I’ll Retire After Saving the World

TL: SHW

─The person you are trying to reach is unavailable....

A woman's flat voice came through the receiver.

I suppressed the irritation surging up at the unanswered call. As I stood there glaring at my phone, someone approached and spoke to me.

"Student Hwijae?"

Student?

The last time anyone called me a student was....

I looked up.

A face I'd seen a few times coming and going from the Agency. The old security guard at the Ability Management Agency.

"Hello."

"Waiting for the Director?"

"Yes.... He said he'd come down, but he hasn't come yet."

"Not picking up his phone either?"

I shoved the phone I was holding into my pocket.

"No. He must be really busy."

"Come on in and head upstairs. Oh my, look at those red ears. It's cold outside, isn't it?"

"No, it's fine, I can wait here...."

"He's not even picking up, and you can't just keep waiting out here. It's fine, it's fine. It's not like we don't know you, Hwijae. You've been inside before."

"Oh... yes. Thank you."

I bowed in greeting, passed through the security checkpoint, and went inside. Just as the guard said, I had been inside before.

"Hello."

"Here to see the Director?"

"Do you know where the Director is?"

"He's probably in his office...."

"It's going to be a bit noisy right now."

People greeted me the entire way down the corridor. Seeing a kid wandering around unsupervised inside the Ability Management Agency, where access was strictly controlled, would normally earn a frown, but everyone spoke to me kindly.

Well... if that kid's foster father happened to be the most powerful person in this building, that would explain it.

I walked a familiar path. I'd had my last dungeon briefing in that meeting room over there. Yoo Ji-eun said we needed to raid some dungeon....

.......

.......

I walked a familiar path. Having come here so many times, finding my way wasn't difficult. Even if I couldn't remember, I could just grab anyone and ask for directions. But really, if a kid was wandering around, they should stop the kid and ask whose child it was.

Were the annual security trainings not enough? How could they be this absent-minded? Maybe I should suggest to the Director that the training hours be....

.......

.......

I walked a familiar path.

I looked up. A door so familiar it was almost tiresome came into view.

"Han Tae-kyung!!"

A rough voice pierced through the thick door and into my ears.

"I told you three months ago! I'm on leave that day!"

"Aw, come on, sir. Cut me some slack."

Curious about what they were talking about, I stood still and listened. Eavesdropping on the conversation wasn't hard.

"A new theatrical release for the first time in seven years! You know how much I adore my Chasie!"

"That goddamn cat?"

"My precious little darling, pretty and adorable and talented."

That guy hasn't changed one bit....

"I need to go see my baby!"

"Go another day!"

"When it's my  baby, you have to see it opening day. Once you're in a dungeon, who knows when you'll be out.... Can't we at least push back the entry date?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"If it's really a no, then send Ji-eun instead."

"You little shit.... She's on an overseas business trip! You already agreed to go in yourself!"

"How was I supposed to know the release date would get pushed back?"

"Cut the bullshit. I'm done talking. You're going into the dungeon, and I'm taking my leave. Got it?"

That man ignoring what the old man said was nothing new, but he wasn't the type to actually refuse a dungeon entry.

The brief surprise faded quickly. Listening to the conversation, the reason he was refusing was all too clear. No wonder the old man was angry.

I sighed and, seizing a momentary lull in their argument, raised my hand to knock on the door and announce my arrival. The old man had probably already noticed I was here anyway.

It would have worked, if not for the renewed burst of grievance.

"What era do we live in? Who goes to their kid's high school entrance ceremony?! He'll get teased for having his dad show up!"

Hmm... is that so?

"These days, entrance ceremonies are a big deal!"

...Well, that's true. My friends all said their families were coming.

"It's different from our time! They say attendance isn't required, but I'm going! My kid's starting school!"

My earlobes heated up for no reason.

"No...."

"And are you the one raising this kid? I am! I'm saying I'm going to my kid's entrance ceremony, so back off!"

Crash, bang!

Something fell with a tremendous clatter. A sign that the old man's patience had run out.

That man had a particular talent for shortening the old man's fuse. Not that I couldn't understand the feeling.

I'd completely missed my chance to knock.

As I stood there blankly with my hand raised, a Hunter passing by happened to rescue me. Barely holding back laughter, the Hunter knocked on the door in my place.

"Director, I understand you're busy talking with the Team 1 Leader, but your son is here."

"You little shit, today I'm going to... what? It's that time already?"

The old man, who had been hauling the man up by his collar, opened his eyes wide. The scowl plastered across his face smoothed out.

The transformation was so stark it was almost embarrassing to watch. Even after living with the old man for several years, this was still my favorite moment.

"God, because of this bastard.... Hey, get lost! It's your fault my son had to come all the way up here!"

The old man made a huge fuss, tossed the man aside, and came over to me.

"Sorry, Hwijae. We were supposed to meet downstairs on the first floor."

"No, it's fine."

"Hey, kid. How'd you get past the checkpoint? The security guard was right there."

"I was sitting in the lobby and the security guard just let me through."

"Wow, is our Agency's security really this bad? A kid walks right through?"

"Is that kid just any ordinary kid?"

The old man bared his teeth and growled at the man.

"Well, he's definitely not ordinary.... Look at how he shoots up like a bamboo sprout. ...Have you already caught up to my height? No, right?"

The man eyed my face nervously.

I couldn't be bothered to respond, so I ignored him, but he asked me again. Come on, you can tell someone's height just by looking. Our eye level was about the same.

"A third-year middle schooler is already as tall as me?"

"I'm a high schooler now."

"You haven't started yet...."

"It's less than a month away."

"A month!"

The man snapped his head up to look at Hong Seok-young. What a scatterbrained person.

"See, the dungeon entry really shouldn't...!"

"No."

"...What if the Chasie movie leaves theaters while I'm stuck in the dungeon?"

"You said your cat's popular. If it leaves theaters that fast, I guess it's not that popular after all."

"How can you say that!"

"Or maybe it takes you months to clear a dungeon.... Looks like Han Tae-kyung's washed up. Want to retire?"

"......"

The man was cornered.

"If that's not the case either, then clear it fast and come back."

The man crumbled.

The old man smiled with satisfaction and, this time for real, reached his hand out to me.

"Come on, let's go. Hwijae."

A hand roughly tousling my hair.

I fixed my messed-up hair with a disgruntled look.

A thought crossed my mind.

Was my hand always this small? I stared blankly at my palm. After my Awakening, I'd been training with a spear under the old man every day. A hand covered in calluses.

That part wasn't strange, but.... No, it was strange. My hand didn't feel like my own. There was a sense of wrongness that shouldn't have been there.

My hands should have had more scars. Between the spear and all the various weapons I'd trained with, there was never a day my hands were unscathed. I'd been injured during dungeon raids too, and that had left scars. They weren't very noticeable, but there was a long cut on the inside of my right index finger....

I looked at the old man and said bluntly.

"If you're busy, you don't have to come to the entrance ceremony."

"Busy?"

The old man's eyes went round.

"Didn't you hear what I just said?"

Knew it. He knew I was here all along.

"I took the day off! Here, look at this!"

The old man pointed to the calendar on his desk.

"It's February."

"Hm? Oh, right. Look here."

He flipped the page. March. It was a calendar as clean as new, with not a single schedule written on it, except for one square marked with a red star.

March 2nd. Entrance ceremony.

"...This makes it look like it's your entrance ceremony, old man."

"Does it?"

The old man scratched his cheek and laughed heartily. My eyes drifted to the side of the calendar.

A photo of the old man and me. Taken the day I got fitted for my high school uniform, because he insisted this kind of thing needed to be captured in a photo. The old man was wearing a suit, unlike his usual self. The sight of his hair neatly slicked back still felt unfamiliar. Still, it had been a fun experience. But I'd die before telling him that.

...In middle school, I hadn't wanted to be near the old man, so we never took one. Only now did I feel the regret.

On the photo taken to mark my high school enrollment, a yellow sticky note with the entrance ceremony date was stuck as well.

My chest lurched again.

The old man came to my entrance ceremony dressed in a suit, just like in that photo. To me, he was nothing but a bumbling, careless man, so I'd forgotten, but he was arguably the most famous Hunter in the country right now. Naturally, a lot of people recognized him.

The entrance ceremony was a lively affair. Thanks to the famous Hunter's presence. I got attention by association. Normally, I wouldn't have liked drawing this many eyes, but maybe even I was a little excited about a high school entrance ceremony. That day, somehow, I thought it didn't matter.

So. So.

...Fuck.

I looked up.

The Agency Director's office that had been there just a moment ago was gone without a trace. The school grounds bustling with uniformed kids and their families had vanished too.

─The person you are trying to reach is unavailable....

A woman's flat voice came through the receiver.

I suppressed the irritation surging up at the unanswered call. As I stood there glaring at my phone, someone approached and spoke to me.

"Student Hwijae?"

"Fuck."

This time, I swore out loud.

The face of the security guard speaking to me wavered.

The Agency lobby shuddered.

I closed my eyes, then opened them.

─The person you are trying to reach is unavailable....

Again.

─The person you are trying to reach is unavailable....

Again.

─The per-person you are tr-trying to r-reach is unava-vailab-ble....

Caught it.

Once I realized, I couldn't understand why I'd been so stupidly fooled. It was this blatantly obvious. An illusion replaying the same loop over and over. A substandard illusion that crumbled the moment I became aware and tried to push back.

Strictly speaking, this wasn't even a proper Illusion Magic. It was nothing more than projecting a person's memories in front of their eyes like a film reel.

Barely a trick of the eye. It hadn't fooled anything else. My eyes still saw the Agency. Hands where the calluses hadn't fully formed yet. It couldn't be helped. That's how I was at this age.

I reached into my inner pocket. Instead of the casual jacket I'd worn as a middle schooler, my fingers touched the suit jacket I'd put on for the forum. Just as I expected, the real contents were intact.

I found the wallet linked to the Subspace inside the jacket's inner pocket. For a moment I considered pulling out my spear, but I didn't want to reveal my full hand to Sem Bloom. I'd been using a sword this whole time, so let him keep thinking my main weapon was a sword.

None of that would matter if I could kill him right here and now, but.

Instead of my own Subspace, I reached into the one Lee Mi-seon had given me. The item I'd specifically requested was right where it should be. I'd originally planned to use it when going after Alex Hope, but...!

Still, I couldn't just throw Yoo Ji-eun's sword around recklessly.

A dagger forged from Dwarf Gold flew straight toward a seam in the illusion. I'd been caught off guard while defenseless, but once I knew, breaking through was easy.

Clang!

One layer of the illusion shattered.

Now I could see it, clear as day.

Golden eyes flecked with white feathers, staring straight at me from the glass of the Agency lobby.

The moment the illusion broke, Yoo Ji-eun's sword materialized in my hand in place of the phone.

"I'm going to make the words 'I'm sorry' come out of your mouth."

Anyone who rummages through someone else's memories has to pay the price.

***

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