Chapter 255: Mu of Medsang (4)
Chapter 255 - Mu of Medsang (4)
“Rin, what are you doing here? What about Yoohyun?!”
Why did you leave Yoohyun, who wasn’t even conscious, and come to me, who is fine? Rin climbed onto the back of my hand and lifted his head.
- Because Rin has to protect hyung.
“You can see for yourself that I’m fine. Go to Yoohyun.”
- I won’t. Rin likes hyung a lot too, but Rin likes Yoohyun more.
“...Then isn’t that more reason to go to Yoohyun?”
- Hyung, hyung. For Yoohyun to be happy, you absolutely need to be there! Rin likes it when Yoohyun smiles. That’s why I’m protecting you first.
Rin tapped the back of my hand with a front paw as if wondering why I didn’t understand.
- For Rin, Yoohyun’s happiness is the most important. It’s like that for you too, right?
“Of course it is. But Yoohyun’s safety is also important. He can be happy when he’s alive.”
- Hyung doesn’t understand.
“Hey, what do you mean I don’t understand? You little brat. Hurry and go to Yoohyun. I’m really fine.”
Rin puffed his cheeks sulkily and flicked his tail with irritation. For a lizard, he was quite expressive.
- Yoohyun is also fine. He’s sleeping well.
“Really?”
- Yes. Because he’s resting quietly. He’ll recover quickly and come to find you.
That was a surprise. I was sure he would be anxious.
“Noah-ssi approached him with a bit of a cold heart; is he really okay?”
- That’s why he’s calm, hyung. He was strong, but he’s become even stronger.
“R-Really? I thought he wouldn’t be happy because they took me alone.”
- Of course he doesn’t want to lose hyung! But he can’t trust anyone who curls up and doesn’t dare to fight! If someone stronger comes toward them, they could take hyung at any moment, so how could he trust them and leave you in their hands?
Um, so my idiot brother liked the current Noah more? …It seemed like Noah-ssi’s weakness had bothered him. In any case, it was a relief that he was sleeping well. It seemed Noah-ssi hadn’t harmed them, as he promised.
"...Is Noah-ssi okay?"
He said he was the same, but honestly, the impact this place had on him seemed quite significant. He had changed a lot from the Noah I had known until now…
"But I can’t say I’ve seen everything about Noah-ssi."
Thinking back, I couldn’t really... say I knew Noah well. I didn’t know much about him before he came to Korea. What kind of guild leader he was and what kind of hunter he was. That was largely because I didn’t dare to ask easily, fearing to touch the wounds left by Riette, but still, I didn’t know anything.
A young man who wanted to be loved. That’s all I thought.
"This is tough."
- What is?
"People. After all, we should have a proper conversation.”
Of course, before that, I had to check on Yoohyun, Hyuna-ssi, and Sigma. I would see for myself if they were okay.
When I pressed the b.u.t.ton on the wall, a friendly voice answered. I told the person I wanted to go, and they replied that I needed Mu-nim’s permission.
"Then, please put me in touch with him to get his permission."
[That’s not possible right now.]
The voice saying "Please wait a moment~" sounded familiar. An automatic customer service hold tone played. At times like this, it would usually take hours.
"Can I leave?"
[If you wish, we can accompany you.]
Then, for surveillance. I said that was fine and then asked if there was a security camera installed inside the room. The answer was that there wasn’t one in the room, but there was in the hallway. Very well, I understood.
"I’ll have to investigate the surroundings secretly as always."
First, I examined my room. For being on a battles.h.i.+p where s.p.a.ce had to be used efficiently, the room was quite large. There was an attached bathroom, and the bed was soft.
"Rin, can you keep moving separately like this?"
- There’s a mana hole both above and below. There’s a lot here!
“Then can you go out and look at the security cameras in the hallway? Can they see if I open the door?”
Irin acknowledged and sank through the wall toward the hallway.
After a while, he came back and said he couldn’t see because the door frame was blocking it.
"Thanks. Keep an eye out for anyone coming.”
- Yes!
Elementals were really useful, eh. Using my stealth ability, I opened the door with a master key. When I stepped into the hallway, a new mission appeared.
[Let’s take a walk around Medsang Battles.h.i.+p 1!
Thanks to Medsang’s active research on support capabilities, their security devices naturally combine with support capabilities. Be careful not to get caught by the security abilities everywhere!
Rewards: 10,000P]
To think they were using support abilities; this could be dangerous. Thanks for letting me know, viewer-nim.
- Rin can sense them.
When I mentioned the support security abilities, Rin whispered softly.
- Rin is an elemental, so he’s more sensitive to mana!
"Our Rin is amazing."
Puffing up and saying “of course,” Rin clung to my fingers.
- You’re going to Yoohyun first, right?
"Yes."
- He’s this way!
This was really easy. Following Rin"s guidance, I walked down the corridor. We encountered some people, but they didn"t notice me since they were A-rank or lower.
Faint sounds of artillery fire could be heard, as if monsters had appeared again in Mana Hall. Despite high-ranking monsters appearing one after another, the expressions of the people on the s.h.i.+p were relaxed. They didn’t seem worried about the monsters at all.
"Did Medsang last longer in this world?"
I think Akates would have fallen more quickly. Even if monsters emerged from the Mana Hall in the city center like they are currently in Akates, Medsang probably would have held out well. But if the monster ranks were higher than they are now, eventually, they would break through.
How high did the monster rankings go? The combat power of this world was much greater than that of our world, yet it had been destroyed. The thought of that made my heart sink.
"Though most of those around me are S-rank, so they can escape."
I looked at Irin, guiding me from the back of my hand. Yoohyun… he probably wouldn"t leave me behind and escape alone. I didn"t need to think more about this.
"Partners-ssi, as expected, we should save the world. Please remember this well and come."
While we"re at it, it would be good if you could get a clue about what exactly the immoral people want from me.
As I went down the stairs and followed the curved hallway, I saw a door with an S-rank guard standing next to it. I bet that"s it. With them guarding it like that, it would be impossible to sneak in. It was unfortunate, but should I just ask Rin to check his condition?
"I thought you would do this."
"What-!"
A low voice sounded right behind me. Son of a-!
"Who"s there?!"
At my shout, the S-rank guard ran over. Then they stopped dead in their tracks and hastily bowed.
"M-Mu-nim. Forgive us."
“No, I am at fault for appearing suddenly. Yoojin-ssi, you can deactivate your hiding ability.”
Looking at Noah, I released the ability. The S-rank guard immediately glared at me.
"I was just taking a walk to see if everyone else was doing well."
“However, I would have called you as soon as they woke up. It’s fine. Please come this way."
Noah led the way. At this moment, he seemed the same as before. The S-rank guard quickly opened the door.
“Mu-nim, welcome.”
“Lambda-nim from Lancea just woke up and went to eat.”
“Alpha-nim from Akates is still asleep; it would be better if he rested a bit more. The drugs that detoxification skills can"t neutralize still remain in his body…”
"Is he alright? Yoohyun... I mean Alpha?”
Thinking that some drugs still remained! At my words, a man who seemed to be a healer nodded.
“Yes. We are neutralizing them now. It would be better to modify his inscription, but we need to use anesthetics, so we must eliminate the drugs completely first. We will finish in one or two hours.”
"Thank you."
Those responsible for Akates’ Alpha, those d.a.m.ned b.a.s.t.a.r.ds. We needed to catch all the sc.u.mbags who had fled, but as the situation stood, we couldn’t even search for them.
"And... the other one..."
Medsang’s medical team exchanged glances. They seemed reluctant even to talk about Sigma.
"There doesn’t seem to be any problem with his body, but he’s still asleep."
"When you say "doesn"t seem to be," does that mean you haven"t checked him properly?"
Noah’s words made the medical team shake their heads hastily.
“We completed a basic checkup! It"s just that… everyone felt something strange about him, so just in case, we checked if he was affected by curse abilities or something like that, but we couldn’t find anything. Since we couldn’t perceive it, it might be the effect of a high-rank curse, so it would be safer not to approach him.”
They seemed to consider their feeling of rejection toward Sigma as a curse. When I said it was fine, Noah came in with me.
“Is there a problem with the Seseong guild leader?”
I responded to his question in a low voice.
"He’s not the Seseong guild leader."
"Excuse me?"
"His appearance is identical, but he’s a different person. Sung Hyunjae-ssi is somewhere else right now."
Noah’s eyes widened with apparent surprise. The current him was definitely the same person as before we came here.
"Then it might be… I thought it was the Guild Leader Breaker and Haeyeon… But the Hunter Han Yoohyun.”
"Those two are themselves."
Noah quickly realized and dismissed the people around us. I gave him a brief account of what had happened in this place. When I said we had to raid the dungeon and leave, I studied Noah"s expression, but he was listening seriously without any response. Still, just in case, I kept the disks hidden for now.
“If you help, Noah-ssi, we can attack it much faster.”
“Of course, I’ll help you.”
His answer came without hesitation. Could I believe him? No, forget it, it was I who doubted Noah-ssi without any reason. It was natural for him not to be defenseless against SS-rank guards from other cities. As Medsang’s director, it was definitely the right thing to do.
…It was because I felt guilty and uncomfortable without any reason. And largely because Noah was very young and weak. I looked at Noah, standing beside me, with new eyes.
Even if he was weaker than other S-rank Hunters, an S-rank was still an S-rank. When our eyes met, his gray-violet eyes curved slightly.
“What’s wrong, Yoojin-ssi?”
“Nothing, um… I think I was just seeing you as young.”
“What? I am young.”
That’s true, but—you who wanted to be adored, getting a miniaturization skill and coming to my house… that you and the current you, wasn’t there a big difference between them? Did you still want to come to my house? It didn’t seem like he had any intention of acquiring a miniaturization skill.
But they were just my preconceptions; his role as Mu could be part of Noah-ssi.
“Yoohyun!”
When we entered the infirmary, I saw Yoohyun lying on the bed. There was an intravenous needle stuck in his wrist. As Irin had said, his complexion seemed good. It wasn"t his real body, but he was going through a lot of suffering, my brother. I sank into the free chair beside the bed, and Noah approached.
"It will take time for the drugs to neutralize, so eat something first. You didn"t even rest properly, you know?"
"When my brother wakes up."
There was a brief silence. Noah, standing silently and looking between Yoohyun and me, spoke up.
"I guess no matter what kind of person Hunter Han Yoohyun was, you would have liked him, Yoojin-ssi."
"That"s…"
"It"s natural," I wanted to say, but memories from before my regression froze my tongue. I unconsciously clenched my fists.
"It"s true, right now. But whether it"s my brother or anyone else, if you don"t know the other person well, you could end up disappointed in the end. Right now, I know my brother well, though not completely, so I"ll be pleased no matter what happens."
At my words, Noah seemed surprised.
"Has Hunter Han Yoohyun ever disappointed you?"
"Well, our relations.h.i.+p was bad for a while until I Awakened. You might not know, but after Yoohyun Awakened, things between us worsened for quite some time. Though... to be exact, I had a unilateral misunderstanding."
My brother had remained the same. Truly.
"It"s surprising to hear you say that."
"I"m just an ordinary person too."
Actually, it was just... that my brother was cute. It was precisely for that reason that I lived diligently, but somehow, fine.
"I thought a lot about what it would have been like if we had been family."
"I guess I would have had one more cute little brother."
"I envied Hunter Han Yoohyun. And I was jealous too. I wondered why it had to be him. It feels the same as Noonim. I even thought it was the other way around."
Noah smiled faintly.
"I"m not that charming, am I? But you love Hunter Han Yoohyun more, so he accepted me with confidence."
"Noah-ssi."
"And now everyone in Medsang is looking at me. But it"s not real. I"m fake. In the end, they don"t love me much here either. This is someone else"s position. Other people"s positions, that"s all I keep envying and desiring."
I didn"t know what to say. I didn"t know Noah had these kinds of thoughts. Should I at least rea.s.sure him? In my moment of hesitation.
"If Mu wants this position, try it out, rank C."
At the door we had left open, Sigma appeared. He watched Noah with indifference.
"If you acknowledge that it"s fake, it"s possible for him to stay here as Mu."
...What the h.e.l.l was this?