227 – HGL 227

227

Clatter, clatter…. A hand in a white glove drifted aimlessly over the neatly arranged surgical tools. Soon, the hand stopped over a sharp scalpel. The man hunched over. A small sigh escaped.

‘Ah….’

Eui-jae looked up. The man he had just seen was definitely….

‘Song Jo-heon….’

It was Song Jo-heon. The first Hunter he had encountered when he returned after leaping over eight years. A figure who had lived in the same era, and the one who made him realize he had returned to his original world. Eui-jae clearly remembered Song Jo-heon from the old CRT television. A man who was confident, like a sharp tiger.

“…….”

He wanted to believe it wasn’t true. He was an ambitious person, but he thought they were walking the same path. Because he was someone who had endured difficult times together. He thought he wasn’t a bad person.

Crack…. The edge of the steel bookshelf in his hand crumpled. Eui-jae hurriedly let go.

“…….”

Clearly, Song Jo-heon’s body wasn’t like that eight years ago. There were bound to be minor scars, but there weren’t any marks that looked like they had been patched up like rags. Eui-jae asked in a low voice.

“Those… marks on Song Jo-heon’s body. Do you know when he got them?”

“Um, no. It’s embarrassing to say, but I’m only finding out about those scars now.”

Min-gi Seo, who had crawled out of the shadows silently, stood up as if bouncing and dusted off his black suit. He had a slightly sullen face.

“He always wore a perfect suit from head to toe. It was quite a topic in men’s magazines. He didn’t even wear short-sleeved shirts in the summer heat. To borrow the Guild Leader’s expression, I thought it was a show of authority… for the most part.”

“Since when?”

“I don’t remember exactly… but it was probably after he became an S-Grade.”

After J was trapped in the West Sea Rift, Song Jo-heon became an S-Grade Awakened.

“I never imagined he was hiding something like that under his suit. I understand why he was so pathologically unwilling to expose his bare skin.”

Min-gi Seo opened a cabinet, took out a white gown, and put it on over his suit. He slid his sunglasses up.

“Anyway, this isn’t good. You just saw it, right? The way he lay down so familiarly.”

“He even looked for the doctor he used to see. That means he came often.”

He seemed familiar with Prometheus’s hidden base, acted like it was natural to take off his clothes and wait, had the eye to recognize unfamiliar faces, and had a body with marks all over it that looked like it had been patched up like rags. His Awakening Grade had risen from A-Grade to S-Grade. All the evidence was pointing in one direction. The back of his neck felt chillingly cold.

‘He was experimented on.’

Probably on his own, by his own judgment.

Ahem, an unpleasant clearing of the throat was heard. It was a sign of urging. Min-gi Seo lowered his sunglasses slightly and whispered while examining the medicine bottles and tools.

“If the public official was here, he would have arrested him on the spot, but we don’t have the authority to do that, so we need to extract information. Hunter Song Jo-heon has a pretty good image, too.”

“In what way?”

“He’s the first case of an A-Grade becoming an S-Grade. You may not have known, but it was a pretty big issue. It gave civilians the expectation of an S-Grade to fill J’s void, and it gave Hunters hope that they could also raise their grade.”

An Awakened’s grade is a tag that follows them forever. Eui-jae also used to listen to the complaints of low-grade Hunters when he worked at the Hanover Soup Restaurant. People only remember the outstanding Hunters, and low-grade Hunters are put into all sorts of troublesome chores, and they’re ridiculed as if they’re not even Hunters.

It’s an area that Eui-jae can’t fundamentally reach, no matter how hard he tries to understand.

“…….”

Min-gi Seo continued, opening the drawers nimbly.

“There’s a reason why the Samra Guild grew so quickly. Not only was it Korea’s first official Guild… but the person who actually changed his grade was the Guild Leader. Everyone wanted to know how he raised his grade, how he broke through his own limits….”

“…….”

“Did you know, J?”

Min-gi Seo looked at J’s face with a suspicious expression.

“Among the missing Hunters… there are quite a few Hunters belonging to Guilds under the Samra Guild.”

“…….”

“I dismissed it as poor management of the subordinate Guilds… but seeing this, my thoughts are changing a lot.”

Eui-jae looked at the drawer next to the door. A syringe and a medicine about the size of a finger joint were prepared on a stainless steel tray. Eui-jae picked up the small bottle and held it up to the bright incandescent light. The colorless, transparent liquid sloshed around. What kind of function does this medicine have? Is it a medicine that strengthens the Awakened’s body?

Once again, a clearing of the throat was heard. Eui-jae turned to look at Min-gi Seo. Min-gi Seo flipped through a stack of papers and stared back at Eui-jae.

“At this point, you probably have a vague idea, right? What are you going to do?”

“…….”

“I will follow your will entirely.”

“I….”

Eui-jae put down the bottle. His black eyes shone coldly.

“First, I want to ask.”

“…….”

“What on earth were you thinking when you did this?”

Eui-jae took out his mask and put it on. His coldly hardened face hid behind the black mask. He flung the door open. Song Jo-heon was lying still on the bed with his eyes closed. Eui-jae strode forward. Perhaps he sensed the unusual energy. Song Jo-heon opened his eyes in a flash. He nimbly raised his body, but Eui-jae’s hand was faster.

Thwack! A hard hand twisted his blood-vessel-filled neck. Keuk, a breath he couldn’t swallow burst out. Eui-jae put his weight on Song Jo-heon while twisting his windpipe. Song Jo-heon staggered backward, unable to overcome the force. A hand with protruding veins grabbed the hand clutching his neck and tried to pull it off, but Eui-jae’s hand didn’t move like a shackle. Eui-jae put strength into his hand and arm and pushed his neck with all his might. Bang! Song Jo-heon crashed into the cupboard. The medicines that had been lined up fell and shattered.

“What, you…!”

A black, smooth mask was reflected in his eyes, which were blazing with anger. Song Jo-heon’s eyes were filled with shock.

“You, you. Why are you here…!”

Eui-jae gripped Song Jo-heon’s shoulders with force. The blunt fingertips pressed down on his shoulders. Song Jo-heon’s face contorted in pain. A distorted voice, devoid of any emotion, muttered.

“That’s what I want to say.”

“Keuek…!”

The black mask looked down at the black hair mixed with gray hair. A trace of emotion was mixed into the end of the distorted voice.

“What on earth have you done, you….”

An undisguisable disappointment.

It’s not pleasant to see the scenery of the Destroyed world every time she falls asleep. The Doomsday that will come someday. Destruction. Terrible scenes of people dying and being trampled on. She could share the scenery, but she couldn’t even convey the emotions. Yoon Ga-eul was powerless and despaired every night.

Of course, Ham Seok-jeong and Jung-bin listened to her carefully, but that was it. There was an uncrossable river between an Awakened who had gone through all sorts of battles and had thick bones and a newly Awakened, combat-ability-less Awakened. They trusted her words and took them seriously.

But they didn’t empathize with her fear.

Too weak to be a Hunter. Too special to be an ordinary person. An existence that teetered precariously between Awakened and ordinary people. An existence that knew the coming Doomsday but was powerless to change anything with her own strength. So she always relied on someone and always despaired. That was Yoon Ga-eul.

So Yoon Ga-eul was lonely. Always.

“…….”

The narrow room was suffocating. Ga-eul bit her lip. The man on the other side of the speaker had been silent ever since saying that he needed her power. He must be waiting for her answer. But…

Her vision kept blurring. Ga-eul rubbed her eyes roughly, trying to hold back the tears that were welling up. Think of her friends. Think of J.

‘It’s J, me.’

A face that smiled, baring his teeth in a messed-up state.

‘Trust me.’

When she thought of J’s face, her dizzy mind calmed down a little. Ga-eul clenched her fists and took a deep breath. Yes, J is still here. He’s with me, and if it’s J, he’ll somehow solve this.

‘…But.’

…But is that really okay?

Isn’t she just passing everything on to J and running away?

In the end, she can’t do anything with her own strength, and isn’t she just settling down after putting all the burden on J…?

It was a very small gap. Her trust in J was firm, but her deep distrust of herself remained the same. The soft voice of a man slipped into the gap created by doubt.

‘You’re really amazing.’

‘A young student endured that fear alone, didn’t she? You’re really amazing.’

‘Of course, this isn’t your fault. And….’

‘Ga-eul is not alone.’

Ga-eul stared blankly at the ceiling. The flickering light bulb, shaking as one, blinked intermittently. At that moment, a voice rang out from the speaker.

“Yoon Ga-eul.”

‘…….’

“You are an existence that can change something. With your own strength.”

A small light went out.