Chapter 47
It was the day immediately after the Gu Worm surgery.
It had been a surgery that would have required an ordinary person to spend several days under observation in the intensive care unit.
To say nothing of the fact that we had opened her skull and removed a bizarre life-form attached near the dura mater.
But could this really be what an S-rank Hunter's body was like?
“Mmm⋯ I slept well.”
As soon as morning broke, Guild Master Jang Mi-ran was stretching in her hospital bed.
As if she were simply someone who had slept soundly through the night and gotten up, not someone who had undergone brain surgery the day before.
“Mother!”
“Are you conscious?”
Seeing that, the two sisters rushed over almost simultaneously.
Mi-hyeon buried her face in Guild Master Jang Mi-ran's arms, while Song-hui wiped the corners of her eyes with the back of her hand from behind her.
I was relieved inwardly, too.
Her consciousness had returned.
The movement of all four limbs was normal.
Her language responses were fine, too.
Of course, we still had a mountain of tests remaining to check for aftereffects.
We also had to monitor her emotional changes and watch for several more days to see whether there were any problems in the nervous system where the Gu Worm had attached itself.
Even so, in brain surgery, the mere fact that the patient's mind had returned meant we had already achieved more than halfway to success.
But then.
Click.
Click.
Suddenly, I saw Guild Master Jang Mi-ran walking toward us.
Her gait was impossible to believe belonged to someone who had undergone a craniotomy the day before.
I tensed at that moment.
Surely not.
She wasn't about to put on another self-harm show in front of me like last time, was she?
She's still a patient.
No matter how much of an S-rank Hunter she is, a patient is a patient.
I reflexively tried to take a step back.
But before I could, Guild Master Jang Mi-ran stopped in front of me.
Then she slowly began lowering her head.
'Is she going to apologize?'
That much was fine.
I had thought that was what she was doing at first, too.
But then.
Swish.
“⋯?”
She took off her shoes.
Then she carefully folded the outer garment draped over her shoulders and set it down beside her.
No.
Wait a second.
Why was this apology proceeding in that direction?
“G-Guild Master?”
Whether or not I called out to her in my confusion, Guild Master Jang Mi-ran did not waver in the slightest.
Instead, after neatly straightening the hem of her hospital gown, she slowly knelt on the floor.
She held her fingertips together neatly.
With her back lowered.
She bowed so deeply that her forehead nearly touched the floor.
It was the posture women in this world adopted when offering a sincere apology.
An apologetic gesture that meant setting aside even one's dignity and authority.
An S-rank Hunter and the Guild Master of Geumseong was performing a very neat and polite 'dogeza' in front of me while dressed in a hospital gown.
“Dr. Seo Jihoo.”
Guild Master Jang Mi-ran's voice trembled.
“About what happened before⋯ there truly⋯ there is no other way for me to apologize.”
“G-Guild Master?! Please get up first. What if someone sees you!”
“No.”
Her answer was firm.
“You are the savior of my daughter's life, and now you have become the savior of my life as well. When I think of what I have done to you, I feel that even this is not enough.”
Hmm.
I didn't know whether it was insufficient, but I was the one feeling more burdened by watching this.
I glanced behind me.
Mi-hyeon and Song-hui had looked surprised at first, too.
But soon.
Nod.
Nod.
The two of them merely nodded with strangely convinced expressions.
No, don't be convinced.
Their mother had just undergone brain surgery yesterday, and now she was performing a dogeza on the hospital-room floor first thing in the morning.
Then I remembered the saying about following Roman customs when in Rome.
If I refused for no reason, she might bring out an even deeper and more elaborate form of apology.
Therefore.
“I understand.”
“⋯!”
“I accept your apology. So please get up now. Seriously. It causes me trouble if a patient stays on the floor for too long.”
“Even though I showed you such disgrace⋯ you forgave me right away⋯.”
After receiving my forgiveness, Guild Master Jang Mi-ran bowed her head even deeper, looking as though she were about to cry.
“Thank you⋯ thank you so much!”
Anyway.
Perhaps because the Gu Worm was gone, the viciousness she had shown until now had completely disappeared.
Her irritability.
Her anxiety.
Even the venom that made it seem as though she might bite someone's head off.
I could sense none of that from Guild Master Jang Mi-ran now.
Thanks to that, our relationship was repaired much more quickly than I had expected.
Since I felt that staying any longer might lead even the two sisters to join in some strange apology ritual, I left after giving them only instructions to continue monitoring her condition.
And now.
“It's been so long since I got to return to college life⋯!”
Despite everything that had happened, I had somehow returned to university life.
A medical student aspiring to become a surgeon.
And one whose career path was almost set in Hunter surgery.
Of course I was busy.
But it wouldn't be too late to do that after I started working at a hospital.
At least while I was still a college student.
The last of my youth.
My last campus life.
Because I wanted to enjoy at least a little of that shining something, it had already been a week since I started taking Hunter-related classes again.
They say humans are creatures of adaptation.
I was gradually reclaiming some peace.
Even with assignments piled up like a mountain, I was fine.
It was still far better than opening someone's head right away and battling some bizarre worm.
The food tasted good, too.
The lecture halls were peaceful.
Even the noise of the student cafeteria felt familiar and pleasant.
Under normal circumstances, I should have been enjoying such a peaceful daily life.
Yes, if only this precious status window hadn't appeared before my eyes.
[Settlement complete.]
[Surgery outcome for Guild Master Jang Mi-ran: Success]
[User level has increased.]
[Lv.10 → Lv.15]
[5P reward points granted]
[Current points held: 6P]
[Notification]
[The surprise quest ??? is pending.]
[Scheduled activation time: undisclosed]
[Time remaining: ??? : ??? : ???]
[We wish you smooth quest progress.]
“It always puts something like this up right when I'm eating, just to ruin my appetite⋯.”
Perhaps because Guild Master Jang Mi-ran's surgery had been recorded as a full recovery, my level had risen once again.
Level 15.
6P in reward points.
Taken by itself, that was clearly a good thing.
The problem was something else.
That surprise quest I had accepted in a panic that day.
Ever since then, this damn status window had been displaying a countdown in front of me whenever it felt like it.
What was even more infuriating was that, despite being a countdown, every number consisted of question marks.
What was this supposed to be?
This wasn't a military five-minute standby unit, either.
Thanks to it, I had to eat, sleep, and shower while carrying a bomb that could go off at any moment.
The one thing I could be grateful for was that, before we parted, I had told Sis Soheon separately about the surprise quest and the matter concerning the Life Resources Administration.
Thanks to that, the Ministry of Men and Family Affairs remained a last line of defense, but apparently I still couldn't help feeling anxious.
It was right then.
Thud.
A tray was set down on the seat across from me.
“⋯?”
“Huh?”
“What's with her⋯?”
“Even we can't just sit in Jihoo's seat.”
The area around us erupted into an uproar in an instant.
A university cafeteria.
A student mecca powered by its low prices, generous portions, and merely decent taste.
Under normal circumstances, it was not a space where anyone could possibly have a private table.
But perhaps because I was the only man attending this medical school.
Besides, after the Life Resources Administration incident, the school had set aside a space by the window to guarantee men's safe and comfortable meals.
They called it the Men's Safe Dining Zone.
There was even a law called the Men's Safe-Distancing Act, so a table with room for six had effectively become my private table.
Students still approached me from time to time, but most backed off when I politely refused them⋯.
Munch, munch.
But the person sitting across from me now was different.
Could she be a freshman?
Long, straight black hair cascading down like a dark stream.
Eyes as clear and black as obsidian under a night sky.
Should I call her the quintessential East Asian beauty?
A female student in a breezy dress sat across from me and was slicing into an omelet rice with remarkable naturalness.
With a fork and knife.
An omelet rice, no less.
“Excuse me, but⋯.”
A police officer from the safety-assistance detail, who had been watching me from a certain distance whenever I went out after the Life Resources Administration incident, approached cautiously.
“This isn't a seat anyone can use.”
“If that's what you're worried about, you don't have to be.”
The female student spoke calmly.
“I'm not just anyone.”
“Huh?”
The police officer froze.
I froze, too.
The students around us froze, too.
What was this?
This confidence?
I cautiously opened my mouth.
“Um⋯ I don't think I've seen you before.”
“I just enrolled in this university as a Hunter surgery major.”
She gave me a slight smile.
“Senior.”
“Ah, right⋯ I see.”
Senior.
Surely that was her basis for claiming familiarity.
Was she using the logic that went, 'I'm a junior at the same school, so I'm not just anyone!'?
Sorry, but this was highly suspicious.
Especially with my nerves already frayed because of the surprise quest.
If she refused to move, I was about to pick up my tray and get up first.
At that moment.
“And my grandmother told me.”
“Your grandmother?”
“She said Senior Seo Jihoo was a very capable and intelligent person, so I should get close to you and occasionally bring you home.”
Home?
Grandmother?
Of course, I did have a few acquaintances who were old enough to be grandmothers.
There were probably more of them than people my own age.
The problem was that, if there was a grandmother in Hunter society whom people formally addressed as 'Madam,' there was only one person who came to mind.
“Let me introduce myself first.”
The college student set down her knife and fork and bowed her head very properly.
“My name is Yoon Gaeun.”
And then.
“I am the granddaughter of Madam Yoon Mi-ja, the Guild Master of the Hyeonmu Guild and the woman known as the mother of Korea's Hunters.”
The noise of the student cafeteria abruptly fell silent.
Me, too.
The police officer, too.
Even the students secretly watching from nearby.
Madam Yoon Mi-ja's granddaughter.
A member of Hyeonmu Guild's direct line.
And a freshman majoring in Hunter surgery.
I looked down at the omelet rice in front of me.
I hadn't even eaten half of it yet.
But somehow, it seemed today's lunch had ended right there.