Retire 416
by Cristae416 Preparation for the Raid (1)
“Is it all right if I enter the dungeon?”
It was around the time the luxurious Okinawan villa was bustling with hunters from France.
I asked this question during a phone call with Hong Seokyoung.
I’d called partly because I was reminded of my father, who’d always forbidden me from hunting humanoid monsters—especially fairies. And honestly, since Kim Chaemin had already come from Korea to Okinawa, I wondered if it was too late to be asking permission. In fact, I’d already half-informed him that I’d be going back into the dungeon.
—Would you really not go if I said no?
“…Well, I’m not sure?”
—If you’re going to sneak in behind my back, it’s better if I just give you permission.
Surprisingly, Hong Seokyoung gave his consent without hesitation.
—You’re not going in alone, after all. Kim-saem is there, and the French hunters too…. But if you make a plan, send it to me. I need to check it.
“Am I a kid? That you have to check up on me.”
—To a parent, a child is always a child. Heejae, you’re not in charge of the fairy, right?
“Yes, yes. The French hunters are handling that.”
—All right… Call me before you go in. Always wear your ID tag around your neck!
I regretted bringing it up. Hong Seokyoung seized the chance to start nagging me.
Was he always this much of a nag? They say people start doing things they never used to as they get older….
I figured he must be frustrated, forced to just talk when, if not for his injury, he’d have flown to Okinawa himself. So I just listened quietly.
—Even if you have an ID tag, don’t rely on it too much. When it really matters, that’s when you get caught off guard. So…
But there was no end in sight.
In the end, I cut him off and got to the real reason I’d called.
Hong Seokyoung fell silent.
A moment later.
—You want to know how I met Han Taekyung?
His voice came back, sounding incredulous.
—You’re curious about that now?
There was laughter in his voice.
He had a point. It was a question I should have asked long ago—back when Hong Seokyoung first brought Han Taekyung to the school.
—Was it enough for you that I brought him?
When I didn’t answer, Hong Seokyoung pressed the point, teasingly.
“It’s not really that…”
—Then what?
“…Because I’ve known you for a long time.”
—Right. Because I brought him.
Damn it.
Hong Seokyoung’s laughter grew louder.
It was a phone call, so there was nothing I could do. I just had to wait until he tired himself out. Whatever amused him so much, he laughed for a long time before finally calming down.
—So?
“Yes?”
—Why are you suddenly curious?
“…Is it so wrong to wonder?”
—I need to know the reason if I’m going to answer properly.
“……”
How could he tell, even without seeing my face? Was I that obvious?
Damn it. I guess it would be strange not to notice if I suddenly asked something I’d never brought up before.
“I was just curious how you met Han-saem.”
—Just like that. Out of the blue?
“Can’t I ask?”
—It’s not that. It’s just… it’s a bit personal.
Hong Seokyoung’s voice was full of laughter, as if he were joking.
But I’d known him long enough to read his intentions from his voice alone. I couldn’t blame my father….
“When have you ever cared about that?”
—What are you talking about? This dad isn’t the kind of shameless person who goes around spilling other people’s secrets!
It was clear.
Han Taekyung had said he’d never told Hong Seokyoung. But it wasn’t as if Hong Seokyoung knew nothing.
That man is more devious than he looks. He acts like he’s just coasting through life, but he knows a lot and is good at pretending not to.
Of course, when Han Taekyung first told him about his eyes, Hong Seokyoung had been surprised. But thinking back, he’d handled it rather calmly. Maybe I only remembered the more dramatic reactions from Kim Chaemin and Gamble.
He probably didn’t know the details. That Han Taekyung had gotten his eyes through a deal with a dungeon creature, for instance. But he must have suspected there was something unspoken. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have brought in someone who never took off his sunglasses.
Well. For a hunter, Han Taekyung is actually pretty normal.
“So how much do you know?”
—Hmm.
Hong Seokyoung went quiet.
Now it was his turn to realize something. It was time for him to confirm what he’d only vaguely suspected.
It wasn’t really a conversation for the phone… but I knew I couldn’t keep this bottled up until I went back to Korea. That unexplained frustration was still stuck in my chest.
—Han Taekyung’s eyes?
He answered, his voice now serious.
—When I first met him, he didn’t wear sunglasses or anything.
“……”
—Then one day, he disappeared for a while, and when he came back, he was always wearing those sunglasses. He never said anything, but I figured he must have hurt his eyes somewhere.
“That’s all?”
—I actually thought he’d found some kind of item and was using it as a replacement eye. You know, like that guy in Russia. Hm. That’s not entirely wrong, is it?
He didn’t mention what kind of eye he’d gotten instead of an item. Even after checking my surroundings, I didn’t want to say it out loud.
Hong Seokyoung slowly began to recount his first meeting with Han Taekyung. It was a story I’d never heard before.
—The first time I met him… was in Dubai. About ten years ago? He was just barely underage at the time.
About a decade ago, Hong Seokyoung met Han Taekyung. According to him, Han Taekyung wasn’t as wild as he is now. He was energetic, but just as you’d expect for his age.
Han Taekyung, who often traveled between Europe and the Middle East with his businessman father, awakened in Dubai. He learned the basics of being a hunter from a friend of his father’s—a royal from some Middle Eastern country he’d met through business. That explained why Han Taekyung mainly worked in the Middle East, and how he was able to.
—I got to know him while I was working there, too.
“So that’s why he called you sunbae at first?”
—We were the only Koreans there, so he stuck to me.
He had talent and a good heart, so Hong Seokyoung liked him. He’d already been planning the model school, so he thought it would be perfect to train Han Taekyung and make him a teacher.
He’d been planning to use people from the start. Now that he actually had Han Taekyung working as a teacher, maybe that was just good planning.
Anyway, he’d known Han Taekyung for ten years. Long enough for a whole generation to pass.
Ten years.
Enough time for a novice hunter to see all sorts of horrors and become a seasoned veteran.
“Is that why you trusted him?”
—Hm? No. I’m just telling you how I met him.
Hong Seokyoung denied it.
—Trusting him is a different matter.
“…Why do you trust him?”
—Did Han Taekyung say something to you?
“Well, just… about the time when he disappeared for a while.”
I frowned.
“I think it was during the time he dropped off the radar.”
—So it has to do with his sunglasses?
“Yes. He said that wasn’t the only thing he got back then.”
Hong Seokyoung was silent for a long time. I heard rustling on the other end of the line.
It wasn’t a video call, but I could easily imagine what he was doing—scratching his neck or making coffee.
Thank goodness he was an awakened. Otherwise, he’d have died of diabetes long ago.
Sure enough, I soon heard him sipping something.
—So that’s what got you curious?
“…Yes.”
How he’d met Han Taekyung.
How he’d come to trust him.
—He was a lot like me.
After a long pause, Hong Seokyoung finally spoke.
—He’s a lot more mature now.
For a moment, I forgot what conversation I was having.
I had to check that I’d heard right.
“What?”
—Han Taekyung. He’s calmed down a lot. At first, wow. You wouldn’t believe it.
“…Is that so?”
—Was it around this time I first met him?
“It was a bit later.”
—That’s a relief.
…What is?
What on earth is so relieving?
What was Han Taekyung like in the past?
I wanted to know, but at the same time, I never wanted to know.
—Han Taekyung, you know. He really hated fairies—couldn’t stand them.
“……”
—Just like me.
A man who’d spent nearly his whole life tormented by a monster from the future spoke with a bitterness that couldn’t be hidden, even over the phone.
—That’s why I could trust him.
For the first time in a while, I checked Han Taekyung’s record with the mana watch.
The first thing that caught my eye under his name was his suspension record. The incident report.
It was exasperating, but I let it go for now. I hoped I could keep ignoring it in the future. The fact that Han Taekyung had shared the fairy’s words with me as something I needed to know meant there was a chance. At the very least, it meant he trusted me.
Below that, there was a career as impressive as my father’s or sister’s.
Han Taekyung had even served as headmaster of the Hunter Academy, and before that, he’d been one of the Bureau’s earliest hunters. Until my sister graduated from the academy and joined the Bureau, it was just my father and Han Taekyung holding it together. Considering my sister was essentially their student…
Han Taekyung had cleared countless dungeons.
……
There were many in Korea, but even more abroad.
As I scrolled through his records from his twenties, I shook my head.
‘Han Taekyung’s dungeons? I know a few, but not all. He spent more time in the Middle East than I did. I can’t match his connections there.’
‘They don’t keep records there?’
‘The desert is vast and there are many dungeons. There are far more unregistered dungeons.’
‘Still…’
‘There are plenty of dungeons people deliberately don’t register.’
The dungeon Han Taekyung entered in Turkey was one of those. No matter how I searched the mana watch or the internet, I found nothing.
If he’d gone through official channels, there would be at least some record of an injured hunter. The dungeon where Han Taekyung was hurt and the one where his friend made the deal were different dungeons.
Hong Seokyoung said he’d lost contact with Han Taekyung for a while, and even his family, like Han Eunyoung, didn’t know what happened during that time.
In the end, I found nothing in the mana watch. All I got was a reminder that Han Taekyung, annoying as he was, was an incredible hunter.
……
Well, whatever happened in the past, Han Taekyung is still Han Taekyung.
What good would it do me to dig up his past now? It’s not like he’s going to break down in tears and quit being a hunter. He’ll keep doing his job, just as he always has.
He’s someone who can take care of himself.
He’s not unstable, not a kid who needs guidance like Park Seohyun or the others.
Just a noisy guy who loves pink cats.
But tougher than he looks, steady, and always moving forward.
…Reluctantly, I found myself revising my opinion of Han Taekyung a little upward.