#132
It was a few days ago. It seems like it was just two days ago. Jang Eun-jun had woken up after a rare good sleep and stretched with a yawn. What was different from usual was that he had slept soundly for seven hours, his body—which had always felt stiff in the mornings since entering his 30s—felt light as if it could fly, and lastly, his phone message inbox was bursting with more than ten messages.
The moment he saw them, Jang Eun-jun’s refreshed mood plummeted. More than ten messages arriving overnight from work. It was ominous. His head was already starting to throb. Jang Eun-jun clutched his anxiously trembling heart and checked the earliest message first.
‘Hunter Ki Baek-woo… died in the line of duty? Aaack!’
Heart not beating for more than 10 minutes? Are you crazy? He pushed forward alone throughout the raid but suddenly stopped attacking at the end? Aaargh! What does this mean! That’s suicide…! Until now he’s only nearly died from overexertion, he’s never tried to die so blatantly! Why now…! No, you’re an S-rank, Ki Baek-woo…!
With each message he scrolled through, Jang Eun-jun’s vision darkened. An S-rank hunter really dying. If he really died, people would go crazy…! Would citizens gather and throw stones at the center…? While tearing at his hair wondering how to handle this situation, he recalled Ki Baek-woo’s handsome face, once so obedient. Ah, Hunter Ki. Though he’d been acting strangely for months, he had been such a good hunter until then… How could he end so futilely… sob sob sob. Shedding tears first thing in the morning, he checked the final message.
Administrative Support Kim Ji-su
[Hunter Ki Baek-woo has survived. Please do not leak the previously sent messages.]
Unlike the earlier messages, this last one was brief and businesslike, and Jang Eun-jun felt his strength drain away. Then he thought casually:
What’s this, it was all just a fuss? Hunter Ki nearly died as he’s been doing lately, but he didn’t actually die. These people, making such a commotion over this. Really making my heart drop first thing in the morning.
Thinking that Ki Baek-woo wouldn’t be shameless enough to commit suicide in front of everyone, and that such a diligent hunter who constantly worked gates, albeit erratically, would rather die from overexertion if he were to die at all, Section Chief Jang Eun-jun nodded, reaching his own convenient conclusion. He made his own judgment. Ki Baek-woo probably didn’t really want to die. Because even though lovesickness can be painful enough to make you want to die, it’s not actually a fatal disease.
Hahaha, that’s right. That’s all just youthful rashness. Things like love are for when you can still afford to talk about them. As long as he didn’t die, it’s fine. Hahahaha. Section Chief Jang Eun-jun, only in his 30s himself but laughing like someone in his 50s, went to work with a light step. That had been just two days ago.
But Ki Baek-woo must have really gone crazy because he headed straight for the gate as soon as he woke up, and even though it was just a B-rank gate, he closed it in just two days, then became a corpse-like figure and really died. Section Chief Jang Eun-jun collapsed in shock and despair.
Compression-beeeeeep-rhythm check-epinephrine-beeeeeeeeeeeep-compression-beeeeeeep-nothing’s working-prepare carbonate-beeeeeeeeep
The desperate hands of medical staff performing chest compressions on Ki Baek-woo’s blood-covered chest. Ki Baek-woo’s twisted arm falling off the bed with each strong compression. It was impossible to tell how much time had passed with Ki Baek-woo’s heart stopped. So it was truly death.
The recovery room, which had been filled with agitated voices urgently going back and forth, became quiet as if by a lie. The urgent shouts of the recovery team members, the sound of calls summoning superiors, the busy footsteps of people hurriedly returning from breaks at the Code Blue alarm. The silence that fell over the recovery room, which had been so noisy it could have been mistaken for vibrant, was chilling.
Section Chief Jang Eun-jun couldn’t believe what was happening before his eyes. Sitting collapsed with a dumbfounded face, looking around, he must have appeared like an extremely deficient human being. But at that moment, maintaining appearances was not a priority. The experienced doctor’s sweat-soaked appearance as he desperately tried to save Ki Baek-woo, his chest heaving with each labored breath, and his ashen face deeply shadowed with defeat. Just seeing this made it clear that the situation was very bad.
So now… Hunter Ki Baek-woo…
Section Chief Jang Eun-jun’s mind started working again when a white shroud was placed over Ki Baek-woo’s long body, which was covered in blood as if he had been born with red skin. Ki Baek-woo’s twisted red arm hanging lifelessly below the bed, painful just to look at.
Section Chief Jang Eun-jun stared at it with a stupid face. Though it was a miserable sight like a doll that had been roughly played with and broken, it seemed like that arm might move again at any moment. After all, Ki Baek-woo had been constantly depressed like a dead person from some point, and his body was always a wreck. He’s someone who came back from death even after slitting his wrist.
The once-brilliant Ki Baek-woo was now a fading memory, and the walking corpse-like Ki Baek-woo had somehow become more familiar, so Jang Eun-jun couldn’t believe this situation. Only when Team Leader Hwang Ji-young’s tired hands gently pushed Ki Baek-woo’s blood-slick arm under the white sheet did Section Chief Jang Eun-jun feel in his skin that Ki Baek-woo had truly died this time.
I knew this would happen.
His first thought wasn’t about the death of an S-rank hunter who was as much a VVIP as the president, or that he was the only S-rank who could use two abilities, or the immense damage this would cause to national power, or the responsibility and disciplinary measures for allowing an S-rank hunter to die so futilely—it was just that one sentence.
I knew this would happen someday… I said we should hand over Hunter Lee Han-sol’s information first if we wanted to save Hunter Ki Baek-woo, ethics or not…! No matter how much it’s personal information, it can’t be more important than a person’s life…!
‘…Hunter Ki Baek-woo has died. The time is… anyway, please record it. Call his family if there is any… and also… ah, what else is there…’
The doctor’s muttering, still not recovered from shock, was disjointed. Somewhere, the sound of quiet sobbing could be heard. Someone else was praying with clasped hands. Amid the somber air, Team Leader Hwang Ji-young’s indignant voice suddenly rang out.
‘Where is Healer Jung Yi-dam?’
‘Team Leader, about that… he did receive the contact…’
‘Last time, let’s say he was in the middle of a raid! Let’s say that’s why he couldn’t come! But now he’s not even in a raid, is he? Why isn’t he cooperating? Doesn’t Healer Jung even live in the center dormitory? He’s right next door but he’s saying he won’t come? When a person, his own colleague, is dying? What, is he gilding his ass or something? What’s so heavy? What’s so expensive! If only Healer Jung Yi-dam had been here, we wouldn’t have lost him so futilely. Does he have any awareness that he’s a healer? This won’t do. I need to contact him again and at least ask what the hell he’s thinking.’
‘Even if you call him, Team Leader, he’ll say the same thing…. I thought he might be ignoring me because I’m not senior enough, so I asked the section chief for help, but he heard the exact same thing I did.’
Jang Eun-jun’s gaze, which had been blank, turned in that direction. Yes, that’s right… there’s an S-rank healer. But why hasn’t he shown up yet? The thought that if Healer Jung Yi-dam had been there, this wouldn’t have happened, finally emerged in his mind, much too late. As if representing that feeling, Team Leader Hwang Ji-young pounded her chest as if she might burst from rage.
‘Fine, let me hear it too. What great words did the magnificent Healer Jung say!’
‘Well… um… it’s a bit strange, but… I thought it was really strange too… but he really said this.’
‘What. What strange thing did he say?’
‘So… he said he wouldn’t die.’
‘What?’
A recovery team staff member who had been tilting his head and pondering something said, ‘I’ll just repeat exactly what he said. I couldn’t understand what it meant at all…’ before looking around cautiously. Then he cleared his throat.
‘Why do you keep calling me about Hunter Ki…? I’m telling you this because it’s getting annoying, but he can’t die. It’s not the right timing for that. This might be something empty-headed fools can’t understand, but it’s the truth anyway. So don’t call me for things like this again.’
The young staff member must have had a talent for impersonation, as he mimicked Jung Yi-dam’s characteristic gentle tone incredibly well. And just when Team Leader Hwang Ji-young and Section Chief Jang Eun-jun completely failed to understand the meaning of those words, like the “empty-headed fools” in Jung Yi-dam’s rude remark—
‘Huh?’
Someone who had been cleaning up the chaotic scene made a terrified sound. The gazes of everyone in the recovery room—those crying, praying, depressed, or on edge—all turned to that spot at once.
There was the bed with the dead Ki Baek-woo and the white sheet covering him. And shortly after, Section Chief Jang Eun-jun, Team Leader Hwang Ji-young, and everyone in the recovery room were shocked in unison. Ki Baek-woo’s broken arm, which Team Leader Hwang had neatly tucked away, had suddenly reappeared outside the sheet.
‘W-what’s happening? Doctor Kim, what is this…!’
‘No, this shouldn’t be possible. T-Team Leader Hwang, you saw it too! Including the time it took to get here from the gate, his heart had stopped for over 30 minutes…!’
While everyone was in confusion, Ki Baek-woo’s fractured and severely twisted arm pulled down the white sheet covering his face. It was a very slow and heavy movement filled with pain, but it was definitely moving.
‘Oh, my, God…’
Team Leader Hwang Ji-young’s terrified exclamation sounded softly. Oh, my, God. Section Chief Jang Eun-jun, still sitting collapsed in the corner of the recovery room, made the same exclamation internally. Probably everyone there felt the same way.
‘Failed again…. I definitely died, but why is the time the same….’
No one would fail to search for God after seeing Ki Baek-woo, who sat up with his tattered body, muttering something in a faint voice that no one could hear. Ki Baek-woo, who had clearly died, who had even been pronounced dead by a doctor. He had resurrected like a god before everyone’s eyes.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
