Chapter 2
Chapter 2
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 002
Chapter Title: Discharge (2)
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Seo Dae-hyun visited the orphanage after a long time.
"It's been a month, hasn't it?"
He'd failed the interview and lost all his confidence.
At some point, he'd started avoiding the place.
He had no face left to show them.
Not after bragging that he'd become a Hunter Association hunter.
"Big brother!" "Oppa!"
The kids came running and climbed all over him.
They treated him like a playground.
"Woooah! Chicken! Chicken!"
Seo Dae-hyun was holding chicken and pizza.
"You kids! If you keep bothering your big brother and oppa, I won't give you any!"
The caretaker scolded them sternly.
"Go wash your hands and head to the dining hall."
That's when the Director stepped in to guide the children inside.
""Yes!""
If the caretaker was the strict father figure, the Director was the mother.
"You've had it rough. Noona."
"You show up, and they all turn into little monsters."
He chatted with Ji-hye Noona as they entered the dining hall.
""We'll gratefully enjoy this meal!""
The kids dug into the chicken and pizza he'd brought.
Watching them happily munch away brought a faint smile to his face.
Seo Dae-hyun wiped chicken crumbs from one child's mouth with a wet wipe.
"Big brother! Me too!" "Me too, me too!" "Oppa, wipe mine!"
The other kids started clamoring jealously for the same treatment.
"Finish eating first, then we'll clean up!"
Ji-hye Noona's words finally settled them down to their food.
Keeping these kids in line must be exhausting.
Seo Dae-hyun spent the whole day with them.
Since they were all young, they played simple physical games.
Tag, hopscotch, red light green light—they ran around the yard excitedly.
"Big brother, let's play more!"
"Hurry! It's your turn to be it now."
"Oppa, let's go inside and play house!"
The kids tugged at him with their tiny hands, begging for more playtime.
"Kids, snack time!"
Before he knew it, it was time for snacks.
At the mention of snacks, they all bolted toward the caretaker.
'What stamina...'
They're distracted by snacks now. Time to catch a break—
Squirm.
A little girl grabbed his leg with her tiny hand.
"Leg hurts."
Seo Dae-hyun picked her up and carried her to the snacks.
"Hey, me too!"
"Oppa, carry me too!"
The kids who'd been snacking swarmed back to him.
Seo Dae-hyun entered the Director's office.
He sipped the green tea she'd brewed and looked around.
The office was a converted storage room with a tiny window.
It brought back memories.
"It's been a while here too."
"You used to make this your secret hideout."
Before the remodel, it had been his secret base.
Just like hiding in a wardrobe as a kid.
"You threw such a fit about not changing it back then."
The Director reminisced with a distant look.
Seo Dae-hyun just bowed his head.
One dawn, he'd run off, leaving a crooked note saying he was leaving home.
The Director had searched for him barefoot until sunrise but couldn't find him.
Seo Dae-hyun had hidden in that storage room and fallen asleep.
Like any kid, he'd been a handful back then.
Things changed once he hit high school and started maturing.
"Looking back, it was all just fond memories."
The Director murmured with a warm smile.
She hadn't said it, but she knew he'd come because he was struggling.
"So, don't you have something to say?"
"How'd you know?"
Her words made his eyes widen.
"Hehe. I'm your mom, aren't I?"
The real reason he'd come to the orphanage was to say goodbye.
"...I'm leaving Korea this time."
He barely got the words out.
That overseas call had been from his army senior.
"His dad farms in the US and needed hands, so he offered me a spot. I'm heading there."
It wasn't a decision made lightly.
After much thought, Seo Dae-hyun chose to go to America.
There was a rumor that the Association wouldn't take you if you failed the support exam three times.
He wanted to see a bigger world this time.
"Sorry I didn't tell you sooner."
"No need to apologize. My boy's doing what he wants. Nothing to be sorry for."
The mother respected whatever choice her son made.
"When do you leave?"
"Tomorrow."
The offer came a week ago, approved four days back.
Thanks to his senior, everything went smoothly.
"Won't you wait for Ha-young and the school kids?"
Song Ha-young was a high school sophomore living at the orphanage, but she was at school.
She'd trailed after him as a kid, but now in her teens, she was all tsundere attitude.
Still, her letters during basic training and service had gotten him through.
"It's not like I'm leaving forever. I'll come back when I can."
Before leaving Korea, there was one more place he had to visit.
The Armed Forces Capital Hospital.
He'd lost comrades to a Dungeon Gate when he was a sergeant.
Even before that, during a monster wave blockade, a comrade ended up hospitalized.
Private Kim and Corporal Choi.
Private First Class Kim Tae-wan, a D-Rank hunter, had dreamed of joining a major guild after discharge—but now he was stuck in the hospital.
Brain damage left him slurring his words, his mind regressed to an eight-year-old's level.
Injured when Seo Dae-hyun was a private first class, he'd been here for two years.
Corporal Choi Hoon had been discharged, but rumors said he lived like a vegetable.
Corporal Choi's honorary discharge reason: severed wrist.
A magical beast had torn off his hand, leaving him one-armed.
Beyond that, shattered facial bones, permanent disabilities—incidents were common, but only a fraction reached the public.
"Thank you so much for coming."
It was Private First Class Kim Tae-wan's mother.
She looked more worn than last time, deep wrinkles etched from hardship.
Her clothes were frayed, worn for years.
Active duty meant leave restrictions and his own PTSD kept him away, but post-discharge, he'd visited once or twice a month.
"No, I haven't done much."
He really hadn't.
Their connection was the army, but he couldn't talk army with Kim Tae-wan in this state.
Mentioning service triggered seizures.
He was sleeping soundly now.
"Dae-hyun, let me peel you some fruit."
As Kim Tae-wan's mother reached for fruit,
Bang!!
A thug in sloppy clothes burst into the room.
A clutch bag under his arm, tattoos peeking from his loose shirt collar.
They scanned the room, then pointed at Private Kim's mother.
"Auntie! Thought you could hide from me?! When you paying back my money?!"
"P-Please, just a bit more time—"
Ignoring her, he strode forward, huge hand outstretched.
Before he could grab her hair, Seo Dae-hyun seized the tattooed wrist.
"This is a hospital. Don't cause a scene."
The thug's face twisted.
"Who the hell are you? Anyone'd think I'm the bad guy! This auntie borrowed my cash and puked it back up!"
The thug yelled as if he were the innocent one.
Private Kim's mother couldn't speak. It wasn't puking it back—she'd given full personal info for the loan shark.
With her son in the army capital hospital, running wasn't possible.
The thug tried shaking off Seo Dae-hyun's grip, but it held firm.
Demoted rank or not, he was still stronger than a civilian.
"So, how much?"
"One, no two million!"
Private Kim's mother, who'd been bowing like a criminal, lifted her head.
"The debt's 500,000 won! And we've paid it all!"
"Shut it! What about my time wasted on you?! Gotta compensate for my mental anguish!"
The loan shark brazenly demanded four times the principal.
"I'll give you a million, then don't come back."
"Nah, a million's too low, at least one and a half—"
Seo Dae-hyun twisted the shark's wrist and whispered in his ear.
"Agh—"
"One million."
"Anything more is your hospital bill."
The shark, sweating bullets, agreed to one million.
He fled like a rabbit, leaving the room in sudden quiet.
Private Kim's mother collapsed, legs giving out, tears bursting forth.
Seo Dae-hyun helped her out to a chair and heard her story.
Hospital support cuts started a year ago; now she paid out of pocket.
That 500,000 was all interest.
Private Kim's family was poor.
Father dead, mother shouldering everything.
He'd dreamed of joining a big guild to care for her.
Seo Dae-hyun wanted to curse, but with the suffering mother beside him, he clenched his fist, swallowing his rage.
A deep disillusionment and contempt for the military swelled.
But he was powerless.
An A-Rank hunter might've publicized the injustice.
'No power.'
Seo Dae-hyun handed Private Kim's mother a white envelope.
"Use this for Tae-wan's hospital bills."
Ten million won inside.
Money he'd planned to give before leaving Korea.
She refused vehemently, but he insisted.
"Hic, sob. Sorry, sorry. I'll pay you back."
If the nation shirked responsibility, he—who'd once fought beside her son—wanted to lighten their load, even a little.
Incheon International Airport.
The Director came to see him off.
He'd told her not to, but she'd come anyway.
Dawn flight meant the kids were asleep; Ji-hye had to stay at the orphanage.
But they'd said goodbyes before he left.
They could still call or text.
[Flight to Iowa, USA, will depart soon. Please proceed to the gate.]
Departure time approached.
"Thank you for raising me all these years. Mom."
"Son, eat well and take care over there."
Seo Dae-hyun hugged her tight one last time, trying to shake off the regret.
But it only sank deeper.
Even when he'd enlisted, it hadn't felt this way.
His service wasn't just repayment to the nation.
It was devotion to protect his loved ones.
Just as she'd protected him.
He realized that too late, only after leaving Korea.
Iowa Airport.
After a grueling 12-hour flight, he arrived at the Iowa airport.
Dragging his weary body, he stretched.
"Dae-hyun hyung! Over here!"
He turned toward the bright, welcoming voice.
Tanned skin, short hair.
The young man calling his name so happily was his army senior.
"Long time no see, Sergeant Kim Hyun-jun."
"Ah, cut it out. Just call me hyung."
They'd dropped formalities two months before his own discharge.
Kim Hyun-jun was two years younger, 23.
No awkwardness despite the time apart.
They were the kind who could smile together in the army.
"Thanks for inviting me."
"No big deal."
Kim Hyun-jun shrugged.
"I just passed the message. Dad made the call."
He'd learned of Seo Dae-hyun's situation and made the offer.
Even covered the flight.
It wasn't just about the money.
Part of him wanted to leave the country that abandoned him.
Not that he wasn't regretful—it'd be a lie to say otherwise.
But he felt a bit lighter.
"Let's go. You must be hungry. Mom cooked up a storm for you."
Kim Hyun-jun hopped into a truck in the airport lot and started it up. Seo Dae-hyun took shotgun.
They had a 4-5 hour drive at 150 km/h across long distances.
Vast land, light traffic—smooth sailing.
"You sure this is okay?"
"It's fine. I'm the one who isn't."
Midway, they swapped; Seo Dae-hyun took the wheel.
Kim Hyun-jun's tired face—half-closed eyes, endless yawns—was obvious beside him.
He was out in ten minutes.
'Must've been beat.'
Seo Dae-hyun chuckled at his dongsaeng-like senior.
Army or civilian life, nothing changed.
He turned down the pop song blasting from the media and sped along the road.