Episode 70
“Goodbye.”
As always, an unwavering voice echoed behind him. Jeong Iheun forced his unmoving feet into motion and left the hospital room.
‘This isn’t right.’
Regret kept lingering over their brief contact. At the greed within himself that he had never expected, Jeong Iheun clicked his tongue inwardly.
It was then.
“Are you leaving now? You met with Mr. Han Chasu before going, right?”
“Ah.”
Someone passing by holding charts suddenly approached and spoke to him. It was the medical staff member who always kept by Han Chasu’s side together with the bespectacled man.
Jeong Iheun met her gaze and nodded.
“Yes. If I stayed longer, I thought I would tire him out needlessly, so I’m leaving early.”
“Well, there were quite a lot of noisy incidents today. That Haetae and whatnot... Mr. Han Chasu must have been overwhelmed too.”
As if worried about Han Chasu, her stubborn eyes drooped slightly downward. Jeong Iheun observed her with an intrigued gaze.
The medical center staff’s attitude toward Han Chasu was impressive no matter how many times he saw it. Even though he hadn’t saved their lives, they treated him as if he were their savior.
‘Among them, the way they drove out Geum Myeonggyeol was the most impressive.’
It had happened during the process of moving Han Chasu, who had collapsed in the rooftop garden, to his hospital room.
That day, Jeong Iheun, who had arrived after receiving the news, witnessed the scene of Geum Myeonggyeol being driven out in real time.
The reason was the medical staff’s claim that they did not know what negative effects he might have on Han Chasu.
“Hunter Han Chasu is a body that has already once been afflicted with an unrecoverable curse.”
The bespectacled man had strongly argued for the curse sorcerer’s expulsion, saying that they did not know what sort of influence someone who went around scattering bizarre energy might have on such a person.
“Are you saying the curse might flare up again if I’m by his side? Are you kidding me right now?”
Geum Myeonggyeol protested, calling it a nonsensical nitpick. It was something worth feeling aggrieved over. It wasn’t even a plague; how could a vanished curse possibly flare up again just because someone was nearby?
But the center director took his own people’s side.
“This is a measure for the patient’s safety. Do you wish to put the patient in danger by ignoring even the slightest possibility?”
“Ha….”
At the words that everything was for Han Chasu’s sake, Geum Myeonggyeol eventually had no choice but to back down.
But… who knew. Was the medical center director really in a position to be moved by such simple goodwill alone?
Jeong Iheun flashed a bright smile at the medical staff member looking at him with eyes full of goodwill. It was a habitual gesture.
“Then, though there isn’t much time left, I look forward to your continued care.”
As he tried to leave just like that, the medical staff member’s eyes widened slightly. After checking that no one was around, she spoke in a low voice.
“Excuse me, may I ask you something before you go?”
“Please go ahead.”
The following whisper was so low and faint that he had to focus to hear it.
“Word is going around that the potion the Guildmaster brought today is a product of the maker Noir….”
“Ah.”
Jeong Iheun smiled as if troubled. His slightly furrowed eyes swept the surroundings.
‘The rumors spread fast.’
She was waiting for an answer. When he quietly nodded, the medical staff member exclaimed in admiration. Her eyes sparkled with curiosity.
“No way. I didn’t know it was real.”
“Has a rumor spread within the center?”
Jeong Iheun asked cautiously. The medical staff member opened her eyes wide and shook her head. In a voice lowered as much as possible, she said:
“It’s nothing you need to worry about. It’s just something people bring up as a topic when they’re bored? Hardly anyone believes it.”
The Wanderer Noir. He was an S-rank potion maker who did not belong to any guild and traveled the world collecting rare ingredients.
He even strictly adhered to the principle of not selling his wares to those without a personal connection. No matter how wealthy someone was, they would struggle in vain to obtain his potions.
‘To think he would hand over such a precious item so freely, without any compensation.’
If Han Chasu is a righteous man, then Jeong Iheun is an unprecedented benefactor, the medical staff member thought.
Wasn’t the world they lived in one where a lifesaver was abandoned inside a dungeon once they were no longer needed? There were few who recognized and treasured a righteous person like Han Chasu.
‘That’s why Mr. Jeongmin said he’s even more suspicious, but… he saved his one and only younger brother. Isn’t that enough reason to do so?’
These days, Seo Jeongmin, who tried even harder not to leave Han Chasu’s side, regarded Jeong Iheun with suspicion. No, in truth, Seo Jeongmin looked down on all the S-ranks who clung to Han Chasu.
‘But everyone has their reasons for doing so. Especially Jeong Iheun….’
The medical staff member, who knew about his family circumstances, was on Jeong Iheun’s side.
The Cheollyeong Guildmaster had lost his parents at age twenty. Fortunately, he had awakened at the legal age of adulthood, sparing him from ending up in an orphanage, but it was clear that he was still young.
After that, it was the same old story. There were many who targeted the twenty-year-old S-rank Hunter. Jeong Iheun had struggled to survive while protecting the guild left by his parents and raising his younger sibling.
To a man who had endured so desperately, his younger sibling must hold far greater meaning than for others.
‘He must be no different from a son. No, it wouldn’t be strange if he were even more than that.’
The medical staff member was in a similar position. Having lost her entire family in a large-scale Gate, she lived alone with just her nephew. She couldn’t help but sympathize with Jeong Iheun.
If someone had saved her nephew’s life and nearly died in his place, she too would try somehow to repay the debt.
“Mr. Han Chasu will definitely recover.”
“I think so as well.”
Sincerity was contained in the voice that spilled out like a sigh. The medical staff member felt her heart ache.
“I do hope he regains his health quickly. Not just me, but all the guild members are waiting desperately for Mr. Han Chasu to return….”
“That makes sense. Ah, um, if talking about this here is a bit awkward, please stop me midway. The ones who sent food to the medical center last time, they were the Frost Giant dungeon raid members, right?”
Jeong Iheun silently nodded his head slightly. The medical staff member let out a silent scream.
“I thought so. No wonder they kept asking me to take good care of Mr. Han Chasu.”
“Everyone is incredibly worried because they haven’t seen him in so long.”
“I would have been the same. Sigh… I shouldn’t say this, but Mr. Han Chasu is too nice for his own good. I feel like I’d worry all day that he’ll get caught up in another incident after leaving the center.”
The medical staff member let out a sigh, worrying about Han Chasu’s pushover-like nature. Jeong Iheun shrugged with a strange smile.
“But what can we do? That is Mr. Han Chasu’s personality.”
His judgment of Han Chasu had been tentatively withheld. No, in truth, he had been unable to lay down his suspicions. Because the Han Chasu before saving Seoheun had been different from the one now.
But his preconceptions were soon shattered.
Han Chasu had thrown himself without hesitation for Baek Seon’s sake in a situation where his life was hanging by a thread. For a healer who was healthier than himself and capable of self-recovery, at that.
You could call the first time a coincidence, but not the second. Jeong Iheun slowly ran his hand through his hair.
‘Even if it’s hypocrisy, it’s fine. If someone upholds it like a conviction, it’s no different from true goodness.’
Even deceit was fine. What mattered was the result.
Han Chasu had already saved many lives, including Seoheun’s, in the Frost Giant dungeon. He hadn’t been greedy for compensation either.
Because of that, he had drawn I Jinryeol’s suspicions, but by rescuing Baek Seon, he had dispelled them as well. Once I Jinryeol learned of his ability to erase traces of demonic arts, he quickly changed his stance.
‘He needs to get better quickly.’
Of course, it wasn’t because of his ability to suppress demonic energy. Unconsciously, the man was captivating enough to make one want to embrace him, but… nothing was more important than his younger sibling.
The reason Jeong Iheun wanted Han Chasu was solely for Jeong Seoheun’s sake.
A man who sacrificed himself without hesitation for strangers. Someone who readily threw himself forward even for those stronger than himself.
What if such a person formed an attachment to his younger brother? If he came to think of Seoheun like family, like a parent, like a brother?
‘He would protect Seoheun by his side when he’s in danger.’
Jeong Iheun knew that he didn’t have much time left. That was why he wanted someone to protect his younger sibling after he was gone. Someone honest, sincere, and without greed—someone like Han Chasu.
So he had held on, knowing it was forced. He wished for Han Chasu to stay by his younger brother’s side. He wanted him to remain in the Cheollyeong Guild, form attachments, and eventually accept his brother as a precious person.
Until the day he himself left this world.
At the same time.
Far from the medical center, on the outskirts of the city, someone was leaning against the window of a quiet mansion surrounded by trees.
“Young master!”
Upon seeing the youth’s pale face, someone hurriedly approached him. A man straightening his thick clothes let out a creak as he hunched his shoulders.
“I wondered where you were, and here you are again…! If you’re going to do this, at least say something before you go. Why do you keep shutting me out?”
“Well, that’s because this place holds my memories.”
“Pardon?”
“To fully experience the memories, it couldn’t be helped.”
The youth answered with a serene smile and asked:
“So, what is the progress?”
“…It seems certain that he has lost his memories. If not, they said there is nothing to be done but conclude that he died and was reborn.”
There was nothing particularly different about his appearance, the man added.
“Ah.”
The youth who received the report smiled brightly.
“That’s a relief. Then the uncles won’t object any longer either.”
“Will you go right away?”
“They say he has no memories. I can’t startle him. And since I need to make a good first impression… I must prepare well.”
The youth’s face as he turned from the window was as bright as sunlight.
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