* * *

“Hate! There’s Hate over there!”

“The murderer has shown himself!”

“That devil dares to show his face so shamelessly?”

While Kang Yigeon was briefly away, Seohwa, wanting to enjoy the bright midsummer sunlight, opened the front door.

The moment he stepped out, he heard the shouts.

The high walls should have obscured the view from outside.

Puzzled, he looked up and spotted a ladder truck that hadn’t been there two days ago.

Protesters had climbed to nearly the height of the eighth floor, peering into the property.

When they saw Seohwa, they pointed at him, shouting accusations.

‘That looks dangerous,’ Seohwa thought.

Three people had crammed themselves into the lift, which lacked railings or safety features.

They held megaphones, yelling for Seohwa to leave, to die, and that he couldn’t be trusted.

To Seohwa, it all looked precarious.

“That’s dangerous. Get down!”

“Move the ladder truck back!” government officials shouted. But the frenzied protesters didn’t seem to hear.

And sure enough, one of the men on the lift wobbled before misstepping into thin air beside the platform.

Though Seohwa knew other Hunters would save him, his body moved instinctively.

Kicking off the ground, he vaulted over the tall wall and caught the falling man, using minimal contact to safely lower him to the ground.

“Ahhh! Get away from me! Get off!”

The man thrashed in terror, more frightened of Seohwa than the fall itself.

Seohwa quickly released him and stepped back.

Others rushed to the man, asking if he was okay.

He clawed at the places Seohwa had touched, as if trying to scrape off contamination, and complained of mental anguish.

Guards, wielding batons, shoved Seohwa roughly.

“This bastard dares to touch a citizen?”

“Why did you come out? What are you trying to do?”

Protesters and guards alike turned on Seohwa.

Smack!

An egg flew at Seohwa, but he dodged.

Next came a stone, forcing him to duck behind the guards.

“What are you doing?!”

“—That’s what I’d like to ask. I just saved someone about to fall. Why are you throwing rocks? Isn’t that a bit much?”

“If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have fallen in the first place!” the man shouted.

Seohwa considered it and realized the man was right.

If he hadn’t come out to bask in the sunlight, none of this would’ve happened.

“Alright, I get it. Sorry. I’ll go back inside, so feel free to climb back up and continue your protest.”

As he turned to leave, someone grabbed his collar.

Seohwa resisted briefly but let himself be dragged to avoid injuring the civilian.

A cold, hard object pressed against his side through his thin clothing.

Seohwa immediately recognized what it was and moved to break free, even if it meant hurting the civilian.

But it was his left side—the arm he hadn’t been able to use properly for some time.

The cold sensation turned searing as pain flared in his side.

Bright red blood seeped through his clothes, and people screamed, recoiling at the sight.

The citizen who had stabbed Seohwa with a small dagger seemed shocked, as if he hadn’t believed he would actually succeed, and dropped the blade.

---

After the civilian’s attack, Seohwa had to perform his own first aid because no one wanted to touch him.

He disinfected and bandaged the wound himself, while Kang Yigeon, who had returned early from a personal errand, leaned against the wall, watching with his arms crossed.

Neither the director nor the chief came to check on him.

Seohwa understood why—they didn’t want to risk seeing him injured and being tempted to try something worse.

Once Seohwa had finished his makeshift treatment, Kang Yigeon spoke.

“Leave you alone for a moment, and you cause an incident.”

“Well, who told you to leave me alone? Where’d you go? Did you meet someone else and ditch me?”

“I went to my psychiatrist to refill my prescription. Seeing this, I should’ve asked for something stronger.”

“…You really leave me speechless. Sorry. I didn’t mean to cause trouble.”

Though Seohwa apologized, a sense of defiance crept in.

Why was he apologizing when he was the victim?

“By the way, I’m the victim here, and they’re the perpetrators. Did you reprimand them?”

“They’re unawakened civilians. You could’ve easily stopped this but didn’t. That makes it your fault. Why did you deliberately get hurt?”

“Next thing you know, if someone catches a cold on the other side of the planet, it’ll somehow be my fault too.”

“You’ll never earn sympathy by hurting yourself.”

Seohwa sighed softly.

“That wasn’t my intention. My left arm’s just been a little stiff lately.”

“So now you can’t move it at all?”

Seohwa paused while putting his arm through his shirt sleeve, turning to look at Kang Yigeon.

That phrasing—“you can’t move it at all”—implied he had already known about Seohwa’s condition.

After hesitating, Seohwa asked, “You knew my left arm was acting up?”

“I’ve known from the start. Every time you moved it, your face twitched strangely. So, is it completely unusable now?”

“I can move it, but it’s a bit stiff.”

“……”

“What’s with that expression right now?”

Seohwa quickly buttoned up his shirt and glared at Kang Yigeon.

“Why do you look disappointed? Are you upset that my left arm isn’t completely unusable?”

When Kang Yigeon didn’t respond, Seohwa gaped in disbelief.

“No, seriously. Even if you dislike me, this isn’t okay. I’m still a Hunter who fights on the front lines, you know. Not only do I have valuable information, but I’m also an S-rank Hunter. If I get injured, it’s a loss for my comrades fighting alongside me!”

“……”

“If even you, Kang Yigeon, the only rational person in this world, let anger cloud your judgment, what am I supposed to do? Get a grip. Go to a calligraphy class or read a book or something. You can’t fall apart on me too.”

As Seohwa pleaded, genuinely worried, Kang Yigeon responded flatly.

“If you can’t use one of your arms properly, it’ll be easier to subdue you.”

“……Huh?”

“……”

“Ah… I see.”

Surprised and flustered, Seohwa’s shoulders, which had been raised in indignation, deflated like a punctured balloon.

“You’re right. It makes sense. You’re already considering the possibility of fighting me at the end, so it’s only natural to prepare now… I shouldn’t have questioned someone who’s clearly keeping their wits about them.”

Seohwa felt slightly hurt—and at the same time, oddly relieved.

It was a strange irony to feel reassured because he was hurt.

“But you’re right about one thing. I’m definitely losing my composure.”

“Why? Hoping my arm suffers permanent damage is the right call from a logical standpoint.”

“You’re a mage, so you don’t engage in close combat anyway. Losing the use of one arm won’t significantly impact your combat ability. Knowing that and still wishing harm on you just because of my hatred… that’s not rational.”

Kang Yigeon’s expression turned grave, even more serious than Seohwa’s had been earlier.

It was this kind of honesty that made Seohwa trust him.

“This is a secret, but I’ll let you in on it. My long-range skills are pretty impressive, but I’m good at close combat too.”

“You can fight in close combat?”

“Yep. Even if I fought you with swords right now, I might not win, but I’m confident I wouldn’t lose either.”

Kang Yigeon’s eyes turned cold, and Seohwa immediately regretted his words.

He realized too late how poorly he’d phrased that.

Telling someone who’d love to kill him, “I wouldn’t lose in a fight with you,” was practically a provocation to draw their sword right then and there.

Despite having lived with so much hatred directed at him, Seohwa still managed to blurt out thoughtless remarks like this.

How pathetic.

But in a way, it was Kang Yigeon’s fault too.

In every previous timeline, Kang Yigeon had started off cold, but in the end… he always—

He always faced the end worrying about my injuries more than his own.

‘Get it together. The Kang Yigeon in this timeline is different.’

Seohwa carefully observed him.

Fortunately, Kang Yigeon seemed to suppress his murderous intent by closing his eyes briefly before opening them again.

“You’ve never once used a melee weapon before. Your hands don’t even have calluses.”

“I’m good at close combat, but I don’t do it often. Only rarely, when I’m in the mood.”

“Rarely, occasionally, only when you’re in the mood, and yet you think you could avoid losing to me?”

Kang Yigeon’s low voice made Seohwa hastily backtrack.

“I didn’t say I’d win! I just said I wouldn’t lose! Keep your composure, stay rational!”

Seohwa, who had been dramatically shouting about rationality, suddenly clutched his side and curled up.

“Ah, damn. Getting worked up hurts like hell.”

The dagger hadn’t hit any internal organs, but it had gone in deep, and the bleeding was heavy.

If he weren’t an S-rank Awakened, he wouldn’t be sitting here cracking jokes.

A regular person would’ve already passed out, pale as a ghost.

“When’s the healer getting here? I did some first aid, but if I don’t get healed soon, I’m going to die… and if I die, this world is doomed too….”

“They’ll be here tomorrow morning, before the group training.”

“Why not today?”

“Because I had to find a healer who could tolerate seeing you in this state without losing their composure.”

Seohwa couldn’t argue with that.

He figured if the pain got too bad, he’d just ask for some morphine and endure until then.

* * *