Chapter 18

"Hah..."

Director Park Jae-seon sighed deeply while rubbing his temples. Tae-un's eyes gradually narrowed.

"Soram, is that really all you have to say?"

The director crossed his arms and looked at Soram with a stern face. Based on the behavior Soram had shown so far, he expected him to be evasive and resist, saying, "What did I do so wrong for you to say that?" However...

"I'm sorry."

Soram erased the constantly fluttering smile from his face and apologized obediently.

"I'll be careful about what I say."

"And reduce that temper of yours in front of the camera."

"Yes."

"It's good that you don't care much about people's gazes, but there's no need to invite trouble. If I only hear bad things because you can't endure for a moment, it upsets me too."

"Yes..."

"Write a statement by tomorrow. You may go now."

The two of them left the director's office with heavy steps. As soon as they got into the elevator, Soram turned to Tae-un and placed his hands on his waist.

"Wow, Han Tae-un ssi, you were really bad. You didn't help me even once when I was getting scolded like that? How disloyal. I thought you would say, 'Actually, I told him to say all those things in front of the camera.'"

"..."

Tae-un, who had swiped the card key instead of Soram and pressed the office floor number, glanced at him. It was Han Tae-un's typical expressionless face. He would probably just stare without saying anything and then turn his head again. It was when Soram was about to grumble.

"Behave like Jin Soram ssi, and instead of getting hit once, [one will] get hit ten times."

"...?"

Soram quickly turned around.

"Did Han Tae-un ssi just say that?"

"Yes."

"Not the elevator ghost, but Han Tae-un ssi? You're picking a fight with me?"

"Not picking a fight... it's the truth."

"Wow..."

More than the fact that Tae-un had picked a fight, Soram was surprised that even Han Tae-un could give such an answer that involved... advanced psychological warfare, beyond just yes or no. Only after the elevator stopped on the 13th floor did Soram, who had been mulling over the words Tae-un had thrown at him, furrowed his eyebrows.

"Ugh, I'm so sad, so sad. I know Han Tae-un ssi's heart well now, so work hard on your own."

"Work on what alone?"

"There will be a lot of calls today. They can't just put out the person who caused the incident right away, so they'll all contact Han Tae-un ssi."

Beep― Beep― Beep―

The pager on Tae-un's wrist rang with good timing. Beep. Tae-un pressed the button at the bottom as he had learned.

“Hunter Han Tae-un, hello. We have confirmed a 2nd-grade rift in the basement of a villa located in Guro-gu. You are identified as the closest 1st-grade hunter from the current location. Can you depart immediately?”

"...Yes. I can."

“We will send the location information to your pager and the cell phone you have. The dispatch vehicle will be waiting on the 1st floor.”

The businesslike voice delivered the message and ended the communication.

"Oh, the newbie benefits have gotten really good. They explain everything kindly and even ask if you can go. For me, when the beep beep beep rings and I press confirm, they just start the location guidance right away. ...No. They only do that to me."

"..."

"Ah, make sure to take the car. If you fly at this hour, hundreds of photos will be taken."

Soram patted his back and waved his hands.

"You did it yesterday, so you'll do well. Fighting?"

"..."

Soram really left the elevator alone, leaving only those words behind.

* * *

<Statement>

Soram had one half of her monitor displaying a letter of reflection template, and the other half playing a YouTube screen titled [Sad Music, Emotional BGM Collection]. It was a time when a touch of moist emotion was needed.

<I shouldn't have done that. Although the other person was exploiting a student hunter, had a greedy mindset like Nolbu [TL: a greedy character from a Korean folktale], and was more atrocious than the mutants, undermining the peace of the Republic of Korea, I still should have endured a bit. The saying that anything in excess becomes poison must be referring to the sense of justice within me.>

...He expressed the content in a bureaucratic language, conveying his regretful feelings about what had happened to him. In fact, due to living this life so recklessly, his hands moved mechanically on the keyboard.

After filling half a page, Soram leaned back in his chair.

It was just past 10:45 a.m. on the first Friday of March. Soram slowly recalled the events that would unfold in the coming time.

Since Han Tae-un had moved to the headquarters, the 3rd Great Rift would occur next summer, and if they barely managed to stop it, the 4th Great Rift would come again the following year.

There were some changes in small incidents due to Soram's changed behavior. However, it was impossible for him to influence every single thing in the world, and about 60% of the events, including the unavoidable major incidents, occurred as he knew them. The two remaining Great Rifts were like that, and on a smaller scale, there was the regular event of the Rift Management Headquarters in March that would start soon.

"I don't want to do it."

His face, filled with reluctance, frowned. Clearly knowing the approaching future, it was understandable for him to indulge in escapism. The desperate escapism created drowsiness that came without fail.

"Should I sleep...?"

Even he himself didn't know that his mind would be so worn out after living three diligent lives. He had run without even realizing that his breath had risen to his chin and blood had pooled in his neck.

This life was already messed up anyway. If he wanted to change the outcome of the Great Rift, Soram should have shown actions that corresponded to it. However, far from actively moving in this life, he couldn't even take a single step forward and had collapsed and lay down.

Soram closed the laptop and pulled the thick blanket hanging on the backrest. Then he plopped down on the spacious conference table.

Tapping on his cell phone, he pressed an application without even an icon named <Republic of Korea Rift Safety>.

The in-house program of the Rift Management Headquarters existed separately in a more standardized form. This was an application for delivering the status of rift occurrences and eliminations, shared only with team leader-level personnel and above in the field departments.

<10:07 ― Guro-gu 2XX-05 B1 2nd-grade rift (Elimination confirmed) ― Team 7 Chief Han Tae-un (1st grade)

<10:21 ― Yeongdeungpo-gu Yeongdeungpo-ro 1XX 5th-grade rift (Elimination confirmed) ― Team 7 Chief Han Tae-un (1st grade)>

"He got dragged away on the way back."

A 5th-grade rift disappears if you shoot it a few times with a powerful gun. However, with a hunter right in front of them, the Reconnaissance Bureau judged that it would be better to send him rather than police personnel.

Han Tae-un was also the type to go without question if told to do so.

"..."

In his past lives, Soram had never been close to Han Tae-un. However, there was one thing he knew for sure from what he saw with his own eyes.

He was just as passionate as Soram about saving the world from the danger of rifts.

However, their goals were different. In his first life, Soram wanted to become a hero. It was a struggle to create his own value and be praised. On the other hand, Tae-un thought it was natural to step up if his power could be of help. A pure sense of justice towards the world was the driving force behind his activities as a hunter.

Perhaps the hero that this country needs more is Han Tae-un rather than me.

'Chief Jin.'

'You have to live.'

Those were the words Han Tae-un left every time he died instead of Soram. It started with the first death.

In the first life, what took Tae-un and Soram's lives was the 3rd Great Rift. The 3rd Great Rift appears in the form of a flood dungeon, which was never predicted to occur in the Republic of Korea.

The type of dungeon varies depending on the type of mutants that flow out from inside. Like last time, there are mimicry dungeons where mutants wearing frightening appearances come out, siege dungeons like the 4th Great Rift where "monsters" twisted from Earth's lifeforms pour out, and lastly, flood dungeons where mutants take the form of lava, gas, tidal waves, etc.

At the time of the 3rd Great Rift, hunters who were not prepared for the flood dungeon had their respiratory systems corroded by high-temperature acidic gas and their arms and legs melted by hot lava before they could do anything. Even the black liquid that bubbled up from the sulfur on the ground and splashed was all fatal. Soram, who had been called to the scene, swallowed his tension and told his team members.

'The ground team has given up, saying it's impossible to enter, so we, the flight team, have to go in.'

'...The three of us?'

'Yes. Is there a problem, Chief Lee Ayoung?'

Anyone could see that Ayoung, who was barely twenty years old, was terrified.

In his first life, Ayoung struggled to find a balance between being a hunter and studying, and in the end, she couldn't achieve the grades she wanted. However, she had been admitted to a university and was living as a freshman in her own way.

At that time, Soram had never learned how to properly comfort someone, so he told Ayoung honestly.

'If you don't want to go, drop out.'

If she didn't feel like doing something that put her life at risk, she didn't have to participate. Because Ayoung was still young.

'Ah, no. ...I'll go.'

'...'

Tae-un stood there silently and then silently prepared to be sent into the rift.

Team 7 moved in a heavy atmosphere without a single word to each other, as they had always done.

Around this time in his first life, Soram was suffering from a sense of self-doubt, wondering if he deserved to be called a hero like this. Nevertheless, he couldn't let go of the family that had driven him this far. He felt like he wouldn't be able to find his own value anymore if he didn't even have that.

And Soram, if things had gone as originally planned, should have died at the forefront of the operation.

'You have to live.'

There was not a single part of Han Tae-un's body that wasn't red as he said that while embracing Soram.

'Chief Han. Why, why did you do that?'

The most pathetic 1st grade who was manipulated by his family as a political pawn and caused controversy even in the Rift Management Headquarters by revealing biased political colors. Nevertheless, Han Tae-un threw away his life for Soram, whom he had only exchanged a few words with during operations at most.

'Jin Soram, you...'

In the end, Tae-un couldn't finish his words and his breath stopped. After putting Soram down in a safe place. When he drew his last breath, there was not a single spot of intact skin left on him. The image and voice of Han Tae-un engraved in Soram's mind at that moment were still unforgettable.

Soram, who had awakened from his thoughts, still had his cell phone screen turned on in front of him.

Han Tae-un. Looking at that name floating on the app, his eyes gradually closed again.

So I worked hard. I tried to save this country with the price of the life you gave me, working so hard in my second and third lives that I couldn't sleep peacefully for a single day...

But in the end, I failed and in my fourth life, I collapsed from exhaustion the moment I woke up. I even quit being the strict hero that didn’t suit my personality.

Even though I knew there wasn't much time left until the 3rd Great Rift, I didn't want to think about what was to come right now.