The Way of Life for a Terminal S-Class Hunter - C71
$71
However, that didn’t mean Hosu was omnipotent. Despite having exceptional abilities, or rather because of them, he had to face the wall of impossibility more often. Most of the requests he received were for patients who couldn’t be saved by ordinary methods.
‘Among those, there’s nothing I can do for cases like this.’
It was a somewhat cruel thing to explain to Seo-heon, who was impatiently tapping the table at short intervals beside him.
“It’s a skill penalty. And among those, it’s the worst kind of deferment. People with such penalties usually refrain from using that skill or seal it completely…”
Unless they originally had little life force, they must have abused the skill quite a bit. And since high-ranked hunters usually have more life force than ordinary people, the former was unlikely.
“I already know that. Is there any possibility of treatment or do you know of any solutions?”
Hosu squeezed his eyes shut.
“I can give you some information. I’ve seen one person who experienced similar symptoms. It wasn’t a penalty in their case, but rather life force stolen by a monster.”
It was predictable what happened to that person without hearing it. If they had survived, he would have straightforwardly said there was a way to save Woo-hyun. Seo-heon collapsed into a chair.
“And?”
“That person also had little life force left and entered a state of deep sleep like Woo-hyun. Being wealthy, they seemed to have tried various methods, but most were useless. The only thing that had some effect was placing a plant-type monster said to emit life force nearby. Of course, since the rate of loss was greater, it could be seen as not very effective.”
Seo-heon hung his head low.
“Can I understand that treatment at your level is impossible?”
“Yes. Not just me, but any healer who comes would find it impossible.”
“I see.”
With each failed plan, something supporting Seo-heon wore away. What he thought were small cracks were accumulating and becoming increasingly irreparable.
“He has 90 days of life force left now. I can’t think of a way to restore the life force already used.”
At the moment he heard Kate’s final opinion, Seo-heon understood what it felt like to have the ground crumble beneath his feet. Only the reality that Baek Woo-hyun would soon die approached with big strides.
Within the Ihwa Guild, ominous rumors circulated that Woo-hyun had died and Seo-heon was running around trying everything to save him. While previously they were mere groundless rumors, this time they took a more concrete and clear form, exponentially increasing the number of people whispering, “Isn’t it really true?”
Bang.
And it seemed these rumors had reached even Ihan, who was usually oblivious to such things. The employee outside fidgeted nervously, seeing Ihan’s threatening demeanor as he visited Seo-heon’s office. Seo-heon gestured for them to close the door and not worry.
“That resurrection stone, did you get it to use on hyung?”
Seeing Ihan, who seemed to have lost his reason, Seo-heon clutched his throbbing head. It was a mistake to stop by the guild to get documents before going to the hospital room.
‘No. What’s the point of hiding at this stage?’
Seo-heon was experiencing what it meant to “want to borrow even a cat’s paw.” The methods that could save Woo-hyun were limited, but the time it took to verify each one was not insignificant. It was now a time when he should gladly accept even an enemy’s help.
“Yes.”
Seo-heon deliberately answered more clearly. Ihan’s body, stiff with anger, momentarily lost balance before struggling to find its place again.
“Why… Then where is hyung now? Surely he’s not really dead, right?”
Ihan became bewildered like someone lost in the vast universe. Although he was distressed by the fact that Woo-hyun didn’t share his feelings, he had never once imagined that Woo-hyun would disappear from the world. Even when he heard Woo-hyun say “I’m leaving,” he didn’t think of this situation. To Ihan, Woo-hyun was the world itself that he first encountered, a person who simply existed like air.
“I’m going to save him. So, Shin Ihan, you help too.”
Seo-heon coldly replied, disregarding the shock Ihan had received, and stood up. His bloodshot eyes revealed how tired he was. There was no one in this room maintaining their sanity.
“No matter what happens, we must save him.”
Seo-heon fiddled with his phone and turned on the screen. In fact, he might have known the fastest way to save Woo-hyun all along. The reason he didn’t choose it immediately was because of his confidence and greed that he could save Baek Woo-hyun ‘with his own power’. He belatedly realized how wrong that was.
He was so cornered that he was even asking for help from Ihan, whom he disliked, and he only now fully realized this. There were many clues leading him to the right answer, but the reason he found the answer so late might have been because his head had hardened from lack of rest.
‘I can’t compare anything I’ve built up so far to Baek Woo-hyun.’
If Woo-hyun was placed on one side of a scale, it was useless to put anything on the other side. Until now, Seo-heon had acted thinking that his pride, emotions, and desires were precariously outweighing, but when crisis struck, the scale tilted exponentially to one side.
‘Where did it go wrong?’
He certainly thought everything was going well as he planned and carried out his revenge.
‘Should I not have ignored the anxiety that suddenly came?’
Seo-heon forcibly suppressed the regret that rushed in as he pressed the keypad.
“Can’t you speak properly? Explain properly why hyung ended up like that and what we need to do to save him!”
Seo-heon’s forced containment of emotions ignited Ihan’s anger. Ihan, who had followed Seo-heon and grabbed his collar, clenched his fist as if about to unleash violence at any moment. Seo-heon didn’t even blink.
“I don’t mind if you hit me. But that’s not what we need to do right now.”
Just then, a reply came to the text Seo-heon had sent. It was a very quick response, as if prepared.
[Halo]
“There’s a place we need to go to look for a solution. Follow me if you want to help.”
Ihan barely managed to calm his rough breathing. He hated this guy like crazy, but as he said, that wasn’t what was important.
‘I can beat this bastard anytime.’
Ihan gritted his teeth and followed Seo-heon. He didn’t want to step back just because he didn’t know something had happened to his hyung.
***
Coincidentally, the place Halo suggested to meet was the restaurant where Woo-hyun, Seo-heon, and Ihan had their three-way meeting. Unlike the two who came out immediately after receiving the contact, Halo opened the door exactly at the suggested time.
“It’s been a while.”
“Yes. I heard you disappeared after the conquest, but you responded to the contact right away.”
Seo-heon spoke sharply to Halo, who was leisurely looking at the menu. On the other hand, Halo responded calmly, not unaware of the sharp thorns embedded in the sentence.
“I know what this is about without asking. It must be urgent, so I should come quickly. Seo-heon, I wouldn’t recognize you if I ran into you on the street.”
As Halo said, Seo-heon was in a terrible state now. People who only saw Seo-heon’s neat appearance would think this was just someone who looked a bit like him if they saw him now.
It wasn’t just his unkempt hair or beard, but above all, the atmosphere was as if he was surrounded by despair. It was a far cry from his usual confident self.
“Let’s not waste time with unnecessary words. You told me to kneel, right? Shall we start from there?”
Seo-heon didn’t mind taking a humiliating posture if Halo would tell him how to save Woo-hyun. He didn’t even have the energy left to feel hurt pride from that.
“What’s the need for that now? It’s quite tempting, but it doesn’t benefit me.”
“Stop beating around the bush. If you want something, I’ll give it to you, so speak up quickly.”
Kang Seo-heon had the face of a defeated soldier from a long battle. Yet, the fact that he gave off a nuance of demanding cooperation rather than pleading was due to the arrogance he wore like a habit.
‘Is this much progress?’
Nevertheless, Halo decided to be satisfied for now. His opponent had become reckless enough not to care about consequences, and there would be many more hardships ahead, so there was no need to waste more time as Seo-heon said.
“Before I tell you the method, there’s one thing I need to confirm. Are you okay with the possibility that you might die while trying to save Woo-hyun?”
“I can’t die leaving him behind.”
Seo-heon’s answer was very quick. However, it took some time for Ihan, listening beside him, to understand. The statement that he couldn’t die leaving Woo-hyun behind sounded exactly like he could die if Woo-hyun died.
“It might not be bad if I die and Baek Woo-hyun ends up dying too. But I absolutely hate the idea of only one of us dying.”