Chapter 132 – Headhunter (Part Twelve)

A large hospital in Minnesota.

After the situation in the Middle East was completely resolved, Il-hyeon made a separate visit here for a detailed examination.

On the surface, it looked no different from a regular hospital, but it was a place that handled injuries from special monsters and the physiology of the Awakened with considerable expertise.

Living up to its reputation, state-of-the-art equipment he had never seen before scanned Il-hyeon, and the examination was over in no time.

“Hmm… it’s a complete mess.”

“Which part?”

“All of it.”

The woman sitting across from Il-hyeon, named Gwen, said as she snapped a file shut.

With her blonde hair tied back and wearing a white coat, she held the title of hospital director.

She was very young for her position but was a renowned figure with commensurate ability, especially distinguished as a leading authority in the medical field for the Awakened.

Normally, she wasn’t someone you could see so easily, but when Il-hyeon made a special request, she had readily cleared her schedule.

However, she was now frowning at the data she had been given.

It was because Il-hyeon’s physical condition was completely different from his seemingly fine exterior.

“It’s definitely not due to external factors… I don’t know what you’ve been doing, but even considering you’re an Awakened, your condition is not good. Vision decline, muscle tears, a weakened abdominal wall leading to a hernia, and especially inside. Your internal organs are severely damaged. A normal person would have collapsed on the street long before getting here.”

“Hmm…”

Il-hyeon scratched his forehead at her words.

It was the harsh backlash from indirectly absorbing two A-rank cores.

He had braced himself for it when he absorbed the cores, but he was a bit shocked because his body had felt surprisingly fine after the battle.

Still, aware that his body was not in a normal state, Il-hyeon had tried to heal his internal injuries himself with the healing ability he had recently discovered, but even after using the core several times, there was no improvement.

The internal damage sustained from forcibly absorbing ether couldn’t be healed by simply using a few more cores.

There was a reason he had come all the way to this distant hospital.

“Usually, a case like this presents symptoms that would only appear after abusing dozens of powerful enhancement drugs, but seeing as no drug components were detected, I just don’t know…”

Gwen gave Il-hyeon a suspicious look for a moment, but she quickly dismissed her doubts.

She didn’t think an Awakened from Aegis, of all places, would be involved in anything unethical or suspicious.

“Well, that said, it’s not an entirely dire situation. In a normal case, you’d need to stay far away from Gates and recuperate for months, but… your body’s self-healing ability is at an unbelievable level, so that probably won’t be necessary.”

“That’s a relief.”

“With this level of recovery, you should be fine to return to the field in a few days. But there’s one thing you must remember: the risk is accumulating long-term. The strain building up in your body doesn’t just disappear. It’s not at a level to be greatly concerned about right now, but if you keep overworking your body like this, it won’t end well for you.”

Il-hyeon nodded awkwardly at her advice.

It was something he had heard many times from the Aegis medical team.

Although this time, he had pushed himself far more than ever before.

“Then let’s first reposition the herniated organs, and then we can discuss medication for your internal injuries. My schedule isn’t very flexible, so it would be best to proceed with the surgery right away.”

“Let’s do that. Thank you. For making time for me as soon as I called.”

“Not at all. The opportunity to examine the physical condition of such a high-ranking Awakened is rare for me as well.”

She replied with a smile.

The two conversed in a warm atmosphere, and Gwen stood up first to prepare for the surgery.

But Il-hyeon suddenly stopped her.

“Wait… could we talk about something else for a moment?”

Il-hyeon said, his eyes serious.

While she was incredibly famous in this field, the Aegis medical team boasted skills that were just as impressive.

Yet, despite that, he brought up his real reason for coming all this way.

* * *

“So… you’re saying I’m one of those people with a special ability? And the initial ability test result wasn’t actually an error?”

Gwen asked after listening to Il-hyeon’s explanation.

“That’s right. Have you ever experienced any unusual incidents related to the ability that showed up in the test?”

“I have. Patients who should have died any second would hold on for a surprisingly long time when I was in front of them. Until now, I just thought I was always lucky… but maybe that wasn’t it.”

Feeling certain at her words, Il-hyeon smiled.

Gwen, the third target Il-hyeon was after, was a case where the ability test had resulted in an error, just like his. From what she said, it was clear it wasn’t a simple error.

However, a cynical smile, a stark contrast to Il-hyeon’s, formed on her lips.

“This is the worst.”

“What… what?”

“The possibility that I might be one of those Awakened… it’s the worst.”

While Il-hyeon stood there, dumbfounded by her unexpected words, Gwen shot up from her seat.

Her gaze, now completely cold unlike a moment ago, pierced through Il-hyeon.

“Did you come all this way just to say something like this? I am a person who saves lives, not someone who wants to kill people. I haven’t the slightest desire to become that. We’ve both just wasted our time.”

“I think there’s some misunderstanding. Awakened also save people’s lives to…”

“No, I’m well aware.”

Gwen said, furrowing her brow.

A detail that Il-hyeon’s simple preliminary investigation had failed to account for before he came here now tripped him up.

She had a physiological aversion not just to people, but to the very act of taking a life. She had an oversensitive reaction to any act of violence, for any reason, and was also a strict vegetarian who maintained a rigid diet because she felt disgusted by the gruesome reality of animal slaughter.

“I have no desire to become an Awakened, and even if I were to awaken against my will, I would never go around wielding a sword. I’m content with my life as a doctor who saves lives. I’ll have another skilled doctor perform your surgery, so please leave now.”

“Wait a minute…!”

Il-hyeon tried to stop her, but she had already stormed out the door.

However, Gwen couldn’t get far before she was forced to a halt.

Two figures, a man and a woman with strikingly pure white-silver hair and contrasting black Defensive Coats, were blocking her path.

A blue-eyed man with his silver hair tied back, and a woman with very unique reddish eyes.

Their tall statures and unusual appearances combined to create a unique atmosphere, emanating an aura that was hard to describe in words.

Among them, the woman with short hair and red eyes was glaring down at her menacingly.

But Gwen, facing them, didn’t flinch at all and turned back to look at Il-hyeon.

“You even brought your dependable friends. Are you planning to drag me away by force now?”

“No, of course not.”

Il-hyeon, who had followed her out, let out a deep sigh and gestured with his eyes.

The two silver-haired Awakened then stepped back, clearing the way.

“Then there’s nothing more to discuss.”

With a cold expression, Gwen turned her back and walked away, the sound of her heels clicking.

Astrid, the red-eyed woman who had been watching her with a displeased look and her arms crossed, spoke up.

“Should I bring her back? I can knock her out if you want…”

“No, absolutely not. I told you two to wait downstairs, what are you doing here?”

“What if you were attacked when you’re not in peak condition?”

“It seems better to have someone around to protect you.”

Astrid and Marco chimed in one after another.

They were his new companions, born from the cores of the two variant monsters he had recently defeated.

He had to give them suitably foreign-sounding names for their obviously foreign appearances, but they were the same as Hyeon-seo and Seong-won—beings manifested through Il-hyeon’s summoning ability.

“Now what… I’m stuck on the most important one.”

Il-hyeon fell into thought, having hit a wall.

Of the three targets, only Gwen remained.

Jo Nam-seok, who had been knocked out by a monster at the previous site, had already woken up and signed the contract.

Of course, Jo Nam-seok, who had never belonged to any organization, disliked being tied down anywhere. When first offered the recruitment, he had expressed his reluctance, saying it was difficult even for his savior.

But the moment the incentive amount to be deposited—separate from the core from the site—was mentioned, he was the one begging for the contract, even promising to donate the artifact he stole from the mansion to a museum.

It wasn’t a huge amount of money for Il-hyeon, but for Jo Nam-seok, it was a sum he could only get his hands on by risking his life on a major job, and now it would be deposited every month.

In any case, with three team members already secured, recruiting Gwen, a non-combatant who couldn’t go out into the field herself, might not seem absolutely essential.

But Il-hyeon couldn’t give up on her so easily.

SSS-rank ability, [Resuscitation].

That was the name and rank of the ability that had appeared on her test results.

Excluding Il-hyeon, she was the only case in the entire world where an SSS-rank ability had appeared in an ability test.

Of course, the testing device had determined it to be a clear error, and she was living the life of a non-Awakened, but the situation could change at any time if some yet unknown condition was met.

But even so, if she had no intention of doing so, there was no way around it.

She was already thriving as one of the world’s top doctors and was from a wealthy family that had more than enough money.

This very hospital was her own property, so she couldn’t be tempted by mere sums of money.

In fact, not just Aegis, but every Awakened organization of note in the world had already made all sorts of offers to recruit her.

It was only natural for them to covet the top doctor in the field of Awakened medicine.

However, even unimaginably generous offers were all rejected.

Persuading her seemed unlikely to be easy, and using a half-baked ability to brainwash or coerce her would be the worst possible move. He had to find another way.

‘If it really can’t be helped, then so be it… but it’s a shame to let her go like this. Not to mention I’d have to erase her memory.’