Chapter 89
Chapter 89
* * *
“I’m planning to resign from Sanctuary. As soon as possible.”
It was what Lude said at the hotel before the award ceremony started.
Baek Jangmi and Kang Sujin looked at each other, then looked back at Lude.
Kang Sujin cleared her throat with a little cough and spoke.
“Uh, can I ask why? This is very sudden.”
“I’m going to retire from… being a Hunter.”
Retire. At that word, Kang Sujin’s mouth fell open. Sanctuary’s stock price had already shot up thanks to Lude. If he suddenly left the company, it was obvious the price would crash in an instant.
“Are you dissatisfied with Sanctuary in some way? If you feel you have too much work, I can cut it back for you. But retirement feels far too sudden. You’re ranked number one, Lude. The shock is going to be enormous.”
Kang Sujin had no intention of letting this golden goose go, so she started rambling, trying to talk him around. Lude shook his head from side to side. His eyes were very firm.
“No. This isn’t Sanctuary’s fault. I just have to quit. It’s the right thing to do.”
“Lude. I really don’t know what you mean by that!”
“I heard that if Guildmaster Baek Jangmi’s Constellation manifests on Earth, South Korea is going to be on the brink of being torn in half. And that you’ve been holding that back.”
Startled to hear her own name all of a sudden, Baek Jangmi pushed her white hair back behind her ear. Even after her contract with her Constellation had been dissolved, her hair had stayed white. She spoke in a voice meant to calm Lude down.
“Er, um, what does my Constellation have to do with your retirement, Lude?”
Lude hesitated for a long time, absently rubbing his knee. When Kang Sujin and Baek Jangmi waited for him out in silence, he finally spoke quietly.
“My… Constellation wouldn’t go so far as to possess me and help me attack another Constellation for nothing. There had to be a purpose.”
He had heard that casually striking at a Constellation from another mythos was basically a nonaggression pact violation. Especially Nari’s Constellation, The Lord of Chaos, which other Constellations constantly watched for any excuse to pounce on, so it needed to be extra careful.
There was no way that kind of being had agreed to possess him with no compensation at all.
No matter that Min Jaeyoon ended up devouring the Beast in the end, The Lord of Chaos had taken on real risk by directly interfering through “possession” in order to help Nari.
And Nari had an uneasy feeling that the reason for that help was not going to be anything positive.
“Right. That’s how Constellations are.”
“That’s why. I think… it’s probably trying to get rid of a rival.”
At the word “rival,” Kang Sujin and Baek Jangmi looked at each other. Lude went on, his tone even more hesitant. And both of their faces went pale.
* * *
“Why on earth?!”
For the past few days, it was the phrase people said most often. On national TV, on streaming sites, in messenger chats, on social media, in real life, everyone kept saying it.
‘Why on earth.’
After Lude’s retirement announcement went out live through a streaming site, this phrase went viral overseas too, spreading everywhere as the borrowed term “Dodaeche Wae.”
The world rank one Hunter, who had been working just fine for six years, suddenly announced his retirement. With no clear reason.
People all over the world fell into panic. Naturally Sanctuary’s CS team, who had to deal with everything related to Lude, looked like their dark circles might punch straight through their jawlines these past few days.
And there was one more person who kept saying that line out of habit.
“Lude. Why on earth…”
Lude’s former partner, and soon to be South Korea’s rank one Hunter, Kang Ihyun, let out a long sigh and stared at his phone.
Even after retiring, Lude had promised he’d definitely keep in touch. But no matter how many messages Kang Ihyun sent, there was no reply.
Maybe something happened. Or maybe Lude was simply sick of Sanctuary and sick of him, and decided to disappear completely. If so, were all the things he said right before retiring just lies? Saying he would stay by his side for a whole year.
All kinds of thoughts crowded Kang Ihyun’s head. For a moment he even thought about going to Nari’s tiny apartment to look for him. But visiting in person only two days after retirement just because there had been no contact would look over the line no matter who saw it.
More than anything, he had no excuse. When they were partners it might have been different, but now they were not in a relationship where he could just show up at the door.
If only he had been close to him from the old days, like Jeong Suho. Kang Ihyun glared at the anxious feeling that refused to go away.
Lude always gave off the impression that he might suddenly disappear somewhere far away. He was also someone who really could do that. That just made it all the more unsettling.
‘If I’d known this would happen… I would have made more connections to him.’
Kang Ihyun opened his inventory and checked the “Oath of the Sacred Flame” contract inside. It was thankfully still there. That meant Lude did not want to cut ties with him completely or scam him. That alone was some comfort.
He chewed nervously on his lower lip and decided that if he still heard nothing after a few more days, he would at least ask Jeong Suho. Then he shoved his phone into his pocket.
With a ding, the elevator stopped. Kang Ihyun stepped out and walked forward. The Guildmaster had called him.
It was in front of the monitor room for the mock battle chamber, the same place where he and Lude had sat their Sanctuary interview. For the last two days there had been a “Under Construction” sign hanging there, saying it was under internal repairs. To be summoned there now, of all places. Already feeling heavy because he could not reach Lude, he did not like this location at all.
He wondered what this could be about when he read that it was not even the mock battle chamber itself but the monitor room. He knocked. When a voice from inside told him to come in, he opened the door.
“Guildmaster, what is it?”
“You came?”
Gasp. He drew in a sharp breath. On the big screen in the monitor room, Lude was sitting on a camp bed with his legs crossed.
“Lude!!”
[Hi. Long time no see.]
Kang Ihyun sprinted straight up to the screen. Lude looked at the camera and waved. The hurt that had been weighing on Ihyun’s chest finally began to melt away.
Yes, so that was it. He had not forgotten him or thrown him away. He had been in the same building the whole time…
Pushing his relief aside, Ihyun opened his mouth.
“Lude, why are you here/! And why haven’t you been answering my messages.”
Relief that things might be all right and curiosity about why Lude was here came crashing in together. Lude answered in a dry tone.
[I asked the Guildmaster to lock me up. Sorry, I couldn’t get back to you.]
“Huh? Lock you up? Why…”
[I’ve been confessing my mistake. I thought you should hear it too. That’s why I called for you.]
“Mis…take? What mistake?”
Mistake huh. What mistake could Lude possibly have made? Before Ihyun could ask again, Kang Sujin put a hand on his shoulder and shook her head.
“Auntie?”
Both Lude and his aunt had serious expressions. Realizing this was no ordinary matter, Ihyun nervously twisted his fingers together and took a few steps back. The tension in the room made it clear they had already been through a heavy conversation.
[Just listen. I’m not trying to hurt you or trick you.]
“…Understood!”
At that, Kang Ihyun looked at the screen where Lude was. Even though he could not see Ihyun from that side, Lude was making his usual expression, as if he wanted to reassure him as much as possible. Kang Sujin adjusted the microphone and spoke.
“Now that Hunter Kang Ihyun is here, you really can tell the whole story, right.”
[Yes.]
“Guildmaster? No, Lude. W-What exactly are you two talking about?”
What on earth? Kang Ihyun looked at Kang Sujin with anxious eyes. She held her palm out toward him, asking him to wait.
Her attitude was not that of an aunt speaking to her nephew, but of a Guildmaster speaking to a Hunter. He bit his lip.
“Then I’ll ask again. I need to understand the whole picture, so please answer even if it is annoying.”
[All right. I’ll explain it as many times as you want, so ask again.]
Kang Sujin sighed and flipped through the interview file she had been using. The papers were covered in marks where she had written and erased notes with a pen. After checking something, she took hold of the mic once more.
“First, please introduce your Constellation again.”
[Do you mean my Constellations, plural? Or just my own Constellation?]
“Just your Constellation. Please tell us about that.”
[All right. My Constellation is…]
“Wait, Lude! So your Constellation is…!”
Kang Ihyun cut in urgently. Nari’s Constellation was not The Lord of Chaos, but the creator god of that mythos. And Nari almost certainly did not know that and was getting used.
She was most likely misunderstanding. Kang Ihyun stared at the screen where Lude was. His heart raced with impatience.
Then Lude answered in the same dry tone.
[The creator god of the Cthulhu Mythos, who rules the outer cosmos.]
“…Ah?”
For a moment, Kang Ihyun’s mind went blank. S-So Nari had known all along. About her own Constellation. In that case.
No. There was no way she had signed that contract knowing everything. He shook his head. It had to be that the Constellation with the blackened heart had tricked Nari. That’s why naive Nari had signed while knowing nothing and…
“I’ve heard that Constellations with a creation myth force a ‘particular act’ on their Incarnations. Is that true for you as well?”
[Yes. It is.]
“You chose to retire in order to stop that act. Is that right?”
[Yes.]
He knew. He knew exactly what kind of act the purest evil in the world would demand of him. And he had still signed the contract.
“Wait, Lude. You knew that… You knew all of that when you agreed to the contract with the creator god?”
[Yes. I knew everything and signed anyway.]
Kang Ihyun clenched his fist before he realized it. Only now did Nari’s strange behavior begin to make sense.
Her insistence from the beginning on a one year contract. The day her mental strength went berserk. Her words that if he knew what she was thinking, he would not stay by her side.
Her lukewarm reactions even when people praised and adored Lude. Her attitude that always assumed people would leave her someday. The way she kept awkwardly watching Ihyun’s expression.
He had thought all of that was just because she did not like dealing with people. He had not thought deeply about it.
‘Lude retires in order to protect peace.’
That was how his award ceremony speech could be summed up. A bad feeling ran coldly down Kang Ihyun’s spine.
“What is that act?”
[…That’s,]
Lude looked at the camera. Then he bit his lip. Fear flickered on his face. He was clearly afraid that Kang Ihyun would come to hate him.
After a long breath, he finally spoke, his voice shaking.
[It was to destroy this land I am standing on right now, one year after the contract.]
Tap. There was a small clatter as Kang Sujin dropped her pen to the floor. Kang Ihyun’s eyes flew wide. For a while, the monitor room was filled only with silence.
When no reply came, Lude let out a hollow laugh. Then he began to speak again.
It was a story from long ago.
Six years ago.
The beginning of Lude.