Chapter 169: The Secret of the Name Kang Ji Yoon

"What’s the matter? Don’t feel like playing the woman anymore, Kang Mi So? Or do you happen to prefer the name Kang Ji Yoon instead?"

That single declaration caused Kang Ji Yoon, standing within the shadows, to let out a soft chuckle, while the surrounding hunters were sent reeling into absolute shock.

Kang Mi So... is a man?!

What the hell is this!!?

Kang Ian stood face-to-face with the man who had just emerged from the shadows, mocking derision lurking deep beneath his eyes toward the twin brother who shared an identical visage to his own.

That face resembled his so closely it sent a chilling jolt down one’s spine. The exact same contours, the exact same eyes, the exact same bridge of the nose. Only the waist-length golden locks and crystalline golden eyes differed, as though someone had taken Kang Ian’s face and pasted it onto a total stranger.

No... not a total stranger.

Kang Ian abruptly recognized that the connection linking him to his past life had never truly been severed as he had long believed. The undeniable proof stood right before his eyes: Kang Ji Yoon, the twin brother sharing his identical face, mirroring the relationship between Ian and Kael born together within the Elven Forest.

That’s right. Not a younger sister, but a younger brother, Kang Ji Yoon was Kael in this world, Kang Ian was certain of it!

Prior to awakening, Kang Ji Yoon had been nothing more than an ordinary human.

Whereas Kang Ian buried himself in work day in and day out, living like an office employee crushed beneath the weight of unrelenting pressure without a shred of energy left to care for anything else, Kang Ji Yoon had been a celebrated Beauty Blogger, adored and admired by countless young women.

Sharing the exact same household, bearing the exact same face, yet their lives possessed practically zero overlapping points.

Since childhood, the two brothers had never gotten along. The older they grew, the wider the chasm between the twins stretched. Their parents had desperately attempted to reconcile them, yet failed to draw the two any closer. Kang Ian viewed his younger brother as entirely superficial, while Kang Ji Yoon maintained that his older brother knew how to do nothing save for living a dry, rigid existence.

And then arrived the day Kang Ian awakened; the moment he returned home, the younger brother sharing his identical face had vanished entirely.

Kang Ji Yoon had awakened, as well, and through a remarkably bizarre awakening at that.

The [Angel] race, mystical and profoundly arrogant, possessed no distinction between male and female genders, granting Kang Ji Yoon the absolute freedom to select his own gender at will.

Standing before him was a young woman bearing features somewhat resembling his own, yet she was no longer the Kang Ji Yoon he had once known.

From that day onward, Kang Ian and Kang Ji Yoon became absolute strangers. Under her brand-new guise, Kang Ji Yoon independently adopted the name Kang Mi So, severing any remaining ties with the family registry they once shared.

"I hate having a face identical to yours, big brother!" Kang Mi So had once declared to him with unconcealed disgust. "I’d rather become a woman than have to look at your face every single day staring back at my face in the mirror."

Kang Ian had merely concluded back then that his younger brother had lost his mind.

He hadn’t pressed for further explanations, nor had he bothered investigating what had transpired. He coldly treated Kang Ji Yoon like a complete stranger, or perhaps, that was precisely what both of them desired.

A wretched relationship had ultimately culminated in a wretched outcome.

Right now, that very same stranger stood before him bearing Kang Ian’s exact face, as though Kang Ji Yoon intended to reclaim his former identity and name once and for all.

Kang Ian stepped forward slowly, the corners of his lips curling into a frigid sneer.

"What’s the matter? Suddenly stopped finding a face identical to mine repulsive anymore?"

His gaze swept from the waist-length golden locks down to his counterpart’s blazing golden eyes.

"Or did you simply get tired of playing a woman?"

Kang Ji Yoon arched his brow. Reaching up, he brushed his long golden strands behind his ear, a gesture so gentle it clashed entirely with the provocative edge glinting in his eyes.

"Can’t be helped," he smiled. "Who told you Kei only holds romantic interest in men? Playing the woman puts me at far too much of a disadvantage."

Moon So Yeon froze dead where she stood, utterly dumbfounded.

Do Ae Young had just opened her mouth to demand answers regarding when exactly Kang Mi So had turned into a man, but the instant the name *Kei* registered in her ears, she halted abruptly. The astonishment etched across her features intensified second by second.

Kang Ian stopped smiling, a sheet of frost settling over his eyes.

"Leave Kei out of this."

"Oh?" Kang Ji Yoon tilted his head. "Is our guild master feeling jealous?"

"Would you prefer I kick you right back into the forest?"

"Give it a try."

The two brothers locked eyes. One radiating cold hostility, the other wearing an easygoing smile, yet the open rivalry crackling between them was so palpable none of the surrounding hunters dared step in to intervene.

The revelation that Kang Mi So was a man was shocking enough; now, Kang Mi So, under his original name Kang Ji Yoon, was openly clashing with his identical twin brother Kang Ian. This spectacle... would likely drive the tabloid journalists tracking the personal lives of high-rank hunters absolutely insane.

Inside the tent, Kei remained fast asleep beneath the black jacket. He was completely oblivious to the fact that out here, two identical faces stood confronting one another, nor could he guess that this reunion would drag Kang Ian’s past even closer to his side.

Kang Ji Yoon cast his gaze toward the tent.

The smile upon his lips faded for a fleeting second.

"You claimed you weren’t worthy of standing by Kei’s side."

Kang Ji Yoon offered a soft smile, pivoting back to glare at Kang Ian with blatant provocation:

"In that case, get lost as far away as possible, and let me stay by Kei’s side to look after him instead. I guarantee Kei will be far happier keeping company with me, rather than..."

The smile stretching across Kang Ji Yoon’s lips overflowed with mockery:

"A bastard who once betrayed humanity like you!"