Chapter 006
[Chapter 006]
< Hidden Proof >
6
Old Man No's back pain was a chronic illness.
‘He said it was nerve damage due to chronic mana pollution.’
There was no clear treatment for the diagnosis made at the hospital.
The aftereffects of running through fields carrying heavy loads back in the early days of the Bureau, when equipment was poor, also played a part.
“Please wait a moment.”
I went to the garden and picked the two remaining Hasuo.
“Muryong, would this be useful for an adult male's back pain?”
I wasn't sure if this would be okay for another person's body.
-Hmyoot!
Muryong moved its whole body up and down as if nodding inside the pocket.
“Still, giving it just like this is a bit dangerous.”
I went to the kitchen, washed the Hasuo roots clean, and then sliced them thinly and put them in a glass jar.
And I filled it with cool water.
With regular Hasuo, you’d have to boil it for days for the medicinal effect to barely seep out, but this was different.
Pop-
The moment the Hasuo root piece touched the water, a red haze rose and instantly tinted the entire water light ruby.
As if a thick fruit syrup was melting, it spread through the water in the blink of an eye.
“Old Man No, drink this.”
“What is this? The color is pretty.”
“Hasuo-infused water. It’s grown directly in the countryside, it’s good for the body.”
“Haha, why all this. Thanks.”
Old Man No, as if thirsty from the long journey, took the cup and took a big gulp.
“...Uh?”
Old Man No's eyes grew round.
“What is this, why is it so delicious?”
“How is it?”
“It’s not bitter at all and it’s refreshing?”
He seemed quite surprised, probably expecting bitter herbal medicine water.
“Wow, this is something. Manager Jang, it’s very cool!”
Old Man No said, genuinely impressed.
And I held out a water bottle I had prepared together.
It was Hasuo-boiled water I had put in separately.
“And this... please deliver it to Hunter Lee Seok-ju.”
“Hunter Lee Seok-ju?”
“He’s ahead of an important floor raid soon. I thought it would be good if he drank it before the raid.”
“As expected of Manager Jang, you even remember such things.”
“Because that’s the job I’ve been doing.”
It was 6 years.
During the not-short time, I built many relationships at the Bureau.
There were people who ignored me, but there were more thankful people who silently recognized my sincerity.
“I also heard he was injured recently, so it weighed on my mind more.”
“Got it. I’ll be sure to deliver it.”
Old Man No put the water bottle carefully inside his chest and walked toward the car.
“Are you leaving already?”
“Then, I should go back. My mind isn't at ease leaving my seat for long.”
Old Man No was that kind of person.
A person who considered Bureau work his own work and made self-sacrifices.
“...But Manager Jang, is that only visible to my eyes?”
Old Man No, who was heading to the truck, froze on the spot as if nailed.
“Pardon? What did you see that....”
Where Old Man No's gaze was directed was a nearby thicket.
There, a giant Gorani was staring blankly at us with shining eyes.
“That’s a Gorani, right?”
“Ah... yes it is.”
“By any chance, do monsters appear here too? Or was there some mana mutation? Why is a Gorani that big?”
“Haha, it’s okay. I found it’s not something that harms people. Drive carefully.”
I hurriedly saw Old Man No off.
When I made eye contact with the Gorani, it rubbed its body against the thicket and wagged its tail as if it had been waiting.
It was a signal that it wanted to play together quickly.
* * *
The next day, Old Man No, who returned after finishing his vacation, let out a sigh first.
“So, what is the cause of the communication equipment going dead?”
“It seems like mana backflow due to overload. In the past, Manager Jang used to perform periodic stabilization work, but the employee who took over the handover seems to have forgotten.”
Even during the single day Old Man No was away, the Bureau was invariably creaking.
“No, to think of all things he’d forget....”
Come to think of it, they were minor accidents.
But those accidents were gathering and gradually eating away at the trust of the field.
‘When Manager Jang was here, such things didn't happen.’
I didn't know the vacancy of one person would be this large.
How many people's worth of work had Kang-hyun been doing.
He was fundamentally different from A and B-Rank Awakeners who just bragged about having a high rank while passing off dirty work to subordinates.
Even as an E-Class, his sense of responsibility and work ability were more thoughtful and superior than anyone else's.
“Old Man No, did you happen to visit the hospital during your vacation?”
“Why the hospital?”
“Your back, your back. You’re always making sounds of suffering.”
“What hospital.”
“Doing it again. If there’s no one to take care of you, you should take good care of yourself. People like us shouldn't make it obvious that we’re widowers.”
At the subordinate's concerned nagging, he just gave a bitter smile.
When Old Man No was still young.
He lost his wife when the Tower first appeared.
The helplessness of losing his wife before his eyes turned into a sense of responsibility not to lose anyone like that again.
If only there had been a single piece of proper equipment then.
If only an organization like the current Bureau had existed then.
The assumption that his wife might not have died was a shackle he couldn't escape that bound his life.
It was the reason Old Man No had guarded the field for the last 20 years and didn't shy away from dirty work.
This Bureau was Old Man No's atonement and his entire life.
He hoped that even one more civilian would be safer.
‘There’s no one I can trust and leave things to in the Bureau.’
To such an Old Man No, Kang-hyun was a talent too good to lose.
He had seen many people over twenty years, but it was hard to find a person who silently and competently did his part.
He even went as far as to personally visit and tell him to come under him, knowing it was something he shouldn't say.
“Is Old Man No here?”
“Oh, Seok-ju!”
It was Hunter Lee Seok-ju. His arm was wrapped tightly in bandages.
Last week, he went to support an A-Rank mutant Rift that occurred in the outskirts of Gyeonggi-do and suffered an injury.
It was a graze from the breath of a Poison Mist Wyvern that poured out from the Rift.
It was an opponent too much for him, a B-Rank Hunter, to handle.
“How is the injury?”
“Ah, this? It’s not even an injury. It’s to the point of being itchy.”
“For such a thing, there’s a lot of bandage wrapped though?”
“No, the hospital over-treated it. When I was young, this kind of thing all healed if I applied spit, haha!”
“Bluffing as always... Think it’s still ten years ago, let's see.”
Old Man No approached and slightly loosened the bandage.
The wound wasn't deep, but dark purple poison was rising like a haze.
“Fortunately, it doesn't look deep. The problem is the Tower raid tomorrow.”
“Yes, that’s quite important.”
For Lee Seok-ju, this raid was an important opportunity.
Currently B-Rank, hanging precariously around the 50th in the ranking.
If he succeeded in the 40th floor raid here, he could enter the stable upper ranks and receive better offers from guilds or solidify his position within the Bureau.
“It’s your turn to enter the 40th floor?”
“Yes.”
The Tower's difficulty changed rapidly in units of 10 floors.
The 30s floors and 40s floors could be seen as the difference between heaven and earth.
It’s a natural story to treat a Hunter who raids the 39th floor and a Hunter who raids the 40th floor as completely different classes.
How many floors you raid is immediately that Hunter's value and power.
“Well, I’ll have to try even if it’s a bit much.”
Lee Seok-ju was clenching his teeth as if trying to endure the pain.
Old Man No took out a water bottle from his seat and handed it to Lee Seok-ju.
“Manager Jang told me to deliver this.”
“If it’s Manager Jang, you mean Kang-hyun?”
“He knew you were hurt, Seok-ju. It must have weighed on his mind.”
All the people who were close to Kang-hyun at the Bureau felt a sense of debt toward him, whether they knew it or not.
How sincere a person Kang-hyun was.
Also, because they knew how he processed work that didn't show much better than others, they had an apology and a sense of futility for not being able to protect him.
“But what is this?”
Lee Seok-ju took the water bottle half-doubtingly.
“He said it’s Hasuo-boiled water.”
“Ah, Hasuo?”
Lee Seok-ju shook the water bottle.
Inside the transparent bottle, a thick ruby-colored liquid sloshed.
Unlike ordinary Hasuo-boiled water which is murky brown, this was clear and brilliantly colored.
“Please tell him thank you. If I don't do this properly tomorrow, I won't be able to face my wife.”
“Of course.”
After Lee Seok-ju went back, Old Man No began to process the remaining paperwork.
Just then, the equipment team employees who just returned from the field were groaning while moving heavy equipment boxes.
“Hey, be careful!”
At the moment one of them lost his footing and almost dropped the box, Old Man No threw himself and lifted the box.
“Uh, uh, Old Man No! You shouldn't lift that!”
The young employee shouted in horror.
Because the memory of Old Man No straining his back while lifting an auxiliary power device exactly like that last month and having to lie in bed for a week passed by.
After that, it was the unwritten rule of the team that Old Man No never lifts heavy objects.
“Uh? Uh-uh?”
Old Man No only then realized what he had done.
He furrowed his brow, expecting a throbbing pain to rush in.
But.
“...?”
He was perfectly fine.
There was no pain like being pricked by an awl, nor a stiff feeling.
“But me... I’m fine?”
“Pardon?”
Old Man No, as if unable to believe it, lowered the heavy equipment he was holding to the floor and then lightly lifted it again. There was no burden on his waist.
The employee shouted with wide-open eyes.
“You, you say you’re really fine?”
The back pain had completely disappeared.
* * *
The next day, the Tower raid bulletin board was turned upside down.
[Breaking News] B-Rank Hunter Lee Seok-ju, breaks through 40th floor! Raid time record 3 hours 24 minutes!
ㄴCrazy··· Entering B-Rank 20th ranking at the 40th floor?
ㄴWasn't there news he was injured? How did this happen?
ㄴDid he use drugs? For a person who was struggling at the 38th floor just last month?
ㄴHow long has it been since someone from the Bureau entered the 20th ranking?
The Hunter Association comprehensively ranked the Tower raid results of Hunters by each rank and ranked them in real time.
[South Korea B-Rank Hunter 40th Floor Integrated Ranking]
17th Min Byeong-gyu (Titan) -
18th Lee Seok-ju (Hunter Bureau) NEW!
19th Red Bull (Black Soul) ▼ 1
20th Lee Ji-ah (Freelancer) ▼ 1
Lee Seok-ju achieved the feat of taking a high rank in just his first 40th floor entry.
The gap with the 17th right above him wasn't large either.
This ranking was the most important index determining a Hunter's honor, skill, and value.
“Appa, they only talk about Appa on TV!”
“Da-eun, they say Appa defeated a very huge monster and won today.”
“Really? Appa is really cool!”
A lavish dinner table set by his wife.
And a small cake with candles lit by his daughter.
Lee Seok-ju enjoyed the happiness of being with his family after a long time.
“It’s late now so let's go sleep. Honey, I’ll go put Da-eun and Joo-ho to sleep.”
After the wife went into the room to put the daughter and young son to sleep, Lee Seok-ju was left alone in the living room.
The events that happened today still felt like a dream.
‘What on earth is this?’
After being blank, he suddenly stood up and headed to the bathroom.
And standing in front of the mirror, he carefully loosened the pressure bandage wrapped around his arm.
“...It’s gone. It’s really gone.”
The arm reflected in the mirror was so clean as if it had never been hurt.
Only until last night, there was clearly a hideously torn wound.
It wasn't deep, but a persistent wound where dark purple poison rose like a haze.
It was a state where he had to concentrate on treatment for at least a week for the poison to barely drain.
“But when I woke up in the morning, it disappeared so cleanly....”
Even smooth new skin had grown without a single scar.
It was a phenomenon impossible to explain medically or magically.
‘It’s clearly that.’
Lee Seok-ju was certain.
Exactly yesterday, that mysterious red liquid handed over from Old Man No.
Except for that, there was no way to explain this miracle.
‘Manager Jang....’
And he recalled the face of Kang-hyun, who silently took charge of the dirty work from behind for him.
How much his heart hurt when he heard the news he was laid off.
But instead, he received help.
And a very great help at that.
‘How can I ever repay this grace?’
He broke through the limit of a B-Rank Hunter who was frustrated before the wall of the 40th floor.
‘There must be something I can help with.’
Then, it suddenly came to mind.
The words Kang-hyun said in passing.
“Right, Kang-hyun said he still... hasn't been to the Tower yet.”
< Hidden Proof > END