diff --git a/TODO.md b/TODO.md
index 06b544e..c62a54f 100644
--- a/TODO.md
+++ b/TODO.md
@@ -255,6 +255,16 @@
   - backend debug broadcasts
 
 ## Recent Change Log
+- Date: `2026-03-16`
+- What changed:
+  - Removed the request-time budget from Gemini evaluation and supplemental exploration so the search pipeline now processes sequentially without the custom early-stop timeout branch.
+- Why it changed:
+  - The user explicitly requested no tight Gemini evaluation cutoff and wanted purely sequential processing instead of budget-based truncation.
+- How it was verified:
+  - code-path inspection of `/api/search` and `EvaluateAllCandidatesWithGemini(...)`
+- What is still risky or incomplete:
+  - End-to-end search latency can now grow significantly, and upstream reverse proxies may still time out if their own request timeout is shorter than the full sequential pipeline.
+
 - Date: `2026-03-16`
 - What changed:
   - If Gemini evaluation times out before producing any usable reviewed items, the API now returns a capped ranked fallback set instead of an empty result list.
diff --git a/backend/handlers/api.go b/backend/handlers/api.go
index 4006865..02e59e8 100644
--- a/backend/handlers/api.go
+++ b/backend/handlers/api.go
@@ -270,7 +270,6 @@ func (a *App) runDownload(recordID int64, url, start, end, quality, outputPath s
 
 func (a *App) searchMedia(c *gin.Context) {
 	started := time.Now()
-	deadline := started.Add(22 * time.Second)
 	var req struct {
 		Query     string   `json:"query"`
 		Platforms []string `json:"platforms"`
@@ -322,16 +321,16 @@ func (a *App) searchMedia(c *gin.Context) {
 	scored := services.RankSearchResults(rankQuery, results)
 	a.debug("search ranked summary", summarizeSearchResults(scored, time.Since(started), services.GeminiCandidateLimit(len(scored)), ""))
 	a.Hub.Broadcast("progress", gin.H{"type": "search", "status": "analyzing all candidate visuals with Gemini Vision", "progress": 75})
-	recommended, geminiStats, geminiErr := services.EvaluateAllCandidatesWithGeminiBudget(a.GeminiService, req.Query, scored, deadline)
+	recommended, geminiStats, geminiErr := services.EvaluateAllCandidatesWithGemini(a.GeminiService, req.Query, scored)
 	a.debug("search gemini evaluation", geminiStats)
-	if services.NeedsSupplementalExploration(recommended) && time.Now().Before(deadline.Add(-4*time.Second)) {
+	if services.NeedsSupplementalExploration(recommended) {
 		a.Hub.Broadcast("progress", gin.H{"type": "search", "status": "Gemini 평가가 약해 추가 후보를 탐색하는 중", "progress": 82})
 		explorationQueries := buildSupplementalQueries(req.Query, queryVariants)
 		extraResults, extraErr := a.SearchService.SearchMedia(explorationQueries, enabledPlatforms)
 		if extraErr == nil && len(extraResults) > 0 {
 			results = mergeSearchResults(results, extraResults)
 			scored = services.RankSearchResults(strings.Join(explorationQueries[:min(len(explorationQueries), 3)], " "), results)
-			recommended, geminiStats, geminiErr = services.EvaluateAllCandidatesWithGeminiBudget(a.GeminiService, req.Query, scored, deadline)
+			recommended, geminiStats, geminiErr = services.EvaluateAllCandidatesWithGemini(a.GeminiService, req.Query, scored)
 			a.debug("search supplemental query variants", gin.H{"variants": explorationQueries, "variantCount": len(explorationQueries)})
 			a.debug("search gemini evaluation after supplemental search", geminiStats)
 		}
@@ -368,9 +367,6 @@ func (a *App) searchMedia(c *gin.Context) {
 	if geminiErr != nil {
 		warning = geminiErr.Error()
 	}
-	if geminiStats.TimedOut && warning == "" {
-		warning = "search returned partial Gemini-reviewed results before the gateway timeout budget"
-	}
 	a.debug("search complete summary", summarizeRecommendationResults(merged, time.Since(started), warning))
 	response := gin.H{"results": merged, "queries": queryVariants}
 	if warning != "" {
diff --git a/backend/services/ranker.go b/backend/services/ranker.go
index f87a5a9..00f32f6 100644
--- a/backend/services/ranker.go
+++ b/backend/services/ranker.go
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@ type GeminiBatchStats struct {
 	Failed            int      `json:"failed"`
 	SequentialRetried int      `json:"sequentialRetried"`
 	RecommendedCount  int      `json:"recommendedCount"`
-	TimedOut          bool     `json:"timedOut,omitempty"`
 	Errors            []string `json:"errors,omitempty"`
 }
 
@@ -91,10 +90,6 @@ func GeminiCandidateLimit(total int) int {
 }
 
 func EvaluateAllCandidatesWithGemini(service *GeminiService, query string, ranked []SearchResult) ([]AIRecommendation, GeminiBatchStats, error) {
-	return EvaluateAllCandidatesWithGeminiBudget(service, query, ranked, time.Time{})
-}
-
-func EvaluateAllCandidatesWithGeminiBudget(service *GeminiService, query string, ranked []SearchResult, deadline time.Time) ([]AIRecommendation, GeminiBatchStats, error) {
 	if service == nil {
 		return nil, GeminiBatchStats{}, fmt.Errorf("gemini service is not configured")
 	}
@@ -112,10 +107,6 @@ func EvaluateAllCandidatesWithGeminiBudget(service *GeminiService, query string,
 	merged := make([]AIRecommendation, 0, len(ranked))
 	seen := map[string]bool{}
 	for idx := 0; idx < limit; idx++ {
-		if !deadline.IsZero() && time.Now().After(deadline) {
-			stats.TimedOut = true
-			break
-		}
 		recommendations, err := recoverGeminiCandidateSequentially(service, query, ranked[idx])
 		if err != nil {
 			stats.Failed++
@@ -140,10 +131,6 @@ func EvaluateAllCandidatesWithGeminiBudget(service *GeminiService, query string,
 	stats.RecommendedCount = len(merged)
 
 	switch {
-	case stats.TimedOut && len(merged) > 0:
-		return merged, stats, fmt.Errorf("gemini vision evaluation stopped early to avoid request timeout")
-	case stats.TimedOut && len(merged) == 0:
-		return nil, stats, fmt.Errorf("gemini vision evaluation timed out before any usable results were returned")
 	case len(merged) > 0 && stats.Failed == 0:
 		return merged, stats, nil
 	case len(merged) > 0 && stats.Failed > 0: