Chapter 325

Kwon Taehan bit his lip hard, as if enduring something unreasonable, then turned away and left.

'The timing is bad.'

The spot Kwon Taehan had just touched was burning hot, as if it had been scalded. I clenched my teeth and tried to lessen the pain by pressing hard around that area.

“Fuck, this is shitty....”

“...You’re going home now.”

Do Yehyun seemed to weigh something, then quickly made a decision. The hand hovering over my shoulder brushed my collar. I could vividly feel Do Yehyun’s fingers touching the area around my neck.

“Bro, you have to go now. It came up... this far.”

“Was it noticeable?”

“No, it wasn’t. Because I covered it.”

“That’s a relief.”

Who knew where and how things would get twisted if people heard I had merged with a demonic beast.

“It might climb up to your cheek. You saw it then, I....”

“Yeah.... I can feel it too.”

I clenched my fist hard, then looked down at my hand at the foreign sensation I felt. The ring Im Haekyung had put on me was glittering on my finger.

'Did they hear?'

The event was in its final stretch anyway. It was not an event that ended in one day, but tomorrow they could call some other bastard and fill the spot.

“Ah.... Fuck, seriously.”

“I think we need to contact a Hunter merged with a demonic beast and collect cases or something.”

I had no desire to show the pain, but from my arm to my shoulder, to my neck, not just the skin but even the muscles beneath it were hot. It felt as though half my body had been shoved into boiling water.

At first, Do Yehyun tried hard to answer calmly, but after seeing that I was slowly becoming unable to endure the pain, he touched various parts of my body with an anxious expression and spammed heals wherever his hands reached.

“.......”

“...Bro.”

When I stared blankly at Do Yehyun, the guy, feeling my gaze, called me in an uneasy voice. I grabbed Do Yehyun’s wrist and lowered it as I spoke.

“It seems to be reacting to mana. For now... try not doing it. It’ll die down once some time passes.” ℴ

“What if it doesn’t?”

“Fuck, Yehyun.... Let’s think positively, okay?”

Only then did Do Yehyun nod.

Mana. Mana was not something that could be turned off and on anyway, so there should not be any way to lessen the pain.

'Wait, is there really nothing?'

I glanced at the wrist guard tightly wrapped around my wrist, then, without hesitation, pulled the wrist guard off again.

“Bro, you said you couldn’t take that off....”

“Let’s experiment a bit.”

Turning this water dragon’s heart into a wrist guard and embedding it as defensive gear was, from the beginning, no different from suppressing it with force so that the demonic beast could not grow bigger.

In short, it meant it had been a temporary measure from the start.

But if the demonic beast was reacting to mana right now and rampaging around inside my body like this, there was no reason to wear an artifact that poured out mana on my body.

Sure enough, the pain around my arm slowly began to fade. I shoved the wrist guard back into my jacket pocket and clenched my teeth. Because of the pain, my thoughts kept evaporating.

'...A restraint.'

Right. There was an artifact that suppressed mana. If there was something in a similar form to the one Im Haekyung had forcibly put on me in their house to control my mana, it seemed like I could suppress the pain, even if only temporarily.

More of a problem than the pain was that the markings covered my skin and became visible.

And above all, this place was crawling with cameras. Some were even going out as live broadcast streams, with only a time delay. One wrong move, and I might publicly announce that I was a demonic-beast-merged Hunter to the whole world on YouXube.

'Then I’m fucked.'

Even aside from that, there were a disgusting number of eyes watching. Even if the broadcasts were blocked, it would be over if the rumors spread badly. On top of that, if the Hunter Association side pulled some trick, it would get even more fucked.

After finishing the calculations in my head, I was about to call Im Haekyung right away, then paused for a moment and spoke into the ring.

“Would you call me?”

If they had been listening, they would call right away.

I waited exactly two minutes after that. Around two minutes should have been enough time to cut off a conversation and step away.

'They’re not calling.'

As expected, it seemed conditions were not favorable. I did not know exactly how the artifact worked, but if it was a listening device, then it should be possible to turn it off and on. After all, even I could not hear what was happening on Im Haekyung’s side right now.

I finished calculating, took off the ring, and handed it to Do Yehyun.

“Put it on. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t fit.”

“Yes.”

“Count to 180, then come outside the restroom. I have something to talk about with that guy from earlier.”

“...Yes.”

Do Yehyun, who had obediently nodded, swallowed dryly and slowly lifted his head. I faced Do Yehyun and adjusted my shirt collar again.

“Is it noticeable?”

“No, it isn’t. Ah, wait....”

Do Yehyun’s hand hovered around my neck and adjusted my collar one final time. After confirming even his nod, only then did I step outside.

Kwon Taehan was leaning against the wall near the restroom, quietly staring at the tips of his feet. I approached and lightly struck the wall with my fist.

“Did you wait?”

“.......”

Only then did Kwon Taehan raise his gaze and look at me, pressing his lips tightly shut.

“What did you come to talk about? Is it what I want to hear?”

“.......”

When I faced Kwon Taehan with a smile, the guy began gnawing at his own lip as if he wanted to draw blood. °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° I pressed my index finger firmly against his lower lip and stopped the action.

“I didn’t come here to watch you eat your lip, so talk.”

“...When I’m with you, I keep getting dragged in.”

“Yeah, I keep getting dragged in by you too.”

“You?”

“Let’s not do this, Taehan. I don’t have much time.”

“You take control again like this.”

Well, I did not think I had ever properly held control even once. From some point in my life, I had been completely bound to Kwon Taehan. Even if it repeated several times.

I crooked up one corner of my mouth and braced my hand against the wall right beside Kwon Taehan’s face.

“Well, I was begging, wasn’t I? Saying we should go back.”

“.......”

“I still think the same. If only you forget, we can go back perfectly... to how it originally was. I’ll try starting over. Even if my memories are incomplete, in any case, I am still Seo Jehyun.”

“.......”

“I’ll treat you well.”

At my words, Kwon Taehan’s head turned to the side. Kwon Taehan, openly avoiding my gaze, spoke as if chewing the words.

“I don’t want to get privately close to you.”

“Then?”

“...Make a deal. Tell me how far you remember, and what else you know. Because I’m curious about that.”

“And?”

“...Don’t get in my way. No matter what situation comes to you.”

“Get in your way?”

Was this him telling me not to kill him? Kwon Taehan did not answer in particular. Watching his Adam’s apple move as he swallowed, I answered obediently.

“I’ll do that.”

“.......”

“Instead, promise you’ll cooperate in finding my memories.”

“That’s my condition anyway....”

“No, that’s not the extent of what I want.”

I cut off Kwon Taehan’s words. I grabbed the chin of the guy who kept looking elsewhere, turned it to face me, and looked straight into his eyes.

“Cooperate unconditionally. If I tell you to come, come. If I tell you to clear time, clear it. Should we make a contract outright? In exchange, I’ll help you in other areas. For example, as a one-man guild, you have difficulties.”

“Then you cooperate with me too. Don’t touch the Hunter Association.”

“Yeah, I’ll do that.”

Of course, I had no intention of listening to him. When my answer came so obediently, Kwon Taehan narrowed his brow as if confused.

“What else do you want?”

“...What did you do with Seowon hyung?”

“I told you we wrote a covenant. Why ask?”

“Did you deliberately beat me to it?”

“Beat you to what?”

After saying that much, I slowly became certain.

'They aren’t traveling together.'

I stared quietly at Kwon Taehan and asked.

“Aha.... You couldn’t make a contract with Seowon.”

“.......”

“Well, that can happen. Right now, you don’t particularly need one, do you? You can catch them and bring them when you need to.”

“That isn’t the problem. ...What are you going to do about a life-staking covenant?”

“I told you to make good use of it. One more option has been handed to you, so why are you anxious? They’re not the kind of kid who’ll go somewhere and die. They’re not the kind of guy who would go into a situation where they might die in the first place.”

“Do you think I’m doing this because I’m worried about you right now?”

Fuck, then who are you worrying about while doing this? At Kwon Taehan, who was saying something obvious, a laugh escaped me without my meaning to.

“Taehan, don’t be shitty....”

“.......”

“What else did you say you were curious about? Im Haekyung?”

At that, Kwon Taehan’s gaze slowly rolled behind me. I realized where his eyes were heading and glanced back.

'The restroom.'

“Are you curious about the kid inside?”

“.......”

Well, if he told me to say it somehow, I could.

I calmly observed Kwon Taehan’s reaction. His lower lip, which he had kept biting and licking since earlier, twitched. If he was so frustrated he was going to lose his mind, why the fuck would he not speak?

“They’re a healer from the same guild.”

“...Were you hurt?”

“Yeah, I told you I didn’t have time.”

“Couldn’t you have... said it like that earlier?”

“Why should I?”

At that, I saw the strength drain a little from Kwon Taehan’s eyes. I tapped Kwon Taehan’s cheek with the back of my hand and pulled myself back.

“Ah, of course, we’re also close privately.”

“.......”

“Was that what you were asking?”

“.......”

“I didn’t know?”

Fuck, look at his expression turning shitty.

I laughed briefly and took a step back. In any case, Kwon Taehan... had no choice but to keep paying attention to me. Because the time we had spent together had been disgustingly long.

Still, his wariness seemed to have eased a little compared to before. Or else he was desperately trying to ease it. Just from the fact that I had touched his face however I wanted just now, and yet he had not particularly resisted or tried to brush off my hand, that much was clear.

Then, with good timing, Do Yehyun came outside.

I took the ring back out of Do Yehyun’s hand, put it on my ring finger, then lightly made a gesture to Kwon Taehan that meant I would call him.

Anyway, the pain was so severe I could not stay any longer.

“Follow me.”

“Yes.”

As I moved together with Do Yehyun, I immediately called Im Haekyung. As soon as Im Haekyung answered the phone, they asked.

-Did you take off the ring?

“For a moment. Someone asked if it was a couple ring.”

-.......

“I told you, sharing matching rings side by side is originally a fucking weird thing.”

-Where are you?

Well, that was not the important thing. I went straight to the main point.

“Do you have a mana restraint?”

-Not right now. Do you need one?

“Because of the demonic beast. This isn’t some werewolf experience, either.... I can’t suppress my mana the way I want, so I think I’ll need help.”

-There are some in the building. Because everyone from the Association Chairman to the minister is unawakened.

“Do you also know exactly where they are?”

At my question, Im Haekyung paused briefly before speaking.

-Jehyun, in the first place... the structure makes it impossible to borrow one temporarily. The very statement that you need one would arouse suspicion.

Fuck, this bastard was dragging things out over something that could be solved simply. I replied to Im Haekyung, who was stating the obvious.

“Don’t worry. I’m going to steal it.”