Han Sohee (2)
She had clearly done a good thing.
And yet, at the same time, people tore into her — arguing that if she hadn't used the Saintess's power then, she could have saved far more people later on.
Of course, that was complete bullshit. Choosing the person right in front of you over a Saintess title that might never even come was the obvious call. But online, at least, they talked as if they were the ones in the right.
The truth was, they knew. They knew how noble what she'd done really was. In that sense, what they poured out wasn't legitimate opinion — it was hatred. Rage and hatred toward a world that had left them in their own miserable situations.
The problem was that they refined that hatred and rage, then put on a mask and pretended it was reasonable discourse. That led to a few debates — arguments over whether using the Saintess's power had been the right call or not.
Of course, the moment the government officially threatened to come down hard on those assholes, public opinion dried up overnight.
Wouldn't people normally just keep their mouths shut? If the Saintess ever hurt herself after seeing that kind of internet discourse, South Korea's national image — already broadcast all the way to the foreign press — would plummet past rock bottom into total ruin. They'd barely managed to paper over the aftermath of the Great Disaster by praising her as the Saintess. They couldn't afford to screw that up.
Anyway, after all that, Sohee herself took a serious emotional hit. The indiscriminate hatred and rage of human beings wasn't something one person could easily endure. Thanks to that, she ended up half-crippled by social anxiety, with panic disorder on top of it — even up until the point she met me.
It was only because Seoyoung, who'd known her from before, kept doggedly talking to her and improving her condition that she eventually met me, and got better still. After meeting me, Sohee's condition gradually improved. Fortunately, she got well enough to be prescribed medication, and she even started taking walks alone from time to time. She'd gotten well enough that when people recognized her and asked for autographs, she could smile and give them one.
I also heard her story later and did my best to help her recover through conversation. It felt like she was going to keep getting better without anything else going wrong.
Until that night.
Ugh, even with the streetlights, this place is creepy.
That night, I was on night patrol — a shit job handed down under the name of a "favor" from the senior guards. This was back when night patrol still had me shaking in my boots. After all, the seniors had been scaring me every night, saying weird people might show up. And since the cops had actually been called a few times for real, I was pretty tense as I walked my rounds.
After wandering around for a while, I arrived at a particularly secluded corner of the apartment complex — a place people rarely went, where the buildings stood far apart from each other.
This is the scariest spot, no question.
I remembered occasionally seeing punks smoking cigarettes here. Figuring I'd just look away and bolt if any thug-looking types showed up, I kept moving. A security guard's job wasn't to subdue high-risk individuals — it was to report threats.
I was making my rounds through that area when it happened.
"L-Let go of me!"
At the familiar woman's voice, I swung my flashlight around — and saw Sohee being threatened by a man with a knife.
"Sohee?!"
I stared at her in shock, then turned to the unknown man.
"Step away from her. Or I'm calling the police!"
At my words, the man glared at me with half-bloodshot eyes.
"Y-You, who the hell are y-youuuu?!!!"
Looking at the clearly unhinged man, I swallowed hard. I'd walked into something bad.
How the hell did a guy like that even get in here?!
Cursing the other guards for not doing their jobs, I scrambled to figure out what to do.
O-Okay, first crank the flashlight all the way up and blind him, then…
I was a realistic person. There was a knife-wielding robber right in front of me. I was absolutely not the reckless type who'd charge in on pure guts. My head was full of nothing but escape — not alone, of course.
Damn it, but how do I get Sohee out of here…?
I had to take her with me. She was trembling with fear. You could argue that if I just left her and ran, she was a Hunter, so she'd handle it herself. And under normal circumstances, that would be true.
"Hah… k-khuh… hah…"
But she clearly doesn't look okay.
She didn't look capable of putting up any resistance right now. Her panic must have kicked in and left her in bad shape. Getting out of there fast was the best play.
Thinking that, I slowly approached the man with the knife — more precisely, circling a little to the side as I closed in on where Sohee was. I also dialed the flashlight in my hand down to its lowest setting.
When I run, I'll crank it all the way up and blind him in one shot.
I slowly closed the distance.
"I-I'm in a hurryyy!! I don't wanna die! I don't wanna diiiiie!!!"
Seeing me approach, the man in front of me started thrashing and swinging the knife. I'd known he wasn't right in the head, but it seemed like he had real problems. The moment I registered that—
"Flash!"
"Gah!"
I maxed out the flashlight, blasted it into his eyes, grabbed Sohee's hand, and started running. She was in bad shape, but maybe because she was still a Hunter, her footsteps kept pace with mine easily enough.
While we were fleeing, Sohee — who'd been having a panic attack — managed to come to her senses somewhat.
"T-Taejin… h-how…?"
"Some weird guy was threatening you, so I've been running!"
Even as my heart hammered in my chest, I explained the situation to her. Once she understood, Sohee started running hard too.
The problem that wasn't quite a problem:
"H-Heyyyy!!"
That crazy bastard was a wreck mentally, but he was ridiculously fast on his feet.
Oh, fuck!
In the end, I had to make a choice. No matter how you looked at it, the man was after Sohee. If I just ran for it here, there was a high chance he'd keep chasing her. So running away alone was entirely possible.
But.
How could anyone do that?
I knew how much she'd already suffered. And I was supposed to let her go through something like this again? My meager pride and sympathy whispered in my ear that it would be too pitiful. At the same time, a baser desire also crossed my mind — that if I saved her here, I might earn her favor.
Torn between those two options, what I ultimately chose was—
"Ah, screw it. Sohee, go get someone else!"
"W-What?!"
"I'll draw his attention!"
I'd draw the man's focus onto myself. Beyond those two reasons, I also had a responsibility as a security guard. If a Hunter got hurt on my watch as an apartment security guard, I was fucked either way.
Wasn't my life in danger? Even if a Hunter got hurt, my life — financially speaking — would be in danger.
There's no way I'm actually gonna die, right?
Spouting the classic last words of a man about to get killed, I lured the seemingly mentally ill man toward me. I even threw a rock at him once.
"Y-You you you you! Y-You think I'm e-easyyy?!!"
He came after me in a full-blown fit. Thanks to that, I'd been trying to bolt fast, but the enraged man's speed caught up to me in no time. Fuck, if I'd known it would go like this, I wouldn't have thrown the rock.
"Y-Youuuu… I-I'm not gonna let this slide."
"Yeah. I can see that."
I tried to sound calm, but my legs were shaking like leaves.
F-Fuck, I've never been stabbed before.
No matter how I looked at it, the man in front of me was about to stick me. I spent a moment regretting not just running away.
"Uwaaaah!!"
With his eyes half-rolled back, the man charged straight at me and swung the knife at my stomach. Fortunately, I—
—Shhk!
"Kh!"
I didn't completely dodge it, but I avoided taking it dead-on. I'd twisted my body at the last second before the blade arrived.
Those cop videos on YouTube really paid off!
The problem was that this only pissed him off more. After swinging the knife wildly, he suddenly changed tactics. Instead of slashing—
"Diiiie—!!!"
He went for a straight thrust. Caught off guard by the sudden change, I couldn't react in time, and—
—Thud!
I got stabbed.
"Kh!"
As the cold sensation drove into my chest, I let out a groan — and at the same time—
"Fuck, you actually stabbed me?"
I did what any survivor of the Gate era would do. Which was? Obviously—
"Then fuck you, you die too!"
—Crack!
A punch thrown in pure rage. Even with the knife still in me, I swung my fist at the man in front of me, and it smashed square into his face. The deranged man writhed in pain — then, hearing people approaching, he bolted.
"Y-You… khuh…"
I tried to land one more hit, but the pain flooding from the wound stopped me cold. I lost him. And just as the cold started to overtake the pain—
"T-Taejin!"
Sohee's voice, nearly a scream, reached me. Relieved that she'd successfully brought help, I lost consciousness.