Chapter 12: Thank you.

Chapter 11 – Gratitude.

As the quest instructed, I went for a walk with Ha-yeon.

I had noticed that the city view from the hospital room wasn’t much different from my original world, but seeing it in person, the atmosphere made it easy to mistake this world with Gates and Hunters for a dream.

“It’s nice weather for a walk, isn’t it?”

“…It’s been a long time since I’ve seen direct sunlight.”

In my original world, I practically lived at the company, working so much that my opportunities to see sunlight greatly diminished.

I worked overtime almost every day, thinking I was earning money to spend on in-game purchases.

“Come on, let’s go.”

“…?”

But suddenly, as Ha-yeon took my hand and started to walk, I was flustered and looked at her.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s my first time walking hand-in-hand with someone, so I was a little surprised.”

I felt it when I first opened my eyes in the hospital room, but holding hands with another person, while not unpleasant, was still very awkward.

Yet, for some reason, she merely looked at me with a gaze as if she were looking at a pitiful cat.

“Look over there, Eun-wol! That bird is a pigeon.”

“I see.”

“That’s the resident cat of this hospital. Isn’t it cute?”

“It is.”

Perhaps because of that, I felt she was intentionally trying to be extra nice to me, which made me feel a little burdened.

Of course, before that, I was relieved that it was just like the world I knew, with ordinary pigeons and cats.

The only difference, however, was me.

First off, I had chains on both my wrists, and honestly, it sounds strange coming from me, but I worried if I looked like a s*ave, I might be suspected of child abuse.

By the way, these chains are the weapon of my profession, Chain, and they are mandatory, untradeable, and indestructible items.

For some reason, instead of feeling uncomfortable, they felt as familiar as if I had been wearing them from the beginning, but that fact didn’t matter right now.

Fortunately, it was early, so there weren’t many people on the walking path, and even if there were, they only looked at me strangely and did nothing more.

I wasn’t sure if it was because this was a world with Hunters or because it was near a hospital, but no major problems occurred.

‘They wouldn’t be seeing me as a mental patient hospitalized here, would they?’

As I was having such worries, a harmonious family walking nearby caught my eye.

“…”

Whenever I saw such harmonious families, they always walked along with naturally happy expressions.

Even if they argued, even small conflicts looked enviable to me.

Because the people I experienced as parents never gave me even the smallest things that one might consider basic.

“Would you like to try some ice cream? It’s a cold and sweet snack, and I’m sure it’s delicious!”

As I was lost in thought, Ha-yeon spoke, apparently thinking I was interested in the ice cream a child was holding.

She was kind, explaining it as if to someone seeing ice cream for the first time, but since I wasn’t unfamiliar with it, I was flustered, and she immediately left for the store.

“…”

Although she treated me too much like a child, I could feel that she was a kind person.

As I watched Ha-yeon’s retreating figure for a moment, a cool breeze caressed my hair and passed by.

It had been a long time since I’d seen such a bright sky, so I thought a little cautiously.

“If it’s here… could I be happy?”

Being treated like a pitiful child was indeed awkward and embarrassing, but at the same time, it made me happy.

Because it was almost the first time someone else had cared for me.

‘Come to think of it, even excluding those trashy parents, I haven’t really lived like a proper human.’

****

As I quietly waited for Ha-yeon, I felt something strange.

It was a sixth sense, or a feeling hard to describe in words, telling me that there was danger.

“What is it?”

HONNNK!

“…!”

And as if proving my sixth sense, the honk of a huge cargo truck echoed nearby.

Naturally, I turned my gaze towards the sound and saw the child from the family I had just observed, fallen on the crosswalk, with a truck skidding to a halt right in front of them.

Anyone could see a major accident was about to happen.

Normally, I would only be able to watch helplessly, but the current me was different.

My body moved before I could even think.

It was one of my skills, which had become almost instinctive from playing countless games as a tank, causing me to react and move.

As I imbued the chains on my wrists with magic and threw them, the chains extended in the blink of an eye, flying out and connecting with the fallen child.

It was sudden, but my profession, Chain, is a considerably difficult tank class, fundamentally centered on connecting chains with teammates to create synergy through various skills.

The Chain of Sacrifice, which I used on the Crow Guild, is a skill that allows me to directly take a teammate’s damage as piercing damage.

However, if this skill is not used correctly, no matter how high one’s defense, they will instantly melt from the piercing damage, making it impossible to function as a tank.

Therefore, the way to protect teammates from dangerous attacks that would result in piercing damage is…

“Positional Shift.”

It’s to swap places with the target connected by the chain.

That way, I can protect my teammates while enduring dangerous attacks with my own defense.

However, if the timing is off, it’s a dangerous skill that can instantly kill a teammate or prevent them from dealing damage.

There are even users who intentionally troll with this skill.

In any case, this skill requires considerable mastery, but now that it was real, the feeling of space shifting instantly was a bit strange.

As I was thinking such thoughts, the cargo truck appeared before my eyes.

‘I wonder what my defense is like in reality?’

With that last thought, I collided head-on with the truck and was sent flying.

“Kyaaaah!!”

A small child was hit by the truck, instantly sent flying, rolling several times, and landing on the windshield of a car on the opposite side.

It was such a brutal sight that one could mistake the flying object not for a person, but for a skipping stone.

Choi Ha-yeon, who had rushed to save the child, momentarily failed to comprehend as Eun-wol was sent flying instead of the child right before her eyes, and she stared blankly at the truck that had stopped past her, only belatedly coming to her senses at another woman’s scream and rising to her feet.

“Eun-wol!!!”

As Ha-yeon desperately called out Eun-wol’s name and ran, the child, who wouldn’t have looked strange even if she had been in a gruesome state, was perfectly fine, dusting off dirt and glass from her clothes and standing up.

However, her clothes were torn in several places, and deep marks, as if dragged by chains, remained on the surrounding concrete ground.

“E-Eun-wol! Are you okay?! Aren’t you hurt anywhere??”

Ha-yeon hugged Eun-wol, checking her condition, and found not a single scratch or drop of blood.

“I’m fine.”

Unlike the perfectly fine Eun-wol, the surrounding people watched in confusion and blank astonishment, so only then did Ha-yeon realize Eun-wol was safe and embraced her.

“!!!”

“Seriously! I was so scared something had happened to you!”

“…?”

But instead, Eun-wol’s body stiffened at Ha-yeon’s reaction, and her face, which hadn’t changed even after being hit by a truck, showed an expression of surprise.

“Never… never do something like that again. Please.”

“W-why? I wasn’t hurt, and isn’t it natural to save others?”

At that answer, Ha-yeon truly realized that this child was broken.

Her words weren’t wrong.

But one problem was that she didn’t include herself in “saving.”

‘Can I protect this child… no, help her live a normal life?’

Ha-yeon blamed herself, doubting and criticizing herself for failing to save Eun-wol twice.

Just then, the people who appeared to be the parents, along with the child Eun-wol had saved, rushed over, hugging the child and weeping.

And after confirming their child’s safety, the parents noticed the chains connected to their child had saved them and cautiously approached.

“E-excuse me, did you save our child?”

The truck driver also ran over, pale with shock, and looked at Eun-wol, but was instead surprised by her surprisingly unharmed appearance.

“A-are you okay?! The emergency services… no, the hospital is nearby, so a doctor right away…!”

“I’m fine. This much is no problem.”

Eun-wol, perhaps awkward at being hugged by others, carefully pulled away from Ha-yeon as she replied.

“You must be a Hunter. That’s truly a relief.”

“Thank you… thank you so much. How can we ever repay you…?”

“…Thank you?”

Eun-wol reacted awkwardly, as if receiving thanks for the first time, and seemed to think it was strange for her to be thanked, when the saved child approached, took Eun-wol’s hand, and spoke.

“Thank you, unnie.”

“…”

Eun-wol stared blankly at them for a moment, then gave a small nod.