Chapter 307
I waited quite a while for Im Haekyung’s laughter to stop before asking,
“Don’t you need cross-verification? What if I was lying?”
At that, Im Haekyung lowered the gaze slightly and looked at the blood on the cheek and around the jaw before answering casually.
“I didn’t think about that.”
“You’re careless.”
“Every time you touch the Mental Restriction, you end up in pain. And now you’ve shown me such clear evidence.... Why would I doubt it?”
Before I could even react, Im Haekyung spoke again.
“And you were waiting too, weren’t you? For me to talk about things like this.”
“I was.”
“I’m not careless. I simply judged that this was a moment that didn’t require verification, and this time as well, my judgment was correct.”
As if wanting to reach out, the bastard moved the wrists slightly, then felt the suppressor cuffs and relaxed again.
I raised my gaze, checked the wrists, and let go of the hand gripping the suppressor cuffs.
However, Im Haekyung did not seem interested in moving the wrists again.
The warning window disappeared surprisingly quickly.
The pain did not come anymore either.
Feeling that the bleeding had stopped, I roughly wiped my damp face with the back of my hand. Im Haekyung’s gaze followed the movement.
“Does it hurt?”
“Yes.”
“Even now?”
“Not now.”
When I answered shortly, Im Haekyung calmly nodded.
After seeming to think about something for a moment, the bastard spoke in a peaceful voice.
“Is there anything left that I don’t know about you, Jehyun?”
Well, quite a lot of my cards had already been exposed.
The fiend merge, the penalties, the Mimic Skill, things connected to the destruction of the world.
But I knew plenty about Im Haekyung as well.
The basic profile, the bastard’s past actions, how far Haekyung could reach... even roughly how capable Haekyung was.
Instead of answering the question, I asked something else.
“What are you going to do from now on?”
“If a Gate appears, I’ll clear the Gate. I’ll attend meetings as well. The more high-rank Gates there are, the more my role increases.”
Just as I was about to press for a different answer, Im Haekyung beat me to it.
“But if there’s something you want from me, Jehyun... I’ll cooperate. Just as I always have.”
However, simple cooperation was not what I needed.
I looked at Im Haekyung for quite a while and thought.
People were variable, after all.
Depending on the situation, people could change easily.
Even if the objective was clear, the process in between could overturn itself many times.
Even if an enormous number of timelines accumulated, that remained the same.
However, there were definitely checkpoints that resembled unwritten rules.
Things that did not change even when timelines repeated.
Choices that were made again every time one returned.
Then what should I choose at this point?
“Jehyun?”
“What is your goal, Guild Master?”
“My goal?”
“Not simply wanting confirmation that the hypothesis you established is correct. Your real goal.”
“Well....”
The bastard acted as though considering it and trailed off, but there was not much hesitation in the answer that followed.
“Understanding?”
“.......”
“I want to understand the cause of all this. And I want to confirm that there was meaning to it. Even if there was no meaning... then I want to know the intention.”
It was the answer I had been waiting for.
I recalled the moments when I had encountered beings similar to gods.
Thinking about it now, those had been a kind of bug.
Moments when anything that did not flow according to their intentions was strongly suppressed.
Though it seemed they were wrapping that intention in plausibility.
It was also something I had realized while looking through the deleted timelines this time.
God had arranged trials for Kwon Taehan, but had not wanted him to fail completely.
God wanted the step that came after all of that was over.
I retraced the thought process of “Seo Jehyun.”
Could Kwon Taehan really become a god?
Gods who imitated figures from myths had parasitized Dungeons that imitated myths.
If Kwon Taehan also possessed a Dungeon and a myth of that scale, would he become a god?
'Maybe.'
I thought about the original work.
The original work was the story after Kwon Taehan’s first life, and it began when, at the end of that first life, he died by my hand and regressed.
And those countless deleted timelines I had seen were simply the foundation that existed before he even began regressing.
'And now it’s the fifth life.'
In the original work, after Kwon Taehan died 999 times, he first witnessed the “afterward” in the life he finally reached.
Hunters obtained Titles.
The entire Earth became a Dungeon.
An episode like that.
If god had done all this because he wanted to give Kwon Taehan a Dungeon?
If the goal was for Kwon Taehan to become like the mythical figures I had seen, or like those Dungeon Bosses....
Either way, I could not understand all of this alone.
I ran my tongue across my lips once.
An unpleasant taste of blood lingered at the tip of my tongue.
“Guild Master, if someone were to obtain power that surpassed humanity, would that power work even on a god?”
“I don’t know.”
I stood up and said,
“I think it might. They’re not as impressive as they seem.”
“You’ve actually seen them?”
“A few times.”
“.......”
Now that I was aware of it, every joint in my body felt stiff.
I cracked my neck and spoke lightly.
“I’m thinking of locking Kwon Taehan up for a while.”
“Why?”
“I think god would dislike it.”
I reached out, pulled Im Haekyung upright into a sitting position, and continued.
“God appears wrapped in mythology during moments of crisis. If that happens, there’s a high probability it’ll happen this time too....”
“.......”
“I’d like you to have a conversation.”
“With him?”
“.......”
“Just a conversation?”
When I lowered my hand, the suppressor cuffs caught against the wrist.
I grabbed them and pulled Im Haekyung slightly closer.
“A conversation filled with truth.”
“Ah....”
“I feel like I won’t be satisfied unless every card gets put on the table.”
“And if that doesn’t happen?”
“Then I’ll need insurance. While Kwon Taehan is locked up, I’ll look for something that can be done.”
At my words, Im Haekyung simply stared at me.
“Do you have something to say?”
“Where exactly are you planning to lock up an S-rank Hunter?”
Ah.
I had already thought of that.
Without hesitation, I answered,
“In a Dungeon.”
“.......”
“The more it incapacitates people by provoking trauma, the better.”
“You do know Dungeons are temporary, right?”
“There have been exceptions.”
The maze Dungeon Jin Haedo had forcibly created, then left uncleared so that it remained open indefinitely and allowed free entry and exit, was exactly such a case.
As though understanding what I meant, Im Haekyung raised the corner of the mouth and answered,
“I understand.”
Hearing that, I paused for a moment.
Then Im Haekyung added evenly,
“Your plan too... and you as well, Jehyun.”
“.......”
“Ah.... I never imagined I’d end up having a conversation like this with you.”
“You seem happy.”
“I am.”
It was an honest impression.
So honest that I found myself wondering whether Im Haekyung had ever been this honest before.
'No.'
Actually, the bastard had been honest since earlier.
After all... Haekyung had said this was something long awaited.
Looking at Im Haekyung, I replied lightly.
“This is the first time I’ve talked about things like this as well.”
“Really?”
“Probably.”
I might have talked about them in a past I didn’t know.
As though understanding what I meant by probably, Im Haekyung nodded.
The bastard looked me over as if observing me and then said,
“You like it too.”
“.......”
“Talking about the Cataclysm. Having someone to discuss things with that nobody else believes.”
“.......”
“Someone who can make plans, build strategies... and to some degree even empathize.”
It sounded as though Haekyung was speaking from personal experience.
Well, that probably wasn’t far from the truth.
'Did I need that?'
Even if there were still things about Im Haekyung that made me uncomfortable, I couldn’t deny that this was the first time I had had a conversation like this.
There was no need to force anyone to understand.
“You want to be understood.”
Im Haekyung spoke gently.
“I always did.”
The tone was calm and completely unexcited.
I silently looked at Im Haekyung and thought,
'Me?'
What I had wanted was a little different.
Rather than wanting to be understood, I wanted to understand.
Enough that I brought up pointless topics again and again.
Even if circumstances changed, I wanted to know whether a person’s essence would remain the same, and I wanted to be able to predict what choice that person would make.
After all, the Seo Jehyun from the deleted timelines was still me.
“Or maybe... are you already understood? There are already quite a few people who like you, Jehyun. Yehyun, for example... or Seowon? Though it seems your relationship has become distant.”
“You had a hand in that.”
“I did try to separate you, but I didn’t think things would become that bad.”
That was probably true.
Joo Seowon had never said they accepted Im Haekyung’s words at face value.
And Do Yehyun never seemed particularly fond of Im Haekyung in the first place.
Watching Im Haekyung blink, I let out a short laugh.
“I don’t know.... Do I need to be understood?”
“If you aren’t understood by people close to you, then at an unexpected moment... you end up flustered.”
“Guild Master Song?”
“It feels like being betrayed.”
“Unfortunately, what I have with those two isn’t brotherly affection.”
Leaving Im Haekyung alone, I entered the bathroom and washed my face.
I watched the blood being swallowed by the sink, then dried my face with a towel and glanced at the mirror.
My clothes were still a mess, and dried blood remained all the way down my neck and collarbone, so a simple wash was never going to make me look clean.
I tossed the towel aside and stepped back out.
Im Haekyung quietly watched me come out and asked,
“Then what was it?”
“.......”
“I thought those two were the people you were attached to. Though I didn’t know the extent of that attachment.”
“They were.”
“Past tense?”
“Even now.”
I looked directly at Im Haekyung.
The bastard quietly waited for my explanation.
I lowered my gaze and looked at the mana suppressor cuffs still attached to Haekyung’s hands.
I was no longer physically restraining the bastard.
If Haekyung wanted to, the cuffs could easily be removed alone.
However, Im Haekyung no longer seemed interested in taking them off.
I walked over and grabbed the suppressor cuffs.
The skin visible through the gap had become red and swollen, probably from the rubbing.
Though with an S-rank body, it would recover quickly.
After glancing there briefly, I asked,
“You didn’t take them off.”
“I was waiting because I hadn’t received an answer.”
“.......”
“I’ve become curious about a lot more things regarding you, Jehyun.”
I let go of the suppressor cuffs and grabbed Im Haekyung by the chin, lifting it slightly.
The bastard’s neck bent back as the head tilted upward.
I lowered my head and moved close.
Without much deliberation, I pressed my lips against Haekyung’s.
It didn’t feel like kissing.
Without entering the mouth, I only touched lightly before pulling away again.
Im Haekyung remained silent for a moment, then asked in a whisper,
“This was the relationship?”
Well.
Would an answer like this really allow Haekyung to understand?
I knew Im Haekyung would not be able to accept all of it.
Because neither could I.
Perhaps because of the close distance, I could even feel the bastard’s breath.
“It’s a little different.”
I whispered just before pressing my lips there again.
This time, I slipped through the gap between the parted lips.
I hadn’t felt it before, but once our lips overlapped, it felt as though there was a scent of blood inside the mouth.
Im Haekyung had probably felt something similar.