BRH 4

But why… do these bastards also have memories from before the regression!

“But.”

The creatures, who had been exchanging words amongst themselves, turned only their eyes to look at Ha Do-heon. He tilted his head, regarding them suspiciously.

“I can understand myself, but why do all of you remember too? What, did you regress together?”

“If Master remembers, why wouldn’t we?”

“Yes! We are one with Master. That’s why we regressed together!”

The young man and the child answered almost simultaneously. The slime stretched its mouth wide, bouncing and repeating the same behavior.

“So, what are you going to do now? We don’t know when the humans will reach the 5th Gate. Are you just going to twiddle your thumbs until then?”

“That’s not it.”

The appearance of the freak squads in Korea was precisely after the 3rd Great Disaster. Roughly two years from the current point in time. The thought that had tormented Ha Do-heon every day for the past four months was, ‘Why did I regress?’

Was it because he failed to prevent the 4th Great Disaster? Or, did something happen in Korea while Ha Do-heon was gone?

It was an undeniable fact that Ha Do-heon had killed the final boss of the Yakum Dungeon. He remembered that one thing clearly. The sensation of tearing through the bastard’s heart and shoving the blade in was still vivid.

However, the process leading up to that point, and the memories after, were faint, as if they had been worn away. He could see the overall scene, but when he tried to fathom the details, it was hazy like fog and fragmented like shards.

Nevertheless, he knew one thing.

The 3rd Great Disaster that blew away half of Seoul.

“…”

At that time, Korea’s hero, Moon Tae-yi, dies. He sacrificed himself to save Ha Do-heon, who had no connection to him, and self-destructed to stop the disaster.

Out of the 328 Hunters deployed in the 3rd Great Disaster, only one survived.

That was Ha Do-heon. And after that day, Ha Do-heon became infected with freak cells.

Whether it was a trick of the gods… because of that day, Ha Do-heon was upgraded from a B-class Hunter to an S-class Freak Hunter.

‘So, I have to save him.’

It’s miserable… for a hero to die in his place.

“I’m thinking of saving someone.”

“Who?”

“There is someone.”

He didn’t particularly remember being close to Moon Tae-yi in his past life either. All he did was nod his head in greeting whenever he saw Moon Tae-yi at the places he happened to be dispatched to.

Or was it…? Short memories surfaced from between the sparse recollections. Come to think of it, he seemed to have encountered Moon Tae-yi often in strange places. When Ha Do-heon was helping someone or sitting alone enjoying contemplation. Sometimes, he even ran into him by chance when he was sitting on a neighborhood bench, playing with the old supermarket’s resident cat.

-Yesterday, you were helping the hardware store owner without pay, and today you’re playing with a cat?

-…I’m not playing, I’m playing with him. It’s harder than it looks, you know.

-Do you like animals? Why don’t you have one?

-I can’t afford it. And this guy is a male cat that the man living in the house at the intersection raises. He got his nuts cut off last month. See, he has a collar. He goes home very well.

-I see, he suits Do-heon Hyung well.

The words he said with a gentle smile tickled him.

At first, yes. When he first saw him at the scene, Moon Tae-yi’s appearance, smoking a cigarette and squinting one eye, seemed contrary to the well-known image of a hero, so he felt a sense of incongruity. Ha Do-heon just said, “Yes, yes….” in response to his words, then cracked open a milk and quickly vacated the spot.

Thinking about it now, that was the case. They hadn’t exactly introduced themselves, but Moon Tae-yi knew Ha Do-heon’s name even then.

Memories, memories….

“…But why are you confessing?”

Ha Do-heon groaned again, burying his face in his hands. Let’s date… let’s date.

Even in this life, they hadn’t introduced themselves, but he knew Ha Do-heon’s name. Of course, the information of the Hunters deployed to the dispatched dungeons is registered with the Hunter Management Office, so he might have carefully read the documents of the deployed Hunters.

Still, out of those numerous Hunters, he remembers Ha Do-heon’s name?

Something was wrong. Something was seriously wrong. He could understand it before the regression, but not now. It was something that shouldn’t have happened.

Ha Do-heon was just dreaming of quietly staying in the boss position and cleanly offering his neck when the nicely raised Moon Tae-yi came as a challenger. But a confession from the start… a confession, a confession….

“…Ha, even though life is like a ball that can bounce anywhere, this is too much.”

“Master, aren’t you wandering around outside too much? Are you holding a protest because you became a boss? Wow, then our servants would be happy. When humans enter the dungeon to catch Master, we can just slice them up.”

“…”

“No, the humans would be ecstatic. They’d hunt you down with their eyes blazing. Then Master would be caught and experimented on after fooling around.”

“No, well… not experimented on. And, you know, even if that happens, I can escape.”

It wasn’t an empty boast; Ha Do-heon had enough power to do so, so even if such a situation were to occur, he was confident in his escape. Mut, who had been listening quietly with his chin propped up, seemed displeased with that answer. He just let out a dumbfounded laugh with an absurd expression.

“Hey, did you hear that? He’s going to run away. A boss running away? Huh! And why is his complexion like that? Only his neck is disgustingly clean, it’s like he only cleans that part.”

“…”

…How did he know? As he touched his neck self-consciously, an absurd gaze flew at him.

Ha Do-heon couldn’t bring himself to say, ‘I’m just going to stay here quietly and offer my neck when the next challenger comes,’ and only slipped his eyes to the side.

“Hey, Master. Think carefully. What if that human becomes the next boss?”

“…That’s unlikely. I was special because of the freak cells. Usually, they’re just ordinary Hunters. It’ll be okay if a human kills me.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“With my monstrous intuition.”

“Wow, damn it! I can’t communicate. It’s like talking to a wall!”

Mut slammed his head on the round table. With a thud, a crack spread across the thick marble table.

Mut hated humans, and Ren idolized destruction. From their perspective, the intruders of the Yakum Dungeon wouldn’t look good. The slime, which had sympathized with them, had already transformed into a monster and was wriggling alone.

“…Where did Lime go and what did he see to end up like that? Why are there tentacles coming out of the flamingo’s mouth… ha.”

Ha Do-heon, seeing the disgustingly wriggling tentacles, looked up at the ceiling with hollow eyes. Well, the road ahead is long.

One week given by Moon Tae-yi.

During that time, Ha Do-heon planned to rack his brains diligently. The reason he couldn’t give up his B-class Hunter life was because it was convenient to have a status. Moreover, although Ha Do-heon was the boss of the dungeon, he got hungry when the time came, and his eyelids were heavy when it was night.

Of course, he could endure it, and even if he didn’t eat or sleep, it wouldn’t have any effect on his body.

At times like that, he realized that his body was covered in freak cells and had become a boss, but conversely, if he didn’t particularly pay attention, his mental state was no different from that of an ordinary Hunter. So, Ha Do-heon felt that he was very strange. It felt like he was drifting somewhere on the boundary, neither human nor monster.

“Ah… should I just suggest being friends?”

“Ren will go and tell him for Master! Confessions are rejected! I’m a weak boss!”

“Oh, no.”

Wait a minute. What, do they know?

Ha Do-heon chewed on his cheek and quickly turned to look at Ren. The expression on his face, floating in the sky, radiated the nuance that he knew everything. Not only Ren, but Mut too.

“What… you guys knew I got a confession?”

“Are we not allowed to know? It was all over the mass media? The internet? Something about a B Hunter. Ren said that was Master? He used his transparency magic to follow you and saw it.”

“How do you know about the internet?”

Ha Do-heon asked with a pale face. What, do they share memories with me too? On the other hand, Mut just nodded his head as if it was nothing.

“I know because I studied. The kid gets all sorts of things.”

As he said that, he gestured towards one side of the hall. It was so strange that he hadn’t noticed it until now, but one side of the hall was piled high with newspapers, books, and study materials. Ha Do-heon gaped when he saw a familiar tablet PC among them.

Why is that there? I lost it a few days ago and searched the whole house…. I bought that again?

“…Ren, you little rascal, come here. Who told you to take other people’s tablets without permission! I couldn’t find that-!”

“Oh oh! Master, are we playing tag with Ren? I like it!”

One adult began running around the hall to chase a child. Mut sighed, holding his head at the immature sight.

“Ha… shit. I didn’t become a gatekeeper for this.”

The product of 50 years. South Korea succeeded in replacing resources with byproducts from the Yakum Dungeon. Not only oil, industry, thermal energy, and food, but all industries were generally booming, and the dungeon had become an indispensable and valuable resource.

Dungeon byproducts are used in weapons, armor, and even alloy materials used in automobiles. South Korea has entered an era of great revolution. At the center of it is the Yakum Dungeon.

But people didn’t know. When you peel back the layers, it’s actually a den of bastards with a few screws loose.

The core of the dungeon under the full moon. Today, the boss’s castle in the Yakum Dungeon was peaceful as always.