The One Who Saved a World Before Will be Best at Saving Another

Chapter 30

The next morning, porridge, braised beef, salted pollack roe, and water kimchi were served for breakfast. It looked fairly nice.

Hospital food was originally tasteless. No matter how much effort was put in, it was hard for hospital food to be delicious. From the start, it was not food meant to be eaten for taste.

In fact, if it tasted good, that would mean it was salty and strongly seasoned, and food like that was not something a hospital should serve in the first place.

After I finished my meal, there was a knock on the door, almost as if someone had been waiting for me to finish.

"It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Ja Sujeong from the secretary’s office of Embargo Tower."

I accepted her business card and saw that her name really was Ja Sujeong which meant amethyst in Korean. Perhaps she quite liked her own name.

"There are people with the surname Ja in Korea too?"

At my words, she nodded.

"I hear that a lot. It is easy to remember, right?"

Maybe not as unforgettable as the surname Phone, but it was still definitely a name that was hard to forget. And her looks were definitely on the striking side.

I could feel Embargo Tower’s determination to deliberately test me. I occasionally glanced at Ja Sujeong as the conversation went on.

I was pretending to be interested in women, but it was not like I was going to suddenly ask something like "So, what color are your panties today?" like some idiot, nor was I acting like a fool who got nosebleeds just from seeing a woman.

"Ah, it is not really a gift, but I brought a cake."

She took out a cake with the brand logo of the Hut on it.

"Oh you did not have to go this far."

"Even if it is a special room, hospital food is not great, right? This is our way of asking for your favor. It cannot really compare to the main store’s cake, but it is still tasty."

As she continued talking, Ja Sujeong kept observing me. It seemed she had been given specific instructions by her company. Making a living was always tough.

"I could prepare it myself."

"They must think very highly of you at the company, but if I make you do such an errand, I might get fired, you know?"

After saying that, she immediately brought out drinks and cake.

"Now, we should probably move on to talking about business."

She visibly looked tense, exhaled, took off her suit jacket, and sat down. Without the jacket, a tight-fitting white turtleneck came into view.

"First of all, as you requested, Embargo Tower asked whether it would be possible to dispatch the third team."

"Is that so? Honestly, I thought it was a bit of an unreasonable request. Hunter Lee Se-eun is a busy person after all."

After speaking now in a tone that seemed completely detached from interest, Ja Sujeong replied.

"In conclusion, I think it might be possible. It seems Jannabi’s fifth team will be returning from France at the end of this month."

So they would pull the third team and send the fifth team to Cheorwon. Wait, would that really mean Lee Se-eun would come? That might be a bit much to handle.

"It seems the leader of Jannabi’s third team is also looking at it positively."

Jannabi’s third team had been tied up in Cheorwon for almost a year. It was about time they rotated out. I opened the documents she had placed on the table.

It was about transporting cargo prepared at Vladivostok port by train.

The train carrying the cargo had already obtained prior clearance from the Hunters’ associations of each country, so it would run nonstop for five days and arrive in Amsterdam.

"So this is a supply transport. I am curious what exactly is being moved."

If it was just luxury goods like in the Chinese association president’s previous commission, I was not interested. To my words, Ja Sujeong handed me another document.

"It is a prototype of a mana-powered shield generator developed in the United States."

At that, I made a curious sound. I almost wanted to see the design schematics myself.

"I do not know how far it has developed, but I am looking forward to it."

She nodded at my reply.

"It is being deployed as part of a test."

Once the shield generator arrived in the Netherlands, it would be flown by helicopter to Dover in the UK and tested there.

"Europe is very dangerous because of the Erosion Core Ristorante."

It was an Erosion Core located in Naples, Italy.

"I have heard Europe’s situation is very bad because of it."

Florence was quite far south in Europe, but because of that one Erosion Core, Europe and North Africa were taking endless beatings from monsters.

The only relatively safe place was the UK, which had some protection from the sea.

"Even Epping Forest has been cut down."

It was a famous forest northeast of London. But when Europe was devastated and the economy worsened, people who could no longer dream of gas or oil illegally cut down its trees for firewood, and most of the wildlife was hunted.

"The lives of the poor are even more miserable."

Most recently, a wife who had managed to get rations died, and her husband and child abandoned the body and fought over the rations, with the father beating the child to death.

"My goodness."

Such things had once only seemed possible in places like Somalia, not Europe.

"You do not seem that surprised."

"I am very surprised."

I had seen many miserable lives caused by starvation in the other world. Not only cases like the one she just mentioned, but even horrors like parents trading children to eat.

"Anyway, the rich will keep living well."

"Yes… that is true."

It was not that no one lived on the European mainland anymore, but its political system had been twisted. When governments failed to function, Hunter companies took their place, becoming de facto warlords.

"There could be trouble during transport."

If someone seized the shield generator in the middle, they could use it as leverage to extract something. It was like a train robbery.

"That is why you hire people to handle such things."

Meaning dealing with any possible threats during transport.

"We will also be moving relief goods at the request of an international organization."

"So it is not just warlords to worry about."

It was the kind of commission where nothing would be surprising if it happened. Hunger weakened the body and eroded reason. She nodded to my words.

"You have never been overseas, have you?"

"No, I have not."

To be exact, in this world I had never gone abroad.

"I think we will encounter a lot of terrible situations together."

"Together?"

She nodded again.

"Yes, Embargo Tower will be in charge of data collection and analysis for this commission. We need personnel to be dispatched, and I will probably be one of them."

"Is that so? It is nice to have one more familiar face."

She smiled and continued.

"Same here. I am honored to work with you."

It had become completely natural for me to participate in this commission. Embargo Tower had achieved its goal by placing her here, and I had achieved mine by creating a fake weakness.

"Ah, and one more thing."

She met my gaze.

"Yes?"

"I also want Hunter Han Sang-ah to come along."

To my words, she repeated Han Sang-ah’s name, then made a sound of recognition.

"You mean the woman who accompanied you to Tsushima."

"I made a promise. To keep it, she has to come along."

I had promised to teach her how to fight, and she had promised payment in return. If she had asked for it for free, I could have ignored her, but since there was an agreed payment, I had no intention of letting it go.

After finishing the conversation, I stood up and spoke immediately.

"Since it seems we will be working together for a while, could I have your phone number?"

She visibly brightened and answered right away.

"Of course!"

She had to get something to report back to her superiors, and exchanging numbers took only a moment.

"Since I am in a hospital anyway."

After she left, I was sitting on the bed when a nurse came to check my health and left. I took a deep breath.

This was something I really did not want to do. I probably would not be able to move for an hour afterward. But it was necessary. I told the nurse to block entry until I said otherwise, then sat cross-legged on the bed.

"Time to rework my nerves."

The amount of mana flowing through my opened meridians had finally reached the level where I could restructure my nerves.

The goal was simple. To increase my reaction speed.

For example, a human’s reaction time to a sound could never be faster than 0.1 seconds. Because of the human nervous system’s structure, 0.1 seconds was the absolute limit.

That was why in track events, if an athlete reacted in less than 0.1 seconds after the starting gun, it was considered a false start.

"If I shorten my reaction time by just 0.02 seconds."

The average speed of a 100-meter sprinter was about 10 m/s. If you could react just 0.01 seconds faster than others, you would gain about 10 cm.

"In battle, moving 10 cm first means- "

Your opponent’s sword would miss while yours hit their body.

And that was the standard for an unenhanced human.

Hunters who enhanced their bodies with mana could move much farther within a second, which meant they could attack first from a longer distance.

"I really hate this."

The problem was that it hurt like hell, and if you made a mistake, you could end up in a vegetative state. It was nerve reconstruction, after all.

If I said I hated it because it hurt, it really meant it hurt insanely. I put a simple gag in my mouth, because otherwise my teeth would shatter.

"Kgh."

Pain like being seared by a red-hot poker spread through my body. It was only the start. I accepted the mana flowing into my body through the pain and manipulated it to restructure my nerves.

There was no need to describe in detail how excruciating and exhausting this was. It was like working in the office while feeling the agony of kidney stones all over your body.

"…"

I sat there, mouth open, unable to say anything. When the pain was extreme enough, you could not even scream. Your mind just turned white like a blood-drained sheet of paper.

But if you truly thought of nothing, you would end up paralyzed.

With the gag in my mouth, I collapsed silently, twitching like a mosquito touched by insecticide. My hospital gown was drenched in sweat, my fingernails dug into my flesh, leaving scratches everywhere.

‘This is the second time. I can do this. I can do this. Holy shit I don’t think I can. This is not something you get used to. Stop talking nonsense and hold on, you bastard.’

The urge to give up and the will to endure flared and died like sparks on tissue paper in an instant.

At last, the long and lonely fight by myself ended. My hospital gown was soaked with sweat and blood, and my face was pale and pitiful enough that collapsing would not be surprising.

Even so, as I checked my body, I was able to smile.

"Experience really is important.”

This was actually better than before. No wonder companies always wanted experienced hires. I had aimed for a 0.02-second reduction, but the result was much better.

The time was shortened by 0.05 seconds, more than double the goal. I could not help but laugh.

"A-Are you alright? Hold on!"

When I called the nurse, she came in, saw my condition, and immediately called for help and administered the necessary measures.

It was all over in an instant. Lying in bed, I clicked my tongue.

"When I succeeded at this in the other world, I heard screams like ‘Kyaaaaaaaaa!’"

But medical professionals really were different. Instead of screaming, they immediately took action. It was a whole different level from inn workers.