Lude watched Min Jae Yun spill his emotions. Then, just as Lude was about to respond, his phone rang.

“Wait a sec, I need to take this call.”

“Uh, okay.”

Lude checked the caller ID and stepped outside the library. It was Kang Yi Hyeon.

“Hello? Why?”

[Lude, I don’t mean to doubt your abilities, absolutely not, but… did you really rescue all the students?]

Lude responded irritably to Kang Yi Hyeon’s cautious voice from the other end.

“What’s up? Is something wrong?”

[No, no, it’s not that! It’s just that I know a kid from this school who’s missing… Min Jae Yun, a third-year student. Normally doesn’t attend much, but I heard he was in today.]

“He’s with me. Before that, I want to ask, is he the reason the Holy War guild couldn’t tackle this gate according to the rules?”

Lude’s eyes narrowed. Min Jae Yun, a demon, someone familiar, and a grandfather; despite being the best guild in the central region, the Holy War was restricted from participating in the school’s gate clearing. The pieces started to connect in his mind.

[Yes, that’s right. Hunter Min Jae Won…]

“His grandson?”

Lude sighed deeply at the affirmative response from the other end. If a guild member’s direct family is confirmed to be trapped in a gate, that member is excluded from the clearing operation.

And the guild typically doesn’t participate in the clearing, except in special cases like this one. It’s to prevent the guild member from making any drastic decisions, as there have been actual cases of members ignoring everyone else’s lives, giving up their own life following a deceased family member, murdering their guildmates after a failed clearing, and so on.
Regardless of whether a person is a Hunter or a civilian, those trapped in a gate are prone to PTSD.

To Lude’s knowledge, no one could make rational decisions when their family was involved.

“They’re physically intact and healthy. Don’t worry, they’ll come down with me once the job is done.”

Realizing the gravity of the situation, Lude pressed his temples with two fingers, thinking he’d gotten himself into a headache-inducing situation. Yi Hyeon sighed in relief, and Lude casually remarked,

“He’s much nicer than me. Funny, isn’t it? We’re of the same kind, but one is bad, and the other is…”

[Huh?]

“Ah, never mind. Anyway, if you’ve finished the emergency treatment there, you have a long-range attack that can demolish a school building, right? Get it ready.”

[I do, but why?]

Yi Hyeon, who had been repeatedly asking unclear questions, listened as Lude, cutting off the conversation, continued with an expressionless face.

“We’re going to demolish the school now.”

Arriving in the classroom with a heavy heart, Lude’s desk always had distinct marks from a cutter blade.

His shoes in the shoe bag would disappear every three days, and eventually, he just wore indoor shoes to school.

During breaks, lying at his desk with non-functional earphones, he could clearly hear the backbiting of his classmates.

“Hey, why does he keep dragging himself to school? Why doesn’t he just die like his mom?”

“◼◼◼ takes care of him. Honestly, isn’t ◼◼◼ wasted on him? I don’t get why they bother.”

“Aren’t they in that kind of relationship?”

“Crazy… That actually seems possible, and it’s creepy. But ◼◼◼ is going to ◼◼ soon, so he won’t have anyone to take care of him anymore.”

“Please, just don’t come. I hate seeing his deathly face every day. Like he’s the only one who lost a mom. But honestly, wasn’t his mom the kind who deserved to die?”

Lude, still a high school student, heard all these comments. He couldn’t help but listen. Ignoring them seemed to lead to wilder imaginations and self-inflicted wounds.

He endured three years at school without knowing why he was holding on.

Honestly, back then, Lude wished the gate would open and everyone, including himself, would die.

“What are these goats downstairs? My uniform got ripped while bringing this! Look at this shirt!”

“Ah, you’re here?”

Caught up in the past, Lude turned his attention to the fuming voice beside him. Min Jae Yun, who had ripped off the evacuation plan from each corridor, was waving his tattered sleeve at Lude.

“Why did you make me bring this map?”

“We’re going to demolish and rebuild the school. That’s doable, right? Destroy your workshop so you can keep hiding as a hikikomori. Also, it’s a chance to build new safety measures.”

“What?! Oh, thank you so much! I really appreciate it, but I can’t do that. I’ve never done it before.”

“I’ll help you.”

Lude looked around the school interior. What was so splendid about ordinary school life? What was so good about it? Beautiful memories looking back? Not for Lude.

He couldn’t understand the notion of doing something for teachers and friends since school life became hellish from his second year in middle school.

Lude’s face was cold, indifferent to the incident.

“Such things shouldn’t happen in a school.”

But regardless of his feelings, he knew there was an absolute proposition when dealing with underage students.

“I’m an adult. I’ll take responsibility.”