Chapter 168: Kang Ji Yoon

Eventually, Kei cried himself to exhaustion and drifted off to sleep within Kang Ian’s embrace.

Kei’s eye rims were weeping red, and his lips remained ashen and frail, a sight that tugged uncomfortably at Kang Ian’s chest.

Ian helped him lie down inside his tent, pulling the blanket up securely over his shoulders. Kei still kept a tight grip on the lapel of his black jacket, his fingers curled inward even in deep slumber. Ian stood watching him for a long beat, before gently untangling those fingers one by one and draping the black outer garment properly over Kei’s resting form.

The familiar, enveloping warmth caused Kei to shift slightly, finally relaxing the fingers that had been clenched so tightly.

Kang Ian stepped out of the tent, seating himself right outside the entrance with his back propped against a nearby tree trunk. No one asked any questions; perhaps everyone tacitly understood that he needed space to be alone right now.

High above, the sky was pitch-black. No moon, no stars. A deep, abyssal dark blanketed the tree canopy, as though anyone foolish enough to stare for too long would be swallowed whole by it.

Kang Ian gazed upward, his mind completely blank.

Kei had recovered everything. The memories concerning the Elven Forest, Julius, the young boy named Ian back then... had all returned to Kei.

And yet, the person who had once stood beside Kei back then and the person sitting right here were not entirely the same entity.

Kang Ian was acutely aware of who he was; he was the hunter Kang Ian of South Korea, born and raised in this very world. He possessed an ordinary family and had never been exposed to the trials experienced by the Elf named Ian.

Yet he couldn’t deny the fact that he had once borne the name "Ian," and had lived an alternate life under that exact name.

And had ultimately hurt Kei.

"Guild Master."

Moon So Yeon’s voice broke the silence softly beside him.

Kang Ian blinked, snapping out of his daze. He tilted his head to look at her. Moon So Yeon held a jacket in her hands, hovering uncertainly as though debating whether she should offer it.

"Are you cold?" she asked. "Why did you hand your own jacket over to Kei?"

"No."

Kang Ian shook his head, gently pushing the garment in Moon So Yeon’s hands away.

She fell silent for a fleeting beat before seating herself at a reasonable distance beside him. Everyone else had scattered to rest, leaving only a few hunters taking turns standing guard around the campsite. The crackle of distant logs popping in the fire drifted across the clearing.

Moon So Yeon glanced toward the tent where Kei was currently asleep, and asked, "Did something happen between you and Kei?"

Kang Ian didn’t answer immediately.

It wasn’t just Moon So Yeon’s imagination. Ever since the two of them returned, the atmosphere between them had shifted drastically. Kei looked at Kang Ian with a gaze brimming with countless unspoken questions, while Kang Ian continually evaded his eyes. Just moments prior beside the campfire, Kang Ian had pulled Kei into his arms and wept openly in front of everyone.

Moon So Yeon was well-accustomed to the guild master’s perpetually gloomy, aloof demeanor, but she had never once witnessed him like this.

"Is there something you can’t tell me?"

Kang Ian looked back up at the pitch-black sky.

"It’s nothing. I’m simply not worthy."

Moon So Yeon froze. "Worthy of what?"

He chuckled softly. That laughter was thin and dry, dissolving into the night air almost the instant it brushed past his lips.

Kang Ian had witnessed the entire life of that Dark Elf named Ian.

Every single choice, every mistake, every deed committed after walking out of the Elven Forest. Those memories didn’t belong to Kang Ian, yet right now they resided inside his head, crystal-clear to the point where he could no longer pretend they didn’t exist.

That Dark Elf was entirely unworthy of standing beside Kei, which meant that he, the reincarnation of that Dark Elf, was equally unworthy.

The things that guy had done...It’s the best if Kei didn’t know too much about that.

"You feel that way, too?"

A voice broke the stillness abruptly from the shadows.

Moon So Yeon bounced to her feet instantly, a surge of rising wind swirling around her. The guards on watch simultaneously whipped their heads around. Not a single person had detected anyone approaching.

A silhouette stepped out from the thicket of trees.

The distant firelight cast its glow across brilliant golden locks and matching, crystalline golden eyes, illuminating that unfamiliar face brightly amidst the midnight dark. The delicate-looking man wore an inscrutable smile upon his lips.

Yet that face...

Moon So Yeon lifted a hand to cover her mouth, her eyes widening in sheer disbelief.

"That face... Why does this person look identical to you, Kang Ian?"

It wasn’t that Moon So Yeon had lost her mind, but this newcomer genuinely bore a visage mirroring Kang Ian down to the exact contours, the sole differences resting within the vibrant hues of his hair and eyes, presumably altered as a byproduct of awakening hunter skills.

Furthermore, the underlying aura radiating from Kang Ian and this individual was entirely distinct, though Moon So Yeon couldn’t shake the eerie feeling that there was something... strangely familiar about the newcomer.

Kang Ian stood up.

He strode toward the newcomer, his expression turning icy. Two eerily identical faces locked eyes, differing only in the colors of their hair and eyes. In the dim, shifting light, it was practically impossible to distinguish which man had just been sitting outside the tent and which one had just emerged from the depths of the forest.

Kang Ian twitched the corner of his lips, lifting his chin.

"What’s the matter? Don’t feel like playing the woman anymore, Kang Mi So?"

His gaze swept from the golden locks to the golden eyes of his counterpart.

"Or do you happen to prefer the name Kang Ji Yoon instead?"