From behind him, the others caught up.

  MinHyun finally noticed the puppy.

  “Oh no,” he whispered. “No, no, no, this is dangerous.”

  “What?” Yichen asked, still watching Aseok.

  “We’re watching a god bond with a dog. That’s like... that’s like emotional kryptonite. He’s going to get character development.”

  Taegun raised a brow. “And that’s bad?”

  “It’s terrifying! Have you seen how emotionally constipated he is?! The moment that puppy tilts its head, we’re all doomed.”

  Mu Yichen stepped past them without a word and stopped a few steps behind Aseok.

  Still silent.

  Still unsure what to say.

  Aseok didn’t turn to look at him.

  But he must’ve sensed him.

  A long moment passed in silence.

  Then, finally.

  “...It’s dirty,” Aseok muttered.

  His voice was low, expression unreadable, but Yichen caught something beneath the tone.

  It wasn’t disgust.

  It wasn’t coldness.

  It was a concern.

  Mu Yichen’s chest tightened again.

  Aseok opened the car door wider.

  The puppy didn’t move, still wagging its tail faintly.

  Aseok sat down beside it.

  Didn’t say anything.

  Didn’t pet it.

  But he didn’t push it away either.

  Just sat there with the iron rod across his lap, a bloodied robe, and a puppy curled beside his leg like it had found its rightful place.

  And somehow, in the mess of ruin and confusion, that image felt more powerful than the battle they’d just witnessed.

  Seo MinHyun finally sighed and slumped into the back seat.

  “Great,” he muttered. “The emotionally dead god has adopted a dog. What’s next, a flower garden? A tragic backstory montage? Are we in a redemption arc now?”

  Park Taegun climbed in silently.

  Mu Yichen didn’t.

  He stood outside the door, his eyes on Aseok.

  And something in his voice cracked, just slightly, when he finally spoke:

  “...I’ll clean it.”

  Aseok glanced up, vaguely.

  Yichen gestured at the puppy.

  “I’ll wash it. If you want to keep it.”

  Aseok didn’t answer.

  But he didn’t say no either.

  Which, for him, was almost a yes.

  Mu Yichen smiled faintly.

  He got in the front seat.

  The car door shut.

  And just like that, the war zone faded behind them.

  What came next, none of them knew.

  But for now, the monster was gone.

  The hero had chosen silence.

  And the boy who once never moved from his couch…

  Had taken his first step toward something none of them could quite define.

  Mu Yichen sat behind the wheel, his expression unreadable.

  But even he couldn’t help glancing at the scene in the passenger seat.

  There were a lot of strange things happening right now.

  For starters..

  The puppy.

  An honest-to-god dirty, fragile street mutt had decided to imprint on Lee Aseok like he was its spiritual messiah. Which, to be fair, wasn't entirely inaccurate.

  After all, the creature had watched Aseok kill a dungeon boss with a rusted metal rod while ignoring the divine weapon floating beside him.

  Which brought them to the second strange thing..

  The sword.

  The holy sword, to be precise.

  It hovered in midair just above Aseok’s lap, where he’d unceremoniously dropped his bloodied iron rod.

  The divine blade was pristine, radiant, elegant, its core glowing faintly with divine mana, humming with ethereal energy.

  And yet… it looked offended.

  Not literally, of course.

  But if a sword could sulk, this one was absolutely sulking.

  Its blade angled ever-so-slightly toward the rod like it was glaring at a rival.

  Occasionally, a spark of mana would flicker in its core, sharp, impatient. It was clearly insulted.

  Mu Yichen had never seen a holy weapon behave like that before.

  But somehow, it made perfect sense.

  Lee Aseok had faced an A-rank monster, alone, and chosen to wield a pipe he found behind a bakery dumpster instead of the most powerful weapon ever granted to humanity.

  The holy sword didn’t take it well.

  Park Taegun stared at the scene with the silent disapproval of a soldier watching rules being broken.

  Seo MinHyun, meanwhile, slowly turned his head toward Yichen.

  “Tell me,” he said, voice low and haunted, “how did my life reach this point?”

  Yichen didn’t respond.

  MinHyun gestured vaguely at the front seat.

  “Look at that. I mean really look. That’s our secret weapon? Our ace? The guy who just solo-cleared a dungeon?”

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  Aseok shifted slightly, resting his cheek against the window like he was eighty years old waiting at a bus stop.

  “He looks like he’s contemplating if it’s worth living another day,” MinHyun muttered.

  “We just watched him do something only few people in the world might be capable of, and now he’s sulking in a car with a mangy dog and a sentient sword having an ego crisis.”

  Park Taegun closed his eyes. “Be quiet.”

  “No! I refuse. This is a cry for help. This is not normal.”

  He leaned forward and waved a hand toward Aseok.

  “Hey. Lee. I’m not saying you need therapy, but you’re definitely, like… at least ten episodes into a very intense psychological anime arc right now.”

  Lee Aseok didn’t blink.

  Didn’t move.

  Didn’t even twitch at the sound of MinHyun’s voice.

  Seo MinHyun slumped dramatically in his seat.

  “This is worse than when he watched all seven seasons of Detective Ghost Chef in one sitting and didn’t move for thirty hours. At least back then, he blinked occasionally.”

  Mu Yichen let out a soft breath.

  His fingers tightened slightly on the wheel.

  “…It’s not a bad thing,” he murmured.

  MinHyun looked over. “What?”

  Yichen nodded toward the puppy. “He’s letting it stay.”

  MinHyun squinted. “Yeah, and that’s weird. Aseok doesn’t let things do anything. He either ignores them or walks away.”

  “Exactly.”

  Yichen’s gaze dropped to the rod beside Aseok’s seat.

  It looked so ordinary. Pathetic even.

  Bent, rusted. Cracked near the hilt.

  And yet, Aseok had chosen it over a legendary artifact.

  He hadn’t even looked at the holy sword once during the battle.

  And still… he won.

  Yichen’s chest twisted again.

  The weight of that realization sank in slowly.

  Lee Aseok had already passed the level where tools or titles mattered.

  The world just hadn’t realized it yet.

  The puppy gave a soft whimper and shifted closer to Aseok.

  Still no response.

  But this time, Aseok didn’t push it away.

  Didn’t move his foot either.

  It was subtle.

  But Seo MinHyun caught it.

  And something in his expression shifted, just a little.

  He leaned back against the seat, quiet for once.

  “…This is going to get messy,” he muttered.

  Park Taegun didn’t reply.

  But his jaw clenched slightly, as if he agreed.

  They all knew the same thing now:

  Lee Aseok wasn’t someone they understood.

  Not really.

  They thought he was lazy.

  Sluggish.

  Emotionally detached.

  Maybe even broken.

  But what they saw today.

  The cold eyes.

  The effortless power.

  The silent dominance.

  It wasn’t something a broken man carried.

  It was something a warrior did.

  A man with scars carved deep beneath the surface. Too deep to show on the skin.

  And that man…

  Was now staring quietly out a window, while a filthy puppy napped beside him and a glowing divine sword sulked nearby like a jilted lover.

  The car rolled through the damaged streets.

  The city passed by in flickers of orange light and shadow.

  None of them spoke again.

  But in the stillness..

  It became clearer than ever.

  This wasn’t just their roommate anymore.

  This was a storm hidden in flesh.

  And the world had no idea what was coming.

  They finally pulled into the underground parking lot of Mu Yichen’s house.

  Yichen's estate was massive, clean lines, sleek glass, and warm lighting. Every inch of it felt like a place where a man of honor, dignity, and discipline lived.

  So of course, the first person to step out of the car was Lee Aseok, dragging his iron rod behind him with a soft scrape, posture slumped like someone being forced to do manual labor.

  He didn’t speak.

  Didn’t wait.

  Didn’t even look behind him.

  He just walked lazily toward the entrance, dragging his shadow behind him.

  Except this time… it wasn’t just a shadow.

  The puppy scrambled down after him, paws tapping unevenly on the garage floor, making soft squeaks as it tried to keep up.

  Its tail wagged wildly despite its exhaustion. It let out a small, hoarse bark as it reached the bottom of the stairs.

  Aseok climbed the first few steps like a sleepwalker.

  The puppy cried out behind him.

  A small, anxious sound.

  Desperate.

  Aseok didn’t stop.

  He didn’t turn back.

  Didn’t even twitch.

  Seo MinHyun folded his arms. “I feel like I’m watching some kind of cold-hearted drama where the main character’s about to break everyone’s hearts.”

  Mu Yichen quietly moved forward, passing by Aseok as he bent down and gently scooped the puppy into his arms.

  The little thing immediately stopped crying.

  Its nose wiggled, and it pressed into Yichen’s chest, tail thumping against his arm.

  Mu Yichen didn’t say anything. Just followed Aseok up the stairs, silently bringing the puppy along.

  The front door closed behind them.

  Inside, the house was quiet, too quiet, except for the distant clicking of nails on polished flooring.

  Aseok continued walking through the main hall, iron rod casually resting against his shoulder now like it was part of his spine.

  The holy sword floated behind him like an offended ghost.

  He didn’t react.

  MinHyun trailed behind the group, muttering under his breath.

  “If that sword tries to duel the iron pipe, I’m out. I’m not watching sentient weapons have emotional drama.”

  Park Taegun looked like he wanted to ask for a vacation.

  But all attention quickly shifted when Aseok reached the hallway to the rooms.

  He stopped.

  Then he looked down.

  The puppy had wriggled out of Yichen’s arms the moment they’d passed the threshold and had somehow scurried across the polished floor, tripping at least twice, to reach Aseok again.

  Now it sat at his feet.

  Barking.

  Softly. Repeatedly. With the kind of excitement that couldn’t be taught, only given.

  Lee Aseok looked at it.

  And the dog looked back.

  It wasn’t a long moment.

  But it stretched like something bigger than it was.

  A quiet stand-off. A staring contest between man and beast.

  Aseok’s reddish brown eyes were cold and unblinking. He didn’t say a word.

  But neither did he move away.

  Or scowl.

  Or shove the dog aside.

  He just… stood there.

  Letting it bark at him with a squeaky milky voice and wag its tail like it had found something precious.

  Seo MinHyun leaned in from the corner.

  “…Is this… is this it? Is this the end of the cold arc? Are we watching character development happen in real time?”

  Mu Yichen’s eyes stayed fixed on Aseok.

  He couldn’t look away.

  There was something quiet in his chest again. That same ache he hadn’t been able to explain.

  It stirred when he saw Aseok like this, tired, haunted, cold.

  And yet...

  Something in him softened now.

  Because, Aseok reached out.

  Gripped the door handle to his room.

  And, to everyone’s shock, instead of slipping inside and closing it like he always did, he paused.

  Then opened it.

  Wide.

  He said nothing.

  Didn’t look down.

  Didn’t gesture.

  But it was enough.

  The puppy, as if understanding everything, gave a loud happy bark and sprinted inside the room with wobbly legs, tail flailing like a windmill.

  Aseok stood at the door a moment longer.

  Then walked in after it.

  The door didn’t slam shut behind him.

  It closed slowly.

  The door clicked shut.

  Firm.

  Final.

  Seo MinHyun stood there, blinking at the wood now separating him from the mysterious, half-dead-looking human who had just casually opened his heart to a puppy and slammed it shut for everyone else.

  He blinked again.

  Then, slowly, his mouth opened.

  “…Did he just…”

  “Yes,” Park Taegun replied dryly, already walking away.

  “No, no, wait. He just opened the door. Let the dog in. Let it in, and then shut the door in my face?”

  “Yes.”

  “That lazy sloth! That iron-pipe-wielding cryptid! He opened the door for a dog!”

  MinHyun’s voice pitched upward like a kettle boiling over.

  “I thought, maybe, I don’t know, maybe he was going to finally say something to me. Maybe he wanted to talk after all that emotional damage and monster-exploding nonsense!”

  Taegun didn’t even turn around. “He doesn’t want to talk to you.”

  MinHyun ground his teeth. “He doesn’t talk to anyone! But he let a dog into his room!”

  Mu Yichen, who had remained silent until now, adjusted his gloves, his expression as calm as ever. “The puppy probably barked less than you.”

  Seo MinHyun turned to him in disbelief. “The hell man? Whose site are you on?”

  But no one paid him further attention.

  Mu Yichen and Taegun moved into the main operations room, the tension from earlier battles already settling into the quiet, professional rhythm of trained response.

  Because they knew.

  It had already begun.

  Less than an hour later, the screens in Mu Yichen’s home command center were glowing, red notifications stacking in real time.

  Guild alert boards. Civilian reposts. Streamer clips. Government briefings.

  They didn’t need to guess anymore.

  Lee Aseok’s name was on everyone’s lips.

  And not gently.

  [Trending: #AseokSSS?!]

  — “That guy just slammed an A-rank gate with a rusty pipe and didn’t even flinch. Who is he??”

  — “I thought the holy sword chose him, but he didn’t even use it? It just floated there like an upset fairy.”

  — “Mu Yichen was the last SSS-rank, right? Are we looking at another?”

  — “Did you see the expression on his face? Guy looked like he was fighting depression more than the dungeon.”

  — “He said he wouldn’t be our hero. I don’t think that’s a line. I think he meant it.”

  [Live Discussion: Breaking Down the Gate Footage Frame by Frame]

  — “Pause here. That swing. That’s not just mana control. That’s something else entirely.

  — “No skill flash. No sword glows. But the monster just imploded.”

  — “My cousin's cousin is in the Hunter Association. He says even the S-ranks are confused.”

  — “That iron rod looks like it came from a construction site. And it’s now more iconic than half the legendary weapons out there.”

  MinHyun flopped on the couch in the operations room, arms crossed, expression annoyed as a dozen voices from the screen filled the room.

  “I was the one who noticed the puppy first,” he muttered bitterly.

  Taegun ignored him, eyes scanning the scrolling feeds for political or guild reactions. “The Association is already holding an emergency meeting.”

  Mu Yichen sat back with a quiet sigh, fingers steepled in thought.

  They all knew what this meant.

  An unknown power. A hunter who didn’t exist on any registry beyond the bare minimum.

  A dungeon cleared faster than any elite team could have managed, without backup, without the holy sword, and with zero interest in media or recognition.

  The last time something like this had happened… was never.

  Even Mu Yichen had taken years to rise in the ranks.

  But Lee Aseok?

  Lee Aseok had shown up, destroyed an A-rank gate, adopted a dog, and went to sleep.

  All on the same day.

  “Do you think he’s really SSS-rank?” Taegun asked flatly.

  Yichen didn’t answer immediately.

  His thoughts were drifting again.

  That fight, no, that massacre, was too clean. Too perfect. And there had been something else in Aseok’s mana when he struck that final blow.

  A devouring force.

  Ancient. Raw. Like it didn’t belong to this world.

  He finally spoke. “I think… rank might not be the right way to measure him.”

  MinHyun groaned. “Great. So what’s next? We changed the ranking system to include ‘God-King Tier’ just for him?”

  But nobody laughed.

  Not even MinHyun.

  Because the reality was: the world was panicking.

  Some celebrated.

  Some feared.

  Some doubted.

  But no one was ignoring it.

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