Chapter 60 - Keepsake (3)

Chapter 60: Keepsake (3)TL: SHW

Of course, I didn’t cry.

Kim Chae-min pretended to wipe her eyes with her sleeve. Her face was so dusty that even if she had cried, it wouldn’t have shown.

Still, a photo of Kim Chae-min in that state was taken. It even adorned the main pages of various portal sites.

“See, I told you it was right to go in separately.”

I nodded as I checked my phone in the hospital elevator.

“What does that make me?”

“What do you mean? You’re becoming a kind-hearted Archmage worried about a comrade who’s been through life and death with you.”

“Not the incompetentArchmage who put comrades who put her comrade in danger?”

“That all depends on how you look at it, doesn’t it?”

Kim Chae-min pressed her lips together.

Just then, the elevator stopped.

There was no one on the way to the VIP room. Lee Mi-seon valued security above all. If word got out that Hong Seok-young was pretending to be injured when he wasn’t hurt at all, there could be chaos.

On the first day, to emphasize the seriousness, Kim Chae-min also used the hospital’s main entrance. But today marked the third day of Hong Seok-young’s hospitalization. Anything is most effective when used in moderation. Being seen by too many people wouldn’t do any good.

Even after passing through security, the room was the innermost one.

“Did you not cry today?”

As soon as we opened the door and entered, the first words we heard made both Kim Chae-min and me frown simultaneously.

“Teacher Woo, I heard you were going to cry too? It would have been more effective if you had cried today.”

“The kids are doing well, so I’m fine.”

Yesterday, Kim Chae-min and I stopped by the school briefly. There was no need for additional explanation since everyone had already seen the news. sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ N0vᴇlFirᴇ.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

Kim Chae-min turned her head sharply toward Hong Seok-young and raised her voice.

“That’s right! You better apologize to the kids after you get out!”

“Why?”

“What?”

I’m genuinely curious about Kim Chae-min’s family environment. Although her grandmother and mother weren’t mages, considering that, what kind of household atmosphere did she grow up in to have this personality?

Hong Seok-young, on the other hand, looked more like a mage, as if he was asking what she was talking about.

Well, there’s even a generous Archmage in France, so if it’s Kim Chae-min…

“Tada! Actually, I didn’t get a scratch, and that news was all a lie! If I say that, I’d be a bad guy who lied, but if I keep quiet, the kids would remain the good kids who worried about their teacher.”

“Are you really saying that?”

“The kids would feel better that way too.”

“I can’t believe you’re actually saying this.”

Hong Seok-young listened to Kim Chae-min’s words with one ear and let them out the other as he opened the drink box on the table. He picked up an aloe juice.

Gulp, gulp, gulp…

Hong Seok-young downed the bottle in one go.

Even though I knew this was all a show, watching his nonchalant demeanor was infuriating. The only things that seem to increase after time traveling are annoyance and sighs.

Seeing the kids so down was heartbreaking, but I agreed with Hong Seok-young.

There’s no need to involve kids in adult matters they don’t need to know.

“So, is there any effect?”

“What effect?”

Without even replying, I glared at Hong Seok-young. He chuckled.

“Ark? No noticeable movement yet.”

“You’re supposed to stay in the hospital for two weeks. What if Ark doesn’t take the bait?”

“If they don’t, they don’t.”

Hong Seok-young answered indifferently.

“If they make a move, that’s good. If not, it’s not bad either.”

“Well, of course, it’s good for you, Teacher Hong. Aren’t you getting a two-week vacation?”

“You noticed?”

Hong Seok-young handed an orange juice bottle to Kim Chae-min and a tomato juice bottle to me.

…What’s the standard? It feels strangely irritating.

Still, since he gave it, I opened the lid and drank.

Kim Chae-min and Hong Seok-young sat on the sofa, chatting. I listened briefly from the side, but it was all trivial talk. Honestly, while it might have been excusable on the first day, was there really anything for me to do by showing up here every day? I only came because Kim Chae-min dragged me along.

Besides, I hate hospitals. Especially large ones like this.

The smell is oddly similar to what I used to encounter in the research lab.

“But how on earth did you come out unscathed?”

“Hm?”

“I clearly saw it go in!”

“Yeah, you would’ve seen. It was right in front of your eyes. It was first class view, wasn’t it?”

“You’re just as annoying as Teacher Woo!”

I looked around the hospital room. I hadn’t had a chance to look properly the first time I came.

It’s spacious enough to be believable as a home. Actually, it’s said that many chairpersons use it to escape public scrutiny when dealing with various troublesome issues. A few faces come to mind who chose to go to the hospital whenever trouble arose. They were living in such luxury inside here….

I won’t let it happen this time. It’s personal this time.

I’m planning to prevent the apocalypse anyway. So, I need to think about what comes after. I’ve done enough tedious work, and I’m still doing it, so saving up a lot of money for a comfortable retirement sounds good. I’ll enjoy the vacation that was blown up along with the dungeon.

For that, I need a country that’s good to live in. At the very least, removing the grinning faces I see on the news would help my blood pressure.

…It feels like I’m giving myself more work.

“You were properly hit!”

“I was.”

“Then why are you fine?”

“Do you have a problem with me being fine?”

“No, that’s not it!”

They continued their ridiculous conversation.

I checked the drink box on the table. It must have been placed there by Lee Mi-seon.

I took it to the kitchen. Inside the large fridge, which showed little sign of use, I organized the drink bottles.

The fridge was full even without the drinks. Did Lee Mi-seon fill this too? Or is it a standard feature of the VIP room?

I wouldn’t know, having never stayed in a place like this.

To get rid of the lingering sweetness of the sticky tomato juice, I took out a bottle of premium water from the fridge and quenched my thirst.

“No, I’m telling you there’s no injury! What, do you want me to show my belly?”

“What would I do looking at an old man’s stomach like you?!”

“What? Old man?!”

“At your age, you’re an old man, Teacher Hong! Oh, maybe a grandpa?”

“Teacher Kim, that’s harsh!”

Hong Seok-young and Kim Chae-min continued their pointless bickering.

Ignoring them, I rummaged through the kitchen. There were other snacks in the cabinets. They looked as expensive as the bottled water in the fridge. On the dining table, there were also some fresh-looking fruits.

I considered the fruit but picked up a snack instead.

I watched the two as I munched on the snack one by one. In the end, Hong Seok-young lost.

“Alright, alright! Geez, just don’t tell anyone about this anywhere!”

“Let me hear it first.”

“You’re so demanding. But it’s my secret weapon, so only you and Teacher Woo should know.”

Hong Seok-young’s face turned serious. Kim Chae-min looked flustered.

“Oh, uh, if it’s that important, you don’t have to tell me.”

“Didn’t you ask me to tell you?”

“Knowing something like that can cause trouble!”

However, Hong Seok-young still ignored Kim Chae-min’s words.

“We’re all in the same boat anyway. It’s good for you to know, just in case.”

Hong Seok-young fumbled around and reached inside his collar. I put down the snack I was eating. I lost my appetite.

“Can you see this?”

Hong Seok-young showed a small metal piece hanging around his neck.

Two small iron plates threaded on an old leather string.

I used to have one of those around my neck too, though it’s hidden in my wallet now.

It was the first thing given to me on the day I was adopted by the old man.

“What… is this?”

“What do you think it is?”

Kim Chae-min blinked. Hong Seok-young smirked as he turned the metal piece over.

“I picked this up in a dungeon in Mongolia five years ago.”

The smooth surface was unmarked, but a faint line was etched on the upper left corner, barely forming the character ‘ㅎ’.

“It absorbs the damage I receive.”

“…An item like that exists?”

Kim Chae-min asked, looking incredulous.

“Of course, it’s not infinite. There’s a set limit, and as it takes damage, it etches the name accordingly. Thanks to the Siren, the ‘ㅎ’ got completed.”

Yoo Ji-eun used to say that this dog tag was the best existing piece of armor. Don’t get it wrong. It’s not the greatest. It’s not omnipotent.

But for a Hunter like the old man, there’s no item quite like it.

Because of his large spear and sturdy physique, he often gets misunderstood, but the old man is fast. He doesn’t take attacks head-on; he dodges or deflects them. It’s hard to hit someone like that accurately. If it weren’t for the unique circumstances of the Siren Dungeon and Kim Chae-min’s mistake, the Siren hitting the old man would have been impossible.

No, not the old man, but Hong Seok-young.

“It’s like an extra life. Amazing, right?”

“Amazing? It’s cheating…”

Moreover, the damage the dog tag calculates depends on who wore it. If a non-Awakened person used it, their name would be fully etched just from the impact of being hit by a dump truck.

Of course, if an Awakened person got hit by a dump truck, they wouldn’t be that affected. The dog tag might just etch the first letter of their name at most.

But for Hong Seok-young, not even a single stroke would appear, let alone a name. Even when attacked by a Siren, it didn’t go beyond a single consonant.

Conversely, it means without this dog tag, he would have been seriously injured. There would be no need for this charade, and he would genuinely be hospitalized.

“Don’t tell anyone else.”

Even twenty years later, the old man hadn’t completed his name on the dog tag. Even after giving one of the two tags to me, he hadn’t. He had barely completed the first letter.

But the dog tag Yoo Ji-eun gave me had all three characters of his name etched on it. (TL: 홍석영)

Was it from fighting the centipede? Maybe. Were there other monsters just as dangerous?

Was it from slaying monsters? Or was it from saving others like he saved Kim Chae-min? But what does it matter? Even if he saved someone, no one survived.

But the old man would have been satisfied, smiling, saying it was enough to save the person in front of him.

…I shouldn’t have gone on vacation. I regret saying I would. It wasn’t even my idea.

‘Hwijae, you should take a vacation.’

‘What? Why? I don’t want to.’

‘Since you’re not taking one, the juniors can’t rest either.’

‘Who said they can’t rest?’

‘Come on. You’re getting promoted this time anyway. Celebrate by going somewhere nice. A young guy like you should get out of the office once in a while… Meet people.’

‘I see plenty of people already.’

‘Not those kinds of people!’

In the end, I gave in to the old man’s persistence and took a vacation.

I was sure that after a few days off, they’d realize my value and start complaining.

‘Chief! We have a big problem, Chief!!’

I clenched my fist tightly.

The vibration that shouldn’t have been there continued to buzz at my wrist. The emergency alarm for the dungeon break. The screams I heard from under the helicopter. The desperate shouts for help. The terrible sound of flesh tearing. Then the silence that followed. The cries of the monsters.

The stench of poison and the acrid smell of ash.

‘Make it out alive.’

A face smiling brightly.

The dog tag that Yoo Ji-eun gave me from the old man was something I continued to hold on to even after coming to the past.

More than the disappearance of the biological response on the mana watch, the dog tag made the old man’s death feel real. He hadn’t completed even a single letter on it in thirty years of wearing it around his neck.

“Excuse me, I need to use the restroom.”

I staggered into the bathroom. As soon as I closed the door, I covered my mouth.

“······.”

I can’t let it out here. At least, not in this place where Hong Seok-young is just beyond this thin door.

“Fuck.”

The emotions I had been holding back came out as a curse through my lips.

I fumbled for my wallet. I took out the old man’s dog tag from it, a familiar motion. Unlike the one I had seen a moment ago, this one had all the letters of his name engraved. Unlike mine.

I should have given it back to the old man since I never even entered dungeons. If I had, maybe he could have held out a little longer. Maybe he could have been alive until I arrived in Seoul.

Then I could have seen his face one last time.

The thin metal plate dug into my palm.

The name “Hong Seok-young” was engraved so clearly on it. (TL: 홍석영)

This is the only proof that the old man ever existed.

More than anything else, it made me realize…

…that my father died.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck…”

If I had known it would be like this, I would have called him ‘father’. Why did I hold back so much?

In the end, I never got to call him that even once.