By Zephyria That day, I never once regretted holding that child’s hand in the Mangwon Rift. However….
Eui-jae muttered nonchalantly, his hands shoved into his apron pockets.
“His condition had improved a lot with continuous treatment. Well, he wasn’t completely cured. He needed to receive periodic Antidote treatments… but I couldn’t return from the West Sea Rift. So, the Antidote ingredients wouldn’t have been supplied.”
He was just bothered that he couldn’t take responsibility until the end. The boy who would have quietly died due to J’s absence had been in a corner of his heart all along.
Did J, who left the boy alone, save everyone who entered the West Sea Rift? No. He saved nothing. And yet, he is living, thrown into a peace he didn’t earn. The back of the man who was revered as a hero was stained with failure.
Maybe that’s why the people he saved in the Jongno 3-ga Underground Dungeon felt more precious to him. Because they were people he saved at the end of failure.
Eui-jae didn’t know why he was telling this rambling story that he had buried so deeply. He was just awkwardly continuing to speak. Come to think of it, he had never told anyone this kind of story before.
Eui-jae rubbed the sole of his shoe against the floor for no reason and added.
“I went into a Rift and eight years passed. That’s how it happened.”
“……”
Min-gi Seo listened to the story silently, without any sign of pity or words of concern. That made him feel more comfortable. He tapped the screen with his tablet pen and opened his mouth.
“This is just for confirmation, so I hope you don’t take offense. Have you tried hiring a private investigation agency? There are many errand centers run by Hunters these days.”
“I went to one, but they kicked me out as soon as I told them the conditions. Well, I guess it’s understandable.”
“What about requesting access to his medical records? If it was eight years ago, the records should still be in the hospital.”
“Of course, I tried that too. They said it’s impossible to access them unless you’re the person themselves, a family member, or a legal guardian.”
“Hmm….”
“Well, J might be able to get away with it, but Cha Eui-jae isn’t J.”
Eui-jae glanced at the calendar.
“And in the first place… he wasn’t formally admitted to the hospital through the proper procedures.”
“…Excuse me?”
He hesitated for a moment at Min-gi Seo’s puzzled question, then spoke as if confessing a secret he had been holding in.
“Well, I secretly snuck him in under J’s name. I made a deal with the hospital.”
“E-excuse me?”
Min-gi Seo’s voice rose an octave. Eui-jae shrugged.
“Back then, they didn’t really accept people who were definitely going to die. There were so many people injured by Monsters… and there was a shortage of manpower and beds. Most people thought it was better to save more than ten other people than to hold onto someone who was dying. It was even worse at Hunter hospitals.”
Three years after the Day of the Rift. Thanks to the efforts of J and Jung-bin, Korea regained stability faster than other countries, but the chaos still hadn’t subsided.
There were no Rift detectors, no Healers. Treatment for injuries inflicted by Monsters had to rely solely on the rare Elixirs. In that situation, no hospital would give up a bed for a commoner who was dying from Poison. Because it was so obvious that they would die soon.
Eui-jae recalled and added.
“And I talked to the hospital and hid the fact that he even existed from the outside world. It could have been… troublesome.”
“Ah, I understand that. He could have been a weakness. Especially for someone like J.”
Min-gi Seo nodded, then subtly watched Eui-jae’s expression.
“I’m sorry. Was that too blunt of a word choice?”
“No, it’s true, so what.”
A brief silence fell. What was the point of looking for someone who was already dead? Still, Eui-jae had to find even the smallest trace. It was the duty of the survivor.
Hmm, Min-gi Seo let out a low sigh and slowly nodded, then put away his tablet.
“Honestly, there aren’t many clues, so I can’t say for sure that I can find him, but I have a sense of where to start the investigation.”
He pushed up his sunglasses and said seriously.
“Let’s start by turning the hospital inside out. Just leave it to me, customer. Which hospital is it?”
Then he held out his hand as if to shake hands. Had the words to commit an illegal act ever been so trustworthy? No, this was the first time Min-gi Seo had ever been so trustworthy. Eui-jae took his hand out of his pocket, shook it, and slowly shook it.
“It’s changed to the Hunter National Hospital now. It used to be a private hospital.”
“…Excuse me? Hunter National Hospital?”
“Yes. National.”
His face seemed to have turned pale. Min-gi Seo began to flap his fingers as if trying to desperately pull his hand away. But,
[Trait Strength Enhancement (S+) is activated.]
Cha Eui-jae never let go of something once he grabbed it. The hand that was tightly gripped turned white. Min-gi Seo said in a voice that trembled like a goat.
“C-customer? You’re really strong?”
“Yes? We’re just shaking hands.”
Squeeeeeze.
“A-a-ouch.”
“You’ll do it, right?”
“A-a-by any chance, do you know that the Hunter National Hospital has close ties with the Bureau of Rift Management and the three major Guilds, as well as most of the large Guilds, customer?”
“It must have grown a lot in eight years.”
“Ouch, do you also know that the security is that much tighter?”
“I know now.”
“…Ouch. O-okay, I understand. I’ll do my best.”
“Thank you.”
Only then did Eui-jae smile brightly and release his hand. Min-gi Seo made a tearful face and took out an Elixir from his Inventory and poured it all over his hand. Eui-jae also took out the Elixir kit for beginner Hunters that he had received as a gift and sprinkled it on top.
After the color returned to his pale hand, Min-gi Seo dejectedly grabbed the doorknob.
“Please understand that it may take some time to raid the National Hospital….”
“It’s okay. I’m used to waiting.”
“Yes. Please contact me if you need anything else. And if you have any work to do as J, please be sure to contact me or the Guild Master.”
The last words were an unexpected request. Eui-jae blinked.
“Why?”
“Yes? Of course, it’s to back you up, customer.”
Min-gi Seo also blinked back. Eui-jae opened his mouth slightly and was stunned for a moment as if he had been hit by something.
The contract he made with Lee Sa-young was a contract made when he didn’t know that Cha Eui-jae was the same person as J. So now that he knew his identity, he could take anything from him… why wasn’t he doing that?
As one question arose, other questions arose in a string, as if tied together with a rope. Eui-jae asked abruptly.
“Why are you helping me so much? This isn’t part of the contract.”
“Well…. I don’t really know either….”
Min-gi Seo seemed embarrassed and adjusted his sunglasses, which had slipped down. Dark circles were faintly visible. After thinking for a long time, he smiled and pushed the door open to the side.
“How about thinking that your good deeds are coming back to you…?”
“……”
“You may not have thought of it as a good deed, but it may have been salvation for someone.”
Then, goodbye. Min-gi Seo waved his hand and disappeared into the shadow of the door. Eui-jae stared at the dark shadow for a long time, then let out a long sigh.
Bang! When the fist slammed down on the steel desk, the files on it shook.
“I’m telling you, I don’t know who it is. How would I know the face of someone wearing a mask! You’re making me repeat the same thing over and over again.”
A man sitting in a room with several monitors bit his paper cup. The screens were all showing rooms that looked similar.
And in the left monitor, Hong Ye-seong, sitting in the interrogation room, was melting like a slime. The Hunter sitting across from him in the interrogation room asked again with a troubled face.
“…But Hunter Hong Ye-seong, how are you so sure that person is J when you don’t know their face?”
Hong Ye-seong scoffed.
“Do you know that J logged into Channel 1? That’s how his survival was confirmed. The Director even personally certified his survival. He’s a skilled person who can destroy an S+ Grade Golem in one hit, and he’s wearing a mask. But he says he’s J. How can I not believe him! I thought a savior had come at that time, to be honest. He came when I was about to die.”
“Why did you escape?”
“Fate called me.”
Hong Ye-seong pouted his lips like a beak and spouted nonsense. The Hunter interrogating him couldn’t help but sigh.
The unprecedented situation of Dungeon Restructuring and an S+ Grade increase had occurred. This alone was enough to turn the world upside down, but J appeared and dealt with the Master of the S+ Grade Dungeon.
Oh my god, J did it again! The Awakened Management Bureau and the Rift Management Bureau simultaneously entered a state of emergency. Jung-bin was lying in the Seowon Guild in a semi-corpse state, so the Awakened Management Bureau brought other super hamsters to the interrogation room instead of Jung-bin and began to grill them in order not to miss even the smallest piece of information.
But,
“Can you handle this?”
It was the Awakened Management Bureau that was being grilled….
Each of the super hamsters was too powerful to be grilled. Yoon Ga-eul, who they thought would be the easiest to coax, used the wildcard of being a third-year high school student to escape, and Lee Sa-young exercised his right to remain silent and openly exuded murderous intent towards the Hunter sitting in front of him, resulting in a no-approach order.
The only super hamster who opened his mouth was Hong Ye-seong, but he was just spouting nonsense the whole time. Hong Ye-seong, who was looking up at the ceiling with clear eyes, screamed.
“Ah, when are you going to release me? I have to work. I have something on my mind. Are you going to take responsibility if all my ideas die? I want to be put in the Bukhansan Artisan Village soon!”
The Hunter looked at the CCTV in the corner of the ceiling with an embarrassed face. It was a request for help. But the Hunter who was biting his paper cup couldn’t help him.
“Oh my, it’s rare to see such precious people gathered here like this.”
It was because of the dignified voice that suddenly echoed through the room.
Despite his neatly combed black hair, the white hair mixed in here and there, and his wrinkled face, he had a fierce, tiger-like impression. The middle-aged man, who had entered the monitor room without a sound and was looking at the screen, straightened his back.
With the sound of his cane tapping the floor, the Hunter who had been gnawing on his paper cup hurriedly stood up and bowed his head.
“Ah, Hunter Song Jo-heon, have you arrived! How did you get here….”
It was Song Jo-heon, the head of the Samra Guild, one of the three major Guilds in Korea. Song Jo-heon waved his hand in the air as if to appease him with a friendly laugh.
“Don’t worry. I came in with the Director’s permission.”
“Ah, is that so, yes.”
“Yes… I’ve heard the story in general.”
Song Jo-heon’s gaze turned to the central monitor. In the interrogation room in another screen, Lee Sa-young was sitting alone on a steel chair with his legs crossed and his eyes closed. The corners of Song Jo-heon’s lips gently rose.
“I heard J has returned?”