Chapter 435. Don’t Adjust Your Shoes in a Melon Field, Don’t Fix Your Hat Under a Plum Tree (6)
Chapter 435. Don’t Adjust Your Shoes in a Melon Field, Don’t Fix Your Hat Under a Plum Tree (6)
A retirement with no stated reason. On top of that, the long-completed private lessons worth 6 billion won per month, and so on. Come to think of it, with all these matters tangled up, there hadn’t been any reason to exchange personal messages with the other party for quite some time—but now, a rare situation had arisen.
‘The only update that had naturally reached my ears… was that this person had gone to Switzerland to deal with [Hydra]. I only learned about the trip to the U.S. later.’
Tuk, tuk.
Annoyed by the regrown gray hairs, Jung Haseong absentmindedly fiddled with his hair. After a brief moment of hesitation, he decided to answer the incoming call.
“H, hello?”
Nervous for no reason, his voice cracked slightly on the first word.
“Awakened Kim Giryeo…?”
But without any major issues, he greeted as usual, and soon a voice responded.
– Haseong-ah.
“Yes!”
– Y, yeah, it’s been a while since we last talked. Judging by you answering the call, I take it you’re not in a dungeon right now. What have you been up to?
“I’m off today. Off.”
– Ah~ Off, you didn’t go to work.
He seemed ordinary. As Jung Haseong had thought before, Korea’s fourth S-rank Awakened possessed a strangely down-to-earth quality over the phone. Speaking casually with a ‘everything is bothersome’ attitude is a trait like that of an older neighborhood brother. And yet, he always manages to slip in a greeting like, ‘Have you eaten?’, which sometimes makes him seem truly like a respected elder or teacher met somewhere.
‘It’s all an analogy that ages him up, but honestly, his voice does carry the weight of someone older, so it can’t be helped.’
But if the conversation continued in this way, the situation would take a different turn.
-Then where exactly are you right now? If you didn’t go to work, are you at home?
“Yes?”
-Are you home now?
“No, no. I just went out for a bit today because I had something to do.”
-Where exactly did you go?
“The general hospital next to △△ Road. And just so you don’t worry, I’m not here because I’m sick.”
-Can I meet you there?
“Yes?”
-Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something. I called to set up a meeting.
For some reason, halfway through the call, Kim Giryeo suddenly expressed a desire to meet in person.
‘He must have just returned from overseas… what’s this? Isn’t he tired from the time difference?’
Jung Haseong honestly felt uneasy about the proposal he’d just received. The thing was, if he met Kim Giryeo in person, he wouldn’t seem like a laid-back neighborhood guy but more like a formidable veteran… Well, of course, that impression did have some effect, but still.
“Ah, a… appointment? Uh…”
It was shortly after the failed reappearance of the Elixir. As a result, his mood was restless. To put it more precisely, Jung Haseong, secretly feeling guilt toward the tumor patient he had been avoiding, naturally found it difficult to face Kim Giryeo.
But he couldn’t understand why—and, moreover, why he had to run into him in a place like this.
***
South Korea. Seoul. A general hospital in the bustling city.
“I had a rough idea as soon as you said you’d be here. So, Hunter Jung Haseong, you came today to visit your mother?”
A short while later, Jung Haseong found himself standing in the open lobby of a certain hospital. At the same time, he sank slightly into a moment of self-reproach.
‘Is it because I’ve been living just for hunting? How can a person’s social skills be this lacking…’
What follows is a brief flashback.
-Why, is it not okay to meet at the hospital now? Do you have some prior appointment or something?
-Ah, no. It’s not… it’s not like that.
-So… can I see you for a moment, or not?
-Y, you can…
Tak.
To explain first, the national hero rarely engaged in conversations with others due to the nature of his profession. So today, he fumbled over his words—and before he knew it, an appointment had been set.
‘If I had just said no, it would have been fine. Why did I have to make things like this?’
The man with black hair pressed his palm against his face. Yet, blaming his own lack of social skills wasn’t the whole story—there were other reasons to fault himself. Kim Giryeo carried an aura akin to a drill sergeant; honestly, how many people would answer his call and not turn into a yes-man?
“….”
For now, he ran through various arguments in his mind, but none of them offered any real comfort. Jung Haseong lifted his head.
“Is this the room where your mother is staying?”
Facing him was the S-rank Awakener he hadn’t seen in quite some time. In other words, Kim Giryeo looked at him and asked the question.
“Yes.”
There seemed to be slight differences compared to the last time he’d seen him… In truth, Jung Haseong was just as insensitive to changes in the appearance of his fellow countrymen. Especially when the person in question wasn’t some dungeon prey, he was all the worse at spotting subtle differences. The hero never even thought to consider weight and simply spoke plainly.
“I purposely cleared my schedule today to see my mother.”
But now that the topic came up, he wondered why Kim Giryeo had insisted on meeting him in person today.
“Hmm.”
Glance.
The blonde esper stood on tiptoe, peering toward the south. Today, as always, the fourth S-rank appeared in a suit, surveying the facilities of the hospital. White walls emitted a subtle sense of luxury. The transparent materials were used so that medical staff could monitor the area at all times, yet the small, narrow windows in the doors ensured at least a minimal level of privacy. And so on.
‘Mom…’
In the room they were observing, someone lay quietly. It was a sunlit room. A large respirator covered the person’s mouth, making it difficult to discern much about the patient’s expression.
“By the way, I heard it was quite chaotic here yesterday because of the Elixir Dungeon?”
It was at that moment. Jung Haseong, who had been craning his neck like a meerkat, immediately straightened up in response to the person beside him.
“Yes?”
He hadn’t expected it at all. Of all things, the idiotic monster confusion incident was being brought up first.
‘Ever since I picked up the call, I had a feeling… Could it be that you rushed back just to scold the hunters who got into that ridiculous misunderstanding?’
A few seconds later, Jung Haseong, flustered, hurriedly began to explain.
“Oh, I’m sorry!”
His first words were a blunt apology.
“As for the misclassification of the monster, I have a hundred things to say, yet none feel enough. We should have checked properly, but… we were just foolish.”
“Hmm?”
“Moreover, getting so carried away by rare treasures that I raised my voice at fellow hunters… Considering all that Hunter Kim Giryeo has contributed to maintaining stability in the industry, I should never have acted that way.”
“Wait a minute.”
“I, I really shouldn’t have acted so childishly.”
As he paused for a moment, the national hero’s long, drawn-out apology poured out across the corridor. At least, the listener’s occasional interjections prevented it from going on even further.
“Jung Haseong.”
At that moment, the black-haired Earthling fell silent, his expression full of frustration.
“My stern expression seems to have caused some misunderstanding again… That—I didn’t bring this up to scold anyone, you know.”
The unusually shaped pause in the conversation was filled by the disciplined awakened. The superhuman, who always kept their hair a bright color and had rather peculiar tastes, spoke in a dry, measured tone.
“I was just mentioning something that happened recently and naturally started a bit of small talk.”
“S, small talk?”
“You know, just acknowledging that something happened yesterday and building rapport that way. In a way, they say that’s the foundation of human relationships.”
“Rapport?”
“Is that something you shouldn’t say when you’ve already met often? But well, whatever.”
Ssshk.
In the middle of the conversation, someone shifted their piercing, fish-eye–like gaze into the void.
“Let me make it clear in advance: I don’t think this was a stupid mistake.”
Jung Haseong focused on Kim Giryeo for a moment.
“It was something anyone, unless they were experts, could experience.”
“Hmm…”
“For example, among the insects here, there are the Blue Morpho butterfly and the Pale Blue Morpho butterfly.”
“By this place, do you mean Korea?”
“O, of course.”
“Yes.”
“Anyway, I’ve looked at photos of those butterflies side by side, but no matter how much time passed, I just couldn’t tell the difference between the two.”
“Ah, so they’re butterflies that look similar… I see.”
“Even tiny creatures have their species classified by subtle differences, so imagine a monster deliberately mimicking an entirely different order like the one that appeared yesterday. Naturally, it’s enough to give anyone a headache.”
The retired man in a suit spoke at length for a while. To summarize, he expressed that he fully understood the mistakes that had occurred this time and reassured that there was absolutely no need for self-blame.
“But it’s also true that I was careless, isn’t it?”
But how could things have escalated like this just seconds after receiving such positive advice?
“I was sure I had studied the Elixir monster thoroughly, yet I missed all the details that I should have noticed with just a bit of careful attention.”
“That could be true.”
“A, awakened Kim… you can identify it immediately just from a single photo sent remotely.”
It was around the moment when the nation’s hero began to belittle himself. From one side of the corridor, the foreigner standing there made an unusual gesture.
“No, I told you not to be pessimistic.”
He waved his arms in the air with palms fully open—a gesture roughly meant to stop the other person.
“And you really don’t need to apologize for the whole Elixir thing. If something like that appears, it’s only natural that no one could just laugh it off.”
No matter how alien a creature is, as long as it’s intelligent, it at least has basic comprehension.
“Besides, Jung Haseong, you had your own personal matters to deal with as well.”
The blond esper trailed off mid-sentence, letting his gaze drift southward. Through his eyes, the familiar scene came back into view.
An artificial respirator covered him, and there he lay—a middle-aged Earthling, sleeping silently without a single word.
“Is that person hospitalized because of [Magic Addiction]?”
The Awakener with the lean appearance asked, as if confirming something. In response, Jung Haseong lightly nodded his head.
“Yeah.”
“Mhm.”
“I’ve known about it from various articles up until now. I just hadn’t come to see it in person until today.”
It was only natural. After all, most people rarely have the chance to meet the family of an industry colleague in their lifetime.
‘Unless it’s a major event or a special occasion…’
Jung Haseong felt a bit uneasy as he looked at the guest standing before him, dressed entirely in black from head to toe. Yet, it seemed the other person didn’t notice his gaze at all.
“Mind if I step inside for a moment?”
Kim Giryeo pointed toward the single-patient room in front of him and finally spoke. He was essentially asking if he could get a closer look at Haseong’s family. The problem, however, was that this fourth S-rank Hunter of Korea was the kind of awakened being whose mere presence radiated tension. But this lump of discomfort keeps beating around the bush without getting to the main point.
“Uh, um.”
Feeling the weight of the situation, Haseong couldn’t help but reveal his true thoughts.
“Of course, it’s fine for you to go in and see her. But….”
“Yeah.”
“If possible, I’d like to take care of my business first. Excuse me, but may I ask what brought you here today?”
In other words, he urged the guest forward, thinking it better to face the matter head-on first.
“Because of the elixir.”
But what kind of unimaginable main point was this?
“Yes?”
“Do you know why the first thing that came to my mind when I heard that an Elixir Monster appeared in South Korea was suspicion?”
“Because you noticed a difference in its appearance?”
“Actually, the real Elixir dungeon appeared abroad around the same time. Looking back, it might have been arranged that way just to make humans confuse each other and fight, but still…”
“Wait a moment. Then, could it be...”
“Yeah. And as you’ve probably guessed, I managed to obtain that item while I was abroad. While I was sitting there analyzing its composition yesterday, you suddenly came to mind.”
“…”
“Come to think of it, there’s only one person around me with a sick family member. At least, for now.”
Kim Giryeo. The blonde figure was still staring in the direction of the hospital room. His hands, for lack of a better comparison, were stuffed deep into his pockets, as if to avoid flailing like ocean currents. To a typical Korean observer, it was hardly a polite posture. Yet, in that slightly crooked stance, Kim Giryeo made a statement that carried a solemnity bordering on sacredness.
“So here’s the thing. I’m actually thinking about whether I should give you this [Elixir] right now.”
“...”
“Since I’ve already obtained it, why not use it in a valuable way?”
It was such an absurd statement that his brain nearly rejected it on the spot.
Perhaps that was why. Jung Haseong didn’t focus on the part about “giving the potion”; instead, he immediately zeroed in on this part of the story first.
“Wait a moment. But when you say you obtained the Elixir abroad, do you mean you actually went into a dungeon and hunted the monsters yourself?”
“So you actually entered the dungeon without any permission or license?”
One of the S-rank hunters, who seemed about to answer matter-of-factly, suddenly paused mid-sentence.
“No, well… I didn’t actually go in… I somehow got it through another channel… I bought it, bought it.”
With a face that could easily sit at a poker table without giving anything away, the retiree had a real knack for hiding the truth. At that moment, Jung Haseong stared intently at him, certain that the other was lying.
“You don’t believe me?”
“Yes.”
“You’re smart.”
Then, it’s too late to fool him.
“Alright. I’ll be honest. The truth is, I did clear the dungeon and personally collected it myself.”
“Hmm.”
“But it’s really fine. This matter has been settled with the local authorities, and I’ll be renewing my hunting license very soon.”
“Huh? Yes?”
“I’m returning to the industry soon. So don’t go spreading stories about entering the dungeon and causing unnecessary trouble.”
At that moment, Kim Giryeo made up his mind. Having tangled himself in too many lies and deceptions before, he decided that from now on he would approach the humans he saw often with a bit more honesty. That was why he even mentioned his license, intending to reveal the full story behind his canceled retirement.
“Hunter-nim, are you returning?”
The national hero’s expression changed in an instant.
‘Ah, what is this again…’
At first, the human was startled. Then came a surprise. Jung Haseong quickly covered his mouth in horror, as if he had realized something on his own. For reference, the young man with black hair had turned so pale that a bluish tint spread across his face. All of this happened in just three seconds.