The Way of Life for a Terminal S-Class Hunter - C66
$66
The first sensation Seo-heon felt when he arrived at his new house was through his sense of smell.
The moment he opened the car door, the sweet yet fresh scent of pear blossoms tickled his nose. The sky was clear and blue, and the sound of spring insects could be heard from the grass.
However, Seo-heon’s face was filled with boredom and tedium. It was natural, as changing environments didn’t change the person Kang Seo-heon was.
‘A human born empty will live that way for life.’
His grandmother always looked at her grandson with pitying eyes. It was incomprehensible to Seo-heon. In contrast, his parents quickly gave up on him. They taught morality strictly but didn’t force him to feel human emotions or have a proper thought system.
“Let’s go in.”
That day too, his parents didn’t scold or rebuke their son for showing no excitement at the sight of their wonderful new house. Seo-heon once again thought it was comfortable not having to act in front of his family.
Creak.
It was just as this slightly unusual family, who had just moved in, was about to open the front door and enter the house.
As Seo-heon was noticing the intensified flower scent, someone grabbed the hem of his clothes. Seo-heon, who hated being touched by others, turned around after casually shaking off the hand of the person who grabbed him.
That was the moment.
In that instant when he directly met those gentle brown eyes. For the first time, Seo-heon felt like his body couldn’t move an inch.
“Hello, did you just move in?”
The boy asking this had white flower petals in his hair and was smiling brightly. His face was flushed red as if he had run over to greet them, sparkling like it was sprinkled with gold dust. Amidst the sound of insects, there was the sound of something breaking. Though small, it was clear and gave Seo-heon a great shock.
“Yeah.”
“Wow! I’m Baek Woo-hyun. I live next door.”
That was their first meeting.
***
“Have you woken up, sir?”
The driver asked Seo-heon, who had rarely fallen asleep in the car. Normally, he wouldn’t have spoken up, but it was such an unusual scene that he couldn’t help but ask.
‘Even the great Kang Seo-heon must be tired.’
Not only was there the media to deal with, but the amount of work to handle after overturning ongoing projects was immense. Yet he was making time to go to the hospital where Woo-hyun was. Considering he hadn’t rested since the conquest ended, he could be called a man of steel.
“How long until we reach the hospital?”
Seo-heon asked while touching his stiff eyes, in a quite sensitive state. Whether it was concern or pure curiosity, he noticed his subordinate’s unusual question but didn’t want to acknowledge it. In fact, not even a hint of curiosity arose.
“About five minutes left, sir.”
“Please hurry more.”
It hadn’t even been a day since he met Woo-hyun, but his sharpened nerves kept calling for anxiety.
‘Just need to wrap things up. But this unpleasant feeling won’t go away.’
The fight that initially gave him a sense of achievement became increasingly difficult to distinguish from boredom as time passed. If Woo-hyun hadn’t thrown his life away at every crucial moment, making Seo-heon renew his anger, Seo-heon probably wouldn’t have been able to drag it out until now.
‘Woo-hyun.’
He closed his eyes again and overlapped the young Woo-hyun he met in his dream with the current Woo-hyun lying in the hospital. For a moment, he felt a sense of fulfillment.
“We’ve arrived, sir.”
Once the soft-hearted Woo-hyun understands what I’ve done, this bad premonition will disappear too. Now that we’ve caught the perpetrator, he should be able to lessen his guilt about his parents.
‘If that’s difficult, I can just help him by his side.’
Seo-heon convinced himself as he put on the coat he had folded away and got out of the car.
“You can take the car in. Thank you for your hard work.”
Thinking that Woo-hyun would be waiting upstairs, a generous feeling that hadn’t existed before arose, if only as much as a speck of dust. The location of the tracking item he had been checking occasionally had not left the hospital even once until this moment.
“Hello.”
“Yes, hello.”
In the elevator going to the VIP ward, he met a doctor he was acquainted with. This was also why he chose this hospital.
“The patient doesn’t seem to need any special treatment since the healers visited yesterday. I’ve informed him that he can be discharged tomorrow if he wishes. The same goes for the other guild members.”
“Thank you. I look forward to your continued support.”
“Likewise, I look forward to working with you.”
By the time an awkward silence settled in the elevator, they arrived at the floor where Woo-hyun was hospitalized. His steps crossing the corridor betrayed his impatience.
Seo-heon carefully opened the quiet hospital room door. In the dark room with the lights off, Woo-hyun was lying quietly like a corpse.
“Woo-hyun.”
Woo-hyun must have just been sleeping, but Seo-heon’s heart pounded when there was no answer. The unknown anxiety he had felt all morning had grown and was now pacing around the hospital room.
“Woo-hyun?”
Seo-heon called Woo-hyun’s name louder, trying to chase away that annoying uninvited guest. But there was no response. Seo-heon, whose patience had reached its limit, strode to the bed and tapped Woo-hyun’s shoulder.
“Are you sleeping? You don’t seem to have eaten dinner either, wake up.”
Regular, even breathing and increasingly rough breathing mixed in the hospital room. Seo-heon, not realizing he was being irrational, repeatedly tried to wake Woo-hyun.
“Why are you doing this?”
Seo-heon forcibly lifted Woo-hyun with his slightly trembling hands. However, contrary to his wishes, Woo-hyun’s eyes did not meet Seo-heon’s. Unable to wait any longer, he pressed the nurse call button.
“Is something wrong?”
Although Woo-hyun was a VIP, the nurse who visited was a bit surprised as she didn’t think there would be any danger since the healers had almost finished treatment. It was because the guardian who had forcibly lifted the patient had a fierce demeanor. If the aura surrounding a person could be seen, the aura spreading around Seo-heon right now would surely be a ferocious dark red.
“The patient can’t open his eyes.”
“Pardon?”
“His breathing is normal, but he can’t open his eyes.”
The second response conveyed anger as well. The nurse, sensing something was amiss, entered the room first to check the pupillary reflex.
“Could you lay him back on the bed?”
After the nurse’s examination, there were vital signs, but Woo-hyun still couldn’t open his eyes. Eventually, even the doctor they had just parted from was called, and the room became crowded.
“I think he might have ingested a strong sedative, close to poison. There’s nothing wrong elsewhere.”
“If it’s poison, he has a resistance skill.”
“I think the activation of the resistance skill might be slow since the body is in recovery. Once the body fully recovers and returns to normal, I believe he’ll regain consciousness. Still, let’s do a detailed examination to check if there are any problems.”
The doctor spoke in a tone that wasn’t entirely certain. Seo-heon clenched his fist.
“No. That won’t be necessary.”
Halo opened the door and entered, as if he had been listening from outside.
Seo-heon, who had jumped up from his seat, glared at him who was smiling brightly. He was already a thorn in Seo-heon’s side, and now he was interfering in this situation, so there was no way he could have good feelings towards him.
“Explain what you mean.”
Still, Seo-heon prioritized Woo-hyun’s condition over his emotions.
“I put Woo-hyun to sleep. It’s a skill I’ve been keeping secret. The effect lasts about 3 days. If his body had been normal, it wouldn’t have worked, but as you can see, given his condition…”
The way to not be looked down upon is to show composure in any situation. Seo-heon was naturally capable of this, but this time, for the first time, he had to forcibly feign composure.
“I don’t mind provocation or jokes, but it’s better for your well-being to be selective about the target, Halo. I show no mercy when it comes to matters involving Woo-hyun.”
This time, Halo laughed out loud. It was a refreshing laugh that didn’t match the atmosphere of the hospital room.
“I told you, didn’t I? That you would regret it.”
“Regret?”
Seo-heon’s patience was wearing thin. He disliked how Halo acted as if he knew everything about people just because he could see a bit of the future. Seo-heon liked controlling his own future and despised those who interfered with that. Of course, Woo-hyun was always the exception.
“I don’t know how you think you’re going to make me regret anything, but I don’t need to hear any more. Please call someone with a detoxification skill.”
The latter part was directed at the doctor. Halo, disregarding being ignored, retorted.
“When did ‘I’ say I would make you regret?”
The battle of nerves that had been interrupted once reignited.
“What makes you regret is yourself.”
“If you’re done with your business, I’d appreciate it if you’d stop meddling in others’ affairs and return to your own country. This is the last courtesy I’m extending.”
The arrogant man believed he had nothing to regret.
“Woo-hyun will soon enter a state of deep sleep. He has about 100 days of life force left.”
Seo-heon’s movement stopped abruptly, like a puppet with its strings cut. Emotions that had been contained swept in like a storm. Anger that he didn’t know how he had been hiding and the fear in between pushed away Seo-heon’s arrogance and took its place.
“It seems you don’t know that there are parts that shouldn’t be touched.”
Seo-heon reached out and grabbed Halo by the collar. In Halo’s eyes, which he thought had been laughing until just now, was cold anger.
“If left like this, Woo-hyun will die. You might want to check with Ihye as well.”
“If left like this?”
Seo-heon’s grip loosened momentarily.
“I don’t utter false prophecies.”
Halo, not missing this, shook off Seo-heon’s hand.
“Contact me when you want to find me. I’ll meet you once.”
He left after saying only that.