Chapter 84
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 84
Chapter Title: The Temple (1)
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Ji-han placed a glass vial in Eun-young's hand.
“What's this?”
“An elixir.”
“Giving me the poison and the antidote, are we?”
*And whose fault is it that I got hurt?*
Grumbling, Eun-young downed the elixir.
It tasted like the fever reducer she’d had as a child.
The throbbing pain in her hands and feet slowly began to subside.
It took some time for the elixir to take full effect.
Though “some time” was barely five minutes, not long at all.
After catching her breath, Eun-young finally looked around.
For a cave, the walls and floor were surprisingly soft and spongy.
To be honest, it felt like she was inside the body of a giant animal.
“Ugh.”
That thought didn't sit well with her.
“But what about Jung Hyun-sung?”
“What's that?”
*Anyone could tell it was a person's name, yet he called him 'that'.*
*At the very least, if he didn't know, he could have asked 'who'.*
Eun-young realized how a single word choice could make someone sound so utterly clueless.
“The Hunter who came in with us.”
“Ah.”
Ji-han opened his mouth as if he’d just remembered something.
“Don't know.”
“Ugh, what did I expect from you?”
Ji-han shot Eun-young a sharp glare.
For a moment, she worried he might attack her again, but nothing happened.
Staring as if he could devour people was just a habit of his.
Ji-han himself was unaware of how he looked at others.
It was a problem that arose because people, intimidated by his gaze, would shut their mouths without ever realizing it was just a habit.
“Where on earth are we?”
Every time she spoke, her voice echoed in her head as if she were in a glass tube, setting her nerves on edge.
“Is this a dungeon?”
“It's a temple.”
“What's a temple?”
“And among temples, this one is on the more disgusting side.”
“Hey! Are you ignoring me? What is a temple!”
At Eun-young's outburst, Ji-han glared at her again.
Ji-han sighed.
“I don't know how you managed to become a Hunter.”
Eun-young learned that it was possible to ask "How do you not know something so basic?" in such an infuriating way.
Eun-young pouted.
One thing was certain.
From the way he'd lunged at Han-gyeol to the incident at the amusement park, this guy was definitely not in his right mind.
She had no idea how Han-gyeol got tangled up with a psycho like him.
She took a hair tie from her pocket and put her hair up.
“Hey! Wait up!”
Eun-young hurried after Ji-han, who had started walking away.
The only light came from the thing on Ji-han's shoulder; she couldn't imagine what would happen if she got separated from him.
Sticking close to Ji-han's side, Eun-young glanced back.
Behind them was a continuous stretch of pitch-black darkness, so profound she couldn't even tell what the path they'd walked on looked like.
She wasn't particularly afraid of the dark, but this situation was terrifying.
Unlike Eun-young, who kept glancing behind her, Ji-han walked as casually as someone out for a neighborhood stroll.
“Aren't you scared?”
“Of what?”
“…Oh, sorry.”
Ji-han's boldness made Eun-young apologize without thinking.
They walked along the seemingly endless path.
The darkness ahead felt even more chilling than the path they had already traversed.
It felt as if her sense of time had vanished.
“I had to choose.”
“Choose?”
“When we fell in here. Between you and that guy.”
*So he was just pretending not to know.*
It was a little upsetting that Ji-han had lied with such a straight face.
Eun-young tried her best to accept his words without showing her disappointment.
“Why me?”
Slowing his pace, Ji-han glanced at Eun-young.
Her question held several meanings.
Yoo Ji-han had tried to kill her.
He didn't have to choose between Jung Hyun-sung and Song Eun-young; there was a third option of abandoning them both and saving himself.
Eun-young wanted to know why Yoo Ji-han had changed his mind after trying to kill her, and why he had chosen her over Jung Hyun-sung.
“Ask one thing at a time.”
“You said you had to choose one of us, so why did you save me? You were trying to kill me.”
Unlike Eun-young, who was filled with malice, Ji-han had felt terrifyingly indifferent toward Jung Hyun-sung back there.
At Eun-young's uncomprehending words, Ji-han frowned and clicked his tongue.
“A whim.”
“So you kill or save people based on your mood?”
“Not my mood. It was a rational choice.”
“Saving me was?”
“Yes. That eye-bastard said 'two', didn't it?”
Her mind had been a mess, so she didn't remember clearly, but she thought he had indeed said something like that.
The "interloper" was clearly referring to Ji-han.
“I hate those bastards who call themselves gods.”
“Soter?”
“He's just the most detestable one of the bunch. I fundamentally dislike all of them. If I let you die, I'd just be doing that bastard a favor. Why the hell would I do that?”
Ji-han stomped his foot in irritation.
It was as if he were speaking to the floor and walls.
“But why did that thing target me and Hyun-sung?”
“Don't get it twisted. That thing's target was that Hunter from the start. You were just a bonus.”
“That's harsh, saying it right to my face!”
Eun-young thought hard.
Jung Hyun-sung was a Hunter she'd only met because of this project.
No matter how she thought about it, there was no reason for a mysterious god to target Jung Hyun-sung.
Besides, the creature had spoken of her and Jung Hyun-sung as a pair.
That meant there had to be something connecting them.
“I can't think of anything in common… Ah, unaffiliated! I heard Hyun-sung doesn't serve a god yet.”
Eun-young nudged Ji-han's side with her elbow.
There were only two of them there, and she really didn't appreciate Ji-han's attitude of ignoring her when he'd clearly heard.
“You should offer an opinion too.”
“Why should I?”
“…”
“Even if I knew something, I'm under no obligation to tell you. And I'm warning you, once we're out of here, there'll be no mercy.”
“Why? You going to try and kill me again?”
“Of course.”
A chill ran down Eun-young's spine, knowing he wasn't joking.
Ji-han had said he wouldn't kill Eun-young until they got out of this place.
He was selfish and unpredictable, but he always kept his word once he'd spoken.
*Probably.*
Eun-young calmed herself.
She also lamented her fate of having to rely on this psycho in the pitch-black darkness where she couldn't see an inch in front of her.
“So? You're saying you already figured out what Hyun-sung and I have in common? The fact that he's an unaffiliated Hunter and I was until recently.”
“Let's talk about something else.”
*Is this guy even listening?*
Ji-han unilaterally changed the subject, clearly not wanting to listen.
It was obvious he knew something but didn't want to talk about it.
He looked perfectly normal on the outside, but trying to talk to him was so frustrating it would be better to talk to a wall; he had a real talent for getting under people's skin.
“Fine. We'll drop it.”
“Kang Han-gyeol.”
“Huh?”
“What in the world is he?”
Before meeting Eun-young, Ji-han had been thoroughly beaten by Han-gyeol.
The Kang Han-gyeol that Ji-han had experienced firsthand was suspicious in far too many ways.
Kang Han-gyeol was weaker than him.
The problem was the sense of unease he felt whenever he looked at Kang Han-gyeol.
Song Eun-young had experienced an overwhelming gap in power and felt fear toward Yoo Ji-han.
He couldn't find that in Kang Han-gyeol.
‘It was like his body couldn't keep up.’
He'd heard it had been just over a year since he became a Hunter, but considering his growth rate and the way he fought, there was no way he was only a one-year veteran.
He wasn't sure, but the guy was hiding something.
If only there hadn't been that interference.
*Grind.*
Thinking about what happened then made his blood boil.
“Ah. Now that you mention it, you lost to Han-gyeol, didn't you.”
“I didn't lose! If that bastard hadn't interfered!”
“Interfered?”
“You don't need to know.”
Ji-han bit his lip again.
*A Vow of Pledge from who knows how long ago.*
The fact that Soter, who he hadn't been able to find any trace of all this time, had spoken up to protect Kang Han-gyeol was surprising enough.
“You said you were curious about Han-gyeol, right?”
“Yeah. If you know anything…”
“I'm not gonna tell you.”
“What?”
“You didn't answer my question and just said what you wanted. And now you're asking me to tell you about Han-gyeol? Me? Why should I?”
He was being sarcastic, but Eun-young's words weren't wrong.
“Fine, I'll answer what you're curious about. As much as I can.”
“You said this place was a temple. What's a temple?”
“A god's personal space. No, a dimension.”
“Are all temples like this? You can't see anything, and it's all dark?”
“It varies from god to god. And this isn't a normal temple.”
“Not a normal temple?”
“That's all I can answer.”
Ji-han decided there was no point in saying more and cut her off, drawing a line.
Ji-han stared at Eun-young, his lips sealed shut.
He'd answered as much as he was going to; it was her turn to show some sincerity.
‘Is it okay to tell him this?’
Yoo Ji-han had tried to kill Kang Han-gyeol. And it seemed his intentions hadn't changed.
The strange thing was,
when she actually tried to think about Kang Han-gyeol as a person, there wasn't much to say.
At first, she'd thought, *what an audacious guy*, but that was really all there was to it.
“I don't really know either.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“I really don't!”
“Weren't you two close?”
“I think so… but I'm not even sure about that. All I know is that Kang Han-gyeol is Soter's first disciple.”
Ji-han looked at Eun-young.
Her tone and demeanor didn't suggest she was hiding anything.
If anything, she was blaming herself for knowing so little about the person named Kang Han-gyeol.
“Wait. Kang Han-gyeol is Soter's first disciple?”
“Yeah.”
Excluding the prospective disciple, Choi Soo-hyun, Soter only had two disciples: Kang Han-gyeol and Song Eun-young.
There were two of them after she joined, so who else could the other one be but Kang Han-gyeol?
Han-gyeol had never said it himself, but there was no need to doubt it.
“Did he say that himself?”
“Do you need it confirmed to know?”
Seeing Ji-han's serious expression, Eun-young frowned, wondering what the problem was.
“Agh!”
Walking along without thinking, Eun-young bumped her head on a wall.
They had been walking straight this whole time, so she hadn't expected a wall to suddenly appear and block the path.
Ji-han stood still, as if he'd known the wall was there.
Eun-young rubbed her stinging forehead.
“Seriously, if there's a wall, you should say something!”
“You should be able to avoid something like that on your own.”
Ji-han turned slightly.
A faint light appeared in the direction he had turned.
Until now, the only light had been the glowing orb on Ji-han's shoulder.
*Come to think of it, what is this thing floating by his shoulder?*
It seemed so natural that she hadn't had a chance to ask.
The light, which had been just a dot, grew larger as it approached.
“Ms. Eun-young?”
“Oh! Hyun-sung!”
The light watch on Hyun-sung's wrist was glowing.
“Weren't you hurt? Are you okay?”
“Haha, yes. I'm fine.”
“That's a relief.”
Relieved, Eun-young approached Hyun-sung.
At that moment.
Ji-han stepped forward, pushed Eun-young's shoulder back, and drew his sword.
“Hey, what are you—!!”
Before Eun-young could stop him, Ji-han's drawn sword swung mercilessly toward Hyun-sung.
*Thud.*
The arm his sword passed through was severed and fell to the ground.
Stumbling to her feet, Eun-young grabbed Ji-han by the collar.
No matter what, trying to kill someone so suddenly was going too far.
Even if it was Ji-han, this was unforgivable.
“What are you doing!”
“Calm down.”
“Do I look like I can calm down? No matter what, suddenly cutting off a person's arm, where… where…”
Releasing her grip on Ji-han, Eun-young looked at Jung Hyun-sung and gasped in shock.