The words stung the silence like a blade, people were shocked.

  They pressed forward, pushing past the crowd of hunters and civilians who were equally stunned, their mouths agape and eyes fixed on the surreal sight.

  With the help of a gentle breeze summoned by Seo MinHyun’s wind magic, they soon found Mu Yichen standing near Lee Aseok, his posture calm yet tense.

  His gaze was locked, unwavering, flickering between the holy sword and the silent youth beside it.

  The moment Seo MinHyun and Park Taegun saw Mu Yichen’s expression, everything became clear. No need for words, his shock was undeniable.

  Seo MinHyun’s breath hitch. His usual bravado cracked as a scream tore from his throat, raw and filled with disbelief. “Why…why the hell would the holy sword choose him? That lunatic? It’s insane! This can’t be happening!”

  MinHyun looked at Mu Yichen. Then at the sword. Then at Lee Aseok. Then back again.

  He opened his mouth.

  Closed it.

  Then it finally burst out.

  “ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!”

  His voice echoed through the air, bouncing off the fractured ruins around them.

  A few hunters nearby jumped. Someone dropped a weapon. A civilian turned and looked back, confused.

  MinHyun ignored them all.

  Hunters nearby turned their heads, casting puzzled looks at Seo MinHyun. Some whispered among themselves, wondering why he acted as if the world itself was about to collapse.

  But in the center of this storm of gazes, Lee Aseok remained eerily still..until something inside him shifted.

  His eyes, once distant and empty, flickered with sudden clarity.

  Memories long buried surfaced like shards piercing through fog.

  In his previous life, under the strict tutelage of his master Mu Haejoon, Lee Aseok had been just another F-rank hunter.

  One day, without warning, an S-rank gate had ripped open right in the middle of the training grounds..a rare and terrifying event.

  Lee Aseok, unlucky as always, had been too close.

  Though weak and inexperienced, he hadn’t been able to stop his feet from moving forward. Monsters poured out of the gate in waves, and fear had clenched tight in his chest. Still, instinct pushed him to fight.

  Then, as if summoned by fate, Mu Yichen and his group appeared..swift, precise, cutting through the monsters like a storm.

  Lee Aseok recalled the way Mu Yichen’s blade had shone brighter than any light he’d ever seen..calm, noble, yet sharp enough to slice through despair itself.

  That day had changed everything.

  No matter how much fear tried to hold him back, his feet betrayed him. They moved forward, stepping into the chaos, into the storm of monsters clawing and snarling.

  His hands trembled, but he fought.

  It was the first time he saw them, the so-called hero team, in person. Like legends carved from myths, they cut through the monstrous tide with brutal precision. Among them, Mu Yichen stood out.

  At that time, he wielded the holy sword, its light dazzling enough to blind, cutting through darkness with a brilliance that made everything else pale.

  Lee Aseok’s eyes never left him.

  Then the ground trembled.

  From the swirling shadows of the gate emerged the final boss, a towering Dragon like creature, easily three meters tall.

  Its movements were a blur, faster than any normal eye could track. It moved with terrifying grace, each strike threatening to tear apart everything in its path.

  Only Mu Yichen dared face it.

  Steel clashed against claws. Light met darkness.

  But then, the impossible happened.

  With a flash of light, the holy sword slipped from Mu Yichen’s grasp, spinning through the air before clattering hard onto the cracked earth, landing just a few feet from where Lee Aseok had stumbled to catch his breath.

  But Lee Aseok’s gaze stayed locked on the fierce battle ahead, not the sword beside him.

  Suddenly, Lee Aseok noticed something else, a figure moving stealthily through the chaos, inching toward Mu Yichen. The man’s movements were careful, almost too deliberate.

  Lee Aseok’s heart sank.

  The man pulled out a strange gun-like object. But it wasn’t ordinary. It was a dungeon item, dark and sinister, emitting a thick black smoke that curled and writhed like living shadows.

  Danger screamed in Lee Aseok’s veins.

  Without thinking, his body acted on pure instinct. His hand shot out and grasped the closest object, the holy sword lying cold and lifeless on the ground.

  The moment his skin touched the blade, a violent electric shock surged through him, burning like fire and ice all at once.

  The sword felt alive, electricity surged through Lee Aseok’s fingers the moment he grasped its cold hilt. Pain lanced up his arm, sharp and unforgiving.

  But he didn’t care. His focus was locked on Mu Yichen, locked on the battle raging like a storm before him.

  He hurled the sword with every ounce of desperation he had. The blade spun through the air, striking the man who had drawn that black, smoking weapon. The figure crumpled, unconscious on the ground.

  Then, without warning, the sword flew back like a magnet, landing perfectly in Lee Aseok’s hands again.

  Only then did it hit him.

  The sword. The holy sword.

  His mind went utterly blank.

  Chaos rippled through the battlefield, but his world had shrunk down to the weight of that blade in his grasp.

  His gaze, uncomprehending, lifted toward the distant battle, to Mu Yichen still fighting the boss monster, unaware of what just happened behind him.

  Lee Aseok’s mouth opened to call out.

  But before he could speak,

  “YOU…!”

  The scream hit like thunder.

  Lee Aseok turned.

  Seo MinHyun stood just twenty meters away, his expression contorted in disbelief and fury, his weapon trembling in his hand.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  "You… lunatic…what do you think you’re doing?!”

  Lee Aseok blinked again.

  Seo MinHyun was storming toward him, rage practically pouring from every step.

  “Put. That. Down!” he roared, voice trembling with fury, as if the very sky was about to fall.

  Seo MinHyun raised his staff, his face now red with fury. “You thief! You psychotic bastard, do you even know what you’ve just done?!”

  Lee Aseok couldn’t respond.

  Not because he didn’t want to.

  But because he didn’t know what was happening either.

  Then..

  “MinHyun.”

  A calm voice cut through the chaos.

  Mu Yichen had arrived.

  He stepped onto the scene, sword sheathed, his armor stained with blood, his expression unreadable.

  Seo MinHyun pointed his blade toward Lee Aseok. “He’s holding the sword. Your sword. The holy sword! You saw it, right? You saw it! It flew to him!”

  Mu Yichen didn’t answer.

  His eyes were on Lee Aseok.

  On the sword in his hands.

  And the longer he stared, the colder Lee Aseok felt.

  “I didn’t mean to,” Lee Aseok said quietly.

  His voice was hoarse. Unused. Barely audible.

  “I threw it. I didn’t know.”

  Mu Yichen remained silent.

  Lee Aseok looked down at the blade.

  Its glow had dimmed slightly, but it still pulsed with light..gentle, rhythmic, like a heartbeat.

  “I tried to let it go,” he said.

  He held the sword out again, as if begging it to leave him.

  But it didn’t.

  It stayed.

  Stuck to him like a curse.

  Park Taegun stepped forward, face impassive. “Try putting it down.”

  Lee Aseok nodded.

  He knelt slowly, placing the sword on the cracked ground.

  Then he stood back.

  But the sword didn’t fall.

  It hovered for a second..then flew back into his hand.

  Lee Aseok flinched as it hit his palm.

  “No way,” someone whispered from the crowd.

  “It really… it chose him?”

  “It can’t be…”

  More voices. More footsteps. More watchers.

  Lee Aseok knew something was wrong, deeply wrong, but before he could even think, he tried to hand the sword back to Mu Yichen.

  The holy sword rejected Mu Yichen.

  It pulsed with a will of its own, pushing away Mu Yichen’s outstretched hands, refusing to leave Lee Aseok’s grip.

  He tried again, pleaded silently with the blade, but it remained stubborn, as if it had chosen him and him alone.

  From that moment, everything collapsed.

  The whispers started. The accusations.

  “Thief.”

  “Shameless.”

  “A fraud.”

  No matter how much Lee Aseok protested, how desperately he tried to explain that he had only acted on instinct, no one believed him.

  And when they demanded to know what skill he wielded, what power had allowed him to catch the sacred blade

  He could only stare blankly.

  Skill: ???

  He didn’t know.

  He had no answers.

  News of the “ low-rank hunter who stole the holy sword” spread like wildfire.

  The public reaction was merciless. Hatred burned bright in their eyes.

  Guilds that once ignored him now turned their backs with contempt. Government officials whispered in dark corridors, treating him worse than an animal, an outcast marked for destruction.

  Lee Aseok stood alone in the storm of their scorn, the weight of the sword and the world pressing down on his shoulders.

  The tragedy had only just begun.

  The fallout was devastating.

  The world called him a shameless thief, a reckless, desperate thief who had snatched the holy sword from the hands of the hero.

  Rumors spread like wildfire, each one stoking the flames of hatred.

  The public’s reaction was venomous. The people spat at him with disdain.

  Guilds he’d once dreamed of joining refused to even acknowledge his existence. Government agents sneered down on him like he was a dangerous beast.

  He was worse than a criminal, he was a pariah.

  Yet, the sword was a beacon of hope. The holy sword wielder was the only one who could close the “Hell Gate” and save humanity.

  So they didn’t kill him.

  But death came in the shadows.

  Assassination attempts surfaced, some subtle, some violent. None succeeded, but the threat was constant.

  Lee Aseok was alone.

  A loner longing for connection, trapped in a nightmare of scorn and suspicion.

  The weight crushed him.

  And then came the blow that shattered what little remained of his spirit.

  His master, Mu Haejoon, called him pitiful. Cold and harsh, he demanded the holy sword be returned to Mu Yichen.

  The words cut deeper than any blade.

  Lee Aseok didn’t know what expression crossed his face then, but inside, his heart cracked. His hope bled out in silence.

  That was the last time he ever saw his master because after a few days the news of his master’s death in a certain S rank gate came.

  Lee Aseok who was hoping to see his master to ask help and explain himself, it was like thunder fell directly on his head.

  The only person he can rely on was gone.

  The memory of his master calling him pitiful hunted him like a curse.

  Just as the darkness threatened to swallow him whole, a quiet voice pierced through.

  He stared at his hands and asked himself, again and again…

  Did I steal it?

  The question lodged itself in his chest like a splinter.

  And eventually, he believed it.

  He must have done something wrong.

  After all, if the sword had truly chosen him… why was there no one left beside him?

  He didn’t cry.

  Didn’t scream.

  He simply broke.

  Quietly.

  The kind of break that didn’t make noise.

  And just when he thought there was no further to fall..

  Mu Yichen appeared at his door.

  Lee Aseok had expected many things.

  A demand to return the sword.

  A duel.

  Maybe even a silent glare of contempt.

  But Mu Yichen only said five words:

  “Come with me. Join us.”

  Lee Aseok stared at him.

  “…Why?”

  Mu Yichen tilted his head. “You have nowhere else to go, do you?”

  That wasn’t an answer.

  But Lee Aseok said nothing.

  He didn’t want pity.

  But he didn’t want to be alone, either.

  So he went.

  Mu Yichen’s team was already famous. Powerful. Respected.

  Seo MinHyun greeted Lee Aseok with a scowl the size of a continent. “You’ve got to be joking.”

  Park Taegun didn’t say anything. He only glanced over once, then turned away.

  Lee Aseok waited for humiliation. For hostility. For revenge.

  But Mu Yichen,

  He treated him like a human.

  He spoke kindly.

  He smiled gently.

  He asked Lee Aseok what he needed.

  He never asked him to give the sword back.

  And slowly..against his own will..Lee Aseok started to follow him.

  He kept his distance, of course.

  He never slept well.

  He trained until his hands bled.

  He never laughed. Never cried.

  But he stayed.

  Because for the first time in his life..

  Someone didn’t look at him like a curse.

  Lee Aseok waited for Mu Yichen to hate him.

  That was the natural order of things.

  Even a saint would hold a grudge if someone else took their destiny, and Mu Yichen had every right to hate him.

  The holy sword had been his. Everyone said so. The prophecies, the guilds, the public, they all knew the sword was meant for Mu Yichen.

  Yet it was Lee Aseok who wielded it.

  So he waited.

  Waited for retaliation. For punishment. For the moment when Mu Yichen’s gentle mask would slip and reveal the resentment underneath.

  But it never came.

  Mu Yichen never once raised his voice.

  He asked Lee Aseok how he was. Told him to eat. Offer water after training sessions.

  He looked at Lee Aseok like he was human.

  And that, more than anything, made Lee Aseok uneasy.

  Because he didn’t believe he deserved kindness.

  Seo MinHyun made sure of that.

  “Don’t trip, oh wait..you always do.”

  “If you’re gonna puke again, do it after the monsters are dead.”

  “Wow, amazing. Even trash can hold a holy sword these days.”

  MinHyun never missed a chance to dig into him.

  Everything was fair game..his expressionless face, his quiet speech, his awkward movements, the way he avoided eye contact. The fact that he never smiled. His rank. His skill.

  Especially that.

  “Skill: ???” MinHyun would scoff, loud enough for everyone to hear. “Sounds like a bug. Or maybe a joke.”

  It was always loud. Always cruel. But always with that twisted grin that made it hard to fight back.

  Lee Aseok never said anything.

  He never even frowned.

  Park Taegun was different.

  He didn’t insult Lee Aseok. Didn’t mock him.

  But he never acknowledged him either.

  Not once.

  Not when they planned raids.

  Not when they split tasks.

  Not even when Lee Aseok saved his life from a berserker beast, Park Taegun had only nodded once before walking away without a word.

  Even the team’s healer looked at him with hate.

  They weren’t a team. Not really.

  They were four legends and a mistake.

  And Lee Aseok knew that mistake was him.

  The world didn’t question it. After all, he carried the holy sword. Surely he was strong. Surely he was special.

  No one questioned the ranking system. No one knew he was still F-rank. It was buried, hidden under emergency classifications. He let them believe what they wanted.

  Because he had no other choice, the only person who knew his true strength, his master, was already dead.

  Mu Yichen’s team only rode the most dangerous gates. A - class, S-class. SS-class. Occasionally, even unstable gates bordering collapse.

  And Lee Aseok went with them.

  Every time.

  He fought monsters that his body couldn’t handle, until he bled out on dungeon floors and had to be carried out on stretchers.

  He drank mana enhancers until his fingers shook for hours and the inside of his throat burned like acid. He stacked stimulant pills to stay conscious.

  He didn’t remember when he started needing them to sleep.

  But through it all, through the vomiting, the screaming, the trembling…

  He never once blamed the sword.

  Even when he nearly died twenty times over, he would still press the hilt of the holy sword to his chest and breathe easier.

  Because it was the only thing that had never abandoned him.

  It was the only thing that stayed.

  He wanted to be special to someone.

  He’d always wanted that.

  He never asked to be famous. He never asked for love. Just someone..anyone, to look at him like he mattered.

  And when the holy sword responded to him, when it returned to him again and again, he let himself believe that maybe…

  Just maybe…

  It had chosen him for a reason.

  That perhaps, even if the world hated him, even if no one spoke to him without contempt, the sword was still his.

  So on the worst days, when he collapsed mid-dungeon, or when MinHyun called him a parasite, or when Park Taegun refused to stand next to him in photos,

  Lee Aseok would sit in the corner of his room, wrap his arms around the sword, and whisper,

  “…Thank you.”

  It was pathetic.

  But it was all he had.

  That, and the soft voice of Mu Yichen, who once offered him water after a raid and asked him to rest first.

  Kindness that never deepened. Never reached past duty. But Lee Aseok held onto it like he was breathing underwater.

  In those moments, the sword was the only lifeline left, along with Mu Yichen’s quiet gentleness, the sole light in an ocean of darkness.

  But even that fragile hope was crushed in the hellish trials of the “Hell Gate.”

  every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Yes, every week!