The Hunter’s Gonna Lay Low - Chap 251
Cha Eui-jae listened intently to the sounds coming from the other end of the phone. He could faintly hear the sound of someone groaning in pain. Was that Sa-young’s voice? He ground his teeth, running a rough hand through his hair, and glanced sharply at the younger Mackerel, before pointing his thumb towards the door. Mackerel widened his eyes and pointed a finger at himself, then shrugged his shoulders, looking resigned.
“I’ll head over right away. Can you text me a summary of the situation?”
Bae Won-woo barely managed to say anything else, only repeating “Yes, yes,” before ending the call. Cha Eui-jae anxiously tapped his foot. Wasn’t today’s undercover operation supposed to be done? What could have caused such a sudden worsening? The end? He cracked his knuckles, then looked back at the Mackerels.
“Has anything strange happened lately?”
“Strange? Like what?”
“Anything.”
“Nothing, really. Prometheus people gathering civilians is something the director and the guilds already know about, so that’s not anything new… Well, I guess there’s the coughing? But that feels like an overreaction. A virus could just be spreading all of a sudden.”
“…”
“I’d say it’s most likely just a common cold going around.”
“…”
“And I doubt Prometheus would use bioterrorism. If they did, they’d target awakeners, not civilians, right?”
The younger Mackerel was deftly spinning a pen between his fingers. Cha Eui-jae wanted to believe that as well. Coughing was common enough, and it was easy for infections to spread in confined spaces. But his fingertips felt cold, and an uneasy feeling kept rising. Cha Eui-jae rubbed the back of his neck. His touch grew rougher until he was scratching his neck with his nails. The younger Mackerel hurriedly grabbed his arm.
“Stop that, hyung-nim! You’ll hurt yourself.”
“…Ah.”
Cha Eui-jae removed his hand from his neck and looked at it. His fingertips were red, and only then did he feel the stinging sensation. He blinked absently, then bit his lip. It was a relief that his mask hid his expression. He barely managed to nod.
“…Just drive me. I need to get to Incheon as quickly as possible.”
This time, when he got there, he’d have to flip Hong Ye-seong upside down to get a few emergency escape buttons. Mackerel whispered something in his older brother’s ear, then pulled out the car keys from his inventory and shook them.
“I’ll get you there safely. How about you consider getting your license once this calms down?”
Cha Eui-jae nodded absentmindedly.
“I’ll think about it.”
***
Black liquid splattered onto the white floor. Lee Sa-young’s shoulders twitched, and he dropped to all fours, retching up something dark and murky. Every time he coughed violently, black blood splattered in small drops. The dark mass began to writhe slowly, as if it had a will of its own. Lee Sa-young took a shaky breath, trying to prop himself up by pressing his hands on the floor. But his hand slipped in his own blood, and he couldn’t manage to stand, gasping for air.
Maintaining a safe distance, Bae Won-woo, who was holding up a shield, shouted toward Hong Ye-seong behind him.
“What’s going on here? Wasn’t today’s operation supposed to be done?”
“It was inevitable. He’s already held out longer than expected.”
“What? What are you talking about…”
After today’s work was finished, Lee Sa-young had been carried to bed by J himself and had fallen into a deep sleep. Until he suddenly woke, stumbling down to the basement with an ashen face. He hadn’t even managed to enter the darkness before collapsing on the floor and starting to cough up blood.
The golden hue of the Eyes of Appraisal spun quickly as Hong Ye-seong bent down in front of Lee Sa-young.
“Lee Sa-young, can you hear me?”
Lee Sa-young slowly nodded. His heart felt like it was burning up. His throat was so sore that he could barely breathe. Without hesitation, Hong Ye-seong grabbed his chin and lifted his head. Black liquid dripped from Lee Sa-young’s chin onto the floor. After carefully examining his face, Hong Ye-seong clicked his tongue.
“It hasn’t even fully started yet. It seems like it’s still testing him.”
If this was his state before it even began in earnest, what would happen when it truly arrived?
“Tch, at this rate, he won’t be able to hold out. I’ll go to the workshop and get what we need. Don’t let him lose consciousness!”
“No, you can’t just leave…!”
Bae Won-woo tried to grab him, but the elusive artisan was quick. Hong Ye-seong had already vanished, leaving his body slumped over Lee Sa-young like a marionette with its strings cut. Soon, the real Hong Ye-seong rubbed his eyes and raised his head.
“Uh? Where am I…?”
And then he met Lee Sa-young’s gaze— full of fury, even as he coughed up black blood. Hong Ye-seong yelped and scrambled over to Bae Won-woo’s shield.
“Help me!”
“Wait, where did the other artisan go?”
“Hm? Who are you talking about? I’m the artisan. But Lee Sa-young doesn’t look so well. Is he okay?”
Hong Ye-seong blinked innocently. Damn it, it was the mindless version of Hong Ye-seong. With a sorrowful expression, Bae Won-woo prayed silently for Lee Sa-young, who was enduring agony without even being able to scream. He wished for J to arrive soon— or at least for the mindful artisan to return. Anyone who could ease Lee Sa-young’s suffering.
At that moment, the elevator chimed. The doors slid open, and a dark figure rushed in like the wind. It was J, his ash-gray hair disheveled.
But as J rushed over, he stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of Lee Sa-young, coughing up blood and convulsing.
Strangely, even though his face was unreadable…
He seemed terrified.
***
Rustle… a worn notebook’s page turns. The tip of a trembling pen touches the paper, and then— cough, cough —a fit of coughing erupts. After a long bout, the man takes his hand away from his mouth. His dry palm is smeared with blood. With a shaking hand, the thin man picks up the pen he had set down. Yoon Ga-eul was watching his back. She asked him with concern.
“Are you alright?”
“I’m fine… this much is nothing.”
“…”
Perhaps due to his weakness, the letters he carefully wrote onto the notebook trembled terribly. He hadn’t had very good handwriting to begin with, but now it was almost illegible. Yoon Ga-eul moved closer, draping a somewhat clean blanket over his bony shoulders and tidying his thinning white hair. Meanwhile, the man’s trembling hand never stopped. Even in a world on the brink of ruin, he kept leaving behind something. As she watched the paper fill with black ink, Yoon Ga-eul suddenly asked.
“What if no one remembers?”
“…”
“What if even the fact that you left these records gets forgotten…”
“You’re pessimistic. That’s not like you…”
“I… I’m sorry.”
“No need to apologize.”
The scratching sound of the pen against the paper was clear. The man coughed violently again, red drops splattering onto the desk. But not a single drop touched the notebook. He had cupped it protectively in both hands. Breathing heavily, he blinked. His burned-out, white eyes stared at the notebook blankly. Strangely, he looked heartbreakingly sad.
The man closed the old brown notebook and secured its thick pages with a rubber band.
Yoon Ga-eul, what are you trying to tell me?
What am I supposed to do?
No answer came. Yoon Ga-eul bit her thumb, barely suppressing the urge to throw up, as she tried to memorize the appearance of the notebook. There had to be a reason for seeing this memory. Surely.
The man, Nam Woo-jin, slowly turned his head and asked,
“How are the patients?”
“… There’s finally been an effect. The condition of those who hadn’t yet mutated has significantly improved, and even those who had begun to mutate… it seems to have halted, fortunately.”
Mutation?
“But it was too late.”
“…”
“We’ve lost too many people because of it…”
The man closed his weary eyes. Soon, soft breathing could be heard. He had fallen asleep. Yoon Ga-eul knew how to wake herself up from dreams now. She bit her thumb roughly.
***
Yoon Ga-eul opened her eyes. The orange light from the bedside lamp illuminated the ceiling. Was it still night? In a windowless room, it was hard to gauge the passage of time. She let out a sigh as she sat up.
“Did you have a nice dream?”
A voice spoke.
Yoon Ga-eul sucked in a small breath, her shoulders jumping in surprise. Right next to the bed, Ga-young sat with her legs crossed. Her eyes glinted behind her glasses— a bad sign.
How long has she been watching? Did I talk in my sleep? Yoon Ga-eul subtly averted her gaze, feeling the unpleasant stickiness of cold sweat on her neck. Ga-young, smiling, offered her a cup of water.
“When you wake up like that, covered in cold sweat, you’ve usually seen something.”
“…How long have you been here?”
“Hmm, since you started tossing and turning. I saw it on the CCTV.”
Yoon Ga-eul didn’t take the cup. Instead, she shot back a little sharply.
“Don’t you have anything better to do?”
“Oh, all my assigned test subjects got transferred over there~ So I have nothing left to do.”
Under the covers, Yoon Ga-eul’s hand gripped the sheet tightly. Ga-young beamed innocently.
“We promised, remember? To tell each other everything.”
“…”
“We agreed to cooperate.”
Yoon Ga-eul bit her lip. Ga-young rose from the chair. In the dim room, her glasses glinted strangely.
“Tell me. What did you see?”
