The Return of the Hero
The system message flashed before my eyes.
Congratulations!
An S-Class Mana Core (Growth Type) has settled in your heart.
Current mana efficiency: 1200% increase
You can now learn magic from all categories.
“Ugh…”
A scorching heat surged up from my lower dantian. It felt like new blood vessels were bursting open throughout my entire body—an overwhelming rush of pleasure.
I clenched and unclenched my fist atop the charred remains of the Hydra. A faint blue mana rose from my fingertips like heat haze.
The mana circuits that had once been so clogged and frustrating, like some pathetic eunuch’s, were now wide open.
“This is the stuff.”
Eighty billion won? Not even a little bit painful.
An S-Class core was something that couldn’t even be measured in money.
Now I could hold my head high as a hunter even without relying on gear.
“Ugh, but look at the state of me.”
I clicked my tongue as I looked down.
The five-hundred-million-won bulletproof uniform was reduced to rags and scorched black. My face stung too—I’d probably suffered some burns.
One regeneration potion would fix it, but I had to pretend I didn’t have any.
Only then would the picture-perfect story of “a hard-fought victory after a desperate struggle” come together.
“Shall we head out…?”
I kicked through the ashes and walked toward the gate entrance.
Step. Step.
I could already picture the girls waiting outside.
They’d be in an absolute frenzy of emotion, right?
When I said “Oppa’s here,” Seo Yoona would probably burst into tears and hug me, while Han Soeun would clap and lose her mind.
Then I’d coolly drop a line like “It was nothing,” and game over.
I could already hear the sound of favorability ratings hitting MAX.
The corner of my mouth twitched into a smirk as I pushed through the thick smoke.
[Gate Entrance]
……
A heavy silence hung in the air.
The moment I emerged from the smoke, the two girls froze at the same time.
Seo Yoona, who had been sitting on the ground sobbing, and Han Soeun, who had been frantically trying to rush into the gate like a madwoman, both stopped dead.
“Uh…”
Han Soeun’s mouth fell open in a daze.
Seo Yoona rubbed her eyes as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
I grinned and waved.
“What are you staring at? You’re making me embarrassed.”
I tried to look as cool and relaxed as possible.
But before I could even finish speaking—
“Senior!!!!!”
“Young Master!!!!!”
The two girls screamed and came flying at me.
Wait, was that even human speed?
Whoosh—!
“Oof!”
My breath caught in my throat.
Seo Yoona wrapped her arms around my neck while Han Soeun clung to my waist.
They were squeezing so hard I thought my ribs might shatter.
“Hey, hey! That hurts! I’m a patient!”
“You’re alive… sob… you’re really alive…”
Seo Yoona buried her face in my shoulder and wailed like a wounded animal.
Hot tears soaked through my torn uniform shirt.
“Liar… I thought you were going to die… I thought you were going to abandon us and die!”
Han Soeun pounded my chest with her fists as she wept.
Hey, stop hitting me. It hurts.
“I told you I wouldn’t die. Don’t you know how stubborn I am?”
I groaned and patted both of their backs.
A strange sense of unease washed over me.
Normally, when people cried from relief, their bodies should go limp, right?
But the tighter these two hugged me, the more strength they poured into their arms.
It was as if they were afraid I would vanish the moment they let go.
“From now on… I’m never letting go.”
Seo Yoona whispered in my ear.
Her voice was trembling, but the content was downright terrifying.
“I won’t let you out of my sight ever again. I’ll even follow you to the bathroom.”
“……Pardon?”
“Me too.”
Han Soeun lifted her head and looked up at me.
Her eyes were swollen, but deep within her pupils swirled a pitch-black vortex.
“I’m going to install bars on Young Master’s bedroom window. And change the door lock so it can only be locked from the outside.”
“Hey, isn’t that joke going a bit far?”
I let out a hollow laugh.
Haha, it had to be a joke. They were just too shocked, that’s all.
“Move aside, the ambulance is here.”
I lay down on the stretcher with the help of the rescue workers.
“Patient, your condition looks serious. We’ll transport you to the hospital immediately.”
“Will the guardians be riding with us?”
At the paramedic’s question, both girls shouted at the same time.
“We’re coming.”
“We’re getting in.”
Even inside the ambulance, they each held one of my hands and refused to let go.
So tightly that their nails dug into my skin.
This… something feels very wrong.
I swallowed hard as I stared at the ceiling.
This didn’t feel like the triumphant return of a hero. It felt more like I was being transported in a prisoner escort vehicle.
Daeseong Hospital VVIP Ward.
A luxurious single room the size of ten regular hospital rooms combined.
All thanks to my grandfather’s thunderous order: “My grandson is injured—give him the absolute best care!”
But right now, this spacious room felt like a prison.
“Ah…”
I opened my mouth.
Han Soeun fed me an apple she had cut (more like brutally hacked) into the shape of a rabbit.
“Is it good?”
“Y-yeah. It’s good.”
I just swallowed it without really tasting anything.
Han Soeun sat in the chair beside the bed, staring at my face without blinking.
“Get some rest. Your eyes are bloodshot.”
“I don’t want to. If I close my eyes, it feels like Young Master will disappear.”
“I’m not going anywhere. Can’t you see me lying here with an IV?”
“Still…”
She took my wrist and rubbed it against her cheek.
“Body temperature… it’s warm. It really is Young Master.”
Her murmured words sounded like yandere ASMR.
On the sofa across from us sat Seo Yoona.
She had her sword resting on her knees and was sharpening the blade with a whetstone.
Scrape. Scrape.
What the hell was that sound of someone sharpening a sword in a hospital room?
“Yoona. Can’t you put that away? It’s scary and I can’t sleep.”
“No.”
Seo Yoona answered firmly.
“We don’t know when another assassin or monster might appear. We must remain on full alert twenty-four hours a day.”
“This is a hospital. There are security personnel everywhere.”
“I don’t trust them.”
Seo Yoona lifted the sword and examined it in the light. The cold blue edge gleamed.
“I will only trust what I see with my own eyes. Anyone who dares lay a finger on Senior will be decapitated on the spot.”
Her eyes were dead serious.
The doctor who came for rounds had nearly wet himself after seeing that look in her eyes and practically fled.
I let out a deep sigh.
Was this the harem I had dreamed of?
Sure, I had flowers in both hands—but those flowers weren’t just thorny; they were coated in poison.
‘I’m going crazy from how suffocating this is.’
I had obtained an S-Class core. I wanted to get out of here quickly and test some magic.
But whenever I tried to go to the bathroom, Han Soeun stood guard right outside the door. If I even tried to open a window, Seo Yoona would say “There’s a risk of snipers” and immediately close the curtains.
“Um, girls.”
I spoke carefully.
“I’m really fine. The doctor said all my vitals are normal.”
“And?”
“Can’t I be discharged? I need to go back to school too…”
“No.”
They rejected me in perfect unison.
Seo Yoona stood up and walked over to the bed.
She pressed down firmly on my shoulder and leaned her face close.
“Senior.”
“Yeah?”
“You barely survived. Because of us. Alone inside that ridiculous monster.”
Her eyes grew moist again. But the emotion inside them wasn’t sadness—it was closer to rage.
“I will never see you like that again. Until I personally determine that you are completely, one hundred percent safe by my standards, you are not taking a single step outside this room.”
“My standards too.”
Han Soeun chimed in from the side.
“You can’t leave until all your bones have healed, your skin has fully regenerated, and you’ve undergone a full psychological evaluation. School? I’ll submit the leave of absence paperwork myself.”
“Hey, a leave of absence is a bit—”
“Be quiet. Just listen to us. We’re not compromising this time.”
Han Soeun shoved a tangerine into my mouth.
Chew chew.
I chewed the tangerine while staring at the ceiling.
I was screwed.
These girls had definitely lost their minds.
At that moment, Seo Yoona suddenly asked,
“By the way, Senior. There’s something I’m curious about.”
“What is it?”
“How did you defeat that Hydra?”
Oh no.
Here it comes.
An F-Class hunter defeating a B-Class monster. Alone, no less.
It was only natural they would be suspicious.
I recited the script I had prepared in the most casual tone I could manage.
“Oh, that? It was all thanks to gear, obviously.”
“Gear?”
“Grandfather gave me an emergency scroll. It had magic sealed inside. One shot and the thing melted.”
“A scroll…”
Both Seo Yoona and Han Soeun nodded as if that made perfect sense.
With the wealth of the Daeseong Group, it was entirely plausible.
Besides, the entire battlefield had been blown to bits by the explosion, so there was no evidence left.
“As expected… you’re incredible.”
Seo Yoona said in admiration.
“To use something so precious without hesitation… all to save us…”
Actually, I used it to save my own life.
“Young Master really is… an idiot.”
Han Soeun sniffled and buried her face in my chest.
“Why are you so kind? Why are you so self-sacrificing?”
The deeper their misunderstanding grew, the thicker their obsession became.
I gave a bitter smile and stroked Han Soeun’s hair.
‘Yeah, think whatever you want. As long as I didn’t get caught, it’s fine.’
11 p.m.
The two girls had finally fallen asleep on the fold-out beds.
It was finally my time to be free.
I carefully pulled back the blanket and got up.
My body had completely recovered. Thanks to the S-Class core’s regenerative power, even the burn marks had almost disappeared.
‘Time to test some magic.’
My hands were itching.
The sensation of S-Class mana. I wouldn’t be able to sleep without confirming it.
I slipped into the bathroom and locked the door.
Standing in front of the mirror, I raised my right hand.
‘Fireball.’
I had only thought about it lightly.
Whoosh!
Instead of a tiny flame the size of a lighter, a basketball-sized orb of fire erupted above my palm.
“Huk.”
I quickly clenched my fist and extinguished it.
What the hell was that firepower?
Back when I was F-Class, I could barely light a match. Now it was flamethrower level.
‘S-Class growth-type core… this is seriously amazing.’
A grin spread across my face.
Now I could fight without spending money. Eighty billion? I could earn that back quickly. A few dungeon runs and I’d be even.
Excited, I was about to try something else when—
Knock knock.
The sound of someone knocking on the bathroom door made my heart sink.
“Young Master?”
It was Han Soeun’s voice.
Why did she have such sharp hearing even when sleeping?
“Y-yeah. I’m washing up.”
“Why did you lock the door?”
Her voice was low. Full of suspicion.
“I’m… taking care of business…”
“Liar.”
Click. Click.
The doorknob turned. When it wouldn’t open, she twisted it even harder.
“Open the door.”
“I told you, I’m using the bathroom!”
“If you don’t open it, I’ll break it down with magic.”
…She really sounded ready to do it.
I got scared and quickly unlocked the door.
Han Soeun stood there with her arms crossed.
She was in her pajamas with messy bed hair. But her eyes looked like a detective’s.
“What were you doing?”
“Washing my face…”
“Liar. I felt a mana wave from inside.”
Holy crap.
Was her mana detection ability always this good? A genius archmage really is on another level.
“Ah, that… I was just checking if my body had recovered a bit…”
I stammered out an excuse.
Han Soeun sighed and took my hand.
“I told you to rest properly.”
She opened my palm and examined it carefully. It was the same hand I had used to create the flame earlier.
“What if you push yourself with magic again and get hurt? You’ve only just survived.”
She intertwined her fingers with mine.
Then she dragged me all the way back to the bed like that.
“This won’t do.”
“What won’t?”
“Tonight, we sleep together.”
“Huh?”
“I’ll be your arm pillow. I’ll watch whether you move or not while I sleep.”
She pushed me down onto the bed and shamelessly crawled into the spot beside me.
The narrow hospital bed.
Something soft and large pressed against me.
It smelled nice.
“Hey, isn’t this a bit much? What if Seo Yoona wakes up?”
“Sister Yoona is out cold. And even if she wakes up, so what? You belong to me, Young Master.”
Han Soeun mumbled as she rested her head on my chest.
“The sound of your heartbeat… it’s nice.”
She pressed her ear right against the spot where the S-Class core was embedded in my heart.
Like a dragon guarding its treasure.
“Sleep well, Young Master. Don’t run away even in your dreams.”
She wrapped her arms tightly around my waist.
I stared at the ceiling and sighed.
Was escape even possible at this point?
What was the point of becoming an S-Class mage?
I couldn’t even overpower one girl and was trapped in bed.
But strangely…
The arms that held me so tightly didn’t feel entirely unpleasant.
Maybe it was because of the memories from my previous life, where I had lived completely alone.
The fact that someone was taking care of me this much—even if it was twisted—felt warm.
‘Have I gone crazy, Lee Dohyun?’
I closed my eyes, half-suspecting I might be developing Stockholm syndrome.
At that moment, just outside the hospital room door.
Someone was hiding in the darkness, listening to the entire conversation.
“……An S-Class scroll, you say?”
A man’s low, suppressed voice.
He let out a sly chuckle and disappeared into the shadows.
Future Han Soeun
