Chapter 55

Chapter 55

“Is our son hurt anywhere? Are you all right?”

Mother examined me from head to toe, checking every corner of me.

“I am fine, so do not worry. And I am a bit of a mess right now…….”

I subtly stepped away from Mother.

Right now, I was covered in all kinds of filth, including blood, flesh, the Mudflat Lord’s bodily fluids, and mud, so I looked beyond terrible.

“You really are not hurt anywhere, are you? Right?”

“I am perfectly fine.”

Mother asked about my condition several times.

“You went through a lot.”

Perhaps because Father had been through every hardship imaginable, his reaction was calmer than Mother’s.

“Come here for a moment.”

“Yes?”

“When I tell you to come here, come here.”

“Yes.”

Father pulled me into his arms.

“Thank you. For coming back alive.”

“……Father.”

Now that I saw it, Father seemed to have suffered just as much anxiety as Mother.

This was the first time I had seen Father act like this too.

Before I had gone back to the past.

Father had died in battle before he could ever see me work as a Hunter.

“Ugh! Please stop making us worry!”

Eunha must have been very worried about me too, because she huffed angrily with a face full of irritation.

“Keep your voice down, and let us move somewhere else. Eunha, you come here too.”

Father whispered to Mother and Eunha.

“There are many people who lost family members, so let us not make it too obvious.”

Father was right.

While there were people like our family who were enjoying the joy of reunion, there were also many people suffering the pain of loss.

“My daughter, my daaaaughter!”

“Aaaaaagh! You sons of bitches! Give me back my child! Give them back!”

“Sob, sob! Sob, sob!”

The families of those who had not returned from Jebudo were already out of their minds.

It was an uncomfortable situation.

Joy and sorrow.

Happiness and grief.

Relief and rage all coexisted in one place.

In the midst of that, there were also those who had no family.

“Ugh. I am tired. I will go first, so…….”

“I will contact you.”

“Yeah.”

Choi Yura tapped my shoulder and then walked away.

Choi Yura was not the only one without family.

“…….”

Ra Sihyeon stood there blankly, like a misplaced sack of grain.

Her gaze drifted through the air.

Her eyes seemed to wander without reaching anywhere.

“Please wait a moment.”

After asking my family for a moment, I approached Ra Sihyeon.

“What are you doing here?”

“I am just standing here.”

“Are your family members late?”

“I do not have anything like that.”

Ra Sihyeon growled.

“Then what about friends?”

“Do you think I have any?”

Right. With that temper, it would be stranger if she did have friends.

Thinking about it, Ra Sihyeon did not have a single person who could be called a friend.

She had only been surrounded by pretty-boy parasites who served as maids or playthings.

‘Let us ignore it.’

Perhaps because of the situation, I had meddled without realizing it, but seeing such a sharp response come back, leaving her alone seemed like the best choice.

“Is she your teammate?”

Mother suddenly cut in.

“Yes, well. Something like that.”

“I see. What is your name, young lady?”

Ra Sihyeon flinched in surprise at Mother’s question.

“I am Eunseong’s mother.”

“Ra Sihyeon……”

“That is such a pretty name.”

“…….”

“If no one came to meet you, would you like to come with us and have a meal?”

“Yes……?”

Ra Sihyeon looked flustered.

“It is all right to refuse if you do not want to. I am not trying to force you to stay. It is just that you are Eunseong’s peer, so I wanted to treat you to a meal.”

Ra Sihyeon’s pupils shook as if an earthquake had struck them.

“If it is because there are people waiting for you…….”

“There is…… no one…… like that.”

Ra Sihyeon spoke as if she were about to cry.

“It looks like such a pretty young lady has had a very hard time. It is all right, it is all right.”

Mother readily stepped forward and hugged Ra Sihyeon.

Flinch!

Ra Sihyeon was startled by Mother’s embrace.

‘D-Danger!’

Before I realized it, my hand had gone to the axe handle hanging at my waist.

If Ra Sihyeon hurt Mother………….

Fortunately, the situation I had feared did not occur.

“Sob, sob, sob.”

As if something had made her feel terribly wronged, Ra Sihyeon was held in Mother’s arms and wept silently.

‘……What is wrong with her? That does not suit her.’

To me, who remembered Ra Sihyeon’s past, no, her future, this was an extremely unfamiliar and alien sight.

Cold, arrogant, and leaning on no one.

That was the Ra Sihyeon I knew…….

‘Does that mean there was a problem with how she grew up?’

Everyone had their own circumstances.

The thought occurred to me that the reason Ra Sihyeon had grown into such a vicious person might have been because there had been no good adult by her side.

That said, I had not the slightest intention of giving her a pass for the evil deeds she had committed in the past.

How much time had passed?

“……I am sorry.”

As if belatedly coming to her senses, Ra Sihyeon carefully pulled away from Mother’s arms.

“No, you do not need to be sorry. If things are hard, anyone can cry.”

Mother smiled gently as if it were nothing.

“…….”

Ra Sihyeon could not say anything.

She only pressed her lips together and lowered her head.

“Would you like to come with us?”

Mother asked once more.

“…….”

Ra Sihyeon looked back at me.

As if trying to confirm something.

“It is fine.”

I answered briefly.

“Th-Then…….”

Her mouth opened slightly, very slightly.

Her voice was so small it was almost inaudible.

“Let us go.”

Mother took Ra Sihyeon’s hand and led her along.

Needless to say, neither I, Father, nor Eunha dared to object to Mother’s decision.

I felt a little sorry to Father for saying this, but in our house, Mother’s decisions were almost absolute.

***

Before going home.

I exchanged farewells with my teammates.

“I normally do not teach my personal number to just anyone, but I will specially give it to you, brother Eunseong. You are my savior, after all.”

Jeong Hobin entered his number as if he had made a great decision.

“…….”

It was absurd, but considering that he was a popular idol, I decided to let it slide.

In truth, I had been about to say something, but I stopped because Eunha was looking at me from the side with an earnest expression.

“Big-brother, you worked hard. Big-brother, you are my savior.”

“Thanks to you, I lived. I will not forget it.”

“I survived thanks to you, Eunseong. I will never forget this favor.”

Oh Taegwon, Park Seokho, and Kim Seunghye also expressed their gratitude to me.

“I barely made time for this, and now we have to re-enter. Ugh.”

“We will be seeing each other again soon, so I will take good care of you then too.”

“This happened on the first day of training, so we will probably gather again.”

“We will be on the same team then too, right?”

The members of Bravo Team were looking forward to being reassembled at the Special Force Training Center.

Since a Transference Crisis had occurred on the first day of entry, it was only natural that they would enter the new Special Force Training Center and receive training again.

‘You chicks can enjoy your training among yourselves.’

Sorry, but I had no intention of entering again.

Because there was a very high possibility that the Defense Strategy Department would also acknowledge that I did not need training and exempt me from the education.

“You raised your son well, senior. I truly envy you.”

“Envy me? He is a brat I would be embarrassed to show anywhere.”

“Senior, even your modesty is excessive. Among our seniors and juniors, who has a son as outstanding as yours? On top of that, he even took after you and sister-in-law, so he is handsome too.”

“Haha.”

“I will visit you formally soon.”

“Yes, bring your wife and child with you. Come all together. I will treat you properly to a meal.”

“Yes, senior. Ah, and I would like to speak with your son for a moment.”

Instructor Kim Sangeung had been exchanging various words with Father after meeting him for the first time in a while, then approached me.

“I really am grateful. If not for you, Eunseong, I might never have seen my wife and daughter’s faces again.”

“Please do not mention it…….”

“But listen.”

“……?”

“Those dead Spirit Swords…… You said they were useful to you, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then, can you take my Spirit Sword and use it too?”

“What are you talking about?”

I asked in surprise.

Take his Spirit Sword?

It was something that made no sense by common sense.

Because a Spirit Sword was an item that could not be transferred.

“I want to put it down.”

Instructor Kim Sangeung took out his Spirit Sword and handed it to me.

A red dagger.

It was an ominously rippling sword, as if blood were sloshing inside its blade.

“It feels disturbing, so I no longer have the confidence to carry it. Still, it is a fairly useful item, so I want you to have it, Eunseong.”

“…….”

I felt as if I understood what he meant, so my lips did not move easily.

Perhaps Instructor Kim Sangeung was feeling guilt more strongly than relief even at this moment, when he had reunited with his wife and child.

Although he had been controlled by the Tongue Parasite, that did not mean the memory of slaughtering dozens of allies with his own hands would be forgotten.

On top of that, before becoming an instructor at the SFTC, he had a history of specializing in assassination missions, so it was understandable that he found his own Spirit Sword disturbing.

“I do not know if it will be possible.”

“Could you at least try?”

“I can try, but…… I do not think it is a very good choice.”

“Are you worried I will become weaker if it succeeds? Because I will lose my Spirit Sword?”

“It would be like a beast pulling out its own claws.”

“I do not care.”

“But…….”

“The claws might grow back again, might they not?”

It seemed meaningless to argue with someone who had made up his mind, so I decided to at least try.

If it succeeded, Instructor Kim Sangeung might be able to put down some of the burden on his heart.

Just as I took a blank card from the deck—

‘Ah!’

As if a memory I had forgotten suddenly surfaced, the method came to mind.

“Hold my left hand.”

“Mm?”

“Hold my left hand, and place the blade on top of the card with your right hand.”

“A-All right.”

Soon, Instructor Kim Sangeung’s left arm and my right arm wrapped diagonally around each other, and the Spirit Sword in his right hand was carefully laid atop the blank card.

“Stay still.”

I infused Ether into the card.

The surface of the card rippled like water.

Woooong!

Instructor Kim Sangeung’s Spirit Sword began to tremble faintly.

“Th-This is.”

Instructor Kim Sangeung narrowed his eyes.

“Concentrate.”

The Spirit Sword laid on the card seemed to disassemble thread by thread, then seeped into the card.

A faint radiance spread along the edge of the card, and a single dagger was engraved on the previously empty card.

Flinch!

Instructor Kim Sangeung’s shoulder trembled.

It seemed the aftereffects of having his connection with the Spirit Sword severed were considerable.

[Ownership Transfer Complete!]

[ has been obtained!]

Right after I received Instructor Kim Sangeung’s Spirit Sword.

Slide.

A card slipped out from the deck and floated before me.

[Alchemy]

★★

A card capable of performing Card Synthesis, Etherium refinement·processing·combination, and similar functions.

The higher the card’s grade rises, the better the result of the produced item becomes.

It was the Alchemy card I had not used in a while.