Cha Rui grabbed my chin and kissed me without warning.
While I stood there blankly, stunned by the sudden situation, Cha Rui pulled away quickly with a ‘smack’ sound.
“Don’t let your guard down, and always be careful.”
He wiped my lips as if cleaning them, then slowly backed away.
What could I possibly say here?
Naturally, I was completely speechless.
I only managed to nod after blinking my lips a few times with a stupid expression.
Thump.
I carefully closed the car door and started to walk, then glanced back.
Cha Rui was staring intently at me from inside the car.
He seemed intent on watching until I stepped inside the store.
I quietly bit my lip, where I could still feel his touch, and inhaled.
I’d had countless kisses more intense than this, so it should be nothing, but strangely, I found it hard to regain my composure.
No, if anything, my heart felt more shaken.
“Kyaa! Hunter Seo Inho!”
“Why are you so late today?”
As I arrived in front of the store, still dazed, a commotion started as people recognized me.
Seeing people leaving their spots one by one, I finally scrambled to pull my scattered wits back together.
There were regulars who came every time, so I forced a smile and greeted them.
Since I always came with my father, they seemed implicitly curious about the reason for my delay.
“Hello, you must be from the Cha Sung Guild, right?”
As I approached the entrance, receiving intense interest from the crowd, the two men guarding the door looked over.
I hadn’t realized it from a distance, but up close, they were both tall and quite powerfully built.
However, just as I was about to offer a handshake and thank them, the man with the rougher face wore a displeased expression.
He then glared at the people waiting in line with a look of weariness.
“Your popularity is incredible. The food must be quite good.”
His tone was unmistakably sarcastic.
At that, the man with the more honest-looking face immediately jabbed his elbow into the rougher man’s side.
The rougher man yelped in pain, suggesting the jab was surprisingly hard, but the honest-looking man didn’t pay any attention.
“That’s what I was thinking. I really want to come back and try it sometime, haha!”
He grabbed my hand, which had been left hanging awkwardly, and shook it repeatedly.
Yet, the way he kept glancing behind me meant he had probably spotted Cha Rui’s car.
Figuring out the car model so quickly—they were A-rank for a reason.
“Thank you for your hard work. I appreciate it.”
Of course, I understood their feelings.
They must have been annoyed to be called out for a personal matter this early in the morning.
Especially since I was the main reason Cha Rui often had to leave his guild leader’s office.
They were already hostile towards me, and being told to escort his father must have fueled their complaints.
“I will speak highly of you to Hunter Cha Rui.”
“Oh, no, well…”
At my words, the rougher man’s expression noticeably softened.
He said there was no need, but his attitude and tone became much gentler.
Perhaps they noticed the change themselves, as an awkward silence followed for a moment.
“……”
“Th-Then, we will be going now.”
“Ah, yes.”
I thanked them again as they left, and only then did I step inside the store.
‘Should I have asked for their names?’
I turned my head belatedly, but the two men had already vanished without a trace.
“Father.”
However, for some reason, the inside of the store was excessively quiet.
It should have been bustling with preparations at this hour, but a strange silence lingered.
It wasn’t that my father was absent.
He was sitting on a chair, with dried anchovies spread widely on the table, as if sorting them as usual.
However, he had his head deeply bowed and showed no sign of movement.
My father always greeted me with a warm smile, so this situation was frankly alarming.
“Father… are you mad at me?”
I cautiously spoke to him from a distance, but there was no response.
A sudden worry crossed my mind: had he been disappointed in his son because of this incident?
I couldn’t bring myself to approach him and just nervously fiddled with my hands.
“I didn’t intend to stay out all night, but…”
Eventually, I trailed off after rambling several excuses.
It was because I felt an indescribable sense of foreboding in the low, sunken atmosphere.
No matter how upset he was, my father wouldn’t ignore me like this.
‘Is he asleep, perhaps?’
I slowly approached and placed a hand on my father’s shoulder.
I only intended to shake him lightly, but my father slumped weakly to the side at the small touch.
Startled, I reflexively grabbed his arm, but he was already unconscious.
“Father!”
My heart sank instantly, and a loud cry escaped me.
I quickly checked his breathing and pulse.
Fortunately, he had only lost consciousness, and there seemed to be no other issues.
His calm breathing and complexion made him look as serene as a person in a deep sleep.
But no matter how much I shook him, my father showed no sign of waking up.
‘Damn it.’
I couldn’t waste any more time here, so I quickly hoisted my father onto my back.
As I rushed out of the store, the people waiting outside all turned to stare at me with shocked eyes.
Nevertheless, my focus was entirely on my father.
Unaware of the countless stares, I kept running through the location of the nearest hospital in my mind.
I had to find a shortcut somehow to get there as quickly as possible.
“What happened?”
“Oh no…”
Pushing past the murmuring crowd, I spurred my legs on.
I continuously used my skills, running at the maximum speed that wouldn’t strain my father.
Perhaps thanks to racking my memory, I arrived at the hospital in less than five minutes.
In a cruel twist of fate, it was the very university hospital where I had been betrayed by my birth father in the previous world.
However, I was too agitated for even that fact to register in my mind.
“Over here!”
I shouted loudly and entered the emergency room, instantly drawing the attention of everyone inside.
The area was crowded, as if a major accident had occurred, but I walked in decisively.
Fortunately, an emergency room nurse spotted me and quickly rose from her seat.
She seemed surprised to recognize me at first, but then she approached hurriedly with a serious expression.
“What happened?”
“H-He suddenly lost consciousness.”
I had used my skills for only about five minutes.
My body shouldn’t have been this tired, but I was strangely out of breath.
I panted and showed her my father, and the nurse quickly checked his consciousness with a penlight.
“Since when?”
“…I don’t know.”
‘Is this something a son should say?’
Guilt washed over me after hearing my own words, and I lowered my head.
Then, checking my father’s condition again, she quickly motioned to the surrounding medical staff.
“Stretcher, quickly! Call the doctor, please!”
No sooner had she spoken than a gurney rolled up with a clattering sound.
I carefully laid my father on it and tried to hold his hand, but the medical staff surrounded the bed, and I was forced to step back.
Seeing my father moved away, encircled by many people, felt utterly unreal.
How did the situation come to this?
I absolutely didn’t want my father to…
Just then, as I was unconsciously holding my breath, the nurse looked up at me and spoke softly.
A hint of pity flashed in her eyes.
“We’ll start emergency treatment on the patient right away. The guardian should wait here for a moment.”
“Can I… can I go with you?”
I reflexively tried to follow the nurse, but her reply was quite firm.
She unhesitatingly raised her hand, blocking my path and preventing me from going further.
“Not right now. We need to check consciousness again and start treatment. It might be dangerous, so entry inside is restricted.”
I had no choice but to stare blankly as she turned and walked away.
I watched the treatment room intently without blinking, and the people around me began to murmur.
Even at this moment, I heard unwelcome voices from various spots.
“Isn’t that Seo Inho?”
“It is. Did someone collapse?”
“I saw earlier, it looked like his father.”
Click.
As a camera shutter sound came from somewhere, another nurse, seeing enough, quickly moved to intervene.
She rushed to stop people who were secretly taking out their phones.
However, the emergency room was so complicated and crowded that controlling everyone was not easy.
Deciding that it was better to take me away, one nurse quickly approached.
“Guardian, I’ll help you with the registration over there first.”
“Ah… yes.”
The nurse quietly guided me, who was standing still, toward the office desk area.
It was a space somewhat shielded by partitions, allowing me to avoid people’s gazes.
“Please wait here for a moment.”
I sat down at the desk as instructed, and the nurse soon returned with a registration form and a pen.
She asked me to fill out the patient’s information, and I started moving my hand, but I honestly couldn’t say what state of mind I was in while filling out the documents.
My mind was completely filled with confusion.
