Chapter 55
"Ah, ah. Wait a minute. You’re actually going to hit my bones. Didn’t you say that you’d let me off the hook–"
Smack.
Jin-Seo's fist smashed Jun-Hyuk's chin, and as a result, Jun-Hyuk collapsed onto the ground like a wet noodle. He didn't lose consciousness, but it looked like his legs had lost their strength, seeing as how they were shaking. Thus, the spar concluded in Jin-Seo’s victory. It was a victory that was achieved without submission and through only brute force.
"Oh, wow. I almost bit my tongue. This is attempted murder, you know?”
“You said you wouldn't use a mouthpiece.”
“Oh? Did I?”
As a provocation, Jun-Hyuk said he would not wear a mouthpiece. Likewise, for the same reason, he didn’t wear headgear either. Thus, he was beaten more painfully.
Jun-Hyuk laughed dryly while lying sprawled out in the middle of the ring. "Ah, this is driving me crazy. My skills aren't improving at all.”
"You've improved. At least compared to before,” Jin-Seo nonchalantly said as she unwrapped the bandages wrapped around her hand. As she was doing so, Jun-Hyuk looked up at her with vacant eyes.
"How much more do I have to practice in order to win? It feels like there’s no light at the end of the tunnel.”
"Three years."
“Oh? It’s not as bad as I thought.”
“No, fifteen years.”
"Fifteen years? That's a bit... No, maybe even fifteen years is too short?"
Jun-Hyuk scratched the back of his neck and jumped up from the floor. Since Jin-Seo had directly hit his chin numerous times, his head spun, and his legs quivered. His hair was soaked with sweat and stuck to his forehead. The supervisor watching the spar from afar walked forward with their arms crossed.
"Are you okay, Jun-Hyuk? That’s why I told you to just wear the headgear. You’re so ridiculously stubborn."
"You’re right. I should've just put on headgear. My jaw is shaking."
“You got hit so many times, no wonder your jaw is shaking. Also, Jin-Seo, you should go easy when you spar. You’re going to end up killing him."
Jin-Seo was wiping off the small amount of sweat that she had accumulated, and she nodded silently. The supervisor looked proudly at Jin-Seo. Jun-Hyuk was one of the most skilled fighters in the training center, and yet Jin-Seo beat him down as if it was child's play. The supervisor was grateful that such a genius had signed up for their training center.
"Jin-Seo, there will be a contest soon. Do you want to join or not?"
"What kind of competition is it?”
“All the competitions are more or less the same. Do you want to participate? If you reach a high rank, you can put it on your academic achievement record."
Upon hearing the words ‘academic achievement record,’ Jin-Seo's eyes shone briefly.
"Yes, I want to participate."
"Okay. Then I'll apply for you."
The supervisor took a pen out of their pocket and scribbled something in their notebook. They scribbled with their pen in the notebook for a while, but then they raised their eyebrows and opened their mouth as if they remembered something.
“Ah, also, Jin-Seo, if you want to participate in the competition, you should quit smok—"
"Ah, sir."
Jin-Seo hurriedly cut off the supervisor's words. The supervisor nodded as if they understood and readjusted their sentence.
"...Well, anyway. I'm telling you to take good care of your health."
"What? Jin-Seo, you smoke too?" Jun-Hyuk asked with eyes widened in surprise. As a result of his loud voice, the gazes of all the people in the training center focused on Jin-Seo.
Jin-Seo glared at Jun-Hyuk with cold eyes. "I don't smoke."
"Then what was that just now? Didn't the instructor tell you to quit something?”
"I don't know," Jin-Seo said while glaring at Jun-Hyuk. She was expressionless, and her speech was dry, but ?he could feel that she was angry.
"Really? If you’re not, then you’re not. Why the heck are you staring at me as if you’re going to kill me?”
"Shall we spar one more time?" Jin-Seo asked with a smile. Jun-Hyuk was frightened by her smile and retreated backward.
"Um... Ah! Something happened at home. I have to go. I'll spar with you next time~"
Jun-Hyuk left the training center as if he was running away.
Jin-Seo immediately resumed her exercise routine. She did some jump ropes, shadowboxing, sandbag punching, and hitting mitts. Several members asked her for a spar, but they all fainted before the end of the first round. No one was good enough to be Jin-Seo's opponent.
After working out for nearly four hours, she washed up and left the training center.
It was around a fifty-minute walk from the training center to her house. It was normal to take the bus, but Jin-Seo insisted on running. She went for a run, not only to increase her stamina but also to clear her head of miscellaneous thoughts.
"Ah."
Then she spotted the back of a familiar person. In the dark, only his back could be clearly distinguished. Come to think of it, he was always facing the darkness while she was standing in the back. It was like that back then, and it was like now.
"Do Sun... Um."
Jin-Seo was about to call out to him without much thought, but her words soon faded away.
Based on what she heard from Jun-Hyuk the other day, Sun-Woo lived on his own in a villa. However, the house he came out of just now was not a villa.
Was he returning from his friend's house after partying all night? Or perhaps a relative's house? Many speculations flashed through her head, but she couldn’t be sure of anything. However, it was also awkward to ask him about it. If she bought up the subject, it was possible for him to mistakenly think that she was stalking him.
“...”
While she was lost in her thoughts, Sun-Woo walked further away. Now it was too late to ask him. Jin-Seo turned around and started running the other way.
After fifteen minutes of running, she felt a sharp pain in her chest because she was out of breath. In the past, even if she ran for thirty minutes, she wouldn’t get tired at all. However, these days, her stamina had gotten worse. At the very least, it was definitely clear that her cardiopulmonary endurance had deteriorated.
Thud.
As she was bending over and catching her breath, a pack of cigarettes that she had placed in her inner pocket fell out. For a moment, she contemplated whether she should pick it up or leave it there, but she eventually decided to pick it up and put it in her pocket.
Then, she started running again. No matter how much she ran, the arbitrary thoughts clouding her mind were difficult to clear up.
Later, she felt as if she was suffocating, and her heart was pounding, but she didn’t stop. It was no different from self-torture. She didn't even know what sort of arbitrary thoughts she could shake off by running so hard.
*
Slap.
Someone slapped me in the face, and I immediately came back to my senses. I tried to get up, but I couldn't because my body ached and hurt. With a feeble groan, I lay back down.
In front of me was a giant gazing down at me.
"You up, crazy bastard?”
I was slightly offended by his sudden swearing, but there wasn’t much I could do to retaliate. I decided just to lie still.
I tried letting out a sound to see if my vocal cords were still functional, and my voice was surprisingly fine. My lips, which previously felt like they would shrivel up and fall apart because they were so dry, were now moist.
The giant let out a deep sigh and said, “Hey, you. Why in the world did you charge into there?”
Instead of answering, I looked around the room and assessed the situation.
I was currently lying on top of a hospital bed. I had no idea what hospital it was, nor did I know how much time had passed. There was an IV tube attached to my right arm, and for some reason, it felt like my hands were strangely empty.
“Ah, oh. What... Where is it...?”
The keepsake, Baal's Maw, and the Fourth Angel’s Horn were all missing.
Even after I searched every pocket, including my inner pockets and the pockets in my pants, I couldn’t find anything. My heart shuddered like a deflated balloon.
"What are you looking for? This?”
It was then that the giant revealed something within his grasp. They were the relics and holy artifacts I was looking for. Suddenly, I felt dizzy and out of breath. The giant examined the artifacts as if it wasn’t a big deal, and then he asked, “Don’t tell me the reason you charged in there was because of these–”
Snatch!
I snatched the items away from the giant and held them within my grasp. My heart was beating like crazy.
“Did you open it?”
The holy artifacts were important, but losing them wasn’t the end of the world. On the other hand, the keepsake absolutely could not be exposed to other people.
As if he was dumbfounded, the giant spat out a dry laugh and replied, "I haven't opened it, man. What the heck is it?"
"...”
“If you don’t want to tell me, then so be it. I’ve lived a long life, but I still can’t believe I have to deal with another crazy bastard like you.”
It bothered me that he said ‘another’ crazy bastard, but I decided not to ask. Fortunately, it looked like he hadn’t opened the box. I tried to check the time using my phone, but it didn’t turn on. Perhaps it was because it had run out of battery. I also noticed that there was a slight crack in the corner of the screen.
"What time is it now?" I asked the giant. The giant, who was about to stand up from his seat, looked at his watch in an awkward posture.
"It's a little past eleven. Why? Do you have an appointment?"
Eleven o'clock. It was around nine o'clock when I left In-Ah's house, which meant that I had fainted for around two hours. Considering the fact that I jumped into a burning building, I recovered consciousness relatively fast.
I slowly raised my sore body. I felt pain all over my body, but it was still possible for me to walk. Since my house had burned down, I had to sleep in the underground chapel today. With those thoughts in my head, I was just about to walk out of the room when the giant stretched out his arm and blocked my path.
“Oh? Where do you think you’re going with the current state of your body? If you have any appointments, just cancel them. You’re not fully recovered yet.”
"It's alright."
“Don’t force yourself. Walking with that kind of body is... Huh, I guess you can walk.”
Tap.
I pulled out the IV tube from my arm and strode out of the hospital room. My walking speed was clearly slower than normal, but it was good enough. Back when I didn’t have the Altar, I twisted my joints after using Bossou's power and vomited blood for half a day after using Granbwa's power. Compared to that, my current situation was relatively minor.
"Hey! I'm not going to stop you, but at least take this."
As I was focusing on walking, a loud shout came out from behind me. The giant man ran toward me while making a thudding sound with every step. In his hand was a business card.
"If you have something wrong with your body, don't hold out and come to the hospital right away."
"Okay."
“Bastard, if you just ignore my advice, you might end up dying an early death. If you feel even slightly sick, call me right away. I’ll cover the expenses.”
I took the business card.
‘Seoul Paladin Order Eastern Branch Director Han Dae-Ho.’ Below his position and name was a phone number. The design was very simple. It was just black letters on white paper, along with the Paladin Order logo. There were no other decorations other than that.
While I was looking at the business card and trying to remember the phone number, Director Han Dae-Ho asked, "But what’s with the box?"
"A keep... Hm."
I was just about to say that it was a keepsake, but I hesitated. I wondered whether it would be okay to tell him that it was a keepsake. I hesitated because I thought that it might stow suspicion.
"Keep? Keep what?"
"It's my mother's keepsake," I said as I pretended to contemplate indifferently. In reality, it was my father’s keepsake, but considering my fake identity, it was more natural to say that it was my mother’s keepsake.The fact that I had to lie, even when explaining the keepsake, made me feel miserable.
“Ah... Alright, go. If you’re sick, make sure to contact me.”
Han Dae-Ho looked at me for a moment with pity and turned his head awkwardly. I deeply bowed my head and left the hospital. The alley, which didn’t have many streetlights, was filled with darkness. It felt like my knees would give out regardless of my will, but I managed to hold out.
Rip.
I tore up Han Dae-Ho's business card and threw it on the floor.
[He went through all that effort to give it to you.] Legba asked in a questioning manner.
“I’m not going to contact him anyway.”
[There might be a day we need it. Just like that person said, you might really have to go to the hospital.]
"I memorized the number just in case, but I should recover from this as long as I rest."
[You’re complacent, but what you say is true.]
I smiled brightly and walked down the empty alley that was void of people.
TLN: I wonder if Jin-Seo has lung cancer. I wonder what happens if someone gets cancer in this world. Can they cure it with a blessing of healing or perhaps a restoration spell? They have sleeping pills, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they had chemotherapy as well. I wonder if they can do chemotherapy in conjunction with a blessing of healing to negate the side effects.
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