Chapter 137: Unknown Trauma (2)

The two of them sat at a desk slightly removed from the other team members to fill out their paperwork. Whenever someone passed by, Ion’s head would jerk up before snapping back down. Finally, with a look of grim resolve, Ion spoke.

“Hunter Jin Seong-ha. Please put Sanse in your inventory for the time being.”

“…I don’t know. I think it’s better if you keep holding him.”

“No. Put him in. Safely.”

“Does that mean you think it’s not safe here?”

“The world is never truly safe. Just protect him until work is over. I’ll take him back when we clock out.”

At Ion’s deathly serious tone, Jin Seong-ha placed Sanse into his inventory.

“Then, in exchange, Commander…”

Jin Seong-ha handed over Purre, who had been perched on his shoulder.

Purrung?

“Why are you giving me this?”

“Your arms will feel empty without Sanse, so knead Purre instead.”

“…….”

Ion didn’t refuse. Jin Seong-ha watched with a satisfied hum as Ion immediately began squishing and molding Purre like dough. A moment passed, filled only by the scratching sound of pens on paper. Jin Seong-ha broke the silence.

“Commander, about my pets.”

“Nari, Huinnuni, Choco, and Candy?”

“Right. Nari and Huinnuni were abandoned dogs, and Choco and Candy were stray cats with a history of abuse. All four are terrified of strangers; the moment they see someone new, they tuck their tails and leap into my arms. They’re still scared of Hyung-joong sometimes.”

“You must have loved that. That’s exactly your type.”

“Precisely. When small, pitiful creatures act as if I’m the only being in the world they can rely on… it makes my skin tingle and my heart pound. It makes life feel worth living.”

Ugh. Ion furrowed his brows.

“Truly bizarre. Why are you confessing your twisted preferences out of the blue?”

“Hmm. Let’s just say I wanted to give you a warning.”

“What kind of nonsense…?”

Jin Seong-ha gave a short laugh and fell silent.

That night.

[A-Son]: Their builds are actually quite similar. [A-Son]: Why are you asking?

Jin Seong-ha knew what Noische Didaeve—the man the Breeder had possessed—looked like. They had crossed paths once, however briefly.

A masculine face and a large build. Graying hair. Thick forearms with bulging blue veins visible beneath rolled-up sleeves. Unfortunately, the description was a perfect match for Team Leader Ma.

After sending a photo of Team Leader Ma to Dam Sa-on and asking if he resembled the Breeder, the confirmation came back. With this, Jin Seong-ha was certain.

“Commander Ion has trauma.”

Purrung?

Jin Seong-ha toyed with Purre, who reacted to the mention of Ion’s name.

Woof woof!

The dogs began wagging their tails, nudging him to pet them too. Jin Seong-ha divided his attention equally between the dogs and the cats purring on his lap. If he didn’t pet them fairly, they would sulk.

Mew.

Choco tapped Jin Seong-ha’s stopped palm, demanding he continue. Choco also had trauma. Jin Seong-ha hadn’t done anything special to treat it; he just fed him, adored him, and loved him. Now, Choco was the most haughty cat in the world.

‘How should I treat a traumatized animal… no, a traumatized human?’

If humans could be fixed just by being fed and loved, it would be easy, but it likely wouldn’t be that simple.

Then again, it made sense for Ion to have trauma. He had been abused for a long time since childhood. Dam Sa-on probably flinched when he received the text, too, seeing a photo so similar to their teacher.

‘Ah… orphans really are pitiful.’

All orphans were tragic, but Ion was especially so. If he could, he wanted to put all six of them in a birdcage and look after them. Jin Seong-ha pressed his finger against the corners of his mouth, which kept trying to curl upward.

Team Leader Ma—Ma Seo-jin—was originally a mercenary. While mercenaries weren’t as stable as official members of large guilds, they could earn a fortune if they stayed busy. After successfully raiding a few low-level dungeons, he grew confident and applied for an A-rank raid. It was a raid organized by a small guild, and perhaps because it was mostly composed of mercenaries, the teamwork was non-existent.

That was the first day Ma Seo-jin felt the terror of death.

‘I can’t just trust the return stones. If things go wrong, I could die before I even have a chance to use one.’

Ma Seo-jin survived, but he developed dungeon phobia. Whenever he stood before a gate, his feet refused to move. Eventually, he quit raiding. Due to his skill set, there were many jobs for him outside of dungeons, and while he didn’t earn as much as his mercenary days, the pay was still good.

Once, while working at a stone quarry, there was an accident. Two workers were buried under a collapse of steel beams. Ma Seo-jin moved the beams alone and saved them. The rescue team called by the workers arrived ten minutes later, and they were all non-Awakened. Even if they had arrived in one minute, they wouldn’t have been able to save the men.

At that moment, he realized his calling.

‘The dungeons aren’t the only places that need the Awakened.’

He immediately applied to the 119 Rescue Headquarters’ Hunter Team. The headquarters, always suffering from a shortage of personnel, hired him on the spot. He had now been working there for a full year.

“Commander, there’s more and more stuff being added to that pot. Don’t you think the plant hates it?”

“If Sanse hated it, he would have shown it. You’re the one to talk—Purre is currently slapping his tail because he hates those laces.”

“Purre, how long are you going to act like a child? Sanse is so dignified.”

Purre-rut!

“And here you were telling me not to compare them, yet you’re doing it yourself.”

“Sometimes comparison can be a catalyst for growth.”

Ma Seo-jin ground his teeth as he watched the hunters chat idly. He had been hostile toward them from the moment he heard they were coming. He heard Jin Seong-ha was immune to fire; if a man like that were stationed at the rescue headquarters, how many people could he have saved from burning buildings? He knew Jin Seong-ha was busy being summoned to S-rank dungeons, but he couldn’t help the thought.

‘And then there’s that Ion fellow.’

Yesterday, they had transported an elderly person who had slipped on ice. The victim felt uneasy seeing Ion with his face covered.

‘Refusing to show his face even when the victim is anxious. If that’s not “celebrity disease,” I don’t know what is.’

But the thing he hated most was this: Whenever Ma Seo-jin stood up…

“……!”

Ion would flinch and stare at him, his round green eyes trembling.

‘Dammit. Did I hit him?! Why does he do that every time he sees me?’

Exactly. Just because he had nagged him a few times, the kid acted terrified!

‘I mean, even if I did hit him, so what! That brat is an S-rank and I’m a C-rank. It wouldn’t even hurt!’

To be honest, Ma Seo-jin only believed Ion was an adult because Ion said so; to his eyes, he looked like a pretty-faced minor. Because the “brat” only acted scared in front of him, Ma Seo-jin found himself unable to bully him further.

“Haha, are those two fighting again?”

“I really can’t tell if they get along or not.”

The other colleagues hadn’t noticed yet. Ion’s flinching was subtle enough that only Jin Seong-ha, who was always by his side, and Ma-Seojin himself noticed. If his coworkers realized the boy only reacted that way to him, they would look at Ma Seo-jin like he was a legendary piece of trash. Regardless of why an S-rank hunter was scared of him…

‘Idiots. Acting all friendly with people they’ll never see again after today. Those bastards don’t care about saving people.’

Ma Seo-jin still loathed them. Those guys had no sense of duty toward lifesaving. You could tell just by looking at their idle chatter. To them, this schedule was probably just a vacation. Though, they were slightly better than the D-NATE bastards who came last time.

‘Those guys were the worst.’

They acted like they were on a retreat. Even when an emergency call came in, they moved sluggishly and just joked around on-site. They had fought with Ma Seo-jin constantly until they were finally reassigned to another department before the four days were up. They say this law was created to remind hunters that their job is to save lives, not take them…

‘But a law like this means nothing to psychopaths.’

Monsters howling in madness. The terror of death right before one’s eyes. Nowadays, return stones don’t even work, and terrifying giants appear. If someone enters such places of their own volition… hunters are just psychopaths who feel more fulfillment from killing life than saving it. Or perverts who get off on the thrill of risking their lives. There was no need to worry about their psychology.

‘Only a few hours left. Once they’re gone, I’m going to suggest we never have hunters sent to our team again.’

Ma Seo-jin lay down on the sofa, chewing on a dried squid leg. There were still five hours left in his shift.

“What? Hunter Ion, you haven’t seen this drama? My daughter said everyone his age has seen it.”

“I haven’t seen it.”

“Wait. You said you haven’t seen that movie either.”

“Yes.”

“And you haven’t heard this song?”

“No.”

“What was the last song you heard, or the last drama or movie you watched?”

“…….”

When he didn’t answer, the team members made a fuss.

“I heard that after raiding an A-rank dungeon, you get one or-two weeks of vacation. What on earth do you do during that time? Do you go live in a primitive forest by yourself?”

“Something like that. I go into dungeons.”

“You go back into dungeons during your vacation? Don’t you get sick of it?”

“Even if I’m sick of it, I have to go if it’s necessary. You guys don’t skip work just because you’re tired of it, do you?”

“No… that’s different. If we got weeks of vacation, we wouldn’t set foot near this office. The Commander is practically a dungeon addict. Are all hunters like you? Mr. Jin Seong-ha also goes into dungeons almost without rest.”

“I’m not quite to that extent. I go camping with my dogs and cats, play games with friends… however, even on vacation, I get called in if there’s an emergency. Hmm, come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever had a vacation where I just rested completely without entering a dungeon.”

“Dear god… being a hunter really is brutal.”

Sympathy colored the rescuers’ voices. Salarymen were actually pitying people who received massive incentives every time they entered a dungeon.

‘They’re just dungeon addicts, but they’re sure good at sugarcoating it.’

Ma Seo-jin snorted and turned over.

. . .

However, he had to get up shortly after.

BEEEEEEEE—

The highest-grade dispatch signal blared.

“A cruise ship is sinking?!”

“There was a report of a loud explosion-like sound, and then the ship began to sink. No other info yet.”

“Terrorism? Or an Overflow?”

“The Overflow bell didn’t ring. The higher-ups are leaning toward terrorism. Gear up!”

It wasn’t an Overflow. Since the invention of Mosi, there were no undiscovered gates. Since terrorism was surging globally, it was likely the cause… which meant there might be more explosives.

In addition to his team, several other rescue units—composed of both Awakened and non-Awakened—were dispatched urgently. Everyone was in armor, and since it was an emergency, they used flight equipment to take to the skies.

“We’ll go ahead.”

Jin Seong-ha shot past them. Ion, with transparent wings, followed right behind. Ma Seo-jin, who didn’t trust the two of them, flew with all his might.

And…

By the time Ma Seo-jin and his colleagues arrived at the scene, the situation was almost over.