Discharge
Discharge
This world doesn't use the Seoryeok Era.
More precisely, the Seoryeok Era came to an end the year it was due to reach 2000.
Because on March 1, 2000, the Great Cataclysm erupted.
Concepts that had previously existed only in myths and legends—dungeons, towers, monsters, mana—emerged into reality.
And within a tiny fraction of humanity, transcendent abilities once confined to fantasy began to manifest as well.
No one would dispute that this is a different world now. Though it still resembles the old one on the surface, this is a world that has undergone an upheaval.
It's no longer the Seoryeok Era.
We are now in the 200th year of the New Era Origin—a calendar founded upon the year the Great Cataclysm began.
And today is a particularly special day.
I felt a small flutter of anticipation mixed with anxiety as I took off my hospital gown.
'Finally...'
Because today is the day I'm discharged.
My body, which had been in a state little better than a shredded rag, was mostly recovered.
Which made sense, given the truly extraordinary treatment I'd received.
High-grade Healers, the kind you couldn't hire even if you threw money at them, had rotated through to monitor my condition as if they were on some kind of shift schedule.
Top-grade Healers, who ordinarily conserve their power for emergencies, had visited regularly to administer healing.
In that kind of environment, the only thing they couldn't save was an actual corpse.
The problem was that my condition had been so dire, no one would have complained if they'd buried me right next to a corpse.
It wasn't simply a matter of my body being torn and crushed. Blood Cloud had soaked deep into every wound, actively tearing them back open and impeding recovery.
I'd seriously come within a hair's breadth of getting buried next to a corpse. Even now, the thought sent a chill through me.
'Nearly three weeks, then...'
Excluding the loss of my arm, it had taken over three weeks for my body to recover to something approaching a full cure.
Three weeks.
If you just let the number wash over you, it sounds like a short time.
But considering how long it had taken me—someone who'd had the physical ability of an ordinary person—to catch up to the heels of a Siyoram Cadet, I felt I'd wasted incredibly precious time.
Especially with my lifespan issue still unresolved, frittering away three weeks like that stung deep in my bones.
'The remaining schedule ahead is...'
The biggest event, the first-semester Tower Entry, was already over.
The Dungeon Practice sessions scattered throughout the semester were no major issue.
The major event I needed to pay attention to was...
'So the only thing left this semester is the Comprehensive Evaluation.'
The Comprehensive Evaluation.
They'd bestowed the Blessing of Growth on us, had us attend lectures from world-class professors for several months, and even granted us one entry into the Tower of Growth.
On top of that, they'd given us ample time to digest the gains we'd made inside the Tower of Growth.
The Comprehensive Evaluation was the exam to properly measure just how much we'd grown.
From what I recalled, there would be a written exam as well, and major-specific tests too.
And as a training institution that nurtures Heroes, the event that drew the most attention was the All-Round Combat Division.
A one-on-one tournament where every single cadet participates, regardless of major.
As a Special Admission Cadet, I'd probably have to compete as well.
True to its importance, the credits riding on it were enormous. Winning first place guaranteed a decent artifact.
Cadets aiming for good results in the Comprehensive Evaluation had surely been preparing for ages already.
Unlike someone who had essentially been stashed away in the healing ward the moment Tower Entry ended.
'Am I being greedy? I should be grateful just to be alive, really, but...'
I realized all over again that my greed was overflowing. I let out a deep sigh and threw a few idle punches at the empty air.
My fist cut through the air. The wind brushing my arm registered with delicate clarity. As my body had recovered, my senses had naturally returned as well.
'At this rate, I could jump straight into combat.'
If anything, it felt like I'd improved. Maybe it was because I'd been dancing on the razor's edge? The body that had fought so desperately to survive had seemingly grown.
While I was thinking that—
- Smack
'?'
A hand flew in at high speed from my side and seized my wrist. My arm couldn't straighten and bent at an awkward angle.
Baffled, I turned my head. Professor Atra's resolute face appeared within my perception, her hand still gripping my wrist.
Her hand released my wrist and promptly moved toward my face.
- Squish...
'Huh?'
And then my cheek was pinched. Caught between slender fingers, it stretched out like a piece of glutinous rice cake.
I tilted my head, completely at a loss as to why. Professor Atra let out a deep sigh and said,
"I'm fairly certain I told you to take it easy for a while. Why are you suddenly throwing punches at the air?"
'Over that one little thing...?'
I had put a bit of force into it, sure, but it absolutely wasn't enough to harm my body.
I made an expression of disbelief, and Professor Atra narrowed her eyes.
Squeeeeze... my cheek stretched just a little further. It didn't hurt. Actually, I had to manage my expression so I wouldn't show how pleasant it felt.
"Even if the diagnostic results are good, you still need to observe the progress for a day or two."
- Nod nod
When I nodded obediently, Professor Atra's stern expression loosened.
Then, as though her conscience was belatedly pricking her, she gently rubbed the cheek she'd pinched.
The corner of my mouth twitched. I kept the grin that wanted to spread across my face firmly in check as I meekly accepted Professor Atra's touch.
After she'd satisfied her urge to stroke and pat me for a little while, we proceeded with the discharge procedures.
My body was close to a full cure, but naturally, I had expected the discharge procedures to be complicated.
The Association Headquarters' Intensive Care Unit is truly a place meant to save 'people who must not be allowed to die.'
And even within that Intensive Care Unit, I had been treated with the utmost care. So I had expected it would take some time going through the various procedures.
"Discharge procedures? Ah... that's already been handled. You can just go."
'?'
And then I heard words that were effectively a high-pass lane.
I dazedly scanned the person who had entered my observation range.
A clean white coat like you'd expect from a doctor, and a... white stick in her mouth.
For a split second I thought it was a cigarette and my whole body went rigid, but as her lips parted slightly and my observation picked up on the candy, the tension dissolved in an instant.
The woman, whose haggard appearance and roughly tied-back hair were defining features, was named Rianel Steinrea.
She was the Healer with the Association who had treated me back when I was practically a corpse. One of those exceedingly rare top-grade Healers.
"The procedures are done?"
"An Association staffer started them on the first day you were hospitalized and finished them all. You two can just go."
Rianel explained in a listless tone.
"Oh, and the Association staffer asked me to pass this along. In recognition of your great contributions to saving lives during the catastrophe, et cetera, et cetera... they intend to deliver some form of compensation, so if you have a spare moment, they'd like you to get in touch."
"Huh. So they actually showed a bit of consideration and let you rest."
Rianel had once been active on the Africa Front, and apparently, through that, she'd built up something of an acquaintance with Professor Atra.
After hearing the explanation, Professor Atra narrowed her eyes as if puzzled and asked,
"That's practically the attitude they'd show a VIP. But they've never been this accommodating to actual VIPs."
"How would I know what the higher-ups are thinking? They must have their reasons for doing this."
Rianel, who'd been answering, turned her gaze toward me.
"Seems like, from their perspective, you were someone who absolutely had to be saved. So, Cadet Lee Ha-yul, please don't come back here for no good reason."
A doctor telling you to avoid coming to the hospital if possible—that's sort of like saying "don't get sick," right?
I nodded with a slightly odd expression, and Rianel dipped her chin briefly before continuing.
"Your healing is complete. Once you recover some of your energy, you should be able to proceed with the arm regeneration. The Association's already handled the paperwork, so you can come here for the regeneration, or have it done elsewhere. Make sure to look after your mental health as well. And..."
Her words paused for a moment.
"Take good care of yourself."
A soft smile slipped out at those last words.
They had been relatively blunt and light on emotion, but I could tell—the concern had bled through.
Rianel's eyes, which had been looking down at me, blinked.
The tip of the lollipop stick bobbed. The lips that had been chewing on the stick as if mulling something over parted again.
"The diagnostic results were definitely normal. Looking at you right now with my own eyes, you're normal. But..."
"But?"
At the implication that seemed to contradict the word 'normal', Professor Atra furrowed her brow.
"Cadet Lee Ha-yul's body had something strange about it. This isn't really the sort of thing one says to a patient, but it felt as if...
- A person who should have died, is alive."
As Rianel spoke, a question I had been sensing myself surfaced, along with memories of the past.
Violence too excessive and persistent for a child to endure.
The memory of my belly being split open, yet finding myself perfectly fine the next day.
A body that survived even when doused in flames, even when wandering for long periods without proper food.
A leg that definitely had been severed, yet grew back on its own...
'......'
The Innate Talents I had identified were Mana Affinity and All-Rounder, and that was it.
But I couldn't shake the persistent sense that there was something more.
I hadn't been able to pin it down. Even in the healing ward, I had examined my own state whenever I had a spare moment, but I couldn't sense anything.
It really did feel like there was something more.
Either way, with the healer's advice(?), I finished the discharge procedures.
"You go on ahead first. I'll emphasize this once more: you absolutely must not set foot outside Siyoram."
Professor Atra said she couldn't head straight into Siyoram due to personal matters.
Since I'd been discharged on the weekend, the plan was for her to take care of her personal affairs over the weekend and then come to Siyoram.
At the Association Headquarters' Gate Terminal.
Professor Atra, her eyes filled with unconcealable anxiety, gripped my shoulders and demanded a response.
For what had to be the umpteenth time, I nodded calmly, as if to say, don't worry.
But the worry clouding Professor Atra's face didn't disappear.
'...Hm.'
I half-wondered if this was excessive overprotection, but then again, thinking back to my own state—which the Observation Authority had sensed and which was impossible to distinguish between a human body, a corpse, or a shredded rag—it also seemed perfectly natural...
And so, with a gaze dripping worry boring into my back and the back of my head, I stepped into the gate.
Along with a moment of vertigo, my feet touched down in the Cradle, which felt like it welcomed me back almost instantly.
- Ding!
The moment I arrived at the Siyoram Gate Terminal, an alarm rang in my ears.
From close range... it was unmistakably a sound that came from me.
This time, I didn't miss it. The instant I heard the sound, my expression twisted fiercely as I observed the space where my left arm used to be.
There was no left arm. There was no smartwatch that had been attached to my left arm.
Likewise, there was no smartwatch on my right arm either.
I had a portable hologram projector, but the alarm hadn't come from that either.
I'd had a similar experience before.
But back then, I'd dismissed it, thinking it was an auditory hallucination while half-asleep, or a sound from my smartwatch.
'...This is.'
Now, there was absolutely no way I could dismiss it.
'Isn't there a Status Window?'
The doubt I'd given up on and moved past in the early days of arriving in this world quietly raised its head.
While I was in the middle of that suspicion, a perplexed voice reached my ears.
"Um... Cadet Lee Ha-yul?"
'Ah.'
I'd been standing right in front of the gate lost in thought.
Belatedly realizing, I quickly moved aside.
The stares of the staff on duty, watching me, stung sharply...
I hid my flushed face behind my sleeve and scurried out of the Gate Terminal.
That day, I spent the entire time checking for the existence of a Status Window, and losing myself in various contemplations.
Receiving Ellia's message out of the blue, asking if I could spare some time.
Facing the Confession Necklace that had essentially set my heart at ease, and then, unable to contain the surge of emotion, suddenly throwing myself into Ellia's arms—that all happened the following day.
* * *
- Ding!
[Lee Ha-yul enters Siyoram]
...
[｢Curse of Beauty's Misfortune｣ consumes vitality energy...consuming...]
- Bzzzt...
[The Tower Master of Growth suppresses ｢Curse of Beauty's Misfortune｣]
[The Tower Master of Growth suppresses ｢Curse of Beauty's Misfortune｣]
[The Tower Master of Growth suppresses ｢Curse of Beauty's Misfortune｣]
...
[The Tower Master of Growth breathes a sigh of relief]
* * *