Chapter 205: [THERAPY TIME!!!]

[SYSTEM MISSION – ACTIVE]

Task Name: THERAPY TIME!!!

Objective: Choose between Target [CAELEN] or Target [KAIRO] and ask about their history as brothers.

Eli stared at the glowing window.

Then stared harder.

Then blinked, hoping it would disappear.

It did not.

No.

No.

Absolutely not.

Where were the seduction missions? Where were the stupid “accidentally trip into someone’s arms” missions? Where were the cheek-kissing, hand-holding, pretend-you’re-an-airhead missions?!

Because Eli—alone—was already emotionally constipated.

Now the system expected him to choose between two catastrophically emotionally constipated men… and talk about their feelings?

Like a fucking therapist?

’System, at this point…’ Eli felt his eye twitch, dread crawling up his spine. ’You’re just playing with me, right? Seriously, what—’

“Good evening, everyone. I hope I didn’t bother you all too much this evening with this sudden invitation.”

Eli’s thoughts snapped like brittle glass.

He looked up.

Midas was speaking again.

Still at the podium, still composed, and now suddenly flanked by both Kairo and Caelen—like two storm clouds parked on either side of a serene sunrise.

“Please take your seats,” Midas said.

Everyone obeyed instantly.

Eli didn’t even realize the other S-Class hunters had arrived until that moment—twenty-five of them, an entire wall of overwhelming power sitting in one room.

His legs almost gave out.

He was lowering himself into his chair when—

“Not you, young Elione. Please come here and stand beside Kairo and Caelen.”

Eli froze.

His eyes went wide as he looked at Midas…then the crowd…

…then Caelen and Kairo, who were staring at him like he’d grown a second head.

“O-Oh—uh—okay…” Eli squeaked, bowing quickly before making the world’s most awkward walk to the front.

He ended up beside Caelen—of all people. Of course. Because today was cursed.

Caelen leaned slightly toward him, voice dropping into a low, teasing whisper.

“Hey, sweetheart.”

Eli resisted—barely—the urge to kick him in the shin or glare daggers at his face.

Too many eyes. Too much attention.

So he did the most mature thing he could do in that moment:

He ignored Caelen completely.

Even though he could feel the smirk radiating off that man like a smug solar flare.

Eli kept his eyes glued to the floor, refusing—absolutely refusing—to acknowledge whatever smug nonsense Caelen was trying to pull.

Not now.

Not here.

Not with twenty-five S-Class hunters staring holes through his skull.

So he stood perfectly still between Caelen and Kairo, hands rigid at his sides like a wooden mannequin, trying to appear normal… or stable… or at least not like someone on the verge of mentally combusting.

Every inch of him was screaming.

His heartbeat felt like it was trapped in his throat.

Midas cleared his throat at the podium.

The sound sliced through the room like a command.

Instant silence followed.

“Let us begin,” he said, his voice calm but carrying effortlessly across the hall.

His gaze swept over the assembled hunters—each one a powerhouse in their own right. “Thank you all for coming on such short notice. I know most of you are busy, so I am grateful that you were willing to drop everything and prioritize this meeting.”

Eli sank inward, shoulders curling the slightest bit.

He could feel every aura in the room pressing against his skin. Some sharp. Some heavy. Some cold. Some buzzing like flames ready to ignite.

His danger sense wasn’t setting off alarms, but the sheer density of power around him was suffocating. Like standing in a cage with twenty-five lions who decided to politely postpone eating you—for now.

Midas continued, voice smooth, composed, almost too casual for the topic he dropped next.

“We are here today to discuss the incident that occurred recently, which I’m sure most of you are already aware of—the first officially confirmed SS-Class dungeon in Korenea… and in the world.”

A low roar of murmurs swept through the room.

The booming, confused kind—not the panicked kind. S-Class hunters didn’t panic.

Eli swallowed hard.

Midas lifted a hand, silencing them seamlessly.

“We had initial speculation,” he said, “but the reports from Kairo and Caelen have solidified our conclusion. The dungeon exhibited A-Class to S-Class monsters… and an SS-Class boss.”

The word boss hit Eli like a stab of cold.

Before his brain could process, his body moved.

His hand jerked upward, gripping his wrist—right where Wormy lay coiled beneath his sleeve.

Hidden.

Quiet.

Alive.

The serpent tightened minutely in response, a gentle squeeze of reassurance.

’Please don’t move… please don’t move…’ Eli begged silently, chest tight.

He prayed—desperately—that no one noticed.

Tried to mask it as a nervous twitch. A tremor. Anything.

But Caelen was right next to him.

And Kairo was on his other side.

And these two weren’t normal humans.

He didn’t dare look up to check if they’d seen anything.

Midas continued, still dropping bombshell after bombshell with the same tone someone used to talk about traffic.

“We have never witnessed a gate mutation until the first initial one—now there is another, in such a short span of time. Nor have we recorded a dungeon capable of synchronizing such a wide variety of monsters.”

Eli’s throat tightened.

He wished—desperately—that the system gave missions like “run away screaming” instead of “therapize one of the Ryu brothers.”

Because right now?

He was hanging by a thread due to his nerves.

Hands shot up around the room.

Not in the polite “wait-your-turn” way.

But in the urgent, we-need-answers-now way only S-Class hunters could do without looking disrespectful.

Tali Rane—rank two in all of Korenea—leaned forward in her ornate chair, her sheer presence sharp enough to cut the air.

“With respect, Chairman… this is now the third strange anomaly. First the S-Class dungeon explosion that caused dimensional tears across Korenea. Then an A-Class dungeon suddenly upgrading into S-Class. And now an SS-Class dungeon?”

Her voice carried authority. Controlled frustration. Genuine fear trying very, very hard to stay hidden beneath professionalism.

Ryan, leaning back with his arms crossed, didn’t even bother to hide his concern. His expression was thunderous. “This isn’t normal dimensional instability. Gates are evolving faster than our scientists can study them.” His gaze darkened. “And we still don’t know why.”

Next to him, Seiran Baek rested his chin on a gloved hand, golden eyes narrowing like he was already dissecting a corpse. His voice was low, crisp, cutting through the silence.

“A-Class gates don’t simply become S-Class. And S-Class shouldn’t mutate into a non-existent SS-Class.” He shifted his gaze toward Midas—direct, piercing. “I’ve already said this before, but the explosion’s scale was impossible. That level of destruction cannot be attributed to a single item.”

His next words were sharper.

“Something is happening. Something big. And we deserve to know what.”

Eli went cold.

Ice-cold.

It felt like someone had yanked the ground out from under him. Blood drained from his face so fast he genuinely thought he might pass out. His knees wobbled. His pulse pounded so violently it rattled his ribs.

Every word spoken in that room—every theory, every accusation, every suspicion—landed like a blow straight to his stomach.

Because they weren’t wrong.

They weren’t even close to wrong.

The massive explosion?

The dimensional tears spreading across Korenea?

That was him.

That was Lucien—the him who was left inside the dungeon when it suddenly closed, sealing him in and detonating outward.

He was there when an A-Class gate warped into an S-Class right in front of him.

He was there when an S-Class gate twisted into a never-before-seen SS-Class.

He was the reason Caelen’s team got access to the SS-Class dungeon at all.The system literally tore open a gateway for them—just because he earned it as a “reward.”

Then there was the glitch.

The one time the system stuttered—not calling him Elione.

But Orion.

’MY Orion…’

That voice.

That chill.

That familiarity.

The SS-Class boss knew of that name.

Orion.

And the human laboratory buried deep inside the SS-Class dungeon?

The place filled with experiments and tools that belonged to Orion?

That was another thread tying everything straight back to him.

Every anomaly.

Every escalation.

Every impossible mutation.

It wasn’t even a question anymore.

And now… it was starting to become too obvious. Too patterned. Too intertwined for anyone with half a brain not to eventually connect the dots.

’This can’t be a coincidence… there’s no way…’

Coincidences were small things.

One-time flukes.

Unrelated events.

Not this.

Not multiple world-altering catastrophes all swirling around his existence.

Something huge was happening.

Something he didn’t understand.

Something that kept dragging his past lives—all of them—into the present like tangled threads pulling tighter around his neck.

And Eli…

Eli was part of it.

Whether he wanted to be or not.

Worst of all?

He couldn’t tell anyone.

Not Caelen.

Not Kairo.

Not Midas.

Not the Guild Association.

Not the S-Class Hunters glaring daggers around the room.

He was alone.

Utterly, terrifyingly alone with a truth that could destroy him.

And the system wasn’t helping.

If anything…

It felt like the system was guiding all of this.

No—maybe even causing it.

Eli clenched his jaw, breath catching in his throat.

’Why me…?’

“We are trying to figure this out,” Midas said, tone steady but edged with something that sounded dangerously close to frustration—something only someone who carried the weight of a nation could hide this well. “Truthfully, it has been difficult, considering we have nothing to study except the recordings from inside the dungeon, and witnesses.”

A hush fell.

Every hunter leaned in.

Midas continued, hands clasped lightly on the podium.

“That is why…” His eyes shifted—direct, unblinking. “I’m sure most of you have already noticed that we have Elione Noa Ahn here with us today.”

Eli’s head snapped up so fast he almost jolted.

’Huh?’

Dozens of powerful eyes turned toward him.

Some curious.

Some assessing.

Some outright suspicious.

He felt naked under their gazes. Exposed. As if someone had ripped off whatever thin layer of anonymity he had left.

Midas gestured toward him, the movement calm and confident—completely the opposite of how Eli felt inside.

“We’ve heard of Elione’s perceptiveness,” Midas said. “His insight may help us understand factors that Kairo, Caelen, and their team may not have noticed during battle.”

Eli nearly choked on his own breath.

’HUH?! No, no, no—what insight? I have no insight! I’m barely holding myself together, what are you talking about—’

Midas didn’t stop.

“So,” he continued, voice smooth, unbothered by the way Eli visibly stiffened, “Elione is here to discuss everything that happened inside the dungeon… and anything he observed.”

A heavy silence followed.

Then the murmurs began—soft but sharp, like knives scraping against glass.

Eli’s stomach dropped.

’Fuck me.’

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep