Chapter 81

Chapter 81

“There is no pity to be given to a servant who failed to protect their master.”

I had been thinking about Yoon Juyeong in my memories for a while, but I lifted my head and looked at Avan. His expression was as cold as a sheet of ice.

Avan had been maintaining this same attitude ever since the moment he used his status as a ‘bound item’ to find and rescue me, all the way up to now.

I finally let out a thin, helpless sigh and called his name.

“Avan.”

“Master. My warm-hearted master is even showing pity to a servant who failed to protect you… but I cannot do the same. He failed to protect you.”

“No, Avan. I’ve been saying this the whole time, but I have no intention of having that kind of relationship with Yoon Juyeong. And I never will.”

“But at the very least, that man considers the relationship between you and himself to be a master-servant relationship.”

Meanwhile, that bastard in the next room, who’s been sleeping this whole time, has the nerve to call himself an S-Rank hunter and has already recovered to some degree. Avan spoke in a voice so cold and detached it was as if he had locked his seething rage in ice.

“If he failed to protect you due to a lack of ability, then he should lament his own incompetence. If it was a lack of will, then he ought to feel deep regret for his own shortcomings.”

“Hey, Avan. At least when it comes to my injuries, Yoon Juyeong did nothing wrong. In fact, he—”

“Hey, Gardener. Do you realize you sound like a fossil?”

“…This insolent brat. I don’t know where you learned the habit of interrupting others, let alone daring to cut off the master’s words.”

And then Avan and Jeong Seojin started hurling insults at each other like ‘old fogey,’ ‘insolent punk,’ ‘pretentious old man,’ and ‘shameless bastard.’

It was such a sudden shift in topic that I almost felt ridiculous for having tried so desperately to defend Yoon Juyeong, insisting he had no fault in my injuries.

I glanced between Avan, who was glaring at Jeong Seojin with fire in his eyes, and Jeong Seojin, who was looking at Avan like he was pathetic, then quietly turned my gaze away. There was no point in wasting energy trying to stop them when they wouldn’t listen anyway.

Ignoring the two men snarling at each other like dogs, I thought about Yoon Juyeong.

‘His injuries have clearly recovered to some extent, but he still hasn’t woken up…’

For someone at the level of an S-Rank hunter, his physical injuries should have healed long ago. After all, even I, whose physical abilities are only at the C-Rank hunter level, had already gotten up.

So the fact that Yoon Juyeong still couldn’t get up despite being somewhat recovered was probably due to the shock inflicted on his mental state.

Honestly, even without Avan nagging like this, he was someone who had a kind of obsession with treating me as his ‘master.’ For someone like that to see his master in such a state right in front of him…

‘I should go see Yoon Juyeong’s room as soon as I can move somehow.’

As soon as I finished that thought, I threw a pillow at each of the two men, who were now about to draw weapons on each other. Honestly, these people would do anything in a hospital.

* * *

For the three days I was ordered by the doctor to stay completely still in my room for absolute rest, and the four days I was at least allowed visitors, I received countless get-well visits and gifts from all kinds of people.

First was Guild Master Kang Mujin.

“I’m glad you’re safe.”

True to his reputation as a man of courtesy and decorum, he visited my room carrying a flower basket that looked expensive at a glance.

I gladly accepted Guild Master Kang Mujin’s gift. I didn’t grow flowers myself since they all died on me, but I did like flowers and plants quite a bit.

“I will suspend all your duties as an Equipment Adjuster for the time being. Since all the high-ranking hunters are already aware of this incident, you don’t need to worry about work. Also, regarding requests, or people trying to approach you for lobbying, I’ve rejected all their visitation applications, so you don’t need to worry about that either.”

“Th-thank you, Guild Master. Originally, there were at least three requests I needed to handle right away…”

“I’ll say it again: don’t worry about work. After all, there’s no one in the entire global hunter industry who can replace Hunter Yoon Seohee, so the requests will come back later. But your health won’t. Prioritize your condition.”

That was nothing but the plain truth, without a single lie mixed in. Jeong Seojin, who had been listening to my conversation with Guild Master Kang Mujin from beside me, also chimed in.

“At least this once, Kang Mujin is a hundred percent right, Boss. So stop worrying about that fake-nice guy and worry about yourself.”

“Seojin. It’s true that Yoon Juyeong has been suppressing his temper in front of Hunter Yoon Seohee, but pointing it out so bluntly is rude.”

Honestly, wasn’t Guild Master Kang Mujin, who pointed out Yoon Juyeong’s personality in a polite tone, worse than Jeong Seojin, who openly called him a “fake-nice guy”?

Jeong Seojin made an expression of obvious annoyance, as if he’d been nagged, and waved his hand at Guild Master Kang Mujin.

“If you’re going to say stuff like that, why don’t you just go? And if I did call that guy by his name like you say, he’d be even more creeped out.”

I didn’t know about anything else, but that seemed true. I nodded, recalling the two men who bickered whenever they had time.

I was sure that even if Jeong Seojin politely called Yoon Juyeong by his name, he wouldn’t be pleased at all. No, rather, as Jeong Seojin said, he might make a disgusted face and mutter insults disguised as politeness.

“Ha… Fine, it’s ridiculous for me to meddle in your personal relationships. Anyway, don’t worry about work and get plenty of rest, Hunter Yoon Seohee.”

“Yes, thank you for coming to see me, Guild Master Kang Mujin.”

Guild Master Kang Mujin came cleanly and left cleanly like that. It was a visit that seemed to perfectly reflect the polite and formal demeanor he always showed.

And then there was the case of the second visitor, Hunter Kim Miju.

“Oh dear, what’s this on a young person’s body? I heard it might leave some scars.”

“Ahaha… I don’t go into dungeons much these days, but I’m still a hunter, you know. A wound like this is nothing.”

In truth, it was a bit too severe to dismiss as “a wound like this.” Even just my arm had several cracks in the bone, and they’d brought in a hunter with a high-rank healing skill to treat it.

But in front of Hunter Kim Miju, rather than mentioning how serious my injuries were, I wanted to show that as a hunter, I was unfazed by injuries like this. Honestly, it was just me showing off in front of someone I admired.

And that show-off act of mine was completely shattered by Jeong Seojin, who was sitting cross-legged on the chair next to my bed, flipping through a hunter magazine.

“‘A wound like this’ my ass. With several cracks in your bones, and on top of that, a recovery delay curse that made it impossible to treat with modern medicine alone, so you received a Judgment of impossibility and had to bring in multiple awakened ones with high-rank healing skills.”

“Goodness. Was it really that bad?”

“Ah, no, it wasn’t really that bad! I mean, sure, a high-rank healing skill was needed, but that was just to prepare for the possibility of aftereffects on the Equipment Adjuster’s body…”

It was true that it wasn’t a wound that could be dismissed as “a wound like this,” but at the same time, it was also true that Jeong Seojin was exaggerating. At worst, I had a few cracks in the bones here and there; it wasn’t like I’d lost a limb.

Honestly, the diagnosis that it was untreatable with modern medicine was, as Jeong Seojin said, because of that damned recovery delay curse.

‘The doctor said it was completely different from curses used by other dungeon monsters…’

To be precise, he said, “The curse Hunter Yoon Seohee is under right now is very, extremely, freaking different from ordinary curses. Normal curses used by other dungeon monsters can be dispelled with a dispel skill of the same rank, but the curse Hunter Yoon Seohee has cannot be dispelled by any means for its three-day duration. Do you understand what that means? It means you do nothing and stay quietly in bed.” But still.

“And the curse I got was just ‘recovery delay,’ not ‘recovery impossible.’ Pouring high-rank healing magic on it was quite effective.”

“Even with an A++-Rank healing skill, all it did was barely stick a few bones together?”

“Jeong Seojin, please shut your mouth. And don’t you have a dungeon to go to? I don’t think I’ve seen the number one S-Rank hunter clearing any dungeons.”

Should I just clamp a clothespin on this guy’s lips? Of course, even if I did, he wouldn’t feel pain since he’s an S-Rank hunter, and there’s no way he’d just take it with that personality. I finally let out a deep sigh in resignation.

“Well… that really was a big deal. Oh dear, you must have had a hard time, Hunter Yoon Seohee. If I or another hunter had been with you, we could have helped…”

“Just your words are enough. But… honestly, even if someone else had been there in that situation, it probably wouldn’t have changed much.”

Even if he was at the very bottom of the S-Ranks, Yoon Juyeong was still an S-Rank hunter. In fact, the main reason he’d been ranked lowest among them wasn’t because of a lack of skill, but because not enough time had passed since his reawakening for him to do anything that would raise his ranking.

So compared to other S-Rank hunters, Yoon Juyeong wasn’t really that far behind in ability.

‘And that monster was something even Yoon Juyeong couldn’t take down.’

Of course, if you compared Yoon Juyeong and Hunter Kim Miju, Hunter Kim Miju would definitely be stronger. The title of 2nd place in the S-Ranks wasn’t just for show.

But at least the outcome itself wouldn’t have changed. That monster clearly wasn’t something meant to be killed. Ah, and also…