#39
[Did anyone see the Guild Leader carrying someone to the treatment room earlier?]
As soon as Do-hyeok arrived at the treatment room floor carrying Ha-seong, the company messenger chat exploded.
[Huh? Really? The Guild Leader carried someone? Didn’t you just see wrong when he dragged in someone he beat up?]
[I heard it too. From what I heard, it was a purifier? Everyone who was on the treatment room floor saw it.]
And that story spread in an instant. Where people gathered, talk never ceased, and it was common knowledge that rumors and stories spread at rapid speed, but there was a good reason why this story spread even faster.
[I can’t imagine the Guild Leader doing that.]
Because the subject of the story was none other than Cha Do-hyeok himself. Though he was the head of the guild, he was someone who had absolutely no interest in others. One might think how could someone leading the #1 guild be like that, but the Nameless guild members didn’t mind such things at all.
Rather, there were those who liked it, calling it charming, and the people gathered in the free-spirited guild also had free-spirited personalities, so such things weren’t problems at all. So the story that Cha Do-hyeok had carried someone and personally taken them to the treatment room was bound to sound surprising to the guild members.
Even now, everyone was excitedly chatting on messenger about Do-hyeok’s strange behavior. Lee Hyeon-woo’s phone in his pants pocket was also constantly vibrating.
“You know what?”
Every time Do-hyeok’s words echoed in the room, Lee Hyeon-woo’s shoulders flinched.
“Yes? What…?”
“That gate you pushed Do Ha-seong into, it rose to S-rank.”
“What?!”
Lee Hyeon-woo shouted in surprise. Since Lee Hyeon-woo was a purifier, he didn’t know much about which gates had their grades raised. So this was the first time he was hearing this news too.
“But that’s not the problem.”
Do-hyeok tapped the desk with his finger. Lee Hyeon-woo focused on his fingertips and gulped.
“Whatever that dungeon’s grade was, what’s important is that you pushed a purifier, who’s no different from a civilian, into a dungeon.”
“It’s a misunderstanding, Guild Leader. I absolutely didn’t do it on purpose… It was a mistake!”
Lee Hyeon-woo seemed to have decided on his line of defense as he moved his mouth rapidly with excitement. Even if caught, he’d planned to get out of it by saying it was a mistake or Do Ha-seong’s solo action. Of course, he hadn’t expected to have a private meeting with the Guild Leader like this, but he planned to do as he’d thought.
“If it happened by mistake, why wasn’t the guild notified? That a purifier got caught up in a dungeon.”
“That’s…”
“If you’re going to use your brain, do it sincerely. And your words are meaningless to begin with.”
Do-hyeok leaned deep into his chair and stared intently at the opponent trembling in front of him.
“What do you mean…”
“The other purifier who conspired with you already spilled everything.”
Lee Hyeon-woo bit his lips. The plan to give Do Ha-seong trouble as an initiation wasn’t something he’d planned alone. He’d conspired with two junior purifiers he hung around with, but it seemed one of them had easily betrayed him.
“…I’m sorry, Guild Leader.”
“Sorry? Why?”
“Yes? Ah, well, because I put purifier Do Ha-seong in danger…”
“Then you should go to hyung—no, that person and say it. That you’re sorry.”
Do-hyeok’s eyes turned cold in an instant. Not having the confidence to meet those eyes, Lee Hyeon-woo looked away.
“Why? Does your pride get hurt having to apologize to the person involved? Wasn’t the reason you pulled such a stunt in the first place because of your pathetic inferiority complex toward Do Ha-seong?”
At the pointed questioning, the opponent kept his mouth shut tight. Honestly, he couldn’t say no. Park Hyeon-jin, whom he’d followed well, had suddenly left, and the person who came right after joined the Guild Leader’s team, and whether because of that or not, it made him angry that despite being newly hired, he seemed to work comfortably.
“…I’ll apologize to Do Ha-seong-ssi.”
“Of course you should. And you’ll have to prepare for appropriate disciplinary action. If it were up to me, I’d want to fire you outright…”
At words that made him doubt his ears, Lee Hyeon-woo’s head shot up. His eyes were filled with urgency. He probably hadn’t imagined he’d be fired.
“But I can’t do that. Because that person would hate it.”
Do-hyeok didn’t want to keep someone who acted arbitrarily in his guild and muddied the waters. Moreover, if it had been someone else who was messed with, but it was Do Ha-seong. Do-hyeok still recalled the wound that had been clearly visible on his forehead. Thinking about it strangely brought down his mood.
Firing Lee Hyeon-woo wouldn’t be difficult. Even though Kang Won-hyeok handled most things administratively, Do-hyeok was the head of this organization, and no one could stop such a decision by Do-hyeok.
But then Ha-seong wouldn’t welcome it. Somehow he felt it would be like that.
“Appropriate disciplinary action will be notified soon, so keep that in mind.”
“…Yes.”
“Then get lost.”
“Yes.”
Lee Hyeon-woo quickly left the Guild Leader’s office with anxiety that he might really be fired if things went wrong.
* * *
After receiving all treatment, Ha-seong followed the doctor’s guidance and slowly walked to the bed. The doctor still sent distrustful looks asking if he really planned to lie down when it wasn’t to that extent, but Ha-seong ignored it and entrusted his body to the soft bed.
“Call if you feel uncomfortable anywhere.”
With the doctor’s formal words, curtains were drawn around the bed. In the quiet air that immediately arrived, Ha-seong blinked and stared at the pure white ceiling. Then Do-hyeok’s earlier words slowly came to mind.
‘Everything has priorities. You can’t accomplish everything you want to do.’
Honestly, those words were a bit familiar. They were among the words he’d heard most as hunter Do Ha-seong. To prioritize dungeon raids. He’d heard enough to get calluses on his ears that small things could be sacrificed for that greater cause.
He knew those were efficient words. Cha Do-hyeok’s thinking was efficient. But even now, after Ha-seong had crossed to a new dimension and quit being a hunter, he still couldn’t relate to those words. It was a bit surprising that Do-hyeok also had such thoughts, but well, it was natural. He was this South Korea’s only S-rank.
Still, feeling a bit bitter was unavoidable.
“Ah, lying down makes me tired again.”
Having moved intensely after a long time, his muscles seemed surprised. As soon as tension was released, he drooped like cotton dissolved in water.
* * *
“Hyung! Wake up.”
At the feeling of someone shaking his body, Ha-seong slowly opened his eyes. Then familiar faces appeared before his eyes.
“Did you sleep in the duty room again? Go home sometimes.”
“Hey, how can Ha-seong sleep at home? He gets called out again right after going home anyway.”
Ha-seong blinked and looked at the people in front of him. Ah, another dream. Ha-seong stretched as if resigned to the familiar old dream.
“But hyung, isn’t it uncomfortable sleeping curled up like that?”
The youngest hunter among those affiliated with the association asked.
“Ha-seong’s been like that since he was young, so he’s probably used to it by now.”
Then another colleague hunter approached from the side. Right, there had definitely been times like this. Though the work as a hunter was always hard, deadly difficult, and even unrewarding, there had been times when he’d relied on and worked with like-minded colleagues like this.
“Right.”
“When did you start doing hunter work, hyung?”
“Me? Right after awakening, so from when I was fourteen.”
“Wow, amazing.”
When the youngest opened his mouth wide with a stupid expression, all the colleagues around burst into laughter. Comfort mixed into anxious days. Such trivial conversations with colleagues after finishing raids or while resting used to bring stability to Ha-seong’s heart.
Ha-seong had literally been rolling around in dungeons since he was fourteen. He’d become accustomed to the crisis of death and pain of injuries from that young age. Maybe if he hadn’t had even this comfort, he might have collapsed long ago.
“That’s also why Ha-seong has no choice but to be strong.”
When such talk came up, colleagues would all look at Ha-seong with eyes of respect and trust. Dangerous gates began appearing more and more, and with colleague hunters dying and getting injured by the dozens daily, the remaining hunters naturally began relying on the strongest one.
They too probably had no choice but to cling by believing in and relying on someone to endure in the anxiety of not knowing when they might die. And that was Ha-seong.
Ha-seong quietly nodded. He’d thought that way too back then. That he could protect everyone. That he’d protect at least the people in front of him so they wouldn’t die. He’d always resolved that.
But perhaps because the comfort dissolved in anxiety was quickly diluted, the day he couldn’t keep that resolution came easily.
“Ha…”
Ha-seong took a deep breath and looked around. Collapsed debris. Buildings broken beyond recognition. And under them, he saw his dead colleagues. Those who had been laughing and chatting together in the duty room just dozens of minutes before were greeting Ha-seong with coldly hardened expressions.
He shouldn’t have left his position. He shouldn’t have listened to his colleagues who said they’d block the sudden rush of monsters so he should go kill the master. He should have held his position to the end.
“H-hyung…”
Then a faint voice was heard from far away. Ha-seong quickly ran toward where the sound came from. The youngest hunter was slowly blinking and calling Ha-seong.
“Hyung… I…”
Ha-seong gritted his teeth and sadly embraced the young hunter whose entire lower body was trapped under debris.
“I… hurt so much…”
Not even words of apology came out. He should speak, but his voice wouldn’t come. And Ha-seong couldn’t even give a final farewell to the youngest who’d been driven to death at such a young age. Holding the corpse that quickly stopped breathing and lost warmth, Ha-seong stayed in place like that for some time.
“Ha… seong.”
It was then. Another voice was heard from the side. Startled, Ha-seong whipped his head around.
“Why…”
One colleague hunter was calling Ha-seong with a horribly contorted expression.
“Why didn’t you save us?”
“……”
Eyes filled with resentment and indignation, a voice filled with anger was clearly embedded in Ha-seong’s mind. It was also then that his head began spinning dizzily and his peripheral vision started blurring. Ha-seong’s old memory disguised as a dream was cut off like that.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
