Chapter 612

“Come out.”

His voice was low and steady, his eyes glinting sharply in the dark.

I watched him without answering. After a brief silence, a click sounded and the living room lit up.

The man took a cautious step forward and spoke again, putting more force into his voice.

“I know you’re hiding. Come out. Do you know who I am?”

Of course I did. I knew his name and face, even his age and hometown. I just hadn’t expected him to pull this the moment I came home.

“All right, last chance. If you don’t come out by the time I count to three, I’m calling a younger buddy of mine. He’s a really strong, successful Hunter. One. Two…”

I was curious about what would happen after he counted to three, but after seeing everything there was to see, continuing to watch felt embarrassing.

I spoke with a sigh.

“Don’t tell me that close younger friend is me?”

“……!”

“Well, would you look at that. Guess I was right.”

Jinho stood frozen like a statue, staring at me with his eyes wide.

“Wh-What? Why are you coming out of there?”

“I knew you were going to call me anyway, so I came early. Happy?”

Jinho fell silent for a moment, then asked with a grave expression, “How much did you see?”

“From ‘Come out.’”

“Ah, fuck…”

“You looked cool. Your presence was so overwhelming I almost came out without being asked.”

“Are you making fun of me?”

“Yeah.”

Jinho stared at me after that shameless answer, then let out a quiet laugh.

“You bastard. You haven’t changed at all.”

Why did those few words make me so glad to see him? So grateful?

I smiled back. “I’m hungry. Make me some ramyeon.¹”

Sitting across from each other with a steaming pot between us felt like going back a year.

Of course, we’d both changed a lot since then.

“First time I’ve seen you in a suit, hyung.² You used to wear nothing but those ragged tracksuits.”

“Hey, they weren’t ragged. That’s a pretty expensive brand.”

“When did you buy them?”

“Hmm. High school?”

How old had Jinho hyung been then? After thinking for a moment, I nodded.

“So they weren’t like rags. They were rags. Get me some water. No, wait. Got any soju?³”

“You might as well walk into a barbecue restaurant and ask if they have meat.”

“……At this rate, you’re going to die young.”

“I would’ve quit ages ago if it weren’t for that asshole Section Chief Kim. That fucking bastard isn’t even that far from me in age, but he picks fights over every little thing and acts like a complete jackass.”

Jinho yanked his tie loose and downed three shots of soju in a row.

Late last year, he’d finally passed the civil service exam he’d spent so long preparing for.

“So you really did become a civil servant. The world’s coming to an end.”

“Listen to this bastard. You thought I wouldn’t?”

“No. Becoming one is beside the point. I thought you’d drop dead in the act while watching porn before you ever got there.”

“……Hmm. That’s actually a fair point.”

The fact that he didn’t deny it meant he still had a shred of conscience.

If the government had a Ministry of Porn, he could have risen all the way to minister. With Sora Aoi⁴ as deputy minister and Asuka Kirara⁵ as spokesperson, he’d have ruled Pornhub.

Unfortunately, no such deranged ministry existed. Instead, Jinho had passed a special recruitment exam and been assigned to the Hunter and Gate Management Department, known as a plum posting.

I suspected our friendship had earned him a few invisible bonus points.

Glug, glug, glug.

Jinho filled his glass to the brim, then asked, “What brings you here?”

“In case you’ve forgotten, this is my place. Though lately I can’t tell if it’s an officetel⁶ or a garbage dump.”

“I’m asking because the owner hasn’t shown his face in over two or three months, you punk.”

“Well, I came to see you. And there’s something I need to pick up.”

“Pick up? If it’s clothes, just buy some. You’ve got money coming out of your ears.”

“Money won’t help. Nobody sells it.”

“What is it?”

Jinho looked puzzled, then gave a short exclamation.

“Oh. That old capsule?”

“Yeah. Good thing you didn’t throw it away.”

“You said you’d kill me if I did.”

“That’s why it’s a good thing. I really would’ve had to kill you. Phew.”

“……You’re joking, right? Please tell me you’re joking.”

The game capsule that had first led me to the Murim had sat here unused ever since the System allowed me to Login and Logout freely without it.

But that didn’t make it a piece of junk I could toss aside. That old capsule had done more than anything else to make me who I was. It was priceless.

“I don’t wipe the dining table, but I wipe that capsule down once a week,” Jinho said. “It still doesn’t work, though. Why take it?”

“Just because. For decoration, I guess.”

“Isn’t that thing haunted? Remember when you lived at Hope Goshiwon?⁷ You slept in it and had some weird nightmare…”

Oh. That had happened, hadn’t it?

Jinho was bringing up my first Logout. I hurried to change the subject.

“Did you see the news? Things got pretty crazy in the Middle East and Afghanistan.”

“Huh? Where did that come from?”

“I’m asking if you saw it.”

“Of course I did. Yesterday the Middle Eastern terrorist groups and the Afghan rebels even issued a joint statement. Said they’d refrain from terrorism and keep their men in line from now on. Basically surrendered because they got scared.”

“Don’t let your guard down. It’ll only last a little while.”

“Still, those five weirdos in masks are incredible, aren’t they?”

The change of subject seemed to have worked. I breathed an inward sigh of relief and nodded.

“They are.”

“Well, anyway.”

Jinho slurped up his noodles, washed them down with soju, and went on.

“You’ve had it rough. A Monster Wave right after the new year, humans worse than monsters, and now trips to the desert and Africa.”

“What do you mean, rough? It was just something I had to do…”

I suddenly faltered and let the end of the sentence trail off.

Wait. What the hell had he just said?

“Sorry, what?”

“What you heard. I took a shot in the dark, and it looks like I was more or less right.”

“……!”

“Come on. How many people in the world could do something like that? Everyone says they wish the terrorists would die and they never want to see those rebel bastards again. But who’d actually put on a mask and do something about it? More to the point, who could?”

Jinho gave a quiet laugh at my wide-eyed stare.

“Some people have probably guessed, too, but they’re keeping quiet. There’s no evidence, and it’s not as if they have any reason to blame you. But one low-ranking civil servant happens to know what kind of person the masked man is—and even shares ramyeon with him—so he can casually sound him out like this.”

I rubbed the back of my head, which somehow felt numb.

I had suspected I would be named as a prime suspect, but I hadn’t expected to get caught this absurdly easily.

“I-I’m really not him.”

“Sure. Let’s say you aren’t. When did you get back?”

“……”

Damn it. There was no saving this.

I sighed, filled my soju glass, and answered. “Three days ago. No, four.”

“Good. Now you’re cooperating.”

“Don’t tell anyone. Never mind that it’s classified—you’d be in danger.”

Team Leader Choi, my family, and I were always surrounded by protection no one could see. Jinho wasn’t.

He understood what I meant immediately and smacked his lips.

“Hmm. I feel like a big shot.”

“You might get a bomb delivered before you become one.”

“Maybe. But even if they all know, they won’t be able to touch me, will they? They won’t know what Jin Taekyung might do if he completely loses it. Hah, isn’t this what you call Untouchable?”

Jinho laughed without a care, then asked, “Anyway, how busy have you been? You can’t even remember when you got back.”

“Hmm.”

How busy?

I scratched at the beard that had grown thick before I knew it.

“I train day and night. Eat with my family, then train some more.”

“Train? Why does someone at your level need to train?”

“You graduated from a prestigious university and still spent nearly ten more years studying. Same thing.”

“You bastard, going straight for the sore spot. Besides, how are we the same? It’s not just a different field—we’re on completely different levels.”

He had a point. His prestigious university admitted hundreds of students every year, and about as many graduated.

But I still needed training.

There was no end to learning, and gongbu—study—wasn’t limited to academics.

To be precise, I’m not learning something new. I’m slowly going back over what I already know.

In that sense, my training was a kind of review. Study for my own sake, and for the sake of this world.

Unfortunately, I still hadn’t managed to bring it all together.

“Ugh, look at that serious expression. It makes me want to slap you in the cheek.”

“……I’m in the middle of being serious, so could you shut that mouth of yours?”

“Put yourself in my shoes. What would you do?”

“Hmm. Fair enough. Have a drink.”

We clinked glasses. Jinho knocked back his soju, poked at the noodles that had gone cold, and asked, “So? Is the training going well?”

“More or less. I started preparing about a month ago, so I’m nearly done, but… it’s not easy.”

I wasn’t exaggerating.

I was like a child trying to assemble a ten-thousand-piece puzzle. As I checked each piece and fit them together, I felt my own shortcomings and regretted what I lacked. Now, unable to find the final piece, I was groping around in the dark.

And I already knew the name of the darkness obscuring my sight.

The heart demon.

The dark cloud over my heart refused to clear. My worries about the Murim and the modern world… and, more than anything, the last sight of Kim Hwajong kept returning to me.

His voice, which seemed as though it could fade away at any moment.

His eyes slowly closing in the red snowfield covered with blood.

Maybe I hadn’t come here for the capsule after all. Maybe I’d come to find some comfort.

Not with the family I loved or the companions at my side, but with a friend living his own life in a completely different world. Maybe I’d just wanted to clink glasses with him like we used to.

Yeah. That was it.

All at once, I felt more at ease.

I hadn’t shaken off the heart demon entirely, but acknowledging everything that had happened—and everything that troubled me—lifted some of the weight from my heart.

I also realized that I wasn’t where I needed to be.

“I’m leaving.”

“The ramyeon’s cold. I was going to make tofu kimchi⁸ to go with the drinks… Wait, now?”

“Yeah. I remembered something I have to do. Drink by yourself.”

“Are you crazy?”

“No. I’m your landlord. Want to start paying rent this month?”

Jinho hyung, who had been glaring at me fiercely, immediately bent deeply at the waist.

“Get home safely, Boss.”

“Will do.”

I laughed quietly and headed for the front door. Behind me, Jinho called out in a rush.

“Hey! What about the capsule?”

“Next time. I’ll take it next time.”

Even as I said it, I knew that next time, I might give him the same answer and leave the capsule where it was. I might come only to clink glasses with him, just as I had today.

“All right. Hang in there, you bastard.”

Someone’s quiet murmur reached my ears as I walked on.