Chapter 145

After finishing my shower, I rubbed my eyes and lay down on my bed.

“Why am I so tired…?”

– Anonymous Constellation: Your eyes are red.

– Anonymous Constellation: You’re not getting sick, are you? All you did today was chat. What could possibly be so tiring?

– Anonymous Constellation: You’ve been pushing yourself too hard. You’ve been handling all the raids for your guild members.

With gates opening like crazy, parties were starting to fall behind on their raids.

In those cases, I either dispatched another party immediately, or if it couldn’t be helped, I took over the raid myself.

Because of that, I ended up being dispatched at least once a day, and sometimes even twice.

“…So I had a reason to be tired.”

Usually, I was dispatched in urgent situations, so I didn’t even realize how tired I was.

Now that I was in Akron and my body was at ease, it seemed the fatigue that had built up back then was finally catching up to me.

– Anonymous Constellation: Why are you pushing yourself so hard? You never used to.

– Anonymous Constellation: Yeah, for real. Since when did she care about others?

– Anonymous Constellation: You’re just asking to be treated like a pushover.

‘A pushover? That’s ridiculous.’

The more victims there are, the higher the sense of crisis becomes. Because they know they could be next.

The actions of people awakened to that sense of crisis are predictable. They’ll try to find a way to escape destruction.

I’m just trying to cut off that process before it gets that far.

Until people accept destruction as a part of life, I have to minimize casualties as much as possible.

“Maybe in this life, I just felt like playing the fool for once. Anyway… what about Maga Elder? Did you leak what I said, exactly as I said it?”

After parting with Maga Elder, I had asked the constellations for a favor in advance.

To go to Maga Elder and casually leak the conversation between me and my companions.

– Anonymous Constellation: Yup, we did. He was super surprised. Seemed like he thought you’d wait for him.

– Anonymous Constellation: They had a long meeting among themselves. The atmosphere was intense.

– Anonymous Constellation: Give us a reaction and we’ll tell you what they talked about!

“I’ll find out soon enough, what’s the point of a reaction… Forget it.”

I turned on my side and closed my eyes.

“Ah, I haven’t watched that yet.”

[system : Would you like to play the fifth Memory Fragment?]

[YES] / [NO]

Even if I’m tired, I have to do what I have to do.

“Yes.”

My vision went black.

* * *

*Clatter, thump.*

I tossed Arondight aside and sprawled out on the white sand.

Dawn was breaking. The black sky was slowly turning blue.

Though it looked yellow to me.

“Ugh, I’m beat…”

I fought the Earth Dragon for half a day straight.

I’d used up every last bit of my mana trying to find the core hidden inside that disgusting mass of fat, and my consciousness was fading.

I just cleared an S-rank gate the day before yesterday, and now another one.

The frequency of S-rank gates had increased sharply. It was now comparable to the appearance rate of A-rank gates a year ago.

Thanks to that, I was making decent money, but my stamina was the problem.

I was being sent into another gate before my condition could fully recover, so the fatigue was piling up.

‘It’ll be a disaster if I pass out. There’s no one to move me…’

I hadn’t been able to contact Shinwoo for months now.

He didn’t pick up when I called, and he hadn’t called me either. This had never happened in the three years since he moved out on his own.

‘There haven’t been many news articles about him lately, either.’

After Shinwoo moved out, the time we spent meeting or talking naturally decreased.

I was disappointed, but I could bear it. I could still find news about him just by going online.

Though for some reason, the articles had become sparse recently.

‘Just where is he and what is he doing…?’

Thanks to him, I was becoming a mess.

I had no interest in clearing gates, and I didn’t want to earn money. I didn’t even want to think about the kids at the orphanage. It was even a hassle to eat or wash up.

So I went to a counseling center for hunters, and what did they call it? Depression due to a sense of loss?

They said it was similar to what single mothers feel when their only son gets married. So, they told me to try dating.

It was so absurd that I walked right out, but I think they were right that my symptoms came from a sense of loss.

Just looking at the brightening sky made Shinwoo’s face flicker in my mind.

“…I miss you…”

Why didn’t I realize? The space he occupied in my life was this big.

I placed an arm over my forehead and closed my eyes.

Even though this was a port in a famous tourist spot, there wasn’t a soul in sight. It had been closed off the moment the gate opened.

I probably couldn’t walk right now. I should just sleep until some of my depleted stamina returned.

Just as I thought that and tried to fall asleep.

“Are you dead?”

A low, smooth male voice.

“…!”

No matter how exhausted I was, to think I didn’t even sense someone approaching this close.

I shot up, my eyes flying open.

“Who… uh…?”

For a moment, my vision went black and the world spun. I realized I hadn’t eaten anything for a whole day.

As I swayed, the man caught me firmly. He didn’t seem to care that I was covered in the Earth Dragon’s bodily fluids as he lifted me into his arms.

“Are you dizzy? Just hold on a little longer.”

A princess carry. This was the first time in my life I’d ever been held like this.

Just as I was flusteredly trying to get out of his arms, I heard a car door and felt a plush seat beneath me.

“Water.”

“Here you are, Guild Master.”

“Hunter Ryu? Try to drink a little.”

The man held the water to my lips. As the water entered my empty stomach, I finally felt like I was coming back to life.

I drank the entire bottle right where I sat and wiped my mouth. My blackened vision was gradually returning.

‘A limousine?’

The car looked so luxurious I felt bad just sitting in it.

‘I’m a complete mess right now…’

Monster fluids don’t wash out easily. Should I offer to pay for the cleaning?

I wonder how much it costs to clean the seats of a car like this. As I was pondering this, the man asked.

“Are you okay now?”

“Yes, thank—!”

I started to thank him reflexively, but then my eyes widened.

No way, why is *he* here?

“…Cha Dohwan?”

Cha Dohwan smiled at me. With that bewitching curve of his eyes.

“You know me?”

“…Of course, I do.”

How could I not know someone more famous than any celebrity?

The heir to a global arms manufacturing company.

The first hunter to establish a guild. A diamond spoon who commissioned a luxury brand to design his uniforms.

The man with looks that could make a deal with the devil, voted the number one sexiest hunter, the very symbol of ‘young, rich, and handsome,’ and so on.

There were many words to describe him, but the reason I first became aware of him was this:

Hunter Ranking: 2nd.

His name was always right next to mine on the ranking list, so I couldn’t help but pay attention. Because he was the one with the greatest potential to surpass me.

So at first, I gathered information on Cha Dohwan for the purpose of keeping him in check.

The problem was, after watching him for so long, my objective of keeping him in check had at some point turned into secret fangirling.

Of course, no one knew. It was a secret I kept to myself, one I’d never even told Shinwoo.

*Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump.*

My heart was pounding like crazy. I froze, my eyes wide.

I must have looked strange, because Cha Dohwan waved a hand in front of my face.

“Hunter Ryu? Are you okay?”

‘Oh my god… his hands look exactly like they do in the photos.’

This might sound a little perverted, but the reason I started to like Cha Dohwan was because of his hands.

I once saw a news article about him rescuing a child caught in a gate. In the photo, his two hands, cradling the child, looked so dependable.

I politely pushed away the hand that was making my head spin.

“I’m fine.”

“That’s a relief. I was worried when you suddenly went quiet… First, you should probably get cleaned up, right? There’s an affiliate hotel just a short drive away. You can wash up there, and then we can have dinner somewhere nice. You and I.”

*Me, with you? Why?*

Though I was a newbie in the world of fangirling, I knew that getting close to your favorite was not a good idea.

Some things are more beautiful from a distance. Fandom was one of them.

“Just drop me off at the airport, please. My flight is soon. I have to wash up at the airport and board right away.”

“Ah… is that so?”

Cha Dohwan hesitated for a moment, then gave an awkward laugh.

“I suppose it would be uncomfortable to be seen with me, wouldn’t it? With all the paparazzi that follow me around…”

“…Huh?”

“I got a little greedy because I wanted to get to know you, Hunter Ryu. I’ve wanted to meet you for a while, but it was hard to find an opportunity… I’m sorry.”

“…”

It wasn’t that I found Cha Dohwan uncomfortable or wanted to avoid him. I hadn’t even thought about paparazzi. I was just trying to maintain my distance.

“Um… it seems you have a lot of trouble with the paparazzi.”

“I’ve given up. It was no use even after spending millions of dollars on lawsuits.”

He spent millions just on lawsuits?

I knew he was incredibly famous, but… he really lived in a world I couldn’t even imagine.

“I-I see.”

“I’ve lost a lot because of the paparazzi. My privacy, my friends…”

His voice trailed off before he changed his expression. Perhaps because he was from a family of entrepreneurs, he was skilled at controlling his face.

“Don’t worry about it, Hunter Ryu. Driver Kim, please head to the airport.”

“Yes, Guild Master.”

The car made a smooth U-turn. I chewed on the inside of my cheek as I watched Cha Dohwan’s sleek side profile.

‘Are you crazy, Ryu Saan? Is this really the time to be pitying the head of the world’s top guild, a man born with a diamond spoon in his mouth? Pity someone who actually needs it!’

…But what could I do? My favorite says he’s lonely because he has no friends. It’s just too pitiful.

‘The flight home… let’s just postpone it a little. It’s not like I’ll be charged a fee for delaying it a few hours.’

I swallowed dryly.

It had been a long time since I’d had a conversation with someone, so I felt a little nervous. I’d always been alone since Shinwoo left home.

‘Phew, I’m nervous.’

I spoke politely to Cha Dohwan.

“Cha Dohwan.”

“Yes?”

“I’m hungry.”