Chapter 359: 44. The Hunter Association’s Hardships

After handing the dagger over to the remaining Association members and delivering the half-dead Hunter all the way to the Gate, I put the stealth item back in my mouth. Only after they saw me conceal myself did they make expressions like they had finally realized something.

I sensed Do Yehyun, who was still concealed, and left the Dungeon, watching until the Gate completely disappeared.

After putting some distance between us, I spat out the orb and called for Do Yehyun.

“Yehyun.”

At that, Do Yehyun pushed his robe back and naturally untied the cord he had tied around himself. I helped him loosen the tangled strings and neatly swept his disheveled hair back.

“You did well.”

“.......”

Do Yehyun quietly looked up at me before speaking belatedly.

“My healing didn’t work.”

“It did. They were still alive, weren’t they?”

“One person....”

“That person was already poisoned.”

“I guess you can’t miss the timing.”

It wasn’t particularly unexpected. Healing normally had to be timed properly too. No matter how ridiculously overpowered Do Yehyun’s healing was, it probably wouldn’t mean much if you used it on someone whose arms and legs had already been completely severed.

‘Poisoning is probably the same.’

Naturally, there would be a golden time when someone’s life was hanging by a thread after being poisoned by an external substance. Well, Do Yehyun could heal himself, so it wasn’t a major problem.

“They were alive until we came out of the Gate. Well, even if they die, that’s the Hunter Association’s fault.”

“Were you okay?”

“I wasn’t before, but I am now.”

“.......”

I got into the car and drove leisurely, opening the window a little. Chilly air flowed into the vehicle.

“That person....”

Do Yehyun quietly began. Did he want to hear the result?

“Ah, died. Turns out people shatter like glass bottles when they fall from somewhere high enough.”

“They died from falling?”

“There was a bit of a fight... but that was the direct cause, I guess?”

“Then weren’t you in danger too?”

Before Do Yehyun could start nagging me, I beat him to it with an explanation meant to cut that off.

“Yeah. But if you’d been there, it would’ve been twice as hard because I’d have had to worry about you.”

“I’m... a healer. Why would you have to worry about me.... I’m the one who should worry about you.”

“Keeping the healer all the way in the back is basic common sense. If you die, our combat power suddenly drops into the negatives.”

“I’m not that much of a burden.”

“Sure.... Next time I’ll carry you around on my back. Take you out whenever I need you. Like an artifact.”

I answered Do Yehyun halfheartedly and chuckled. He fidgeted with his hands, then rested his head against the car window and stared quietly at me.

“Something you want to say?”

“Why did you kill a Hunter Association Hunter?”

“Because they might get in the way of what I’m going to do.”

At that, he blinked quietly, as though thinking about what I meant by what I was going to do.

“...What are you going to do?”

“What I’m most focused on is bringing down the Hunter Association.”

“Because there’s a lot of corruption?”

“That too, and because they’re definitely going to interfere with every single thing that happens from now on.”

“Does that happen in the future?”

“Yeah.”

Do Yehyun stared at me for a while before speaking.

“You were really....”

“Yeah.”

“Like a villain.”

“No, I’m the good side. The Hunter Association is the villain.”

“If you kill people before they do anything bad... then you’re the villain.”

Hm, he was starting to make a little too much sense.

I ran my hand down the back of Do Yehyun’s head as I answered.

“Got it. We’re in the same boat now.”

“.......”

At that, Do Yehyun clenched his hand tightly, then released it and slowly nodded.

***

After entering the underground training facility that any Hunter affiliated with Haeseong could use freely, Do Yehyun found a spot in the corner and sat down.

The artifact Do Yehyun was going to test today was the highly poisonous artifact Seo Jehyun had given him before. Just as the name suggested, it sprayed deadly poison in every direction, making it dangerous not only to monsters but to Hunters as well.

‘How did he even get something like this?’

Because it was such a high-risk product, approval was difficult to obtain in the first place, and there were very few places that sold it. Even so, Do Yehyun didn’t doubt its performance. He trusted that Seo Jehyun wouldn’t bring him something faulty.

If anything, he was more worried that it might work too well.

Do Yehyun exhaled once and activated the artifact. This was why he had deliberately reserved a training room sealed on all sides.

WHIRR—

The sound of the artifact activating rang out, and whitish vapor appeared around it. The instant he placed his hand into it, a burning pain pierced through his skin.

“Ah!”

He hurriedly pulled his hand back, but red, blotchy blisters had already formed across his skin. Gritting his teeth, Do Yehyun quickly activated his healing. Mana flowed through his body and rapidly restored the skin where blisters had begun forming.

But because he hadn’t turned the artifact off, new wounds immediately appeared over his skin again. Before long, a stinging, itching pain spread through his respiratory tract, eyes, nasal membranes, and even his ears.

Maybe because he had only ever been accustomed to pouring healing into isolated wounds, this repeated layering of pain was unfamiliar. Fighting not to lose hold of his fading consciousness, Do Yehyun turned the artifact back off and steadily poured healing into his body.

“Haa....”

Burns both large and small had formed inside and outside his body. Burning pain covered him, but after some time, it became a little easier to endure.

Perhaps because he had overused his Skill in such a short period of time, his mind became hazy. Leaning against the wall as he waited for the poison remaining in the air to be absorbed into his body, Do Yehyun closed his eyes.

He remembered what had happened in the Gate Seo Jehyun had suddenly taken him to not long ago.

Seo Jehyun’s intentions had always been difficult to understand. In the first place, Do Yehyun had never tried very hard to think deeply about them. After all, the role Seo Jehyun assigned him was always limited.

He hadn’t even been able to ask why Seo Jehyun had suddenly decided to eliminate a Hunter from the Hunter Association, or how he planned to do it.

‘Would he have told me if I’d asked?’

Maybe he would have, but....

Do Yehyun ran his tongue over his dry, chapped lower lip. His jaw ached from how hard he had clenched his teeth to endure the pain.

In any case, Seo Jehyun had accomplished his original objective. Then what about Do Yehyun?

“.......”

He didn’t know whether Seo Jehyun had intended it or not, but in the Dungeon they had entered this time, the minerals scattered everywhere had been more dangerous than the Boss. Toxic minerals that made the skin feel as though it were burning when touched.

Seo Jehyun had instructed him to support the Hunters by healing them without being noticed while protecting them from that danger.

Just enough to keep them from dying.

‘One person.... died.’

He had confirmed it through an article published during the day. He normally didn’t go out of his way to follow up and check every article, but this time he had looked for the follow-up reports. They said the injured Hunter had ultimately lost their life.

Of course, with all the attention focused on the article about Director Choi Seunghee dying inside the Dungeon, it hadn’t become much of a story.

Still, thinking that he had failed the very first mission Seo Jehyun had given him left him uneasy. Even if Seo Jehyun no longer cared about it, that didn’t change anything.

Then what came next?

Do Yehyun really... didn’t want to fail at something Seo Jehyun °• N ?? v ?? l i g h t •° had told him to do.

And more than that, he had a feeling there would be something in the future that he absolutely could not fail at. There was no concrete basis for it, but he was certain enough. He could tell from Seo Jehyun’s attitude alone.

Seo Jehyun never did anything without a reason, so the fact that his contact with Im Haekyung had suddenly increased, and that he had begun openly dealing with the Hunter Association, must all have been for ‘what came next.’

Then what was Do Yehyun supposed to do when that happened?

Do Yehyun lowered his gaze and quietly stared at the artifact Seo Jehyun had ‘gifted’ him.

Could this gift really have been given without any intention behind it?

Probably not.

He felt the poisonous particles dispersed through the air settle onto his skin. They burned the surface and stripped away his flesh.

A faint light rose over it, then cleanly healed the wound. Watching that spot, Do Yehyun slowly got to his feet.

Only after confirming that the poisonous particles in the air had disappeared did Do Yehyun leave the training room, where he spotted a familiar figure waiting outside.

“...Jehyun?”

Seo Jehyun had been leaning against the wall looking at his phone. When he noticed Do Yehyun, the corners of his mouth curled upward. Without even realizing it, Do Yehyun hurried over and checked Seo Jehyun’s face.

“Why are you here?”

“To pick you up.”

Seo Jehyun took one step back and slowly looked Do Yehyun over before grinning.

His slightly upturned eyes, stretched long toward the sides and giving him a somewhat fierce appearance, curved playfully as though amused. Seo Jehyun’s hand lightly tapped Do Yehyun’s cheek a couple of times before moving down to his shoulder.

“Did you try the artifact I gave you?”

How did he know? There shouldn’t have been... anything that could have given it away.

Quickly noticing Do Yehyun’s confusion, Seo Jehyun raised his hand and firmly pressed his thumb against the corner of his eye. A faint tear track came away on Seo Jehyun’s hand.

“Looks like it hurt....”

His tone was indifferent, without any particular sympathy. Seo Jehyun casually wiped Do Yehyun’s face with his hand.

“Where were you?”

“Went to see the Haeseong Guild Master.”

“Ah....”

Do Yehyun calmly nodded, doing his best to ignore the strange discomfort rising inside him.

“For work?”

“Yeah. There was something I had to decide.”

“.......”

“Curious? It’s related to the Hunter Association. A few articles are going to drop tomorrow... I went to talk about that.”

After adding the brief explanation, Seo Jehyun ruffled Do Yehyun’s hair. Whenever Seo Jehyun did things like this, Do Yehyun felt like he might go crazy in a certain sense.

Explaining things to Do Yehyun, however roughly, when there was no need to explain them at all. It wasn’t because it was necessary. It was closer to pure ‘kindness’ or an act of ‘indulgence’ on Seo Jehyun’s part.

It was obvious proof that their relationship wasn’t equal, but Do Yehyun had never wanted an equal relationship with Seo Jehyun in the first place.

He liked this kind of one-sided kindness that was ‘bestowed’ upon him.

Seo Jehyun, who had been idly patting Do Yehyun like he was petting a kitten, whispered in a low voice.

“Don’t push your body too hard.”

“.......”

Do Yehyun could feel Seo Jehyun’s body heat through the arm wrapped around his shoulders as though embracing him. In a low, sweet voice that sounded almost like an imitation of concern, Seo Jehyun added,

“You’re a consumable. If I use you too much, you’ll wear out.”

SMACK, with a light sound, he felt lips touch his cheek.