Edenâs scarred face frowned. When I called his name again, his pinkish black irises came into view. His trembling and dazzling eyes opened a little wider when they saw me.
ââŠHan Yi-jin?â
âYes, itâs me.â
Luckily, Eden recognized me and opened his mouth.
âIs this a dream?â
ââŠâ
As expected, heâs still out of his mind. I clicked my tongue and looked at the system window floating in front of me.
[Incubator in use. Time remaining: 19 minutes and 57 seconds.]
âHmm.â
Itâs a bit risky to wait for it to finish. After thinking for a while, I helped Eden up.
âLetâs get out of here, now. We shouldnât be here.â
âWhat?â
Soon the people from the association will barge in and discover this hidden room. I have to take Eden out before then. Otherwise, Eden, who acted as Jang Tae-sanâs hands and feet, will be arrested. I have to prevent that.
âThe people from the association and the police have caught that bastard Jang Tae-san. We need to get out of here as well.â
âW-wait, just what ha⊠Ugh.â
âHey, get a grip.â
I wanted to slap him on the cheek a few times to wake him up, but there was no uninjured place on his scarred face to hit. With the body of an A-class hunter, wounds like these shouldâve healed in an instant, but currently, it seemed that his body had become like that of an ordinary person by the use of a sealing item. If I had known this was going to happen, I would have gotten the unlocking item from Sim Dante along with the incubator.
âAnyway, letâs get out quickly. Whereâs your contract?â
ââŠâ
âEden?â
I looked at Eden who didnât answer. Eden, whose face turned white, muttered something I didnât understand.
âNo, I canât⊠if I leave here⊠canâtâŠâ
âWhat?â
I didnât hear him well and asked back, but Eden closed his mouth with his pale complexion. Ha, Jang Tae-san, you bastard. You gave him PTSD. Damn it, really.
I had no choice but to give up on trying to force Eden to come to his senses and search the room. In the novel, there are several hidden compartments that Jang Tae-san has in this corporal punishment room, it was said that their purpose was to serve as a storage for dirty things he had to hide.
Personal inventories are limited in terms of what they can store, so people have to hide things in the classic way. Like in this suspicious vault, for example.
âWait, donât tell me he put it here.â
I didnât think Jang Tae-san would leave them behind so carelessly, but I found it, so I opened the vault door. It seems the door works by entering a password, but I forced it open. Surprisingly, the door of the vault opened with the strength of Han Yi-jinâs weak body.
âOh.â
I reached into the vault with a bit of admiration. âDid he put money in there?â I thought it was real money because there was the sound of rustling paper, but it wasnât.
âUh?â
It was hard to describe how I felt when I easily found something I thought would be hard to find.
The high-level hunter contracts were really in the vault. Is it okay to store it so poorly? When I roughly skimmed over the contract, I saw Edenâs name on the third page.
âNo, butâŠâ
Why canât I take the contract out of the vault? I gave up trying to remove it and simply held the contract with a whimper, and started to read the contract. Then the system window appeared.
[The item cannot be acquired due to the immovable skill. Rating: ??]
âWhat is that?â
I wondered why Jang Tae-san had stored it so poorly, it turned out to have an immovable skill placed on it. Considering that Han Yi-jinâs window system couldnât recognize it, it was at least A-class or higher.
Ah, Iâm so annoyed. I should have asked the Odin Guild to escort me instead of sneaking in.
While harboring such thoughts, I turned around, leaving the vault door open. Eden, who still looked confused, was panting heavily as he leaned against the wall.
Unlike me who was a whistleblower, if Eden is arrested, he will be punished for his involvement with Jang Tae-san. Even the Odin Guild wouldnât be able to help the criminals much. Because unlike in the novel, Eden didnât betray the Loki Guild because of me.
Initially, the role of a whistleblower was played by Eden. In a way, I stole Edenâs role and did what he was supposed to, so I had no choice but to sneak in here to save Eden and send him to a safe place. I canât let anyone in the Odin Guild find out about this operation.
âEden, we donât have much time. Get up quickly!â
I donât have much time to sneak out of this punishment room even with the item I received from Sim Dante. It doesnât really matter if I get caught right after sending Eden out, but I canât waste my time here. I will deal with Edenâs contract later, but for now I have to take Eden out first.
âUgh.â
âUhâŠâ
The problem is that Han Yi-jinâs body is average in size and is weak. Of course, it was a weak body that had recently leveled up and improved a lot, but still, a weak body is a weak body, damn it.
Moreover, Eden has a physique similar to Han Yi-jin, and his body is currently extremely heavy as if it were made of stone.
âUh, really⊠You should stopâŠ!â
ââŠUgh.â
Edenâs eyes opened wide. His eyes were blank as if he was looking somewhere far away, and not at me. I frowned at his condition which seemed worse than before. Did Jang Tae-san drug him?
ââŠMotherâŠâ
ââŠ!â
Eden called out to someone with his pupils dilated. Edenâs mother, Lee Eun-soo.
Just as Han Yi-jinâs younger brother was held hostage, Edenâs mother was also held hostage by Jang Tae Sang. I know the situation because Edenâs story appears more than Han Yi-jin, who has a small part in the novel.
Jang Tae-san was a gangster before he awakened. Edenâs mother, Lee Eun-soo, worked at a bar run by Jang Tae-san. At that time, she was pregnant with Eden, and she gave birth to the child despite being threatened by the gang. Thatâs how Eden grew up under the gang. He didnât know what would happen to his mother if he rebelled, so even after he awakened, he had to do as he was told, like a dog. It would never have been easy for Eden to help me secretly without telling Jang Tae-san.
However, if this world follows the story in the novel, then Edenâs mother has alreadyâŠ
âMister, Iâm sorry. Iâll be punished, and my mother, pleaseâŠâ
ââŠEden!â
The abuse that Eden had been put through had been going on for a long time since he was young. I couldnât tell from his usual smiling face, but he must have been rotting inside.
Fuck you, you son of a bitch, Jang Tae-san. Itâs not enough just to send you to jail for this.
I closed my eyes for a moment before opening them once more. I grabbed Edenâs shoulders with both hands as he kept muttering nonsense. I took a deep breath and opened my mouth.
âEden, you already knew it.â
âUghâŠâ
âYour motherâŠâ
Originally, it wasnât Han Yi-jin who played this role of informing Eden about his mother. This role was played by a heroine by Kang Yoo Hyunâs side in the novel.
She had a connection with Edenâs mother before she awakened, and she continued to search for Eden. It was to convey his motherâs will to Eden. Jang Tae-san purposely did not inform him of his motherâs death to continue using Eden.
When she finally learned that Eden was his son, she led Eden to betray the Loki Guild and take the good path. Their story is one of the few touching moments in the novel. Itâs obvious that it is deceitful for me to say this. Because it wasnât me who had to play this role in the first place.
âYour mother has passed away.â
âAhâŠâ
âAnd she wanted you to live freely.â
Edenâs motherâs only wish was for her son to live freely. Those were the last words she left, the last words of a woman who had blamed herself for being a burden to her son. Edenâs hazy eyes gradually refocused. I made eye contact with Eden nervously.
ââŠEden?â
âHanâ Yi-JinâŠâ
âYes, itâs me.â
Eden blinked slowly and lowered his head. He let out a shallow sigh and muttered in a low voice.
âRight, I⊠already knew.â
ââŠâ
âBut I pretended not to know⊠If I do what mister tells me⊠I feel like my mother is still alive.â
Eden always looked worried. He empathized with Han Yi-jin, whose younger brother was being held captive like his mother, and expressed his anxiety all the time, even when acting as a watchdog.
ââŠYou can leave now.â
ââŠâ
âCome with me, Eden.â
Right when Eden raised his head, and slightly moved his lipsâ
Bang !
I turned my head in surprise. The door was roughly opened, broke away from its hinges, and flew away.
ââŠ!â
âThere you are, in a place like this.â
A sharp gaze was pointed at me. It was Baek Si Hoo, an S-class hunter from the Loki Guild. I looked at him in surprise.
Wasnât he arrested with Jang Tae-san? Even if his identity was different from what was publicly known, the association would not leave Baek Si Hoo, the strongest hunter in the Loki Guild, alone.
âWhy are you here⊠Kugh!â
âYou did something stupid.â
Baek Si-hoo, who shortened the distance instantly, grabbed my neck with one hand. It was unexpected and I didnât have the strength to stop him, an S-class, so I was seized helplessly. I groaned and glanced at the open system window.
[Incubator in use. Time remaining: 3 minutes and 51 seconds.]
I need to buy a little more time. I managed to open my mouth, and lowered my head towards Baek Si Hoo.
âUgh, the Laufey guildmaster⊠Has he noticed it already?â
âWhat?â
Baek Si Hooâs eyes glowed conspicuously. His face that was prettier than a womanâs showed interest in me.
He was actually the henchman of the Laufey Guildmaster. His identity was originally revealed in the middle of the novel when Eden betrayed the Loki Guild. When Jang Tae-san was captured and the Loki Guild collapsed, Baek Si Hoo escaped the associationâs pursuit and returned to the Laufey Guild.
âWas your stupidity all an act? Iâm astonished. Han Yi-jin.â
âUghâŠ!â
âI should take you to the guildmaster as a trophy.â
âWho⊠wants to!â
I aimed the gun I took out from the inventory at him. But before I could shoot, my body was flipped over. Baek Si Hoo grabbed my neck with one hand, lifted me up, and threw me to the ground.
âKugh, kuhâŠ!â
The gun bounced out of my hand as a result of the impact, rolling away on the floor.
Pow , Baek Si Hooâs foot pressed down against my chest. That alone made me unable to move.
âWell, youâve always been rebellious. Itâs troublesome.â
âArgh, thisâbasâtard.â
âWere you planning to go to the Odin Guild this time and rely on Kang Yoo-hyun?â
Baek Si Hooâs eyes glistened as he looked at me. Baek Si Hoo, who has an inferiority complex towards the main character, is disgusted with Kang Yoo-hyun. In episodes where the two fight, the surroundings will always be destroyed. Baek Si Hoo looked down at me coldly as I struggled under his feet.
âYou wouldnât think that if I cut off one of your legs.â