“But there’s something I regret not saying, especially now in this situation.”

“In this situation?” Does he mean my brother’s disappearance in the dungeon?

He spoke vaguely, but I could vaguely understand what he meant, knowing the subject.

“…To tell you this, I need to share another story, which only a few in the association know.”

Ah, then he can’t tell me.

“Can you keep a secret?”

“Yes? Yes, of course.”

I didn’t expect him to speak, but just by agreeing to keep it secret, he seemed ready to open up.

Did we become that close? Anyway, trapped in the dungeon, the only one I could tell would be Teddy…

And normally, I would have said not to tell such an important story, but I couldn’t contain my curiosity.

It might be related to why my brother wanted to keep my existence a secret from Chae Dong-hwa.

“I have no records before becoming a hunter. I wasn’t known in any media.”

I knew this. His mysterious aura was quite exceptional.

“It’s because I truly had none.”

“None?”

“I was first found here, in the Blue Starlight Valley.”

Found? What does he mean?

“Your senior picked me up when I suddenly appeared in the dungeon. I have no memory before that.”

“No memory at all?”

“Yes. No family, no friends. I don’t remember anything.”

This was shockingly new information.

“Did no one come looking for you after you became a hunter?”

Sometimes people accidentally enter dungeons or get swept into guerrilla gates. Those rescued by hunters after being trapped for a long time are called ‘returnees.’
If Chae Dong-hwa was a returnee, there would have been family waiting for him outside.

“No one came looking for me.”

I thought his mystique was just a concept to attract popularity. Or perhaps, he was hiding from public attention.

Many hunters, like our family, hide their identity to avoid causing harm to their families.

But Chae Dong-hwa genuinely didn’t remember anything, and there was no one to recognize him, leading to his unintentional mystique.

“So for a while, there were suspicions that I might be a dungeon monster transformed into a human. The grade meter doesn’t work on monsters, but as soon as my grade was identified, the misunderstanding was cleared.”

It was a plausible suspicion. Hearing his story, even my thoughts drifted in that direction.

Most returnees eventually reunite with their families. If such a famous hunter emerged with no family or acquaintances coming forward, it was natural to suspect he might be a creature originally from the dungeon.

‘So that’s why he expressed gratitude towards my brother for treating him without prejudice…’

I gradually understood why Chae Dong-hwa was thankful to my brother. Then, a possibility struck me.

‘But if he was found in this dungeon, could he have been swept up in a guerrilla gate here?’

Usually, guerrilla gates occur outside. Clearing them naturally leads back outside.

However, the Blue Starlight Valley’s guerrilla gate is unique in that it forms within the dungeon itself. If he was a survivor of that gate, it wouldn’t be strange for him to appear suddenly inside the dungeon.

Chae Dong-hwa could be a returnee who entered and exited that gate.