Chapter 133

***

"Chief Jin Soram, Chief Han Tae-un. What time is it now?"

Ayoung shouted without waiting for an answer.

"It's! Ten! Thirty! It's ten thirty!"

"...Sorry."

"I'm innocent, it's all because of Han Tae-un."

"..."

Tae-un silently accepted the false accusation by sitting down. By now, this level of unfairness wasn't even worth being bewildered about.

"You weren't like this every day when I was in school, were you?"

"Of course not. I used to wake up early, wake Han Tae-un up, send him to wash, and coax and cajole him when he didn't want to go to work."

It was the opposite. On top of that, at some point, Tae-un even started making breakfast for him.

Soram, sitting in the chair, made a short 'ugh' sound as he adjusted his posture. Fortunately, it seemed Ayoung didn't hear it. But Soram couldn't stay upright for long and slumped his upper body onto the desk. If it had been someone else, they might have asked if he was in pain, but because it was Jin Soram, Ayoung didn't sense anything unusual.

However, Tae-un couldn't help but be concerned about Soram, who was sighing 'hueh' on the desk.

"Ayoung, aren't you going to school today?"

"I am. I'll leave around 12. It's a precious day without morning classes."

"If you're leaving at 12, we should eat lunch early..."

The sloth lying face down raised only his eyes to speak.

"No. I made lunch plans to eat with my classmates in front of the school."

"I see."

"And in the evening, Ga-eul unni is going to oversee my training. I probably won't come to the office, so don't wait for me."

"Why are you living so diligently..."

"I have to. Now that I don't have the excuse of being a student, I need to fulfill my role as a 1st-grade. And when I finish pre-med, my schedule might get tight, so I might have to come to work at night again."

Oh my goodness. Soram sighed and shook his head. This time, Tae-un also asked worriedly.

"Can you manage both medical school and hunter duties?"

"To be honest, I'm not sure either. Both are difficult areas that require full concentration even if you focus on just one... Aaaah. Oppa, can't you show me a precedent by returning to school and entering law school while managing both? Resolve this overwhelming feeling for me..."

Ayoung clutched her head and melted onto the desk like Soram.

"Tae-un oppa, don't you regret your studies? You worked hard to get in."

Hearing the question, Soram also glanced at Tae-un. The answer was calm.

"Not really. My priorities are clear."

"I see. So you prefer being a hunter over being a legal professional."

"Eh, why would you leave a much better-paying path..."

"Judges and prosecutors are also public servants."

Soram's head tilted sideways and his cheek pressed against his arm.

"Still, if you could choose later, be a prosecutor. It suits you well. Ayoung should be a veterinarian."

"If Tae-un oppa and I both leave, what about you? What are you going to do alone?"

"I'll stay here and protect the world. While Han Tae-un punishes bad people and Ayoung heals animals."

He smiled broadly as if having a pleasant dream.

"Both of you come visit after work. That would be fun."

"I'm telling you, I have no intention of quitting being a hunter."

"That's right. Even though I say this, with the current rift situation, there's no way we could quit even if we wanted to. The government wouldn't let us go either."

"Don't worry. I'll solve everything."

"What's with this sudden confidence? Did you secretly train or something?"

"Not that, but now I can do well."

"Oh ho, your posture is completely opposite to your words."

Soram, who was declaring confidently, was still lying face down on the desk. Wrapped in a blanket, he wriggled.

"I'm currently storing up energy..."

"Sigh, alright. Sleep if you're sleepy."

Lastly, Tae-un raised the heating temperature a little. Soram blinked his eyelids a few times and then closed his eyes.

The morning hours were only a bit busy for Ayoung. Tae-un and Soram didn't receive any calls, and when they asked if they should go instead of Ayoung, who was going on her third dispatch alone, a spirited answer came back telling them to just rest.

At 12 o'clock, Ayoung left for school. Soram, who had been sleeping the whole time, raised his body to say goodbye. After confirming that Ayoung had gone far, Tae-un closed the window again and called Soram.

"Let's go up to the dormitory. To apply medicine."

"It's fine. I wasn't lying down because I was in pain."

"Then?"

"I just lack stamina. Let's go eat."

At the restaurant they arrived at, the two looked up at the menu and then went their separate ways before meeting again with their meals. Soram had soft tofu stew, Tae-un had seasoned pork rice bowl.

Sitting across from each other, they naturally picked up the side dishes on their trays and passed them to the other. What Tae-un passed to Soram was the acorn jelly noodles that came with the rice bowl, and what Soram passed to Tae-un was the small tteokgalbi that came as a bonus with the stew set. Both were things that the original person didn't particularly prefer, but could be sure the other would enjoy more.

As expected by both, Soram occasionally sipped the acorn jelly noodles while eating rice mixed with the soft tofu stew, and Tae-un finished both the rice bowl and the tteokgalbi.

After clearing the trays and while waiting for the elevator, Soram finally pounded his lower back.

"Does it hurt?"

"It's stiff. I guess doing it in the morning before work was too much."

"There are no dispatches, and Ayoung is gone too, so leave work early."

"No way. I'm going to the archives in the afternoon. That's why I slept in advance this morning."

The archives Soram was talking about was a vast mountain of records hidden in the underground of the headquarters. The information on rifts and dungeons from around the world stored there included data obtained through unofficial channels. That's why even Soram, whose rank was chief, could only enter with the director's approval.

Soram had been spending several hours there for the past few days.

"If it's later than quitting time, go up to the dormitory first."

Soram, who got on the elevator, pressed 14 for the office floor, and using the chief's access key, pressed the additional button for basement floor 5 on the opened panel. After dropping Tae-un off at the 14th floor, the elevator would go down to the basement without stopping at any other floor.

Seeing the disappointment that only he could recognize on the stoic face, Soram smiled slightly.

***

Last winter, while Soram and Tae-un were hospitalized in a university hospital in Busan, Director Park Jae-seon visited their hospital room.

After sending others away and entering alone, he asked about the progress of their injuries and personally checked their wounded areas with his own eyes. Tae-un was somewhat stiff, but Soram, who had long had him as a guardian, familiarly showed his wounds here and there.

Next, the director sat down on a makeshift chair between Soram and Tae-un.

'What happened inside?'

Upon receiving the question, Soram and Tae-un's gazes met briefly. Immediately after, Tae-un closed his mouth, and Soram answered.

'There was a person. Just like how we gained power by harboring certain wishes, it was a person who caused the Great Rift by harboring a wish for human unhappiness.'

'...'

'That person said that rifts are created by the gathering of wishes for the world's misfortune. And it seems that the intensity of the rift also varies depending on the strength of the people trying to protect the world.'

The director, as if he had vaguely anticipated the cause of the rifts, only let out a sigh without showing much surprise. He fell into thought for a moment before opening his mouth.

'The hypothesis that rifts are also people's wishes has been consistently proposed. However, the only evidence was that they occur strongly and frequently in places with high population density, or in places where disasters or wars have passed. This hypothesis was something that couldn't be made public or openly researched.'

'I guess so. When people find out that cursing the world to perish causes dungeons to break out, there would be many people who would have twisted thoughts.'

'Also, this country deviates somewhat from the statistics. Compared to the population size and stable living standards, the dungeons are stronger, and the individual capabilities of the higher-grade awakeners are much higher. Including you two. So it's difficult to draw any hasty conclusions.'

This was also the reason why foreign media attention was focused on this Great Rift and the deployed hunters, especially Soram. Soram had no interest in that at all. However...

'...'

It seemed there would be a lot to think about. But it felt like a clue that hadn't been visible even in the past life was now vaguely shimmering before his eyes.

'Soram-ah.'

'Ah, yes.'

'What happened to the person you said was inside the rift?'

'They were buried inside the rift in an overloaded state, and I ended their life.'

'...By any chance, could you tell who that person was?'

Soram met the gaze that was steadily looking at him. Tae-un still maintained his silence.

'...No. It was a stranger. Their face was too messed up to recognize anyway.'

'I see.'

The director stood up and pulled Soram's head. Soram leaned his head against his chest and blinked. The director lightly stroked his shoulder.

'I'm sorry for making you do what I should have done.'

'...'

Without saying anything, Soram stayed in his embrace for a while before pulling away.

'Then please tell the higher-ups to give me a big bonus.'

'Everyone knows you have the most assets among the hunters, don't they?'

'I'm going to take everything I can get and spend it lavishly. Continuously from now on.'

Only then did the director loosen his expression and smile for the first time since coming here.

'Alright. I'll make sure to tell them to fill our kids' bank accounts generously. Until then, rest.'

The brown hair was ruffled by his palm. The director did the same to Tae-un and left the hospital room.

After the director's footsteps faded away, Soram looked at the bed next to him.

'You're loyal. Keeping secrets too.'

'My team chief at that time told me to keep my eyes closed.'

Tae-un exhaled shortly.

'...But, I'm not good at lying.'

'It's enough.'

Since the director came here and asked directly, there would be no further investigation into this matter. With this, the identity of the person inside the rift became a buried secret.

Soram stared at the man in the next bed. The hospital room where the two had undergone several surgeries smelled strongly of medicine, and their whole bodies were wrapped in bandages. Various parts of their faces were also rough.

But they were alive.

The 3rd Great Rift had been desperate, but it ended with saving more people than he had experienced before. Even after all the calamities had passed, Soram was not left alone. And, for the first time in his long life, the hand he had grasped was still holding on.