As soon as Uijae and Jeong Bin entered the Seowon Guild, a guild member dressed in a scholar’s robe rushed out to greet them. The man kept dabbing at the sweat on his forehead with a handkerchief as he led the way.

“I’m terribly sorry to be the one welcoming you. Given the situation…”

“You must be busy. I understand.”

Jeong Bin replied kindly, trying to put the guild member at ease. Uijae glanced around. The green-eyed boy who was usually bustling around was nowhere to be seen. He asked a guild member who was hurrying down the hallway as if on high alert.

“Where’s that kid? The one with green eyes… sort of like the Guildmaster’s secretary.”

“Ah, the doll was damaged while fending off an intruder and is undergoing emergency repairs, yes.”

“Damaged?”

“Yes, yes. He was doused in poison, and part of his body melted.”

Poison.

A chilling image flashed through his mind. A test subject thrashing inside a glass tank filled with poison. And then, Lee Sa-young…

“Mr. J.”

A quiet whisper pulled Uijae back. Jeong Bin was smiling warmly, as if to show off.

“You’re too tense. Try to relax a little.”

Only then did Uijae unclench his fist. Deep nail marks were left in his palm. Jeong Bin gave a small nod as if to commend him and smoothly asked,

“Will it be repairable?”

“The damage is quite severe this time, so we’ve reached out to Italy. Ah, here we are.”

The guild member gave a quick bow and then vanished in a hurry. The place he had guided them to was an operating room bathed in a bluish glow. Standing by the operating table was a man—Minggijeok—who pushed up his sunglasses and greeted them.

“Oh, hello. You got here pretty fast.”

“Luckily, we were all at our respective posts. What about Miss Ha Yeong?”

“She was resisting pretty hard, so we borrowed the hands of a medical expert and put her to sleep for a bit.”

As Minggijeok stepped aside, the sleeping face of Ha Yeong came into view. She was tightly strapped to the surgical table with thick ropes. Minggijeok shrugged.

“You’ll have to wait a bit if you want to interrogate her.”

“If you proceed like this without authorization, there could be human rights issues…”

“You really want to bring up human rights for someone who experiments on people?”

“Still, there are procedures…”

The two began a verbal argument about human rights. Meanwhile, Uijae quietly approached the surgical table. Aside from the blood smeared on her cheek, Ha Yeong looked intact.

Should I kill her?

His fingers, which had just managed to relax, tensed again. Crack. He bent them back. But Uijae let out a slow breath and loosened his grip. Then, still mid-argument, he turned toward Jeong Bin and asked,

“Can we keep her detained? Tightly guarded so she can’t commit suicide.”

“Hmm… She’s a high-risk, caught in the act… There’s no reason we can’t. Do you want her kept?”

“Yes.”

Uijae murmured as he adjusted her askew glasses properly onto her face.

“I want Sa-young to meet her.”

Lee Sa-young feared Ha Yeong. Even if he didn’t realize it himself, fear etched into the body wasn’t easy to erase. Uijae wanted Sa-young to be happy. He wanted him to be freed from the past. And to do that—

“She needs to stay alive. Healthy.”

He would be there at that time. Just like Sa-young had been for him.

The force in his hand crushed the corner of the operating table beside Ha Yeong’s head.

***

There was a cremation chamber inside the HB Guild. Not a formal one—just a ventilated room with fireproofed floors and walls. But it worked, thanks to the Guildmaster being a flame-type Awakener. Some joked it was just another guild benefit.

“What kind of benefit is that supposed to be.”

Crackle, crackle—sparks flew. Today’s fire was nothing more than a small campfire. Honeybee casually tossed a plastic guild ID card into the flames. The vivid red fire greedily devoured the letters “HB Guild” and the smiling face printed on it. Staring at the burning card, Honeybee whispered,

“Sorry I couldn’t bring the body.”

She squatted down and looked over the contents of a blue box. Pens # Nоvеlight # and a notepad, a small wrapped snack, a dirty cloth used to clean weapons… She had gathered everything from the dead guild member’s desk, but it was all trivial junk. The ID card served as a substitute for ashes, and the rest would be sent to the bereaved family.

She should’ve done this as soon as they returned, but everything had piled up, and only now was there time. Not even the other guild members could attend—they were busy handling field operations.

A team leader approached and picked up the box.

“I’ll take it for packaging. The death benefit will follow guild policy…”

“Team Leader Han.”

Honeybee rested her chin on her knee and spoke.

“I have some ad money coming in. The signing bonus. Add my share to the compensation. After deducting the company’s cut and taxes.”

“Honeybee…”

Team Leader Han furrowed his brow slightly. But Matthew shook his head, as if telling him not to say more. Team Leader Han sighed and nodded.

“…Understood. We’ll do that.”

Once he left, only the two of them remained. Honeybee quietly stared into the flames. It reminded her of Jeong Bin’s funeral inside the dungeon. The fire Matthew had lit, and the helpless emotions that came with it.

The body of the guild member she had stabbed to death herself had vanished in that other world. The hidden storage she’d used to secretly stash it was completely empty. Did the system erase it? Or had it turned to ash and disappeared? She had no way of knowing.

She stood up with determination. Brushed her hair behind her ears and forced her voice steady.

“Maybe I should’ve brought him back instead of killing him. Gagged and tied up. At least then he could’ve gotten treatment… right? They say vaccine development’s going well now.”

“Honeybee.”

A low voice called her name. A large hand gently patted her shoulder.

“You don’t have to pretend you’re okay.”

Her hand froze mid-motion, brushing through her hair.

“It’s not your fault he mutated. And you weren’t alone. It was an unpredictable situation. You made the best decision you could.”

Matthew—Mok Taeo—was a man of few words and deep thought. Kind, yet strict. Never said anything he didn’t mean. That was the kind of man Honeybee knew him to be.

And now he was comforting her. He had been that way since the moment they met. His voice was strange. It carried the weight of trust, like everything would somehow be alright.

It felt strange. Like sharp needles pricking the tips of her fingers.

Honeybee found herself asking without meaning to.

“…Do you really think so?”

“Of course. I believe in you.”

She looked up at the man standing beside her. Tall and broad like a grizzly bear. Matthew stood straight like an old tree—one that might break in a storm, but would never bend. The fire shimmered in the lenses of his clear glasses.

“We’re looking at the same place, you and I.”

She followed his gaze. The fire. The ID card had already vanished without a trace. A bitter smell lingered in the air. What gets left behind when fire passes?

Ash, probably.

The hand patting her shoulder was warm. And suddenly, Honeybee realized—they hadn’t had a proper conversation since he woke up from the Prometheus drug.

‘…Huh?’

She slowly tilted her head. Her vision tilted slightly with it. And just like that, she saw something she hadn’t seen before. A new thought edged in.

In the last world, Matthew had died. Right after Jeong Bin. That much was fact. Lee Sa-young wouldn’t lie about something like that. She didn’t want to witness Matthew’s death—so she’d escaped the moment J appeared.

And in this world, she had prevented Jeong Bin’s death.

So next in line is…

Matthew, right?

“……”

Why hasn’t there been any sign?

Is it not time yet? Or was it because he had woken up after being addicted to the Prometheus drug? Her thoughts spiraled and multiplied.

She suddenly opened her mouth.

“I’ve got a question.”

“Hm.”

“You—why did you get addicted? I mean, to the drug.”

His eyes left the fire and turned to her. Honeybee muttered like someone in a trance.

“I get why low-ranked street Hunters fall into it. They’ve got weak drug resistance. But you’re S-rank, and you had countermeasures in place… because of Lee Sa-young.”

“……”

“If their drugs are really that strong, then why didn’t the other rankers get hooked? Even old man Song, who had close contact with them—sure, he ended up like a rag, but he didn’t have spikes growing out of his body, did he?”

“……”

“When, how, and why did it happen? What happened to you?”

The hand that had been patting her stopped, then suddenly gripped her shoulder tightly and pulled. His huge body wrapped around her from behind. She clutched the thick arm crossing her collarbone—ready to break it if she had to. The pressure weighed down on her like a stone.

“Honeybee… No—Yu Chaehyeon.”

Crackle. Sparks danced in the fire. Its vigor was fading. A fire with no wood eventually dies out.

“Do you remember what I said when we first met?”

Honeybee slowly nodded. His low voice echoed.

“It’s been a long time. The world has changed again, and people with it.”

“……”

“You’ve changed in the meantime.”

“……”

“…I’m glad. That at least one of us did.”

The arm tightening around her neck finally let go. Honeybee spun around in a rush. Matthew had already turned his back and was walking toward the door. She tried to chase after him, but flames flared up, blocking her path. She shouted toward the silhouette disappearing behind the fire.

“Hey! Matthew!”

No response.

She grit her teeth and screamed.

“Hey! You bastard! Quit the dramatic bullshit and get back here!”

“……”

“Mok Taeo!”

The wall of fire vanished only after a long moment. Honeybee rushed out of the room—but Matthew was already gone, not a trace left behind.

“Damn it…!”

Honeybee bit her lip hard and ran out.

Ash whirled through the empty room.