Retire 402

402 Dining Together (2)

“…All of a sudden?”

“No, but think about it.”

“Where did you even hear that?”

When Han Taekyung came to the lab, going on about having a great idea, Hong Seok-yeong hadn’t been there.

“Han Taekyung came and told me.”

I pressed a hand to my forehead.

I’d chased him out, telling him to stop spouting nonsense, and he’d gone straight to Hong Seok-yeong with it?

Should I call that initiative or just recklessness… What on earth did he say to get Hong Seok-yeong on board?

Judging by that playful look on his face, maybe it wasn’t about feasibility or anything else—maybe he just liked the idea itself.

“Huh? What? What are you talking about?”

Kim Chaemin hadn’t been there at the time, either. He grumbled that all the interesting things happened when he wasn’t around.

I gave Kim Chaemin a quick explanation. He hadn’t even had a sip of alcohol yet, but he burst out laughing as if he were already drunk.

“Oh, it’s like an old movie! Undercover investigation, is that it?”

“Undercover investigation, seriously… That’s not even remotely realistic.”

“Reality’s always stranger, isn’t it?”

“That’s not the point.”

“Is coming from the future realistic, then?”

“That’s not what I—never mind. Anyway, this isn’t a good idea.”

I was convinced everyone here had the wrong idea about what made a good idea.

And, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, Hong Seok-yeong disagreed with me. Of course I expected that. Why else would he bring up Han Taekyung at a meeting he’d called specifically to discuss the direction of our guild?

My father’s ideas rarely led to good results, but that didn’t mean he lived without any plans at all.

Even if I usually didn’t accept his suggestions.

If you wanted to call that the stubbornness and pride of Korea’s strongest hunter, I wouldn’t argue…

“But Heejae, just hear me out.”

“There’s nothing to hear.”

“It’s not about going undercover… but it’s not like we’ll ever have to investigate our own school, right?”

“You shouldn’t be so sure.”

A lot had happened at the academy.

“…There’s no better way to get a new identity, is there?”

Hong Seok-yeong stubbornly ignored my objections and pressed on. Why not try changing that future, too, while he’s at it?

“Especially these days, there’s nowhere else you can be so completely cut off from outside eyes.”

“That’s…”

I started to argue, then stopped.

If I set aside my reflexive resistance to Hong Seok-yeong and actually thought about it… he wasn’t wrong. In fact, he was right.

If we could just get the paperwork for admission sorted, no one would think it strange if someone disappeared from public view for up to three years.

Outside the European magical society, Noah Michelle’s intelligence network didn’t seem all that impressive. If we used Lee Miseon’s or Hong Seok-yeong’s connections to block information, we might actually be able to hide Hope’s existence surprisingly easily.

In other words, the idea was to use Yangseong High as a kind of identity laundering machine.

“Right?”

When I fell silent, Hong Seok-yeong smiled with confidence.

I looked at Hope. The person in question was calmly focused on the food on the table.

I couldn’t just leave Hope in this state forever.

Even if our guild didn’t exactly follow standard labor laws, keeping an illegal immigrant with no identity locked in the lab and making him work was another matter entirely.

…Well, it couldn’t be helped. With Noah Michelle watching with both eyes wide open, there was nowhere else we could safely keep Hope.

Hope knew that, too; that’s why, even while grumbling about not wanting to work or being bored, he stayed put.

If not for Noah Michelle and the Ark, Hope wouldn’t have any reason to be here… Actually, he would. That was because he’d attacked Lee Seungyeon and Kang Taewoo for no good reason.

Kang Taewoo more or less knew the situation, but Lee Seungyeon didn’t. For the sake of her peaceful school life, everyone agreed Hope should not be exposed.

“…I think it could work.”

Before I could even make up my mind, Kim Chaemin had already been won over.

I looked at Kim Chaemin, feeling betrayed.

“I doubt Noah Michelle could interfere in the administration of an East Asian country where the European magical society’s influence is almost nonexistent.”

It was exactly what I’d been thinking. So, even though I was annoyed, I couldn’t argue.

Kim Chaemin tapped his lips with a finger and continued.

“Anyway, it’s not like he’d have to act like a real student, right? Just being a student under Hong Seok-yeong’s protection… That would make it easy to keep him close.”

“Exactly! That’s what I’m saying. Now that the government’s handling dungeon management, it’s harder than ever to sneak into dungeons like before.”

“But if he’s a Yangseong High student, no one would suspect anything if he entered a dungeon, right?”

“Everyone’s living in the dorms anyway, so it’s perfect for keeping up appearances.”

Hong Seok-yeong and Kim Chaemin went back and forth, building on each other’s points.

I understood their logic. It made more sense than having some suspicious hunter drop out of the sky. If we tried to disguise him as a veteran or an association member, it would attract even more attention. And the trick of suddenly appearing out of nowhere, like I had, wouldn’t work a second time. Any ordinary hunter would draw attention, and naturally, their face would become known.

But as a student… as a student, you could avoid having your face recognized just by virtue of your age…

“And if it’s Alex, people would believe he’s a high schooler, too.”

…That, I couldn’t deny either.

“Um, can I say something?”

Gamble, who’d been quietly sipping his drink and listening, raised his hand with a blank expression.

“Of course you can. You’re our chief researcher. We value your opinion.”

“Hm.”

Gamble set down his glass and pointed at Hope.

“Do you really think he’d do well in school?”

“He wouldn’t actually have to attend classes…”

“And if you told him he didn’t have to, do you think he’d go anyway?”

“……”

Hope rested his chin on his hand and smiled sweetly.

“Come on, Sandra. Don’t say it like that.”

“Think about it. I’m not taking responsibility.”

Hong Seok-yeong and Kim Chaemin both fell silent.

It really was a bad idea. So much for a good idea.

“Ahem, ahem.”

Kim Chaemin cleared his throat and put the bottle I’d removed earlier back on the table.

“It’s not like we have to do it right away! Let’s just think about it for now!”

The meaning of “think about it” seemed to have changed somewhat. I shook my head as I watched Hong Seok-yeong quietly reach for the bottle again.

---

“I don’t mind.”

Hope said it out of nowhere.

Gamble was sprawled out drunk, Kim Chaemin was nodding off with a yawn, and Hong Seok-yeong had left to find Daniel to change his bandages, looking annoyed.

Despite having drunk a fair amount, Hope’s complexion hadn’t changed. Maybe he was such a skilled hunter that this much alcohol didn’t even register, or maybe human liquor simply couldn’t affect him.

Probably, it was because he was a physically enhanced hunter. There were individual differences, but it was true that hunters generally held their liquor well.

“I’m fine with just staying like this.”

“Living in the lab?”

“It’s stifling, but it can’t be helped. I’m not stupid enough to be stubborn about something like that.”

“Mm.”

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

I shrugged.

At my age, I knew that what you see isn’t everything. No matter how thoughtless someone seemed, they had their own reasons.

If Hope were really as thoughtless and impatient as he seemed, he never would have made it this far.

“The idea of enrolling at Yangseong High isn’t bad.”

The real issue was how long we could keep Yangseong High cut off from the outside world.

“It’s not like it has to happen right away… Just keep the possibility open. If we’re lucky and finish the Ark business quickly, it’ll all be pointless anyway.”

Hope stuck out his lower lip.

“But you couldn’t do it in twenty years.”

So that’s how he wanted to play it.

I snorted.

“My return to the past didn’t reset the clock.”

It wasn’t a return to the beginning. The efforts of my father, my sister, and countless others I’d never know hadn’t vanished.

“It’s an extension of that time.”

“…An extension?”

It was still going on. Even now.

“Dr. Gamble included.”

“……”

“The efforts of the people in that timeline are still carrying on. If not for that, we could never have changed this much.”

I looked at Gamble. I looked at Kim Chaemin.

“So you should think about the future, too.”

“…The future.”

“What do you want to do when all this is over?”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you want to become a hunter, too?”

“Huh?”

I shook my head.

It was a question I often asked the kids, but Hope didn’t seem to get it.

The kids never had any certainty about their own futures.

No, if anything, it was Hope who should be anxious about what lay ahead.

That thought crossed my mind, but I didn’t say it aloud. And Hope, without hesitation, answered.

“What I want to do is obvious.”

“What is it?”

“I want to tell my mom I’m alive.”

Hope’s eyes shone.

“My dad’s probably going to scold me for worrying Mom so much. But if I explain it well, Dad will understand. Mom, though…”

Hope frowned.

“I don’t know about Mom. She’ll probably be angry, right?”

When Hope had come to his senses after being in a coma, the first thing he’d checked was the video of his own funeral.

I wondered what he’d thought, watching his parents sob over an empty coffin until they passed out. Wasn’t it for love that he decided to become human? In a way, it was only natural. From the start, Hope had wanted to destroy the Ark for his family.

“…Take Master with you. If you say it was on Hong Seok-yeong’s orders, your mom won’t scold you.”

“That’s a good idea.”

A good idea…

I shook my head and finished off the rest of the liquor in my glass.

“Hey.”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t know, but I might be the last.”

“The last what?”

“No, I will be the last.”

“Huh?”

“Your kind… No, the item that monsters used to come back to the past. The one I used.”

Hope blinked slowly. I waited patiently for him to understand.

Hope got it.

But I said it out loud anyway, to make it clear.

“So if I die, there’s a good chance that item will appear.”

“…Uh, yeah. That’s what I heard, basically.”

“I don’t know what’ll happen from here…”

I wanted to live a long, long time.

“But if I die—”

But you never know with people.

“If it shows up.”

You only feel at ease when you’re prepared for everything.

“Destroy it.”

“……”

“Destroy it. No matter what.”

Hope looked into my eyes for a moment, then nodded.

“Then let me ask you for one thing, too.”

I looked at Hope slowly. He clenched and unclenched his fist.

“If I really die—”

“……”

“Tell my parents. Okay?”

Hope didn’t say what he wanted me to tell them.

But I nodded back, meeting his gaze.

What else would anyone want to say to the family they left behind?

Nothing but that they loved them.