He had finally found the monster that disturbed the sanctity of his inner world. But the moment it realized its identity had been exposed, it changed the dream.
Too late.
“This place is…”
Yeon-ha-neul, who had just been spanking Gyeon-woo’s butt in a classroom, now stood at the center of a middle school athletic field.
“So now it’s a memory from middle school…”
There was no sign of the creature.
It seemed she would have to begin the search all over again.
Resigned, Ha-neul sighed and decided to watch whatever dream the monster was trying to show her this time.
That was when she heard a voice.
“Ha-neul.”
“…Hm?”
It was Do-gyeon-woo’s voice.
She turned in the direction of the sound, and the moment her eyes met his figure, all words died in her throat.
Her mouth dropped open.
Even her rabbit ears shot straight up in surprise.
“…”
“Thanks for coming.”
Do-gyeon-woo was holding a bouquet of flowers.
At his feet, a ring of flickering candles shaped like a heart burned gently. Rose petals were scattered across the grass, balloons drifting lazily nearby.
Ha-neul stared at him—this boy grinning like a fool—and couldn’t help but ask,
“What… what are you doing?”
“What does it look like I’m doing?”
His expression said it all—Isn’t it obvious?
He gave a small shrug.
And then, voices erupted from above.
“Confess already!”
“You guys are amazing!”
“Ha-neul is so lucky!”
“Hey everyone! Gyeon-woo is confessing to Yeon-ha-neul! Come see!”
“Gyeon-woo! You’re such a romantic!”
“Stop confessing and go study!”
“You kids better be ready to get demerits!”
“Ah… brings back memories…”
“Ah, youth. So envious.”
Students leaned out of the classroom windows, laughing and pointing. Even the teachers—possibly the principal and vice principal—seemed to be peeking out from the building above.
“Ah…”
Looking up at them all, Ha-neul felt a wave of dizziness.
Meanwhile, Gyeon-woo continued, whether or not he noticed her distress.
“Ha-neul, I’ve been meaning to say this for a long time. I’m just now finally getting the courage to do it.”
“…”
Driven solely by his own emotions, he was dragging her into a pit of embarrassment.
He scratched his cheek bashfully.
Then, dropping to one knee on the ground, he held out the bouquet to her.
“Ha-neul, I like you. No, I love you. There’s no one else for me. So… will you go out with me? I’ll treat you right.”
His voice trembled with sincerity.
From above, the chorus of students grew louder, the cheers deafening.
“Da-ting! Da-ting!”
“Gyeon-woo must be tired, just say yes already! It’s rude to keep him waiting!”
“Congrats on your day-one anniversary!”
“Aha, our school has an official couple now.”
“Ah, such a sweet time in life.”
The pressure was immense.
There was no room left to refuse.
Within that suffocating atmosphere—
“…Okay.”
“Huh? What was that, Ha-neul?”
“NOOOOOOOOOOO!”
Yeon-ha-neul screamed.
She had a metal badge in her hand.
“You… don’t want to date me? But why?”
“I HATE public confessions!”
Device, online.
She swung her steel hammer.
With everything she had.
The scene changed.
After thoroughly thrashing Do-gyeon-woo and demolishing half the school building, Yeon-ha-neul now stood in a school hallway.
“…”
It was a familiar sight.
Middle school again.
“What are you trying to show me this time…?”
She narrowed her brows in suspicion.
Could it be another confession? In the hallway, this time?
Unwilling to let herself get caught up in whatever scene the monster was trying to stage, she decided to search for it instead. She moved quickly.
“Wow, they really look good together.”
As she headed toward the central stairwell, she overheard whispers from students lining the corridor.
They were all staring in the same direction.
‘Who are they?’
She brushed past them and reached the stairs, where she could see two people talking.
She recognized them immediately.
“What are you doing after school?”
“Nothing. Why?”
“Wanna come over to my place? Nobody’s home—except Mongsil.”
“What are you planning, inviting me over?”
It was Do-gyeon-woo.
And Kim Su-ji.
Standing a few steps up, Su-ji looked down at Gyeon-woo with sparkling eyes.
He was smiling, too.
Even from a distance, their chemistry was unmistakable.
“…”
Ha-neul froze on the spot.
Then came the students’ chatter:
“They’re the perfect couple.”
“He’s from the Sword Sage School, and she’s from a noble family too—makes sense.”
“Look at that love in Gyeon-woo’s eyes.”
“Su-ji’s pretty into it, too.”
“How long have they been dating?”
“Not even a week, I think?”
“Didn’t Su-ji confess first? Damn, I liked her before Gyeon-woo did…”
“Wait, wasn’t Gyeon-woo into Yeon-ha-neul?”
“Oh, the rabbit monster? He totally was. He even confessed publicly. But did you see what that monster did to him after?”
“He must’ve been crushed. Then Su-ji swooped in.”
“Hey, look! Yeon-ha-neul’s right there! Shhh!”
“Crap, did we say something wrong?”
“Who cares? She’s not under the Sword Sage School’s protection anymore. Why should we watch our mouths?”
“…”
From the chattering voices, Yeon-ha-neul grasped the situation.
‘This is just a dream. Don’t get worked up.’
She bit her lip hard, trying to suppress the rising storm of emotions.
Her fist clenched around the metal badge.
Then it happened.
“…Gyeon-woo…?”
Their eyes met.
And the corners of his lips curled wide—mocking, triumphant.
As if performing on stage—
“Oh, they’re about to kiss.”
“They’re not even trying to hide it.”
“…”
Gyeon-woo gently cupped Kim Su-ji’s cheek.
She closed her eyes, offering her lips.
He leaned in, eyes shut, about to kiss her—
Crack!
Something snapped inside Yeon-ha-neul.
Device, online.
She swung her hammer.
A man, skin tanned by the sun, his hair dyed yellow, swung his blade in endless battle.
He fought an infinite swarm of rabbit-eared women, their weapons clashing with his in an endless echo of metal upon metal.
The dream had turned to utter chaos.
‘This is a disaster.’
The creature hiding in the man’s dream could no longer deny the situation had spun out of control.
He had hoped to use her clones to blend in and kill the man. But to think the man would retaliate like this, weaponizing the dream itself?
Numbers meant nothing now.
But the creature understood his strategy.
‘He’s trying to minimize the time and effort spent looking for me… and conceal himself in the process.’
Discussing reality within a dream seemed absurd, but practically speaking, it was nearly impossible for one man to find a single enemy hidden among countless doppelgängers of Yeon-ha-neul.
The creature, however, could track the man at any time, at any place.
To that end, the man had created this dreamscape—to buy time, and to confuse him.
It was clever.
But not enough.
He might succeed in surviving.
But that other goal? The goal of finding him?
That would never happen.
‘Do you think I won’t find you just because you created clones?’
He was no mere intruder—he was a Nightmare Incubus, one who bent dreams to his will.
Even as the man unleashed the unexpected, the creature easily discerned his true form from among the countless copies.
‘All this… just because you can’t bring yourself to kill that girl? Foolish. Weak.’
The man had no idea his ruse had failed. He continued to fight valiantly, chasing shadows.
But the creature? He was right here.
The man would never find him.
All the creature had to do was wait for the right moment to strike.
And that moment was now.
‘I’ve seen all there is to his swordplay.’
It was time to hunt.
Gathering several of the rabbit-eared women, the creature charged toward the man.
“Gyeon-woo.” “Gyeon-woo.” “Gyeon-woo.”
“…!”
A flicker of panic crossed the man’s face as he fought against the three versions of her.
Lion’s Thunderous Roar
He hastily activated a defensive stance.
But it was within the enemy’s expectations.
The essence of the man’s defensive form lay in receiving the force of an impact through his sword, converting that shock into rotational energy, and using that momentum to create a whirlwind centered on himself.
That was how he deflected attacks—by spinning them away with sheer force.
So, the solution?
Don’t let him block it with his sword.
Crush the very ground he stands on.
“…What!?”
The ground beneath him collapsed, disrupting his balance mid-spin. He stumbled, the pivot ruined, and let out a surprised cry.
Now.
The monster smirked, hidden among the clones of Yeon-ha-neul.
Commanding the nearby copies, it launched a coordinated ambush before the man could recover or react.
“Kh…!”
He was completely cornered now.
The same man who just moments ago had dodged effortlessly was suddenly wide open, faltering with every blow.
The opportunity to kill him had arrived.
This is it.
The monster wasn’t going to miss it.
Smelling victory, it moved with the others—camouflaged, seamless, indistinguishable.
It’s over!
Raising a massive steel hammer high above its head, the monster prepared to bring it down with finality.
That’s when it felt it.
Something wasn’t right.
…!?
The man’s eyes flared open, sharp and cutting.
His gaze was fixed—piercing through the sea of illusions, locked squarely on him.
A slow, knowing smirk curled at the edge of his lips.
It wasn’t a mistake.
Even with dozens of identical figures surrounding him…
That glare, blazing beneath his shock of yellow hair, was aimed at one.
Only him.
“I-I need to kill him now!”
Panic surged through the monster. Something was wrong. It didn’t know what. But it felt it.
An unfamiliar dread crept in.
With a snarl of desperation, it brought the hammer crashing down.
Whoosh!
Steel sliced the air—
But the man moved.
Fsshk!
For the first time—unlike before, when he’d held back from harming her likeness—the man leapt forward on pure instinct.
Right into its space.
And without hesitation, he drove his blade forward.
“…Guhhk!”
Shhhhck!
The sword pierced its chest, clean and merciless.
The hammer fell from its grip as the monster looked down in disbelief, seeing the blade lodged in its torso.
It wanted to scream, but its voice drowned in the storm around them.
A spray of blue blood splattered across the ground.
“Ho… how did you…?”
How did you know?
The monster, unable to maintain her form any longer, asked with a trembling voice. The disbelief rang clear.
The man answered casually, almost too simply.
“Well… Ha-neul would never actually try to kill me.”
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