“— What… are you saying!”“— I said I’m going to stop you from chewing your lips. If you don’t like it, stay still.”At that, Ji Hayeon hissed through his teeth and clamped his lips shut again.Sawon hated Ji Hayeon’s constitution. It wasn’t because it took too much effort or was bothersome. It was just that, strangely, every time Ji Hayeon bled, an inexplicable irritation crept up inside him.Why did it annoy him? His thoughts drifted, slipping to Ji Hayeon’s perspective. Why had Ji gotten so angry at him? He imagined he was Ji Hayeon and Ji Hayeon was him, and tried to interpret the current situation that way.Sawon gripped his cheek firmly. He kept wiping away the nosebleed, and suddenly a guess flashed across his mind. Sawon turned it straight into a question.“— Chief, did you get angry at me for giving away Metena because you were worried about me?”“— ……”Huh? Is that really it?There wasn’t a single person in the world who worried about Gu Sawon. In Hinari or on Earth, even if all of humanity were wiped out, the last person standing would probably be Gu Sawon.Ordinary people, hunters, researchers — everyone thought that. So he had never imagined someone would actually worry about him enough to get angry like that.It wasn’t funny, but the flimsy conclusion made him laugh anyway. Sawon tapped his forehead lightly against Ji Hayeon’s.“— Wow… you’re the first person who’s ever worried about me like this.”At that, Ji Hayeon’s gaze snapped toward him. Sawon grinned.“— If you’re that worried, then hurry up and let me go home. And take our rookie with us.”“— ……”A dozen expressions flickered across Ji Hayeon’s face. After a moment he let out a deep sigh and spoke.“— Fine. I’ll do the Metena transfer myself. I’ll adjust the amount based on what I see.”“— Okay.”A conversation that could have gone anywhere finally landed on a dramatic compromise.As soon as the nosebleed stopped, Ji Hayeon used the kit and injected Sawon’s Metena into Jin Jeonghae’s meridian. The amount was only the minimum needed to heal the twisted leg. Seo Hansu, watching with half-lidded eyes, murmured:“— Your hands are smaller than they look…”The moment the transfer ritual ended, Mok Geonho gestured toward the jeep.“— Alright, everyone, let’s escape.”***Fortunately, the ordeal in Hinari ended with the confrontation against the Foreator. By the time the expedition team safely returned to the real-world S5 district, more than 24 hours had passed since their departure.The mission did not end there. Early in the morning, when the team arrived back at the Central Hunter Bureau, a modest table of snacks was laid out in a lounge partition.“Don’t you… go home after work…?”Lee Seorim was stunned to see the hunters naturally gathering there the moment their return report was filed. Mok Geonho replied as if it were obvious.“— Hunters don’t get off work. We’re a 24-hour standby unit.”“— Oh…”“— Even at dawn, if they call, you go. If you’re sitting on the toilet and get summoned, you run. That’s a hunter.”“— Still… you must be tired. Shouldn’t you rest a little…?”Mok Geonho turned back, puzzled, then let out a short ah and nodded.“— Researchers stay in the lab, so you’re a bit different from us. For us, the job only ends when we wrap things up here.”“…It looks more like a drinking party than wrapping up…”To be precise, it was the return celebration held only when all team members survived and came back.Depending on the difficulty of the mission, but especially for high-risk ones, it was rare for every hunter to return alive. Which meant this was a “wrap-up,” but really a kind of celebration party.There was no way Lee Seorim or the researchers could know the meaning behind the hunters’ cheerful drinking. Park Myeongjin, who had been standing quietly nearby, asked:“— You’ve basically worked all day and stayed up all night. Aren’t you exhausted?”Seo Hansu tilted his head at that.“— Exhausted from what? It was only a day.”The words only a day made Park smile awkwardly.“— No, but still… you didn’t sleep at all…”Seo Hansu scratched his head, muttering to himself. Was it that hard? He’d tried to make it as easy on them as possible, or so he said. Park Myeongjin hurriedly waved his hands.“— Ah, that’s not what I meant.”There was a lifelong line of misunderstanding between intellect-type Awakened and stamina-type Awakened.Stamina-type hunters could generally endure a week-long forced march without trouble. A realm the physically weaker intellect-types could never comprehend.Unable to listen any longer, Ji Hayeon cut in.“— You can’t treat intellect-types like stamina-types. Go up and rest first.”He gestured for the two researchers to leave. Lee Seorim hunched her shoulders.“— No, it’s fine, Chief. We can stay…”This time Sawon cut in. He placed both hands on Ji Hayeon’s shoulders and spoke.“— Just go. Chief says he’ll party enough for all of you.”His rough hands swayed gently left and right.Only after sending them off did the modest return party resume. Sawon led Ji Hayeon to a seat two tables away from the cluster of hunters. Mok Geonho immediately shouted:“— Gu Sawon! Why are you over there?”“— You’re going to do that thing. I’ll leave when you finish.”“— Damn it, you bastard.”Mok Geonho shook a beer can and slammed it onto the table hard enough to make a sharp smack. Then he cracked it open.Naturally, foam burst out and spilled loudly over the table. Ji Hayeon stared at the scene, dumbfounded.“— It’s not even champagne… you should’ve at least bought champagne.”Sawon smiled at Ji Hayeon’s reaction and opened a bag of snacks. He explained quietly:“— If we pop champagne, it feels like some special occasion. But we’re not celebrating something special. It’s the opposite — we want this to become normal. A normal day where everyone returns alive.”The hunters were too busy chatting to pay attention to their conversation. Mok Geonho called Sawon’s name and tossed him two more beer cans in quick succession. Sawon caught them easily and opened one.“— But we still want to feel like celebrating, so we use beer instead of champagne. Funny, right?”Ji Hayeon accepted the beer Sawon handed him.“…It’s not exactly funny…”There wasn’t a trace of amusement on Ji Hayeon’s face. Sawon picked up a piece of snack from the open bag and offered it to him.“— Want to hear something even funnier?”“— I said it’s not funny.”“— Na-rae came up with that first.”The hand Ji Hayeon used to grab the snack trembled.“— But I don’t remember it.”A bitter smile spread across Sawon’s face. The raucous chatter served as background noise. They hadn’t slept for 24 hours and had practically traveled long-distance, but somehow the others weren’t tired at all — they were only getting louder.Ji Hayeon fiddled with his beer can, staring at the table. Sawon listened to the noise in silence. Peaceful lounge chatter mixed intermittently with the horrifying screams he remembered from the field.'Save me, Scrapper…'A soundless cry he’d heard once drifted through his mind. Suddenly the scene before him felt out of place.Maybe it was because the beer coated his tongue with a dizzying warmth. Sawon let his inner thoughts slip out.“— Maybe that’s why. Sometimes being around those guys feels awkward.”“— ……”“— I wonder if the Gu Sawon they remember and the me right now are even the same person.”“— What are you talking about…”“— It makes sense. People change depending on their experiences. And past Gu Sawon and current Gu Sawon have a huge gap in the experiences they remember.”Ja, ah.Sawon picked up a round peanut snack and popped it into Ji Hayeon’s mouth. Those red lips moved irritably as he chewed the salty snack.Maybe thirsty, Ji Hayeon suddenly gulped down the beer he’d been holding. Sawon took a sip of his own beer with a hazy smile.“— Maybe the Gu Sawon everyone knew actually died five years ago. Sometimes I feel like the me right now might be fake…”“— Don’t talk nonsense.”Ji Hayeon slammed his beer can down, speaking fiercely. Startled, Sawon looked at him. Maybe the alcohol had hit — Ji Hayeon’s eyes were tinged red.“— Why would you die? Why are you killing a perfectly fine person in your head?”“— No, I just feel that way.”“— No one died. Don’t ever say crap like that again. Don’t even think it. You’re the same.”“…Huh?”Hearing the end of that long scolding, Sawon tilted his head. Ji Hayeon bit his lip hard, breathing sharply.“— You’re the same. Ten years ago, five years ago, now — you’re the same.”“— You said we weren’t even close. So how do you know?”“— I… I just know. Back then and now, you were famous. Everyone knew.”Ji Hayeon murmured, barely audible. After everything you went through to come back… how can you say something like that…Sawon caught the words clearly — he’d been listening sensitively. Ji sounded as if Sawon had insulted the “real Gu Sawon.” The way he insisted that Sawon hadn’t changed at all only confused Sawon further.What on earth is going on in that head of his?But he couldn’t press him. He wanted to ask, Can you tell me more about the me you remember? But right now that was impossible. One more push and that tofu-soft face would probably start leaking tears again.Sawon cupped Ji Hayeon’s cheeks with both hands hard enough to make a smack. Then he squished them like a steamed bun.“— Alright. I get it, so let’s drop it.”“— You brought it up first.”“— My bad. I called you over to have a nice after-party and ended up saying mean things.”“— ……”“— Gu Sawon is such a bastard. Right?”

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