Episode 29 [ A Clash Between Major Guilds at the Korea Item Trading Association! ]
While an article with a thrilling headline covered the current affairs section, and the PR managers of each guild were growing sick of the phone calls pouring in—
Han Chasu came to with a terrible, dull ache.
“Ugh.”
As he regained consciousness, he groaned at the sharp pain in the back of his neck. His gray eyes, barely managing to lift their lids, were clouded with pain.
“Ah, damn it.”
It hurt as if someone had struck him with a hammer. Otherwise, there was no way it could hurt this much….
It wasn’t a hammer, but I did get hit by something similar, didn’t I.
With a dazed expression, Han Chasu recalled his final memory.
The moment someone had struck the back of his neck just as he was barely escaping the trading center.
“Haa….”
Why is living so exhausting?
Han Chasu stared at the ceiling with a half-vacant look. He didn’t believe in God, but if one existed, he’d like to meet them just once.
If possessing someone in a novel is possible, then hitting a god shouldn’t be too hard either.
His blasphemous thoughts lasted only a moment. Han Chasu soon looked around the room.
His neat eyes twisted in confusion. ‘What kind of place is this?’ It was a space that seemed like a hospital room, yet not quite. Seeing the metal-framed bed and standard-issue bedding, Han Chasu raised an eyebrow.
If it felt familiar, there was plenty of reason for that. If he had to compare it—yes. It had an atmosphere similar to a field hospital.
But this was his first time seeing such a place in this world. It did seem to be a space serving a similar function, but….
The problem was, where was it attached to?
Clack, clack.
“Tch.”
He’d tried it just in case, but as expected, the door wouldn’t open. The doorknob only kept turning uselessly.
Well, of course. Whoever it was had openly knocked him unconscious and dragged him here. Would they really let him escape just because he woke up?
“…
I wonder what’ll happen if I smash it down.”
Where were his coat and dagger again? As he was rummaging through his inventory, he heard footsteps.
Judging by the way the sound was gradually drawing closer, they seemed to be coming this way.
Han Chasu quickly threw himself onto the bed he had been lying on. In the process, his shin struck the frame, but no groan escaped him.
This was all thanks to habit. Praising himself inwardly, Han Chasu closed his eyes and turned his body.
With perfect timing, the door rattled open. Soon after came the sound of strong footsteps, as though kicking off the ground.
Thud, thud, tap.
The moment the heel of a shoe struck the floor for the last time, a cold chill surged up from his toes.
Craaaack!
The entire bed froze over. When Han Chasu raised himself, the man he faced had a cold expression.
“If you sleep somewhere cold, your mouth’ll twist.”
Bright blue eyes scanned Han Chasu’s face. Unlike their cold light, his gaze was tenacious.
“You’re more intact than I expected.”
His gaze swept over him quickly. It looked rather perfunctory, but every place his eyes touched was thorough.
“Hunter Han Chasu, do you know who I am?”
“…
I don’t.”
“Really? That can happen.”
The man was already sitting on the bed opposite him. The way he searched his coat made it look like he was looking for a cigarette. ‘It doesn’t seem like he holds a grudge against me.’
Han Chasu calmly steadied his breathing. The frozen sheet rustled beneath his fingertips. ‘Then why on earth did he bring me here?’
Han Chasu looked back at the man facing him in the same manner.
Was it because of his sharp eyes and the dark shadows beneath them? The sight of him biting a cigarette looked quite fierce. Or perhaps it was because of his hollow cheeks, sunken from lack of flesh.
Yet rather than frightening, he felt somehow familiar. As Han Chasu searched for the reason, he swallowed a gasp. ‘That poster.’
The man from the half-torn poster beneath the collapsed roof that he had seen in his previous world.
The same rough, twisted feeling he had sensed from that man emanated from this one as well.
“Then I guess you don’t know why you came here either.”
When he came back to his senses, the man’s face was close. The acrid smell of cigarettes stabbed his nose. ‘…
He’d look better in a leather jacket than a suit.’
Han Chasu unconsciously thought of the poster and turned his head. Indeed, a stage suited this man better than a civil servant’s office.
“Hey, Hunter Han Chasu.”
Even when the man called him again, Han Chasu couldn’t meet his eyes. The mismatch was so absurd he felt like laughing.
So he turned his gaze away…. And that was when he saw it. It was purely by chance.
On the man’s left forearm, beneath a sleeve that had been only partly rolled up, white scales had sprouted.
“Ah.”
Realization struck his mind like a wave. No wonder he had seemed strangely familiar. A small, hollow laugh slipped past his lips.
Gi Taeyeon, head of the Crisis Management Office of the First Headquarters of the Awakened Management Bureau.
In the original work, he was someone who formed a rivalry with Jeong Iheun.
His main ability was “Freezing,” and his publicly known hunter rank was A-rank.
In addition, despite his appearance, he was a fairly capable civil servant.
Gi Taeyeon looked over at him and tossed out casually,
“You seem more easygoing than I expected.”
“…….”
“Considering you don’t know when you’ll get out.”
His murmuring voice was dry, but the content was heavy. It was half a threat. The implication being that he might truly end up in handcuffs.
But Han Chasu wasn’t scared at all. He had finished grasping the situation.
“You shouldn’t be able to detain me merely for being near the trading center.”
Gi Taeyeon stopped rolling the cigarette between his fingers and raised an eyebrow.
“I was wearing the mask to block the smoke, and I broke the glass to create an exit. Several other people should have come out behind me as well.”
There had been ordinary civilian employees in the trading center too. At least a few of them must have used the path he had broken open.
Sure enough, the man immediately looked disappointed.
Was he that sad to lose something to threaten him with? Han Chasu glared at the man without letting it show.
“If you tell me now that Hunter Han Chasu was in on it, I’ll clean it up nicely for you.”
The civil servant slowly blinked his blue eyes and proposed a plea deal. From the perspective of someone innocent, it was absurd.
“I’m not so good-natured that I’d take on someone else’s crime and go to prison.”
“I heard you were good-natured enough to stand in someone else’s way.”
According to the Cheollyeong Guild kids, that is. Gi Taeyeon muttered as he swept back his hair.
Han Chasu’s eyes narrowed. It was because he wondered why they were holding him here when they knew everything.
“I’ve done nothing wrong, so I’d like to return now.”
“Ah, that’s impossible.”
“Pardon?”
Gi Taeyeon, who had finally lit his cigarette, let out a faint smile.
“We haven’t heard Hunter Han Chasu’s testimony about what happened in the Irregular Gate.”
“I understand Guild Leader Geummyeonggyeol told you about that.”
“No, no. An incident needs multiple perspectives. We’re curious about what you saw, Hunter Han Chasu.”
The moment he finished speaking, a sharp force pricked Han Chasu’s skin.
With a cracking sound of freezing, cold air rose from the floor.
When he lowered his head slightly, he saw frost billowing up. As if that weren’t enough, the entire door froze over. ‘It doesn’t seem like he intends to let me go easily.’
Gi Taeyeon laughed lightly and shook off his hand. The fallen cigarette ash was swallowed whole by ice.
“And I’m also curious about what happened in the Frost Giant Dungeon.”
Let’s take our time and get to know each other. His lips curved as he spoke slowly.
Han Chasu stared at him, then let out a low sigh.
“You won’t let me go?”
“It’s not that I won’t. It’s that I can’t. I’m telling you, we need you.”
“…
Fine.”
If he had been an ordinary person, he might have beaten his chest in frustration and clung to him.
But… not me.
Han Chasu calmly called up his skill window. ‘I didn’t expect to try it here.’
It couldn’t be helped. Anyone who seized and threatened an innocent citizen deserved what they got.
Staring at the skill window, he quietly murmured inwardly.
[ Deactivate Regeneration Skill ]
[ Warning! Passive skills will automatically reactivate after a certain amount of time. ]
[ Would you like to deactivate the skill “Regeneration”? ]
The moment he nodded, a bright blue window filled the air.
[ Deactivating the skill “Regeneration.” ]
[ Warning! Halting a recovery-type skill will have adverse effects on the body. Please take your time and consider carefully. ]
[ You have been afflicted with the status abnormality “Poisoning”! ]
[ Poisoning level is rising. ]
...
[ Current Poisoning Level ▶ 44% ]
[ Stamina is rapidly decreasing. ]
[ Stamina is rapidly decreasing. ]
[ Stamina is rapidly decreasing. ]
[ You have been afflicted with the status abnormality “Hemoptysis”! ]
Message windows covered his vision.
And Han Chasu collapsed, coughing up blood.
“Cough, hack…. Hah!”
“What the—Hunter Han Chasu! Stay with me! Hey! Damn it, U Jeogeun. Where are you!”
“Chief…. This is….”
“Are you here to sightsee? Go call the healers! Tell everyone who can treat him to come!”
Watching Gi Taeyeon shout at someone, Han Chasu smiled faintly.
Then, as if it had been waiting, the final window lit up his vision.
[ Passive skill reactivating. ]
[ The skill “Regeneration” has been activated. ]
“Don’t close your eyes, damn it! And don’t smile so wistfully like that!”
Well, who told you to threaten an innocent person like that?
Listening to Gi Taeyeon’s scream, Han Chasu comfortably closed his eyes.
***
And Gi Taeyeon could not recover from the shock.
“Hunter Han Chasu!”
He tightly held onto the limp body. But the pale face showed no sign of opening its eyes.
“Come on, wake up. Hey.”
“Ugh….”
His actions produced the opposite effect. He had only held him by the shoulders and shaken him ever so slightly.
“Cough!”
The blood pooled in his mouth burst out all at once. Gi Taeyeon stared at Han Chasu with an expression of disbelief.
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