Prologue Part 3(Final) : Graduation Days

Graduation Day

Ever since that day, the world had changed. The rifts were now called "Gates," and the people who fought the monsters pouring from them were called "Awakeners."

Baek Suho, her childhood friend, was one of the first. Two months ago, on the school rooftop, he had shown his power to her and Han Maru—a glimpse of lightning crackling at his fingertips. It had been the most shocking thing in the world. Now, it was just the way things were. Awakeners were the first line of defense, the ones who raided the Gates, defeated the monstrous bosses within, and were spat back out into the world as the portal sealed behind them.

She side-eyed Suho, who looked uncharacteristically solemn, and then Han Maru, who was practically vibrating with anxiety. Today was their graduation day. And Baek Suho was being conscripted into the Hunter Program.

No, "conscripted" was the right word. She could see the quiet annoyance, the resigned slump in his shoulders. She remembered the tears he'd tried to hide when the final enlistment notice came—the official government assignment that overrode his trainee contract, canceling his debut and upgrading him from a "half-hunter" to full-time, mandatory service. Baek Suho, who dreamed of being an idol, had his future stolen in two stages. First, they gave him power and a part-time job. Then, now on this graduation day, they took everything else.

Seeing her best friend force a smile while his heart was breaking... it hurt her deeply. He had looked so lost when he told them, "They own me now." Until they'd finally talked about it.

"Ah, I guess this is it," Suho said, breaking the silence. He turned to her, the practiced idol smile back on his face. "You're going to college, right? To become a veterinarian." He beamed at her. "Good luck, Seolseol! Make your dream come true!"

She could hear the bitterness hidden in that last word. A dream he could no longer have, she thought. She reached out and gently patted his head. "Uh, thanks," he said softly, leaning into the touch for just a second, a rare moment of vulnerability.

He then turned to Han Maru, his expression turning grim. "Han Maru, are you sure you want to sign up for the program? The forced awakening? I've been in those dungeons. They're not just… er, dangerous." He struggled to find the right words, his experience as a half-hunter giving him a terrifying insight. "They're nightmares. And that's if the hunters protecting you can keep the monsters back."

Han Maru nodded, his hands clenched at his sides. "Y-yeah, I n-need to. The signing bonus for new hunters… it's the only way to pay m-my mom's hospital b-bills." Despite his stutter, his eyes held a firm, desperate resolve.

Suho studied him, his gaze a mix of pity and understanding. He knew what it was like to have your choices taken away by circumstance. "Then let's be partners," he said, offering a fist bump. "Once you survive the program. Partners?"

Han Maru managed a small, nervous smile and bumped his fist against Suho's. "Y-yeah. P-partners."

Yoo Seol signed, her movements calm and deliberate.

"O-of course," Han Maru agreed.

Suho nodded, then dug into his pocket. He pulled out three simple dog tag necklaces, each engraved with their initials—a symbol from his time as a half-hunter. "Well, take these. It's a physical bond. My life is theirs now… but this means we'll always have each other."

She took hers and put it on immediately. Han Maru followed suit, clutching the tag like a lifeline.

......................

Six Years Later

Han Maru did not fulfill his promise. He never visited.

From her apartment window, Yoo Seol watched the world change. The frantic panic of the Daybreak End had hardened into a grim new routine. The rifts were now called "Gates," and the Awakeners who fought within them were "Hunters," organized into official ranks and guilds.

She saw the technological leaps unfold on the news and on the streets. She saw Hunters flick their wrists, weapons materializing from thin air thanks to the new Hunter Braces. She heard of Mana Metal weapons and Elemental Gems that allowed even those without innate power to fight. It was a world of marvels she observed from the sidelines, steadfast on her own path to become a veterinarian.

But no invention could fix what was broken between her two best friends.

Han Maru, unable to awaken in the program, became a permanent F-Ranker, branded a parasite living in the shadow of an S-Rank. The cruel whispers—"He's only alive because of Baek Suho"—finally drove him to become a miner, disappearing into the earth, the lowest subclass of their new world.

Suho, now one of Korea's Four Heavenly Kings—The White Tiger—tried again and again to reach him. She saw him return from each attempt, his cheerful mask slipping a little more, his eyes growing colder. The spider-silk hoodie he always wore seemed less like a choice and more like a uniform for a war he never wanted.

After the last time, he stood in her kitchen, the lightning at his fingertips crackling with his anger. "They did this," he muttered, not to her, but to the world. "Their words. Their jealousy. They made him think he was nothing." He made a vow then and there. He would hunt alone. He would never give another Hunter the chance to poison something he cared about again.

And so, the three best friends became a duo. Only Suho still visited her, his presence a constant, lonely reminder of the third who was missing. She listened to his stories, her silent apartment a poor substitute for the friendship they had lost, a quiet witness to a world that advanced.

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