106
* * *
He thought he had forgotten quite a lot by now. But the truth was he had only hoped to forget; the memories were still vivid.
That day a year ago when exhaustion and pain that seemed to wring out his very soul pierced his entire body. Doun didn’t have the strength to properly blink his eyelids, let alone move his fingers.
Thwack!
A colleague’s side was half blown away before his eyes. The blackened, hollow body collapsed, and being crushed under the magical beast’s feet happened in an instant. With a horrific face writhing in pain, the man scraped the dirt floor with his fingernails and pleaded.
‘Doun hyung! Save me, save me!’
Shin Sehwan buried his face in the blood he had vomited and scraped the ground until his fingernails came off. Finely ground stone fragments dug between his nails, the flesh at his fingertips tore, and blood painted bright red lines.
‘Hyung, please…’
He called Doun’s name, who stood before him, until his breath was cut off, screaming to be saved several times.
Doun felt like he would never forget the notification windows that appeared several times over that terrible scene until he died.
[Alert: Insufficient mana to use skill ‘Mana Link (B)’.
Target: ‘Mistake’ from Republic of Korea on Earth]
[Alert: Insufficient mana to use skill ‘Mana Link (B)’.
Target: ‘Timer’ from Republic of Korea on Earth]
[Alert: Insufficient mana to use skill ‘Mana Link (B)’.
Target: ‘Unnamed’ from Republic of Korea on Earth]
How could he forget the notification windows that appeared because people far away kept trying to use skills with his mana, even while his colleague was dying before his eyes?
It was as if all his mana had been annihilated; he couldn’t move even the slightest bit of mana. His whole body was heavy, painful, and he couldn’t feel mana, just like in his early twenties before he had awakened.
‘Kheuk, kk, hh…’
And finally, after the painful groan that collapsed before his eyes, one notification window appeared.
[Alert: Skill ‘Mana Link (B)’ is partially released.
Target: ‘□□□□’ from Republic of Korea on Earth]
Mana link is only released when the target dies, unless the party that accepted the link cuts it off first.
Doun had to stand there blankly, having his colleague’s death confirmed through the system’s inconsiderate notification window.
“This time was fortunate, but what about next time? If I arrive late and, hng, you get hurt too…”
His voice, intermittently gasping roughly, was miserable. Samin hugged his trembling body tightly.
“Hyung. Calm down. It’s okay. Just think about now. You’re touching me right now, aren’t you? Right now I’m completely healed. Subin treated me right away, and I took a potion too. I don’t even remember being in pain. I’m perfectly fine.”
“I was the one who got hurt, so why did you take it? What are you to… Why did you.”
“Hyung. Try breathing slowly. I can explain everything.”
“…Hng.”
Doun rambled whatever came to mind, then tried to breathe slowly. But his breath caught as if lacking oxygen, and his vision became dizzy.
“I can’t… breathe…”
“It’s okay. Breathe out slowly. It’s nothing serious. You’re just excited for a moment.”
Samin calmly guided Doun’s breathing. He had to see many hunters who fell into panic. When they were seriously injured in a place they had been hurt before, or when their mental strength reached its limit, hunters would fall into panic.
When the rough, gasping breathing was slowly returning, Samin carefully asked.
“Do you have any medicine the hospital told you to take at times like this?”
“Hh, no… This is the first time, hup.”
“Yeah. I understand. It’s okay. You’re breathing well. The conquest ended well and I’m fine too. No one got hurt. Just think that we finished the conquest magnificently.”
Samin deliberately spoke slowly. When in panic, people often couldn’t understand words properly. Moreover, if the panicked person was a hunter, the danger increased.
Doun was a hunter with undeniable power. If he became frightened and used skills, it would be difficult to stop him unless everyone united.
“Breathe slowly, even slower.”
“Samin…”
“If you’re very anxious and struggling, want to try hugging me? It’s just the two of us here. All the guild members are far away over there. Minhyeok and Jiwon are busy helping collect magic stones…”
Whether he understood the gentle voice, strength entered his trembling hands. Samin felt a bit relieved at the touch of hands embracing the large torso that had pulled him close.
He thought it was fortunate that he could comfort Doun’s weak side. Someone might point fingers and curse him as a moron who can’t even overcome one thing and doesn’t deserve his ranking. But Samin didn’t think that way.
Doun was just temporarily weakened by the harsh events he had experienced before. Where is there a life without ups and downs?
“When we go home together, let’s wash up and have dinner together. Is there anything you want to eat?”
“…Yeah.”
“What would our hyung want to eat? Is it the spicy tteokbokki you mentioned before?”
“…No. The Chinese restaurant we went to together before.”
“Yeah. The place where we had charcoal jjamppong?”
“Yeah…”
As they exchanged trivial dinner menu talk, Doun’s breathing gradually became easier. It was when they had been hugging each other for a while.
“I haven’t known hyung for long, and we’ve been dating even shorter, but I know this. That hyung isn’t someone who would deliberately let colleagues die. I never thought that. I’ve never even tried.”
“…”
“If people do a few conquests with hyung, they’ll all know, right? How responsible hyung is and how much he hates people getting hurt?”
“…”
“I’m sorry for making you recall bad memories. Earlier was unavoidable. But as hyung can see, I’m perfectly fine, so don’t worry. I may not know about other things, but my mind is incredibly healthy. Of course, other parts are healthy too…”
Samin deliberately added a mischievous joke to lighten the weight of the conversation.
“Anyway, I’m hyung’s now, right? So I’ll be more careful from now on. I’m number one in our country at protecting myself. You remember, right? Prime Minister’s commendation. I’ll do better so hyung won’t worry like today.”
“You… why do you always make people cry again, damn it…”
Doun giggled while stuffing the kind words into his head with difficulty. The countless nights of tears he had swallowed alone finally burst into sobs before Samin’s kindness. Helpless whimpering began to flow past his throat.
Doun hugged Samin tightly and cried sadly. When everyone pointed fingers and criticized him, he felt certain that at least Samin would be on his side and believe in him to the end.
“Samin.”
“Yes, hyung.”
“Samin…”
Unable to properly express the words that had been mixed together from long rumination alone, Doun eventually only murmured Samin’s name. Every time Doun called his name, Samin answered several times that he was here, that he was listening to him.
He didn’t know how long he had imagined warm hands that would comfort him, saying it was okay, toward his pathetic self crying drunk on self-pity.
Through his helplessly flowing tears, Doun let some of the injustice he had harbored alone flow away.
“…Don’t get hurt, really.”
“When those magical beast bastards attack, I’ll sneakily dodge them all, so don’t cry. When hyung cries, your eyes get all swollen and it shows.”
Samin answered while stroking his finely trembling back. At the unchanging gentle touch, Doun slowly calmed his heart and only looked up at Samin after a long while.
“It was good that I bought handkerchiefs.”
Samin took out a handkerchief from his inventory and wiped around Doun’s eyes. His gaze looking at Samin silently wiping his tears was completely soft.
“Look how red your eyes are. How sad.”
Samin gently rubbed the reddened, raw corners of his eyes with his thumb. Doun twitched his nose and muttered.
“I could just drink a potion.”
“Don’t rely too much on potions. Too many aren’t good for you.”
Doun raised his hand and weakly tapped Samin’s chest.
“You’re good at nagging anyway.”
“Am I all done scolding now?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you feel better?”
“…A little.”
“Oh dear, this is serious. What kind of tricks do I need to pull to cheer up our baby?”
Samin glanced at Doun’s expression and acted coy. Before rejoining the group, he waited for Doun to slightly tidy up his face that had become a mess from drinking potions.
As soon as they left the tower, there would be a pile of people asking for autographs. Since they couldn’t stop everyone taking pictures and uploading them from afar, if it showed that Doun’s eyes were swollen or that he had been crying, who knows what kind of bullshit would come out.
‘The talk seems to have ended well. Thank goodness.’
Even at the moment when guild members were secretly relieved at Doun’s relaxed face, Doun didn’t realize.
That while Samin had apologized to him and said he wouldn’t get hurt, he didn’t say he would never use the skill again.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
That last line stresses me out…