novelraw Chapter 185 : Intermission: New Year’s Day (4)
Chapter 185 : Intermission: New Year’s Day (4)
A little over ten years ago.
The outskirts of Seoul. A rundown office.
“You want to join our guild?”
The speaker was a Hunter in his thirties. Unkempt beard, worn-out combat fatigues, and a field jacket thrown over it all.
The guild master of the Hunter Guild Suho, Su-ho Park, asked dumbly, “Why?”
Sitting across from him was a rookie healer who had just passed her Hunter qualification exam.
A young woman who had chosen the Hunter name “Medic.”
With her arms crossed, Medic snapped, “Look, when a healer—a precious, valuable healer—offers to join your guild, the correct response is ‘Thank you,’ not ‘What’s the catch?’”
“No, it’s just… as you can see, our guild is tiny. You’ll only suffer if you join us.”
Su-ho gestured around the small, shabby office and laughed awkwardly.
“Healers are a valuable asset. If you go to a famous guild instead of a place like this, they’ll treat you right. Hell, I could even introduce you to one I know…”
“Seriously, old man! Are you an idiot?!”
Medic, her face flushed, shot up from her seat and pointed a finger at Su-ho.
“Me! This valuable healer! I’m telling you I want to work in your guild! You should be grabbing on to me for dear life! What the hell do you think you’re doing, you scrub of a master!”
“A… a scrub?”
“Just forget it and bring me the contract!”
Medic crossed her arms again and grinned confidently.
“I’m gonna make you and this guild a B-I-G deal!”
***
The Hunter Guild Suho was small and poor.
And for good reason: they had zero interest in making money.
Suho focused primarily on relief efforts, rescuing ordinary citizens in disaster areas. They pulled civilians from collapsed buildings and killed monsters that broke through containment lines.
Naturally, it didn’t pay. They poured their efforts into civilian rescue, ignoring lucrative Gate-closure missions and the monster-byproduct industry.
Forget money; they were lucky to even get a thank-you.
“Still, the world needs Hunters like us to keep spinning, don’t it?”
Even when returning from the field after a hard day’s work with nothing to show for it, Su-ho was always grinning.
“The military and firefighters can only do so much, y’know. When an Awakened steps up to help, the situation gets a lot better.”
“…”
It was essentially charity work, volunteer service. Yet just saving people from Gates and monsters made him happy.
Medic heaved a sigh. She had been right there in the thick of it with him, healing injured civilians all day.
“And that’s why you got yourself hurt again today, you old scrub?”
Every time they did relief work in a disaster area, Su-ho came back injured.
He was always throwing his body in front of monsters to save people, so he was perpetually covered in wounds and scars.
“Always taking hits for other people. You’re a real piece of work, old man.”
“What’s my one and only strong suit? Being tough.”
Su-ho was a defense-type Awakened, capable of cloaking his body in intangible armor to block attacks.
He used his body as a shield to save countless people. But that didn’t mean he didn’t get hurt.
As Medic impassively channeled her healing ability into his new wounds, Su-ho watched her for a moment.
Cautiously, he began, “Medic.”
“What is it?”
“You can move to another guild anytime you want.”
“…”
“You’ve run with us a few times now, so you know… our guild is all suffering and no pay.”
“…”
“I’m grateful for all your help so far, but now might be the time…”
Medic listened quietly to Su-ho’s careful words, then smirked.
“You really don’t remember, do you, old man? Is your memory really that bad?”
“What? What do you mean?”
“Are you seriously telling me you don’t recognize my face?”
Medic leaned in close, shoving her face right in front of his, and traced her jawline with a fingertip.
“A long, long time ago. You saved me.”
“Huh?”
“It was about five years ago? You weren’t some hairy old dude back then. You were a cool big brother.”
“Huh? Huh?”
“Anyway, in the flood zone after the dam collapse… you saved me then.”
Su-ho stared at her in shock, then stammered, “S-sorry. I didn’t recognize you at all. You were one of those kids.”
“Your perception is truly next-level.”
Medic shot him a sidelong glance before her hands went back to work, wrapping a bandage around his wound.
“Anyway. Of all the little worlds you’ve saved over the years, I was living in one of them.”
After finishing the bandage on his shoulder, she gave it a light smack. Medic covered her mouth and giggled.
“That’s why I came to help you. No, I became a Hunter to help you. That was my purpose in life.”
“…”
“So don’t you dare say another word about me switching guilds. From now on, my healing is going to hurt like hell.”
As Medic stood up with her medical kit, Su-ho smiled wryly at her back.
“I’m sorry in advance.”
“For what.”
“For making you suffer from here on out.”
“There you go, talking like a scrub again.”
Medic turned back and stuck out her tongue.
“I knew exactly what I was getting into when I came here, you i-di-ot.”
***
Several years later.
The site of a super-massive Gate.
“Hey, old man,” Medic whispered, her voice hoarse. “Tell me this is a joke.”
Before her lay Su-ho, burnt black and dying.
Moments earlier, a self-destructing monster had breached the Gate’s perimeter and charged the makeshift medical camp.
Just as Medic and all the patients in the camp were about to be wiped out, Su-ho had rushed in and shielded them with his entire body.
The result: the medical camp and its people were safe.
Except for Su-ho. He had taken the full force of the blast and was now charred black.
“Ugh…!”
Gritting her teeth, Medic poured her healing ability into Su-ho’s burnt and broken body.
But it was no use.
“What, why isn’t it working…? Heal, damn it, I said heal…!”
Teardrops streamed down her soot-stained face. Blinking through the blur, Medic kept using her useless healing ability.
“You’re going to be fine. I said you’ll be fine. So…”
“Medic…”
“You’re going to be fine, so shut the hell up!”
Su-ho had already accepted his death. Medic knew she couldn’t save him.
She sobbed out the words.
“I’m going to save you. I’m going to save you and take you with me.”
“…”
“Back to our guild office… back to that cramped, smelly, cold place… back home… I’m going back with you.”
“…”
“So don’t you die, please…”
When her power failed, all she could do was beg.
Medic pressed her forehead against Su-ho’s burnt body and wept.
“If you die… I’ll die, too. So… please don’t die…”
“…Medic.”
Su-ho squeezed out his last ounce of strength to speak.
“You have to live. And save as many people as you can.”
“…”
“Just as you are the proof that my life meant something… you, as a Hunter, must leave your own proof in this world that you lived.”
His scorched face managed a faint smile.
“Enough to cover the whole world.”
Staring back at his face, Medic choked back a sob and finally found her voice.
“If I do that… will you be proud of me…?”
Instead of answering, Su-ho held out his burnt hand, only a few fingers remaining. Medic gently took it in hers.
Slump.
The strength left his hand.
But Medic held it tight, keeping it from falling to the ground, and whispered in a trembling voice.
“I’ll live a long life. And just like you said, I’ll save one more person, and one more after that.”
As she pressed his hand to her cheek, sobbing, a golden energy began to spread from within her chest—from her heart—and a golden spiderweb began to spread out behind her.
Unaware that she had awakened to her Domain Break, Medic looked into Su-ho’s lifeless face, whispering.
“Isn’t that what you want? If I do that…”
***
Present Day. The top floor of Hero Tower.
“Ugh, what a wreck.”
S-Ranker Death-Medic staggered out of the blood-soaked elevator.
“Ah, yeah. Getting the VIP treatment, everyone fawning over the ‘precious healer,’ is way easier… It’s an indisputable fact that I am a total scrub when it comes to fighting…”
Death-Medic’s brow furrowed as she looked down at her own bloodied form.
Her field jacket was a mess.
The same field jacket her guild master used to wear, back in the Suho Guild days.
She had taken such good care of it, worn it with such devotion, and now this incident had left it in tatters.
“Dammit, this thing is priceless…”
She irritably brushed at the bloodstained, slashed jacket.
Death-Medic glanced behind her, back into the open elevator.
It was empty.
During their fight inside, the three Villains had escaped by cutting through the elevator floor. They must have realized they had no chance against Death-Medic in close quarters and simply bailed.
Chevalier had sliced the floor open with his greatsword, and Jeon Woo-chi had used Blink to get his comrades out.
Where did they run to? The floor below?
As Death-Medic tried to guess where the trio had fled, a voice came through her in-ear communicator.
A familiar voice made Death-Medic’s face light up.
«Medic!»
“Oh, hey, Nevvy!”
It was Miss Never, the sniper, one of the New Five Heroes.
«Just got here!»
“Man, I’m so relieved you’re here. Fighting alone was so hard…”
Death-Medic’s goal had been to stall for time from the start. She had been waiting for backup.
Miss Never chuckled at her whining before her voice turned serious.
«I’m set up in the building next door. I can fire whenever.»
“Great. The second you see those bastards, take them out.”
Death-Medic clicked her tongue.
“These guys are no joke. They’re different from any Villains I’ve fought before… They’re seriously dangerous.”
«Got it. I’ll be careful.»
Miss Never asked with concern, «Are you okay? Where are you?»
“I’m on the top floor!”
Standing by the window, Death-Medic scanned the opposite building until she spotted Miss Never, lying prone on the rooftop and looking through the scope of her sniper rifle.
“I’m over here! See me?” Death-Medic waved enthusiastically.
«Ah, confirmed.» Miss Never let out a hearty laugh. «Got a clear view.»
And then, a flash.
The Mute Magic Bullet, accompanied by a blinding halo of light, shot from the muzzle of Miss Never’s rifle.
Death-Medic blinked blankly.
As her trembling gaze drifted downwards, she saw a large hole blown through her own chest.
“Huh?”
A beat later, the top-floor window shattered, pierced by the magic bullet. Shards of glass and a fierce wind whipped into the room.
«I’m sorry, Medic.»
Miss Never’s sincere apology came over the comms as Death-Medic staggered, coughing up blood.
«You’re just too good a healer. To eliminate any unknowns… you had to be the first to go.»
With her Mystic Eye, Miss Never was a natural watchman, capable of observing all of Seoul.
She had watched all the Crimson Poverty Front’s activities in the city, pretending not to see a thing.
The reason was simple.
From the very beginning, Miss Never had been Hong Gil-dong’s subordinate.