The Way of Life for a Terminal S-Class Hunter - C70
$70
Seo-heon kept his mouth shut. His stomach had been churning as if seasick because of the boy who kept defying expectations.
“They say this stops the bleeding. I’ll tie it for you.”
Although Woo-hyun’s clumsy hand movements were far from actually stopping the bleeding, Seo-heon let him be. It was quite cute how he loosely tied the handkerchief, afraid it might hurt.
“I was irritated and about to hit him. He spilled food on me.”
“I see.”
That was all of Woo-hyun’s response to the honest confession. He didn’t say it was wrong to hit, or that it was scary, or even show surprise.
“Aren’t you disgusted?”
“No. You didn’t want to get angry at the other person, even if it meant hitting your own hand. My dad said it’s amazing to think of others before your own emotions.”
That wasn’t such a noble intention. He just didn’t want things to become troublesome and didn’t want to attract attention.
‘They say good people think everyone else is good too. I guess it’s true.’
Seo-heon clenched and unclenched his tingling hand.
“Woo-hyun.”
“Yes?”
“Why are you smiling?”
He chided Woo-hyun, who was grinning after being called.
“It’s the first time you’ve called my name.”
The bundled unpleasant feelings gently unraveled. The warm hand that was slightly touching seemed to melt the chill that had penetrated deep into his bones.
Seo-heon realized then.
‘I want to make him mine.’
Even if it would take a lot of effort to do so.
‘If I pretend to be human like you, could I have you?’
That was the conclusion young Seo-heon reached.
***
Just because one decides to change doesn’t mean one’s nature easily changes. To get along with just one person, Seo-heon tried to become human, and sometimes it seemed to work. However, at the most crucial moments, he would realize that there was an insurmountable wall in that subtle difference. Like now.
‘In the end, a monster can only be a monster.’
Seo-heon’s thought was valid because a human cannot become anything other than themselves.
The jewel left the monster’s hand and was placed on the body of a good human.
“I felt like I could be ordinary only when I was with you. But at some point, I couldn’t hide my true nature only when I was with you.”
He wanted to go back. To that time when they were complete together. To that time when he could become infinitely similar to humans without pretending.
“Wake up. And let’s go together.”
The monster clasped his hands. It was like a praying posture, but he didn’t recite a prayer as he had no god he believed in.
“Woo-hyun.”
Instead, he called the name desperately.
The soft purple light gradually turned yellow.
But.
Just before the room was completely dyed yellow, the resurrection stone went out.
[The activation conditions have not been met. The person in question is not in a ‘physically problematic’ state.]
The hope that had lingered briefly at the doorway left without hesitation. Seo-heon gritted his teeth.
It would have been easier if the resurrection stone was fake and that’s why this happened. However…
This was the worst-case scenario. It meant either the resurrection stone could heal wounds but couldn’t increase reduced life force, or it could save lives but couldn’t interfere with skill penalties.
‘So this useless rock is worthless.’
As if the 100-day time limit wasn’t bad enough, the first attempt he had put the most effort into was a complete failure.
‘No time to waste. Let’s move on to the next plan immediately.’
One failure couldn’t plunge Seo-heon into despair. He might fall into endless despair he had never seen before, but he wouldn’t sit down in it. Above all, time was flowing equally for both the dying and the living, so hesitation would only hold him back.
***
Unable to sleep a wink, Seo-heon called Mi-yeon on the guild communicator as soon as it was time to go to work.
“Who has an earlier available schedule between Dr. Kim Euijin and Dr. Kate?”
He got straight to the point without greeting. Despite the somewhat rude behavior, due to the guild leader’s voice filled with fatigue and urgency, Mi-yeon didn’t hesitate to open the file and give a brief briefing.
[If it’s as you mentioned last time, it would probably be Dr. Kim Euijin. Dr. Kate won’t be back until next week after attending a conference.]
Kim Euijin was a doctor with skills proficient in curses. He was one of the very late awakening cases, who gained fame by well integrating his skills with his profession. He was also skilled enough that getting an appointment was like catching a star in the sky. Seo-heon had pressured him to adjust his already booked schedule by offering a large sum of money, and the other party, not disliking it, sent a list of possible times for this week.
“Then I’ll make the deposit today, so please ask him to come at seven. If I remember correctly, if we can’t get that time, he won’t be available until after eight on Saturday afternoon.”
[Understood. But Guild Leader, there are rumors about you and the Vice Guild Leader both inside and outside our guild. Are you okay with that? Especially within the guild, the prevailing opinion is that something might have happened to the Vice Guild Leader.]
It was actually a natural progression. Woo-hyun, who had completed the dungeon conquest together, disappeared without a trace, and coincidentally, Seo-heon was moving quickly to find a resurrection stone.
“Just leave the rumors spreading within the guild as they are, since they’re not false. But please make sure they don’t become news articles or spread outside. It’s okay to officially announce that he’s resting in an article. It would be good to use contract items for secrecy with people who have leaked guild information externally before. We can’t let information about which hospital he’s in spread, as it could be a threat to safety.”
Seo-heon belatedly recited orders he would have given much earlier under normal circumstances.
[Understood. I’ll contact you again when Dr. Kim Euijin’s side confirms.]
He had been so focused on saving that he had skipped all other processes. Seo-heon’s head was a mess of things to do and thoughts.
“Since Dr. Kate will be delayed, it might not be bad to call a healer first. If we’re talking about the highest-level healer we can contact domestically, it would be Lee Jomin.”
He organized what he would do next while speaking his thoughts out loud, which was unlike him. The silence felt like it was crushing his body, and he couldn’t bear it.
“If Lee Jomin refuses, Joo Hosu wouldn’t be bad either. I’ve created a debt with him before, so it should be easy to persuade him.”
Anxiety slowly began to strangle Seo-heon.
***
“This is not a curse.”
The doctor, brought in at great expense, shook his head before even five minutes had passed since the examination began.
“Either suggest an alternative or at least try to fix it. Fuck, do you think I paid that money for you to just shake your head?”
Seo-heon, with his reins loose, was relentless. He usually didn’t hold back in situations where he had to use harsh words, but now he seemed like a person with one wall of his thoughts collapsed. Mi-yeon, who had brought the doctor, closed her eyes tightly.
“I’m sorry. I think it would be better to call someone who researches such skill penalties.”
The doctor swallowed the words that he wasn’t sure if that would be of any use, out of survival instinct. In fact, he was feeling guilty about just saying there was nothing he could do when he had come after receiving ten times his usual fee.
“I understand.”
Instead of criticizing that such things were already in progress, Seo-heon decided not to mingle words anymore.
“Guild Leader. Mr. Joo Hosu says he can make time tomorrow if you ask.”
“Please tell him to do so. I’ll stop by the archives.”
Seo-heon was randomly investigating information about life force and skill penalties.
***
He spent two days going back and forth between the archives and the hospital room. The information he obtained was that “there are no skills that remove skill penalties” and that there are monsters that exchange ‘life force’. To be precise, it was exchanging life force through a ‘core’.
‘It’s similar to the recent case with the Red Dragon and Hetchling. Although there’s no data on monsters that affect outside the dungeon like the Red Dragon.’
Unfortunately, there was no data related to human life force. It was about time to look for information sources outside the guild archives.
-Knock knock.
The healer, Hosu, knocked on the hospital room door at the exact appointed time. It was his principle to act neither too late nor too early.
“Come in.”
“It’s been a while. Have you been well?”
Hosu, who worked as a mercenary without belonging to any guild, looked the Ihwa Guild Leader he was meeting after two years from head to toe. Someone else might have thought he looked normal, but for Hosu, who knew Seo-heon as someone who meticulously managed himself, he could tell that Seo-heon was in quite a predicament.
“Yes. Please come in first.”
“I heard Ihwa’s Vice Guild Leader was resting…”
Seo-heon rubbed his face.
“Yes. As you can see, that was a lie. As you’re a professional who values trust, I believe you’ll keep this secret.”
Lukewarm threats didn’t work on a healer of Hosu’s caliber.
“I came running because I owe Seo-heon, so of course. No need to worry about that.”
Hosu approached Woo-hyun with a subtle smile. Habitually taking the patient’s hand, he closed his eyes and activated his skill. It was a special skill that could grasp information about the other person’s body just by touch. Not only was his healing ability excellent, but his pride was that he could identify the cause of abnormal conditions faster than anyone.
‘This… will be difficult.’