“No matter how I look at it, I really do seem to have made a mistake. I went after the wrong person.”
“...”
“Well, I live by the belief that nothing in this world is absolute, so somewhere deep down, I still have this lingering suspicion that you might actually be a monster.”
“That’s...”
“If a beast has gotten so good at pretending to be human that even a Hunter mistakes it for one, then shooting it could easily become the Hunter’s own downfall. You understand what I’m saying?”
Kang Changho turned away as he finished speaking.
“And this probably doesn’t quite count as an apology for the misunderstanding, but still...”
He picked up the remaining documents from the drawer beside the hospital bed.
The material was rough and thick, brown like earth.
Kim Giryeo had seen it before.
It was a document-type artifact known among Earth’s Hunters as the [Knight’s Oath].
Contract Contents
Kim Giryeo shall transfer all rights to his entire body to Kang Changho on the day he turns 34 (based on 20XX-01-01, 00:00 GMT+9), and Kang Changho shall not use the transferred rights for any purpose other than activating [Improvement].Of course, the parchment was no different from an ordinary scroll now that its effect had already been activated and completed.
Even so, Kang Changho, one of the parties to the agreement, held up the artifact he had kept all this time.
Smk.
Then, in front of the only other person concerned, he tore the original document apart.
It was a clear, visible declaration of his intent.
“That’s the end of the promise.”
Kang Changho officially gave up on using [Improvement].
“What?”
“Not just for the next ten years. For the rest of your life, Hunter Kim Giryeo will never again be targeted as a sacrifice.”
“...”
“And since the price you owed me no longer exists, naturally, there’s no reason for S-rank personnel to keep following you around and protecting you either.”
No complaints, right?
“You’ve recovered quite a lot of your power anyway.”
The patient lying in the hospital bed stared blankly at Kang Changho.
The being wearing Kim Giryeo’s skin soon cried out in disbelief.
“No, wait. Are you seriously saying you’re giving up that contract this easily?”
Was it really possible for someone’s attitude to change this completely in only a few hours?
But contrary to the Archmage’s assumption, Kang Changho had actually anticipated a situation like this long ago.
In fact, the contract they had signed had been written in such a way that its final execution could be postponed indefinitely.
“...I was always planning to let you live whenever I felt like it.”
After a short pause, Kang Changho spoke in a slightly blunt tone.
“If you look carefully at the [Knight’s Oath], you’ll notice it never says when the transferred rights have to be used.”
“...”
“If I decide to activate [Improvement] four days later, then just by continuing to put it off, I can extend the sacrifice’s life indefinitely.”
The large Hunter shrugged and continued in a casual tone.
“Those clauses were originally written to account for all sorts of possibilities.”
“Huh.”
“But then the Hunter bound by the contract kept pulling off some ridiculous feat every other day...”
Rustle.
Kang Changho spoke as he tossed the torn pieces of parchment into the hospital room’s trash bin.
“Honestly, until [Justitia] gave me reason to start doubting things, I really was planning to let you live a few more years on a whim. For free.”
The man who normally wore a smile had an unusually calm expression.
“But that’s enough. I’m sick of it now.”
“...”
“A strange kind of amusement is entertaining for a day or two. But how am I supposed to spend years watching over some nasty bastard who’s constantly covered in his own blood?”
He shook his head.
Then his gaze shifted.
“...”
Those distinctive vertical pupils settled for a moment on the pine tree outside the window.
“I want to live looking at pleasant things.”
It was an ordinary sentiment that somehow felt completely at odds with those were-dragon eyes.
“So for the sake of my own peace, I think I’ll remove the man named Kim Giryeo from my sight.”
“Ah.”
“Sorry for repeating myself. Anyway, to get straight to the point—I’m done expecting you to turn out to be some ridiculously good person.”
“You... really...”
“Besides, I recently found a replacement, so there’s no real reason for me to cling to [Improvement] anymore.”
Kang Changho once again made it perfectly clear that the contract was over.
“What’s wrong?”
The alien, however, could only stare in astonishment.
In truth, he had been strutting around with complete confidence based solely on a trap blueprint he had seen in his previous life—and had ended up getting badly burned for it.
‘Could it really be because of that?’
What had seemed like a foolish mistake had ended up saving his life.
Looking back, all the boastful words he had thrown at his trapped enemy in triumph had taken on an entirely different meaning once the dungeon’s altered design left him with a grievous wound in his chest.
“Um... then does that mean the fact that I concealed the contract’s invalidity is also...?”
Giryeo asked cautiously.
He was worried that the other man might suddenly change his mind again and ruin this stroke of luck.
But even that mild probing earned him an immediate and decisive answer.
“I just told you the contract is null and void, didn’t I?”
“...”
“Then obviously I’m not going to hold you responsible for anything related to the [Knight’s Oath] we made back then. In a lawful society like this, who demands a penalty after properly terminating a contract?”
Kang Changho turned his gaze back toward the patient.
“And the surveillance you hated so much ends today too.”
“Huh?”
“That magic fluctuation of yours is annoyingly conspicuous, so I can’t promise I’ll completely stop noticing it.”
“Magic?”
“But I’ll do my best to ignore it.”
It was a remarkably clean ending.
“So here’s a warning. Don’t interfere in my life again. If you start poking around recklessly, next time I really will kill you.”
Yeah.
That was almost too clean-cut.
“Let’s just live without bothering each other, alright?”
“Wait. Uh, then... at least let me make that skill stone I mentioned before for you...”
“Forget it. To be honest, I’ve already used as many skill stones as I can.”
“Yes?”
“What? Hunter Kim, you didn’t know an Awakened can only acquire twenty skill stones?”
“...Ah, no. Of course I knew.”
“Hmm.”
“But now it finally feels certain that we’re on the same side. So I wanted to help you. Right—why don’t we exchange information about the Gate monsters while we’re at it?”
“I don’t want to.”
“No, what?”
“No matter how you learned what you know, unless you’re that monster itself, there’s no way you have more information than I do.”
“Yes?”
“If we both reveal every card we’re holding, one side is bound to end up at a disadvantage. And honestly, I’m not particularly eager to start actively invading Gates either...”
“Yes?”
“The problem was that there happened to be a suspect inside Korea. Normally, digging into something dangerous simply because you’re bored is like jumping into boiling water because you’re cold, Hunter Kim.”
A brief silence passed between them.
The S-rank Awakened leaning against the locker beside the hospital bed finally gave a small nod and spoke.
“So, you agree to cancel the contract, right?”
Kim Giryeo answered immediately.
After all, having the restriction on his lifespan removed was exactly what he had wanted.
“Okay.”
That was when it happened.
The moment he heard the patient’s answer, Korea’s third S-rank Hunter suddenly asked another question, as though his curiosity had not yet been fully satisfied.
“Oh, right. I never asked you this. Since when?”
“Yes?”
“I was wondering when you first became aware of your own physical condition.”
If he could remain that calm even after seeing the medical report, then the symptoms had obviously been present for quite some time.
But this time, the conversation took a turn Kang Changho had not expected.
‘I was originally going to tell him again that I’m an alien, just to explain that the diagnosis has nothing to do with my actual lifespan...’
But the other man had already decided to spare the sacrifice.
Was there really any reason to attract the attention of a thrill-seeker and create an entirely new problem in the middle of such a favorable turn of events?
“Hmm.”
This wasn’t Alphauri.
He couldn’t simply construct a perfect lie on the spot and expect an Earthling to believe it.
So in the end, the Archmage gave the closest answer to the truth that he could.
“The first time I suspected something might be wrong was when I was around twenty-one.”
To be precise, he told as much of the truth as possible.
“And sometime after that... it was during winter, when I got bitten by a dog-shaped monster and awakened. That’s when I became certain. I kept coughing up phlegm mixed with blood.”
He still didn’t quite understand why Kang Changho was curious about such details.
But the man lying in the hospital bed thought that refusing to answer might disturb the fragile peace they had only just achieved.
So he simply recounted the experiences of this body’s original owner.
“Hmm.”
But the instant Kang Changho heard that, his eyes widened in obvious surprise.
“Not one year ago, but four years ago? Then why didn’t you get a proper medical examination back then?”
He had noticed something wrong with his lungs even before awakening, yet still missed the proper window for treatment.
To an outsider, the decision seemed almost absurd.
To Kang Changho, it was incomprehensible.
“Detailed examinations... I would’ve liked to get them, but unfortunately, my circumstances didn’t allow it.”
“What circumstances?”
But like anyone else, Kim Giryeo had circumstances of his own.
“I didn’t have any money.”
In some ways, the answer was so obvious that it almost felt anticlimactic.
“Really.”
“...”
“I only became somewhat financially comfortable after awakening. Before that, when I was living day to day, if I spent even ten thousand won on a medical bill, I’d have to eat plain rice with water for the rest of the day because I couldn’t afford any side dishes. So I didn’t have much of a choice.”
“...”
“Even when my body felt strange, going to the right kind of hospital wasn’t really something I considered... well, anyway.”
The soul inhabiting Kim Giryeo’s body recited what remained in the body’s memories.
At first, the symptoms had been mild enough that the original owner assumed the coughing was simply caused by cigarette smoke.
And because he was still so young, he never imagined it could be anything serious.
So he kept putting off the examination.
That delay had turned out to be a critical mistake.
“By the time I became certain something was wrong, I ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) had already awakened. So when I tried to figure it out on my own, there wasn’t really any answer. Right. I only remembered that just now too.”
He briefly explained the life that the previous owner of the name Kim Giryeo had lived.
“Hmm.”
Unless someone was born unusually fortunate—say, as the heir to some wealthy business—how rare was it for a young person to struggle with money?
The mage from another world saw nothing particularly remarkable about the diagnosis or the circumstances surrounding it.
To him, it was merely an ordinary case of bad luck.
But the dark-purple-haired man seemed to reach a different conclusion after hearing the story.
After a fairly long silence, he finally spoke.
“Kim Giryeo.”
Kang Changho made an unexpected proposal.
“I want to make you one separate promise, apart from ending the contract.”
That damned word, promise, had tormented him through all four seasons.
Giryeo’s shoulders instinctively drooped.
But the next thing Kang Changho said was not nearly as unpleasant from the alien’s perspective.
“I’ll help Hunter Kim Giryeo once, whenever you need it, no matter what kind of situation you’re in.”
Why all of a sudden?
“Of course, only within the limits of what I can actually do. If you suddenly tell me to bring you an Elixir or some other impossible thing, I’ll probably just block your number. Got it?”
Giryeo stared at him in genuine confusion.
“Unpaid work? Why would you make such a generous promise out of nowhere?”
But the answer he received was completely unhelpful.
“Just because.”
Simply because he felt like it.
“This time, besides torturing you, I also owe you a debt.”
“A debt?”
“You got shot and collapsed in the dungeon instead of me. I doubt you hit your head that hard. Don’t tell me you’ve already forgotten.”
“...”
“Honestly, I’m not the kind of person who likes carrying debts around. And there are days like today when I just feel like settling the score.”
An indecisive S-rank.
Come to think of it, there might not be a more terrifying phrase than that.
“No, seriously... what does ‘idiot’ even mean...?”
Kim Giryeo muttered to himself in confusion, unable to understand one of the words that had come up during their conversation.
Kang Changho, meanwhile, calmly prepared to leave the hospital room.
He had apparently said everything he wanted to say.
He picked up the car keys and wallet he had taken out along with the documents.
Rustle.
He had never expected their irritating relationship to end like this.
“Wait a moment.”
That was when the blond Awakened suddenly called out to the mammal who was about to leave the hospital room.
A complicated conversation had passed between them, blurring the boundary between truth and suspicion.
But strictly speaking...
Hadn’t Kang Changho taken pity on his contracted partner and completely changed his mind?
Even a weary soul like mine could understand that much.
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