Translator: Vine
Translated At: Nyx Scans
Chapter: 96
A night when the bright yellow moon hid behind the clouds.
Junhwan ascended to the university hospital rooftop upon a sudden summons from the Monkey King.
"You've had a lot of trouble, haven't you?"
Pour, pour.
Red wine, as clear and red as a ruby, filled the paper cup to the brim.
Yoo Hwan, chewing on a dried squid leg, gestured with his chin for Junhwan to take it.
"Ah... Thank you."
Junhwan hesitantly accepted the paper cup.
Though he didn't know much about alcohol, judging by the label on the bottle and the number 1947, he presumed it wasn't cheap.
"I've been thinking for a while that I wanted to have a drink with a fellow 'Hwan', and I happened to have some good stuff, so I brought it. Does it suit your palate?"
"Yes, the aroma is good."
"Right? It seems 'Hwans' just click, after all."
Uwahaha!
Yoo Hwan laughed heartily, showing his canines.
And so, the two emptied their cups on the rooftop under the moonlight.
By the time about half of the snacks before them had disappeared, Yoo Hwan, after confirming that Junhwan's cheeks were flushed red, subtly shifted his posture.
"I heard the kid's condition has improved a lot."
"Yes. They say he's entered a stable phase. It's all thanks to Doctor Plant's devoted care."
Hiccup... Ah, excuse me.
Junhwan quickly covered his mouth.
Yoo Hwan, chuckling lowly, downed the remaining wine in his paper cup in one go and then slowly spoke.
"Pixie Powder... No, not thanks to the Princess of Dark Flare?"
Pause.
Junhwan, who was bringing the paper cup to his lips, stopped moving.
Frozen like stone, he lifted only his gaze to stare at Yoo Hwan.
His previously hazy pupils were now filled with caution instead of intoxication.
Yoo Hwan let out a smirk.
"Don't make that face. It's not like I dug anything up; I heard it directly from Doctor Plant."
"That matter is..."
"I know. Well, as long as you guys keep your mouths shut, I have no intention of blabbing about it first. Do I look like such a thoughtless guy?"
Shrugging, Yoo Hwan poured wine into the empty paper cup again and continued.
"You're not the only ones with loyalty. Immortal is like that too. Immortal also owes her a debt."
"A debt... you say?"
"The previous Busan Jagalchi Market Unknown Gate."
Gulp.
Yoo Hwan, swallowing his wine, reached for the snacks and added.
"Back then, the Princess of Dark Flare saved our guild members."
"..."
Did such a thing happen?
He had no idea.
Junhwan silently listened to his words.
"You don't seem surprised."
Yoo Hwan muttered.
Junhwan lifted his head to look at him.
The moment their eyes met, the corners of Yoo Hwan's lips curved upwards in a grin.
"You don't seem particularly curious about how an F-Class hunter could do such a thing."
"That's..."
"Right. She's no mere F-Class."
Yoo Hwan, having exchanged blows with her, could say so with confidence.
"The summoning order from the Association, it must have reached Corps too, right? GIA or CIA, whatever, those guys supposedly left quite an ominous prophecy."
The news must have reached Junhwan, the second-in-command of Corps. I can skip the detailed story.
Thump.
Placing the paper cup down, Yoo Hwan spoke directly.
"I need her strength."
"..."
'Her' whom Yoo Hwan was referring to.
Princess of Dark Flare.
Junhwan, after a moment of silence, looked at him as if he truly didn't understand.
"Why are you telling me this?"
Oh, look at this.
Yoo Hwan subtly raised an eyebrow and then laughed silently.
The fact that the Princess of Dark Flare had left Wolf could be easily found out with a little investigation.
Then the only remaining means was to knock on Corps' door.
She had readily paid 400,000 coins to obtain Pixie Powder for Trickster.
That itself was an act proving the bond between the Princess of Dark Flare and Corps.
"You know where she is, don't you?"
"..."
"No, just give me her contact information. I'll talk to her directly."
At Yoo Hwan's words, Junhwan slowly rose from his seat.
The flush that had colored both his cheeks was gone without a trace.
Standing in place, Junhwan looked directly down at Yoo Hwan.
"The alcohol was good, Monkey King. But I cannot give you information about her."
"...Really?"
Is that so.
Yoo Hwan, sitting cross-legged on the bench, lifted his gaze to stare at him.
Though one might feel intimidated by a gaze devoid of any laughter, Junhwan spoke in an unwavering voice.
"She is a family member of Corps, and someone to whom we, along with Master, have pledged our loyalty. Furthermore..."
Junhwan, glancing at the wine placed on the table, slowly added.
"The loyalty of Corps cannot be diluted by any expensive alcohol."
"..."
"I apologize for not being able to pay for the expensive alcohol."
Whoosh—
A wind swept across the hospital rooftop.
Red flowers blooming in the rooftop flowerbed blurred his vision.
Through them, a small, bursting laugh, carried by the wind, drifted away.
"This is why I like you."
Ugh.
Yoo Hwan, rising from his seat, stood before Junhwan.
Though Junhwan wasn't short either, in front of Yoo Hwan, who was nearly 2 meters tall, he looked like a mere teenager.
"The alcohol isn't a waste at all. Stuff like this, I have hundreds of bottles in my warehouse."
Though his tone was nonchalant, Junhwan knew it was by no means a bluff.
Yoo Hwan, passing the stiffly standing Junhwan, strode towards the rooftop exit.
Creak.
The door opened with a rusty sound.
Yoo Hwan glanced back.
"Just relaying a message should be fine, right?"
"..."
"Tell her that I, Monkey King Yoo Hwan, am desperately looking for her."
And that I'll prepare alcohol much more expensive than this, including the cost of the previous pendant.
After class, Eunha didn't head straight home but took a taxi.
Her destination was a certain tranquil hill.
The place where her mother was laid to rest.
Accompanied by the chirping of crickets, Eunha, treading on the well-maintained lawn, recalled her phone conversation with Junhwan just moments ago.
Monkey King was looking for Eunha, the Princess of Dark Flare.
「...Perhaps, it's related to the Association matter I mentioned before.」
Eunha had simply replied that she understood.
After ending the call, Junhwan had sent the phone number of the Immortal HQ via messenger.
Along with the words that he hadn't given Eunha's contact information to Immortal.
[Immortal]
02-XXXX-XXXX / Extension XXX
Eunha stared blankly at the phone number on the screen, then put her phone back in her pocket.
Dry fallen leaves were rolling along the stone path in the middle of the lawn.
As she stepped on them, her mother's grave began to come into view in the distance.
However.
"...?"
Suddenly stopping her steps, Eunha tilted her head.
In front of her mother's grave, someone was there.
'Who is it?'
A stranger.
A mourner?
Though not clearly visible due to being obscured by a tree, the figure, dressed in a black suit with hands neatly clasped, certainly seemed to be so.
Eunha, staring at the man's back, suddenly recalled her first visit to her mother's grave after returning to the modern era.
While Eunha was trapped in the Unknown Gate, a staggering 30 years had passed in real time.
The grave, which she had expected to be neglected for all those long years, was strangely, impeccably clean.
The burnt ashes remaining around the tombstone—that was clearly a sign of a visitor.
Someone else, not her, had come.
Eunha, piecing together the puzzles in her mind one by one, stood at a distance from the mysterious mourner, observing him.
'Blonde hair...'
With the emergence of Awakened beings, modern people's hair and eye colors varied regardless of nationality.
Judging someone as a foreigner solely based on blonde hair was a hasty thing to do.
Just as she was about to slowly take a step to get a closer look at him,
Rrrrr...
A cellphone rang.
It wasn't Eunha's.
The man, who had been standing with his eyes closed and hands neatly clasped, took out a cellphone from his front pocket.
"【Hello.】"
Eunha stopped dead in her tracks.
English.
The language the man was using was definitely English.
"【Yeah, I'll be there soon. Alright.】"
Click.
Ending the call and putting the phone back in his front pocket, he lifted his head.
Eyes slightly reddish, as if he had applied makeup.
In their center, ash-gray pupils with an empty hue.
Light beige hair, lacking pigment.
Eunha stood frozen in place, as if turned to stone.
'...Baek Yijun?'
She couldn't have seen wrong.
The person standing before her mother's grave right now was definitely Yijun.
'Why is Baek Yijun here.'
A faint confusion flickered in Eunha's dark eyes.
Not long ago, after meeting Yijun at the party, Eunha was convinced he had completely changed.
That the Yijun Eunha knew was nowhere to be found.
But...
"I'll visit again."
Yijun, bowing respectfully before the cold tombstone, muttered lowly.
Taking two or three steps back from his spot, he then calmly turned his back.
And slowly disappeared down the hill path opposite to where Eunha was hiding.
"..."
Rustle—
Eunha, who had been hiding in the shade of a tree, slowly revealed herself only after his back was completely out of sight.
A bouquet of flowers came into the corner of her vision.
An incense stick, emitting white smoke with the breeze, was still not completely burnt out.
Eunha's gaze, looking at them, was nothing but complicated.
The one who had been taking care of the grave all this time was Yijun, and no one else?
But wasn't he in America?
Eunha, staring blankly at the bouquet neatly tied with a white ribbon, slowly lifted her head.
Yijun's figure had already disappeared beyond the hill path.
'You seem to be continuing your hunter act in that ridiculous attire, trying to fit into the modern era, but are you really planning to become a concept hunter?'
'You know, I hate the fact that someone like you is a hunter.'
Yijun of that night.
And...
'Still, I want to be like you. I mean, I want you to stay just as you are now.'
'I like you as you are now. Ah, no, I mean, when I say like...'
Swaaaaah—
As the wind swept over the tranquil hill, Eunha's pitch-black hair scattered as if entangled.
"...Who on earth are you."
He couldn't have gone far yet.
Eunha, belatedly, began to walk as if drawn in the direction he had disappeared.
Thump-thump—
Her slow steps gradually quickened.
She had to ask.
Was it really you who took care of Mother's grave?
If so, why did you do it?
Descending the hill path, Eunha quickly scanned her surroundings.
Yijun was nowhere to be seen.
Did he go into an alley?
Eunha, panting shallowly, slowly closed her eyes.
[Passive ▶ 'Cat's Whiskers' Activated.]
...
No good.
There were too many people around to sense his presence.
Quickly giving up, Eunha opened her eyes again.
And she took out the pendant hidden inside her t-shirt.
"Track."
[Cast Spell 'Location Track' Detected]
[You have requested 'Location Track'. Activate Relic 'Black Rose Pendant'?]
"Acti—"
It was the moment she parted her lips.
"...Cha Eunha?"
Pause.
Eunha froze, still clutching the pendant.
Someone had called her.
Not Lee Yura, nor the Princess of Dark Flare... but definitely 'Cha Eunha'.
Eunha sharply turned her head towards the source of the voice.
"...!"
And froze stiffly on the spot.
The person standing there wasn't Yijun, who had disappeared just moments ago.
'Cha Eunha. Everyone here has lost family. I too lost my daughter.'
—Director.
'The people you will save in the future will be far more numerous than those you couldn't save.'
'I hope that brings you comfort.'
Thirty-odd years ago.
The training center director who had taken care of her during her trainee days, Kyun Wonchul, stood there with pure white hair.
