10 PM, in one of Cube’s forests.

A training Kim Suho swung his sword, slashing softly at the air while dancing with his sword. The flow of his sword was soft, smooth, and flowing perfectly, not leaving even one opening.

The sword danced at the rhythm of the wind, protecting him with a flawless technique, sharper than a blade, and lighter than a feather.

This was Kim Suho’s daily routine. Every night he would reflect on his sword technique. To not lose his mindset as a knight, and to advance further his sword technique.

Recently, he even started to train every morning, even before the Sun was up.

More reasons kept piling up for him to devote to his training. To advance further.

“Are you training?” A voice interrupted his focus, startling him. “Kim Hajin...?”

Turning to look at the source, he saw Kim Hajin standing beside a tree while sweeping his hair back, his face full of sweat.

“Were you also here to train?” Kim Suho asked.

“Haha...” Hajin chuckled before shaking his head. “Something like that, I was training somewhere close and was on my way back when I saw you training with your sword.”

“Oh.” Suho nodded.

“Anyways, It’s still early in the semester but you sure are hard at work. If someone saw, they would think you’re trying to conquer a Dungeon alone.” Hajin said with a smile.

“...” At his words, Kim Suho shook slightly.

“No way...” With his smile still on, Hajin kept talking uncharacteristically. “Am I right?”

“No...” Kim Suho feigned ignorance while answering with a smile.

At his denial, Hajin only narrowed his eyes and looked straight at him, and under his stare, Kim Suho shrunk back.

“You went out last week, right?” Lifting an eyebrow, Hajin started to ask. “I saw you on my way back.”

“...” Slightly surprised, Kim Suho silently stared at Kim Hajin.

He was right, last week he was climbing Kamak Mountain.

At first, it was because he wanted to feel its life energy, but then, he was attracted by something else. There was a sword qi buried in the mountain that was calling for him, and he followed it as if he was in some kind of trance.

And just as he followed the call back to the epicenter of the sword qi, he found an unidentified dungeon.

“How did you know?” Kim Suho finally asked with vigilance.

“I saw you coincidentally. You know how I like to go out a lot. And not to brag or anything, but my eyes...” Hajin said as he tapped under his eyes. “If I climb Kumgang Mountain, I can see up to Seoul… No, Uijeonbu.”

“...” Kim Suho kept staring at him in complete silence. But instead of being anxious, Hajin just kept talking.

“If you really plan on conquering a Dungeon, let me join. I’m pretty useful outside of Cube.” 

“...”

“We’ll split the loot 9:1. If you get a tree branch, I’ll only take a few leaves.” Hajin smiled.

***

A week passed by, Monday came again, and the deadline to deliver the team lists was getting closer, only two days for the last day.

“Ha…” Chae Nayun was currently dropped down on her desk, lamenting. {I should have asked him way before...}

The reason for her lamenting was because of the announcement that the theory teacher just made.

There were also going to be team challenges for theory classes as well.

And from all the cadets, Kim Hajin was the perfect choice for her team. He was one of the best in theory, and she could also include him in her team.

But right now? It wasn’t possible, he already had a team, from what she heard.

“*Sigh...*” Letting down a deep sigh, she just started to tap her notebook, not even hearing the theory classes.

It was then, that she felt a vibration on her wrist. A text just came to her smartwatch.

[Hazuki: So… Are we not going to ask Hajin to join us?]

“...” Chae Nayun flinched for a second, before sighing and answering her.

[Chae Nayun: We don’t need him. We’re more than enough as we are right now.]

[Hazuki: We’re still missing one person...]

[Chae Nayun: Let the teacher decide.]

From all Chae Nayun knew, all her friends already submitted their teams, except for maybe Kim Suho, who has been absent-minded since a couple of days ago.

She didn’t know of any cadet that would fit with her team, so her best choice had to be to let the teacher decide.

***

“Are you really not going to join any team?” Kim Hajin asked.

Classes were already done, and they were preparing to leave the place.

“Yeah, I’ll just wait to see. There can be up to 20 teams, and at least one of them may need me in them. So I’ll just wait to see who the lucky ones are.” Cristopher shrugged, before standing up from his seat.

“If you say so...” Hajin nodded, before also standing up.

“Hajin, Master.” Rachel came close, greeting them with a smile, followed by Olivia.

“Hey...” Olivia nodded at them with a tired face.

“Hello, Rachel, Olivia.” Kim Hajin greeted them too.

“‘Supp?” While Cristopher also greeted them, before frowning at Olivia. “Why the hell do you look like a dead fish?”

“...” Glaring at him Olivia tried to answer, only to stop midway and just sighing. “Forget it, I don’t have any energy to fight with you...”

“Really? Are you sick?” Cristopher asked with a worried face. A fake one.

“NO! I’m not! You asshole!” She glared at him even more, fire almost spilling out from her eyes out of anger.

“Okay, relax you two...” With a sigh, Hajin just stopped them from fighting. “Let’s go.”

“Yes. Let’s go.” Olivia kept glaring at Cristopher, while the latter only smirked at her.

“*Sigh...*” Rachel sighed and shook her head while looking at his attitude.

While they all walked out, they found the other members of their team.

“Hey!” A girl with punk-like short red hair was waiting for them outside of the classroom. She had the right side of her hair almost completely shaven, with the rest of her hair resting towards the left.

“Em!” Olivia walked towards her with a smile.

“Mm? Isn’t that the girl that’s always with Olivia?” Cristopher tilted his head while asking Hajin.

“Right, her name’s Emma Miller.” Hajin nodded. “She’s going to be on our team, Olivia asked to include her.”

“Sure. About… Forget it.” Cristopher was about to ask something before, sighing.

Coming towards them was also Tomer, or Jamer as she was called while inside Cube.

“Hello, Rachel-ssi. I’m glad to work with you.” She smiled.

“Um. Same here.” Rachel nodded to her.

“Well! Should we go eat!? That way we can talk and get to know each other better!” Emma asked them. “It’s like a team-building exercise.”

“Sounds good, I’m really hungry...” Olivia said with a tired face.

“...” Rachel looked at Cristopher and Hajin, before asking. “Should we?”

“You guys go, I have things to do.” Cristopher just shrugged, before walking out of the place.

“Well, that leaves us, right?” Emma asked while tilting her head.

“Sure, let’s go.” Hajin nodded before he received a message.

[Cristopher: Remember. Watch out for that Tomer girl. We don’t know what her plan is.]

{If you’re so worried about Rachel, why don’t you come with us to eat?} Hajin thought with a frown.

“Did something happen?” Rachel, who noticed his change, asked.

“Not really, just some spam message.” Hajin said, turning off his smartwatch.

“Then let’s gooooo!” Emma said while pulling everyone to go with her.

***

Back in Seoul, while Rachel, Hajin, and the rest went to eat, Cristopher stopped by Locket of Hope, in order to train the kids.

“So? How are classes going?” Fran asked, serving him a cup of hot chocolate. “You haven’t been around since classes started.”

“They are good, same old stuff.” Cristopher said before taking a sip from his cup. “And I’ve been slightly occupied with a couple of things.”

“Mm~? Really~? Is it because of a girl~?” Fran said with a smile.

“Not really, I’ve just been occupied with stuff from classes.” Cristopher shrugged before grinning at her. “By the way, now you’re looking at the first ranked cadet from Cube freshmen’s year.”

“Ah…?” Fran looked with her eyes wide open. “Really!?”

“Yes. Really.” He smiled. “I’m not only good in theory, one of the two best students actually, but I’m also damn good in all my practical lessons.”

“Congratulations! Why didn’t you tell me anything before!” Fran stood up and embraced him strongly.

“H-Hey, really it’s not a big deal. You don’t have to congratulate me for it or anything.” He awkwardly smiled.

“What are you talking about!? It’s Cube! The best aspiring heroes from all over the world go there! And from them, you’re ranked at the top! It’s something amazing.” Fran said, letting him go just until only her hands grabbed his shoulders.

She stared deep into his eyes, her own eyes shining brightly.

“It IS a big deal. One of my kids, the one I’ve taken care of since he was a baby, it’s now making a name of his own in one of the more prestigious organizations there’s, if not the MOST prestigious. This is something we have to celebrate!”

“Now, now, relax. We don’t have to go that far.” Cristopher tried to calm her down. “Really, there’s no need to make a fuss over this. Though, if you really want to congratulate me, you can go make some chocolate cookies.”

“...” She looked at him with a dumbfounded face, before laughing. “Hahaha you just keep being the same old child, aren’t you? Okay! You win this time. I’ll make you some cookies. There’s this new recipe I want to test out! Just wait for me here.”

Fran stood up with a smile.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere, I still have to supervise the kids' training.” Cristopher said while nodding towards the garden, where the kids were exercising.

“Great, then I’ll be back in a moment!” Fran smiled, but before she could walk towards the kitchen, another worker from the orphanage came looking for her.

“Miss Fran!” Roland, one of the guys in charge of the cleaning, ran towards her. “There’s someone looking for you.”

“Mm? Who is it at this time?” Fran tilted her head in curiosity.

“She said she had something to talk to you about, it seems it’s about the orphanage’s condition.”

“Condition…?” Fran frowned, but before she could say something else, someone tapped her shoulder.

“Let’s go.” Cristopher just walked towards Roland. “Lead the way, let’s hear what this person has to say.”

“Y-Yes!” Nodding, Roland started to walk towards the reception.

“Are you staying?” Seeing as Fran was not moving, Cristopher asked.

“...” Looking at him with a smile, she started to walk. “Of course! I’m in charge of this orphanage, after all~ If someone has something to say about it, there’s no way for me not to be present.”

“Is that so?” Cristopher smiled while walking alongside her.

Meanwhile, the kids, who happened to hear what happened, stared at the door leading to the inside of the building.

“Do you think… It is something bad...?” Laura, the oldest one from the girls, who had just finished her laps around the garden, asked with a worried face.

“No, I don’t think so.” Josh, the oldest boy there, answered her with a frown. He was just finishing his fourth set of push-ups. “And even if it was, hyung is here, right?”

“That’s right. He won’t let bad things happen to us.” Gabriel nodded at Josh’s words.

“Yes! Oppa won’t let the bad guys do something to our home!” Anne, who was also finishing her run, said out loud.

“...” The rest of the kids just nodded.

“It’s true.” Laura smiled, before clapping. “Well, everybody, let’s keep doing our best! We don’t want to make oppa angry for not training!”

“Waaah I’m tired already!” At Laura’s words, Anne just shouted.

“You were the one that wanted to train, didn’t you? Look at Antonio, he’s not whining and hasn’t stopped training for even a moment.” Josh smiled awkwardly at Anne’s whining while pointing out Antonio.

The small guy was still doing his best to train, doing as many squats as he could, sweating profusely from the intense training. Eyes focused on his future.

“...” Pouting, Anne also moved to the center of the garden, where she would start doing squats too. “Stupid Antonio...” She muttered while walking to the center.

Meanwhile, at the reception room of the orphanage, a black-haired girl was sitting while looking at the information she received from her informants.

Yoo Yeonha attently read the document on her holographic screen, detailing Locket of Hope's current situation and what it used to be. This was only a small bit of information her Shadows could gather, as they were still doing what they could to gather more information on the targets she gave.

{This place is really poor… Even for an orphanage, the conditions they receive from the government are almost inhuman in comparison with the rest of orphanages in Korea...}

Yeonha thought as she read the history of the place.

{Even if this is the place where all the kids of foreign criminals used to come… That’s not always the case… But at this point, it’s like they use this as a dumpster to throw non-Korean kids... }

“*Sigh...* This is somehow fucked up…” Yoo Yeonha said before clicking her tongue, only to be scared from the voice she heard after.

“Yeah, I could say the same. This is somehow fucked up.” An angry voice reached her, carrying a slight hostility with it.

“Hiik!” Surprised by the voice she heard, Yoo Yeonha quickly jumped on her feet, a chilling sensation running down her spine.

“So? What are you doing here?” Not caring about her reaction, Cristopher asked.

“You scared me!” Yeonha frowned at him unconsciously.

“That’s not an answer to my question.” He stared at her coldly.

“...” Gulping hard, Yeonha calmed herself. “I-I just wanted to talk to the one in charge of this orphanage...” Her voice turned meek and soft.

{Why am I acting like this!?} Meanwhile, in her head, she was chastising herself for turning so meek in front of his stare. Not wanting to accept that she was afraid of him.

“...” Looking at this scene play out, Fran grinned. “It seems you two know each other. Great!”

Clapping, Fran turned to Roland.

“Roland, dear. Could you please go look for some tea? We have a guest.” She said with a bright smile.

“Y-Yes, Miss!” Roland quickly turned and went to the kitchen to look for the tea.

“Now, now~” Fran said with a smile, looking between each one. “Why don’t you introduce me to your friend, Cristopher?”

“She’s not my friend.” Cristopher said while rolling his eyes. “She’s someone from Cube. Actually, you two already met.”

“Mm~? Really!? I don’t remember!” Fran smiled while putting a hand on her mouth as if thinking.

“She was there when you went to see me on the midterms combat exams.”

“Oh~ Right! I almost forgot. She’s the one that ran away from the place when we got there.”

“I-I didn’t run away...” Yoo Yoenha averted her eyes.

“Whatever.” Cristopher said before sitting on one of the couches. “So? What are you here for?”

“I...” Yoo Yeonha looked at him for a moment. “I wanted to help.”

“Mm~?” Fran tilted her head.

“Help? With what?” While Cristopher only frowned.

“This place. It seems like there’s not enough to cover for the kids' necessities.”

“...” Cristopher kept frowning, while Fran only tapped her chin while thinking.

“And why would you do that?” She finally asked after a moment of silence.

“...” Yoo Yeonha looked at her eyes. “Because Cristopher helped me before, and this is the only thing I can help him with.”

“...” Lifting one eyebrow, Cristopher looked at her. “I didn’t ask you to help me.”

“But… I can’t just pretend you didn’t save my life.” Yoo Yeonha said. “I want to repay you.”

“...”

“We’re good.” Fran smiled at Yoo Yeonha. “We don’t actually need any help~!”

“What…?” Yoo Yeonha opened her eyes wide.

She made sure to research as much as she could about this place. She knew it didn’t receive enough money from the government, and the place was almost falling down on its own.

“But you-”

“We take care of ourselves.” Fran smiled. “And we only accept from those who truly want to help the kids.”

“But I want to-'' Yoo Yeonha stood up, only to be interrupted once again.

“No.” Fran shook her head, her smile never leaving her face. “You want to repay a debt, that isn’t with us, to begin with, and that’s because you can’t feel okay without repaying it.”

“...” Yoo Yeonha stopped talking.

“Look, repaying a debt is a good thing. Really.” Fran continued. “But the debt is with him, so, the one you have to repay the debt to is him, not the orphanage.”

“This orphanage is important for him, so wouldn’t-”

“Yes, it is.” Cristopher spoke. “And because it is important, I’m doing my best to keep it going. We are all.”

“He’s right.” From behind Yoo Yeonha, some people came. The one to speak, a muscled blond-haired guy, walked in with a big bag filled to the brim. “We all take care of our home, one way or another.”

“Yes! We may not have a lot of money. But we’ll always be here when things get rough.” This time, a brown-haired woman spoke, also carrying another bag filled to the brim.

“...” Yoo Yeonha looked at both of them.

“Ryan! Sara! It’s so good to see you guys~!” Fran said while running to hug them. “Didn’t know you were coming today.”

“Well, we just brought some stuff for the kids, after all, they need to stay healthy if they are going to keep training under this guy.” Ryan nodded towards Cristopher.

“Oh, come on. It’s not like I’m mistreating them. It’s just basic training for the moment.” Rolling his eyes, Cristopher shrugged.

“Right, whatever you say, dude.” Ryan snorted, before turning to look at Yoo Yeonha. “By the way. Who is she?”

“Just a classmate.” Cristopher said, standing up and walking towards Yoo Yeonha. “As you see, we don’t really need that much help here. We have each other.”

“Why?” Yoo Yeonha frowned. “I’m trying to help you guys. Why don’t you accept the help?”

Yoo Yeonha looked at them.

“Is it because of pride?” She asked.

“No~” Fran said. “We just said it. We’re not that troubled for us to accept your proposal just because you have some debt to pay to one of our own.”

“...” Yoo Yeonha looked down, a saddening look on her face.

“Pfft!” It was then that someone tried to hold his laugh. “Okay, okay. That would be enough, poor girl looks like she wants to cry already...”

“*Chuckles* I think I overdid it with this joke.” Fran chuckled while covering her mouth with her hand.

“Ah…?” Yoo Yeonha looked up at them, while Ryan and Sara just sighed and shook their head.

“Yeah, who would say that you could make these sick jokes. Oh man, really, it was fun...” Cristopher chuckled.

Meanwhile, Sara just tapped Yoo Yeonha’s shoulder with an awkward smile.

“I’m sorry...” She started. “It seems you fell for these guys’ jokes...”

“...” Yoo Yeonha just looked at her dumbfounded.

“W-Well...” Ryan scratched the back of his head with another awkward smile. “Our caretaker is usually quiet, but she sometimes likes to make really bad jokes like these… But she’s normal, really… Well, most of the time.”

“Yes...” Sara nodded. “And it seems that we helped without even knowing what was happening...”

“You tell me… I thought there was a problem and we needed to put some pressure on this poor girl… I’m sorry for that… I would just stay quiet if I knew what was happening.”

“Oh, come on. It wasn’t that bad.” Cristopher rolled his eyes before sitting on the couch. “It’s just a small joke.”

“Oh well!" Fran shrugged, before also sitting down. “By the way, what did you bring!?”

“Mm? Oh, we just brought some food.” Ryan shrugged.

“Really!? Then you can leave it in the kitchen, and I’ll arrange it later.” Fran smiled.

“Got it.” With a nod, both Sara and Ryan went towards the kitchen with the bags they brought.

And just as they were going out of the room, Roland came back with a tray of tea.

“Here is tea, Miss.” Roland said as he put a tray on the table that was between the couches.

“Thanks, Roland!” Fran smiled at him, before serving the tea. “Oh, we will need a couple more coups.”

“For Ryan and Sara, right?”

“Yes!”

“I’ll go look for it.”

“Thanks!” Fran smiled at the departing Roland, before turning to Yoo Yeonha, who was dumbfoundedly looking at her and Cristopher. “Then, Miss…?”

“Yoo Yeonha… My name is Yoo Yeonha.”

“Well, Miss Yoo Yeonha!” Fran smiled. “I’m quite glad that you would like to help us, really. But what I said about your debt being with Cristopher, and not us, is still true.”

“...” Yoo Yeonha nodded.

“So, I’m not accepting anything from you, unless it either Cristopher does, or you decide to contribute to this place without thinking of it as a way to pay your debt.” Fran smiled.

And just as she answered, Ryan, Sara, and Roland, who brought the two extra coups, came back.

While Ryan and Sara sat down, Roland put the coups and left the room.

“So… She’s here because she wants to contribute?” Ryan asked, taking the tea that Fran just served for him.

“Something like that.” Cristopher shrugged, taking a sip from his own tea coup.

“Why though?” Sara tilted her head.

“She had a debt to pay to Cristopher, and it seems this is the only way she thought it would be possible.” Fran answered while taking a sip from her tea.

“Mm...” Sara nodded, before turning towards Cristopher. “And? Will you accept her help?”

“...” Cristopher looked at Yoo Yeonha’s eyes. “I really don’t care about that debt you talk about.”

“But it’s still necessary for me to do it.” Yoo Yeonha said seriously.

“*Sigh...* What the hell is wrong with the girls in Cube?” Cristopher shook his head.

“Ah? What do you mean?” Yoo Yeonha and the rest tilted their head.

“Y'all are crazy as fuck. I swear.” Cristopher sighed again, before standing up. “Do whatever you want. I won’t be the kind of idiot that rejects free money.”

“Is okay then?” Yoo Yeonha asked warily.

“Yes. You can talk the rest with Fran.”

“And where are you going?” Fran asked with her head tilted.

“The kids are still training, I better go and supervise them.”

“I’ll go with you.” Ryan stood up.

“Me too!” While Sara followed both of them.

“...” Yoo Yeonha looked at the departing figures, before turning to Fran. “Is he… Training kids?”

“Mm? Well! Something like that?” Fran tilted her head with a smile and her index finger on her chin. “There’s this kid here that wants to be a hero, and he’s helping him. It’s just that the rest of the kids jumped at it too, and things happened.”

Fran shrugged before taking a sip from her tea.

“Oh...” Yoo Yeonha nodded. “Then… About helping the orphanage...”

“You tell me.” Fran smiled. “What is it that you would like to contribute for? In all honesty, we could do with some remodeling… Our building is falling apart...”

“I noticed...” Yeonha muttered with a frown.

“The last monster attack that happened in Seoul was really dangerous for us.” Fran said with a sad face. “If it wasn’t for Cristopher, we might not be here at all. He saved us from a pack of monsters that reached the orphanage.”

“Is that so?” Yeonha asked with a surprised face.

Inside Cube, rumors about how Kim Hajin and Cristopher usually go out of Cube are becoming the normal talk between a lot of students.

Both of them got a nasty reputation because of it. A reputation that no one would dare to tell on their face.

Whether it is because of them supposedly going out to visit brothels, or how they are part of some criminal gang that’s extorting normal people on the streets of Seoul.

{But things couldn’t be further from reality...}

“Yes. He stopped the monsters, and made sure that no other monster got close to the orphanage that day.”

“Mm...” Yoo Yeonha nodded. “Well… I think I can help you with that problem.”

“...” Fran smiled at her, before standing up and walking towards the sitting Yeonha. “I would be really glad if you could. But… Are you sure you can help us? I don’t want to be rude, but I’m not sure if you have the necessary resources to do it...”

“It’s okay. Money won’t be a problem.” Yoo Yeonha smiled back at her, while also standing up. “But before we talk more about it… Can I see the kids?”

“Mm?” Hearing her question, Fran tilted her head. “Sure, there is no problem with that, but… Why?”

“I just got curious as to what type of training they were doing.” Yoo Yeonha smiled.

“Okay! Come here. They’re in the garden.” Fran guided Yoo Yeonha towards the garden.

***

9:00 PM, Cube’s male cadets' freshmen dorms.

Hajin was currently playing with Evandel, or more precisely, he was seeing her play with some playdough he bought her.

Evandel was currently making some animals with it while showing them to Kim Hajin, who praised her for her unique ability to perfectly design and sculpt the animals she saw on various TV shows.

It was while Evandel was focusing on making a new animal, that Kim Hajin received a text.

[Kim Suho: Can you come out to the forest we met last time?]

A smile crept up to Kim Hajin’s face.

“Evandel, I’ll go out for a moment.” He said, before standing up.

“Um? Where?”

“Um… I’ll buy some snacks for us to eat.”

“I want a cake! A cake!”

“Right...” Hajin smiled awkwardly, before patting her head. “I’ll bring a cake.”

He went out of the apartment, while Evandel kept repeating the word cake as if singing a song while sculpting her playdough animal.