#89
After moving Baek Sa-jin to the adjacent room, Woo-bin knocked him unconscious and detained him for the time being. He had to consider the possibility of escape. It would have been nice if there was a separate detention room, but unfortunately there wasn’t one here.
Criminals who violated hunter-related laws were generally managed by the Hunter Management Bureau, so there was a separate detention facility building under the Bureau’s jurisdiction, but it required traveling a bit further to reach. Moreover, only he, Do-hyeok, and Ha-seong knew about bringing Baek Sa-jin here. He hadn’t even reported to his superiors yet, so he couldn’t use the Bureau’s detention facility.
So he sat Baek Sa-jin in a chair and unlocked one side of the handcuffs to secure it to the table leg. The moment he stood up to check on the situation in the adjacent room, a thud followed by a loud clattering noise came from next door.
“Ah, seriously, Cha Do-hyeok finally…”
Woo-bin pressed his forehead. Shocked by the rather shocking story Baek Sa-jin had told, the atrocities committed by the Hunter Management Bureau and its ugly truth, he had unconsciously committed a foolish act while struggling to cope. He should have separated Cha Do-hyeok from the moment this guy confessed to the crime from 10 years ago.
Still, it was fortunate that he was with Ha-seong. If he had been alone, he wouldn’t have had the capacity to stop Cha Do-hyeok. How could he possibly stop the only S-rank hunter by himself? Of course, Woo-bin was uncertain about Ha-seong’s abilities too, but at least looking back at his track record, he was confident that Ha-seong would be strong enough to match Do-hyeok.
For now, Woo-bin came out to the corridor. He was thinking of helping to stop Do-hyeok in whatever way he could. He was steeling himself thinking it had been a while since he’d been in combat and was about to enter when water started leaking through the door crack.
“What’s this?”
Somehow feeling like he shouldn’t open the door right now, Woo-bin stepped back. And after a while, the door opened and Ha-seong appeared.
“Ha-seong-ssi!”
Ha-seong came out of the room supporting the droopy Do-hyeok with his shoulder. Both were completely soaked with water.
“Perfect timing. Could you help me support this guy?”
“Ah, yes.”
Woo-bin supported Do-hyeok from the opposite side and headed to the left adjacent room. Thinking it wouldn’t be good to put him in the same space as Baek Sa-jin, he brought him to a different room and connected desks together to lay him on top.
As soon as they laid Do-hyeok down, Ha-seong wrung out his wet clothes. Watching the water drip down, Woo-bin stared at Ha-seong with wonder. Of course, he had trusted Ha-seong’s abilities and asked him to stop Do-hyeok, but he hadn’t expected him to subdue Do-hyeok alone in such a short time. Of course, Do-hyeok wasn’t in a normal state, but still, to take down South Korea’s #1 ranked and only S-rank hunter in one go.
“There aren’t any spare clothes here, are there?”
“No. I’m afraid…”
Ha-seong showed a disgusted expression, saying he had no choice but to let them dry.
“Ah, I knocked out Baek Sa-jin and put him in another room for now. There was a possibility he might try to escape.”
“I see.”
Ha-seong nodded and stared intently at Do-hyeok, who was sleeping soundly. However, his gaze was a bit different from usual. Given his personality, Woo-bin had expected him to look down on Do-hyeok with disdain for going on a rampage and causing trouble on his own, but that wasn’t the case. With Ha-seong’s eyes sunken like cotton soaked in water, even Woo-bin found it difficult to speak up.
“Woo-bin-ssi.”
“Yes.”
“How long have you known Cha Do-hyeok, Woo-bin-ssi?”
It was a somewhat unfamiliar topic that didn’t suit the current situation.
“Well, since I just started working as a hunter, so it’s been quite a while.”
Do-hyeok was a case who awakened as S-rank at a much younger age than average. Because he was still young, he received intensive management and education from the Hunter Management Bureau for a few years before being immediately deployed as a hunter. Every guild was desperate to recruit him, but Do-hyeok stubbornly rejected all scouting offers and worked solo. That was when Woo-bin, who was working as a guild-affiliated hunter, first got to know him.
At Woo-bin’s explanation, Ha-seong nodded, saying “I see.”
“Then you know him well? About Cha Do-hyeok.”
“Well, I’m not sure. He’s not someone who lets people get close easily…”
“I want to know what exactly happened to Cha Do-hyeok 10 years ago.”
The gaze that had been fixed on Do-hyeok turned toward Woo-bin. Now Woo-bin seemed to understand what Ha-seong wanted to ask. Just moments ago, Do-hyeok had tried to kill Baek Sa-jin, who called himself the culprit. That was genuine killing intent, and Ha-seong, who was probably feeling it for the first time, would naturally be puzzled.
“I know from what I’ve heard that Cha Do-hyeok wants revenge on the culprit of that incident. But I don’t know anything beyond that. Honestly, I never asked, but I think I need to know now.”
Do-hyeok’s desire for revenge was a private matter, and while Ha-seong had agreed to help with work, he didn’t want to dig into such private areas. That’s why he never bothered to ask what the revenge was for or what Do-hyeok had experienced. But after seeing Cha Do-hyeok’s behavior just now, he couldn’t help but ask.
“I suppose that’s natural… Well, Ha-seong-ssi, isn’t it a bit strange? How someone like Cha Do-hyeok, who has no interest in forming relationships with others, became close with me?”
Though the expression ‘close’ might not be fitting, Woo-bin smiled awkwardly.
“We had something in common.”
“Something in common?”
“Yes. The common point of having the same pain.”
Before long, the two had moved to the side around Do-hyeok and began conversing.
“The same pain, you mean…”
“Well, I’m a victim of the incident from 10 years ago. I was fifteen years old then, and I lost my parents in that incident. Of course, I was also severely injured and hovered between life and death.”
“Ah… I’m sorry. If I brought up something I shouldn’t have…”
“It’s okay. It’s already in the past, and it’s not Ha-seong-ssi’s fault at all.”
Even as he said this, Woo-bin showed a somewhat sad expression. Woo-bin, who had a major accident at fifteen, had to be hospitalized for several years. Depressed by the grief of losing his family and the guilt of surviving alone, he awakened at nineteen and became a hunter in earnest.
And it was by chance that he met Do-hyeok, who had awakened at an even younger age and was already active.
“I first met and talked with Do-hyeok because of a cooperative raid. Well, of course Do-hyeok was just as bratty back then too.”
Woo-bin smiled faintly and shook his head, saying he didn’t know how such a young kid could be so impudent and bratty.
“That’s when I found out through our conversation. That Do-hyeok was also a victim of the incident from 10 years ago.”
“Was Cha Do-hyeok also severely injured in that incident?”
Grandfather Dal-pyeong had definitely said that Do-hyeok had no family. Yet saying he was a victim of that incident—could it mean he was severely injured like Woo-bin? Losing something precious could refer to his own health. Of course, Cha Do-hyeok looked healthier than anyone, but you never know what’s inside.
“Hmm. Do-hyeok went through something even worse. Back then, Do-hyeok was sucked into that gate.”
Ha-seong’s eyes widened. All the possibilities he had considered crumbled. At words he had never expected, Woo-bin continued, understanding that reaction.
“You know that gates opened simultaneously in major cities 10 years ago, right? That happened to be when Do-hyeok was moving between regional orphanages and finally had to come up to Seoul because all the facilities were being closed down. He was staying at one orphanage when a gate happened to open right there.”
It happened to be the day of a field trip organized by the orphanage, and Do-hyeok had remained alone at the orphanage because he didn’t want to participate in the event. Then the artificial gate opened, and he was ultimately sucked alone into that unknown world.
“Wait a minute. Then how on earth did that guy…”
The words “survive” got stuck in his throat and wouldn’t come out.
“I only know what I heard from Do-hyeok, so I’m not sure of the details, but the hunters discovered him somehow surviving in the dungeon at that time and rescued him.”
But even so, it didn’t make sense. Cha Do-hyeok would have been only twelve years old then. Moreover, for an elementary school kid who hadn’t even awakened to endure inside a dungeon was impossible.
“I know what Ha-seong-ssi is thinking. After getting a bit closer to Do-hyeok, I once asked him how he managed to endure in that dungeon.”
Woo-bin’s gaze lingered on the soundly sleeping Do-hyeok for a moment before falling away.
“He didn’t tell me the details, but he said he met a benefactor.”
“A benefactor?”
“Yes. He said he was able to live thanks to that person. But he couldn’t protect them. I still remember him saying that.”
Ha-seong suddenly recalled Do-hyeok’s face from earlier, when he had caressed his cheek saying he missed them. Was the person he saw through Ha-seong that benefactor?
“I don’t know what happened inside there either, who the benefactor was or how they met. I tried to probe subtly but got cursed at for asking more.”
What a brat anyway, Woo-bin laughed helplessly.
“But I do know at least this much. Do-hyeok’s dream of revenge is all connected to that person called his benefactor.”
I see, Ha-seong finally understood. The precious thing he had lost due to that incident was that benefactor, and since he lost someone precious because of that incident, he wanted revenge on the culprit from 10 years ago by any means. Now all the puzzle pieces fit together and his thoughts were organized.
But just how precious was that person for that guy to lose his reason and rampage like that? The affectionate voice and gaze saying he missed them. It definitely wasn’t a relationship tied by simple friendship like with Kang Won-hyeok or Yoon Woo-bin. Then maybe it was someone he loved.
So even that emotionless robot-like guy had someone he loved. Usually when such people fall in love, they only look at that person like a sunflower, as some TV program said, and Cha Do-hyeok would surely be the same. Well, if he was willing to take revenge on their behalf, that said it all. Thinking this way, somewhere in his chest strangely tightened with a dull ache.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
