Free Web NovelSo he suddenly declares he’s quitting. No, wait—can I even call this quitting?
'Well... I mean, sure, you might not want to work anymore.'
But the fact that Do Yehyun had waited so long just to solemnly announce that he was “going on strike” was ridiculous.
“You’re saying you want to leave SH Guild?”
“If necessary.”
“Why?”
Do Yehyun was so overly serious that it made me let out a dry laugh. I tried my best not to laugh in his face, treating his dramatic strike declaration seriously as I asked why.
“No... so you waited all this time, and what you bring up to me is quitting? Or is this supposed to be a strike?”
“...I don’t mean I won’t use my skills.”
“Then?”
Do Yehyun explained with a straight face.
“I told you I wanted to be of help to you, didn’t I? So just working at SH doesn’t really mean anything.”
“It’s not meaningless, though, is it?”
“Now that I can use my skills properly, and I can just go into Gates with you....”
So basically, he wants to ditch SH to work one-on-one with me? What an adorable line of thought.
Not a dog chasing after its owner, but damn, the reason for his strike was refreshingly absurd.
“We already spend most of the time together. You want to be around me even more?”
“Yes.”
“At this rate, you’ll be following me into the bathroom too.”
“Not quite that much....”
I couldn’t help grinning. The content alone was ridiculous enough, but standing at the doorway while having this conversation made it even funnier. I pulled out a chair at the kitchen table and sat down.
“Sit. Let’s talk.”
“Yes.”
Obediently, Do Yehyun took a seat and quietly waited for me to speak.
Well, even if he did quit on the spot, it didn’t really matter. But separate from that, I couldn’t exactly drag Do Yehyun everywhere I went.
Sure, having a healer on demand was the best part, but aside from that, everything about it was just a hassle. Naturally.
Besides, Do Yehyun was... how should I put it—
—a lot of work in every way.
I slid my chair back, poured a glass of water, and set it down in front of him.
“Drink.”
“Yes....”
'That’s my way of saying: drink some cold water and come back to your senses.'
Taking me at my word, Do Yehyun downed the glass in one go. I watched him finish the water, then cut straight to the point.
“Oh, and your resignation is rejected.”
“...What?”
Did he actually think I’d take this “I quit” thing seriously?
“I don’t even know exactly what you mean, but bottom line, all you’re saying is you want to stick with me without getting tied down by SH Guild work.”
“...Yes.”
“I don’t know. I already take you with me whenever I enter a Gate. Isn’t that enough for you?”
Sure, his skills are great, but compared to his Growth Limit, his current stats are lacking, and his situational awareness is poor....
'No matter how you look at it, it’s a net loss.'
Yeah, I’d been going in and out of Gates often lately, but that was ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) only to raise my abilities. It wasn’t like I was insane enough to risk my life for the thrill of it.
Do Yehyun clutched the empty cup tightly, then spoke in a quiet voice.
“But if something like today happens again....”
Today? That cult lunatic pulling a knife out of nowhere?
“What... if we have to prepare for sudden attacks like that, then yeah, you really would have to follow me into the bathroom.”
“If the timing had been off today, or if something had gone wrong... you always have no sense of danger. What if you had died before I got there?”
Then what? Then I’d drop everything and go back to square one, start over again.
“Then it’d be unfortunate.”
“I don’t want that.”
Fuck, like I would want that either?
Was this supposed to be whining?
“Yehyun. You think I’d be happy getting stabbed?”
“No, of course not. But it’s not the first time you’ve almost died, is it? I don’t like it. It scares me.”
“Wow....”
At some point, Do Yehyun’s voice had grown sharper, and now he was outright arguing with me. I just stared at him with interest, then said: freewebnσvel.cøm
“Fine. From now on I’ll just never leave the house.”
“...Really?”
“No.” frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
Whether it was Do Yehyun or Joo Seowon, lately everyone was treating me like I was on some suicide mission. But honestly, I was someone who wanted to live a very long time.
Facing preordained death, I was just taking the simplest path to avoid it.
'It’s not like I’m dying because I want to. Fuck, it’s the ones trying to kill me who are the desperate ones.'
I took the cup back from Do Yehyun, filled it with water, and drained it.
“Then at least carry potions with you.”
“I will. I realized that today.”
“......”
Not because of that cult bastard’s knife, but because of the penalties—but hey, better to cut down his nagging where I can.
Still, looking at Do Yehyun made me remember my earlier conversation with Kwon Taehan.
'Are they kind of similar?'
Both had nowhere to lean on, shitty lives, no family to speak of, and were young.
'Even the way they both cluelessly fixated on my safety.'
Of course, Kwon Taehan wasn’t the type to insist on tailing me everywhere to “keep me safe.”
So many things had happened from dawn until the afternoon that I hadn’t thought much of it then, but sitting here talking about pointless crap with Do Yehyun, the memory of my exchange with Kwon Taehan resurfaced naturally.
If I had to pick one similarity between them, it was that both leaned on me a hell of a lot.
'Though in Do Yehyun’s case, I’d kind of engineered that myself.'
I had, after all, confessed to him early on that I was fragile, to build trust. That had come back to bite me, since it actually made him trust me less—but what could I say?
Cheonmyeonggyo, Im Haekyung, Kwon Taehan, Joo Seowon, Do Yehyun....
In a single day, my entire set of human connections had been swapped out. Compared to my old life, sure, now was way more stimulating—but it was also a huge pain in the ass.
And yet... would I really want to go back and live a calm life? No, not really.
I locked eyes with Do Yehyun and said:
“Yehyun. You keep forgetting, but I’m working for a very public-spirited purpose here. I told you—I’m preventing the destruction of the world.”
Of course, I’m actually the one bringing the destruction.
When Kwon Taehan had said that line, I thought it was complete bullshit. His convictions and special abilities aside, what sense does it make for one hunter to claim he’ll stop the end of the world?
A world already doomed—what the hell could one person really do?
'How are you supposed to erase Gates in the first place?'
So now, did Do Yehyun think what I was saying sounded just as absurd?
I deliberately made my voice calm, almost like I was scolding him, as I continued.
“I’ve always been betting on the safest possible course. Even if things look dangerous at the time, in the end, I’ve never actually been in real danger.”
“Today....”
“Anyway, I’m fine right now. Aren’t I?”
“......”
Yeah, he still looked full of complaints. But I figured criticizing him a little would make him doubt his own moral stance and stop nagging.
“But what if I just hole up at home, do nothing, and the world ends? You gonna take responsibility then?”
“......”
“I thought you were supposed to be the good kid I picked up.”
And he was good. Diligent too. Just... sometimes stuff like this got under my skin.
I reached out, grabbed his wrist, and laid his arm on the table. Pressing down with my thumb near his sleeve, I felt his arm twitch slightly.
The tattoo I’d marked him with was right under there.
“And you yourself said you’d buy whatever artifact or item, even if it meant suffering pain, just to keep healing yourself. You’re fine with that, but I can’t be?”
“......”
“Your stance needs to be consistent.”
After saying that, I let go of his wrist. Instead of pulling back, he put his other arm on the table as well and dragged his chair closer, closing the distance.
His gaze flickered violently between my eyes and the tabletop.
Only after quite a while did he finally open his mouth.
“...I don’t think it’s the same.”
“What isn’t?”
“Between you and me... we can’t be the same.”
Well, no shit. Most people value themselves more than others.
“You paid off my debt, gave me a place to live, kept... treating me like this.”
“You mean you want to repay the favor?”
“That’s a given... but it’s not just that. I just worry. It doesn’t matter that you’re an F-rank hunter. Even if you were S-rank, I’d still worry....”
Am I supposed to thank him for worrying?
Do Yehyun shut his mouth for a moment, then spoke again as if he’d resolved something.
“I think... I think I see you as family.”
“......”
Family? The choice of words was amusing, to say the least.
I looked at Do Yehyun—who’d never had anything resembling a real family—and asked:
“And what exactly does that mean?”
“......”
“You don’t have family. Seowon, sure, his whole goal is to find his family, so he’s overflowing with family love. But do you even know what that is?”
I really was asking out of curiosity, but Do Yehyun’s expression wasn’t good. I watched him for a moment, then added:
“What, you think I’m like your uncle?”
“No!”
“Then?”
But instead of telling me his definition of familial love, he suddenly blurted out something completely unrelated.
“Do you... have parents?”
I wasn’t even sure whether to answer in the present tense or the past tense. A cheeky low blow, that one.
