Chapter 597

The path I had walked until now had been strewn with countless deaths and screams.

But I could say with certainty that I had never felt grief as quiet and suffocating as this.

Tap. Tap-tap.

Beyond the silence, wind and rain battered the window.

We had said everything we needed to say long ago, yet silence still filled the room where only the two of us remained.

Team Leader Choi had been staring out the window with his head turned away. At last, he spoke.

“I think I was seven when Butler Kim came to me.”

His memories of those early years had grown hazy. More than twenty years had passed since then.

The child who had suddenly lost his parents had grown into a young man, and frost had settled in the butler’s hair.

“I can barely remember my parents’ voices anymore, but every memory I have with him is vivid.”

When his parents died and even his only maternal grandfather disappeared, Butler Kim had always been there beside him.

“One day, I realized how much he had devoted to me. More than I could ever measure. But…”

His voice trailed off, and he turned toward me.

Perhaps it was because he had spent so long looking out at the rain, but his eyes were drenched when they met mine.

“Now I can’t give anything back. Not ever.”

Tap. Tap-tap.

I had never seen him like this.

A tear rolled down his cheek as he spoke in a heavy, subdued voice. It fell onto the snow-white blanket.

No. That was the wind and rain striking the window. For now, I chose to believe it was.

“Mr. Jin.”

I nodded instead of answering.

Team Leader Choi had spent more time with Butler Kim than anyone. The grief I’d felt earlier was nothing beside what he must be feeling now.

He’d lost family.

To Team Leader Choi, Kim Hwajong hadn’t been a butler. He had been family—the one person who stayed beside a child left alone, the only person that child could lean on.

He could blame me for failing to save him. He could grab me by the collar and curse me out.

Right now, that would be fine. Better to let it all spill out than keep forcing it down. I didn’t want Team Leader Choi drowning in everything he was holding back.

Then his next words caught me off guard.

“Thank you.”

“…!”

“For watching over his final moments. For doing what I couldn’t… I sincerely thank you.”

I couldn’t speak. I wanted to answer, but something rising inside me had locked my throat shut.

I stared at Team Leader Choi in silence for a long time before finally forcing out my voice.

“Team Leader Choi.”

Before I could say more, he shook his head slightly.

“I’m all right. Really.”

It was an obvious lie. I knew it was, and I had no choice but to let him tell it.

I pressed my lips together. Team Leader Choi gave me a faint smile.

“I’m embarrassed you had to see me like this. Would you mind giving me some time alone?”

What could I say to him now? I had neither the words nor the right.

Team Leader Choi needed time. Time to accept the death of someone who had been as close as blood. Time to find the courage to face his body.

“Get some rest, then. There are people standing by, so call if you need anything.”

I tried to sound cheerful as I got up and headed for the door. But when I put my hand on the doorknob, I thought of one last thing I wanted to tell him.

“Team Leader Choi.”

“Yes?”

“It’s all right to lose your balance sometimes. You can cry out loud. No one will hear you. Except for him.”

“…!”

“I’ll be going now.”

My back was already turned, so I couldn’t see his expression or know how my words had struck him.

I was glad I couldn’t.

Click.

As I stepped out and pulled the door shut, I heard a faint sob through the narrowing gap.

It was the quietest, saddest sob I had ever heard. The sound of a man who had never wavered, no matter what happened, finally breaking down.

“Taekyung, how’s Team Leader Choi—”

I wasn’t the only one who could hear him.

Im Kkeokjeong had started to ask with a worried look on his face, but he fell silent. So did the other two waiting with him in the hall.

“Ah, I’m tired. I need some coffee.”

Song Song stretched and walked away quickly. The Skeleton King caught my eye, scratched his chin, and said, “This body could use some coffee too. I haven’t been sleeping lately. I feel like I might collapse…”

“Huh? Oh. Yeah, me too.”

Im Kkeokjeong was one thing, but an undead monster claiming he was sleepy and needed coffee? I let out a quiet laugh at the ridiculous excuse and patted the Skeleton King’s shoulder.

“Make me a cup too.”

“You wretched human. Have you no hands? No feet?”

“I have a spear.”

The Skeleton King fell silent for a moment at my answer, then narrowed his eyes.

“…Black?”

“Mix.”¹

“You don’t even know what good coffee tastes like. I’ll make it for you this once. Just this once.”

By the time Im Kkeokjeong had left the hallway after the Skeleton King, who continued grumbling curses under his breath, the sound of dress shoes echoed from the distance.

Step. Step.

Three men in black suits came into view.

Their steady breathing and measured steps told me they were well-trained Peak masters—or rather, A-rank Hunters.

But the fact that they had entered this mansion at all meant they were no ordinary Hunters. They belonged to an organization very different from a Guild.

“Pleased to meet you, Hunter Jin Taekyung.”

Instead of answering, I looked at them. More precisely, at their tie pins.

Each black-and-gold badge bore a rose of Sharon² and tiny engraved letters.

President’s Security Service

It was clear whose orders they were following.

I gave a small nod. “President Baek Hanseong is looking for me?”

“No, sir,” the officer in front replied in a stiff, military tone. “His Excellency left thirty minutes ago. He asked for your understanding. Affairs of state required him to leave without saying goodbye.”

He must have gone while I was in Team Leader Choi’s room. I understood his situation well enough. I had no complaints.

“There’s nothing to apologize for. I’m sure I’ve made him ten times busier than usual.”

“…”

“…Twenty times?”

“Ahem.”

“Cough.”

They couldn’t bring themselves to say it, but the repeated throat-clearing told me he was busy as hell.

I hadn’t checked what was happening outside yet. Still, the events of two days ago must have turned not just Korea but the whole world upside down.

No wonder.

Several monster waves in a single day were unprecedented. Learning that they had been deliberately caused—and that Ares Guild’s Vice Guild Master was behind it all—would hit harder than a nuclear bomb.

Even I, who knew little about the situation, couldn’t easily guess how large and far-reaching the aftermath of this incident would be.

“So did you stay just to give me that message?”

“Not exactly.”

“Then…”

As my voice trailed off, all three bowed politely.

“By order of His Excellency the President, we have been assigned to provide temporary security for Hunter Jin Taekyung and your family. Although we have been described as a surveillance detail on the surface, we ask that you put yourself at ease.”

“A surveillance detail?”

“This will only continue until the current situation has settled down. It has only been two days, after all, and under the current circumstances, Hunter Jin Taekyung remains a suspect who has been booked without detention.”

Booked without detention. Like surveillance detail, it didn’t have a pleasant ring to it.

I’d heard the phrase since I was a kid. Whenever a high-ranking politician or chaebol³ chairman got into trouble, it seemed to turn up on the news.

At least I haven’t been detained.

Being booked without detention meant that the suspect or defendant’s physical freedom was guaranteed, while the case itself had been formally registered with the judicial authorities.

“What are the charges?”

“There are extenuating circumstances for the other matters, but… for now, the main issue is the injuries you inflicted.”

The officer who seemed to be in charge added, looking at me with a mixture of respect and fear, “As you know, more than five hundred people sustained injuries, major or minor, at your hands.”

“Oh.”

“Of course, you needn’t worry too much. Given public opinion at home and abroad, as well as the circumstances of the incident, there’s a strong possibility your actions will be recognized as self-defense.”

I had expected some kind of punishment, but my situation was far better than I’d thought.

Once the truth came out, people in Korea and overseas had begun to accept that my actions were justified. Meanwhile, the late Go Jun had become a fucking bastard in the eyes of the entire world.

That was the gist of it.

I thought I might be going straight to prison.

Right before I went to Ares Guild Headquarters, I’d said I was leaving Peace Guild in case my actions brought trouble down on them. Things had turned out so well that the decision almost seemed pointless.

Of course, I couldn’t really call any of this good. It had begun with Kim Hwajong’s death.

And…

Things probably settled down this fast because someone gave them solid testimony.

I thought back to my conversation with President Baek Hanseong an hour or so earlier, and to the photograph of a middle-aged man who had looked composed before a crowd of cameras and microphones.

Go Se-won.

The President had told me Go Se-won was being held in a special detention center and wanted to see me. He said he had a debt to repay.

A debt to repay. What could he mean?

We’d met only briefly, but Go Se-won didn’t strike me as someone who would ask for a meeting just to exchange pleasantries.

Even if I was wrong, I needed to talk to him at least once. He had given up everything to reveal the truth.

The countless crimes Go Se-won must have committed while rising to become Head of Security could never be washed away, but it was also an undeniable fact that I owed him a debt.

While I stood there thinking, the Skeleton King came swaggering down the hall.

“I brought your coffee. Drink it.”

I looked at the steaming cup of instant coffee mix. Then I made up my mind.

“Don’t want it.”

“…You shitty hu—bastard.”

Leaving him growling behind me, I turned to the officers.

“Let’s go. Show me the way.”

“Pardon?”

“Go Se-won. He’s being held in a special detention center, right?”

The officers looked bewildered for a moment, then nodded.