14
* * *
After a strange sensation enveloped his entire body, Doun opened his eyes at the tower entrance. A brief blink was enough to recover his vision.
‘Ah. My eyes hurt.’
The sensation of the contact lenses he wore to hide his changed eye color was particularly uncomfortable. It was because he’d been wearing them for a long time. Originally, he had planned to meet Samin at the park in front of his apartment, tell him to get lost, and then hole up at home. Somehow he’d ended up doing this at the tower.
“Hey, about food…”
Doun, who was about to speak to Samin who had emerged after him, hesitated for a moment. He could feel the piercing gazes of people loitering around the entrance.
“Isn’t that person…?”
The distance where even whispered conversations could be heard clearly. Searching gazes. Shadows gradually approaching made his fingertips turn cold in an instant.
The excited energy from just moments before settled down calmly. No, it didn’t just settle—it was ready to burrow into the ground. He must have gotten carried away for a moment by the fact that his skill power hadn’t been halved due to depression and the exhilaration of being able to use skills purely for himself.
‘Knowing what those people who acted friendly in front of me were doing behind my back.’
He found himself arbitrarily hoping that this time might be different. Arbitrarily hoping and arbitrarily disappointing—when he hated humans who did exactly that. His mind, which had been spinning tautly after the skill barrage, froze cold.
As if to say your happy time is now over.
“Fuck, why are they crowding around again?”
When Samin, who appeared at the entrance a bit later than Doun, frowned, the commotion grew a little louder. Slope’s appearance was famous. Someone had even joked about it once.
They said if you brought a face like that to meet the parents, you’d face marriage opposition.
He had a large build and distinct features, so objectively speaking, he was handsome. However, he was the type of handsome man you wouldn’t want to encounter on the street. Samin had that particular atmosphere where if you accidentally made eye contact, you’d instinctively look down for no reason.
‘He doesn’t look well.’
Samin frowned as he watched Doun, who seemed to stiffen whenever he saw people, especially groups of hunters. His already threatening sanpaku eyes made the atmosphere even more menacing.
“Hyung. Let’s get in a taxi first.”
“…Yeah.”
The hunter Magnetic, who had been excited just moments before, telling him skill names and answering various questions, was nowhere to be found. Only Lee Doun stood there—the one who had cried out in a tearful voice that he had depression, that it wouldn’t heal easily and was actually getting worse.
“Excuse me, by any chance…”
Just as they were deliberately creating a menacing atmosphere to get away from the tower, one oblivious hunter approached and started to speak.
“By any chance my ass, get lost. We’re busy.”
Samin adjusted his mask while wrapping his arm around Doun’s shoulder, who had his fist clenched tightly. Seeing that he flinched but didn’t pull away, it seemed he disliked this situation more than Samin’s skinship.
“No, not you, I mean the Magn… next to you…”
“Move when I’m being nice about it, mister.”
Samin cut off the man’s words before he could finish and glared down at him, who was far below his eye level. The man, who called himself a hunter, showed no signs of backing down yet.
Just as Samin was considering whether to use a skill, he heard a click sound along with video recording audio.
‘These bastards obsessed with SNS.’
Samin clicked his tongue and immediately pushed through the crowd, walking silently. Doun didn’t say a word until all the mixed speculation and complaints grew distant.
Samin, who had urgently entered the park near Doun’s apartment and called a taxi, muttered.
“Hyung.”
“…What.”
“Earlier, at the park, you were, um, like that, so I forgot to mention it.”
“…”
“I don’t know if it’s okay for me to say this…”
“…What is it. When did you ever distinguish between what you should and shouldn’t say?”
Doun forced his voice to sound okay. He didn’t want to transfer his depression to those around him unnecessarily. His depression alone was enough. Even if he displayed his depression to others and appealed to their emotions, it would only tire them out.
“Sometimes I think you hate me too much, hyung.”
Samin pouted unnecessarily at Doun’s slightly brighter voice, acting coy. After confirming the license plate of the taxi that had just arrived and getting Doun into the back seat first, he checked the faces of the hunters loitering around.
‘What, never seen or heard of these bastards…’
The cowards who were quick to back away when their eyes met had somehow managed to follow with their phones. The thought of the photos and videos they took being posted on Veritas boards or SNS in a few minutes gave him a headache.
“…Aren’t you getting in?”
“Ah. I should. Must be summer—there are flies buzzing around, so I was looking at them.”
Samin, who made eye contact with each face one more time as if memorizing them, got into the taxi. After closing the door and confirming the destination with the driver, he glanced at Doun’s gloomy expression.
“What were you going to say earlier?”
Surprisingly, it was Doun who spoke first. Samin scratched his cheek while choosing his words.
“It’s nothing big, just that there are many hunters who like you, hyung.”
“…Huh?”
“I understand that you’re sick of looking at those trashy hunter bastards. If it were me, I would have killed all the bastards who pissed me off and turned myself in to go to prison long ago.”
Doun blinked, thinking he had misheard.
‘What… what did he say he’d do? Kill them and turn himself in? Prison?’
He’d always sent texts with cute emoticons and acted particularly friendly when talking, so unlike his appearance, he thought Samin wasn’t good at saying harsh things.
“But there are more people who like you than those trashy bastards. They’re waiting for when you’ll come back, and I saw some guy saying he’s throwing punches hoping for your return.”
“Throwing punches?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know the exact meaning—something about throwing rights or whatever.”
“…?”
Doun was increasingly confused. Why were they waiting for him? Why were they throwing rights? When they used to be so desperate to kill him before.
“Hyung. Is it uncomfortable talking about that time?”
“…Not really.”
Doun answered indifferently. It wasn’t uncomfortable. It just felt meaningless.
At one time, when Doun was holed up at home, all he had left was time. In the terrible time that felt both endlessly long and surprisingly short, he would run meaningless simulations dozens, hundreds of times.
If he had used fewer skills on the mid-boss…
If he had used a different skill instead of Stigma, which had a relatively large mana burden…
If he had lied and said his condition was bad today so he could only manage three mana links…
He could have at least saved the guild member who died before his eyes.
He wouldn’t have been criticized by everyone, wouldn’t have had to see comments asking why he didn’t die instead.
Sometimes he would curl up in bed thinking such thoughts. But the conclusion was always the same.
Impossible.
Although he dealt with magic that couldn’t be explained scientifically, he couldn’t turn back time. Among all humans existing on Earth, no one could turn back something like time.
Only after accepting that could Doun stop his meaningless fantasies. And he was able to accept the posts criticizing him with a somewhat less tormented heart.
**[Chat┃The domestic #1 ranker being an accessory to murder is disgraceful to our national dignity (8)]**
**[Chat┃I knew that bastard would do something like this lol (4)]**
**[Chat┃Really gives me chills;; Isn’t there something like prison in the tower? (31)]**
Whether it was anonymous boards or boards showing nicknames, Magnetic became an unparalleled villain there.
A post written by someone who identified as a Chronos Guild member, listing their accumulated complaints, instantly exploded with comments that Doun couldn’t even read them all.
-That bastard isn’t reading this post too, is he? Gives me chills for no reason lol
Seeing the comments on the exposé post by someone who had been a guild member, Doun decided.
‘I should stop looking at this now.’
And he never accessed the boards again.
“Anyway, there aren’t many people who hate you, hyung. Those bastards are originally the type who have a lot of complaints about life…”
Samin scratched his neck while gauging Doun’s reaction. He regretted bringing it up. He just wanted to let him know that there were more people waiting for and supporting him.
“Why do people like talking about others so much?”
“What?”
When Samin turned his head, Doun was looking at the road beyond the window.
“Did they hate me that much…?”
“Hyung.”
“I don’t know their faces, I don’t know their names.”
“…”
“But those people knew me.”
“…”
“Actually, that wasn’t really me…”
Beyond the taxi window racing down the road, irregular streetlight and headlight beams mixed and seeped onto Doun’s face. After staring out the window for a while, Doun sniffled.
“I must have caught a cold…”
In the quiet car, Doun felt awkward at the clearly audible sound and laughed while adding an absurd excuse.
“They say even dogs don’t catch summer colds.”
At the somewhat powerless voice, Samin exhaled quietly and answered.
“…In my opinion, hyung. I think we should hear the dog’s opinion on that too.”
“Huh?”
“Dogs might catch summer colds too. Koreans always bring up dogs for everything, but from the perspective of innocent dogs, how unfair and frequent such things must be.”
“…Right.”
“When cursing someone, they drag innocent dogs into it saying ‘son of a bitch,’ and dismiss summer colds saying even dogs don’t catch them.”
“Yeah.”
Doun sniffled while nodding to Samin’s continued nonsensical words. Strangely, he felt like his pent-up sorrow was melting away at the trivial sophistry.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
