Dela Cruz Hospital.
10:00 Am.
Raven woke up late to get food from the hospital cafeteria. He had already grown used to this routine, having followed it for the past few days—sleeping early, waking up early to complete his quests, then returning to sleep, eat, rest, and sleep early once more. As usual, nothing changed. The day was monotonous and dull, the only variation being how Raven evaded reporters who were eager to interview him. And as expected, when he approached the door, he noticed that the noise outside seemed even louder than before.
Opening the door, Raven was greeted by a swarm of reporters waiting at his doorstep. Although he had used to them lingering outside his door daily, it was usually only one or two—not the larger crowd that now stood before him. Raven was perplexed as he watched the reporters freeze in place, as if someone had hit the pause button on them. Then, as if another button had been pressed, they suddenly surged toward him—everyone talking at once, making it impossible to understand anything through the chaotic noise.
As usual, he refused to answer any questions and turned to leave, but one question suddenly caught him off guard.
"Hunter-nim, may we ask whether your self-inflicted injuries have a deeper meaning beyond what the Hunter Association has stated?"
The question came from a woman clutching a small microphone, her forehead glistening with sweat as she struggled to remain at the front while others jostled for position, desperate to get a question in.
Raven stared at the woman, clearly baffled—where had this question even come from?
"When did I injure myself?" A question mark practically appeared above his head.
The reporters were pushing and shoving each other in their eagerness, but Raven's superior physical capabilities allowed him to avoid to get hurt—though the situation was still irritating. However, Raven wanted to know where this question had originated, so he attempted to ask the reporter for clarification.
But before she could answer, she was overwhelmed by the crowd, and Raven found himself bombarded with even more questions.
So he had no choice but to stop them all to ask the woman again what she meant.
Realizing that they wouldn't get anything if they continued shouting over one another, the rest of the reporters stepped aside and let the woman take the lead, since all of them were clearly curious about the same thing. Even if they didn't get to ask their own questions now, they could still follow up later.
The woman explained that the Hunter Association had announced that the recent monster attack was merely a false alarm—that one of the victims, frustrated by the incident and consumed by depression, had inflicted self-harm.
"The investigation had yielded no evidence—nothing that pointed to a culprit or confirmed foul play—so the authorities had settled on this conclusion."
Raven was stunned—according to the official statement, he was just a depressed man with suicidal tendencies, and this was the explanation being presented to the public.
Embarrassed, he instinctively wanted to clear his name, to declare that he was nothing like that. But the words got stuck in his throat—if he denied it, he would have to present a convincing explanation, especially since the Association had stated that no signs of intrusion or resistance had been found at the scene.
Raven's expression twisted as though he had just swallowed a fly—he didn't want this reputation to follow him, but he had no reasonable way to refute it.
Seeing Raven's expression, the reporters' eyes gleamed.
Seeing his reaction, the reporters' eyes gleamed with anticipation. They expected him to challenge the official statement, and if he did, they knew they had a scoop.
If Raven, the supposed victim, claimed that the report was inaccurate, they could write explosive headlines like:
"Hunter Association Fails to Find Evidence—Declares Attack Self-Inflicted!"
"Hunter Association investigation Failed again, victim rebuttal claimed it's wasn't self inflicted!"
Regardless of which headline they landed on, they knew they'd have a hot scoop—exposing the Association's incompetence.
And even if the reports were exaggerated or misleading, these people didn't care—their job wasn't to uncover the truth. Their job was simply to create a story.
Truth-finding was the responsibility of the investigators, not them.
But as the seconds ticked by, Raven remained speechless—the words refused to leave his throat.
The reporters grew impatient, beginning to shout their questions at him again.
Soon, guards moved in to suppress the troublesome crowd, allowing Raven to absentmindedly slip away from the chaos.
From a distance, agents silently monitored the commotion, and once Raven had left, one of them pulled out a small communication device to report what he had witnessed.
---
For the rest of the day, Raven had nothing to do aside from resting, eating, and sleeping—a monotonous cycle that repeated endlessly.
The only thing that stirred a reaction in him was the realization that he was now somewhat of a small celebrity, though not in a flattering way—his notoriety had come from something humiliating.
Now, wherever he went, people stared at him with judgmental gazes, making him feel deeply uncomfortable.
Raven sighed—his mood was at an all-time low.
This stay the same for two more days, as Raven had nothing to do except complete his daily quest.
At this point, he had even more reason to avoid getting caught sneaking out, because he had finally learned why the Hunter Association had given such an explanation.
The statement had been based on his past incident and his recent experience with the dungeon outbreak.
After the attack, Raven had suffered trauma, but thanks to his awakening, he had survived.
Yet the power he had received was still too weak.
Knowing that his strength was inferior to the monster that had attacked him, Raven had been unable to find peace, so he pushed himself through relentless training—but even then, nothing change.
Feeling desperate, Raven resorted to something extreme—he inflicted injuries on himself.
His first awakening had happened when he had been wounded by the monster's attack and nearly died, so he had reasoned that if he recreated those conditions, he might get awakening for the second time.
So he staged it—he sought injury and near-death once more, hoping to trigger a second awakening.
It was utterly foolish—only someone who had completely lost their sense of reason would do something like this.
Now, in the public's eyes, Raven had become a lunatic—and this frustrated him deeply.
He felt as though his intelligence had been insulted.
Though people looked down on him, their eyes still held curiosity—they were eager to see if Raven would actually achieve a second awakening through such reckless means.
Awakening and reawakening were mysteries that fascinated everyone, but without proper data, there were no scientific studies to understand such miraculous phenomena.
Since awakening seemed entirely random, scientists had no way to determine what caused it—was it biological? A reaction to an unknown force? Or simply a matter of luck? Nobody knew.
So if Raven was ruthless enough to keep chasing strength through such methods, people were eager to see if he would succeed or if his actions were truly just foolishness.
On the sixth day, Raven was once again discharged from the hospital.
Until now, he had refused to give any interviews, so reporters took the Hunter Association's statement as fact—since Raven clearly had no intention of rebutting it.
Like last time, his first goal upon leaving the hospital was to exchange his Mana Crystals for money, ensuring he could pay his hospital bills.
Once again, he returned to his apartment—the clothes lent to him were not his size, as his previous ones had been damaged in the monster attack.
As he walked through the streets, countless eyes fell on him—he was instantly recognized.
To be honest, the "Raven Theory" was completely unexpected, yet it was now spreading like wildfire across social media—people used it for entertainment, while others debated its plausibility.
But in the end, it always turned back into a joke—suggesting that only someone with Raven's "decisiveness" could attempt such a reckless act.
And as the central figure in this ridiculous theory, his picture had inevitably gone viral, turning him into a meme.
Now, Raven had no choice but to wear a hood whenever he went outside.
When he returned to his apartment, the other tenants glared at him in disgust—some even forbidding their children from approaching him.
Raven had never cared about fame, but only if given a choice between being famous for something humiliating or remaining ordinary, he would not hesitate to fade into obscurity.
Raven was a rational person—he wasn't so mentally unhinged that he could find pleasure in this mockery.
Unable to endure the judgmental stares and constant ridicule, he started packing his things, preparing to move to a new place.
Otherwise, it wouldn't be long before he lost his temper and punched someone.
If he were an ordinary civilian, losing control might not be too serious—the worst case scenario would be him getting beaten up himself.
But as an awakened individual, even though he wasn't particularly strong, his anger could quickly escalate into something far more dangerous—an actual crime.
Especially considering that many of the foolish people mocking him were just regular civilians.
Even now, Raven couldn't understand where these people found the courage to openly ridicule someone with powers, despite being completely powerless themselves.
The world never lacked foolish individuals, but unfortunately, Raven had now become the most infamous among them—which was beyond infuriating.