The child almost cried his eyeballs out. Then, when he came to his senses, he was slightly embarrassed, and he wiggled his finger while burying his face in my chest. The tips of the child’s ears are red.
But before I knew it, visitation hours had ended. When Park Yoon-sung said I had to leave, the child raised his head and looked at me.
“Leaving? Are you leaving already?”
“I can’t stay long because of the visiting hours. I’ll come back tomorrow.”
“But, still…”
It was worth seeing his lips twitch and the despondent look on his face, wanting to say something more. I took a tissue from the attendant and put it under his nose and said—
“Now, blow your nose.”
“Hum, humph.”
“Blow louder, hum!”
“Humphh!”
When I carefully wiped his runny nose and turned around to throw the tissue away, Do-gyul rushed over and grabbed the hem of my shirt.
“Hyung…”
“Don’t worry. I told you I’d be back tomorrow.”
“Really? You will come here tomorrow?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
As I nodded, I suddenly remembered the tablet PC. I quickly searched through my inventory and took out the latest model of the tablet PC from it.
“I’ll give you this, so play with it. You wanted to have this.”
“Oh?”
Do-gyul’s eyes widened as he received the tablet PC. Then he asked with a big smile on his face.
“Is this for me?”
“Yes, I bought it for you.”
Han Yi-jin has been buying and collecting the newest tablet PCs whenever they come out to give to his little brother. However, it wasn’t the real Han Yi-jin who finally gave it to him, but me who was a fake. There was a bitter smile on my lips. I have to keep deceiving this good child.
“Wow.”
Do-gyul, who turned on the tablet PC, pressed various buttons with his hands, and was amazed. I briefly explained to the child how to install and operate the apps. Before long, the tablet PC was filled with games of Do-gyul’s taste.
“I’ll be back tomorrow.”
“Yes…”
The child nodded reluctantly and looked up at me anxiously.
“You must come. Definitely.”
“Yes, I will definitely come.”
Do-gyul let me go only after making a few promises. He must be lonely since he had not seen his only remaining family member for a long time, so it was very sad to part ways like this. I also can’t bear to leave him.
I forced myself out of the hospital room and back to my accommodation. On the way back, Park Yoon-sung talked to me.
“What’s the matter?”
“It’s nothing, but about Han Do-gyul-gun1.”
“…What’s wrong with him?”
“Didn’t you feel anything strange when you saw Do-gyul-gun?”
“…?”
Anything strange?
I tilted my head at Park Yoon-sung’s question.
Wasn’t he just… a normal kid? He got angry, he got annoyed, and he cried…
“I’m not sure?”
“Hmm…”
Park Yoon-sung, with an ambiguous smile on his mouth, looked at someone. As I followed his gaze, I saw one of the guild members who guarded Do-gyul’s hospital room earlier, standing there with a pale complexion.
“The guild members escorting Hunter Han Yi-jin are all A-class or above. That person was an attack-type hunter, so his mental strength was rather low. So it seems that he was deeply affected by Han Do-gyul’s emotions.”
“By Do-Gyul…?”
The pale-faced guild member’s body staggered as I stared at him in surprise. Park Yoon-sung gestured at him and said—
“Good work. Go get some rest.”
“I–I apologize.”
The guild member, who bowed his head, left the room with the help of others. Then, Park Yoon-sung kicked out all the guild members who were in the room at once.
I remember what Park Yoon-sung said to me before I met Do-gyul. His estimated rank and classification was an S-class mental hunter.
He told me that the guild members had been emotionally affected by Do-gyul in the hospital room. I looked at Park Yoon-sung, depressed.
“… Is it because of Do-gyul?”
Park Yoon-sung smiled at my question.
“I’m surprised you didn’t feel anything. I even had a headache for a moment when Han Do-gyul cried.”
“T–that…”
Even Park Yoon-sung was affected. But I didn’t feel anything. Was it because Han Yi-jin had high mental stats? But there’s no way a B-class’s mental stat is higher than an S-class’s. I had my suspicions, but that wasn’t the point. Park Yoon-sung continued to speak seriously.
“As you probably know, a mental hunter on the level of Han Do-gyul is an important national protection target. If the association finds out, they will try to secure Han Do-gyul.”
“The Association?”
The Hunter Association is a global organization. While it was true that their existence had contributed greatly to pacifying the unprecedented gate crises around the world, in reality, the association was slightly different from a guild.
They thought of the awakeners as some kind of component. When the gates first opened, numerous troops that had been deployed to the gates were annihilated, and modern weapons became useless as they didn’t work against monsters.
Under such circumstances, several soldiers who were deployed inside the gate barely survived and escaped from the gate. They were all awakeners. After realizing that only abilities worked on the monsters inside the dungeons inside of gates, every country began to recruit awakeners.
This was the birth of the Association. The goal of the association is to quickly suppress the gates, to prevent a dungeon break.
It doesn’t matter how many awakeners die in the process. Of course, it was an early story of humanity’s fierce struggle to survive, but even after the situation calmed down, the association’s overbearing attitude persisted.
The guilds were created to oppose such an association. The S-class and A-class hunters started fighting for human rights and hunter rights. Now, the situation had reversed and the association was wary of the large guilds, but the country was still deeply committed to the association.
In addition, there are rumors that the association is conducting human experiments on awakened people with unique skills. Even though that part of the novel was never directly explained in depth in the novel as an episode, just mentioning it was enough.
I shouted as I recalled that.
“Absolutely not!”
I can never let Do-gyul go to a place like that. We just met, I can’t send him off to the association. Not all of the awakeners who belong to the association lose their freedom, but those with high grade mental abilities like Do-gyul are definitely more likely to be separated from their families for any reason.
Park Yoon-sung nodded heavily as I bit my lip in anxiety.
“That’s what I think too. Therefore, I hope Do-gyul can sign a temporary contract with us soon.”
“Do-gyul… join the Odin Guild?”
I opened my eyes wide at his unexpected words. However, since I now know that Do-gyul is not an ordinary person but an awakener, I can’t just leave him like this. It would be good for me if the Odin Guild could accept Do-gyul. I was about to nod, but suddenly thought that I should ask Do-gyul’s opinion first.
“I’ll talk to Do-gyul tomorrow.”
“Yes, we haven’t even gotten the exact results from the awakening center yet. And I’ve kept the examiner quiet, so you don’t have to worry about Do-gyul’s report being leaked.”
“Aha… thank you.”
As expected, he was a very thorough person. When I nodded, Park Yoon-sung sent me to return to the accommodation. The guild members waiting outside escorted me back to my accommodation. As I lowered my head in front of the portal, the stiff-looking guild members were puzzled and gave a small nod.
I wonder if Yong-sik is awake. As I stepped into the portal, I endured the wave of nausea that swept over me. The sight I saw in front of me after I came out of the portal left me speechless.
“What is this…”
The accommodation was devastated. The roof had collapsed, as if it had been bombed, and the acrid ash flew around as if it had been scattered by wind. The door of the completely ruined accommodation was rolling around at my feet. I opened my eyes wide and in shock.
“What’s going on here!”
No, I heard it was a safe place. Did another guild attack us? Or the association?
The government?
Amidst the confusion in my head, someone appeared.
“Yi-jin-ah!”
“Eden?”
Eden stared at me as he flew swiftly towards me with his wind ability.
“Why did you come back so late?”
“What do you mean late… What the hell happened? Are we being bombed?”
“Umm…”
Eden let out a small groan. He became lost in thought like he was trying to choose the right words to answer my question. The house looks like a complete wreck, but Eden looks pretty fine. I feel relieved and anxious at the same time.
“Well, a bombing is a bombing…” As Eden opened his mouth, a loud explosion resounded at the same time.
Bang!
“Ugh!”
As the aftermath of the explosion reached me, Eden created a shield with his wind ability. I opened my eyes and looked at the situation from behind Eden, and something appeared above the roofless accommodation. I opened my eyes wide when I saw a small object floating in the air.
“Kieek! Kiek!”
“Yong-sik!?”
Yong-sik’s small face turned at my shout. Yong-sik cried for a long time when he found me.
“Kkyaau! Kkyaa!”
“Yong-sik-ah!”
Yong-sik, who flew at me like an arrow, crashed right into my arms. As I hugged him in surprise, Yong-sik rubbed his face against my chest like a crying child.
“Kkyai, kkyaaa…”
“Yes, yes. You must have been very surprised that your father wasn’t there when you woke up.”
As I soothed him by gently stroking his spineless body, Yong-sik was able to stretch his body in relief.
I thought he would wait patiently when he woke up, but it seems that he was really anxious when he found that I wasn’t there. By the way, don’t tell me—
Yong-sik didn’t do this, did he?
I gulped while looking at the devastated accommodation, and someone came out of it.
“Uh…?”
“…”
“Hyung! Did you just get here?”
It was Kang Yoo-hyun who had just walked out and a bright-faced Kang Soo-hyun followed behind him.
Just the two of them? What about the other raiders?
Kang Yoo-hyun, with an expressionless face, approached me as I looked around.
But why is this bastard holding a magic sword?
“You—why did you…”
“…”
Kang Yoo-hyun, who calmly scanned the surroundings, answered casually.
“I was just wondering who should be killed first among them.”
“…”
Hey, your younger brother is among them. This crazy bastard, really!