Chapter 327

"Hunter Kim Giryeo has amnesia!"

"It's not just his lungs that are the problem!"

"Wait a second—what's this about his lungs?"

"Enchanter. That."

"Oh my gosh!"

The room had descended into complete chaos, and I didn't even know where to begin untangling it. I raised my hoarse voice and tried to explain myself, but no one was listening.

"No, really, it's not something you need to make such a fuss over!"

And when I thought about it, this whole matter of Earth-style illnesses was fundamentally difficult to explain convincingly.

'It's not like I can cast some unverified high-grade mind-control spell on living creatures just to make them believe me...'

When someone who clearly looks sick insists they're perfectly fine, words alone aren't exactly persuasive.

So how am I supposed to prove that abnormal cell division can't kill me? Should I stage another resurrection miracle, like some second coming of Jesus?

Why I'd pretended to have a chronic illness all this time. Why I'd kept hinting at every opportunity that I wanted to leave the industry. If I were to explain all of that using nothing but the truth...

"Hmm."

Guys, the truth is... I'm actually a reincarnated tentacle alien, and the body I happened to end up in was born an F-rank. I didn't understand how things worked around here, so I got dragged into all sorts of trouble—and somewhere along the way, everyone started treating me like an S-rank. Since then, I've just been faking it while looking for a chance to retire quietly.

—if I said that, the only thing that would change would be the number of doctors coming into this room.

I mentally estimated how much information I'd have to explain to them—and immediately gave up.

There's no way I'm going to sit all these Earthlings down and recount the entire story from the beginning again. Besides, I simply don't have the energy for it.

"Phew. What a pain."

So before long, I arrived at a conclusion.

'Come to think of it—now that I've got my strength back, there's no reason to bend over backward trying to convince everyone!'

I irresponsibly abandoned any attempt at explanation and simply threw them all out.

"Anyway. Enough small talk—now that you've confirmed I'm alive, everyone out. I need to rest."

I'm hungry, and my major organs have only just recovered, so my head is still all over the place.

I can't even properly control the nature of my mana yet. At this rate, I might accidentally crush Gu Seohyeong with nothing but sheer pressure.

So for now, I decided to send all the Earthlings away and spend some time alone gathering my thoughts.

"..."

But as the other Hunters filed out one by one with slumped shoulders, only one person remained behind.

The Earthling with the shaved head sat there, unable to bring himself to stand, wearing an expression of utter helplessness.

"Yoonseung-ah, it's okay. Really—there's nothing for you to worry about."

I gave him a reassuring pat on the back as he crouched beside the hospital bed and urged him to go home for the day.

No matter how complicated things were, I promised I'd find some way to explain everything to him soon—in terms he could understand.

But at that moment, a familiar surge of magical power approached from somewhere in the distance, and both of us turned our heads at exactly the same time.

Tuk, tuk, tuk.

What followed was the ordinary sound of shoe soles tapping against the hospital floor.

Someone seemed to be striding down the hallway in long steps, almost at a jog. Because of that, we came face-to-face with the source of the magical power sooner than expected.

"Huh?"

"Hmm?"

Eyes so sharp that even his tear ducts seemed exposed, and bluish-purple hair that made him look as though he didn't even belong to the same mammalian species.

"Kang Changho?"

Yeah.

It was Kang Chang-ho.

At first, my only thought was, "Oh, that guy came to the hospital," a perfectly ordinary observation.

But then a strange sensation—a kind of temporal dissonance—briefly flickered through my neurons.

It didn't last long.

The towering Hunter strode confidently into the hospital room. Then, without saying a word, he clasped his hands behind his back and silently stared at the patient.

"Ah! By the way, Hyung-nim! You definitely told me to call this person before you collapsed, right? I couldn't even lift a finger back then, but I heard everything!"

Ahn Yoonseung said it with a bright, innocent smile as he looked at the man who had just appeared.

"So I didn't forget! I got right on it, tracked down his contact information, and called Kang Changho-ssi here!"

A sentence I'd muttered just before losing consciousness suddenly resurfaced in my mind—

only to vanish again just as quickly.

Cold sweat instantly ran down my back.

"Everything this A-rank Awakened said is true."

At the time, I'd simply been so thrilled to have my strength back that I'd thought it might be fun to drag Kang Changho out into the public square and dangle him around a little.

But for him to actually show up right after my lungs exploded...

That's a bit...

"I heard Hunter Kim Giryeo was asking for someone just before he passed out. But you'd already handled the situation so cleanly—so why would you specifically call for me?"

Tremble, tremble, tremble. ℴℴ𝘮

For the moment, contrary to my fears, Ahn Yoonseung seemed to have done a decent job of socially filtering out the curses and conveying my request in a suitably respectful manner.

And judging from the flow of magical power, that S-rank didn't seem particularly angry right now.

So I quickly lay back down on the hospital bed and started making excuses.

"No, well... it's just that... I called for Hunter Kang Chang-ho because I was worried about him... You suddenly went completely out of contact. Naturally, once the raid was over, finding the missing Hunter should've been the first priority."

"Oh."

"Whew, but why is it suddenly so hot in here? Is the air conditioner broken or something? Ah, anyway, I'm really sleepy right now. So... let's talk about the details later, okay?"

When I suggested getting some rest while drenched in cold sweat, Kang Changho merely shrugged.

"Go ahead."

At the same time, he added that I should leave him a message once I'd fully recovered.

There's still the follow-up investigation into this incident, and that doctor who leaked the patient's medical information is supposed to come back too.

Anyway, there's still a mountain of things left to deal with.

'Oh my, my head.'

Then came a crushing wave of mental exhaustion.

Just as Kang Changho rubbed his eyes and Ahn Yoonseung prepared to leave, looking as though he might burst into tears at any moment, I asked one final question—before the hospital room emptied completely.

"But wait a moment. Excuse me, but could you perhaps lend me (justitia) later?"

That item seemed like the perfect way to prove the truth and clear up all these growing misunderstandings, so I thought I'd ask to borrow it.

But at those words, Kang Changho stopped rubbing his eyes and answered with complete confidence.

"I sold it, though?"

Oh my, f*ck...

***

How long had it been since he collapsed in despair after hearing that Kang Changho had sold such a rare item?

Kliek.

A few hours later.

On the hospital rooftop.

"Achoo!"

An entire night had passed, and by now the sky had brightened into morning.

The Earth-grown plants arranged across the rooftop were beginning to change color in preparation for the coming autumn. The hospital had done an excellent job maintaining its rooftop garden, leaving the uppermost floor open for both staff and patients to use.

After a short wait, a stern-looking man emerged through the door and leaned against the nearby railing.

"Seoup."

It was the arrival of a reincarnated being who had successfully settled on Earth.

But having only reattached his lungs less than twenty-four hours earlier, he was still in no condition to recklessly use sorcery.

So the man quietly draped the hospital gown over his leather clothes—the gown steeped in that deathly atmosphere unique to these mammals—and resigned himself, for the first time in a long while, to the boredom of recovery.

Thump!

A few minutes later, just as Kim Giryeo was idly observing the world spread out beyond the building, the rooftop door opened once again and a familiar face entered.

"Hunter Kim."

Even before, sensing her distinctive magical power hadn't been difficult.

But now that his senses were fully awakened, the very shape of the world itself seemed different.

"Yes. Good morning."

"I'm sorry I'm late. I ran into a Red Gate on the way here."

The blond Hunter pushed his idle thoughts aside and greeted the Earthling standing before him.

"But I came here after receiving a call saying you were looking for me."

Seonwoo Yeon faced the figure on the rooftop and got straight to the point.

"What's that notebook?"

"This?"

"What are you writing down?"

"Just some quick notes. Don't worry about it."

Swish.

Kim Giryeo put away the convenience-store notebook he'd been holding and folded his hands behind his back as he spoke.

"Anyway, the reason I asked to see you, Seonwoo Yeon, is because of the Enzo Chiano situation."

"Aah."

For reference, the incident that had taken place the previous day had naturally become a massive topic of discussion—especially after it came to light that several overseas S-ranks had been involved.

Yet even as the world buzzed with chaos, this rooftop garden, intended as a place of recovery, remained peaceful and quiet.

"Seoup."

The blond man drew a breath through his mouth, producing a faint, dry sound.

"Anyway, the bodies of those Beasts—you said they're being properly stored here in Korea, right?"

As their conversation continued, his objective became perfectly clear.

Once his period of rest was over, this alien soul intended to make examining the Beasts' corpses his highest priority—in order to read the information embedded within them.

"That's correct. Their bodies and all related equipment are considered key evidence in the case, so they're currently being held by the forensics division."

"Are you sure they're properly secured?"

"If you're asking about the level of security... well, I'm sure they're doing everything they can on that front too."

"Okay. Well, it doesn't really matter. Even if someone steals them, we can track them down anyway."

At that, the B-rank Awakened tilted her head and asked another question.

"And now?"

Back in the cave, when his head had been crushed, it truly seemed like the end.

But after standing at death's very edge, he had returned alive—as though he were immortal.

And now this man, presumed to be an Archmage, was exerting such immense mana pressure that even ordinary people elsewhere in the same hospital could feel it weighing down on them.

Faced with him, Seonwoo Yeon couldn't help feeling bewildered.

"Why are you so surprised? I've always been this strong, you know."