Chapter 68
“Don’t you think Han Chasu would come over at this point?”
“I doubt it.”
Jung Yiheun shook his head at Lee Jinryeol, who was showing him the S-class defensive gear up for auction.
They were currently racking their brains over how to make Han Chasu stay with the Cheonryong Guild forever—no, by Jung Yiheun’s side.
On the other hand, Jung Yiheun did not look particularly excited. With calm eyes, he looked over the overseas auction page and said,
“Even items that come out in guild auctions are only received after hearing that everyone else agreed. If we shove S-class defensive gear at someone who is extremely careful not to cause trouble to others, it’ll only burden him.”
“…Why can’t a person be more shameless?”
Lee Jinryeol shouted with a face that looked like he was going crazy. The tablet in his hand danced in the air.
“No, can’t he be moderately nice? Does he think he’s some virtuous sage? Who’s going to die if he lives looking out for his own interests like everyone else?”
“It’s because he’s that kind of person that I tried so hard to hold onto him.”
Jung Yiheun answered with a stoic face. The reason he had tried to hold onto Han Chasu was solely because of his character.
That noble spirit which sacrifices itself for others without a moment’s hesitation.
Realizing that fact, Lee Jinryeol tore at his hair and groaned.
“Haaah… Yeah, that’s right. He’s someone who risked his life to save others not once but twice—he couldn’t possibly be ordinary. I shouldn’t have approached him with ordinary standards. I just didn’t realize, I didn’t know.”
Jung Yiheun snickered and picked up some documents. They were papers related to an orange-grade dungeon sent by the Dungeon Safety Department.
Lee Jinryeol swiped at his tablet with a disappointed face.
“Our guild having a lot of money is completely useless. To think the days I spent sweeping up mana stones running Gates would feel this futile.”
“Where did that spirit go, the one that said you’d bring him in even if you had to pay thirty times the annual salary?”
“That was just something I said.”
Lee Jinryeol clicked his tongue at Jung Yiheun’s words, tossed out like a joke. In truth, he knew too. Han Chasu was not someone who would be swayed by money.
Wasn’t that why he was struggling like this instead, trying to buy his interest with defensive gear and recovery items?
“If you rush, what could work won’t. He’s someone who is already going through a lot mentally. I’m going to approach him slowly, so keep that in mind too.”
Jung Yiheun said as he set down the documents. Lee Jinryeol sighed and sprawled across the sofa.
“Just when is that ‘slowly’ supposed to be?”
As long as Jung Yiheun participated in raids as an S-class Hunter, the Traces of MuHwa could devour him at any time. That was why Lee Jinryeol could not set his mind at ease.
‘If only his body were healthy, I could keep him by my side.’
But he happened to be a frail patient, making it difficult to place him in a raid party. Lee Jinryeol buried his face in a cushion and groaned.
Jung Yiheun glanced at that sight and smiled faintly.
“Stop worrying about me and look after Seoheun instead.”
Jeong Seoheun was still on dungeon patrol.
Originally, his goal had been to obtain items that would help Han Chasu. But after hearing that Han Chasu had collapsed saving Baekseon, one more goal had been added.
‘He said he didn’t want to be a burden to Han Chasu.’
Jung Yiheun smiled, recalling the words his younger brother had left before entering the dungeon.
Jeong Seoheun had said he wanted to become strong enough that Han Chasu wouldn’t have to protect him should the same situation arise.
‘He’s definitely growing.’
A stronger sense of responsibility and will than when he had been appointed raid party captain was driving him forward.
Jung Yiheun was pleased by that fact.
Because his younger brother’s growth was something he had wished for ever since the moment he awakened.
“I’m already treating him like a prince, you know? I delivered equipment at dawn again today. I even checked that he has the Universal Escape Stone properly.”
“You sent Noir’s things too, right?”
“Of course. Ah, Han Chasu’s share arrived yesterday as well. I set it aside separately, so take it with you when you go to the medical center.”
Jung Yiheun paused for a moment. He had a face that seemed to be pondering something.
“Why?”
“…It’s nothing. I’ll get going now. Contact me if anything urgent happens.”
“Yeah, I’ll handle the rest so get going. Go and rub his cheeks or something while you’re there.”
“What?”
“Why? You never know. If you rub them a little beforehand, maybe the Traces of MuHwa won’t appear later.”
“Perhaps.”
Leaving behind words that he’d think about it, Jung Yiheun left the office and stepped into the elevator.
Noir’s potions were medicines specially ordered for Han Chasu’s health. They were meant to extend Han Chasu’s lifespan, which could be extinguished at any time.
‘I didn’t think Han Chasu would have such an ability back then.’
Usually, Awakeners recognized others’ energies as hostile. Just as the immune system attacks bacteria, they do not accept foreign power.
In that regard, Han Chasu was a special case. Due to Incorporealization, even his own body’s energy was scattering. To make matters worse, he lacked the stamina to activate his resistance, so receiving Gi Taeyeon’s energy did not affect him at all.
‘Still, he said he was taking medicine to lower his resistance just in case.’
Though it was not a medicine that placed a great burden on his body, it was still not good for him.
‘Should I bring some nutritional food?’
It was the moment Jung Yiheun got off the elevator with that thought.
“What the heck is all that?”
“I don’t think we can handle this on our end. Shouldn’t we call the Guild Leader?”
“He’s probably busy because of the Grade 1 Gate matter right now. Earlier too… Huk, Guild Leader!”
“What is all this commotion?”
He asked as he passed by the guild members. It was then.
Thud!
“Hmm?”
Jung Yiheun doubted his eyes.
In the open space in front of the guild building’s main gate, where the statue of the first Guild Leader stood, something was piled up neatly.
Large copper-colored chests engraved with the Haetae emblem.
Those were precisely the gifts Han Chasu had sent, saying they were in return for the guild auction.
***
The decision to send Haetae’s gifts to the Cheonryong Guild had been entirely Han Chasu’s own.
Because the gifts they had sent were too excessive.
‘Twelve chests. Counting the individual items, it’s well over two hundred.’
Whether they had wanted to boast that their abilities surpassed the Management Bureau’s, or whether they had wanted to show off their generosity by sending so many gifts, Haetae’s gifts had crossed the line.
“Didn’t they say there was medicine made by Myeongseon too? There are tons of people who’d line up at Haetae just to get one of those… That patient totally hit the jackpot.”
“I’m on duty today; should I patrol around the medical center? If I run into him by chance and get even one potion, it’s a steal.”
Haetae’s famous medicines were things that any decent Awakener coveted. People’s attention immediately focused on the medical center.
“Where do you think you’re snooping! Get lost right now. You want to see the Center Chief?”
As soon as Kwon Seohong returned, people who had never shown their faces before started snooping around the hospital room, and the medical staff had to chase them away several times.
If even Management Bureau employees were like this, he didn’t know what would happen if word leaked to other guilds.
‘Among the guilds affiliated with the Liberal Alliance, there are those who make their living hunting Hunters. I can’t become their target.’
Moreover, it wasn’t just him who was suffering. Roughly three hours after Kwon Seohong left, having seen the medical center staff suffering at the hands of their colleagues several times during that period, Han Chasu made a decision after much deliberation.
‘Let’s just hand it over to Jung Yiheun.’
Truthfully, the ones with openly bad relations with Haetae were the Awakener Management Bureau, not the large guilds. If anything, it was quite the opposite.
Han Chasu packed mainly instant-effect potions and high-grade medicines, then called the medical staff and said,
“Please send the rest to the Cheonryong Guild.”
“Excuse me?”
“I must donate them to the guild.”
All the medical staff, including Seo Jeongmin, were surprised.
“Is it because you have nowhere to store them? If that’s the case, please use our storage warehouse. We’ll speak to the Center Chief.”
“No.”
Han Chasu shook his head with a resolute face. Even if they were stored in the medical center warehouse, the only thing that would change was the location of the items.
The fact that they were his property would not change.
“There are too many for me to use alone. It’s clearly an amount I couldn’t use in a lifetime—leaving them piled in a warehouse would be a waste.”
And that wasn’t the only reason Han Chasu wanted to hand the chests over to the Cheonryong Guild.
‘Before going to the Frost Giant dungeon, I pretty much swept out the warehouse…’
Han Chasu recalled the moment he had emptied the reagent warehouse. The time when, desperate not to die, he had looted not only Potion Manufacturing Team 1’s warehouse but the warehouses of other teams as well.
The Cheonryong Guild probably had to spend quite a bit of their budget filling those empty warehouses.
‘On top of that, when you consider all the raw materials the original Han Chasu embezzled, this is practically filling back what was stolen.’
He still broke out in a cold sweat thinking about the money deducted from his account. He had to resign quickly before getting caught.
Then, Seo Jeongmin, who was standing beside him, suddenly asked with a serious face.
“If you don’t want them to rot in a warehouse, couldn’t you just sell them? If you put them up for auction, they’d fetch a high price. Since Haetae brought them personally, the quality is assured.”
“How could I put gifts up for auction? That wouldn’t be proper.”
“Ah.”
“I spoke out of turn.” Seo Jeongmin shrugged his shoulders impassively.
While Han Chasu looked at Seo Jeongmin with a strange gaze, the medical staff looked truly miserable. They seemed to think it a waste to send the rare potions elsewhere.
“It’s a waste even for Mr. Han Chasu to consume them all alone…”
“Aren’t potions things that are good no matter how much you consume?”
So it wasn’t that they thought it a waste to send them away—they had planned to make me eat them all.
Han Chasu opened his mouth with a feeling of enlightenment.
“I’ve made my decision. Please send all the remaining items to the Cheonryong Guild.”
For him, who possessed a Regeneration skill, ordinary recovery potions that were neither mental strength nor defense-type items were not very attractive.
An hour after hearing the news that the potions had arrived safely at the Cheonryong Guild.
“Mr. Han Chasu…!”
Jung Yiheun came running with an extremely moved expression. Had the gift been that wonderful? It was the moment when Han Chasu was perfunctorily stroking the Devil Stone as if to show it off.
“Truly, thank you.”
With a swift motion, his body leaned into his embrace, and something hot roughly rubbed against his face.
It was Jung Yiheun’s cheek.
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