#152
Ki Baek-woo hastily grabbed Jang Eun-jun’s phone. He held the device, which seemed small compared to his hands, with both hands as if revering it, and remained motionless while listening attentively. His slow blinking made him look almost entranced. His attitude was so compliant that he didn’t resemble the person who had been struggling to escape the center just moments ago. Watching this complete reversal, Manager Jang Eun-jun of the Hunter Management Team felt that his choice had indeed been correct.
And he felt premature elation. He sensed that their nightmare—the problem named Ki Baek-woo—would soon be solved. Because the person on the call was none other than Lee Han-sol. The hero of the Hunter Management Team who had instantly solved the problem when Ki Baek-woo skipped raids without permission and went into seclusion for no reason. The protagonist of the “hyung” that Ki Baek-woo recited like a mantra. The only brake for the runaway train that was Ki Baek-woo… it was that very Lee Han-sol!
Jang Eun-jun was not wrong.
An oversized hoodie that didn’t fit his body, mule sneakers that were too large for his feet with the heel part worn through. The moment Lee Han-sol, looking disheveled as if he had hastily borrowed someone else’s clothes, stepped into the corridor of the recovery room at the Central Center… The moment Lee Han-sol appeared, capturing attention despite looking like a neighborhood slacker, Jang Eun-jun couldn’t hold back his tears of emotion.
“Ki Baek-woo, go inside.”
“……”
Ki Baek-woo, who couldn’t be stopped even when they all rushed at him together or made any kind of appeal, froze at Lee Han-sol’s single word and ceased all movement. Without saying there was no time for this or that it was still far from being the twenty-fifth time, he stood very obediently, just staring fixedly at Lee Han-sol. With a dreamy, dazed look and somewhat frightened expression. It was a submissive appearance suggesting he would follow anything Lee Han-sol said.
You’re really amazing, our Lord Han-sol…!
Jang Eun-jun couldn’t help but admire the beautiful sight of Lee Han-sol subduing the demon—no, Ki Baek-woo—with just one word. He was so moved and overwhelmed that he couldn’t control his mouth and babbled to Assistant Park Sang-yun standing beside him.
“…Assistant Park, do you see it? That scene where this hunter solves at once what the entire Central Center couldn’t resolve with all its might.”
“Yes, Manager… It’s so moving… I won’t have to write an explanation letter today… But Manager, how did this hunter get here?”
“This hunter?”
“Yes. How did you two get in contact?”
“Well, actually…”
Assistant Park, this is a secret. Actually, I’ve been ignoring the results of our team’s Monday vote on ‘Measures for Preserving Ki Baek-woo Hunter’s Life and Normalizing His Mental State’ and… taking independent action. That vote always ended in a tie anyway, so it was totally useless. And it was really just our team’s collective avoidance of responsibility.
Manager Jang Eun-jun’s face shone with seriousness and dignity.
“Our team lacked both the confidence to stop the mentally unstable Hunter Ki and… the courage to freely expose Hunter Lee Han-sol’s personal information… So I acted alone. Because I knew that the only answer to this problem was Hunter Lee Han-sol…”
Giving up professional ethics, professionalism, and workplace reputation… I’ve been contacting Hunter Lee Han-sol alone all this time…! With indomitable will, whenever I had free time, more than 10 calls a day…! And finally, after all that effort, I’ve managed to bring Hunter Lee Han-sol here!
Manager Jang Eun-jun exclaimed solemnly, alternately looking at Ki Baek-woo, who was quietly standing without rebelling against the command to enter the hospital room, and Lee Han-sol, who was coldly staring at him. Of course, Lee Han-sol had never once answered his calls, and eventually didn’t even turn on his phone after it died… but he didn’t bother to add those details.
Regardless, if it weren’t for the 2,000+ missed calls he had persistently left, Lee Han-sol wouldn’t have called him first today to say, “You crazy, jealously paranoid person, I’ve given in, put Ki Baek-woo on.” Interpreting things in his favor, Jang Eun-jun sniffled proudly.
“Assistant Park, our misfortune ends and happiness begins now. Hunter Ki Baek-woo doesn’t defy Hunter Lee Han-sol.”
Assistant Park Sang-yun looked up at his superior with moist eyes. To think you would abandon the professional ethics and morality of protecting each hunter equally for the team. I respect you, Manager… He felt a renewed sense of respect.
Of course, Lee Han-sol couldn’t care less about Jang Eun-jun or anyone else, and the same went for the rest of the crowd.
From the moment he entered the corridor until now, Lee Han-sol had not given a single glance to the spectators, focusing solely on glaring at Ki Baek-woo. Similarly, from the moment Lee Han-sol entered the corridor until now, Ki Baek-woo had been staring only at Lee Han-sol. Han-sol’s intense gaze, as if something was about to burst forth, and his cold, expressionless face conveying some determination made Baek-woo feel dreamy and dazed.
“……”
“Ki Baek-woo, are your ears clogged?”
Standing about three steps away from Ki Baek-woo in the corridor lined with recovery rooms and patient rooms, Lee Han-sol commanded once more.
“Go inside.”
Ki Baek-woo didn’t move an inch, as if he had been molded that way. He stood rigidly, overwhelmed by Lee Han-sol’s presence, with a distant expression as if he had lost his judgment, intoxicated by the surreal scene.
Ki Baek-woo was a mess, with a large dressing band on his left cheek where it had been torn open, and his neck, visible above the patient gown, covered in red and blue bruises. He looked tattered like carelessly torn and discarded tissue paper. Despite his miserable appearance without a single unharmed spot, Ki Baek-woo had a strange expression, as if he had a high fever from excessive excitement. He breathed very shallowly, carefully, as if hoping this moment would never end.
Not moving an inch in front of the hospital room, he asked quietly.
“…This isn’t a dream, is it?”
Ki Baek-woo’s injured chin and mouth were trembling slightly. Like his voice, it was a movement mixed with expectation that it wasn’t a dream and anxiety that it might be. Lee Han-sol was staring at Ki Baek-woo fiercely, increasingly fiercely, fiercely as if overflowing with hatred. Standing before him, Ki Baek-woo kept feeling a tingling sensation at the tip of his nose.
The fact that Lee Han-sol was in front of him, the fact that he had come looking for him, was so ecstatic that he felt like crying at any moment.
“I told you to go inside.”
“Is it really you, hyung…?”
“Should I just leave?”
“No, no. No… I’m sorry. It just felt like a dream. I’ll, I’ll go in.”
No. Don’t go. Don’t go, hyung. Don’t go.
Ki Baek-woo, in his urgency, awkwardly shook both hands and his head at the same time. Shaking his head made him dizzy immediately. Breathing was laborious. He couldn’t tell if it was because he had died once again, or because of the presence of Lee Han-sol in his vision. His body, where death’s aftermath was accumulating because injuries weren’t healing due to system errors, and Lee Han-sol, speaking, moving, and existing right in front of him. Both made him feel dizzy.
‘Don’t do this. You look useless.’
Frantically holding onto his fading consciousness, Ki Baek-woo raised his head. He pretended to be fine, checked Lee Han-sol’s reaction, and then reluctantly stepped backward. In the past, he would have shown weakness even when not in pain to gain Lee Han-sol’s sympathy, but now he was anxious with the knowledge that he absolutely shouldn’t do that, with the desire that he must show a useful appearance to be held in Lee Han-sol’s hands, even if just as a tool.
Ki Baek-woo absolutely wouldn’t turn his back, as if Lee Han-sol might disappear the moment he took his eyes off him. While hesitantly pushing open the door behind him with his hand, he asked cautiously.
“If I go in… what about you, hyung?”
You’re not just going to leave right away, are you? You’ll stay with me a little longer, right? If not, I want to stay out here until the end. Hiding such thoughts in his gaze that followed like a shadow, Ki Baek-woo asked as briefly as possible. He felt like Lee Han-sol would leave immediately if he found him annoying.
But Lee Han-sol spoke coldly, as if he didn’t care either way.
“Don’t ask questions. I’ll just leave if you do it one more time.”
“No, no. Don’t go. I’ll go in. I’m sorry.”
Ki Baek-woo hastily took a step into the hospital room. In his nervousness, he wiped his palms on his thighs. Lee Han-sol pointed inside the room and directed him again.
“Go to the bed.”
“Huh?”
“Go to the bed. Go and lie down.”
“…What about you, hyung?”
“I said go to the bed and lie down. Don’t make me repeat the same words anymore.”
“But I’m fine… Hey, if you possibly came to see me… if that’s the case, I’d like to spend a little more time with you…”
Lee Han-sol, as if he couldn’t stand it anymore, distorted his face and shouted.
“You said you’d do everything I tell you! Why aren’t you listening! Why don’t you ever do what you say you will? You only choose to do what you’re told not to do, and never do what you’re told to do! Did I come all this way for your amusement? Did you act like you’d never deal with me again, then make me come here for your entertainment?”
Where did all that kneeling and begging go? Do I already look like an idiot to you? If not, go in and lie down, I said lie down!
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
