Chapter 218 - Chapter 218 (1/2)

"Are you awake now?"

After hearing that familiar voice, Jin-Woo quickly opened his eyes. He saw a white ceiling, and the smell of disinfectant stung his nose. Although the sensation of the hard bed kissing his back was different, he could easily tell just where he was.

This was a hospital.

But, didn't he definitely feel the sensation of his heart shattering when the ice-cold dagger stabbed into his chest?

'Even then…. I'm still alive?'

Jin-Woo raised his upper torso up.

He immediately spotted two men standing near his bed, making anxious faces as if they had been waiting for him to regain his consciousness for a long time. One of them was someone Jin-Woo knew very well.

"Association President Woo Jin-Cheol! The Sovereigns..... No, what happened to those monsters? How am I still alive?"

Woo Jin-Cheol shared confused looks with the fellow agent of the Monitoring Division next to him, took his sunglasses off before addressing Jin-Woo.

"There are three things I must tell you."

He pulled a chair close to the bed and settled down. The junior agent quickly stepped behind him.

"Firstly, I'm not the Association President, but the Chief of the Monitoring Division. Secondly, we are here to ask you about the animated stone statues. And finally…."

A powerful glare oozed out from Woo Jin-Cheol's scrutinising eyes.

"....How do you know about me? Have we met before, somewhere?"

"H-hold on, wait! You said something about animated stone statues?!"

"After we received the report from the survivors and arrived on site with the White Tiger Guild, it was already…."

"No, no. Hang on. That's not it…."

Jin-Woo quickly cut Woo Jin-Cheol off and shook his head in dumbfoundedness. Several emotions, impossible to describe in words, rushed in.

Could it be....?

Jin-Woo raised his head and stared at the ceiling.

He was thinking that it was an oddly familiar sight ever since he opened his eyes, but he really was back here.

'Makes sense why it's so familiar....'

He spent almost two weeks in this place, after all. This was the VIP patient room provided by the Hunter's Association.

He was back in the hospital room where he opened his eyes for the first time after barely managing to survive the dual dungeon incident. Thinking back to what Woo Jin-Cheol said just now, it didn't seem like the location wasn't the only thing here that was the same.

'But... how can such a thing even be possible?'

Jin-Woo remained utterly confused and dazed, leading Woo Jin-Cheol to cautiously ask him.

"....Are you feeling alright?"

Jin-Woo's head dropped lower and he massaged his temples as a migraine gradually crept in. He didn't forget to wave around his hand as a gesture to tell the others to not to worry about him.

"I…. Can I be left alone to organise my thoughts? Please hurry up with measuring my magical energy so we can end this quickly."

Woo Jin-Cheol stared dazedly at Jin-Woo with an expression that roughly said, "How did you know that we have been suspecting you going through a Re-Awakening?" before he quickly shook his head as if to get rid of all the distracting thoughts.

"We'd like to hear what happened inside there before we proceed. If you have seen something strange before losing your consciousness...."

"Like I told you before, I don't remember anything."

Did they ever meet and converse with Hunter Seong Jin-Woo before?

No, never.

Definitely not.

As a man of the Monitoring Division, Woo Jin-Cheol never forgot the face of a Hunter he met, even if it was only one time. And his memory definitely didn't hold information on anyone with the name of 'Seong Jin-Woo'.

'Looks like his memories are all jumbled up from going through a serious mental shock.'

Woo Jin-Cheol decided as thus while looking at Jin-Woo's current condition. In that case, he figured that he might as well finish what he came here to do and return as soon as possible. He addressed his underling next.

"Bring it here."

The junior agent heard the order and brought along the miniature magic energy measuring device.

'Hah....'

A helpless chuckle leaked out of Jin-Woo's lips as things played out exactly like his memories.

"All you have to do is to place your hand on this magic crystal for a little while."

"Okay."

The measuring process ended quickly thanks to Jin-Woo's cooperation.

However, Woo Jin-Cheol began frowning greatly as he tried to confirm the results. He prodded the device several times before shifting his gaze over to the junior agent.

"Why isn't the device working? Didn't I tell you to check it before leaving the HQ?"

"Pardon me?"

The junior agent couldn't hide his fluster and hurriedly inspected the device from this angle and that, but obviously, nothing changed by doing that.

The device that was operating perfectly up until just now suddenly switched itself off as soon as it touched the hand of the subject. And it didn't want to work again.

'Tsk.'

Woo Jin-Cheol quietly tutted at the mistake of his junior agent and apologised to Jin-Woo before asking for his understanding.

"Looks like there has been some sort of mistake on our part here. Do you mind waiting for a little bit? We should be able to go and fetch a new device very soon. This process must be performed during the investigation of this incident, and we ask for your coopera....."

Even before his words came to an end, Jin-Woo nodded his head. Woo Jin-Cheol led his junior agent and left the hospital room. However, he only took a few more steps before coming to a stop. He turned around again.

'What's going on?'

Jin-Woo raised his head slightly when Woo Jin-Cheol acted a little differently to how he remembered it.

The Chief of the Monitoring Division stood before the bed and asked.

"By any chance…. Are you aware of the punishment in store for being a fake registrant?"

"..."

"I've met my fair share of high-ranking Hunters in my life. However, I've never met any Hunter with eyes like yours. If you're hiding something, now's the time to…."

"I've nothing to hide."

Jin-Woo cut him off again. Woo Jin-Cheol wordlessly studied the man sitting up on the bed before politely bowing his head.

"We've inconvenienced you."

Jin-Woo watched Woo Jin-Cheol leaving the hospital room's door and inwardly thought that he definitely better suited the role of the boss of the Monitoring Division rather than that of the Association President.

Besides all that, though….

"....Status Window."

He wasn't surprised in the least by the message floating in the air and took a look at the Status Window displaying his current level.

Name: Seong Jin-Woo

Level: 146

Class: Shadow Sovereign

Title: Demon Hunter (extra 2)

HP: 93,300

MP: 155,720

Tiredness: 0

[Stats]

Strength: 324

Endurance: 320

Agility: 340

Intelligence: 340

Perception: 321

(Available points to distribute: 0)

Reduction in physical damage: 65%

Reduction in magical damage: 44%

[Skills]

Passive Skills

- Tenacity Lv.1

- Master of Shortsword Lv. MAX

Active Skills

- Quicksilver Lv. MAX

- Intimidation Lv. 2

- Violent Slash Lv. MAX

- Dagger Rush Lv. MAX

- Stealth Lv. MAX

- Ruler's Authority Lv. MAX

[Class-specific Skills]

Active Skills

- Shadow Extraction Lv. 2

- Shadow Storage Lv. 2

- Sovereign's Territory Lv. 2

- Shadow Exchange Lv. 2

'My level's gone up a lot since the last time I took a look at it. Is it because of the experience points I earned after killing the Sovereign of Plagues?'

That wasn't all, either.

Everything he had stored in his Inventory until now was also waiting for him as they always had been. He even spotted the pair of 'Kamish's Wraths' resting quietly on the very first column of the Inventory and formed a hollow smile.

He had somehow returned to the beginning with everything he had achieved so far.

'Well, the Shadow Soldiers aren't here anymore, but....'

But, his army could be rebuilt in no time at all. Since he had retained all of his prior abilities and memories, he was confident of doing a better job this time around.

However….

….Just how did this happen?

Why was this thing happening?

Although he was given the second go at life here, all sorts of possibilities fleeted in and out of his head and he couldn't be happy about his current situation at all.

Jin-Woo carefully combed over his memories, wondering if he had overlooked something, before his head rose up.

'Should be here soon....'

As he expected; just like how he remembered it, his little sister pounced into the hospital room with excellent timing.

"Oppa!!"

After she lost almost all of her school friends at the hands of the Orcs, there always had been a shadow cast on her expression even when she was smiling. But, right now, there was no hint of such darkness on her face.

Jin-Woo's heart softened from seeing her expression and he tightly hugged her.

"O-Oppa??"

Jin-Ah was planning to urge her oppa to give up being a Hunter when he regained his consciousness, but now that she lost her initiative to him, she became rather flustered, instead.

"What's going on? What's gotten into you? Did you hit your head?"

Eventually, her oppa ended the hug and grinned refreshingly. Seeing him behaving like this, all thoughts of anger dissipated from her mind and she could only tilt her head this way and that with a puzzled look on her face.

She couldn't put her finger on it, but her oppa seemed somewhat different from the normal. Now that she took a closer look, she kind of got the impression that her oppa had grown a lot taller since the last time she saw him a few days ago.

While Jin-Ah was falling deeper into confusion, Jin-Woo was able to use this lull to organise his thoughts better. He then began thinking about things he needed to do, step by step.

A short while later, he lightly chased his little sister out and changed his clothes before stepping outside the hospital room himself.

Since these clothes were his old ones, they didn't fit his size now, and because he had survived a life or death situation, their condition was at their absolute worst, as well. But what choice did he have?

He certainly couldn't walk around the city in a patient gown now, could he?

Jin-Ah watched her brother walk right past her in hurried steps and called out to him.

"Oppa?! Where are you going now?"

"To the Hunter's Association."

"Why there??"

"To tell them I'm giving up being a Hunter."

"Really???"

Jin-Woo looked back at his little sister and her wide open eyes.

"I know that you asked permission to leave from your school to come here, so you should go back now."

"Whaaat-?!"

Jin-Ah watched on with an expression gradually becoming even more confused as her oppa's back disappeared from view.

***