Hide and Seek (7)
Even with Quarter gone, the situation was still grim.
I hurried over to Bang Su-hwan.
"How is he?"
Ha Se-na rushed in and quickly laid a heal on him as well.
"The bleeding's stopped."
The wound in his chest, where blood had been pouring out after the knife stab, knitted shut.
Ha Se-na was the best healer in the Dio Guild.
She’d stabilized Bang Su-hwan, who had been caught off guard by Quarter’s ambush, in no time at all.
But there was still a problem.
"The poison's the issue. It's spreading."
Quarter had customized a factory-made dagger from Seosan and used it as a weapon.
Needle-like hidden blades sprang out, and he’d coated them with poison too.
Ha Se-na spread her palm and focused her mana.
"My skill, Touch of Purification, only works according to preloaded values."
When an Awakened explained the nature of their own unique power, it meant Ha Se-na trusted me that much.
Even with her doing her best, Bang Su-hwan’s face kept turning a deeper shade of purple.
The black veins etched into his neck grew even more pronounced.
"This is a new type of poison. I’ve already done emergency treatment, but that’s as far as I can go."
Ha Se-na was drenched in cold sweat, panting hard.
She’d already burned through a huge amount of mana just recovering Jeon Su-bin’s body.
She’s already pushing herself too hard.
Thanks to Ha Se-na, the damage had been kept to this extent.
If she hadn’t been here, Bang Su-hwan might have died on the spot.
Ha Se-na pulled her hand away from Bang Su-hwan’s body.
"We need to get him to a hospital, now!"
At her shout, I bent down on one knee.
I hoisted Bang Su-hwan onto my back.
"What are you going to do?"
"Take him to a hospital."
I had no idea how far it was from Saebyul Oreum to the nearest hospital.
"You think you can carry him and run there? That's impossible."
It definitely wasn’t close.
Of course it would be physically brutal.
I can use Infinite Acceleration.
Even if it drained a massive chunk of my Awakener's Balance……
I don't care.
Just as I clenched my teeth and was about to activate the skill, a strip of light carved itself through the air.
It was the unmistakable sign of a subspace opening.
Had Quarter come back?
No way.
Coming back after suffering serious injuries was no different from suicide.
It must be the original owner of the power.
As expected, Harabang emerged through the dimensional gate.
"What happened?"
Harabang hadn't come alone.
He appeared while gripping the collar of an unconscious man.
The movement restriction for using the dimensional gate was two people.
Harabang had finished fighting the New Dark executives and brought one of them with him.
Bang Su-hwan, teetering on the brink of death.
Me, carrying Bang Su-hwan on my back.
We didn’t bother explaining, but Harabang quickly read the situation anyway.
"Where to?"
"The nearest hospital."
Three times a day.
As long as he had been there before, Harabang could move to any place he wanted.
Right. Harabang.
Bang Su-hwan had thrown my thinking off for a moment.
"Please. Harabang."
"Okay. Leave it to me."
Harabang took Bang Su-hwan onto his back.
Bang Su-hwan was bigger and heavier, but Harabang handled him easily.
Then Harabang split open space with a dagger.
"Come to Hanla Medical Center."
Harabang disappeared into the opening and vanished.
Silence settled over Saebyul Oreum.
……
My stomach felt tight with despair.
I hadn’t made any particular mistake in the fight with Quarter.
I hadn’t been outclassed in terms of skill either.
As a matter of fact, I hadn’t been hurt at all.
On the contrary, Quarter had taken a fatal wound.
And yet.
It feels like he got one over on me.
No matter how thoroughly you prepare, real combat always throws up variables.
I can't believe Quarter could open a subspace gate.
His ability was probably Copy.
A power that let him mimic someone else’s abilities exactly if they used them within his domain.
There were probably more specific conditions, but that was all I could infer for now.
Then can he use my ability too?
I’d used Infinite Acceleration inside his domain.
Just imagining Quarter using the Speeder’s ability made my skin crawl.
No, more than that.
I'm worried about Bang Su-hwan.
That was also why I’d stayed behind instead of chasing Quarter.
Ha Se-na stood up.
"He'll be okay. We have to hope he will."
It sounded like she was reassuring me, but it also sounded like she was trying to reassure herself.
"Seo Aho!"
From far off, Ryu Su-hon came running, waving a hand.
"Where's Quarter? Huh? And where the hell is Su-hwan?"
As Ryu Su-hon approached me, he noticed the streak of blood staining the grass and clapped a hand over his mouth.
"Don't tell me……"
Then the Jeju police began gathering one by one.
The New Dark executive that Bang Su-hwan had knocked down lay sprawled in the grass, and the one Harabang had brought over was unconscious too.
It was time to get this chaotic mess back in order.
"Let's clean this up."
Beep. Beep.
At regular intervals, the machine sounded its steady electronic tone.
Bang Su-hwan lay on a hospital bed wearing an oxygen mask.
A private room, reserved for one person.
Top-tier medical staff, state-of-the-art procedures.
They were doing everything they could for him.
And yet, despite all that, the signs of recovery simply weren't there.
Shortness of breath, rash and hives, swelling, discoloration of the skin, even coma……
Bang Su-hwan showed no sign of waking up.
The doctor said, "His condition is critical. Modern medicine has reached its limit here."
The poison Quarter used was a brand-new compound he’d made himself.
They still hadn’t found an antidote.
"At this rate……"
The doctor hesitated.
"He might never wake up."
It was a thunderbolt from a clear sky, but I forced myself not to show it.
I just gritted my teeth and stared at Bang Su-hwan lying on the bed.
"I'm sorry."
The doctor left the room.
Then, suddenly, Bang Su-hwan’s face flashed through my mind.
"I’ll come running whenever you call, hyung-nim!"
"Kahaha! Hyung-nim, how about braised cutlassfish today?"
"I really love the Brave Sword team! Hahaha!"
He was always smiling brightly, loyal and devoted to the point that he would have leapt out of bed if I’d called for him in his sleep.
He was big, but he was also timid and soft-hearted for a hunter.
Bang Su-hwan could only curl up on the bed like an injured animal, unable to open his eyes for long.
Ha Se-na came into the room.
"What did the doctor say?"
At her question, I relayed the doctor’s words without embellishment.
"If they can't find an antidote, he'll be stuck as a vegetative patient forever."
Ha Se-na didn’t change expression.
But the air in the room shifted ever so slightly.
I could feel it.
She was hurting just as much as I was.
"I went into the Jeju Island Gate."
Ha Se-na took something out of her bag.
"I dug up an herb said to work against neurotoxic poisons. It should keep the poison from spreading."
It was only a stopgap.
Without treating the root cause, it was meaningless.
"I also went to the shop and bought potions of every type. They said they help restore consciousness. And this is……"
Ha Se-na was moving around frantically, almost like someone possessed.
"I went to the library and checked out a ton of books on poison too. Even if this is a new kind of toxin, if we build on the fundamentals……"
As if she were trying to deny reality itself.
I caught her by the wrist.
"That's enough. You've done enough."
In the end, Ha Se-na burst into tears.
"It's my fault. This is all my fault……"
Bang Su-hwan had been stabbed by Quarter after saving Ha Se-na in his place.
Quarter had targeted Ha Se-na because she was a healer.
The most effective way to weaken a team was to eliminate its healer.
"……I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
I patted her back and tried to calm her down.
I couldn't fall apart too.
That's probably exactly what Quarter wants.
As time passed, Ha Se-na, who’d been shedding tears one after another, gradually calmed down.
I handed her some tissues and asked the question that mattered most.
"If we have the poison Quarter used, can Touch of Purification cure it?"
"Yeah."
Ha Se-na nodded.
The poison that had driven Bang Su-hwan to the edge of death could be the key to the antidote.
It was an irony so cruel it almost felt like a joke.
Getting the antidote comes first.
Quarter would be dealt with later.
I got to my feet.
"Where are you going?"
Ha Se-na looked up.
"Stay with Su-hwan."
"……Got it."
Even unconscious, Bang Su-hwan was probably fighting with everything he had somewhere deep inside himself just to stay alive.
I decided to do what I could.
I reached out and took his hand.
A warmth seeped through his thick, pot-lid-sized grip.
Looking down at Bang Su-hwan, I murmured, "I'll be back soon."
As I stepped out of the hospital room, someone was leaning against the hallway wall.
"Judging by that face, it looks like a complete disaster."
It was Harabang, his bucket hat pulled down low.
"Thanks, Harabang."
Because of him, Bang Su-hwan had been taken to the hospital faster than anyone else could have managed.
"I didn't do anything worth praising. If anything, I'm sorry. I dragged hunters into a fight between villains, and now you lot are paying the price in blood."
"Harabang. You're not a villain."
A person who exploited others and committed every kind of evil.
"Quarter's the real villain."
Harabang exhaled.
"I didn't know Quarter had a Copy ability either. I thought he was just a multi-talent…… I ended up handing him dimensional arts on a silver platter."
It wasn’t Harabang’s fault.
If Quarter really had no limit on copying abilities……
Then next time, we'll have to deal with hero abilities too.
Super Kid, Speeder, Mr. Eden, Poseidon, and Mr. Bear.
I couldn't let Quarter steal the precious heroes from me.
"So what are you going to do now?"
The plan had been perfect.
I’d lured Quarter in by using Jeon Su-bin.
I’d actually come within seconds of putting handcuffs on him.
What I didn't anticipate was……
Quarter’s actions.
And his nature.
Quarter had his own philosophy.
Humans were born evil.
That was why evil could never be completely erased from this world.
So, in the end, he had to be the one to dominate it.
Quarter’s words brushed through my ears.
"Order and control."
He had decided to take direct control of evil himself.
That was how he wiped out the Dark Alliance and built New Dark.
To everyone else, it was a warped ideal.
To Quarter, it was justice.
To realize and achieve that belief, he didn’t care what methods he used.
Even if it meant killing his own beloved subordinate.
I took something out of my pocket.
A circular tool with ancient patterns engraved into a bronze rim.
At the center was a polished silver disc: the Witch Mirror.
The Witch Mirror answered questions.
But there was a condition.
It had to be someone I’d had physical contact with.
Yesterday, when I fought Quarter, I’d kicked him in the stomach.
That satisfied the condition.
"The man I fought yesterday—the one called Quarter. Where is he?"
The Witch Mirror rippled.
On its surface, Quarter’s face appeared, curly hair framing his intense eyes.
Then the image shifted.
The outline of Jeju Island appeared, and a single black dot shimmered against the map.
Curiously, the dot’s position was slightly outside Jeju itself.
That was where Quarter was.
"Where is this?"
Harabang studied the map.
"Huh. Udo. That bastard. After causing all that hell yesterday, he’s hiding out on an island like nothing happened."
Quarter was already wanted.
His face had been circulated nationwide since yesterday.
Unless he disguised himself, he couldn’t roam around openly anymore.
Harabang said, "You going to Udo?"
I fell silent for a moment.
Quarter could use abilities like Harabang’s.
If I rushed him now, there was a risk he’d sense my approach, open a dimensional gate, and escape.
I shook my head.
"There’s something I need to do first."
"What is it?"
If Quarter wouldn't hesitate to use any method to achieve his goals, then I had no choice but to do the same.
"Where are the guys we caught yesterday?"
Two New Dark executives were still alive.
"They’re inside the resort. The guards are keeping a close watch on them."
"Good."
The plan to make Quarter turn himself in had failed.
And the peace agreement had already been shattered the moment Jeon Su-bin, the hostage, died.
As I walked down the hallway, I said, "Then we'll do this the rough way too."