"Could I have that monster drawing as a souvenir, please?"
A few hours ago. To commemorate his reunion with Woo Jin-Cheol, Jin-Woo had asked for the drawing of Beru that the man had just sketched himself.
'Also because it looks quite a bit like Beru, and I kind of want it...'
Of course, someone in the shadows didn't seem to agree.
[Majesty! Please, do not cast your eye upon such a crude and sloppy doodle!]
In front of Jin-Woo, who was turning a deaf ear to Beru's desperate pleas protesting that he wasn't as ugly as that drawing. Woo Jin-Cheol, as if trying to shake off his lingering feelings, looked down at his drawing for a moment. But then. Rip— The drawing was neatly torn out. Woo Jin-Cheol held out the drawing to Jin-Woo.
"Here." "Thank you."
Jin-Woo happily accepted the drawing. And in that process, Woo Jin-Cheol's hand lightly brushed Jin-Woo's fingertips. It was nothing. But often, huge events that make a great mark on history start from such nothing moments. Woo Jin-Cheol turned on his heel and went straight down the stairs.
'I knew this was a foolish thing to do.'
Deep regret. He had done something even the junior detective couldn't explain, driven by a sliver of hope that he might gain something. Now that it had come to this, a wave of shame and regret washed over him.
'Why are the stairs always so long and numerous at a time like this.'
Muttering to himself as he descended the stairs, Detective Woo Jin-Cheol suddenly froze in place.
'Huh...?'
He had suddenly heard someone's voice.
-Do you trust me, Chairman?
'...?'
A chill ran down his spine. Woo Jin-Cheol stiffly looked up and down. No one was coming down from above. No one was going up from below. The school staircase, with classes still in session, was utterly silent. Woo Jin-Cheol tilted his head and started down the remaining steps when he heard the voice again.
-Yes, I trust you.
This time, it was his own voice.
'W-what is it?'
If he had been a timid person, he might have collapsed on the spot or screamed. But calmly, Woo Jin-Cheol looked around once more and pulled out the notepad and ballpoint pen from his inner pocket with a serious expression.
'Hallucinations have suddenly started. Could it be that the emptiness in my heart and witnessing the ant monster were all signs that something was wrong with my head?'
A question mark drawn in ballpoint pen was added to the end of the short note. Feeling unsettled, Woo Jin-Cheol stuffed the notepad back into his pocket and hurried down the stairs, exiting the school building even faster. But then. Another intense hallucination shook his mind.
-Then, please also believe what I am about to show you now.
"Ugh!"
Gritting his teeth, Woo Jin-Cheol clamped his hands over his ears. Unheard words and voices began rampaging through his mind at will. An extreme confusion, like a tsunami, crashed over him.
"What, what is it?!"
And among those voices, one phrase was especially clear.
-Sung Jin-Woo Hunter. -Hunter. -Then, how can I... no, how can I help you, Hunter? -Hunter! -Sung Jin-Woo Hunter!
The name that wouldn't leave his mind: Sung Jin-Woo Hunter.
'Sung Jin-Woo... isn't that the student I just met?'
He'd often heard that patients suffering from mental illness make up strange stories about the people around them. Was that process now playing out in his head? Staggering down the street, Woo Jin-Cheol kept frowning with a headache. But. Even though his mind was too tangled to fix. Every time he recalled the name 'Sung Jin-Woo Hunter,' he felt as if a void in his heart was being filled. Woo Jin-Cheol slumped onto a park bench and repeated the name floating in his mind.
'Sung Jin-Woo Hunter, Sung Jin-Woo Hunter, Sung Jin-Woo Hunter...'
There's a clue in that name. I definitely know the name 'Sung Jin-Woo.' I have to remember. I have to pull it out. His memories of him, and the reason why those memories disappeared.
"Ugh!"
In the midst of a splitting headache, as Woo Jin-Cheol struggled ceaselessly to recall, a scene finally surfaced before his eyes.
"Chairman, do you trust me?" "Yes, I trust you." "Then, please believe what I am about to show you now." "Yes?"
Fingertips approaching his forehead. The instant those fingertips touched his forehead, for a very brief moment his vision was tinted by darkness, and countless images flashed by. They were memories connecting past, present, and future. Gates, monsters, Hunters, the stories of Rulers and Monarchs.
"How can this be... how could this happen?"
Unable to continue speaking, Woo Jin-Cheol received an answer from Jin-Woo, who had become the Shadow Monarch itself, with a lonely expression.
"Because the memories of a higher being aren't bound by the flow of time."
The memories of a Monarch transcend time.
"Hah, hah..."
Woo Jin-Cheol, pulled from the recollection, panted heavily. For a moment, his consciousness in a time that no longer existed had connected with the higher being, Jin-Woo. And then, through that contact, the memory sealed deep in his soul was once again drawn into the realm of awareness.
"Oh my god..."
The feeling of emptiness that had always remained in a corner of his heart was filled, and hot tears streamed down Woo Jin-Cheol's face. Woo Jin-Cheol remembered the question he had asked Jin-Woo when he learned of his plan.
-Mr. Sung Hunter... do you intend to fight creatures like that? Alone?
The answer to that. His answer was now laid out before his eyes. A nameless young man passing by listening to music on his earphones, lovers strolling past whispering sweet nothings, an old man walking his dog, people warming up near exercise equipment. There were no Gates here, no monsters, no fighting. Having witnessed the peace wrought from his hands, Woo Jin-Cheol shed heavy tears.
"Mr. Sung Hunter... you succeeded."
Thinking of the screams of so many people who had met a miserable end at the hands of monsters, Woo Jin-Cheol cried for a long time.
'No, this isn't the time.'
The rough hand of the veteran detective wiped away the tears. Even if the entire world had forgotten him. This Woo Jin-Cheol here knew that you had fought alone for the world. I have to go tell him. A sense of mission surged in his chest. But at the same time. He felt a doubt: was that really the right thing to do for him?
'He has forgotten his past as a Hunter and is living as an ordinary student.'
If he had wanted to reveal his past, there had been plenty of opportunities. He could have answered his question, or transferred the memories in their entirety through his fingertips like before. But without any particular reaction, he had quietly sent away the man who had found him by chance. Perhaps. Perhaps he didn't want his peaceful daily life disturbed. If so, wouldn't it be better to just go back to their respective lives and pretend not to know? That would truly be the path that served Sung Jin-Woo Hunter. Woo Jin-Cheol pondered. The pondering continued, stretching until students began leaving school. Watching the students cross the park in ones and twos, Woo Jin-Cheol finally came to a difficult conclusion.
'...Alright.'
He would leave the decision to Sung Jin-Woo Hunter himself. He would call for him, and if he insisted on pretending not to know until the end, Woo Jin-Cheol would respect his wishes. But. If he showed even a little reaction... Woo Jin-Cheol hurried back to the high school Jin-Woo attended. And until no more students were coming out of the school, Woo Jin-Cheol did not leave the school gate. He held an unfounded belief that Sung Jin-Woo Hunter would still be at school. For several dozen minutes, he killed time by smoking pointless cigarettes.
"...I'm just worried that because of them, it might interfere with your competition." "I won't let it be a problem."
Woo Jin-Cheol spotted Jin-Woo walking out of the school gate. Overjoyed, he strode towards Jin-Woo and said.
"Sung Jin-Woo Hunter."
Thump. To utter these words had taken immense courage. Woo Jin-Cheol felt his heart pounding wildly as he waited for Jin-Woo's reaction. Sure enough. Jin-Woo, whose body went stiff, turned and asked in surprise.
"How...?"
The look in Jin-Woo's eyes said everything. Only after seeing those eyes did Woo Jin-Cheol finally feel certain, and his eyelids reddened.
"It really was... you, Hunter."
* * *
The two moved to the park near the school where Woo Jin-Cheol had remembered. The small lake at the park's center reflected the waning sunlight, shimmering like gold. Woo Jin-Cheol, who had stopped walking, spoke first.
"I'm worried that because of me, you might have gotten on bad terms with your seniors."
Jin-Woo shook his head with a faint smile.
"They're good seniors. A little too competitive, maybe, but..."
Woo Jin-Cheol had asked for a bit of Jin-Woo's time, which required Jin-Woo to apologize to his seniors. It was a situation that could understandably be unpleasant for someone who already had plans.
"Don't be too late!" "I'll keep Young-Gil hostage until you show up for the welcome party." "S-senior!"
The track team seniors had cheerfully departed for the meeting place first. Jin-Woo smiled at the memory of Young-Gil's face, sniffling as he was dragged along by the seniors.
"Well, it's a matter of my friend's life at stake, so I can't stay too long."
Seeing Jin-Woo looking like he was doing well, Woo Jin-Cheol also smiled.
"Understood. Then I'll just state my business briefly."
The smile suddenly vanished from Woo Jin-Cheol's face as he finished speaking.
"How long... how long did you fight them in the rift between dimensions?"
The official record stated Jin-Woo had been gone for two years. But Woo Jin-Cheol, having learned of the Monarchs' forces through the Shadow Monarch's memories, knew all too well that it was something that couldn't possibly be resolved in two years. Jin-Woo answered cautiously.
"27 years..."
Hearing this answer, Woo Jin-Cheol's breath caught in his throat. To have spent nearly thirty years, fighting ten million enemies in the space between dimensions, where nothing could exist. Woo Jin-Cheol couldn't even imagine how long and difficult that fight must have been. After being unable to speak for a while, Woo Jin-Cheol finally managed to open his lips.
"...Do you not regret it?"
Jin-Woo answered without a moment's hesitation.
"No."
This, he could say with certainty.
"Even if I were given the chance over and over again, I would make the same choice."
Holding his father's hand and going to the baseball stadium on his day off, the soybean paste stew his mother lovingly made, his younger brother growing up bright and happy, forgetting the terror of the monsters. All of them were precious things beyond measure. If the price was a burden he had to carry alone, he would bear it any number of times.
"I don't regret it at all."
Hearing Jin-Woo's calm voice, Woo Jin-Cheol's nose suddenly stung with emotion. Thank you, Sung Jin-Woo Hunter. He swallowed the words that surged to his throat. Because he knew that a simple 'thank you' could not adequately convey his feelings toward Sung Jin-Woo Hunter. Woo Jin-Cheol, who had briefly checked his watch thinking of his hostage's life, looked up.
"You seem to be living quite happily."
Jin-Woo smiled faintly.
"I'm satisfied. Except for the part about having a body that doesn't age anymore, so I constantly have to change my physical form."
Immortality. Sung Jin-Woo Hunter had already become the Shadow Monarch and gained power like a god. But if the path he had chosen was to live like an ordinary human despite having such power...
"Have you thought about what you might do in the future?" "I haven't thought that far yet." "Then... how about joining our side?"
Woo Jin-Cheol showed him the police ID from his wallet.
"The police... you mean?" "These days, violent criminals are crying about the precinct. They say they can't live with the shadow monsters."
Jin-Woo looked at the ID, then grinned and returned the wallet.
"If I became a police officer, the other officers wouldn't have any work left, would they?" "Isn't that exactly what we're striving to achieve?"
He hadn't changed. He was living the life of a detective with the exact same expression he showed as the head of the Hunter's Association Surveillance Division, and as the Chairman of the Hunter's Association.
"I'll think about it."
As Jin-Woo turned to leave, having answered, and starting to worry about his friend's well-being, Woo Jin-Cheol bowed to him.
"I'll be waiting." "Don't wait. I hear it's low pay and high workload over there."
As Jin-Woo waved and walked away, Woo Jin-Cheol smiled at him.
'Low pay and high workload.'
He couldn't deny the accurate assessment, and a wry laugh escaped him. At the same time, the face of the junior detective who had volunteered for such a place came to mind.
'Was that kid off duty today?'
Well, even if he was off duty. Thinking he should call the junior out and buy him a meal, Woo Jin-Cheol politely bowed toward Jin-Woo's receding silhouette, now only a faint outline in the distance. As the only person who knew of his sacrifice, he offered his sincere gratitude to Jin-Woo on behalf of all the people in the world, for the first and last time.
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