Chapter 339

Personally, now that I had regained my standing as a mage, I had intended to stop speaking empty words.

“Huh?”

But the moment I finished listening to Kang Changho, a thought crossed my mind.

‘What kind of nonsense is he talking about now?’

It was a crude thought, but it surfaced on its own.

“So, to sum it up, you’re saying I deliberately acted like some kind of human skill stone, calling in [Improvement] holders whenever a crisis arose. Seriously, what is that supposed to mean?”

By the colored pillars he had mentioned earlier, he must have been referring to the incident with that EX-rank feeding box—the dungeon I had been dragged into after being kidnapped by that man.

But inside that dungeon, I had never acted selflessly. Not even once.

Choosing the blue [Trust] options one after another? I had done that purely to earn the points needed to clear the dungeon.

‘Come to think of it, back then I was desperately fighting for my life every single second.’

The horror that unfolded in the final room of that EX-rank gate was something I would rather not remember at all.

Perhaps the naive Gisimche corps had undergone some dramatic change of heart after experiencing the full extent of Alphaus’s collective selfishness.

That place had clearly been designed to spare the kinder of the two participants, yet at the very last moment, the mechanism’s logic had changed.

And I, unaware of that reversal, had clung to what I thought I knew...

Only to ruin everything.

‘Oh my god.’

Back then, I had thrown everything I had at a fellow mammal—and lost in the end.

And all of that had happened inside an EX-rank dungeon.

But now that I thought about it...

Had that ridiculous moment when I got struck by a laser and collapsed somehow been glorified to this extent without my knowledge?

I...

I had only been trying to settle an old grudge in the pettiest way possible.

Yet even the fact that I had called him first after sinking that unauthorized gate was now apparently being interpreted as some sort of selfless act.

I was bewildered.

One thing was certain: the Earthling had misunderstood something.

Unfortunately, correcting every mistake in what he had just said would have been nearly impossible.

‘Let’s see... If I wanted to set the record straight, I’d have to start by explaining that I was originally an F-rank Hunter and was already in no condition to do anything after nearly dying.’

And that would mean confessing from the very beginning that I had deceived everyone.

‘And then there’s the fact that immediately after my second awakening, I called Kang Changho out in a rage, fully intending to tear into him—only to start coughing blood and end up hospitalized because I hadn’t accounted for the strain on my lungs. How am I supposed to admit that out loud? How could a great mage possibly confess to something so humiliating—’

After quietly piecing everything together in my head, I ultimately chose silence.

‘Oh dear... No matter how I arrange the truth, it always ends with me exposing something pathetic.’

The first year after my reincarnation had truly been one long bluff from beginning to end.

That was hardly something a great Archmage like me could admit aloud.

‘Oh my god.’

In short, I was embarrassed.

So I fell silent, unable to utter another word.

And while I was being swept away by the rising tide of humiliation, even the negotiation over the price of my former home somehow came to an abrupt end before I realized it.

Seeing this—though I had no idea what a mere mammal could possibly have understood from my silence—Kang Changho nodded as if something had finally clicked.

Then the conversation quietly moved on.

“Alright. Since that part seems to have been understood clearly enough, shall we move on to the real reason I came?”

While I was staring stubbornly at the hospital floor tiles out of sheer wounded pride, the man on the sofa spoke in a calm voice.

“This was information specifically requested by someone who used to be my contractor, so I pulled a few strings this time.”

“......”

“Even though you already took down all the Beasts yourself, I never expected you to ask me, right after being hospitalized, to investigate who was behind them. Well, since this was your wish, Hunter Kim, I won’t add any unnecessary commentary.”

Once this matter was finished, today’s conversation would finally be over.

Perhaps encouraged by the prospect of leaving soon, Kang Changho flashed a bright smile, deep dimples appearing in his cheeks.

“Whatever you decide to do with this information, Hunter Kim, I won’t interfere. So don’t worry.”

Come to think of it, something suddenly occurred to me.

In what form had that man brought the information I had asked him to find?

“Hmm.”

For the record, as the course of this conversation already made clear, I had asked him for a favor beforehand.

It was something I had entrusted to him even before I came into contact with the corpses of those fake Beasts.

Enzo Chiano and the other two.

I had somehow managed to uncover the identities of those illegal entrants, but I still had no idea how they had learned of the monster known as [Sunflower], nor how they had managed to predict that such a dungeon would appear in Korea.

So I intended to uncover whoever had ‘commissioned’ the Bone Mask gang.

And in doing so, I had decided to use the S-rank Hunter Kang Changho as a means of cross-checking the information.

As a former Archmage, I possessed advanced techniques capable of extracting another person’s memories.

But Earth, of all places, possessed something that could rival even that kind of magic.

‘Electronic communication systems.’

If a certain organization conducted all its dealings exclusively online, then even for a great mage, obtaining the full picture would be difficult.

And judging from what I had seen through the memory scans I had already performed, that concern was entirely valid.

‘Of the three, I found someone suspicious in Enzo’s memories who appeared to hold the highest rank. Unfortunately, that person is non-awakened, so tracking them through magic would be difficult. And since all I have is an image of that Earthling’s face, I don’t even know where to begin searching.’

So I simply folded my arms and waited in silence for him to present the information.

Rustle.

At last, the other man moved.

He reached into the bag that had been sitting on the floor beside him and pulled out a thick stack of documents.

Documents.

Paper, of all things.

“Wait. Don’t tell me you actually printed out everything I asked you to investigate?”

“It wasn’t hacked, and it’s easy to read... Hmm. I don’t see the problem.”

The sudden appearance of such an antiquated medium left me briefly disappointed.

Still, judging from the thickness of the stack, its contents were hardly lacking.

The mammal across from me tapped the papers lightly with one hand, displaying a degree of confidence that was anything but ordinary.

“Anyway, just as Hunter Kim Giryeo asked, I dug up detailed information on the people Enzo Chiano normally associates with. I can say with confidence that there are only a handful of people in the world who ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) could have uncovered this much. You definitely made the better choice asking for this instead of taking money.”

“Can I trust the information?”

“Are you suspicious because I found it so quickly? The only reason it was fast is because I already had a few leads I’d been following beforehand.”

“Hmm.”

“Besides, these days we have plenty of tools for uncovering the truth. There’s no need to worry.”

“Like Justitia?”

“Now that I think about it, that item was probably one of the few legal means available for something like this. So I suppose its price made sense.”

And that was that.

He, a native of this planet, had brought me the information.

And I, the one who had wished for it, would make use of those documents.

That had been the essence of our agreement, so there was no longer any reason for further small talk.

“Then are we finished? The compensation and the Beast-related information you asked me to find have both been handled. So everything’s settled now, right?”

Sssk.

The other man soon rose from the sofa.

Kang Changho approached the hospital bed and handed me the materials he had gathered.

Whether in his speech or his movements, fatigue seemed to seep from every part of his body.

“Alright, then. I’ll consider everything settled. And let me make one thing clear—from now on, do not contact me through my real number, Hunter Kim Giryeo.”

He almost seemed genuinely sick of the whole situation.

A man born with a silver spoon in his mouth and blessed with an S-rank Awakening had suddenly found himself dragged into providing one-sided labor.

Well, naturally.

There was no chance he had enjoyed any part of this ordeal.

“The past year was unusual, that’s all. Starting tomorrow, I plan to leave the country and stop appearing in public altogether.”

That caught my attention.

When the other man mentioned something beyond mere seclusion—something closer to vanishing from the face of the earth—my curiosity immediately stirred.

“You’re planning to isolate yourself that completely? Is that really necessary?”

“Why go outside when I have a perfectly good house? Thanks to you, Hunter Kim, I’ve finally realized how precious a dull routine can be. So don’t worry. I won’t be causing any more trouble from now on.”

“To be honest, if I owned a mansion with a swimming pool, I’d probably want to live in seclusion too.”

“I don’t intend to take part in any activities for the foreseeable future.”

“How long do you plan to live like that?”

“If circumstances allow... perhaps around eight years.”

“Hmm?”

“Just kidding.”

I glanced briefly at the Earthling who claimed he was joking.

But truthfully, in this situation, whatever plans Kang Changho had for his future did not matter to me.

‘Looks like this man thinks the wish has already been used up.’

Logically speaking, there was no chance an Archmage would so easily release someone who had spent an entire year oppressing him.

“But you know.”

I began my next sentence by denying his assumption.

First, I would approach the matter logically.

“You seem to be misunderstanding something. If you happen to have a recording of our previous phone call, would you mind listening to it again?”

“Hmm?”

“The wish I actually made was for you to help deal with the Beasts that appeared in Korea. The investigation was merely an extra request attached to that. But tell me, Hunter Kang Changho. Where were you when those Beasts appeared?”

“......”

“You weren’t at the scene, were you? In that case, simply handing me these documents isn’t enough. If we want to settle this properly, you should accompany me and lend me your strength directly. Logically speaking, of course.”

Both the face I had seen in Enzo’s memories and the information Kang Changho had brought indicated that Enzo Chiano’s supplier was a foreigner.

If I attempted to leave the country alone as an alien, there were bound to be matters I could not handle smoothly.

So I decided to make use of Kang Changho’s labor while cleaning up the aftermath of the fake Beast incident.

When dealing with something of this scale, an extra pair of hands was never a bad thing.

A porter.

A driver.

Or, if I wanted to be particularly ambitious, perhaps even a smuggler with a criminal record.

All things considered, Kang Changho was surprisingly versatile.

He could fill quite a number of useful roles.

“I literally just said that I want to stay in Korea from now on.”

“Yes.”

“I think I said it about five seconds ago.”

“I heard you perfectly well.”

Oh, right.

Come to think of it, I had regained my strength now.

That meant I could speak informally to whomever I pleased.

But—

‘If I suddenly change too drastically, it’ll only create unnecessary problems again. More importantly, speaking politely doesn’t prevent me from attacking someone, so I may as well keep the same tone.’

After considering it for a moment, I continued.

“But what matters more here? Hunter Kang Changho’s personal preference, or the request of the person you beat up for absolutely no reason?”

His apparent age was not very different from Jang Hoseung’s, but no matter how I looked at it, I doubted this society would overlook blatant disrespect toward a thirty-two-year-old.

So I continued speaking politely.

“When you stabbed me in the neck back then, I let it go because I was nothing more than a powerless patient... But thinking about it now, the contract was effectively broken, and I never even received a proper apology. And whenever I try to impose some sort of financial penalty, you keep brushing it aside as though it means nothing...”

Come to think of it, perhaps the increase in my magical power had brought me a certain degree of peace of mind as well.

The rage I had once felt had almost completely faded.

When I looked at Kang Changho now, the strongest emotion he inspired was little more than mild irritation.

The sort one might feel toward a bothersome insect.

But now that power was on my side, there was no longer any reason to conceal even that slight displeasure.

“Excuse me, but do you know how to kneel?”

The sentence came to mind, and I spoke it without bothering to filter myself.

“Ah.”

But really.

What was I supposed to do when he reacted like that to a single sentence?

“Of course. Now I understand exactly what you’re trying to say.”

Just as I was preparing to unleash all the resentment I had accumulated and start a proper argument, Kang Changho acted without a moment’s hesitation.

“What?”

Thud.

He glanced around the hospital room in search of an empty space.

Then, upon finding a suitable spot, he simply knelt.

‘W-What the hell...?’

Something felt wrong.

This was not quite the scene I had imagined.

It was somehow different from what I had wanted.

Was it the angle of his legs?

Or perhaps it was simply the expression on that Earthling’s face.

The Awakened, now kneeling with almost suspicious comfort, his weight settled fully over his folded legs, spoke.

“I sincerely apologize for the misunderstanding back then.”

At this point, I was beginning to run out of ways to express disbelief.

“......I thought I had already made my intentions clear through the choices I’ve made since then. I never imagined you actually wanted to hear the words out loud.”

If told to kneel, he knelt.

If told to apologize, he apologized.

Frankly, it would have been difficult for someone who had done wrong to display a more cooperative attitude.

And yet, something about it still bothered me.

More importantly, if apologizing was this easy for him now, why had he been so arrogant all this time?

As I mulled over that thought, Kang Changho spoke again.

“But now that we’re actually doing this... doesn’t it still feel a little strange?”

“......”

“Well, there’s a reason for that.”

He looked straight at me.

“I’m not actually apologizing from the bottom of my heart.”

“What?”

“The only reason I’m behaving like this now is because I’m finally certain that you had nothing to do with that gate.”

“......”

“If I still didn’t know the truth, I would do the exact same thing again. You were the one who left suspicious clues behind in the first place, weren’t you?”

His gaze remained fixed on mine.

“Justitia is gone now, but I’ll tell you the truth out of simple conscience. I don’t regret restraining you or hurting you in the slightest. The only thing I truly consider a mistake was choosing someone like you as the sacrifice for [Improvement].”

“......”

“And that opinion wouldn’t change even if an S-rank Awakened, weakened after a long illness, lost his temper and killed someone right here.”

Kang Changho added a few more words.

“Unfortunately, that’s simply the kind of person I am. And as you know, genuine feelings aren’t something you can easily buy with money.”

They were astonishing words.

“There’s one more thing in this world that can’t easily be bought or sold.”

He paused.

“Time.”

Then he continued calmly.

“So I hope we don’t spend too long clinging to the past.”

Of course, there were parts of what the Earthling said that made sense.

But the revelation that he felt no genuine remorse for tormenting me complicated matters considerably.

The anger I had once felt had already faded almost entirely. When I looked at Kang Changho now, the strongest emotion I could summon was no more than mild irritation, like the annoyance caused by an insect.

And yet, now that strength was on my side, there was no reason for me to suppress even that small discomfort.

The situation had suddenly become rather ambiguous.