with his thoughts, guilt began to surface within him.

[Do you really believe that?]

Yes, he believed it.

Baek Seo-jin responded with unwavering resolve. But deep inside, a mocking voice sneered at his conviction.

[You know what really happened when your brother, Baek Seo-jun, was taken by the villains, don’t you?]

No, his brother was just a troublemaker, someone who brought chaos to their parents.

[He was only ten years old then. And now, you can recall the truth of what really happened, can’t you?]

As an S-class Hunter, Baek Seo-jin had the ability to recall memories with extraordinary clarity, even from when he was as young as four years old. Faint recollections from the past were now resurfacing with vivid detail.

The last image of Baek Seo-jun before he was taken by So Kang-seok at the age of six came back to him.

The truth he had been avoiding.

[Your parents didn’t treat your brother as their son. They discriminated against him and ultimately sacrificed him to save you, selling him to the villains.]

The truth he had turned away from.

The bad person wasn’t his brother, Baek Seo-jun.

The true villains were their parents. And him.

Those childhood memories, now crystal clear, laid bare the reality he had ignored.

[The bad person is you, Baek Seo-jin.]

No, that wasn’t true. It couldn’t be true.

[You can deny it all you want, but the truth won’t change. Sooner or later, you’ll have to face it.]

No. No. No. No. No.

***

"Seo-jin!"

"Are you awake?"

Baek Seo-jin realized he had woken up in a hospital room. Not just any hospital, but one reserved exclusively for Hunters, complete with numerous Healers on standby. Judging by the luxurious surroundings, it was clearly a private suite.

As the heir of the White Tiger Guild, his severe internal injuries had necessitated immediate transport to such a facility.

"Ugh… Dad, Mom… what about Se-hee?"

Groaning slightly from the lingering pain in his battered body, Baek Seo-jin asked about Han Se-hee’s whereabouts.

"The Kangin Guild… is looking for her. They’ll find her soon," Kim Yoo-jung said cautiously as she watched him.

While her words seemed concerned, Baek Seo-jin could sense that her worry wasn’t directed at Han Se-hee.

To Baek Hyung-won and Kim Yoo-jung, their love and concern were reserved solely for their son, Baek Seo-jin.

Even though Han Se-hee had maintained a professional demeanor toward them, treating them with the respect due to her superiors, they didn’t care for her.

And even if she had acted warmly toward them, they wouldn’t have liked her.

To Baek Hyung-won and Kim Yoo-jung, Han Se-hee was nothing more than a trophy—someone whose exceptional beauty and talent existed solely to benefit their son, Baek Seo-jin.

"No. No. No."

Baek Seo-jin wasn’t even sure what he was denying anymore.

He couldn’t remember everything clearly, but it felt as though he had recalled something while unconscious.

"I have to save Se-hee…"

"Seo-jin! Don’t push yourself!"

"Yes, listen to your father and me! The enemy is an SSS-class villain! Seo-jin, this isn’t your fault. This is something the Kangin Guild should handle!"

Despite his parents’ protests, Baek Seo-jin tried to force himself up to go after Han Se-hee. But his body wouldn’t cooperate, lacking the strength to even sit upright.

‘Damn it, I have to protect her…’

He had to protect her. He had to save her.

But he lacked the power to do so.

***

A Dark Underground Chamber

"Hahaha!"

Gye Un-jik let out a laugh of pure joy as he looked at Lee Ha-yeon and Han Se-hee, lying motionless in demure positions atop the altar.

Seomun Ye-jin, Kang Yu-ra, and Moriya Yuka were much harder to target.

Seomun Ye-jin was always accompanied by Kim Ho-jun, an SSS-class Hunter, while Moriya Yuka moved discreetly under the constant protection of the Moriya family, whether she was in Japan or Korea.

As for Kang Yu-ra, she had essentially taken refuge within the Kangin Guild’s facilities with the intent of joining them officially.

Lee Ha-yeon, on the other hand, was normally well-protected. However, Gye Un-jik had acted on the rare opportunity he’d obtained—the information that she would be traveling from the airport to Seoul by car.

Adding to his success, capturing Han Se-hee—a girl typically hard to target because of her residence in the Kangin Orphanage and her frequent presence in central Seoul—was nothing short of fortune.

It was clear to him that the Great End was blessing him.

With such a belief in mind, Gye Un-jik knelt in prayer, offering thanks to the entity that would bring about the apocalypse.

"Thank you, O End! Your humble servant seeks your guidance as I offer these treasures of the world as sacrifices to you."

There was no immediate response to his prayer.

But that didn’t matter. Soon, once these two sacrifices were offered, the world would be one step closer to its beautiful end.

"Ah, the End! The magnificent conclusion!"

Anticipating the approach of the apocalypse and reveling in his role in hastening it, Gye Un-jik was overwhelmed with ecstasy.

However, as his gaze lingered on Lee Ha-yeon and Han Se-hee, lying gracefully on the altar, their stunning curves and long lashes—framed even more vividly in their helpless state—inevitably caught his attention.

If he had been a lesser villain, lacking restraint, he might have forgotten his mission and succumbed to his desires.

Or perhaps he might have recognized their value differently, choosing to sell them at an underground slave auction overseas.

But Gye Un-jik had no interest in wealth.

His sole focus was the End.

Even though their beauty was nearly hypnotic, capable of tempting even him, he was determined to resist.

"Hnghh!"

Pulling out a sharp needle, Gye Un-jik infused it with mana and pricked it into his left arm. The sharp pain chased away the lustful thoughts building within him.

Pain banished the impure desires from his mind, leaving him with only the fervent madness of his faith. His eyes gleamed with insanity as he awaited the opening of a gate above the altar.

He prayed that his devotion to the End would reach beyond this world, to the entity that would bring about the apocalypse.

The ritual itself was simple.

He merely needed to continue transmitting his faith for several hours.

Eventually, his devotion would breach the barriers of this world and reach the one who would bring about its destruction.

Why he knew this, or why he sought to perform this ritual, didn’t matter to him.

All that mattered was that the End would come.

There was no need to think about anything else.

Perhaps it was the intensity of his faith, the completeness of the altar, or the presence of the sacrifices.

A sinister black energy began to swirl around Lee Ha-yeon and Han Se-hee, enveloping their bodies in ominous mana.

"Oh! At last!"

Feeling his faith beginning to transmit the sacrifices to the entity beyond the world, Gye Un-jik was overcome with elation.

"Let us pray! O End!"

***

‘No.’

Han Se-hee despaired as the black energy enveloped her body.

The sinister mana swirling around her felt repulsive even at the slightest touch, and yet she couldn’t shake it off.

Her body and mana were completely subdued, rendered immobile and unresponsive to her will.

It was Gye Un-jik’s oppressive power, infiltrating her body and forcibly suppressing her.

If left untouched, the effects would dissipate on their own within 24 hours, but she might become a sacrifice for the insane villain’s bizarre ritual long before that.

‘I can’t move.’

Lee Ha-yeon was in the same state.

If she could just muster the strength to move even a bit of her mana, she might be able to land a single attack. But the overwhelming power of an SSS-class villain was far beyond her current abilities to resist.

A deep despair took hold of her—a realization that she might die here without ever reaching her full potential.

"Haha! Rejoice! In just a few hours, you treasures of the world will become sacrifices for the End!"

What treasures of the world? What sacrifices for the End?

Neither Lee Ha-yeon nor Han Se-hee fully understood his words, but they grasped the implication: in a matter of hours, they would die.

‘Seo-jun oppa…’

Han Se-hee desperately called out for Baek Seo-jun in her heart, hoping against hope that he might come to rescue her.

"Se-hee."

Just then, someone placed a hand gently on her head and called her name.

"I’m here to save you."