Damn Hunter Life 78

Damn Hunter Life Chapter 78

The bustling presence of unfamiliar children made Hyeong-woo even more withdrawn. Hyeong-woo remained seated at his desk with his head deeply bowed.

When his female deskmate glanced at him with anxious looks, then asked the homeroom teacher to change her seat to the front claiming she couldn’t see the blackboard, he became even more intimidated.

In that sense, the fact that Cheon and Han’s attendance numbers were similar became another stroke of luck for Hyeong-woo.

Gang-hyeon and his seats were side by side, front and back.

“20 points on dictation? Why are you so bad at it? Rewrite the wrong ones.”

Even though there were 30 more peers in one class, Hyeong-woo’s school life couldn’t function without Cheon Gang-hyeon.

“Stupid, you got it wrong! Hey… I’m throwing away the colored paper! Fold this part so it sticks out.”

When it came to Gang-hyeon, being called stupid didn’t hurt his feelings at all.

“Why aren’t you singing along?”

“I can’t sing.”

“Hey, even if you get it wrong, no one will know, right? Just sing.”

“……”

“Hey, look, look. Look at me. I’ll sing it all wrong once. The kids’ voices are loud, so you really can’t hear. Keep looking at me, okay?”

Holding his pencil case like a microphone and swaying his body while singing with passion, not a single note was right. But it seemed only his deskmate next to him, who was looking at Gang-hyeon in bewilderment, and Hyeong-woo behind him could hear it.

Gang-hyeon’s words were true. The other kids really didn’t know.

If only he could clear up his deskmate’s misunderstanding.

“Cheon Gang-hyeon sings terribly…”

“No, I’m doing it on purpose! Don’t you know it’s harder to get it wrong deliberately?”

“Why are you getting it wrong on purpose?”

“Uh… to confuse you!”

“What!”

A smile naturally spread across Hyeong-woo’s lips.

Boys this age would tease relentlessly, calling it “○○’s wife” whenever a girl got even slightly close to any boy. Because of this, there were always loud “No!” exchanges and fierce fights.

In the eyes of boys looking for someone to tease, Gang-hyeon, who didn’t even go to the playground and looked after Hyeong-woo, caught their attention. They had already been frequently teasing Gang-hyeon for looking like a girl with his pretty face. The boys who found a new target laughed loudly enough to shake the classroom.

“Cheon Gang-hyeon is Han Hyeong-woo’s wife!”

Hyeong-woo was startled and dropped his gaze.

The laughter filling the classroom seemed to be directed at him. Moreover, calling a boy someone’s wife was the ultimate humiliation, wasn’t it? He felt so sorry for Hyeon-i. It was the moment Hyeong-woo was fidgeting with his feet under the desk.

“What?”

Gang-hyeon shot up.

“Hey, who’s going to marry you guys later? Han Hyeong-woo, I’ll at least be his wife. From what I see, no girls will marry you guys.”

The girls burst into giggles. The atmosphere completely shifted to Gang-hyeon in an instant.

The boys were speechless and just trembling.

“Hey you little, Cheon Gang-hyeon, do you want to die?”

“Hey, are you crying? Are you crying?”

“Pfft…”

Hyeong-woo turned his head and secretly laughed. His heart was pounding.

Hyeon-i looked so cool.

Gang-hyeon got along well with everyone. But in the small society called school, there weren’t only Gang-hyeon’s friends.

“Doesn’t Cheon Gang-hyeon act too big? Should we step on him?”

Hyeong-woo, who was returning from submitting supplementary homework to the staff room, stopped when he heard someone whispering in the bathroom.

“No way. That kid has backing.”

“Backing? Does Cheon Gang-hyeon have an older brother?”

“No, same grade. Don’t you know Han Hyeong-woo? That tall nerd.”

“Crazy, him? His class always wins at tug-of-war.”

…If I’m big, it’s good for Hyeon-i. Hyeong-woo clenched his fists tightly.

That’s when it started. Hyeong-woo began looking up sports-related books in the school library and starting training that no one had asked him to do, filling water bottles to the brim.

“You’re going to play soccer for our class. I’ll teach you the rules.”

There was magic-like power in Gang-hyeon’s voice. What Gang-hyeon said always came true. When Gang-hyeon told Hyeong-woo he could do it, it really happened that way.

“Wow, who’s that? He’s so fast.”

“What’s that kid’s name in class 3? He scored three goals alone, that’s crazy!”

“Hey, class 3 is going to win at soccer…”

Hyeong-woo was bewildered even after sweeping the playground himself. He was amazed that he too could receive the kids’ cheers.

The boys from his class who had been hesitantly glancing at Hyeong-woo gradually began calling to Hyeong-woo far across the playground. And before he knew it, they were shouting things like “Pass to Hyeong-woo!” and including Hyeong-woo among them.

Gang-hyeon didn’t play soccer but was mixed in with the cheering girls. When Hyeong-woo briefly passed by, he heard Gang-hyeon boasting proudly.

“Hyeong-woo went out instead of me. You guys didn’t know, right? Hyeong-woo won our class’s tug-of-war too.”

He liked it even when Hyeong-woo’s achievements were bragged about as if Gang-hyeon had done them. Rather, he hoped Hyeon-i would be even more proud.

‘You did do it. It’s all you.’

Gang-hyeon had changed Hyeong-woo’s life.

When Hyeong-woo was gradually, slowly but steadily blending in among the children… Gang-hyeon also began hanging out with other groups.

Since the grade changed and classes were separated, it would have been natural if it was natural.

Since the worried looks he occasionally gave Hyeong-woo disappeared, maybe he was relieved thinking ‘now it’s okay.’

Hyeong-woo knew how much Gang-hyeon had been tied to him during that time. His slightly matured heart thought they should let go now.

Only after Gang-hyeon suggested playing together first would he approach Gang-hyeon that one time.

But even as his head grew bigger and the world expanded, seeing Cheon Gang-hyeon still made his heart race and flutter for no reason, so apparently he was…

Around the time they entered middle school, Cheon Gang-hyeon moved to Seoul following his father’s transfer to the head office.

“Contact me when you’ve adjusted? Don’t forget me just because I’m out of sight.”

Han Hyeong-woo couldn’t forget the smile on his lips as he patted his shoulder.

That’s how Cheon Gang-hyeon disappeared from sight.

No contact came.

Even when he contacted first, there was no answer. The number seemed to have changed.

Just as connections naturally are, they seemed to have naturally grown apart.

It was a memory that was big and long only for Han Hyeong-woo.

For a child who had grown up trouble-free like Gang-hyeon, childhood only serves as background. The past doesn’t hold back someone who has become an adult.

Only Han Hyeong-woo remained in that place, drawing the back of the distant Cheon Gang-hyeon.

To meet again someday.

* * *

…Maybe it was actually me who was wandering inside the hallucination.

Even after my vision returned to normal, my recognition was slow. I just blinked like waking from a long sleep, then looked down at my left hand that was somehow caught.

When I raised my head, all the wind surrounding me stopped.

By the quiet, deep eyes in front of me.

Gang-hyeon left, and news was cut off like blurred memories.

Ja Hyeong-woo continued to think of and remember him, and they met again in the strange and mysterious space called Hunter School.

Although the situation of suddenly becoming a hunter was vague, it couldn’t compare to the joy of meeting Gang-hyeon again. However.

‘…Gang-hyeon must have disappointed Ja Hyeong-woo again.’

I think I understand why the original Ja Hyeong-woo had better abilities than the current Ja Hyeong-woo.

Ja Hyeong-woo, who lost something important in life, had to cling to becoming a hero.

The novel really didn’t describe psychology at all. Compared to Ja Hyeong-woo’s real psychology, even the mentions of Gang-hyeon that did appear were rather few.

Because it couldn’t describe Ja Hyeong-woo’s feelings of losing Gang-hyeon. Because it was indescribable.

It wasn’t just a mission to save the world. Ja Hyeong-woo really thinks about Gang-hyeon a lot.

It was wrong of me to think of separating Ja Hyeong-woo and me just because I’m not the real Gang-hyeon.

He was just one of my life from the beginning.

“I won’t die. And I won’t disappear without saying anything either.”

Focus returned to Ja Hyeong-woo’s eyes.

The gaze lengthened. He didn’t ask anything, nor did he seek any changes.

While sending persistent looks as if wanting something from me, he also seemed powerless as if he would enter the fantasy again.

I opened my mouth as if devoured by hallucinations myself.

“I’m sorry.”

At this moment, Ja Hyeong-woo’s chest contracted. There was a sound of a long exhale escaping.

“If you want to show sincerity in your apology… don’t push me away.”

I was pulled into a tight embrace in just one step.

The sensation of my whole body being buried wasn’t bad. There was only a sense of obligation that I should feel bad about it.

Another person’s heart beats fiercely near my collarbone. Different body temperatures transfer to the same temperature.

I relaxed my strength and closed my eyes, trying to handle Ja Hyeong-woo.

Now treat where you cut yourself with glass, stop being stubborn. At my casually mentioned words, Ja Hyeong-woo suddenly took off his upper body clothing.

I was flustered.

“So you can see directly and be relieved.”

He took off the back of his hwarang clothes and unbuttoned the black jeoksam worn underneath. When the bandages were completely unwound, his tanned bare skin was revealed.

But when I tried to properly examine the wound, Ja Hyeong-woo preemptively covered it with his hand. Blue light leaked through his fingers.

“Look now.”

He tells me to check, so I’m checking, but… there was nowhere to look.

‘What do you do to get this big?’

It looked like muscle chunks were attached piece by piece onto a huge skeleton. I looked at the two largest chunks in front.

“Do you take steroids?”

“What? What’s that?”

“Never mind. Just put your clothes back on.”

Notes: