Chapter 40: From Here On, This Is the Wargod’s Domain (6)

“Ah. Hello! P-Please sit here.”

Hiding his flustered tone, Kang Ihyun seated Jeong Suho in front of him.

Since Jeong Suho wasn’t on today’s roster of scheduled Hunters, Ihyun’s face showed surprise.

When Suho sat with a blank expression, Ihyun smiled again.

“Ahh, ah! Uh… I’m sorry. You weren’t on the list of people with appointments today.”

Suho widened his eyes, then took out a sturdy, no frills smartphone. Come to think of it, Wargod supposedly had a dedicated communicator. That must be it.

Tap tap, tap. After typing a message, Suho held the screen out to Ihyun.

[The Constellation told me that since I’m here anyway, I should get examined, so I came even if it’s discourteous. I’m sorry. I’ll be sure to make an appointment next time.]

“N-No, it’s fine! I was just surprised for a moment. It’s all right. Please sit.”

[The Constellation, Staff of Purification, shakes its head and says you’re the one who seems uncomfortable right now.]

‘Of course I am…!’

Ihyun swallowed the burn that rose when he saw the golden indirect message.

‘Because obviously he has some kind of connection with Nari, in various ways. I might even be facing a rival in love, and I have to grin at him across the table, which makes my insides crawl…’

[The Constellation, Staff of Purification, says think kind thoughts. Kind thoughts! and calms you down.]

“Ah.”

“…?”

“N-Nothing! So um, where does it hurt?”

The Constellation blocked a train of thought that might have turned gloomy, and Ihyun met Suho’s eyes with a bright smile again.

When Suho hesitated, Ihyun waved his hands quickly.

“Ah, if you’re worried your condition will be exposed, it’s fine! I signed a confidentiality oath, and I’d be punished if I spread anything to anyone.”

Before coming north, Lude and Ihyun had both signed a “confidentiality oath.” Since there could be portions closely tied to national security, they were to keep silent about anything that happened in the North, and they would be punished if they failed to do so.

After Ihyun even showed the written oath, Suho wore a slightly hesitant look, then began tapping on the device again.

[My body is fine. The problem is status ailments, so I was wondering if you could examine me just once…]

“Status ailments? Hm, that’s not really an area I can fix though.”

“…”

“S-Still, I’ll take a look! One moment!”

When Suho looked hurt, Ihyun hurriedly took Suho’s hand.

He let holy power flow through their joined hands.

“Connect to the Tree of Sephirot.”

[Incarnation Exclusive Trait :: Holy Medicine of God]

[The Constellation, Staff of Purification, exercises its authority.]

A nimbus of golden light streamed out behind Ihyun. To identify status ailments rather than perform a simple exam, he needed the Constellation’s power.

[Connecting to the Tree of Sephirot.]

[Guardian of the Tree of Life confirmed. Please wait a moment.]

[Connection for Raphael’s Incarnation, Tiferet, is granted.]

“Center of the scales, set to balance.”

Blaze, golden sacred flame slowly seeped into Jeong Suho. Since this was Raphael’s authority, he needed no permission from other angels.

Raphael’s aura combed every inch of Suho, then returned to Ihyun.

Analyzing each piece of information the sacred flame delivered, Ihyun slowly widened his eyes and looked at Suho.

“…Your status ailments.”

Suho avoided Ihyun’s gaze. Calmly, Ihyun reviewed the data again.

Modern Hunters always have at least one status ailment. But Suho…

‘There are too many.’

A moment ago, Ihyun had dismissed the talk that “they brought up Jeong Suho” as a lie. Without thinking he squeezed Suho’s hand.

Maybe that talk was actually true.

“…Mr. Suho, are you all right? Are you even in a condition to work right now? It would be better to go down south and receive proper treatment…”

At his words, Suho became surprised and looked away again.

Nerves jangling, his leg trembling, he only shook his head. After hesitating, he typed again and held up the phone.

[There’s no way to treat it?]

“This isn’t something I can do anything about. All I can do is temporary, external procedures. I think it’d be best if you go south and get counseling and care…”

Biting at his thumbnail, Suho sprang to his feet.

Startled, Ihyun looked up, and Suho typed another message.

[In that case, it’s fine. Thank you for telling me.]

“Wait, hold on. I can’t let you go like this. Not because I’m from the Priest line, but simply Hunter to Hunter. You’ll go down and get treated, right?!”

After a brief struggle, Suho rubbed his jaw, then typed slowly. He held it out.

[Because of the status ailments, I can’t leave Wargod’s grounds. Thank you for telling me this. I’ll discuss it with my partner.]

Then he bowed and left the office. Ihyun, unable to answer, stared blankly at the door as it closed.

“He can’t leave Wargod because of status ailments…?”

As his thoughts accelerated, the alarm clock rang. It meant his workday had ended.

He shut off the alarm on his desk.

For now, it was time to meet up with Lude.

* * *

“You’re here. Dinner?”

“I already ate. You had a hard day, didn’t you.”

“It was a mess.”

After grabbing a quick dinner in Wargod’s basement cafeteria, remodeled from a school lunchroom, the two went up to Kang Ihyun’s single room.

Stretching both legs out on the sofa, Lude temporarily lifted the “Perception Transfer” skill.

Having barely adapted to dual fields of view, Ihyun pressed his temples when his vision collapsed back to a single field. Eyes closed, Lude spoke from the sofa.

“Is it true?”

“Huh?”

“I saw you examine Jeong Suho. I’m asking if what Lee Jisung said is true.”

“Ah, that. Well.”

Ihyun’s eyes flicked.

Even with Perception Transfer, only sight and sound were shared. Emotions and information gained through skills weren’t.

All he had to say was, ‘It was a complete lie.

Mr. Lee put on a show to send you into the gate alone. He was fine.’

And Ihyun was adept at lying. Even if Lude later grew suspicious, Ihyun had more than enough skill to fool him.

“Ah, that? I examined him, and it was a complete—”

“That bastard.”

Before Ihyun finished, Lude’s voice, tightly held in check, slipped out.

Lude gripped the sofa arm until it creaked, his face knotted.

“That bastard… I’m asking if he didn’t stay away because he hated me, but because something happened there and he couldn’t come, is that really true?”

Ihyun thought this voice sounded like Nari’s when she spoke of her father. It was a hurting voice.

Thinking of someone you still hadn’t fully detached from, someone you hated to death, yet someone you couldn’t purely despise.

For a moment, calculations spun quickly in Ihyun’s head. Lude slowly rose from the sofa.

Their eyes met, and Ihyun, without meaning to, told the truth. It was irresistible.

“It’s true.”

In an instant, Lude’s expression opened wide. Swallowing an oops, Ihyun looked at him as if nothing had happened.

He put aside the realization that he probably would never be able to lie to Lude for life.

“…From what I saw, yes. Mr. Lee was telling the truth. There were too many status ailments. More than half a dozen…”

“Ha ha, ha…”

Lude pressed his palm to his forehead, incredulous. Incredulity, anger, and the question of why this hadn’t been told to him. Disappointment born of that question.

“So, what are you going to do?”

Biting his lip, Ihyun turned back to Lude.

Jealousy pricked up, born of a place he could never see into no matter what he tried.

“I don’t know. Shouldn’t I remove the status ailments somehow.”

“Oh, so you’re going to ignore my advice and head into that gate by yourself?”

As jealousy rose, a faint sneer slipped into his tone. He caught himself, and fortunately Lude seemed too deep in thought to notice.

Regaining his even tone, Ihyun continued gently.

“If you’re going to swing up and down that much because of Jeong Suho, wouldn’t it be better not to do this at all? If your spirit energy eats you, it’ll be a problem.”

“Oh, this isn’t because of him. My moods are swinging because of birth control pills.”

“Right, because of birth contr— sorry, what?!”

“I’m delaying my period. You may not be able to help me in this regard, but try not to be shocked. It’s nothing that special.”

At Lude’s dry tone, Ihyun came back to himself.

Come to think of it, when they had arrived, Lee Jisung had suddenly mentioned a pill bottle. So it was that. Ihyun simply nodded.

“My hormones are rampaging, so I’m very sensitive right now. If I don’t want my spirit energy to swallow me like back then, you need to calm me down a lot. Got it?”

“Yes! I will.”

As Lude nodded, he said it was time, opened a bottle of water on the table, and swallowed a pill from his coat.

Seeing him take a deep breath perhaps to smooth out the mood swings, Ihyun reached out his hand.

“Then give me your hand for a moment.”

“Sure.”

He gently let holy power seep into the hand he was holding.

Lude blinked as his frayed mind eased a touch.

‘This guy… he could be used as a human PMS treatment.’

[Nari. You’re already using me as a period tracker, and now you want to use Kang Ihyun too…? The Lord of Chaos narrows his eyes.]

With the inner fury settling, Lude let out a long breath. His emotions finally began to sort themselves out.

“…I don’t know. Honestly, I want to refuse.”

He wanted to refuse. He hated him to death. Yet hope nudged upward.

The desire to forgive poked its head out. While Lude thought for a long moment, Ihyun spoke.

“T-Then could you tell me too? About your relationship with Jeong Suho.”

“What?”

“It’s bothering me. I have to act together with you after all. If I don’t know why you’re that affected, it’ll be hard for me to help you.”

“Oh…”

Come to think of it, he had never told Ihyun. Lude blinked and folded his arms.

Only then did he realize he had been pushing Ihyun around to suit his own circumstances without any explanation.

“After the big break twenty years ago, lots of orphanages popped up.”

“Right.”

After gates appeared, it took years for society’s systems to recover proper function. In that time, an enormous number of orphans were created.

There were many private orphanages that cared for them with sincerity, but when it came to matters involving children, without thorough oversight and generous support, things tended to rot. In some places, abuse as bad as orphanages from the 1900s was carried out.

“So the people who got their own circumstances settled first started finding their relatives’ kids and taking them out of low quality orphanages.”

“Was Jeong Suho one of them?”

“Yeah. He was, what, my maternal grandma’s friend’s grandson? I’m not exactly sure, but anyway.”

In Nari’s family’s case, that child was Jeong Suho. So they lived together. As kids they played together, and they even went to school together.

“But then, two years after Mom died, he left too, you know. Said he was out making money or something? I really believed that. Turned out it was a lie. I only found out later on the internet that he was ranked 6th among S-rank. Just the same old bullshit.”

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