The flickering light of the campfire cast long shadows across the weary faces of the hunters.

  Mu Yichen, Seo MinHyun, and Park Taegun stood silently a few paces away, watching Lee Aseok with a mixture of fascination and unease.

  He knelt on the cold ground, cradling the puppy, Pudding, in his arms, stroking its fur with an almost tender care that seemed entirely at odds with the man’s usual impenetrable coldness.

  It was hard to believe the same person who wielded a bloodied iron rod with merciless efficiency could treat this little creature with such softness.

  Their minds churned with the contradiction: how could someone so cruel to his fellow humans be so gentle with a helpless puppy?

  Mu Yichen’s voice was barely a whisper as he broke the silence. “How… how can someone who ignores his teammates’cries, who steps over others without a second thought, be this kind to a pet?” His words had undeniable jealousy.

  Seo MinHyun scoffed softly, but there was no mockery in his tone. “Maybe the puppy’s the only thing he hasn’t decided to cut down yet.”

  Their quiet musing was broken when Lee Aseok’s eyes suddenly shifted from the puppy to He Ziqin.

  The teleportation specialist flinched, his already pale face paling further as Lee Aseok’s sharp gaze pinned him like a hunted animal.

  Ziqin's heart thudded violently. For a moment, he feared the merciless hero might lash out again.

  But instead, Lee Aseok clicked his tongue, an almost casual sound, but one filled with unspoken warning.

  “You have two days off,” Lee Aseok said bluntly, his voice low, direct, stripped of any warmth or humor.

  The words hit He Ziqin like a thunderclap.

  Two days off? Was this some kind of hallucination brought on by exhaustion? He blinked rapidly, glancing back at Lee Aseok’s expression, searching for any hint that this was a joke.

  But no. Those cold, unyielding eyes held steady. No trace of jest, no softness beyond the bare command.

  He Ziqin nodded quickly, swallowing his disbelief, and bolted away, fearing that if he lingered, the brief respite might be snatched away.

  Seo MinHyun stared after He Ziqin, then turned sharply toward Lee Aseok, eyes wide with disbelief. “Did you hear that? Did the tyrant hero just… give someone a break? Is he..has he actually gone soft? Maybe there’s hope for him after all!”

  Mu Yichen, however, didn’t look convinced. His gaze remained fixed on Lee Aseok, searching for the hidden meaning beneath the hero’s sudden change in tone.

  “No,” Mu Yichen murmured, shaking his head slightly. “It’s never that simple with Aseok.”

  Lee Aseok, who had been sitting motionless, glanced toward Seo MinHyun with that same lazy, expressionless look that was his trademark.

  Then, just as suddenly as the change in mood had come, his lips curved into a slow, faint smirk.

  It was that same unsettling smirk, the one that sent a chill through the spine of anyone who saw it.

  Familiar to all three men standing there, it was a smile that promised chaos, a hidden plan lurking behind that cold exterior.

  The smirk deepened, and the three hunters instinctively took a step back, their minds racing with suspicion.

  “What’s he plotting now?” Park Taegun muttered under his breath, voice low enough that only the others could hear.

  Days earlier, the team had endured back-to-back dungeon clears with no rest, pushing themselves to the brink.

  Lee Aseok’s iron rod was an unstoppable force, whether cutting through monsters, golems or dungeons, he charged relentlessly ahead.

  The faint glow of dawn barely touched the edges of the horizon as Lee Aseok stood before the device, his expression as unreadable as ever.

  The puppy, Pudding, was curled peacefully in his arms, blissfully unaware of the tension crackling among the small group behind him.

  Mu Yichen, Seo MinHyun, and Park Taegun exchanged wary glances.

  The smirk stretched lazily across Lee Aseok’s face, his lips curling into a slow, deliberate arc of amusement.

  It was the same expression he wore before plunging headfirst into chaos, before carving a path through fire, ice, and electricity without breaking a sweat.

  The three hunters shuddered slightly, as if the smirk itself had a weight to it, like an omen.

  But Lee Aseok paid them no mind. His eyes focused on the device, flicking through the status reports of nearby gates.

  As expected, there were no new S-rank gates opened. The world had quieted, for the moment.

  The situation was not urgent.

  Mu Yichen stepped forward, voice steady but edged with concern. “Lee Aseok, you need to take a rest. Everyone’s exhausted. Even Seo MinHyun and Park Taegun look like they’re about to collapse.”

  Seo MinHyun, usually brimming with energy and reckless bravado, nodded in agreement, his face pale and drawn.

  Park Taegun’s usual calm demeanor seemed fragile, a thin veneer barely holding up.

  But Lee Aseok, with the effortless calm of a man who had seen a thousand battles and never broken, merely shook his head. His gaze was distant, unreadable.

  “I’m fine,” he said simply.

  Seo MinHyun’s brow furrowed. “How can you still look like you’re fine after riding gate after gate non-stop? You don’t even drink mana potions. Are you some kind of machine?”

  Mu Yichen's eyes turned cold as he looked at Lee Aseok.

  Lee Aseok gave a faint shrug, then turned away without another word. The puppy stirred slightly but remained asleep, safe in his arms.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  He walked calmly to the car, his iron rod the old, battered weapon that had seen countless battles, leaning against the door.

  It was stained red with the blood of monsters, gleaming even in the low light.

  The others followed, climbing into the vehicle with heavy limbs and heavier hearts.

  No one could shake the nagging question that hovered over them like a dark cloud.

  How could Lee Aseok keep going? How was it possible that he showed no signs of exhaustion, no hint of mana depletion, no crack in his unyielding facade?

  The car engine roared to life, and the group sped off toward the next gate.

  Pudding shifted in Lee Aseok’s arms, finally settling into a deeper sleep, oblivious to the tension around him.

  Inside the car, the atmosphere was thick with unspoken worry.

  Mu Yichen glanced at Lee Aseok through the rearview mirror, his mind racing.

  What no one knew, and what no one could have guessed, was the secret Lee Aseok guarded fiercely.

  He didn’t just survive these endless battles.

  He thrived on them.

  Every time the boss monster fell and the dungeon core shattered, Lee Aseok absorbed its energy.

  The power that would drain most hunters, leaving them gasping and broken, only fueled him.

  The energy poured into his body, seeping into his bones, filling every fiber of his being with strength.

  His body grew stronger. His mana replenished itself at an impossible rate.

  Instead of losing stamina, he gained it. Instead of growing weaker, he grew more powerful.

  No one had any clue that the man who wielded an iron rod instead of a holy sword carried a secret ability that set him apart from every other hunter in the world.

  As the car approached the next gate, a large A-rank portal pulsed ominously before them.

  The swirling vortex of energy shimmered with shades of blue and violet, crackling with latent magic.

  The others braced themselves, clutching their weapons and mana potions tightly.

  Lee Aseok remained serene, as if entering a dungeon was as routine as stepping outside to buy groceries.

  The gate opened with a roar, and they were swallowed by darkness.

  Inside, the air was thick and heavy. Jagged rocks jutted from the cavern walls, slick with moisture and glittering with strange crystals. The scent of ozone and decay filled their noses.

  Suddenly, a burst of electricity arced across the room, an electric-themed dungeon. Water pooled on the ground, shimmering with a faint, dangerous glow.

  “Great,” muttered Seo MinHyun, eyebrows twitching nervously. “More shocks waiting to fry us.”

  Park Taegun scanned the shadows, muscles tensing. “Stay alert.”

  Lee Aseok stepped forward without hesitation, an Iron rod raised. His movements were calm, almost lazy, but deadly precise.

  Electric currents crackled around him, but he didn’t flinch.

  Instead, he swung the iron rod in a wide arc, sending a wave of charged energy toward the monstrous creatures lurking in the shadows.

  The monsters screeched, half beast, half storm, claws sparking with electricity as they charged.

  Lee Aseok moved like a force of nature, cutting through them with brutal efficiency.

  Sparks flew as his iron rod clashed with their claws and teeth, the sound ringing out like thunder.

  Behind him, the others fought desperately, but Lee Aseok never slowed.

  When a hunter called for help, his response was a cold glare, and then he cut down the nearest enemy without hesitation.

  No time for mercy.

  No time for teamwork.

  Just pure, unyielding power.

  The battle raged on, bodies falling, electricity crackling, and the boss monster eventually appearing, a towering creature of lightning and stone, crackling with raw energy.

  Lee Aseok didn’t hesitate. He charged, dodging the beast’s massive blows and responding with swift, brutal strikes.

  The iron rod sang as it cut through the air and flesh, never faltering.

  Finally, with a final, decisive blow, the boss monster collapsed, its body dissolving into a shower of sparks and energy.

  The dungeon core pulsed wildly, and Lee Aseok reached out, absorbing its power with an unnatural ease.

  Back in the car, as they left the dungeon behind, Mu Yichen finally spoke. “You really are something else, Aseok. No one can keep up with you.”

  Lee Aseok said nothing, only glanced at the sleeping puppy, then out the window.

  Seo MinHyun grinned weakly. “Maybe one day you’ll teach us how to be immortal.”

  Park Taegun chuckled dryly. “If that day comes, I’ll buy you a drink.”

  Lee Aseok finally cracked a faint smile, the smirk again, but it was gone as quickly as it appeared.

  The puppy stirred, stretching in his arms.

  The others settled back, worn out but strangely comforted by the presence of the unstoppable hunter who walked among them like a shadow, tireless, merciless, yet somehow, inexplicably gentle to one small creature.

  And no one, not a single soul, knew the secret behind Lee Aseok’s endless strength.

  The car sped through the winding roads, the scenery flashing past like a blur of green and gray.

  Lee Aseok sat quietly in the backseat, his usual impassive face lit faintly by the streetlights as he exhaled a long breath.

  The soft, almost rhythmic sound of the puppy’s breathing was the only peaceful thing amidst the tension that filled the cramped space.

  Mu Yichen glanced sideways at him, then at Seo MinHyun and Park Taegun, who both looked worn out and uneasy.

  There was something about Lee Aseok tonight, something unsettling beneath that familiar lazy smirk.

  For many years, it was accepted as a universal truth: after the dungeon’s final boss was killed, the core was destroyed. The core, after all, was the heart of the gate, the source of its power.

  Destroying it meant stopping the gate from ever reopening. Every hunter knew this. It was their creed.

  But only Lee Aseok knew what truly happened to the energy inside the cores.

  The energy wasn’t destroyed or dissipated.

  It shattered.

  Scattered into countless invisible shards of raw power that floated in the air, waiting. Waiting to form a new gate. A new disaster. A new nightmare.

  A perfect, never-ending cycle.

  And that was why Lee Aseok was always so quick to clear gates, so ruthless and impatient.

  Because when he destroyed a core, he didn’t just shatter it. He absorbed the energy.

  He swallowed the shards whole.

  The energy fed him, charged his body, and strengthened his mana.

  Instead of losing power from the fight, he gained it. Every dungeon he cleared made him stronger, more dangerous.

  His body was a vessel filled with ancient, unknowable energy, and he was still growing.

  Looking out the window at the blurred lights, Lee Aseok chuckled softly to himself.

  The sound was quiet but dark, filled with amusement and something cruel.

  He imagined the chaos this would cause. The confusion and despair that would grip humanity when the number of new gates suddenly began to drop, when the expected disasters stopped coming, and no one knew why.

  The hunters would scramble for answers. Governments would panic. Scientists would theorize. Experts would argue.

  But none of them would guess the truth.

  Because only Lee Aseok held that knowledge, and he had no intention of sharing it.

  After all, he rather liked watching humans suffer.

  Inside the car, Mu Yichen, Seo MinHyun, and Park Taegun exchanged glances as they watched Lee Aseok quietly chuckle to himself.

  The chill of unease ran down their spines.

  Seo MinHyun, who never hid his opinions, shivered and wrapped his arms tightly around himself.

  “Honestly… the way he’s laughing alone like that? It’s like he’s the villain in some dark story, not the hero we all look up to,” Seo whispered, voice trembling.

  Mu Yichen and Park Taegun nodded in silent agreement.

  Mu Yichen’s voice was low and cautious. “I can’t argue with you.”

  Park Taegun folded his arms, his usual stoic mask slipping for a moment. “It’s unsettling. We’ve fought together for so long, but I don’t know if I can trust what he’s doing.”

  Lee Aseok looked at the sky, the reddish brown eyes glowing briefly before he flicked it out the window.

  He didn’t care.

  They didn’t need to understand. They couldn’t.

  He had chosen his path a long time ago, one that no one could follow, no matter how hard they tried.

  He was no hero.

  He was a force rewriting the rules of the world.

  As the car slowed near the next gate, Mu Yichen finally broke the silence.

  “You always seem fine, Aseok. No matter how many gates you clear, no matter how brutal the fights are. You don’t even drink mana potions.”

  Lee Aseok’s gaze flicked to Mu Yichen, cold and unreadable. Then he looked away, expression flat.

  “I don’t need to,” he said simply.

  The others were left hanging on those words, unable to push further.

  The next gate loomed ahead, its dark portal swirling with faint lightning, the unmistakable mark of a monster -themed dungeon.

  The hunters prepared themselves, the tension thick in the air.

  But Lee Aseok only tightened his grip on the iron rod, eyes half-lidded, his smirk fading into that cold, indifferent mask once more.

  He had work to do.

  And as always, he would finish it on his own terms.

  Despite the unease, they pressed on, clearing dungeon after dungeon, one after another, without rest.

  Lee Aseok didn’t act out of the ordinary. He didn’t lose his cool or falter in battle.

  In fact, he was as relentless as ever, his iron rod slicing through enemies with brutal efficiency, his pace unrelenting.

  Author Note:

  Thank you all for sticking around and screaming with me in the comments, you have no idea how much your reactions fuel me.

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