Chapter 45
Chapter 45
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: Rest (1)
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Jin Seohyun stopped in her tracks just as she was about to enter the building.
Her smartphone buzzed briefly. She turned on the screen and saw a message that had just come in.
[Congrats]
It was an extremely short message. Jin Seohyun scrolled up through their conversation and soon let out a sigh.
Her reply from last night, and above that, concern from two days ago asking if she was okay. Scrolling further up, it was almost nothing but her own messages for the past couple of weeks.
Her only family member seemed to be going through a belated bout of puberty, growing cold toward her lately.
Pushing aside the faint melancholy, Jin Seohyun hurried her steps once more.
As she stepped inside, familiar faces came into view.
Soon, those who recognized her began to show various emotions in their eyes.
Worry, relief, joy, and... admiration.
"Seohyun! Congrats on S-rank!"
"Thanks."
"Whoa... You're the seventh in the country, right? These are the end times, for sure."
Jin Seohyun made a V-sign with her left hand and brought it to her mouth without a word.
The man who'd been teasing let out a sigh instead.
Jin Seohyun responded to each guild member who approached her.
But she didn't slow her pace.
She took the elevator and walked down the hall until she reached her destination.
She knocked lightly, then entered without waiting for a reply.
Inside, a middle-aged man with graying hair was reviewing documents, but he pushed the stack aside upon seeing his visitor.
Arang Guild Master Cheon Seungsu asked casually,
"Get some good rest?"
"Yeah. I'm totally fine now."
Seeing Jin Seohyun like that, Cheon Seungsu couldn't help but smile warmly.
"We've got a lot to talk about, so have a seat first."
"Want me to make some coffee?"
Jin Seohyun pointed to the coffee machine in the corner, but Cheon Seungsu shook his head.
"Can't have an S-rank making coffee for me."
Jin Seohyun laughed at the silly remark and sat on the sofa.
As if that was enough joking around, the smile faded from Cheon Seungsu's face bit by bit, leaving only a serious expression.
"Just a few days ago, you definitely weren't ready to challenge for S-rank. What happened in there?"
"What do you mean? Last time, you said a raid or two would be enough."
"I was talking about your mana capacity. You think that's all it takes to reach S-rank?"
It was a story no one could understand without having walked that path themselves.
The guild members had purely celebrated her finally reaching S-rank, but it wasn't that simple.
Reaching S-rank required two main things.
Mana capacity and a trigger.
Jin Seohyun's mana was near the A-rank limit.
If things had gone normally, a few more raids would have gotten her there.
It was possible to build up that much mana by taking down the monsters swarming the Endless Abyss.
But that alone wasn't enough.
To ascend to S-rank, you needed a proper trigger.
It had to be desperate. You had to go mad for something, enough to abandon yourself.
There was a man who discarded his humanity for the desire to grow stronger.
The moment he resolved to walk the inhuman path for power, he reached S-rank.
There was a man who fought so joyfully that he went berserk in battle.
The instant he chose combat even at the crossroads of life and death, he reached S-rank.
The realm where accumulated mana resonates with the self.
That was S-rank.
"...I've never heard of this before."
"What S-rank is gonna go around bragging that they went insane?"
The public only knew that only the chosen ones could reach S-rank.
"Once you hit S-rank, raw mana capacity doesn't mean much anymore. The more you follow your own path, the more your mana resonates and optimizes with your heart. You're just at the entry point, but you've clearly crossed the line. What happened?"
Even as he said it, Jin Seohyun had thought she'd simply reached S-rank because her mana increased.
She pondered the moment she'd sensed a change within herself.
With the entrance right in front of them, when an enormously massive monster tried to crush us.
Jin Seohyun had instinctively realized she couldn't block it.
But she couldn't run. She didn't want to run.
Because there was someone relying on her.
Even if it meant dying right there, she just wanted to protect something precious...
Snapping out of her thoughts, she saw the guild master looking at her with mild disapproval.
Jin Seohyun turned her head away, her face slightly flushed.
"...No matter what, I just wanted to escape."
"It was that dire, huh..."
Not knowing the full story, the guild master looked at her with pity, assuming it had been that tough.
Suddenly, a question popped into Jin Seohyun's mind.
"So what was your trigger for S-rank, Uncle Seungsu?"
Cheon Seungsu answered without hesitation.
"I filled up my mana, and it just happened."
"What kind of answer is that?"
"Everyone's different. I'm telling you mine because it's me—don't go asking others. It might touch a nerve for some."
Despite the warning, Jin Seohyun seemed indifferent.
Figuring she wouldn't get it no matter what, Cheon Seungsu changed the subject.
"That guy—Han Yujin, was it? What exactly is he?"
It wasn't a name he'd heard for the first time. She'd once thrown a fit asking him to find someone by that name. He'd been so annoyed that the name still stuck with him.
Most people saw this incident as a joint effort between Nam Soyul and Han Yujin.
But according to what his disciple had personally told him, she'd just followed along—the entire plan from start to finish had been Han Yujin's doing.
Something a plain D-rank hunter couldn't pull off, even if they died and came back to life a hundred times.
His gaze sharpened piercingly. Jin Seohyun didn't answer right away.
She'd promised to keep Han Yujin's secrets. Even from the guild master, it was hard to speak of.
She gave a short reply.
"He's not a bad person."
"Hmm..."
Cheon Seungsu mulled over the answer and nodded.
It was a lacking explanation, but not hard to grasp the intent.
A relationship close enough to keep secrets even from him, the guild master.
Someone with extraordinary abilities, but one she believed wouldn't cause harm.
Cheon Seungsu didn't pry further.
"You haven't known him that long, but you two seem pretty close."
"It just kinda happened."
Her tone clearly signaled she didn't want to elaborate. Cheon Seungsu smiled and stood from the sofa.
"Has that friend come to his senses yet?"
"Not yet. His life's not in danger, but... they say it'll be a few more days before he wakes up."
Even so, she couldn't hide the worry in her voice.
Cheon Seungsu gave a wry smile.
Sitting at his desk, he rummaged through a drawer and soon found what he was looking for.
"Give him this when you visit."
Whoosh. The item flew toward her without warning, and Jin Seohyun barely caught it.
It was a wooden box, small enough to hold in one hand.
"Normally I'd go myself, but... looks like I'll be busy for a while."
A plain storage box made from roughly processed wood, no decorations.
Nothing special about its appearance, but knowing what was inside, Jin Seohyun's eyes widened.
"No way! When I begged you, you said not even in your dreams!"
"Jeez... Why do you even need this? Anyway, tell him to get well soon."
He waved her off toward the door, signaling it was time to go.
Jin Seohyun started to stand, then hesitated.
She still had business with the guild master.
After a moment, she asked in a quieter voice,
"...What about Uncle Sungtae?"
"You don't need to worry about him."
Cheon Seungsu cut her off firmly.
Even if he'd been manipulated, trying to kidnap Jin Seohyun wasn't something that could just vanish.
Once the investigation wrapped up, there would be punishment one way or another.
"The fugitive too. I guarantee no one will pull that kind of stunt on you again. No need to worry anymore."
His voice was so restrained it bordered on cold.
Which only made the deep anger feel all the more real.
Jin Seohyun couldn't ask more and finally stood.
She bowed to the guild master and grabbed the doorknob to leave.
"Seohyun."
Cheon Seungsu's low voice called out.
Before she could turn, the next words followed.
"Glad you're safe."
The warmth in his voice made Jin Seohyun chuckle softly.
Too embarrassed to say it face-to-face, maybe.
"Thanks for everything, always."
Jin Seohyun opened the door and stepped out.
When I opened my eyes, five days had passed.
Honestly, it didn't feel real. If this hadn't been a hospital room and the person telling me hadn't been a doctor, I might've asked if they were joking.
My last memory was crossing the entrance with Jin Seohyun.
I'd finally taken that one step outside, and the next thing I remembered was now.
I got the full story about an hour later.
An Arang Guild member came to see me. He'd heard I'd woken up and had questions—mostly about the Endless Abyss, which I answered easily enough.
As he was leaving, I grabbed him and asked about what happened after I collapsed.
"Mr. Han Yujin, you passed out the moment you crossed the entrance."
As expected, I'd blacked out right away.
But the condition had been more serious than I'd thought.
"No matter how much the healers treated you, it didn't improve. And when they stopped their abilities, you were on the verge of stopping breathing altogether... The atmosphere was really tense back then."
Special status effects like 'Corruption' couldn't be healed with healing skills.
So you needed the right antidote... but to get that, you had to know what caused it.
I'd collapsed the instant I arrived, so no one knew the cause from me.
"Luckily, Seohyun told us it was the Corruption curse."
Jin Seohyun had paced anxiously seeing me not improve despite healing.
Then she must've remembered what I'd let slip.
Two healers had accompanied me to the ER to keep the healing going nonstop, while the rest scoured for alchemists however they could.
It was a story where I'd nearly died, but it didn't feel real to me.
From my perspective, I'd just closed and opened my eyes once.
They'd barely managed to get the medicine in time.
I thought they'd overreacted just for one antidote.
Listening to them, it sounded like they'd combed every corner of the country to find it.
When I asked, he told me the price of the antidote,
and my jaw dropped.
No... The ingredients weren't common, sure, but it wasn't worth that much.
Even with a huge markup, the amount didn't make sense.
"Uh... You didn't get scammed, did you?"
"No."
There was a reason, apparently.
Since enemies using 'Corruption' were rare, demand for the antidote was low, so supply was too.
Plus, only a few alchemists knew how to make it, so it fetched whatever price they named.
I couldn't quite buy it.
It was just a rare-grade recipe—how could no one know it?
But I had to let it go.
Prying wouldn't get me answers, and there was a far more important issue.
From the moment I heard the price, my hands and feet were shaking, my mouth dry—I had to confirm something.
"The cost... Who covered...?"
"We'll handle all expenses from the treatment process, so no need to worry."
Only then could I relax.
My income had stabilized compared to before, but that amount was still no joke.
"Then I'll be going. Get plenty of rest."
The Arang Guild member's eyes were full of goodwill as he left.
Only then did it finally sink in.
We'd escaped the Endless Abyss.
My efforts hadn't been in vain.