That understanding came suddenly as the memory became clear.

All the puzzle pieces that had been scattered finally arranged themselves neatly in my head. I already knew Yukie hated me because she saw me kill my own father.

But what made her hate me this much was that all this time, whenever she asked about my reason for doing it, I couldn’t answer her question. So she thought I was just playing dumb. Pretending to forget. Insulting her with my pretense.

I tried to gauge the time. How long had I been trapped in this ice? Two minutes? Three minutes? The excruciating pain made me lose all sense of time, but I was sure there was still time. [Five-Minute Rewind] was still available. But before that, there was one thing I wanted to ask.

"Yukie," I called out, my voice hoarse but trying to stay calm. "I remember everything now."

Silence.

"Don’t you want to hear the reason?"

A few seconds passed. Then that voice came again—this time with a pause, with a hesitation that couldn’t be hidden. That flat voice sounded uncertain for the first time.

"Then... tell me the reason."

I smiled faintly inside the ice block. Her curiosity was still there. Even after two years had passed, even after she’d tortured me for so long, she still wanted that answer.

"Then come before me," I said. "And I’ll tell you."

No answer. I could feel her hesitation growing.

"You’ve probably guessed my ability by now," I continued, deliberately baiting her with a teasing tone. "My ability is to stop time. That’s all. That’s why I could use your mouth as a place to dump my sperm."

I paused for a moment, then added in a deliberately provocative tone, "I have to say, your mouth isn’t as cold as you are."

That would definitely make her angry. Very angry. I expected an outburst of rage. I expected her to emerge from hiding, ready to kill me with her own hands. That’s what I wanted—for her to show herself before me and attack.

But the opposite happened.

Her voice returned, flat, cold, completely emotionless. Like a robot running out of battery.

"I don’t care anymore."

What?

And instantly, the ice encasing me began to crack—fine fissures appeared on its surface. But at the same time, my skin, stuck to the ice, was pulled, stretched, torn.

"ARRRGH!"

The pain was unbelievable. The cracks weren’t just in the ice, but in my skin. In my flesh. Blood began seeping through the tiny gaps, soaking the ice that was turning red. Every new crack was a new wound on my body. Every inch of shifting ice was flesh being torn apart.

She wasn’t angry. She was beyond angry. She’d already decided to kill me in the most brutal way possible.

"YUKIE!" I screamed, my voice mixing with groans of pain. "DON’T YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW THE REASON?!"

Still no answer. The ice kept cracking, the fissures growing wider, and my skin kept tearing deeper. Blood flowed more freely but instantly froze into needles that stabbed into my own body.

"IF YOU KILL ME NOW, YOU’LL NEVER GET YOUR ANSWER!" I shouted again, desperate. "YOU’LL WONDER FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE UNTIL YOU DIE!"

Silence. Then that voice came again. Colder than the ice that was destroying me.

"It doesn’t matter anymore. I don’t care anymore."

On the second floor of that abandoned building, Yukie stood behind the curtain. Her face was still cold, but inside her heart, something was breaking.

She’d thought it through carefully.

It was true—all this time, she’d been haunted by that question. Why? Why did Adam kill his own father? What was his reason? Every night, that question appeared in her head, disturbing her sleep, destroying her peace. Even in her dreams, she kept asking, kept searching for an answer she never got.

And if she killed Adam now, that question would haunt her forever. Until she died. Until her last breath, she would keep wondering: why?

But she was also self-aware.

Adam was too dangerous. With that time-stopping ability, if he got free today, there would never be another chance to face him. Most likely, she’d end up like Alex, or Isabel, or even worse. She didn’t know exactly what happened to them, but from the change in Isabel’s attitude, from the terrifying way Alex died, she could guess.

She couldn’t trust what Adam said. It could just be a trick to make her drop her guard. It could be that once she appeared before him, Adam would use his other ability.

Yukie bit her lip. Her pale lip nearly drew blood.

No. She couldn’t take that risk.

This was her one chance to finish him.

And the ice down below grew harder. Colder. More destructive.

On the street, I felt my flesh tearing slowly. Ice needles pierced my body, penetrating skin, penetrating muscle, stabbing into my internal organs. Indescribable pain. But more than the pain, there was hatred burning in my chest.

"YUKIE!" I shouted one last time. "YUKIE! YOU REALLY—!"

No answer. Only the sound of ice continuing to crack my body apart. Blood flowed torrentially from every tear. My vision began to blur. My breathing grew heavier, shorter.

She was really going to kill me in the most painful way possible.

I gritted my teeth until blood flowed from my mouth. In my chest, the fire of hatred blazed hotter than ever before.

Fine. If that’s how it’s going to be.

I activated [Five-Minute Rewind].

The world spun. Dizziness overwhelmed me. Colors blurred together, spinning like a giant vortex. Sounds turned into deafening white noise. My body felt like it was floating, then falling, then—

BAM.

I jolted, opening my eyes with gasping breath.

I was back sitting in that taxi. In front of me, the driver had just said something about running out of gas. He was opening the door, ready to go find fuel.

"STOP!"

The driver froze. Turned around with a confused expression. "What is it, sir?"

I didn’t answer immediately. My body was still trembling violently from the residual pain still vivid in my memory. Every inch of my skin still felt like it was being cracked apart. Every muscle still felt like it was being stabbed by ice needles. Even though I’d returned to the past, the physical trauma still lingered.

I tried to steady my breathing. Calm myself. Breathe in deeply, exhale slowly. And repeat until my hands stopped shaking.

As soon as I was calm, I thought it through. Yukie had prepared that entire attack in detail. And somehow, this taxi I was riding in had delivered me exactly to the place she’d prepared to trap me. That wasn’t a coincidence.

I observed my surroundings through the car window. Outside, about two meters from the car, was a fire hydrant. The same hydrant that had exploded and sprayed water all over me in the past. With that hydrant, Yukie could freeze my entire body in an instant with her ice ability, leaving me no chance to anticipate.

This must be how it worked: this driver had been paid off by Yukie. He was ordered to wait for me to come out of the Aegis Grand Colosseum after treatment, then drive me to this location.

I stared sharply at the driver. My eyes, red with rage, looked at him without blinking.

"You deliberately stopped here, didn’t you?"

The driver froze. His formerly friendly face turned pale in an instant. Cold sweat began forming on his bald forehead.

"I can read your mind," I continued, lying confidently. My voice was low, threatening. "You’re working with someone to trap me here."

The man’s face changed in an instant. From confused to deathly pale. His eyes widened, his lips trembled uncontrollably. Cold sweat began soaking his temples, flowing down his paling cheeks.

"S-Sir... I... I..."

His reaction was answer enough. Didn’t need [Mind Control] to know he was guilty.

"Don’t you know who I am?" I leaned forward, my tone growing more threatening. "I’m Adam Socheron. Humanity’s future hero, they say. I can destroy your life easily. Your family. Your job. Your children’s future. Everything. In an instant."

The driver snapped out of his shock immediately. His hands raised in a pleading gesture, his face full of terror.

"I-I know, sir! I know! I’m sorry! Please forgive me!" His voice trembled, almost crying. "I just... I was tempted by the money! I didn’t know this would—someone paid me to wait in front of the colosseum and drive you here! That’s all, I—"

But I wasn’t listening to his rambling anymore. My eyes were fixed on something that had suddenly appeared before me. A notification had materialized, responding to my intense desire for revenge against Yukie.

_______________

[REVENGE QUEST GENERATED]

TARGET: Yukie Iceblood

OBJECTIVE: Become Yukie’s daddy, and punish her for being a naughty daughter.

REWARD: 5000 EXP, 2 Random Items

[Accept: Y / N]

_______________

I read the quest once, then again, then once more. My eyebrows rose.

So... I had to become her daddy?

What did "become Yukie’s Daddy" mean? It meant... I had to...

The thrill of revenge and lust surged through my body simultaneously. Wild images flashed through my mind. That arrogant ice girl. That cold girl who’d tortured me for two years. That girl who’d almost killed me just minutes ago.

Become her father. Make her call me "Daddy." Make her submit to me like a child to a parent. Make her feel what it meant to have a cruel, lustful daddy.

I’d really wanted to save Yukie for last. As a big target, as the final challenge on my revenge list. But my hatred was unbearable now. The pain from that ice torture still felt real all over my body. The feeling of nearly dying, being slowly torn apart, still lingered in my soul.

I accepted without hesitation.

My smile widened. A smile that made the driver before me even more terrified. The driver was still pleading in front, his hands still raised in supplication. "Sir, I’m really sorry! I’ll do anything—"

I glanced at him briefly. This poor man was just a tool. No need to waste time on him.

I ignored him, focusing on what I would do next.

Yukie. That ice girl. Now it was my turn.

I activated the skill.

[Time Stop]

The world froze.

The driver stopped mid-plea, mouth wide open, hands raised in that ridiculous begging pose. Tears that had just been flowing froze on his cheeks like crystal pearls. Outside, leaves falling from the roadside trees froze mid-motion, suspended without falling. Streetlights froze in their warm glow.

Everything was still. Everything was silent. Everything frozen in time.

Only I moved.

And somewhere, on the second floor of that abandoned building, Yukie Iceblood was also frozen. Waiting patiently behind the window curtain, unaware that time had stopped and her prey was about to come for her.

I opened the taxi door and stepped out.

My boots crunched on the frozen asphalt. The air felt still, unmoving, like a dead world. Around me, Gatehaven city was frozen in its daily life, even birds in the sky halted mid-flight.

I stood outside the taxi, staring at the abandoned buildings around me. Then my eyes narrowed.

Yukie. That bitch was definitely in one of those buildings. Watching. Waiting. Preparing the same trap that had nearly killed me.

But now...

Now, I was the hunter. And she was the prey.

Those buildings. Which one was most likely? Which was the best hiding spot to observe this street?

My eyes fixed on an old building across the road. Its second floor had a window with a curtain slightly open—a curtain unlike the others that were tightly closed. Behind that curtain, faintly, a shadowy figure was visible.

A cold smile spread across my lips. Yukie Iceblood. The ice girl. The untouchable cold one. After two years, finally, it was your turn.

"Daddy’s coming for you, naughty daughter," I whispered softly. "And Daddy’s going to teach you what it means to be a good girl."

My steps were steady toward that building. Behind me, the taxi driver froze in his pleas, the hydrant froze in its threat, and the world froze in silence.

No one could save Yukie now.