Chapter 60: The One Who Revealed the Future

Da-on had promised to contact Ion as soon as Spec-1 Team cleared their dungeon.

But before Da-on called, someone else did.

A number Ion hadn’t saved but memorized.

Jin Seongha.

-Master Ion, where are you?

-Huh? What’s with all these missed calls?

-Yeah, breaking news is blowing up too.

-What happened?

The background was chaotic. It seemed he’d called right after exiting the dungeon.

“I’m in Namyeong,” Ion said.

-Namyeong… that’s nearby?

“Yep. I’m close. Just came out?”

-Called you the second I did.

-Hey! Check the news! What the—

-Demonkin? What? Guildmaster Ason… what? Allied with Demonkin?

Spec-1 Team, isolated from the world, was just now hearing the news, their shocked voices audible even to Ion.

“Noisy over there,” Ion remarked.

-Yeah… something big happened while we were in.

“Check it on your way.”

Ion gave his location—a nearby vacant lot he’d scouted.

-I’m coming now. By the way, you remembered our deal. Thought you might’ve forgotten, busy with spec ops.

“You remembered too, Hunter Jin. Barely made it.”

September 1, 12:09 PM, the gag contract’s expiration.

It was now 11:30 AM.

“You must be tired, but come quick. I’ve got another spec op to leave for.”

-Alone?

“Of course. Hurry up.”

-Got it.

Jin Seongha hung up, and Ion got out of the car. As he moved to close the door, Baba frantically flew out.

“I come too.”

“No, you stay with Sanse. I’ll be quick.”

“Sanse wants to go. Where Dam Ion goes, Sanse wants to be.”

“…”

“Sanse anxious. Lonely. Separation anxiety. Worries about Dam Ion. Let us come.”

“…”

Unable to resist, Ion carried Sanse out, Baba perched on its long leaves—not hanging, but sitting, as bats did.

At the orphan meeting days ago, Ion had shown Baba to Da-on, who already knew he had a chimera-like bat. Everything at Horizon Guild reached its key figure’s ears.

Da-on used Sage’s Eye on Baba.

The exploration, insight, and analysis skill Sage’s Eye could read any being’s profile.

For example, on Dam Se-on, it showed:

[Awakening Rank: A Trait: Bookworm Skills: <lucky decalcomania> Active Skill Copies an opponent’s skill. Potential: B]

On higher ranks, it showed: [Skill application impossible.]

For monsters, it was brief:

[Keladin / A-rank / Monster]

Simpler than Choi Jung-go’s Monster Diagnosis, but it clearly identified ‘monsters.’

For chimeras, it should show: [□□□ / □-rank / Chimera]

But…

[Skill application impossible.]

That meant Baba was S-rank.

Ion had considered leaving Baba with Da-on or Choi Jung-go in Idea but scrapped the idea. An S-rank chimera (presumed) was safer with him.

Plus, Baba enabled two-way communication with Sanse.

“You can talk with Sansevieria? Like Teacher said, it’s close to becoming a spirit. Congrats, Ion,” Da-on had said warmly.

Recalling her words, Ion waited for Jin Seongha in the lot.

Within five minutes, his phone buzzed repeatedly—Hong Insu, Lee Jina, Shin Minji, Bae Younghoe. He ignored them.

Then messages flooded in:

[Hong Insu] Dude, heard the news? Demonkin, freaky exhibitionist monsters, showed up in Daisytown Dungeon, and D-NATE’s guildmaster Onil allied with them! [Hong Insu] Who does that?! Shouldn’t Earth vote on alliances? [Hong Insu] Seongha’s here freaking out;;; [Hong Insu] Some hunter, Peter Argen, got a teleportation crystal and vanished from the U.S. Hunter Agency! [Hong Insu] Insane, what happened in a week?! [Hong Insu] You’re gonna lose it when you hear this post-spec op;;;

They had no idea Ion was at the center of this chaos.

[Hong Insu] Wait… [Hong Insu] Was it you? [Hong Insu] You knew way too much when the Giant showed up… [Hong Insu] Argh, got zapped for saying thisㅠ [Hong Insu] Getting shocked even talking to you is suffocating!

The gag contract was doing its job.

A presence approached fast.

“Dam Ion. Someone’s coming,” Baba said, wings flapping.

Ion looked across the lot. As expected, Jin Seongha was sprinting, kicking up dust.

“Scary.”

“…”

His speed was chilling even to Ion.

“Shut up and don’t interrupt,” Ion told Baba.

“Fruit there?”

“…Probably.”

“I play with fruit, no talking.”

“Fine, just don’t speak.”

Jin Seongha reached Ion, his combat gear showing signs of an A-rank dungeon clear, yet his face was still infuriatingly handsome. Despite sprinting, he wasn’t out of breath.

“Master Ion. Was Peter Argen… you?”

Leaving Baba to play with fruit, they sat on stumps in the lot, facing each other.

Jin Seongha, eyes slightly sunken, waited for Ion to speak.

Ion had prepared, but with so much to say, he wasn’t sure where to start.

First…

He explained that dungeons were parts of a Demon Realm divided into four domains, the dungeon system had ten levels, and only defeating the Demon King would save Earth. In November, a dungeon in Yangsan, Korea, would connect to Idea.

Jin Seongha listened without a flicker of expression.

Ion hadn’t expected him to faint from shock, but his calmness was surprising.

Let’s see if he stays calm for this.

Ion continued, “There’s a group that knows all this future, fanatically trying to make it happen like a cult. Around October 10, they’ll try to kill Hunter Choi Jung-go.”

“…Why kill Jung-go hyung?”

“To make you awaken your fourth skill.”

A powerful attack skill, used as a finisher in the novel’s latter half.

Would Jin Seongha, prepared to forgo that skill, be told of Choi Jung-go’s death?

Or let the novel’s plot unfold?

Ion had discussed this with Da-on and decided to tell him.

“In the future they—and I—know, you and Idea’s aura user defeat the Demon King. If this world’s a novel, you’re the protagonist.”

“…”

“Your fourth skill is essential. Without it, the SS-rank dungeon next year will wipe everyone out—it’s a no-return-stone dungeon.”

“Level 2, huh?”

“It’ll hit Level 2 this November.”

“…I get what you’re saying,” Jin Seongha said, voice low.

“To save Jung-go hyung, I need to awaken my fourth skill. That cult will keep trying to kill him until I do.”

“Quick on the uptake.”

“Thanks. Keep telling me what I need to know.”

Ion revealed that D-NATE’s sibling guildmasters also knew the future.

A unilateral exposure.

Jin Seongha nodded, “No wonder… no foresight skill could be that precise…”

“My Teacher, who told me the future, is gone. I’m helping you to honor her will.”

“That Teacher must’ve had a powerful foresight skill.”

“…Yeah.”

“One question. When you were hit by the Giant’s mental attack, you said you needed to revive the Demon King. Why revive what we need to kill?”

He remembered that?

A sharp question.

“To kill it, I need to revive it. It’s sealed somewhere in the Demon Realm.”

“…Reviving a sealed being to kill it? Doesn’t sit right.”

“Can’t help it. Otherwise, the world ends.”

Jin Seongha, brow furrowed handsomely, asked again, “Is humanity—Earth and Idea—ready to kill the final boss?”

“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure it’s… killable.”

“You’ll set it up for the final blow?”

He smirked, like looking at an arrogant kid.

“Not exactly what someone who fainted from a mental attack should say.”

“…It wasn’t a mental attack. Just low mana.”

“So the mental attack was a lie too. What’s your deal with Aide Dam?”

“We trained under the same Teacher.”

“Not lovers?”

“Absolutely not. Not even a crush…”

The thought made Ion shudder.

“And you said ‘mana’?”

“…”

Ion clamped his lips shut.

“I looked it up after your ‘drunken’ episode. Mana’s like magic power. You need mana, not magic? And it’s coming from that Sansevieria you’re holding. You draw mana from plants.”

“…”

“Tell me if I’m right or wrong.”

“…”

Ion’s I can’t answer look prompted Jin Seongha to change tack.

“Why stick to the same future? You could kill the Demon King and bring peace without us delivering the final blow.”

“There’s a reason I can’t destroy it.”

“What reason?”

“…”

“Master Ion, you promised to tell me everything.”

“No such promise.”

Ion deadpanned. Jin Seongha, rubbing his sculpted jaw, said, “One more. You didn’t answer if you’re Peter Argen.”

An easy one.

“That’s me. For the record, I didn’t know Demonkin would show up, or that Guildmaster Onil would propose an alliance. The future’s veered off a lot, but this alliance is a major divergence.”

“You got a teleportation crystal, right? Used it?”

“About to.”

“Destination’s Idea, to check if the future’s derailing there too.”

Why was he so sharp?

Truly a protagonist.

“We part now and meet again in November at Yangsan Dungeon?”

“Yes.”

Ion glanced at his watch. “It’s past 12:30. Your contract’s up. Tell me—who told you about the future?”

“…Sixteen years ago.”

Sixteen years?

Far earlier than Ion expected.

How did they sign a gag contract before the system?

“When I was in elementary school, a white-haired old man told me I’d be the hero to save the world and to remember his prophecy. Sixteen years later, a Cataclysm would hit…”

“Wait. White-haired old men are a dime a dozen. More specific details.”

“He was too fit to call a grandpa. Rugged features, thick eyebrows, male. Leaned on a black cane with a crow carving.”

“…”

Ion knew instantly.

Sixteen years ago, the one who told Jin Seongha the future was Teacher.