Chapter 165
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 165
Chapter Title: Ha Yul (1)
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“Y-Yul!”
Right after Ha Yu-ri blurted that out, her younger sibling collapsed as if passing out.
For now, I quickly hugged Ruska to calm her down, then had no choice but to check on Ha Yul's condition immediately.
'Lekaruks vanished, and he lost consciousness right away.'
“Yul! Yul! No, no...!”
Ha Yu-ri had lost her composure, probably because her sibling had collapsed.
“Calm down first, just for a moment...”
I checked if he was still breathing—his life was intact.
“My sibling, what about my sibling? What... sob...”
“Calm down. Your sibling isn't dead. He's alive—he's just unconscious.”
“Ahh...”
'For now...'
I opened Ha Yul's Status Window first.
The information displayed was exactly the same as when I'd first checked it.
Except for one changed line.
[Connection with the owner has been severed. The altered personality has vanished, but he has fallen into a deep catatonic state.]
'Catatonic state? What's a catatonic coma?'
I knew next to nothing about medicine. I had a rough idea of what a coma was, of course, but catatonic coma? My head was starting to hurt.
“...Listen calmly. Ha Yul is in a catatonic state right now. It's not hopeless for him to recover, so let's sort out the situation first. You're injured too, after all.”
“Can he recover? I... I don't think I can go on living if Yul doesn't wake up like this.”
“I'll help as much as I can, so let's move for now. We can figure out what to do after we get back. You can't just leave your sibling here, right?”
“O-Okay, I'll do as you say.”
The only ones in decent shape were me and Sharis.
I hadn't done much against Lekaruks anyway, and Sharis had only depleted her mana—no serious injuries beyond some minor scratches.
“...Let's head back for now.”
After we got back, Ha Yu-ri's sibling was moved to the Madan Clan's house.
Word was, he'd been under professional care in a dedicated room for a few days now.
And today, I headed to the Madan Clan's house to meet Ha Yu-ri in person.
“...Come on in.”
“Madan Clan Master, nice to see you.”
Ha Yu-ri's adjutant was standing beside her, so I spoke formally.
'Gotta keep up appearances in front of her clan members.'
More than anything, if I—a regular Eternity clan member—spoke casually to her like it was nothing, the others would find it strange.
“...Congratulations. Eternity's reputation shot up overnight this time.”
“Ah...”
Ha Yu-ri's words were about Seo Yu-ju.
'It rose faster than I expected, after all.'
In the end, the vacant ranker spot had gone to Seo Yu-ju.
There'd been plenty of talk since a first-year like her had claimed a ranker position, but her feats in pioneering the Swamp of Oblivion were beyond common sense, so this was the result.
Seo Yu-ju herself didn't seem to care much about becoming a ranker, but naturally, our clan had been in full celebration mode.
'We made a huge fuss about everything possible.'
“Haha... Thank you. I'm at a loss for words hearing that from the Madan Clan Master.”
At my polite response, Ha Yu-ri looked like she couldn't hold back any longer.
“...You don't need to act as my guard right now.”
“Ah, yes. Understood, Master.”
Ha Yu-ri dismissed the adjutant who'd been following her.
“You can speak casually now. Hearing formal speech from you... feels awkward at this point.”
“No need to send away your adjutant for that. It wasn't uncomfortable anyway.”
“...Hearing you speak formally makes me uncomfortable.”
We kept talking as we walked. She'd guide me to the room herself.
“What's uncomfortable about it? You were fine with it back at the training facility.”
Bringing up our training facility days made Ha Yu-ri flinch, her expression hardening.
“...What's wrong?”
'Did I mess up?'
“No, it's nothing. Back then... I was out of my mind, or rather, I was the one who wronged you unilaterally.”
“It's fine. The reason I hated dark sorcerers was something else anyway.”
I brushed it off like it was no big deal, but her face twisted.
'...What's her deal?'
“I...”
She started to speak, then clamped her mouth shut. Like she wanted to say something but couldn't bring herself to.
As bad as this sounds, back then, she was clearly the perpetrator and I was the victim—but now, it felt like I was the one watching her reactions.
Her condition was off, after all.
'Is it because of her sibling?'
If I were in her shoes, I'd be a wreck too.
Ha Yu-ri, who'd gone quiet, cautiously spoke up.
“Um... excuse me.”
“Yeah? What's with the 'excuse me'? Why are you trembling like that?”
'...Is she scared I'll use a command to humiliate her?'
I'd toyed with her using commands whenever we met, so it made sense she'd think that.
“I get what you're worried about, but don't be. No matter how much of a bastard I am, I wouldn't mess with you in a situation like this.”
I had no intention of doing that on the way to check on her sibling's condition.
“No, that's not it. It's not that I'm thinking...”
“Then what is it? This isn't like you. You're really off today.”
“Ah... um... Can I ask one question?”
“Since when do you ask permission? Just say it.”
“...Why are you being so nice to me?”
“...What?”
“Th-This time... you helped, right? From your perspective, my sibling's situation had nothing to do with you.”
“.....”
'Why did I help...'
Honestly, the reason wasn't anything special.
I needed Ha Yu-ri as an asset as much as possible, so I'd helped out of necessity.
While also giving her a bit of mental support.
'Can't have her breaking down.'
I didn't know if she'd reach transcendent level, but she was worth maintaining.
'And...'
I'd seen my own failure to save the siblings who died in the fire reflected in her.
“...I just get it a little, that's all.”
“Huh? Get what...”
“I can relate to wanting to save your sibling, to some extent.”
“Uh... You have a sibling?”
“...Not a blood sibling, but I had some younger ones I lived with.”
“On Earth?”
“Yeah, but they all died anyway. In a fire.”
Ha Yu-ri fell silent at my words. She glanced at me nervously, then apologized helplessly.
“Ah... S-Sorry. I had no idea...”
“What are you sorry for? You didn't start the fire.”
“N-No, that's not it, but...”
“Anyway, that's why I get how you feel about your sibling.”
“......”
“...Just think of it as an investment. I'm doing this so I can squeeze you for it later.”
“...Okay.”
She didn't look too upset at the idea of me exploiting her later.
If anything, she seemed pleased, which threw me off.
'...Shouldn't she hate that?'
I was basically saying I'd use her hard down the line. A normal reaction would be displeasure.
“...More importantly, any word on that person we called?”
Neither Ha Yu-ri nor I knew medicine, so we'd tracked down someone who'd been a doctor on Earth.
“He should be here soon. The appointment time is almost up.”
Just as Ha Yu-ri finished speaking, we arrived at the room where Ha Yul lay.
'His complexion's improved, at least.'
No major physical issues apparent. He just needed to regain consciousness.
Ha Yu-ri gazed at her sibling with a face full of worry.
“....That's my sibling. What should I do if he wakes up?”
I listened quietly to her mumbling.
“...He must resent me for sure. There's no way he'd like a sister who couldn't save him.”
“Who knows... We'll see when he wakes up. Assuming he resents you is just your own assumption anyway.”
I didn't even know what kind of personality Ha Yu-ri's sibling had.
“But we did save him in the end. It's way better than the worst-case scenario you and I imagined, so no need to be so negative.”
“.....”
Truth be told, this was lucky amid misfortune.
If Lekaruks—that old monster—had mixed Ha Yul with monsters, it'd be a different story.
Being able to move him to a room like this and monitor his condition was a real stroke of fortune.
'Being able to worry about it is a luxury.'
If it had been truly horrific, we wouldn't be talking like this with Ha Yul right there.
“What if... What if...”
“What?”
“What if he wakes up and his personality is gone? Then what about me...”
“...From what I can tell with my abilities, his original consciousness isn't gone. It's just buried deep.”
“.....”
“And... I'm looking into ways to restore consciousness. Turns out there are cases where egos locked away this long were recovered.”
“Huh?”
Ha Yu-ri's eyes went wide at my words.
If there was precedent for recovering an ego in a similar situation, it wasn't impossible for Ha Yul either.
What I'd told Ha Yu-ri wasn't a lie.
The Acacia Clan and I had looked into it thoroughly, and such cases did exist.
“But you'd need to enter his subconscious. The problem is, trying it carelessly could cause big trouble.”
“Ah...”
That's why we needed to understand exactly what this catatonic state meant.
If recovery chances were slim and you entered the subconscious anyway, shock death was a risk in the worst case.
“Sharis can help with entering the mind.”
Since she specialized in mental attacks, I'd asked just in case.
I hadn't expected much, but her answer—that it was possible—had surprised me.
I'd worried it might harm Ha Yu-ri's sibling, but she said mental attacks didn't always shatter minds; she could just enter with intent.
'It all depends on Ha Yul's condition in the end.'
If the catatonic state was severe, better to observe without entering his mind.
But if it wasn't critical and recovery was viable, we could try entering and treating it.
'When's he getting here?'
We'd arrived early, but I wanted that Earth doctor's opinion.
Knock knock.
“This is Park Jun-sang, with an appointment today. May I come in?”
“Y-Yes. Come in.”
Ha Yu-ri personally opened the door to greet him.
'He's young.'
His voice had sounded youthful, and he looked to be in his early thirties.
This wasn't Earth, though, so he wasn't wearing a doctor's coat.
“Haha... Nice to meet you. I, uh, heard you wanted me to check on the patient's condition...”
Park Jun-sang seemed quite tense.
And the reason wasn't me—it was Ha Yu-ri.
'Makes sense. A regular player wouldn't get face-to-face time with a top-three clan master like this.'
To me, Ha Yu-ri was approachable now, but to an average player, she was untouchable—like a star in the sky. A perfectly natural reaction.