NOVEL NEXT Chapter 17
Chapter 17
“Hmm…”
Even I was bewildered by how this had happened, but I couldn’t just keep standing there. For Kwon Tae-hyuk’s dignity, it seemed best to resolve this situation quickly.
Wondering what to do, I first embraced Kwon Tae-hyuk and stood up.
As I lifted the unconscious Kwon Tae-hyuk, supporting his back and knees, the watching crowd stirred again.
Looking around, I saw people in suits staring at me while sweating profusely. They were the secretaries who had been talking with Kwon Tae-hyuk before the ranking match started.
‘I should hand him over to those people.’
As I walked while carrying Kwon Tae-hyuk, the spotlight followed me. It was awkward to ask them to remove it now, so I just left it be.
“Excuse me.”
“Y-yes?”
As I approached, the secretaries looked flustered with pale faces. Feeling somewhat sorry for them, I spoke, wanting to resolve this quickly and leave.
“Here.”
Realizing it sounded like I was returning an object, I hastily added,
“Take him.”
“……”
Ah, now it sounds like I’m treating him like an animal.
Embarrassed by my consecutive verbal blunders, a secretary finally collected himself and pointed to a nearby bench.
“If you could put him here…”
“Ah, yes.”
I carefully laid Kwon Tae-hyuk down on the bench.
Leaning against the bench, the unconscious Kwon Tae-hyuk’s head lolled to the side, unable to support itself. The sight gave off a very pitiful impression.
‘I’m sorry. But it’s not really my fault…’
If you think about it, isn’t it his bad luck for being hit squarely by a trait with a mere 0.3% chance? Still, I offer my halfhearted apologies, if only inwardly.
‘I’ll take good care of the rank 1 position.’
If you want it back, you can request a ranking match next time…
After sending my silent regards, I turned away without hesitation. Now that I had handed Kwon Tae-hyuk over to people who would care for him, all that was left was to leave this place.
“Wait, challenger! No, new rank 1 hunter!”
The reporter, quick to notice that the situation had somewhat settled, came running.
“Tell us which guild you belong to and what your name is! Was covering your face with a mask a planned performance?”
“No interviews.”
Dodging the microphone thrust at me, I leaped over the iron fence in one bound, just as I had when I first arrived. Leaving behind the amazed spectators exclaiming “Wow!”, I ran towards a nearby building.
“Catch him!”
“We must catch him for an interview no matter what!”
“Where did he go?”
As soon as I hid in the building, broadcast staff members passed by in front. Only after the surrounding presence disappeared did I sit down on the stairs of the building, exhaling in relief.
“This is crazy…”
It still didn’t feel real. Did I really defeat Kwon Tae-hyuk? Am I really rank 1?
It was a fight I was forced into because of the quest, but to think I’d receive help from a trait like this. Having removed my mask, I stroked my bare face and thought,
‘Could this have been… the status window’s intention from the start?’
It might have made me fight Kwon Tae-hyuk and then activated the trait at a dangerous moment. The timing was so perfect that I kept suspecting it wasn’t just luck, but perhaps someone’s intention.
“And what kind of reward is this?”
I opened the status window again, which I hadn’t properly looked at earlier due to the chaos.
《Main Quest clear reward is given.》
《Kwon Tae-hyuk’s interest level increased!》
Interest level increase? Was the “Quest Success: ���� ��� increase” written in the quest referring to Kwon Tae-hyuk’s interest level? And if the quest failed, the interest level would decrease?
‘I don’t need it… or do I?’
Anyway, the most important main quest was to gain the trust of the protagonists, and I had managed to attract the interest of Kwon Tae-hyuk, one of them, so it was a gain if you look at it that way.
“…Wait. Even if I’ve attracted interest, it’s towards this body, isn’t it?”
Does this mean I always have to transform like this when dealing with Kwon Tae-hyuk in the future? It was an unavoidable choice since I couldn’t have won with my F-rank body in the first place, but… it feels unsettling.
Kwon Tae-hyuk is also funny for having increased interest in the opponent who defeated him and took his rank 1 position.
Ha, I let out a short, bitter laugh as I stood up.
I’m not sure what’s what, but anyway, I’ve completed another quest with this.
I hope the next quest will be easier. Like taking a bath with Cha Sahyun. If I have to do a couple more intense quests like this one, I’ll end up in the afterlife.
“Let’s go home…”
In case I could be recognized by my outfit, I took off my hat and roughly shook out and combed my flattened hair. I also took off my denim jacket and draped it over my arm.
I didn’t throw away the mask, thinking I might need to use it again, and tucked it into my hoodie pocket.
‘I should stop by a pharmacy on the way and buy some medicine.’
The pain from my wounds belatedly surged. Not just the cuts from Kwon Tae-hyuk’s blade, but my whole body that had hit the ground and rolled screamed in agony.
“Haah…”
I couldn’t help but sigh at my own disheveled state.
* * *
“Oof.”
Having returned home while avoiding people’s gazes as much as possible, I leaped up to the second-floor window from the back alley, just as I had when leaving.
Unlike when I left, I managed to perch on the windowsill with somewhat heavier movements.
‘Cha Sahyun must be sleeping, right?’
It was late, almost midnight. Cha Sahyun usually went to bed around 10 PM, so by now he should have been asleep for a while.
I quietly got down from the windowsill and closed the window, careful not to wake the child. But as soon as I turned around, I let out a silent scream at the sight of a black figure suddenly appearing in the middle of the sofa.
“W-what!”
“……”
Startled, I hastily turned on the light, revealing Cha Sahyun sitting on the sofa. My heart pounded so hard from the shock that it felt like it would jump out of my mouth.
“Kid, why aren’t you sleeping? What are you doing here?”
Cha Sahyun, who had been sitting like a doll with an emotionless face, slowly raised his head at my question. His eyes, half-hidden in shadow, somehow seemed to reproach me.
“No, how could you stay up waiting until this late? I told you I’d come back on my own.”
As I approached, scolding him while trying to calm my beating heart, the child averted his gaze slightly and fidgeted with his clasped hands.
“You won’t grow tall if you do this. You’ll regret being short when you’re older, but it’ll be too late then.”
In my transformed body, my eye level was much higher than the child’s than usual.
As I inevitably bent down, blood gushed once more from the wound on my thigh. It hurt like hell.
“Go to bed right now. From now on, even if I’m late, don’t wait and… Huh?”
As I spoke from a distance due to my dirty and blood-stained state, Cha Sahyun instead stretched out both arms and hugged me tightly.
“Hey, can’t you see I’m dirty? Let go.”
I spoke out of exasperation at the sight of him constantly hugging my filthy self, but the child just shook his head vigorously and buried his face deeper into my neck.
Oh my, he’s getting covered in dirt and blood too. I was about to scold the child who had become just as dirty as me, but the warm body temperature inevitably made me relax.
“You’re driving me crazy, you know that?”
I grumbled as I stood up while holding the child.
“I’ll give you a bath, so make yourself useful. Help me treat my wounds or something.”
As I headed towards the bathroom while complaining, the child quickly nodded. He only responds well at times like this.
Although the child often hugged me, somehow this time the atmosphere felt more desperate. I narrowed my eyes as I saw the child’s small hands gripping my clothes so tightly they turned white.
‘Is this what they call separation anxiety?’
It seems Cha Sahyun thought I wouldn’t come back after leaving. That’s why he stayed up waiting until this late hour. To check if I would return or if I had abandoned him and left.
‘We really have a long way to go.’
It’s hard enough dealing with the quests, and now I have to worry about the child’s emotional state too.
While I understood his anxious feelings, I couldn’t leave it like this. I couldn’t let him wait anxiously like this every time I went out.
“Kid.”
I patted the child’s back and shared some honest thoughts.
“I’m sorry, but I’m not as good an adult as you think.”
“……”
“If I want to abandon you, I’ll say so and leave right away.”
I put Cha Sahyun down and met his gaze. His eyes looking at me sparkled with a strange light.
“So before I say I’m abandoning you, you don’t need to worry about that. If I say I’ll come back, I’ll definitely come back. Understand?”
The child, who had been staring at me blankly while blinking, nodded again.
Rather than an uncertain, fabricated lie saying I would never abandon him, this was easier for me to say honestly, but unexpectedly there was little reaction. I thought he might cry from being hurt, but his mental strength seems stronger than I expected.