It was a community. There was a post heating up the community.

The World's Youngest Dungeon Masters

It was a simple title, yet the number of views had already surpassed 50,000. There were even thousands of comments.

-Wow... Michael and Sebastian originally came from wealthy families, so whatever. But what about Kim Chul-jun?

-F***, seeing it like this makes me seriously pissed. I want to be an S-Class Awakener too!!

-What's amazing about Kim Chul-jun isn’t just that he's an S-Class Awakener. He's also insanely good at investments, seriously.

-The comment above is dumb. That wasn’t investment, it was pure luck. Who would’ve guessed the Narak Guild’s stock would shoot up to 700??

-Whatever, luck is also a skill. Plus, the Narak Guild stock is at 900 now, not 700, fyi.

-Stop fighting, guys. Anyway, the point is Kim Chul-jun has a crap ton of money. That dungeon alone is worth 250 billion won, right?

-But why did Kim Chul-jun pay over 300 billion for it?

-I’m not Kim Chul-jun, so I wouldn’t know, but if he sells off the items from it too, he could easily make another 100 billion at least??

-F*** I'm so jealous! He's handsome, super popular with women, and now he's loaded as hell too!! F*** F*** F*** F*** F***!!

-He must have saved a country in his past life or something...

Kim Chul-jun, who happened to come across the post, gave a bitter smile. Every single comment was true.

He had become an S-Class Awakener at a young age.

It was also true that the shares he had in Narak during its founding days skyrocketed once the guild went public, making him a fortune.

But on the contrary, Chul-jun envied them. All of them must have families to spend Chuseok with.

'I...'

Chul-jun bitterly smiled again at the hamburger that had gone cold.

Maybe he should have bought some songpyeon at least. This was way too pathetic.

"Tsk."

Clicking his tongue and pondering for a moment, Chul-jun pulled his cap down low and left the house. His destination was the convenience store nearby.

He remembered seeing songpyeon there yesterday. But...

"Uh, are the songpyeon all gone?"

"Songpyeon? Ah, yes. They all sold out earlier."

There were plenty of convenience stores.

Chul-jun searched for another nearby one.

"Are you looking for something?"

"Songpyeon."

"Ah, sorry. We ran out of songpyeon earlier."

"I see..."

Nodding lightly, Chul-jun left the store. Surely another one would have it.

But no matter where he went, there was no songpyeon.

"Sorry, we don't have any songpyeon."

Even when he stubbornly went to a convenience store quite far from home, the result was the same.

Just as he was trudging back empty-handed—

'Oh, they're open today.'

He thought they would be closed for Chuseok, but the store lights were on. The door was wide open too.

'Since I'm here, might as well eat something before heading back.'

"Huff, huff, huff..."

Seo-woo and Hye-jin, who had insisted on helping, were covered in flour and completely focused on the skewered pancakes.

Seo-woo blew on a skewer to cool it, then nibbled on it, his eyes widening in surprise.

"Wow!"

"Is it good?"

"Yes!"

"How about you, Hye-jin?"

"It's delicious! Even better than the ones my grandma makes. Hehe."

Smiling wryly, Seo-jun coated another skewer with flour. When flouring the skewers, you had to be careful not to overdo it.

If you used too much, it could end up feeling too heavy, so it was good to lightly shake off the excess after coating.

After flouring, next was dipping them into beaten eggs.

From there, it was simple: just place them on an oiled griddle and cook them evenly until golden on both sides.

If you wanted to maintain the shape, you could use tongs to hold both ends of the toothpick while cooking to keep the ingredients from spreading out.

"What the, you're already eating?"

"You're here?"

"You said you'd wait for me. That's cold."

"Seo-woo and Hye-jin wanted to taste it so sweetly. What could I do?"

"Fair enough... I would've given it to them too."

"By the way, why did you buy three packs of songpyeon?"

Yeon-jun had gone out quite a while ago to buy songpyeon. He said you needed songpyeon to feel like it was really Chuseok.

Seo-jun thought it was similar to how he insisted on making skewers.

There must be some Chuseok story tied to songpyeon for Yeon-jun too.

"How could I just buy one pack when there are so many mouths?"

"There's only four people though?"

"What, are Park Yeon and Doo-shik just mouths to you?"

"Ah."

"By the way, where's Park Yeon? I thought he was here before you left."

"Doo-shik got a call, and they left together."

"Hmm... I hope they didn’t leave because they felt awkward."

"Not at all. They're probably just watching a movie together."

"Still, it’s Chuseok..."

"Even so, Chuseok probably doesn’t mean much to them."

For Park Yeon, Chuseok would be like how Koreans feel about China's Mid-Autumn Festival or America's Thanksgiving.

In other words, a foreign holiday.

It was the same for Doo-shik too.

"Then we can just save this and give it to them later when they come back."

"Sounds good..."

Seo-jun was replying when his eyes suddenly darkened. It was just a momentary flicker, so Yeon-jun didn’t notice.

"Aren't you going to flip it?"

"Huh?"

"The skewers. They’re going to burn."

"Ah, right. I need to flip them."

"Seo-woo, Hye-jin, do you want to eat some songpyeon?"

"Yes!"

"Yay!"

As Seo-woo and Hye-jin scurried over to Yeon-jun—

Cling!

The bell chimed as someone walked in.

It was Kim Chul-jun.

"Hello... huh? I thought you weren't open today?"

Yeon-jun, who was handing out songpyeon to the kids, nodded.

"Yes, we put up a sign saying we’re closed for Chuseok, but maybe you didn’t see it."

"Ah... I must’ve missed it. I'll come back another time, then."

"Mr. Chul-jun."

"Yes?"

"Did you come here to drink?"

"Well, partly... I was thinking of grabbing a meal too..."

Kim Chul-jun mumbled awkwardly, seemingly embarrassed.

In him, Yeon-jun saw his past self.

It was before he met his wife. Back then, he had no one and nowhere to go during holidays.

He used to soothe his loneliness by buying and eating songpyeon alone or wandering around closed restaurant streets, bitterly realizing his pitiful situation all over again.

Kim Chul-jun looked just like that.

"Well then, I'll be off…."

"Since you’re here, at least take some pancakes with you."

"pancakes...?"

"Yes. Hyung made it, and it’s really delicious. There's also songpyeon here."

A tiny hand, like a fiddlehead fern, gently pulled the hesitant Chul-jun.

"It’s the Strong Hyung from Entube! Strong Hyung, have you tried skewered pancakes before? This is skewered pancakes!"

Dragged along before he knew it, Chul-jun scratched his head awkwardly, and Yeon-jun firmly seated him on a chair.

Chul-jun, looking embarrassed, gave Seo-jun a small nod. Seo-jun, a beat late, returned the greeting.

"It’s been a while."

"It really has. I tried to come by often, but I’ve been too busy lately. Now that things are calming down, I’ll bring the guild members around more often."

"That’d be great. But… why are you carrying around loose threads?"

"Huh? Threads?"

As Chul-jun looked around for threads, Seo-jun approached and brushed his shoulder lightly.

"All good now."

"Ah, thank you."

Seo-jun gave a bright smile, then suddenly glanced outside. It wasn’t just threads Chul-jun had brought along — there was a shady figure as well.

The guest room was a complete mess. Papers were scattered messily across the table, and the whiteboard was densely covered with writing.

That wasn’t all. On the large corkboard beside it, dozens of photos of a man taken from various angles were pinned up.

Yan Junling stood with his arms crossed, staring at the man’s photo. The man was the assassination target.

"Instructor."

"Ah, Chen Kun (陳坤)."

"The results are in."

"Hmm…."

Yan Junling skimmed the results sheet, then frowned discontentedly and tossed it aside.

"Have them analyze it again."

"Again…?"

"Got a problem with that?"

"It’s not that, but we’ve already simulated it twenty times. Each time, it ended with your overwhelming victory, Instructor."

"That was in secluded places. But on the main road, the probability was 89 percent."

"……."

"Do you think Gui Xuan’s team lost because they were incompetent? Not at all. They underestimated him."

"……."

"An 11 percent gap means any variable could turn the tide."

"……Then what conditions shall we simulate under this time?"

"Same as before. But assume this time I’m going all out."

"Understood."

Chen Kun withdrew. Yan Junling, glancing briefly at him, turned back to the corkboard and stared at the target.

A young, innocent-looking face. But beneath that innocent face was a martial prowess that no awakened could afford to take lightly.

Though the homeland’s analysts had long finished evaluating the target, Yan Junling kept studying him for this very reason.

One must never let down their guard before a mission.

Soon after—

"Instructor."

"What’s the result?"

"Under the conditions you mentioned, the success rate came out to 94.7 percent."

"Hmm."

Yan Junling still didn’t look satisfied. Seeing this, Chen Kun spoke, a little displeased.

"Instructor, I fully understand your desire for perfection. But headquarters is starting to pressure us."

"That’s exactly why we must not rush."

Yan Junling’s motto was simple:

Always assume the worst-case scenario.

People are inherently optimistic about their own affairs.

There’s a reason why people recklessly jump into the stock market or quit their stable jobs to open businesses.

It’s that belief: ‘I’ll be fine.’

And that belief usually leads to dismal results.

'94.7 percent, huh...'

Yan Junling muttered grimly.

"If 'Marmus's Poison' is factored into the simulation, what do you think the probability would be?"

"How many stacks did you apply?"

For the past fifteen days since arriving in Korea, Yan Junling had been secretly applying a skill called "Marmus's Poison" on the target.

This skill could only be used once per day on a target but had the advantage of unlimited stacking.

Yan Junling had stacked it for fifteen consecutive days on the assassination target.

"Fifteen times."

"Even for Kim Chul-jun, that should cause about 600 seconds of visual and auditory loss."

This was why Marmus’s Poison was terrifying.

Loss of sight and hearing.

"It should."

"Then it’d be 99.9 percent. Most likely, Kim Chul-jun will lose his life to you without even knowing what’s happening."

After a moment of thought, Yan Junling spoke.

"Request mission approval from headquarters."

"Yes, sir."

And soon after—

The mission was approved.

'Such a consistent movement pattern.'

On the mission, Yan Junling followed his target, chuckling softly.

According to the information gathered so far, Kim Chul-jun’s movements consisted of going back and forth between home and the dungeon. Occasionally, he’d stop by a convenience store — that was it.

Yan Junling had thought there might be some changes because of the holiday, but things remained the same.

Kim Chul-jun left home and only lingered around convenience stores.

When planning the mission, Yan Junling had pinpointed a few optimal spots based on the target’s usual routes.

The pub the target had just entered was one of them. The streets were deserted, and the CCTV coverage had blind spots.

The row of adjacent buildings made it easy to hide quickly as well.

No variables seemed present.

No… he thought there wouldn’t be any.

"You sure know how to hide in gloomy places."