Chapter 28
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: Omen
-----------------------------------------------------------------
In the car on the way back to the hospital, Han Seung-woo was struggling to sort through the whirlwind of thoughts in his mind.
From An Young-hoon to Cheon Ye-jong, and even Im Ju-yang.
In truth, all the incidents centering around Lee Ru-ri had stemmed from the association's twisted priorities.
The growing number of low-rank hunters meant a corresponding increase in the workload for the association's executive members.
But Han Ho couldn't care less about that.
What mattered to him was that as low-rank hunters actively cleared low-rank gates, the acquisition rate of rare S-rank materials had skyrocketed effortlessly.
That was why he'd gone so far as to forcibly awaken ordinary people who wanted to become low-rank hunters.
Mid-rank hunters and above faced the barrier of promotion, so their numbers didn't explode exponentially.
The real problem was that the number of low-rank hunters like the Lee Ru-ri he'd first met had now grown to an unmanageable horde.
Some hunters were starving to death in abject poverty,
and there were plenty who treated low-rank hunters' lives as cheaply as Cheon Ye-jong did.
That was why he'd charged ahead thus far, thinking that fixing these blatantly obvious issues head-on would naturally improve the overall situation.
But the moment Lee Ru-ri faced death in the Japan gate.
And after experiencing that reprieve from death.
Han Seung-woo's inner world had changed profoundly.
He didn't know when it had started, but now Lee Ru-ri was always at the edge of his gaze.
It had clearly begun as simple curiosity.
But when he saw her collapse, vomiting blood, it felt like his own blood was surging in reverse.
She always seemed timid, yet she smiled so brightly, always showing a better version of herself than the day before.
The moment he confronted the thought that this woman might die again, he unleashed a trembling killing intent he couldn't control himself.
'That feeling...'
The sensation he'd felt while pouring attacks on Im Nak-hyun and Im Ju-yang was distinctly different from before.
'I should talk to Teacher about this.'
Before he knew it, they'd arrived at the hospital.
Choi Si-jin had waited quietly, not wanting to disturb Han Seung-woo deep in thought.
"Speak."
"I can tell just by looking at your face, Director. Your condition isn't great for heading straight up to the room... Wait on the first floor for a bit. I'll prepare some fresh clothes right away."
"Ah."
At Choi Si-jin's words, Han Seung-woo checked his own state.
The siblings' blood, sticky and crusted onto his clothes, was grating on his nerves.
"Thanks. Appreciate it."
After changing into the clothes Choi Si-jin had prepared, Han Seung-woo headed to Lee Ru-ri's room.
"How'd it go?"
Yang Jeong-hyun asked.
"The director handled it all. It was a bit touch-and-go, but he held back well."
"While you two were out, I checked on the Light Guild members."
"You worked hard."
"Right now, the only ones we can trust are the people we brought over ourselves. The odd ones out are Im Nak-hyun, Im Ju-yang, and Yeom Seung-sik. Why'd Seung-sik even come here? Who vouched for him?"
"Weren't Im Nak-hyun and Yeom Seung-sik friends?"
"Oh? Then we need to clean house. Better to cut out anything suspicious at the root."
Yang Jeong-hyun spoke firmly, and Han Seung-woo and Choi Si-jin nodded in agreement.
Three days.
Lee Ru-ri hadn't regained consciousness for three days since being ambushed by Han Ji-na—no, Im Ju-yang.
The three of them could only gaze worriedly at her lying there so still.
"Even in a situation like this, I'm starving."
"How about going to eat?"
"How can I leave Ru-ri alone? Kim Mal, wanna grab something?"
"Ugh, just hearing that makes my stomach churn already..."
Choi Si-jin grimaced, and the other two chuckled lightly.
"I... I'm hungry too..."
"Huh?"
Lee Ru-ri mumbled in a voice that sounded half-dead.
"Ru-ri! Are you awake? Si-jin! Doctor!"
Choi Si-jin rushed out to fetch the doctor, while Han Seung-woo and Yang Jeong-hyun tended to the now-awake Lee Ru-ri.
"She seems fine for now—no special issues. She needs to regain her strength, so make sure she eats well. I'll schedule a full check-up and let you know."
"Thank you."
As the three watched the doctor leave after checking Lee Ru-ri, they bombarded her with questions all at once.
"You okay? Anywhere hurt?"
"Do you remember what happened?"
"What do you want to eat?"
"Uh... My body's fine, memories are a bit fuzzy, and right now, I really want some tteokbokki."
"I'll grab some right away!"
At Lee Ru-ri's words, Choi Si-jin bolted out of the room.
Yang Jeong-hyun took Lee Ru-ri's hand and asked,
"Do you remember Han Ji-na?"
"Yes. She was the one who..."
Seeing Lee Ru-ri trail off, Han Seung-woo furrowed his brow slightly and continued.
"That was Im Ju-yang. I apologize. To let such a dangerous person into the guild and even take her on a raid..."
"N-no, don't apologize. How could a good person stop someone with bad intentions? It was bound to happen eventually."
Lee Ru-ri comforted the self-blaming Han Seung-woo.
"Ugh, but it does hurt a little."
Lee Ru-ri lifted the hem of her patient gown slightly to check the blood-soaked bandage.
"From the abdomen to the waist... The wound was pretty deep. I really thought that was it."
Han Seung-woo silently watched Lee Ru-ri and Yang Jeong-hyun examine the injury, his face filled with concern.
"Now that you've woken up, I need to sort some things out and come back."
"What for?"
"We're at the point where we need to push more high-rank gate clears than ever. But with this mess, I'll take a breather and check the guild members first."
"Hold on, I'll send you the files I was organizing."
"Thanks. I'll stop by once it's wrapped up. Oh, and once this is settled, could I ask for that examination?"
"Examination?"
"I think I've hit the promotion criteria."
"Got it. Let me know when you're free."
As Han Seung-woo left the room, Yang Jeong-hyun turned to Lee Ru-ri and said,
"I'm so glad you woke up."
"What happened to Im Ju-yang?"
"Why worry about that woman? You're too nice. I heard she got beaten by Seung-woo and sent to the hospital."
"H-hospital?"
"He left her half-dead, apparently."
"Ah..."
"Should've finished her off."
"T-Teacher! Don't say such scary things!"
"Seung-woo's aura has definitely changed after this."
"The gate clear went well, right?"
"Yeah. Actually, no. Sevia-tu said it was a gate trick. We need to assemble a follow-up team. Anyway, they say you were amazing that day? Word's spreading."
"N-no! I just..."
*Ding.*
Yang Jeong-hyun checked her message.
"The teachers are calling. When's Si-jin coming back? No choice—tell him to come."
"Huh? Oh, no! Go ahead! Im Ju-yang was the only problem in Cheon Ye-jong's crew, and now she's caught, so it'll be fine."
"You think? But if I go without him, Seung-woo will chew me out."
"Still, calling the teachers here would be weirder."
Just then, Choi Si-jin burst into the room with a clatter.
"What do we do? No sundae! There's no sundae!"
"Si-jin, it's okay. Looks delicious!"
"Si-jin, nothing urgent, right? The teachers called me. Keep an eye on Ru-ri."
"Yes. Go ahead."
Yang Jeong-hyun hurried off to headquarters, leaving Choi Si-jin to chat idly with Lee Ru-ri, who polished off the tteokbokki in no time.
Yang Jeong-hyun took a deep breath in front of Lee Sang-chun's door before knocking.
Knock knock.
"Come in."
"You called for me, Teacher?"
Kwon Dong-nyeon greeted Yang Jeong-hyun with a kind smile.
"Ah, Jeong-hyun. You got here quick. Sit."
Lee Sang-chun handed her a thick stack of documents as she settled on the sofa.
"Here. Key patterns pulled from all the reports so far."
"Wow, impressive."
"There's one reason we haven't pinpointed the root cause of gate phenomena: we don't know the pattern of the very first gate that opened at Namsan Tower. We had high hopes for the inaugural gate patterns in each country, but disappointingly, they match the standard ones so far."
Kwon Dong-nyeon patted the sighing Lee Sang-chun's shoulder and continued.
"But the gate that Director Han cleared this time? It had two gatekeepers, and killing the S-rank beast was a trick. What's intriguing is that the gate pattern subtly changed between entry and clear signature."
"Director Kwon, really?"
"Ru-ri's injury meant we didn't have the leisure to document it precisely, which is a shame."
"So there was a real reason Director Han was rushing high-rank clears."
"We gave him a heads-up, and he has that same keen sensitivity to gate phenomena as this flavorless old man."
"We need to accelerate gate clears just to get a proper read on it."
"Ru-ri's awake, by the way."
"Oh, really? That's great news."
"Man, I was worried sick. Sang-chun, wanna visit her?"
"Come on, when will you grow up? Old guys like us would just make her uncomfortable."
"True? Hahaha."
"Anyway, Jeong-hyun, keep looking over these. We'll keep racking our brains and researching from all angles."
"Got it."
Yang Jeong-hyun took the documents from Lee Sang-chun and returned to the lab.
"A pattern change in a single gate, huh."
She murmured softly like a sigh and dove back into research based on everything they'd uncovered so far.
"Ru-ri, you still can't move around!"
"It's so stuffy!"
"Sigh... Fine, sit in the wheelchair then."
"I wanna walk..."
"Your wound will reopen! More blood! You'll get discharged soon—don't want to be readmitted and miss out on gate raids again?"
"Tch."
At Choi Si-jin's nagging, Lee Ru-ri pouted but obediently climbed into the wheelchair.
"Everyone seems super busy."
"Yeah. This is the time when the director or Jeong-hyun-noona would have me running errands a thousand times over, but no calls at all."
Choi Si-jin slowly turned toward the hospital's front walkway.
National Hunter Hospital, affiliated with headquarters. Im Nak-hyun and Im Ju-yang were confined in the basement, receiving treatment.
Already ten days. The torn, gaping wounds and damaged organs were slowly healing.
As they chatted about this and that, deeply inhaling the fresh air, a familiar sensation prickled.
Zing.
"Ack!"
"What? Somewhere hurt? In pain?"
"That just now."
"That? What! No—let's head back. You should get checked."
"This is the same feeling I had in Japan."
"Japan?"
"The electric shock near the mana stone there."
"You felt that back then?"
"I need to see Yang Teacher."
"Not thrilled, but let's skip outing approval and head to her lab."
Yang Jeong-hyun was startled by their visit and greeted them.
"Noona, you have oil in your hair... Got any sleep? Eaten?"
"It's like I'm always one step short. It's infuriating! But why's a patient who should be recovering here?"
"Teacher. I get this electric shock feeling near mana stones."
"Electric shock?"
"Yes. I didn't realize at first, but I felt it in Japan initially."
"Hmm, first I've heard of that reaction."
"And earlier, while walking with Si-jin, I felt it again."
Yang Jeong-hyun pondered Lee Ru-ri's words for a moment, then opened her status window to check gate statuses.
"Si-jin, which direction?"
"Around here."
"Yeah? See that one behind? Han's team keeps trying to clear it but failing."
"Oh? Director's prepping for it then."
"Seems like he's waiting for your recovery."
"This reaction I felt... What is it?"
"Hmm. We'd need to keep putting you through gates to gather data, but my gut says it's not something to ignore."
"Noona, why are your eyes so bloodshot! Ru-ri's still a patient!"