Chapter 69
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 69
Chapter Title: Wrapping Up at the Hospital
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“……”
“……”
Sophia and Wol Ha-yeon were still frozen in front of the hospital room door like a pair of statues.
No, not like statues—they were statues themselves.
Their expressions were utterly blank, chillingly so.
“Uh... girls, this is a misunderstanding.”
I barely managed to push away Choi Eun-ha, who was clinging to me excessively for some utterly incomprehensible reason.
Then, I slowly raised both hands in a gesture like surrendering, as if to say I’d done nothing wrong.
Of course, it had zero effect.
“Misunderstanding...?”
Sophia was the first to break the suffocating silence.
“Misunderstanding... I was so worried about Hyun-sol, checking on him every chance I got because I had no idea when he’d wake up...”
“I see... thank you so mu...”
“But the moment Hyun-sol wakes up, the first thing he does is pull an unfamiliar woman into his arms and comfort her so tenderly.”
“That brief moment? The last part feels a bit fabricated. I never comforted her, and I didn’t even pull her in first...?”
How on earth does someone look at this situation and arrive at that conclusion?
No matter how you slice it, I’m the one desperately trying to push Choi Eun-ha away while she clings to me like her life depends on it.
Truly a day that makes me curious about your thought process... That thought filled my head, but I didn’t voice it.
The reason was simple.
Wol Ha-yeon, staring at me with that same blank expression from beside Sophia, was just too terrifying.
“……”
“……”
Wol Ha-yeon’s eyes were clearly the same clear silver as always, so why did they feel like they’d gone mad?
Why did the air itself feel so chilling without a single word?
And as if unwilling to break that momentum, Sophia continued in the gentlest tone.
“For now, I’ll believe you... so, care to explain?”
I nodded as calmly as I could.
“Yeah, well, first off, this is nothing—”
But at that exact moment.
“Why are you treating Hyun-sol like this! Isn’t it too much to glare and radiate killing intent at a kid who just woke up? I trusted you because you’re his friends... this is betrayal!”
Choi Eun-ha ruined the atmosphere even further with her unnecessary outburst.
“I told you! Hyun-sol... almost died. If not for this girl, there would’ve been a hole in my heart! So isn’t it okay if I hug him out of gratitude!?”
“Excuse me? Eun-ha TV? You sure know how to phrase things provocatively. How about calming down a bit?”
If she’d just stayed quiet, I could’ve cleared everything up on my own...
Why go out of your way to make things worse?
Look at those two women’s eyes—they’re debating whether to kill you right here and now.
I struggled to cover the mouth of Choi Eun-ha, who was wriggling on the bed beside me and trying to shout again, then spoke.
“She’s a broadcasting friend—gets a bit extreme. No malice... how about looking at us with kinder eyes?”
“……”
“……”
“...Not gonna work?”
I’d spoken calmly and soothingly, but there wasn’t even a twitch.
Then, Wol Ha-yeon—who’d maintained the same blank expression since she appeared—muttered softly, as if she’d made up her mind about something.
“I can’t use Mom’s gravity field... but with the same S-rank skill, Moon Veil, I can envelop all the kids...”
“Huh? What, what’d you say?”
“...Nothing. Anyway, glad you’re safe.”
For a split second, I felt an enormous wave of killing intent from behind Wol Ha-yeon. Must’ve been my imagination?
Hoping desperately that the ominous feeling was just my imagination, I let out a deep sigh.
That was when Sophia spoke up again.
“...Anyway, I was really worried. A kid diligently practicing magic and hanging out until Friday evening suddenly fights for his life over the weekend... you have no idea how startled I was...”
“Uh... sorry.”
“I haven’t known Hyun-sol that long... but I don’t want to see anyone close to me die.”
“...”
For some reason, those words struck deep in my chest.
And from the side, Wol Ha-yeon quietly added.
“...Same for me~”
Her expression was still impossible to read.
But her words were far more honest than her face.
“You left after lunch at my family home, and suddenly I hear you’re struggling between life and death—do you know how shocked I was? Especially since we’d parted after that kind of talk. It was even scarier.”
“……”
“You’re alive... thank goodness. Really.”
Of course, Wol Ha-yeon must have been the most shocked and scared of all.
That very day, she’d opened up to me about losing her father to a lord-class demon and her mother to an apostle, finding a bit of relief in sharing.
Only to almost lose a friend in the exact same way after just one day.
Sensing that, Choi Eun-ha flinched, her face showing belated realization of her over-the-top behavior.
She slowly released her grip on me and backed away from the bed.
“Ah... s-sorry... judging by the mood, I definitely acted clueless.”
“No, no need to apologize.”
I shook my head and, with great effort, raised my hand to lightly tap her head.
“It’s fine. You’re the victim here, right? You witnessed the whole incident firsthand—you’re entitled to react like that.”
“...”
Eun-ha’s eyes widened slightly. She bit her lip and nodded.
“Thanks for saying that!”
Sophia, who’d been staring intently at our heartwarming exchange, forced a smile—her eyes twitching faintly—as she spoke.
“Anyway, you survived, so no more nagging—but never do anything that dangerous again, got it?”
“...Understood.”
Wol Ha-yeon nodded very slowly.
“If you ever spot a situation like that, contact me right away. I’ll rush over as fast as I can.”
“Yeah, thanks.”
Of course, while my answer was that, there’d be plenty more times ahead where I’d dive in solo and secretly handle things before they got involved.
In the main story unfolding from here, even far stronger ones like Sophia or Yoon Seo-rin could die easily with one wrong step.
As the veteran, I had to carry the log as hard as possible.
And especially, I had to keep Wol Ha-yeon as far from the main story as possible, no matter what.
With the Oath of Indulgence, she was originally never supposed to get involved at all.
But now that she knew about my hatred and rage toward demons, Wol Ha-yeon was practically a walking time bomb.
If Wol Ha-yeon died, it would trigger the fourth apostle descent afterward.
And the chances of defeat in the presumed final battle against the demon king would skyrocket.
Lost in those thoughts for a moment, I slowly drew in a breath, gave a small smile, and nodded.
“Anyway, I’m really sorry for worrying you. I’ll be more careful from now on.”
All three quietly accepted my words.
The hospital room’s air, once sharply chilling, gradually melted into warm breaths.
Two days later, Sunday.
With all treatment complete and virtually no aftereffects, I began preparing for discharge.
“Patient Kang Hyun-sol, the items collected during the incident are all being held by the Hunter Association... how shall we proceed?”
The nurse assisting with discharge asked while gathering my clothes.
I pondered briefly before giving a short reply.
“The association isn’t too far from here, right? I’ll just go pick them up myself.”
“Understood.”
“Ah, actually, one thing I wanted to ask.”
I stopped the nurse as she finished up and was about to leave the room.
“Do you happen to know anything about the news or public reaction to this incident?”
“Um... not the details, but from what I heard, Hunter Choi Eun-ha took down an elder-class demon, and the academy student who entered with her—Patient Kang Hyun-sol—helped her defeat an elite-class demon to protect the peace. That’s all I know.”
“I see. Thank you for letting me know.”
Exactly as Choi Eun-ha had said it would be.
Honestly, while I was unconscious, the biggest headache had been how the truth would get reported.
Choi Eun-ha was already treated as an S-rank hunter with an A-rank license, so even news of her soloing an elder-class demon wouldn’t cause much fuss.
Elder-class demons were rare high-rankers, sure, but not impossible for an S-rank to handle alone.
But if it came out that the demon was on the verge of becoming a lord-class—and that she’d only succeeded with help from an academy freshman?
That would’ve been a massive issue.
And as that freshman, I would’ve been the center of everyone’s attention, suffering endlessly for a while.
So I’d worried she might’ve spilled everything honestly...
Fortunately, she’d clearly thought that far ahead and handled the story perfectly with others.
Of course, thanks to that distortion of the truth, some trash media outlets ran headlines claiming I was an academy freshman who barely survived the dungeon by clinging to Choi Eun-ha’s ankle.
But thanks to the solid backup from Yoon Seo-rin and Wol Ha-yeon noona, those were squashed before they became an issue.
“Hmm... guess I’ll head straight to the association and retrieve my stuff.”
With discharge preparations fully complete.
I took a bite of the last remaining apple on the drawer and slowly exited the hospital.