The Hunter of the Other World Who Is Being Misunderstood Chapter 334

Chapter 334

What is he doing in front of soone else's hospital room?

I seriously have no idea what's going on right now.

As I peeked my head out into the hallway, the young man in his twenties, who had been crying, flinched in surprise and imdiately froze.

Heuk!

Even though he quickly suppressed his mana, it was already too late. Unlike back when I was just an F-rank and could conceal my presence almost completely, it was now difficult to hide myself so thoroughly. Moving around with the aura of a roughly A-C rank Hunter ant I had been discovered rather quickly. Realizing I had approached, Ahn Yoonseung hastily wiped his face.

Hyung-nim.

But despite his efforts, liquid once again began to spill from his eyes.

As soon as he saw my face, he started crying like soone turned on a faucet.

It was an unexpected sight. The last ti I saw him, he just seed a little down—but nothing serious. From what I had judged, that Hunter wasn't the type to shed tears so easily.

Still, it's not like my face is so terrifying that seeing suddenly would make him sob like he can't breathe. Yeah. At the very least, that's not the reason he's crying right now.

I absentmindedly rubbed my half-dry, rough cheek with the palm of my hand. And with that, I stepped even closer to him.

At this, Ahn Yoonseung, for so reason feeling extrely sorry, as soon as he noticed , imdiately started apologizing without hesitation for any rustiness.

Are you calm now?

It wasn't until a full 2 minutes and 30 seconds later that his crying finally stopped.

I'm sorry, Hyung-nim.

Neither of us are the type to carry around a handkerchief.

What material is that sweater made of?

At the very least, judging by the fact that I was having such pointless, irrelevant thoughts, and having assessed him both physically and magically, it was clear that this wasn't sothing caused by Ahn Yoonseung being injured.

Well, he hasn't even gone to work—how would he have gotten hurt?

Then why was he doing that when he hadn't even been hit?

I quietly led him to the nearby rooftop garden to talk. There, a bench sat—enough to comfortably seat at least four adults. So I had Ahn Yoonseung sit there, and after grabbing a coffee from the vending machine (Earthlings usually like it), I handed it to him.

Whew.

I was finally able to hear the reason from him.

First of all, I'm truly sorry for causing such a scene this morning, Hyung-nim.

Sorry?

I shouldn't have acted like this in a place where I might run into soone. I ended up being a bother and just gave you sothing else to worry about, Hyung-nim.

Ahn Yoonseung didn't drink the canned coffee handed to him; he just rolled it around in his hands.

But when I ca right up to the hospital room and saw the room number... suddenly, I don't know, I just couldn't control it anymore...

What he ant by 'couldn't control it' was probably his emotions—grief, frustration, or sothing along those lines. But rather than that, there was sothing else I was more curious about.

Why did you co to this hospital room in the first place?

That Earthling is still part of the working class. Unlike a certain alien who just truly beca a proper mage, Ahn Yoonseung should've been busy working under a guild contract—so his sudden visit was puzzling. On top of that, he skipped the usual step of reaching out beforehand.

That's...

It turned out to be a much more trivial reason than expected.

Hyung-nim was hospitalized this ti, so... um...

That what?

No matter how well they treat you here... the people at the hospital are usually dical staff, and caregiving might be sothing separate...

Try saying it a bit louder.

I, I heard that it's hard for 5-rank Awakened people to find suitable assistants!

Rustle.

After shouting like that, Ahn Yoonseung handed over a paper bag he had been holding the entire ti. The wrapping had the logo of a famous shoe brand on it, but the contents were completely different.

A toothbrush, toothpaste, slippers, and so on.

All of them were everyday household items.

More precisely, they're all items a hospitalized patient would likely need.

In short, that Earthling seed to have co all the way here just to deliver these things, worried I might be living uncomfortably while bedridden.

I already bought things like a toothbrush and slippers from the convenience store downstairs...

I, is that so?

But the charger was actually sothing I really needed.

I said, holding up the fast charger rolling around in the corner of the shopping bag.

Hmm.

Moreover, there was another possible reason for Ahn Yoonseung's visit here. The fact that Kim Giryeo grew up as an orphan had already been publicized in articles.

It wouldn't be strange for anyone to know that I didn't have any family or relatives to look after . So that might've been the reason.

It was now more or less understandable why an A-rank Hunter had suddenly co to the hospital. The main point was just about to begin.

And the reason I was being all pathetic alone in front of your room... well, it's just...

Ahn Yoonseung started the conversation with a serious face.

I guess you could say... it was out of frustration...

Right from the start, a word you wouldn't normally hear in casual conversation popped out. Thanks to that, I had no idea what he ant at the ant.

Hyung-nim, have you ever co across any pictures of from my school days while browsing the internet?

I hadn't expected it, but it seed there was a personal story behind this for Ahn Yoonseung.

No.

Co to think of it—photos, all of a sudden? I'd done quite a bit of web surfing myself, but I didn't know right away what he was referring to.

By Earth standards, it's only been about a year since I started using a smartphone—so even if I'm already sothing of an internet addict, there's still more I don't know than I do.

So, just like I had said, I honestly answered that I had no idea. In response, a A-rank Hunter in front of started fiddling with his phone, apparently trying to search his own na on an internet site to share a specific result with .

[The Good Daily]

[Title: This Spring's Awakening Institute Campaign—Number of 'High-Ranked Middle & High School Students Rises Again]

[Attachnt 1: Graduation photo of elite awakened hunter Ahn Yoonseung, from the well-known OO Middle School]

The image that appeared on the screen was a group photo included in an article.

There are a lot of people.

At first, I skimd over the photo without paying attention to the text, not thinking much of it. But by the ti the pens on next to pointed at a spot on the screen and spoke up, I found myself startled—before I even realized why.

This is my middle school graduation photo. I'm the one sitting in the front row here.

Hmm?

A neatly worn school uniform. Black hair of average length, nothing particularly noticeable compared to the others around.

At the spot the other pointed to with his finger was a person with that appearance. And it was only at that mont that I realized that person was Ahn Yoonseung.

Hun? What's this? I have no idea.

It turned out that the young man to et he had an ordinary hairstyle during his middle school years. He definitely didn't look like he does now.

So I struggled for quite a while, unable to distinguish Ahn Yoonseung from the many graduates in the photo. Whether he didn't notice how much I was struggling or just didn't care, the person who had since beco an A-rank Hunter continued speaking without hesitation.

As you can see, I didn't really dye my hair or anything throughout my school years. I only changed my hairstyle in my senior year of high school.

He lowered his gaze heavily.

To be exact, I shaved my head to follow my friend.

I couldn't understand why this would be sothing to be sad about. He explained the reason soon enough.

And that friend—well, we lived in the sa neighborhood and played together a lot since we were young. But when we got to our second year of high school, he suddenly got really sick.

Ah.

The sa illness as Oryeo Hyung.

_-

But... as he continued receiving treatnt, there eventually ca a point—just like in those TV dramas—when his hair really started to fall out.

_-

Originally, he wasn't the type to care about how others looked at him—stuff like that. But one day, he suddenly started getting embarrassed when looking in the mirror. Embarrassed about losing his hair.

So you shaved your head to follow him?

Yes.

I quietly reflected on what Ahn Yoonseung had said. Putting together the explanation, it seed he had a friend in school who had struggled with a tumor. When that friend started to beco self-conscious about their changed appearance, Ahn Yoonseung shaved his own head to match.

Hey, what is that?

I just suddenly felt like doing it—Plus, it saves ti in the morning when I wash up. Isn't that great?

Of course, that friend had to take ti off school due to illness back then. But just in case they ever returned to school, even briefly, Ahn Yoonseung figured it would be less noticeable if there were two shaved heads instead of just one—so he acted on that thought.

It was a beginning I never could have imagined. Although that was just how it all started—he added that, in truth, he ended up keeping the style because it surprisingly suited his personal taste.

It was an unimaginable beginning. That was just how it started. Now, he added, the style actually suits his taste quite well, so he's kept it that way.

But in the end, the treatnt didn't go well, so I wasn't able to graduate together with that friend.

The words that followed were, once again, sothing that an Alpharin's sense of emotion couldn't have predicted.

But here's what really makes feel resentful.

How?

I'm not just saying this because we were close. That friend from high school was genuinely, objectively a really good person.

_-

He was so gentle that everyone around him worried that he'd get scamd if he went out into society on his own.

_-

That kid died young, without even graduating with his friends.

Ahn Yoonseung began to cry again.

But just when I was barely starting to move on from that... I heard that Hyung-nim was sick with the sa illness... and honestly, the whole world felt like it was spinning.

Aha.

You said you were fine at first, right Hyung-nim? So I should've just trusted you and waited, right? That would've been the right thing to do, wouldn't it? But... the more I thought about it, the more anxious I got because of what happened back then.

Now I completely understand. He had already experienced a similar situation to mine in the past, so it was only natural that he'd be more worried than most because of that.

And today, I brought so hospital necessities with just in case you might need them. Back there in the hallway earlier.

Huh.

Why is it that good people around always seem to die so young? And then I started thinking... what if sothing bad happened to you too, Hyung-nim... and before I knew it, the tears just ca out on their own... sniff.

But exhausting your energy over sothing that ultimately amounts to nothing isn't the right thing to do either.

Up until now, he followed my words almost unnecessarily, and yet, of all tis, now he starts doubting.

Only the Earthlings were unaware. The tumor Kim Giryeo had during his lifeti doesn't really affect .

How can I explain this?

Imdiately afterward, Ahn Yoonseung, sitting at the end of the bench, confessed that he felt like rushing off to get an elixir right away. anwhile, I, having spent my spare ti web surfing, now understood what that item's na actually ant.

Elixir.

The lost whose existence has not yet been revealed.

It would be better to co clean at this point—no one should waste their life chasing after such a fantastical treasure.

Ahn Yoonseung.

I briefly chose my words in my mind and then started the conversation.

First of all, I should apologize.

Yes?

To be honest, I didn't realize you were this concerned about the issue. So even though I said last ti that I'd prepare an explanation to make things clearer, I didn't treat it as important and ended up pretty much forgetting about it.

By the way, the easiest way to get off with a lighter scolding after making a mistake is simple, in this world, people who apologize without making excuses often receive leniency.

But I said I almost forgot—not that I completely forgot.

So, after openly admitting my mistake first, I continued the conversation.

Just like I did with Seoon Yeon, I planned to reveal that I'm an alien and help him understand. Well, now that I've regained my strength, the chance of being abducted by the aerospace agency is lower—though even if it happened, it wouldn't be sothing I couldn't handle.

Is there really a need to feed that human this kind of information?

It's different this ti. If I reveal that I'm an alien, I'd end up taking an unnecessarily long and convoluted route just to explain the current condition of this body. On top of that, I'm not even sure if Ahn Yoonseung would believe sothing this close to science fiction.

Seoon Yeon was in a position where she had no choice but to believe because of the [Justitia] at the ti. But what if it's just an ordinary Earthling in everyday life, without even expecting much about it?

A rank-Hunter from Korea, Ahn Yoonseung. So far, he had been proven to be a fairly trustworthy and grateful extraterrestrial mammal.

Hmm.

Being kind doesn't an being unrealistic. That's why.

I soon finished assessing the situation and spoke. I had already prepared a line of reasoning for situations like this while I was in the hospital room.

Let explain in detail why I have no choice but to be okay.

Yes?

But I wasn't sure if soone who normally had no interest in magic theory would actually pay attention to this.

Let's make this analogy as easy as possible.

The explanation I brought up next, to put it briefly, was about antagonism.

Let's start with that part. It's a well-known fact that from the mont soone awakens, their body becos stronger. Earthlings don't seem to have pinpointed the exact cause yet, but in truth, this is a result of a survival instinct common to many living creatures. The desire to avoid injury or pain is universal, which is why the majority of Awakened individuals gain physical levels of enhancent with getting their hits.

But really, would the kind of defense that can withstand getting hit by a truck be a weapon against a virus?

But later on, even those germs end up being transford by magic anyway.

A mage, by nature, is a being that constantly generates a variety of variable factors. That's why, even when they fall ill, the symptoms tend to differ from those of ordinary patients.

This is sothing that might understandably feel unfair to those without power. Just as there's a stark difference in destructive capability between ranks, the more mana an Awakener has, the wider the gap tends to be when it cos to how those variables play out. Based on my own reasoning, even if they suffer from the sa type of tumor based illness, S-ranks on Earth seem more likely to survive longer than lower-ranked Awakened individuals.

Is it because they have a stronger skill to survive it? No, that's more with the granted by the ever-abundant fairy godmother—mana—sohow ensuring, allowing their organs to stubbornly keep doing their job.

And as if to prove that the skills of an archmage haven't gone anywhere, I recently found a paper from Earth that supports this very line of reasoning.