Chapter 42
Chapter 42
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 42
Chapter Title: What Should Not Be Seen
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My whole body ached. A headache hit me like my memories had been wiped clean, and I slowly opened my eyes.
"Ah..."
The first thing I saw was the ceiling of a building adorned with ornate patterns. It was on a completely different level from the single rooms in the association's hospital, a lavish hospital room slowly coming into focus.
And then the memories flooded back. I'd cleared the dungeon, and the moment I got sucked through the portal, the tension released, and I passed out.
The last thing I'd seen was a crowd of people gathered in the VIP room.
"Is it... over?"
Ugh.
As if paying the price for pushing beyond my limits, muscle pain wracked my entire body. Still, I forced myself upright. The spacious room now held only me and my sister.
I dragged my creaking body over to the capsule to check on her condition.
Something I'd wanted to check but hadn't had the chance to.
The Eye of the Sun descended upon me. My eyes turned red as I directed them at my sister, and things I'd never seen before began to appear.
The first thing that caught my eye was my sister's status window. And then I saw it.
"...Awakening?"
My sister was awakening. I'd half-expected it. Ki So-young's words still echoed in my mind.
The reason she'd been unconscious for over five years was simple: her body couldn't withstand the power.
Just how incredible was the power trying to awaken in her...?
I should have been amazed that she possessed such extraordinary talent, unlike me scraping by at F-rank. But I couldn't just feel pure joy.
Still, I was worried. What if her body never endured it?
What if she never woke up?
In my previous life, she hadn't woken up for another ten years after that.
That's why I needed to learn more about this awakening.
The Solar Eye consumed even more mana, intensely scrutinizing my sister's information. The arrogant eye that overlooked everything from on high unleashed its full power.
[Awakening in progress...]
[Aw@#kening!@#$...]
[!@#$!@#$!...]
Something was wrong. But I realized it too late.
Flash!
Something pierced through me. It was a gaze. Black as pitch, sharp as a famed sword, ferocious as a monster.
It hadn't seen me, but I had seen it.
"Gaaahhh!!!"
The price for seeing it was steep. Agonizing pain seared my eyes like they were being branded, a scream tore from my throat, and blood streamed from my eyes.
Pain flooded in, numbing my reason, but paradoxically, my mind coldly and calmly assessed the situation.
I'd been lucky.
It had noticed my gaze but hadn't been permitted to recognize me further.
I'd glimpsed it through the eyes that touched mythic realms, but the penalty for forcing sight upon the forbidden was immense pain.
It was as if I'd peered beyond a massive barrier.
"Patient Shin Juha! Stay with us!"
"Damn it! Blood from his eyes! Call a Rank-2 healer or higher! I'm not enough!"
The healers who rushed in at my scream hurriedly lifted me, but I didn't resist. My reason was starting to shutter against the pain.
In that frantic moment, I replayed the scene I'd just witnessed, trying to pinpoint the eerie familiarity.
And then it hit me. That black, sharp, savage pupil. It was my sister's eye.
"So, he wakes up, looks at his sister, uses some skill, bleeds from his eyes in agony, and passes out again?"
"Yes. We confirmed it all on CCTV. A detailed scan showed no issues with his body or eyes. Mana's a bit low from the skill use. No problems besides muscle soreness. Oh! We left the soreness untreated on purpose. It seems his body underwent rapid changes, and the pain is helping stabilize them. Didn't want to interfere and cause issues."
Spot on. Faint but clear, Shin Juha had shed his mortal frame, adapted to his transformed body through intense exertion, and the lingering soreness was fine-tuning the rest.
Ki So-young nodded in approval.
"When will he wake? We need to talk. The other two haven't stirred yet."
"Yes. Min Chorong is fine physically—just mana exhaustion—so we used simple support magic and left her. Legion had massive injuries, so you treated him personally, Guild Leader, but he's still unconscious."
She sighed. Legion, a guild member she'd never even heard of.
Not from Dangun Guild's support, but a hunter under her who'd properly manifested holy power and knocked on Miracle Guild's door.
"My responsibility. I should have paid more attention."
She'd been naive. She should have micromanaged every tiny detail. Even a small item or a piece for potential threats... then he wouldn't be in this state.
A sigh escaped, but Ki So-young's eyes hardened.
"Any more on Legion Hunter?"
"Yes. As you said, traces of recovery by something. But... the level is impossibly high. Like a god's healing. Sorry, we couldn't even probe it."
Ki So-young nodded. Treating Legion had shocked her, her legendary recovery powers paling against that transcendent miracle.
If someone taught it to her, she'd give everything to learn it.
"Ah! His holy power surged?"
"Yes. Seems he's fully awakened it. As the report says, his unique ability was pathetic before, but this massive holy power... it's beyond imagination."
"Ha...! A treasure buried in mud, unseen. Are our scouts blind?"
In other words, Shin Juha was even more remarkable for clearing a dungeon with such an obscure guild member—and awakening his potential to boot.
"Report to me the moment Legion wakes. I need to wrap this incident up."
Ki So-young rose. Yes, wrap it up. Time to settle things.
Shin Juha, Min Chorong, and Legion's prowess had half-resolved the crisis. Now to handle the rest.
Punish the culprits, formally protest to Dangun Guild for their negligence, calculate Shin Juha's rewards, and more.
But first, punishment.
Ki So-young, top A-rank hunter and once called Heaven's Monster—a saint candidate stronger than England's first-gen saint—drew her blade.
To sever the heads of those who'd endangered her only blood kin.
"...We'll stand by."
The Rank-2 healer bowed silently, escorting her out while inwardly cursing the fools who'd face that blade.
How much time had passed? Opening my eyes, the ornate ceiling greeted me first.
And...
"You're awake?"
A woman's face filled my view. Small and delicate, but with a cute charm that drew people in.
"Yeah, I am."
The saint candidate who would die gruesomely in a month: Min Chorong.
'She went through hell because of me.'
Doomed to die in a month, she could have been swept up in my curse of misfortune too.
That would have been... agonizing.
'I'll repay the favor by saving her.'
The dungeon black hole stemmed from my misfortune. I was the primary cause.
Ugh~~.
I sat up from the bed. However long I'd been out, the soreness was gone. Instead, my body—fortified by elixirs and marrow cleansing—had perfectly adapted.
A faint ache lingered in my eyes, but nothing major. Just the price for seeing what I shouldn't. It'd fade in a day or two.
'Of all things, it was my sister.'
What the hell? What did I see?
One thought hit first. Given the cost, maybe I'd glimpsed the future.
It was the most likely explanation.
"Ha... I don't know."
Future or something else, one thing was certain.
'Get stronger fast, claim ownership, get the Elixir.'
That was the surest way to wake her. Not easy, but...
"What don't you know?"
Min Chorong speared a piece of apple she'd peeled and offered it, watching me. I quietly took the fork and popped the imperfectly peeled apple into my mouth.
"Ah! Your aunt said to call when her guardian wakes!"
Min Chorong fumbled with the apple, then remembered, set the plate down, grabbed her phone, and called Ki So-young. Moments later, the guild leader entered.
"You're up. I was so startled when you passed out bleeding from your eyes—I thought something was wrong."
"Ah! That was from using a new skill I got. Something went wrong."
"Heh heh. I know. You tried observing your sister and failed, right? I knew it wasn't ordinary power... but to nullify observation. Looked like a high-grade ability."
To be precise, not nullified. Nor a failure.
Its rank and performance were so superior that seeing the forbidden incurred the penalty.
Of course, I didn't say that. No need, and it meant nothing to someone who couldn't heal my sister anyway.
Reading my mind, Ki So-young didn't press. Instead, she bowed politely, laced with apology and gratitude.
"I'm truly sorry. For Miracle Guild—and a VIP at that—to let this happen. We'll compensate you fully, on guild and personal levels, to your satisfaction. In return..."
"You want me to keep quiet about the incident?"
I knew what she'd ask.
This wasn't some regular building or room—it was a VIP ward. Guards slacked off, leaving suppression devices to grunts.
If word leaked, Miracle Guild bore the fallout.
Korea's top hospital, failing basic security?
Who'd come? Reputation ruined, operations crippled, guild honor in the dirt.
And I held the key. Legion and Min Chorong were guild members who'd stay silent, but I was the victim, outsider.
Sealing my lips was paramount to them.
And I...
"Understood. Make the compensation worth it."
Would stay silent. Honestly, it was partly my fault, and allying with Miracle Guild was pure gain.
"Thank you! Shin Juha's guardian. We'll handle the rest swiftly and return with the report and rewards! Rest well!"
I smiled as Ki So-young left, then lay back down.
I'd been through a lot. Time to rest.