VSP 151

As expected, everyone treated those words as baseless rumors at first because of the image Sejun had built up until now.

Then, witness accounts slowly increased. Photos and videos uploaded by various people began to appear. People argued over whether the footage was AI-generated or not, but as the evidence piled up, they had no choice but believe it.

Sejun became strong. He was so powerful that you couldn’t even compare him to his past self.

His first transformation was a source of confusion.

Seo Sejun? That Seo Sejun?

The move to escape the image of incompetence Seo Sejun had gained over the last five years was too unfamiliar. He didn’t just claim he was strong or say he’d be active; he showed everything through his actions, so they had to believe him.

-Seo Sejun’s form is insane lately.

-If he could do this, why didn’t he do it until now?

-Did he have a re-awakening?

-An S-rank hunter re-awakening? Talk some sense.

-Honestly, I think the fact that he was that weak until now makes less sense.

-Why not? He could’ve re-awakened and become EX-rank lol.

-Seo Sejun is EX-Rank?

-But considering his recent activities, isn’t it plausible? Think about the Taesong Department Store incident.

-I heard he got stuck in an A-rank dungeon and raider it alone Is Seo Sejun really EX-rank?

People in every community simultaneously held useless debates about whether Sejun was EX-rank or not.

-But where did Hoya go?

However, every intense discussion eventually ended with this question. They wondered where the summon that symbolized him had gone.

But nobody knew the answer to that question.

As interest in Seo Sejun skyrocketed, reporters somehow found Sejun’s number and contacted him for interviews.

Interview requests kept coming in through the Association as well, but Sejun rejected them all.

Even the guild that kicked Sejun out because of his past conflict with Cha Dogyeong tried to discreetly contact him. They even waited for him at the exit when Sejun finished clearing a dungeon.

“Seo Sejun! It’s been a long time! Do you remember me?”

The man scratched his cheek in embarrassment, knowing the situation was awkward. Sejun didn’t recognize his face.

“No.”

Sejun meant it literally, he didn’t know who the man was, but the man thought it was because of Sejun’s grudge over getting kicked out. He gave an awkward smile.

“Hey, don’t be like that. We were on pretty good terms.”

The man patted Sejun’s shoulder as if they were close, but Sejun just stared at the man’s hand on his shoulder.

That look alone gave the man a chill. He quickly pulled his hand back.

‘Damn, the internet was talking about a re-awakening or whatever. Is that actually true?’

He had only cared about Sejun’s popularity and laughed off the re-awakening rumors, but he suddenly felt a sense of crisis. He thought it might be real.

Regardless, he had to finish his task. He had prepared several ways to persuade Sejun, but his mind went blank. He decided to skip the small talk and get to the point.

“Ah, anyway. To be brief, we’ll meet any conditions you want. Won’t you come back to the guild? Even though there was an incident, we felt very bad about letting you go like that.”

Sejun laughed when he saw how rushed the man was. It wasn’t because he felt good.

People said the world was in a crisis lately, but a crisis was just another word for opportunity. He could understand why they tried to pull in the popular Sejun at this timing.

The man told him to return, but there was no place to return to in [stolen content]the first place. How could he go back?

“I don’t want to.”

Sejun rejected the offer with a smile. He didn’t use formal speech; he just said, “I don’t want to,” and turned around. He looked so cool that the man who came to recruit him just stood there with his mouth open, unable to stop him.

Someone filmed Sejun openly turning down the guild, and the video dominated popular posts on every site.

Around that time, Sejun’s name was a hot topic everywhere.

Of course, some people couldn’t just watch Sejun do whatever he wanted.

– Seo Sejun, where did you get the clearing rights?

It was Ryu Sehyun. Sejun expected the call, but Sehyun’s voice sounded quite angry since he even used Sejun’s full name.

Sejun had a soft spot for Ryu Sehyun. He couldn’t help it. So, he spoke as dryly as possible.

“Do you want me to follow every single rule and handle things one by one in this situation?”

-Sejun.

“It’s a fact that I’m being helpful right now. You don’t need to worry.”

-It’s because it’s dangerous.

“I’m not in danger.”

So please, hyung, you should… Sejun started but then shut his mouth. No, he shouldn’t say that much. He knew exactly what he should and shouldn’t say.

“Anyway, just focus on your own work. You must be busy. I’ll be careful.”

In the end, Sejun had to back down.

While Sejun was active, Cha Dogyeong stayed quiet. Just like Sejun, he went around clearing dungeons alone without reporting to the Association.

Unlike Sejun, who at least pretended to get clearing rights through shortcuts, [Read on]Dogyeong just appeared without a single report, cleared the dungeon, and vanished.

It almost looked like he was relieving stress that way.

Thanks to them, the Association staff were dying from the increased workload while cleaning up after the troublemaker hunters. However, those efforts gave the world some breathing room.

There were countless casualties, dungeons spawning daily without warning, and people flooding into Seoul because they couldn’t handle the overflowing dungeons in the provinces.

News came in from cities around the world where major disasters happened because they couldn’t stop the overflows.

Society was crumbling in the face of a terrible reality, as if those peaceful days had never existed.

At some point, the speed of dungeon appearances decreased significantly.

Around that time, Sejun, who had gone on a few more raids, stopped everything and chose to stay home.

During that time, he didn’t receive any contact from Cha Dogyeong.

The news released hopeful reports as if the constant disasters had finally stopped, but [Read on]Sejun knew this wasn’t the situation they wanted.

It was like taking one step back to gain more momentum. It was the crouch before a leap.

[That would fit right at the end there.]

“Ah, you’re right.”

During his remaining time, Sejun relaxed at home and worked on things like a thousand-piece puzzle.

The Association created an artifact and delivered it to all hunters of B-rank and above. Rumors said the owner of the shop collapsed after working through the night to mass-produce them, but Sejun didn’t know if that was true.

The artifact was a type of pager and communication device. Thanks to it, people didn’t have to stay glued to the news or radio, worrying about when a dungeon would appear.

It goes without saying, even without the artifact or constant attention, it would be impossible to miss the appearance of the Final Dungeon. But it was a helpful item, so Sejun took one.

[It would be best to get rid of it as soon as it appears, right?]

“Right.”

Sejun responded indifferently while carefully placing a puzzle piece.

His answer was too nonchalant for something involving the fate of the world, but rushing wouldn’t change anything. He’d be busy soon, so he should enjoy this leisure while he could.

[Will it be Incheon again?]

“The world is different, so maybe not.”

[Could it be Seoul?]

“Maybe.”

[Wherever it appears, the property values there are in big trouble.]

Sejun chuckled. It was funny to hear a summon, who didn’t even need a house, worrying about property values.

[There isn’t much time left.]

“I know.”

[The dungeon overflows were a sign that he’s coming.]

Asura is the dungeon control tower. The fact that dungeons were overflowing randomly was a sign of his arrival.

It was similar to how the air gets humid before it rains.

The world was already in chaos. Even people who knew nothing could feel this ominous wind.

And the overflowing dungeons going quiet meant the situation was at a breaking point, a heavy rain could pour down at any second.

On TV, self-proclaimed experts and high-ranking hunters appeared every day to give emergency instructions, telling people to prepare at least two weeks’ worth of food and water.

That was at least somewhat useful, but most of the talk was useless.

Politicians argued loudly about restricting elevator use, closing crowded places like malls and cinemas, or imposing night [unauthorized copy]curfews. Some said it was too much, others claimed it was just a dungeon matter and wondered why everyone was making a fuss, while some sneered that the Association was just making excuses because they lacked a budget.