Chapter 308, Deep Furrow (3)
Anyway, the injured organs were the small intestine and so bones, so there was no problem in speaking.
"This thing only stops once it hits soone."
But he wasn't sure if even that explanation would be enough. As Gryeo looked at the blue crystal that had turned a human life into sothing akin to a heart skewer, he couldn't help but reflect.
"This might just reveal your lack of physical ability as well."
If it were revealed here that he was an F-rank... then everything would unravel like a string of tangled yarn—the fact that he had inflated his value to pocket 3 billion won a month, hurled insults at soone six whole ranks above him, and consistently tried to distort perceptions by downplaying their skills.
"Hmph, judging by the selflessness he showed back at the Incheon sandfields, Jung Haseong doesn't seem like the type to kill soone just for being deceived."
He was worried.
"But I think he's actually going to file a proper lawsuit..."
It was a mont when Haseong's tendency to strictly separate public and private matters beca a real concern. He had heard that fraud penalties in South Korea were relatively lenient, but if a proper investigation were launched, wouldn't he have to cough up the hundreds of billions he'd received over the years?
"Hmm."
On top of that, he had already spent all his money in Japan and couldn't even afford to move right now. His conscience stung a little, but there was no helping it. Gryeo decided to set aside enough money to pay a potential settlent to Jung Haseong—just in case—before coming clean about the truth. With that, he pushed the dilemma aside.
"Let's fix this up just enough and then head ho. And I need to go ho quickly and eat bibimbap."
But then, an unexpected turn of events occurred.
"Hunter Kim!"
"Huh?"
The national hero turned pale with shock, his face drained of all color. He stopped anyone from pulling out the spear lodged in the body, and soon, in a flurry, tried to carry his comrade in a proper horizontal position—as if straight out of a dical ergency handbook—to get him hospitalized.
***
A dozen or so minutes later.
"I'm fine."
In front of the open gate.
"I'm really fine, okay? Hey, Rank #1. Do I seriously have to knock you out right here to make you stop doubting ?"
The exit of the [Tower of a Hundred People] often appears in a completely different location from the entrance coordinates, much like otherworldy places—this ti, it seed to have appeared in a hill in Sejong City. Outside, night had already fallen. In a dim, damp forest, a phrase briefly echoed, sothing like, "Peter, must I truly walk on water for you to believe?" This was because Korea's current fourth S-rank hunter was struggling with the other's disbelief.
"I used a potion, didn't I? Look, see? My spine's back in place. I could even play horsey with this much recovery!"
First of all, Gryeo had already expected Jung Haseong to react negatively upon seeing him injured. After all the countless examples he had experienced back on Earth, he'd be an idiot not to have learned the pattern by now.
He had rely morized the reactions like a machine. As expected, he still couldn't truly understand their nature at its core.
"It's not like hunters getting injured while catching beasts is sothing unique to modern tis... so why did he panic to the point of losing his mind?"
At this point, his flimsy ntal strength was almost pitiful.
Having finished the restoration technique, Gryeo narrowed one eye slightly to adjust his focus for a mont. And by the ti his thoughts were more or less in order—
Sssk.
The blond man suddenly bent his waist and asked the other person a question.
"Are you crying?"
Haseong reacted fiercely to the tone, which seed to be that of an antisocial individual utterly lacking in empathy.
"Is this really sothing you can say so casually? A Hunter who went into the raid with us just collapsed with his insides pierced—of course a person would be horrified! No, it's only right to be horrified!"
"Surprise."
For reference, the rulers of Earth tend to secrete more bodily fluids even when they're simply enraged.
"If the appraisal skill results ca out like that, you should've told . Then I would've tried my best to minimize the damage on my own. Um, how...?"
The young man paused for a mont as his throat got choked up.
"How can I..."
He couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence properly. The image of his comrade, still impaled by the spear and collapsed on the ground, haunted his eyes. How could he possibly recall such a sight with a clear mind?
"I'm not sure if I should be saying this."
"..."
"But honestly, Hunter-nim, you really do seem like a crazy person sotis. Truly, seriously."
In fact, from an Alphauri's perspective, Jung Ha-seong—with his extre emotional ups and downs—felt even closer to being the real lunatic. Of course, he didn't bother to say that out loud. It seed the other challengers were already too shocked.
"Jung Haseong."
Gryeo simply tried to defuse the situation by changing the subject. He kept repeating to the man that he was fine until the other seed sowhat calm, and then decided it was ti to head down.
"Alright, that's settled then? I'm heading down first. Just so you know, I'll be ho late tonight."
"Yes?"
"...I was just going to stop by the Hunter Association for a bit."
Night had fallen in Korea, but since the Hunter Association staffed night shifts at all its branches, it didn't really matter.
"While I'm thinking about it, I should cross-verify this with the Sejong City Pole Corporation's machine. After all, the Aw values are displayed with decimals even on older asuring devices. And, as much as I hate it, to confirm this hypothesis, it has to be imdiately after sothing like this happens..."
But Gryeo couldn't even start the experint he had planned right away.
"Why, why are you leaving?"
Because the number one ranked, who he thought had cald down, blocked his path once again.
"Do you want to report this separately to the country or sothing? H, hey, please don't do that—let's just go the ergency room first."
"Ergency room?"
"Go to a proper hospital and get sothing like a spinal nerve examination, Hunter Kim Gryeo. Co on. No matter how good the potion you used was, you never know for sure. I'll even give you a ride..."
Hospital. From Kim Gryeo's perspective, such Earth-style dical facilities were nothing but unbearable.
Let's just say it's no big deal if another tumor shows up on the lungs. But this case involves a mysterious pilot controlling soone else's corpse with magic, so if examined thoroughly, there's a high chance that differences would be found in the body's maintenance chanisms.
In short, he would be caught as aliens.
"Moreover, not just one, but possibly to an unspecified many? That's troubleso."
Therefore, in order to avoid forced hospitalization, Gryeo grabbed the other person's shoulder and began to persuade him.
"Haseong-ah."
In a way, it was a declaration that had to be made soday, if only to naturally avoid a promise made in the past.
"Let's stop beating around the bush and properly make a distinction this ti."
"Yes?"
"This is what I think. The body is ultimately sothing that the person should control, and even though I've fully explained why I'm okay now, why don't you understand and push your own opinion?"
"...I"
"Do I look like X to you?"
Choosing strong expressions intentionally to increase the persuasive effect was a bonus.
"Huh? So you're nagging this much because you're afraid I might die from this?"
"N, no. Never."
"But Jung Haseong, I once read sowhere that the goal of education in this world is independence."
"Independence?"
"Even if your private tutor dies of sepsis right here, or if he sohow becos a regular mber of the team later on."
"..."
"Anyway, lifelong connections in this world are rare. In life, you should avoid worrying too much about others and prepare to be independent ahead of ti."
It subtly implies that the main team status might be resolved quickly.
"... You have to. When I just watch you quietly, it feels like you think of as so kind of one-and-only milestone, so I'm saying this."
Since this person is a scholar, his observational skills for repetitive situations aren't bad.
Therefore, as ti passed, Kim Gryeo was gradually able to make inferences closer to the truth.
"Unless there was a reason like that, I wouldn't be fussing over so kid getting hurt, especially one from a family I don't even know."
"That's..."
"Don't live your life like that."
The sentence that ca out near the end sounded sowhat aggressive at first, but in reality, it wasn't ant to hurt.
"Don't rely on others too much or expect things from them in life. I've seen soone get stabbed in the back and die because of that."
Perhaps in this world, there might be no one who truly recognizes you—except for so absurd being like an alien.
Gryeo judged for himself that this was enough to warmly convey the ssage not to be hospitalized. So, after lightly tapping Haseong's shoulder, he left alone, thinking that his advice had been understood.
No, to be exact, he had tried to leave. But there was still an important topic left, so ending the conversation like this wasn't an option.
"Uhh... but, even though I just said that, I could stay at your place just a little bit longer before I leave?"
"Oh, the house."
"I pay close attention to the best spots and my fortune and fate. So when I move, I have to hire both a feng shui expert and a shaman, which makes my moves take longer than others."
"Yes?"
"...No, don't worry about it. Actually, I was joking."
Damn. He now finds this chat AI online by chance and was sure this would work, but was it really a scam site after all?
And that's how the day went.
"Hwam."
This is the administrative welfare center in Mapo-gu. After conquering [Tower of a Hundred People] in Sejong City, I went to the Hunter Association around evening and conducted an internal mana analysis. After collecting the data, I returned to Seoul.
And today, this is the next scheduled location I ca to after finishing all of that. Well, it's not exactly sothing urgent, but since I had so free ti, I figured I'd take care of it while I was at it.
In the blink of an eye, autumn is just around the corner. Once the cold wind starts blowing, the amount of magical theory lectures will surely be finished, so how am I supposed to get out of forming a team? I want to work together including Seo Esther, so maybe I should ask to postpone it for just six months, saying it's because classes still need to be held...
It's a weekday, after all. And since the ti of day isn't exactly convenient for office workers, the inside of the administrative welfare center was quieter than expected. These days, with the advancent of automated machines and mobile applications, fewer people co all the way here just to get a docunt issued—maybe that's why it felt even more empty.
But do you know what the 80-year-old man and the alien have in common?
"They're digitally weak."
Oh my. In the past, just changing clothes was enough to keep people from recognizing . Right now, I was wearing a black T-shirt from an SPA brand that I got while staying in a room at Seoul Neo Hospital. And yet, even without wearing a suit, people passing by were already glancing at , having clearly noticed who I was.
"Huh? Isn't that S-rank Hunter Kim Gryeo?"
What's more, even the employee sitting in the integrated civil complaints section suddenly stood up and bowed in greeting.
"No matter how much I think about it, I've beco too famous."
I honestly felt like changing my face and disappearing on the spot. Unfortunately, I still didn't fully understand this world's concept of appearance, so even if I took the risk and completely altered my flesh, the results likely wouldn't be good. Even if the costic procedure were a success, it would still be a problem.
"Phew..."
To be honest, how can anyone trust Kang Chang-ho? That mammal has the kind of personality where it wouldn't be surprising at all if he suddenly changed his stance after claiming he wouldn't get involved anymore. On top of that, if I showed any suspicious behavior—like trying to magically change my face and hide my identity—there was a real chance he'd show up again, saying, "You're a Gisimche, aren't you?" and try to smash my skull.
Anyway, for various reasons, making any hasty move right now was difficult.
All plans ultimately ended up on forced hold simply because of a lack of power. On hold. On hold.
"Hmm."
But even Kang Changho wouldn't find behavior of this level all that suspicious.
"Hello. Nice to et you. It's nothing special—I just ca to get so docunts issued."
I asked the staff mber sitting at the center a few questions and received every type of docunt he said was available. Soon enough, I had papers in my hand labeled Resident Registration Certificate, Resident Registration Transcript, and Family Relationship Certificate.
I had learned through so searching that, due to Earth's complicated laws, even obtaining these docunts might not reveal the other person's address at all.
"So they do charge you if you get the docunts in person. Good thing I brought my wallet."
Even if this fails, there are countless other ways to locate the target, so it doesn't matter. More importantly, this bloodstream is already filled with traceable information anyway, so it was fine.
Anyway, overall, it was bound to be easy. Just like when she ca looking for .
[Na]
[Lee Hwayoung]
We are family.
"Hmm."
But right now, my magic is only at F-rank, so even if I were to et her now, there's not much I could actually do. To make the kind of reunion I'm imagining a reality, I'll need a considerable amount of magic. So I need to regain my status as soon as possible.
I wrapped up my thoughts with a faint, peculiar smile.
"It looks like so complicated foreign language, but I can still understand all the anings. Kim Gryeo, you sly thing—you actually rember quite a lot of Chinese characters."
It seems that thanks to recent research, I've found a plausible thod. Because of that, I absolutely can't quit this damned Hunter job—at least not for the ti being.
"With this level of brain function, wouldn't I have passed the correctional officer exam too—if only I'd had the ti?"
First of all, I've done everything I needed to do today, so I should just go eat a proper al and get so rest.
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