Kwon Jihan continued, recounting a difficult time in his past.
"I grew up being beaten by local thugs after I got bigger around the time of the Great Cataclysm. They tried to make me one of their lackeys, but I resisted. At first, they would beat me up on my way home from school, but later they would come to our house when Juncheol hyung wasn't around and harass my mother and me. Juncheol hyung lived next door. I could handle it, but when they started bothering my mom, I considered just giving in."
"They weren't just local bullies, were they?"
"No, they were a gang. They were into loan sharking and drug dealing. They'd beat me day and night, hoping that a ten-year-old with some grit would join them. It got so bad I almost considered it. I thought it wouldn't be all bad. If I swallowed my pride and obeyed them, I wouldn't have to worry about money anymore."
"..."
"I talked to my mom while she was getting ready for work. I asked her if I should just become a thug. If I became one and made a lot of money, I could at least pay the rent. I wasn't good at studying, and my future seemed hopeless anyway… I got that far with the conversation. Then the Great Cataclysm hit."
"..."
"The building collapsed, and my mom got pinned under some rebar. We both knew she was going to die there. My mom was usually quiet and didn't show much emotion, but I never expected her to stay so calm in the face of death. I was shocked and bewildered. But then, as she held me, her last words were, 'Jihan, don't do bad things. Even if you're beaten, don't make others suffer. Take care of those weaker than you. This is the right way to live. It will be hard and tiresome, and sometimes you'll feel like a fool watching those who live comfortably without a conscience. But in the end, you'll realize you were right. Life will teach you that this way is correct….'"
Yoon Seo lowered his head, feeling his eyes well up, and quickly drank his strawberry latte like water. Even though he cooled his emotions with the cold drink, his eyes still felt warm. When he composed himself and looked back at Kwon Jihan, his eyes widened slightly.
Kwon Jihan had a faint smile on his face. He wasn't crying with a heartache recalling his final moments with his mother, nor was he frowning in distress. Instead, he smiled as if recalling a beautiful memory saved from the world's cruelty.
Yoon Seo thought, seeing how beautiful someone's face could be when recalling the past. How someone could smile like that while thinking of an eternal farewell.
"So, that's why I had to live like that. It's better than your situation, isn't it? I only had one will to follow. Still, it was really hard. I was a ten-year-old kid left alone during the apocalypse. Until things normalized, not only monsters but also humans were enemies."
Yoon Seo awakened on the day of the Great Cataclysm. Collaborating with the government, he led a relatively decent life, aside from battling monsters.
However, life for non-awakened individuals was vastly different. Every day was a struggle, threatened by monsters and fellow humans alike. Government broadcasts on TV and radio repeatedly urged people to evacuate to shelters. Some followed these instructions, while others locked their doors and hid at home. Whether in shelters or at home, they had to endure without electricity, drinking dirty, contaminated water, and going hungry.
The military and police were preoccupied with life-or-death battles against monsters and couldn't attend to 'minor' law enforcement issues. Huge gangs of criminals raided homes, cruelly tormenting survivors. Many people voluntarily joined criminal groups to avoid becoming victims. Neighborhood watch groups formed, but they were no match for the armed criminal gangs.
Yoon Seo was aware of the harsh reality that civilians faced for years until the government regained its power and restored order.
"There was so much crime that even when bodies piled up in the streets, no one paid any attention. Even though it was clear that people, not monsters, were responsible. The thugs in our neighborhood persisted, continuing to harass me. I don't know what they saw in a kid in his early teens, but they thought I had potential to be a thug. The adults in the shelter didn't help me at all. I was really frustrated. If I saw a kid being bullied by thugs, I'd never ignore it. I kept wondering why people stronger than me were so vile. I understand now; it's not easy to stand up to thugs."
"..."
"The thugs began to try bribing me when threats didn't work. At first, they offered clothes, then food, and when I refused, they offered water. At the time, I was in a shelter and had to wait for rain to get water. It was a tremendous temptation when I was so thirsty."
"..."
"If you followed their orders, like monitoring people being killed or threatening civilians with modified saws, you could drink as much water as you wanted. That's how everyone lived. Many lived by robbing others and weren't even caught. There was no one to arrest them. So, wasn't not doing those things just foolish?"
"..."
"But I refused, hyung. It was really hard, but I refused."
Yoon Seo took a deep breath, his chest heaving.
He imagined a brave little kid refusing to bow down to fearsome criminals, and it filled him with admiration.
Could he have done the same? If he were an unawakened person in the apocalypse, could he have held onto his beliefs like Kwon Jihan did?
Yoon Seo wasn't sure.
"So, they got so angry with my refusal that they beat me severely. Thinking back, the thugs probably didn't have much strength because they weren't eating well, but I was just a kid… I really thought I might die. I survived thanks to Juncheol hyung, who awakened earlier than me."
Yoon Seo bit the inside of his cheek.
"Why not just compromise once? It would have been better than dying."
"I couldn't. It was a will."
"..."
"Would you have compromised, hyung?"
Yoon Seo didn't answer and looked away. He felt Kwon Jihan's gaze on him.
Kwon Jihan's mother had raised her only child well despite the harsh and challenging environment.
Yoon Seo looked up and, meeting Kwon Jihan's gray eyes, smiled softly.
"Hunter Kwon Jihan, you've really done well."
Kwon Jihan beamed as if he had been waiting for this moment.
"Yeah, right? I'm really proud of myself."
"Your mother would surely be proud."
"I think so too. She might be bragging about me, saying, 'That's my son, look at my son!'"
Kwon Jihan eagerly accepted the praise. Yoon Seo smiled.
"In the end, your mother's words were correct. The criminals who didn't awaken remained untransformed. If you had participated in even one crime, you might be in prison and not having this conversation with me."
"That's right. If it weren't for my mom's will, I wouldn't be having this conversation with you. I'm not truly righteous; I was just mimicking righteousness because of my mom's will."
Yoon Seo chuckled.
"Which righteous person covers a bomb with their body?"
"…Wow, if I hadn't covered it and had run away, it would have been a disaster. Scary, really scary."
Kwon Jihan exaggeratedly shook his shoulders.
"Anyway… now it seems trivial, but it was really, really hard to keep that will back then. But I managed to uphold it until the end and became a fine twenty-two-year-old. That's the end of my story."
Kwon Jihan leaned slightly forward.
"Thank you for listening. By the way, Juncheol hyung doesn't know about those last words from my mother. You're very special to me. Got it?"
Kwon Jihan added a playful remark, trying to lighten the mood.
Yoon Seo couldn't help but smile as well. It felt like a miracle to see a child who once endured thugs now smiling and sharing his past as an S-rank Hunter.
He wasn't surprised anymore about why he was having this conversation with Kwon Jihan. It didn't seem like such a bad thing to share a story he had kept inside with someone like him. It even felt as if fate had led him to this moment.
"The most difficult will to keep was…"
Yoon Seo finally spoke.
"It was the requests to pass messages to family."
Kwon Jihan gazed intently at Yoon Seo, waiting for him to continue. Yoon Seo's eyes shifted from Kwon Jihan to the fluttering leaves outside the café's front window. The early-fallen green leaves danced in the air before disappearing.
"'If you make it out of the dungeon safely, tell my husband waiting for me that I loved him very much.'"
He remembered every word exactly, even though it had been ten years since he first heard it.
The last words, squeezed out with all the strength of those dying:
Tell our princess that her father loved her very much and would watch over her from heaven.
Tell the man I love that his wife cheated on him with another man in the Great Dungeon.
Tell my mother, who is alone, that I was grateful and sorry.
Tell my younger sibling to eat well and study hard to get into a good university.
Tell my parents that I'm sorry for causing them only hardship…
Tell my children I'm sorry I couldn't buy them a laptop, and to eat well.
Yoon Seo's voice wavered.
There were 33 revengers who left last words to be delivered to their families. These 33 people held onto Seo Chaeyoon's hand—who had the highest chance of surviving the dungeon—and uttered their final words with difficulty.
Yoon Seo had a premonition that these last words would be much harder than a million squats. As soon as he emerged from the dungeon, he first ate a bowl of gukbap (soup with rice) and then set about fulfilling these requests.
Most of the families cried uncontrollably.
Mothers, who beat their chests and wept as if they had lost their sanity.
Husbands, who sobbed out the name of their beloved as soon as Yoon Seo turned away, holding back tears.
Some were angry, asking why he couldn't save them, while others were grateful for the delivery of the last words.
A child who had just turned five offered Yoon Seo a strawberry-flavored candy as he conveyed his mother's last words.
An elderly person with a face full of wrinkles, holding Yoon Seo's hand, softly said, "You've been through a lot. Thank you."
In some cases, the person to whom the message was to be delivered had already passed away. In such instances, Yoon Seo had no choice but to lay them to rest in a well-kept memorial park.
Even though all the revengers were recognized as national heroes, there were still families living in poverty. Yoon Seo secretly donated large sums to them.
After delivering the last words to everyone, Yoon Seo fell into a period of emptiness.
He felt like a grim reaper, conveying the last words of loved ones to the living.
He felt as if he had become death itself, constantly present around us and silently taking away peace.