Damn Hunter Life Chapter 76
In appearance and age, the Ja Hyeong-woo before my eyes almost perfectly matched the one I knew. The shape of the staff in his hand and the water energy flowing from it were the same too.
Nevertheless, I’m certain this is a hallucination. Because of his expression.
“Get up. Try doing it properly again. You can’t heal inside like that.”
With a cold, heartless face, Ja Hyeong-woo scolds someone. Only then did the form of the person Ja Hyeong-woo was talking to appear.
“Yes. I’ll try once more.”
I had guessed from when he said heal, but it was indeed Hae Mi-jun. Similarly almost like the Hae Mi-jun I know, but his face seemed darker and more gaunt than in reality.
Hae Mi-jun was sweating profusely while concentrating on his attribute weapon. Even though his hands kept slipping and his body trembled, he didn’t say he would stop.
Since he’s been unable to create a single skill for months, he wouldn’t say he’d rest first even if he collapsed and died.
Ja Hyeong-woo just watched without any emotion as the child struggled desperately like that.
“I’ve taught what I can teach, so do it until you succeed. I also have training, so I don’t have time to keep watching. Let’s meet again when there’s progress.”
Ja Hyeong-woo turned around. He disappeared behind another rock.
Watching Hae Mi-jun left alone, I felt embarrassed just looking. At least say his effort is admirable. That damn bastard made Hae Mi-jun cry and left.
‘That’s why there were hints of Hae Mi-jun’s dark turn in the original work…’
The moment I was wondering whether to watch Hae Mi-jun more or follow the disappeared Ja Hyeong-woo.
Swoosh… Someone’s clothing brushed past behind me.
Even knowing it was a hallucination, that sensation was so vivid it gave me goosebumps.
The moment I turned my head, Ja Hyeong-woo’s hard profile swept past me. Another hallucination, another scene.
His sleeves and legs were soaked with blood. At that sight, I followed blindly. His stride was long and fast, so I had to almost run to keep up.
“Successor-nim, the blood…!”
“It’s not my blood. Are there more injured?”
“Six regular hunters over there, many more civilians… And Jin Seol-woon Successor-nim and Myo Cho-hui Successor-nim are injured.”
“Please guide me.”
Ja Hyeong-woo, who was about to walk faster, stopped when I grabbed his sleeve.
“That is your blood.”
Blood drops flowing from his sleeve made a red trail on the back of my hand. Ja Hyeong-woo’s dry eyes turned toward my face.
“Are you injured? If not, please let go. I’m busy.”
It seems when I fall into hallucinations, I also become a character in that scene. He probably recognizes me as one of the civilians who was there.
I continued speaking quietly to him.
“Ja Hyeong-woo. This is a hallucination. It was an event scheduled to happen, not something that actually occurred.”
Ja Hyeong-woo’s lines, his current blood-soaked state, and the mentioned injured people were all as I knew them. I knew exactly which part of the original work this was.
“The actual Busan Gate will end with only one injured successor.”
Namely, me.
In the original work, a character who was already dead – Gyeon Gang-hyeon.
‘Seeing hallucinations doesn’t mean I see memories from before my possession.’
Instead, the gate extracted the memory I was most concerned about and showed it to me.
It’s just that what I call the original work is my fake memory and prior information I possess.
So even if I fall into hallucinations, I can wake up quickly.
“Stupid bastard. Your body needs to be fine to treat others. Are you going around like this because one heal skill is precious?”
Ja Hyeong-woo, who had been staring at me blankly, suddenly collapsed on the spot.
The illusion scattered like a sand castle. I stood alone on the rocky mountain I had first seen.
‘…This isn’t a hallucination now, right? Since it disappeared before my eyes, this time it’s real?’
Like shouting “this is a dream” in a dream makes you wake up, hallucinations could be escaped using similar methods.
This time I moved actively. To find where Ja Hyeong-woo was.
While comparing the descriptions in my memory with the surrounding environment and going deeper, I scattered white sand to mark the path. Though I came in a hurry, I was also familiar with basic conquest rules.
‘Seeing no one else marked anything… everyone got caught in hallucinations as soon as they entered the gate and wandered around aimlessly.’
I told you it would help if I came in.
Anyway, this is the first time I’ve directly faced the original work’s Ja Hyeong-woo. Maybe because I was flustered, I kept thinking about it.
According to the original description, that side was more blade-like and bleak in everything. Should I say he was similar to Woo Sae-geon?
But seeing him directly, I understand.
That was just having no leisure. No leisure to care for others and show kindness.
‘What’s different between the two Ja Hyeong-woos, what was missing in that original bastard that made him like that…’
…Come to think of it, where did Woo Sae-geon go?
The original work didn’t show what Woo Sae-geon saw in hallucinations. His past wasn’t dealt with in the first place.
However, it shows he regained his senses quite quickly and searched for Ja Hyeong-woo.
‘I find Ja Hyeong-woo, and Woo Sae-geon finds the other hunters. If he can’t do that, strip Woo Sae-geon’s leader badge.’
How many tens of minutes did I search around? Some luck seemed to follow too.
Finally, I found Ja Hyeong-woo standing with his soul in another world, completely out of it.
“Hey. Ja Hyeong-woo. You mouse bastard.”
No answer when I called.
I waved my hand in front of his blank face. He seemed unable to see me at all. He was so completely immersed in the hallucination that he didn’t even flinch. Blinking was the only movement Ja Hyeong-woo showed.
According to what I saw in the original work, if you give a shock greater than the hallucination, you can immediately wake someone fallen into hallucinations. As long as it’s before they’re completely consumed and can never escape.
‘If Woo Sae-geon finds Ja Hyeong-woo… that crazy human will cut his colleague with a sword just enough not to kill him to get him out.’
What do I do? I don’t want to fall to the same level as Woo Sae-geon.
Right, I’ll just beat him up. Let me try what I couldn’t do until now. Slap his cheek, hit his solar plexus, and if that doesn’t work, kick him there too.
With an excited heart for the first time in a while, I stood in front of Ja Hyeong-woo—
“Hyeon-a.”
I gasped as a suddenly clear voice flowed out.
How… why is he looking straight at me? Just now, was that calling me?
Ja Hyeong-woo, who met my eyes, stretched his lips into a smile.
That alone was creepy enough, but he even opened his mouth slightly and smiled broadly. His blunt, straight eyes became soft with laughter.
“Hyeon-a. You came? I was waiting.”
I was stunned by his beaming face, then suddenly came to my senses.
Without knowing it, the surrounding scenery had completely changed 180 degrees.
“Ah shit…”
I should have gotten Ja Hyeong-woo out of the hallucination, but while I was hesitating, he pulled me in with him instead.
‘No, it’s fine. At least I’m aware this is a hallucination, so I can get out again quickly.’
Then let me get ahead of visual information and predict what will appear in Ja Hyeong-woo’s hallucination.
Ja Hyeong-woo’s hallucination shown in the original work was childhood memories. And Gyeon Gang-hyeon’s death.
These two scenes alternated, leaving Ja Hyeong-woo with emptiness.
‘But there, memories of my death were missing. If only the first part remains…’
Before I knew it, the Ja Hyeong-woo before my eyes had disappeared.
With the large figure blocking my view gone, I could see the surroundings at a glance.
An unfamiliar neighborhood where red brick villas were closely packed together. Cigarette butts and trash were scattered in the narrow alley. The recycling station was placed without separation from the road, and telephone wires messily covered the sky.
I fixed my wandering gaze on a small child sitting on the entrance step of ‘Miso Villa.’
I found myself staring intently without realizing it.
A stretched t-shirt and worn-out sneakers. Long hair grown shaggy as if not being cared for.
But his expression isn’t dark. He seems to be waiting expectantly for someone…?
Tap tap tap tap—!
Soon the short, light sound of sneakers hitting the ground approaches like lightning from behind.
A small kid who passed right through me, not even reaching my waist in height.
I stared blankly at the child whose face resembled mine too much.
“Han Hyeong-woo! I’m here!”
At the resounding high voice, Ja Hyeong-woo jumped up. He grinned.
Little Gyeon Gang-hyeon put both hands on his waist and stood right in front of him.
* * *
There wasn’t even a speck of wind in the gate. Since even clothing didn’t flutter, Woo Sae-geon standing still was even more like a statue.
“×××, shit…”
With his soul helplessly captured elsewhere, a language he absolutely never uses here slipped out.
A state where he gripped his sword tightly as if to swing it immediately but couldn’t advance at all.
From opposite him, suddenly some figure pushed away Woo Sae-geon’s dark hallucination and asserted their presence.
Woo Sae-geon lifted his head to look at his opponent.
Then for the first time, movement appeared in Woo Sae-geon’s pupils. They vibrated faintly, then focus returned.
Right, this is a gate. All the scenes until now were illusions.
Because he met that man before his eyes after coming to Hunter School.
“You followed…”
He gained realization midway and cut off his words. Simultaneously, the man also disappeared smoothly as if mocking Woo Sae-geon.
Woo Sae-geon let out a hollow laugh. Even that was a hallucination.
Thanks to seeing that grinning face, his mind did clear up though.
Woo Sae-geon lightly twisted his neck to loosen his muscles, then sharply rolled his eyes the next moment.
A chat came in with the Dog Successor’s name, but now isn’t the time to check such things. Woo Sae-geon moved his body.
Only after sweeping through the gate and rescuing half the hunters fallen into hallucinations did he learn the seriousness of the chat Gyeon Gang-hyeon left.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
