Chapter 102
Chapter 102
* * *
“Ugh, it's freezing.”
During the evening rush, a university student dashed into the subway car. It was the beginning of March, but it was still far too cold without a padded jacket.
She sat in an empty seat and tuned into her favorite streamer's broadcast on youtube. A chat broadcast was currently in progress, and looking at the title, the topic was about hunters.
As soon as she connected, she heard the streamer speaking.
[Will he ever come back? Oh, you mean Lude, right. I wonder as well.]
In an instant, the mood in the chat room grew somber.
Lude had suddenly announced his retirement from the hunter world at the end of last December. He hadn't appeared a single time since then.
He was a person whose origins were completely unknown from the start, and he'd vanished like a mirage when he left.
Rumors circulated that Lude was the one who handled the Rank 1 Gate that appeared at the end of the year, but that turned out to be false.
Information regarding that day's Rank 1 Gate was controlled as a national secret, but a single photograph had been making the rounds privately.
It was a blurry photo of a small girl crossing into the Gate in a carriage and then returning.
No information whatsoever was provided about that girl.
[No, but I'm telling you, I really think that girl is Lude. You say that's impossible? No, think about it. If it isn't her, then absolutely nothing else makes sense.]
The streamer shrugged while saying that. Most people said the same thing.
"Who on earth is that girl who suddenly appeared!"
Talk that looked like it belonged in web novel titles, such as 'She's Lude's hidden younger sister,' 'She's an unregistered Awakener being kept secret by the state,' 'She's a Regressor,' and 'She's a Returnee,' circulated wildly.
The government mentioned "cooperating hunters from other nations" and brought up other East Asian hunters who used similar powers, but half the people believed it while the other half didn't.
There were even rumors that the girl's true identity was "Shin Bitnari."
"Geez, what nonsense… How could Shin Bitnari be Lude."
It was impossible. As soon as the woman let out a chuckle, the subway stopped along with an announcement. It was Gangnam Station. Realizing it was her stop, the woman typed a message in the chat.
Lude's Bichon Frise
-I've arrived to see the billboard!
Beep, beep, beep. Notifications popped up on the "Lude's Dogs" server telling her to have a good look. With a look that was both expectant and bitter, the woman headed toward Exit 2 of Gangnam Station.
「Thank you for everything! We hope you'll be happy in the future!」
It was a photo of Lude's face smiling brightly as he announced his retirement on the day of the awards ceremony.
The "Lude's Dogs" server had erupted that day, but the prevailing opinion was that they had to accept it if it was a decision Lude made himself.
Immediately after, they'd gathered funds through a donation site to create a "Lude Retirement Commemoration Billboard."
“Seriously. Who else would smile so with such relief while announcing their retirement.”
The woman pressed her sleeves against her eyes to hold back the tears. There were several post-it notes stuck beside the billboard. After taking a few photos of the advertisement, the woman looked closely at the messages on the notes.
Most of them said things like thank you for everything, when are you coming back, please come back, I'm doing well in society now because you saved me, thank you so much. Amidst those.
「Thank you so much for everything! Live happily with Kang Ihyun! T_T」
She chuckled upon seeing that post-it note.
“Seriously, they even quit within two weeks of each other just like the partners they are.”
Hunter Kang Ihyun also left the Sanctuary immediately after the Rank 1 Gate. His whereabouts were said to be unknown after that. There were many speculations that he had retired or was working as a freelancer.
She wondered how such prominent figures could vanish from South Korea for three months without a single photo being taken.
She hoped they were enjoying a vacation in Hawaii as one of the rumors suggested.
A person approached the woman while she was looking at the billboard with a warm heart. A man with his hood pulled up was calmly peeling off the post-it notes one by one.
“Hey, wait a second!”
This was a billboard she'd worked so hard to create! The woman approached the man and grabbed his shoulder.
“Those were written with heart by other people. You shouldn't take them off like that…!”
“He isn't coming back just because you do this.”
The woman flinched at the voice that was sharp as ice. The voice was somehow familiar. The tone was different, but that beautiful voice couldn't have gone anywhere. The woman spoke as she carefully checked the face beneath the hood.
“Um, by any chance, are you Kang Ihy...”
Pale yellow hair and low, sunken blue eyes. The woman smiled awkwardly as she met those eyes.
“Ah, I'm sorry. I have the wrong person.”
The features were familiar, but the atmosphere was completely different. There was no way "the" Kang Ihyun would give off an aura like that. Not with an expression that was so gloomy, dark, and looked like he was about to commit a crime at any moment.
The woman stepped back a few paces, thinking the owners of the post-it notes were the only ones to be pitied. The yellow-haired man spoke in a mocking tone while looking at the billboard.
“He shouldn't come back. Ever.”
His eyes were ominous as he said that.
‘What the? Is he an anti-fan? Jeez, but he's really scary. I need to get away. I met a strange person today.’
The woman stepped back a couple more paces because his tone was filled with genuine malice that gave her goosebumps.
Fortunately, the man didn't speak to her again after that, and he simply crumpled the post-it notes in his hand and left.
The man looked up as he stepped out of Gangnam Station. Even though the cold winter had passed, his heart was still desolate. He opened his inventory and looked at the document in the very first slot.
‘Destroyed Oath of the Sacred Flame.’
He ground his teeth again. She'd said she would come back. She'd begged him to stay by her side even while using her own secret. They'd even made an oath. Yet, she left without a final goodbye.
On the day the Gate vanished, Kang Ihyun knew his oath had been destroyed. And a message appeared only to him, the sole Incarnation of the thirteenth betrayer.
[A Messiah has been born!]
Shin Bitnari had completely vanished.
She must've headed to hell to save someone else. Without even thinking of him. Without even including him among those "people to be saved."
It was the beginning of spring, yet his breath was still visible. He closed his eyes and spoke quietly.
“Everyone... says it's fine.”
Min Jaeyoon had comforted him. He'd said that since Nari went to hell without going through a "physical death," she wasn't truly dead. He'd said they could connect at any time if they met a demon in hell who was an acquaintance of his own demons, and that there'd be a way to return.
Jeong Suho also said it was fine. He'd said that Nari wasn't dead. He'd said she would surely return. Since Nari hadn't been able to see him for seven years, he'd said he would wait at least that long.
Her godfather, Ah Nan, also said it was fine. He'd told him to say the word if there was anything he could do to help Nari return, and that he'd keep nagging Min Jaeyoon until then.
But as for himself…
“Nari is the one who went to hell, so why... does it feel like I'm the one in hell. Why am I...”
Why did he actually hope she wouldn't return?
An investigation by the state followed after that. His aunt said that even her power couldn't stop it. No, rather, she'd said they shouldn't hide it any longer.
After reaching the conclusion that Lude was Shin Bitnari, they quietly covered up the facts. It seemed it was because a massive amount of chaos was expected if it were announced.
No particular reprimand followed, but Kang Ihyun had to explain his relationship with Nari. It felt as if his memories of her were being ransacked in that process.
So he gave up on everything.
The Archangel gave him some words of comfort, but he couldn't hear them at all. He wished she hadn't given him hope in the first place, as the fall accompanied by hope was even more painful.
“I only needed you, and even if everything were destroyed, if only I had you...”
No matter how much he thought about it, he could only think that she'd "betrayed" him. It was strange, considering he was the sole Incarnation of the most famous betrayer in the world.
“Rather, don't come back. If you do come back, then I’ll really,”
Kang Ihyun looked at his phone. It was a phone he couldn't bring himself to replace even though the screen was cracked. He went into his "Blocked Friends List" and clicked on Shin Bitnari's chat room.
[Nari, where are you?] 1
And he glared at that 'delivered' that would never appear as ‘read’. If the moment ever came when that 'delivered' vanished, if that happened. Then.
Kang Ihyun pushed aside the Constellation's message. He whispered quietly.
“Then, we should fall together 'for real.' Into hell.”
I can't do it alone. He muttered one last time and put the phone in his pocket.
* * *
“Hey! Chris! Wait for me! How can you go so fast!”
A girl with purple eyes and a side-tail ran forward. No, since they were flying through the sky, the expression "flailed" would've been more appropriate than "ran."
“Luca, you're just slow.”
The brown-haired man called "Chris," who had a prosthetic leg and a short braid hanging to his shoulder, stood in the sky and looked down. Small orange wings were fluttering on his prosthetic leg.
“Seriously~ I'm not that used to flying! Huh? I'm flying... This is actually quite fun. I think it'd be good for annoying people with dad jokes.”
Soon the woman called "Luca" chuckled while muttering "I'm flying." Chris let out a deep sigh at that sight. Luca looked at Chris and spoke.
“So?”
“She's vanished without a trace.”
“On purpose? Or was it a mistake?”
“I wonder. But the timing is too good.”
Chris scowled and scratched his side hair. Luca chuckled and approached his side.
“When the timing is too good, it's usually on purpose.”
“Then the sentence just gets longer. The task is the same either way.”
“If you flee, your sentence gets increased! Didn't you know!”
While Luca spoke playfully, the man pulled out a notebook and a pen from his coat without saying much.
Chris scribbled in the notebook with a pen shaped like two snakes coiled around a staff, then tore out the page and tossed it into the sky.
[Trait :: 'Guardian of the Boundary who Mediates Heaven and Earth' is activating!]
[Using the authority of the Constellation 'Guardian Deity of Boundaries and Wanderers.']
Fwoosh. Soon, the paper he'd thrown into the sky returned to him. Luca came to his side and looked at the paper with him.
“Wow, no matter how many times I see it, your handwriting is truly terrible. Can you even understand this?”
“....”
Chris looked at the notebook calmly and then pressed his hand against his head.
“Ugh, seriously, how annoying.”
“Why?! Why, what is it?!”
He folded the paper neatly twice and put it in his suit pocket. After that, he expressed his irritation vocally.
“Prepare for a business trip.”
“Uh... where did she run off to that you're calling it a business trip?”
“The destination is hell.”
“Hell?!”
That hell?! The one in the heavenly realm?! Luca looked at him with a face that said it was impossible. She felt like she understood why Chris had such a headache.
“Isn't it incredibly hard to get permission to enter there?!”
“We have to do it, what else can we do.”
He used his Incarnation-exclusive trait again and began to write a lengthy letter.
Seeing him truly requesting entry permission, Luca also let out a sigh inwardly and sent a message to her pet sitter asking them to watch her pet for a few more days.
“It can't be helped. We can't just leave a sinner alone.”
“Yeah, yeah~ But I didn't know a mere Incarnation could do something like that. This is something even a Constellation can't avoid. What was her name again? And what's the exact charge?”
“The crime of crossing the boundaries of time and putting the world at risk of destruction, yet avoiding the 'rebound.' And her name is,”
As he said that, Chris snapped his notebook shut.
“Shin Bitnari. She's the daughter of the 'Former Guardian of Order.'”
Part 1 End