“Let’s see... It’s been a little less than an hour since you entered the gate, hunter.”

“An hour?”

“Yes. About fifty-five minutes, to be precise.”

Days had passed in there, but only an hour had passed on Earth? I breathed an inward sigh of relief. If a month or more had gone by, as I’d feared, my family and Sia—and Rokan, having to watch what it did to her—would probably have been devastated. At least that was one piece of good fortune amid all this.

“Minjun, did time pass... very differently inside the gate than it did on Earth?”

Perhaps because she worked for the Hunter Association, the woman seemed to have guessed why I’d asked.

“Yes. It’s hard to explain it all here...”

I turned and looked over the people watching me. The sip of water had helped me recover a little, but answering every question from that crowd here and now would be impractical, not to mention a huge hassle. I might owe the Hunter Association an explanation, but I had no particular reason to answer anyone else.

‘What excuse can I use to get out of here?’

Just as I started to consider it...

[“Minjun, are you all right?”]

A telepathic message suddenly sounded in my head. It was Rokan. I heard him, but I didn’t know how to answer, so I looked around for him. Another message came.

[“I’ve hidden myself, so you probably won’t find me. If you can hear me but don’t know how to respond, blink twice.”]

I blinked twice as he’d instructed.

[“Understood. Make an excuse, then go somewhere without people and wait. I’ll come to you.”]

I’d been thinking much the same thing, so I decided to make an excuse and leave.

“I’m sorry, but something’s come up and I need to go. I’ll give my contact information to the Hunter Association representative, and we can talk later.”

I tried to leave it at that, but a few people refused to give up and kept calling questions after me.

“Hunter! Just tell us one thing!”

“What on earth was in there?”

I’d said I would explain everything later, so I didn’t have to answer. Still, leaving without saying anything didn’t seem right.

“Then I’ll tell you just this: whatever you’re imagining, it’s probably beyond that.”

I still didn’t know what I could tell them and what I couldn’t, so I gave them a vague answer to keep them speculating. Some people still raised their hands with questions, but I repeated that I’d answer later and left Yongduam Rock.

Once I’d escaped the crowd, I looked for somewhere deserted to meet Rokan. But the gate at Yongduam Rock had drawn so many people that the whole area was packed. I was wondering how far I’d have to go when I remembered Concealment, the skill that had unlocked just before I returned to Earth. Maybe it would make it easier to reach a quiet spot. I used it at once, partly to test it out.

At first, I couldn’t feel any difference, but when I checked my hand, it was transparent. I took a few steps to see whether only my body had vanished; even my footsteps made no sound. The concealment had worked perfectly.

Across from me, a man and a woman were staring around in shock. Seeing someone disappear without warning must have startled them. I used the skill to slip into a deserted side alley, then deactivated it. Within seconds, Rokan appeared.

“Rokan!”

For me, it had been days since I’d seen him, and my voice rose before I could help it.

“We have much to discuss, but let’s go first.”

Before we could even exchange proper greetings, Rokan teleported me to his lair.

I brought over a chair and sat down. The moment I did, Rokan got straight to the point.

“How did you do it?”

“Pardon?”

I didn’t know what he meant, but he looked deadly serious.

“How did you hide your presence so completely?”

I’d expected him to ask what had happened to me. Instead, he asked something I’d never anticipated. I’d used Concealment, but I thought a dragon like Rokan would still be able to track me. Apparently I’d been wrong.

“I was following your presence when it suddenly vanished altogether.”

“You... couldn’t find me?”

“That’s right. As you are now, there’s no realistic way you could hide from me or escape me like that. So how...”

Rokan stopped mid-sentence, as though something had occurred to him. He looked me straight in the eye.

“What exactly happened in there?”

“It’s a long story, and you might find it hard to believe. But first, Rokan...”

With everything moving so fast, I’d overlooked something important.

“Could we call Sia and tell her together?”

“Yes. I was just about to contact Shasha.”

Rokan called her, and almost immediately Sia appeared on the screen, looking ready to burst into tears.

[“Oppaaaa!”]

Tear tracks were plainly visible on her face. She must have started crying the moment she heard I’d been sucked into the gate.

[“What happened? You said you were just going out for some air! Then why did you suddenly go into a gate...?”]

Her tears hadn’t even dried, and already her eyes were filling again. The sight made my own eyes sting.

“I’m sorry. I scared you, didn’t I? What happened was...”

I cleared my throat, then told them in detail how I’d been sucked into the gate and everything I’d experienced inside it—in Elysium.

When the long story was over, Sia finally let out the feelings she’d been holding back and burst into tears again.

[“But... I’m so glad you’re back, Oppa. You came back alive. That’s enough for me. When Grandpa told me you seemed to have suddenly disappeared, you have no idea how scared I was...”]

Rokan, meanwhile, said nothing. His eyes were squeezed shut, and he was deep in thought.

[“Still, it’s amazing that you ended up in Pangaea.”]

“Right? I couldn’t believe it when they first told me. What are the odds?”

As we talked, Sia gradually returned to her usual lively self. Rokan, however, remained silent, his expression grave.

[“Grandpa... is something wrong?”]

She seemed to sense it too and asked him carefully. But Rokan waved a hand.

“It’s nothing. I just have something to think about.”

Despite his words, his expression didn’t change. Nor did his silence end, leaving me to wonder whether it really was nothing.

While Rokan sat lost in thought, Sia and I exchanged a wordless glance. She seemed to be thinking the same thing I was. He’d said nothing was wrong, but the longer he stayed quiet, the more anxious we became.

At last, Rokan broke the long silence with a graver expression than I’d ever seen on him.

“Minjun. You said you met a man you believed was Bellium, and afterward your EX-rank skill unlocked?”

“Yes.”

He clearly knew something about Bellium.

“Do you remember what year it was there? Did anyone mention a year according to the Imperial calendar or the Continental calendar?”

“That... I don’t know.”

Looking back, I should have found out in case it mattered later. But I’d been so focused on getting back to Earth that it hadn’t occurred to me. I should have made plans for what I’d do after I got home, too.

“All I heard was that Bellium died tens of thousands of years ago.”

Unfortunately, that was all I knew.

“... I see.”

Rokan looked troubled. I’d seen him lost in thought before, but never so deeply. Was there another secret hidden in what had happened to me in Elysium? It felt awkward to ask, but it would be better than letting this tense silence continue.

“Rokan, do you know anything about Bellium? What kind of person he was?” I asked carefully.

“Only what you heard there. He gathered people who’d been exiled from their homelands and built a city, and he didn’t get along with the other dragons. That’s all I know.”

Rokan shook his head firmly.

“Even something small would help. Any clue about Bellium at all—”

“There is none.”

He cut me off before I could finish.

“Being dragons does not mean we know everything that happens in this world, or that we record it all.”

Rokan made it clear he had nothing more to say about Bellium, but I couldn’t take his answer at face value. If it was true, what explained his grave reaction and that long silence?

“Then do you know anything at all about Bellium’s child?”

Even if he knew nothing more about Bellium, he might know something about the child Elysium’s histories never mentioned. Adil had said no one in Elysium knew anything, but Rokan was a dragon too. Perhaps that made a difference.

It didn’t.

“No. If Bellium had been a great figure who left his mark on history, there would be detailed records of him and his child. But he was no such figure. In fact, I hear he had a poor reputation among his own kind.”

So while Elysium’s citizens might have had reason to preserve information about Bellium, the dragons had no particular reason to pass it down.

“You humans are much the same, are you not? You might record a traitor who committed a grave crime, but you would hardly preserve an account of every petty local thug who was merely somewhat bad. Think of it that way.”

I’d thought creatures who lived incomparably longer than humans might see things differently. Apparently not. His explanation made sense, but I still couldn’t shake my unease.

“Perhaps there’s something about them in a book I haven’t read. Shasha, have you heard anything about Bellium or his child?”

Rokan passed the question to Sia, but she shook her head, looking disappointed.

[“No. Honestly, I only know that there’s a city called Elysium and that Bellium founded it. I haven’t heard anything else either. Sorry, Oppa.”]

Rokan nodded as if he’d expected as much.

“I wish I could satisfy your curiosity, but I’m afraid I can’t. I’ll be away for a little while. You two can talk until I return.”

Looking troubled, Rokan left.

* * *

As soon as he entered his study, Rokan sat in his rocking chair, frowned, and tipped his head back. He let out a sudden, heavy sigh and muttered under his breath.

“Bellium. Why must you keep causing trouble for your own kind, even in death?”