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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Chaos
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The Cheongah Fireworks Festival.
As a world-renowned fireworks festival, it was packed with people.
But there was one place where the crowd was noticeably thinner.
The VIP section.
Lee Seol and Kim Ji-hoon were standing there.
Kim Ji-hoon was dressed casually in a jersey, while Lee Seol, in a thin white dress, was looking around anxiously.
As if searching for someone.
It was 10 minutes before the festival was scheduled to begin.
Yet, the person they were waiting for was nowhere in sight.
Then, someone entered the VIP section.
“Seol-ah! Ji-hoon-ah! Hi!”
“Oh, Ah-hyun-ah!”
“You’re here.”
Choi Ah-hyun waved enthusiastically as she approached them.
Lee Seol smiled and asked,
“Ah-hyun-ah, where are Hyeon-ah and Yuri?”
“Uh… uhm… well…”
Choi Ah-hyun quickly recalled the favor Lee Seong-hyun had asked of her.
“They… they said they’d be here later! They told me to go ahead!”
“Really…?”
Lee Seol’s expression faltered for a moment, but she quickly recovered.
“Then let’s take our seats. I’m sure Seong-hyun wouldn’t break a promise.”
“Y-yes! Let’s go inside!”
As Choi Ah-hyun ushered them towards their seats, Lee Seol’s gaze drifted towards the mountain in the distance, her eyes clouded with a mixture of worry and disappointment.
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[Lee Seong-hyun’s Memory from the 1st Timeline]
A man lay collapsed in a barren wasteland.
His body was battered and bruised, his eyes burning with rage.
A woman looked down at him.
“Lee Seong-hyun, do you hate me?”
“Cut the crap and just kill me already.”
The man growled and his fingers twitched as if he wanted to strike the woman but couldn’t.
The woman approached him and gently cradled his face in her arms.
He gritted his teeth and his body trembled with fury.
Ignoring his reaction, the woman stroked his hair, then pressed her lips against his tangled locks and whispered,
“It doesn’t matter if you hate me, if you curse me.”
She held him tighter.
“For you, I would gladly…”
She whispered.
“…drag you down to hell again and again.”
Thousands of meteors and comets rained down from the sky, engulfing them both.
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Han Yuri couldn’t believe her eyes.
Someone who shouldn’t be here was standing before her.
“How did you…?”
“I came to get the runaway.”
He grabbed Han Yuri’s arm and pulled her along.
“Let’s get some fresh air.”
Han Yuri resisted, but Lee Seong-hyun simply threw her over his shoulder like a sack of rice.
“Are you crazy?! Put me down!”
“You talk too much.”
He gagged her with a nearby cloth and carried her out of the building.
It was a situation ripe for misunderstanding, but Lee Seong-hyun skillfully used blind spots and cover to escape unnoticed.
And the place he was heading to—
‘The mountain…?’
Having given up on resisting, Han Yuri looked around.
Despite its small size, the mountain was deserted.
She spat out the cloth and bit Lee Seong-hyun’s arm.
“Ow!”
“Put me down. I’ll walk.”
“Fine.”
Finally, Han Yuri was free.
‘Should I run?’
Her rebellious nature urged her to escape, but she shook her head.
She didn’t have the energy.
“So, where are we going?”
Lee Seong-hyun simply shrugged.
“You’ll see.”
“Haa…”
He ignored her sigh and continued climbing.
After about 30 minutes of silent ascent, they reached the summit.
He smiled and said,
“I saw the video. You were bawling like a three-year-old.”
“You… you watched that?! You pervert! What’s so fun about watching someone cry?!”
Han Yuri’s face flushed crimson as she yelled at him.
Lee Seong-hyun held out his hand.
“Let’s go back. Ah-hyun and I can figure out a strategy.”
His voice was serious.
A tone she’d never heard from him before.
“I’m not going.”
“…”
“I wasn’t sure before, but after that test, I’m certain. This is my limit.”
“…”
“The daughter of the Portan Guild Leader can only reach D-rank.”
A twisted smile appeared on her face.
She continued to mock herself.
“I worked my ass off for two years. I barely slept, I trained relentlessly. But my status window hasn’t changed. My status window… my time…”
“…”
“…has been frozen for two years.”
Her expression was on the verge of tears.
Lee Seong-hyun, sensing the need to change the mood, opened his mouth, but…
“Two years is nothing for a so-called genius…”
…Han Yuri grabbed him by the collar.
“Don’t give me that bullshit! If I’m a genius, then what are you two, monsters?”
“I’ve been working my ass off since elementary school, sleeping only 4 or 5 hours a day, to become an S-rank Hunter. And Choi Ah-hyun worked twice as hard as me. So what does that make her?! And you…!”
“You caught up to me in less than three months! You were already ahead of me in other skills!”
A desperate cry filled with anguish.
Years of pent-up frustration poured out.
Tears streamed down her face and her voice trembled.
“Remember when I said we should kick Choi Ah-hyun out?”
“Yeah.”
“Haa… I was such an idiot. The biggest defective product of all, saying that? Who was I to kick anyone out? Just thinking about it…”
She gritted her teeth, her tear-streaked face contorted in self-loathing.
Lee Seong-hyun sighed and looked up at the sky.
“Fine. I understand. Then I’ll quit too.”
“What…?”
“I’m quitting too.”
Lee Seong-hyun continued, his gaze fixed on the sky.
“I know you’ve been pushing yourself for two years. You deserve a break. So take some time off.”
“Huh…?”
At the completely unexpected response, Han Yuri was stunned.
Lee Seong-hyun, who’d been so obsessed with ranking up, always pushing forward as if someone was chasing him…
Those words coming from his mouth?
Han Yuri couldn’t believe it.
“When you’re ready, when you have the mental space, you can start again.”
“…”
“Take a good rest.”
Lee Seong-hyun looked up at the sky and smiled faintly.
“I’ll wait for you.”
Just then, fireworks exploded in the sky.
One after another.
Dozens of fireworks painted the night sky with vibrant colors.
Bathed in their light, Lee Seong-hyun looked almost ethereal.
And then…
“Aurora…?”
The dark night sky began to shimmer with color.
The dull, oppressive darkness… was filled with light.
But that wasn’t all.
“What is…?”
Countless streaks of light rained down from the sky.
Meteors.
A breathtaking sight.
An almost alien beauty for Han Yuri, who’d spent her life surrounded by books and monsters.
The multicolored night sky was filled with a shower of white meteors.
The fireworks seemed to welcome them, showering them with light.
‘Ah…’
Goosebumps erupted all over her body.
And in that moment…
[You have gained enlightenment!]
[You have acquired the skill ‘Meteor Shower’.]
The clock that had stopped two years ago began to tick again.
She rubbed her eyes and blinked.
But the message remained.
It floated there, stubbornly refusing to disappear, as if to prove that what she’d seen was real.
Something surged within Han Yuri’s chest.
Something she couldn’t describe, something she couldn’t define.
She looked at Lee Seong-hyun.
His usual nonchalant expression.
He seemed oblivious to her turbulent emotions, his gaze fixed on the breathtaking spectacle in the sky.
Han Yuri let out a hollow laugh.
“Hey, Lee Seong-hyun.”
“What?”
Lee Seong-hyun turned to look at her.
Her smile, illuminated by the brilliant light of fireworks and meteors, felt refreshing—like a weight had been lifted.
At the same time, she was wiping away the tears gathered in her eyes.
“Nothing. Just… you’re ugly.”
“Gee, thanks. Sorry for being so aesthetically displeasing.”
“Pfft.”
They stayed there, watching the sky, until the last firework faded away.
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“Hey, Ah-hyun-ah! Shooting stars! Make a wish!”
“Oh, hold on.”
Choi Ah-hyun finished sending a text message and looked up at the sky.
It was a breathtaking sight.
She took pictures and thought,
‘I hope it went well.’
Lee Seong-hyun had called earlier, asking her to attend the fireworks display in his place while he went to talk to Han Yuri.
She’d wanted to go with him, but he’d insisted, so she’d reluctantly agreed.
‘At least it was worth it.’
She hadn’t expected to see such a rare natural phenomenon.
She was satisfied.
And it was all thanks to Lee Seol.
‘Huh?’
“Ji-hoon-ah, have you seen Seol-ah?”
“She was here a moment ago. Maybe she went to the restroom?”
“Maybe. I’ll go look for her.”
The crowd was so dense that her phone had no signal.
She had no choice but to search for Lee Seol herself.
The VIP restroom.
“Seol-ah, are you in there?”
No answer.
Maybe she’d gone to the food stalls.
She checked outside, but Lee Seol wasn’t there either.
‘Did she get lost…?’
A sense of unease washed over her.
She activated Wind God to scan the area.
‘There!’
“Seol-ah!”
Lee Seol was standing on a small hill but her gaze was fixed on something in the distance.
“Seol-ah! What are you doing there?!”
She yelled, trying to get Lee Seol’s attention, but she didn’t react.
Choi Ah-hyun had no choice but to climb the hill.
Lee Seol was staring intently at something.
“Seol-ah? What are you doing here all alone?”
“…Hyeon-ah… He didn’t come…?”
“Oh, yeah! He must have something important to do. Let’s come back another time.”
“…Okay.”
Her voice was unusually low.
Choi Ah-hyun moved closer and looked at Lee Seol’s face.
Expressionless.
The usual smile was gone.
“Seol-ah…?”
“Yeah.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah.”
“Seol-ah…?”
“Yeah.”
“…”
Lee Seol continued to stare blankly into the distance, her face devoid of emotion.
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[T/N: bro cooked or not?]
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Bro is indeed cooked
Bro is barbeque chicken