Chapter 94

Chapter 94

Song Hwa-rin's wailing slowly faded from the restaurant.

After the storm came heavy silence.

She roughly wiped her swollen eyes.

Her makeup had smeared into a mess, and the proud dignity of an S-rank Hunter had disappeared beneath the tracks of her tears.

What remained was simply Song Hwa-rin, a vulnerable woman whose poison and madness had finally drained away.

She still could not see him.

But she could feel that he was there.

Within the freezing cold, she could sense a familiar warmth she had missed for years.

"...Oppa."

Her voice was hoarse.

"You're... there, aren't you?"

Kang Min-hyuk's spirit silently nodded.

Clear crystals of ice fell like tears from his frozen eyes.

He stretched out a hand he knew could never touch her and gently mimed brushing her wet cheek.

Song Hwa-rin pressed her cheek toward the cold sensation and bit her lip.

"Wait for me."

She spoke.

Strength slowly returned to her voice.

"I'll go there. I'll bring you back. I'm not leaving you alone in that cold, dark place anymore."

It was the vow of a powerful S-rank Hunter.

But the moment Kang Min-hyuk heard it, his spirit reacted violently.

[No...!]

He shook his head desperately.

The cold surrounding his body suddenly exploded, and the restaurant temperature plunged.

White frost spread across the windows.

He turned toward Hong Man-gi.

[Tell her... please, tell Hwa-rin...!]

Kang Min-hyuk clutched his torn throat and released a soundless scream.

[Tell her not to come... Tell her never to come!]

Hong Man-gi looked troubled.

"Kang Min-hyuk... but the Master is serious. She's lived with regret all these years. Even now..."

[I said she can't!]

Kang Min-hyuk's spirit stepped directly in front of him.

He shouted with everything he had.

[That place is hell. It's become even worse than what Hwa-rin remembers. The cold there... freezes even the spirit itself!]

He showed Hong Man-gi his frozen arms.

[One person suffering there is enough. Hwa-rin... the woman I love... I would rather die again than see her enter that place. I'd rather remain trapped there forever!]

His love was painfully selfless.

Even if he had to wander between worlds forever, he refused to accept the possibility of the woman he loved being placed in danger again.

Hong Man-gi let out a deep breath.

'He loves her too much.'

Song Hwa-rin noticed Hong Man-gi's dark expression and anxiously asked,

"What's wrong? What... what is oppa saying?"

Hong Man-gi hesitated.

Should he simply repeat Kang Min-hyuk's words?

Or should he explain what those words truly meant?

But Kang Min-hyuk's eyes were far too desperate.

He was clearly begging Hong Man-gi.

Please stop her.

Hong Man-gi reluctantly spoke.

"...Kang Min-hyuk says..."

"He says you shouldn't come."

Song Hwa-rin's eyes shook.

"...What?"

Hong Man-gi continued.

"He says that place is hell... and that he'd rather die than see you put yourself in danger again. So he's begging you... not to come."

Song Hwa-rin's face instantly went pale.

"Don't... come?"

Her lips trembled.

The freezing despair she had once felt when she believed Kang Min-hyuk had abandoned her washed over her again.

"Why...? Because he hates me? Because I... I hated him all these years? He doesn't even... want to see someone like me anymore?"

Deep pain filled her voice.

She had misunderstood his rejection.

"No... that's not it, oppa... I was wrong... please..."

Song Hwa-rin began crying again and stretched her hands helplessly into empty space.

Kang Min-hyuk clutched his chest as he watched her.

[No... Hwa-rin... that's not it...!]

Unable to do anything else, he looked desperately at Hong Man-gi.

[Please... clear up the misunderstanding...]

Hong Man-gi was the only person capable of holding the invisible thread connecting the two of them.

'What should I do...?'

A body covered in ice.

Yet inside it burned a love hotter than any flame.

Song Hwa-rin was collapsing because she thought she had been rejected.

And yet, beneath those tears was a determination strong enough to challenge death itself.

'I can't leave things like this.'

Hong Man-gi slowly approached Song Hwa-rin.

"Master."

She looked at him through wet eyes.

"Oppa... must hate me... because I was so cruel to him..."

"No."

Hong Man-gi firmly shook his head.

"He isn't rejecting you."

Hong Man-gi looked toward Kang Min-hyuk.

Kang Min-hyuk was stretching his arms toward Song Hwa-rin.

He could not touch her.

Yet he wanted to hold her.

Wanted to protect her.

His entire spirit trembled from that desire.

"That man is crying right now."

"Not because he hates you... but because he loves you too much."

Song Hwa-rin looked at him desperately.

"...Because he loves me?"

"Yes. He's afraid you'll be hurt again. He's afraid you'll suffer in that hell. That's why he's lying to you."

Strength entered Hong Man-gi's voice.

"He says losing you frightens him more than the destruction of his own spirit."

He added with a sigh,

"He's thinking only about you, foolishly so. Exactly the same way he did on that snowfield."

Song Hwa-rin's eyes widened.

"He's lying... because he loves me?"

Her lips trembled.

Hatred had kept her going for years.

The belief that he had betrayed her.

The anger of believing he had abandoned her.

But all of it had been false.

He had not been a traitor.

He had been a foolish man who willingly threw himself into an icy hell just to save her.

"Ugh..."

Song Hwa-rin held her head.

The weight of the truth was so great that her legs threatened to give out.

Kang Min-hyuk's spirit still reached for her, unable to touch her, his fists trembling.

His eyes said, Please go back.

But underneath them was the overwhelming longing to say, I missed you.

"...I don't know."

Song Hwa-rin staggered backward.

"Right now... I can't think. My head feels like it's going to explode."

She turned away as though fleeing.

"Master!"

Hong Man-gi called, but she raised one hand to stop him.

"Don't follow me. Just... give me some time alone."

She staggered through the door.

Heavy silence returned to the restaurant.

Kang Min-hyuk's spirit stared at the door through which she had disappeared.

Then he deeply bowed toward Hong Man-gi.

An expression of gratitude and apology.

A moment later, he slowly scattered like smoke and disappeared.

"Haa..."

Hong Man-gi let out a long breath and sank into a chair.

The next morning.

The Full Moon Restaurant began its day just as usual.

The kitchen was already full of bustling heat.

"Yu-han, lower the heat on that stock. It's going to overflow."

"Ah, yes! Sorry!"

Lee Yu-han hurriedly adjusted the gas valve.

A refreshing aroma of anchovies, kelp, and radish rose from the large pot.

"Jae-min, are you still not done trimming those green onions? We need to hurry if we want to open for lunch."

"Yes, yes, I know! I'm chopping so fast you can't even see my hands!"

Kang Jae-min was cutting through a mountain of green onions, tears running from his eyes.

Perhaps it was the sting of the onions, or perhaps the shock of the previous night still remained with him, but his eyes were red.

Hong Man-gi silently prepared the rice.

Rice cooked with mana stones.

Steam rose from every grain, carrying his care and attention.

On the surface, it looked like any other morning.

"Um... Hunter."

Lee Yu-han spoke.

"Is Master Song Hwa-rin... coming today? Should we prepare her seat?"

Hong Man-gi paused as he closed the rice cooker.

"Who knows..."

He tried to sound unconcerned, but his eyes kept drifting toward the restaurant entrance.

Would she return?

And if she did, what expression would she have?

Outside, they could already hear the earliest customers beginning to line up.

"All right, enough chatting. Let's finish preparing. Another war starts today."

Hong Man-gi clapped his hands.

Then,

[Screech.]

A black sedan silently stopped in front of the restaurant.

"Huh? That car..."

Kang Jae-min muttered while looking through the window.

"She's here again."

The car door opened.

Song Hwa-rin stepped out.

"Uh... she's dressed a little differently today..."

The pure white Hunter coat symbolizing the master of the White Lotus Guild was draped across her shoulders.

Her red hair had been neatly swept back and tied.

Her face was pale without makeup.

She looked ready for war.

A giant sword was strapped to her back.

The S-rank artifact, the White Lotus Sword.

The weapon she only carried when heading into battle.

She quietly entered the restaurant.

"Uh... are you going somewhere today? You're in full combat gear."

Kang Jae-min opened the door for her in confusion.

Song Hwa-rin strode inside.

Instead of heading toward her usual table, she walked straight toward Hong Man-gi in the kitchen.

Then,

"Hong Man-gi."

Hong Man-gi stopped what he was doing and faced her.

"You're here."

"Yeah. I didn't come for food."

Song Hwa-rin went straight to the point.

"I've decided."

"Decided what...?"

"I'm going there."

"There...?"

"The Hellish Snowfield. Into that frozen pit."

Her expression remained cold and clear.

Lee Yu-han and Kang Jae-min, who did not know the full story, exchanged looks.

"The... Hellish Snowfield? Is that the one I'm thinking of?"

"Uh... y-yeah... that place..."