EVS Chapter 105

The journey from Seoul to Pohang consumed a considerable amount of time. As Sa-yoon drove, the system window flashed warnings about the timer dropping below 24 hours. It seemed like the system was more anxious than necessary, as if it would clear on its own if left alone. The constant pop-up warnings obstructing his view made Sa-yoon feel like the system wanted him to die in a car accident.

“Shut up for a bit.”

After irritably dismissing the eightieth notification, Sa-yoon checked the remaining distance on the navigation. He needed to drive for at least another hour, which made him feel rushed. Having left without much time to spare, the schedule was quite tight.

“Why does that bastard have to live in the ass-end of Pohang?”

Even after reaching Pohang, it would take another 30 minutes to get to where the guy lived.

S-rank Awakened Lee Jae-hee.

When looking for an Awakened who wouldn’t raise suspicion if they died immediately and wouldn’t be too troublesome to deal with, Lee Jae-hee, who barely made the rankings at 99th place last year, was chosen. While publicly known to have retired as a hunter due to some incident, according to the information Gyeongjin gathered, he was still regularly conquering gates every two months for someone who had retired. And always the same gate.

There were two possibilities to consider.

Either the guy had discovered something inside that gate, or he was waiting for something to come out of it.

Sa-yoon recalled the contents of Lee Jae-hee’s report he received from Gyeongjin.

Lee Jae-hee. 31 years old. An innate S-rank who received an S-rank assessment from his first awakening 3 years ago, and announced his retirement 1 year ago.

For an innate S-rank, his stats and skill utilization were low, keeping him in the 80th rank range before his retirement caused his ranking to plummet. After retirement, he refused all tests and interviews, then disappeared for half a year. Currently, he was known to be resting in Pohang.

More accurately, he was enjoying a vacation while doing intermittent hunter work.

“There’s something off about this.”

Given Korea’s small land mass but high ratio of high-ranking Awakened, it seemed unlikely for one of the roughly ten S-ranks in the country to be that weak. While it was common knowledge that the rankings set by the Hunter Association weren’t entirely reliable, even so, wasn’t a 99th place ranking for an S-rank far too unreasonable?

Even the 98th-ranked hunter from India was A+ grade. With about 70 S-ranks officially registered in the rankings, barring cases like Sa-yoon who weren’t registered, it was nonsensical for an S-rank to fall below 70th place.

As his instincts detected something suspicious, Sa-yoon mulled over the information before shaking his head and increasing his speed.

Whatever it was, he’d get a sense of it when he met the guy in person.

No matter what variables there might be, the fact that Sa-yoon couldn’t remember him suggested he wasn’t anyone significant. There was no way he couldn’t kill him if necessary, and after completing the quest, he could visit the gate that the guy frequented every two months to resolve his suspicions. If he really discovered something inside the gate, it would be a gain, and even if he didn’t, there wasn’t much to lose.

Except for the fact that the time given to him wasn’t very generous.

“…I’ll have to leave this to Jongsik.”

It would be ideal if he could check it out himself, but unfortunately, he needed to focus more on Han Geon-joo’s movements right now. At least until he became an S-rank, until he cleared the quest after becoming an S-rank, Geon-joo was the top priority unless it was a quest with severe penalties or forced execution. Clicking his tongue, Sa-yoon decided to make a call.

“Yes, hyung. It’s Jongsik.”

“How’s Han Geon-joo doing?”

“Pardon?”

“I’m asking if he’s behaving.”

“Did you call just for that?”

“What, you think I called because I missed you?”

Frowning at the odd question, Sa-yoon chided him. They rarely contacted each other for personal reasons. Jongsik grumbled before giving his report.

“He seems to still be in his room. No one has seen him come down to the dining room or leave the building.”

“Are you sure he’s in his room?”

“Shall I check?”

“……”

He might get stressed out.

The guy had already reached his stress limit in the field. Judging by Geon-joo’s high body temperature when Sa-yoon checked before leaving the guild, it seemed he was enduring the accumulated stress alone without being able to relieve it.

He seemed like the type to develop a fever when stressed.

Considering how he had suffered greatly from the night right after returning and the poisoning in the field, it wasn’t something that could be overlooked. Tapping on the steering wheel while pondering his answer, Sa-yoon called up the quest window to check their current relationship status.

For better or worse, nothing had changed since the last time he checked.

“…Have a crow check it out.”

“What if he’s drawn the curtains?”

“Then just have it detect his presence roughly.”

“I’ll check and call you back.”

With that, the call ended.

It’s already been three days, hasn’t it? The guy who used to become weak and powerless after just two days of fasting was now enduring three consecutive days without food, which was practically running on sheer willpower. Although Sa-yoon had highly evaluated that trait in the field, there was no need to be so stubborn in this situation.

“What did he like to eat again?”

It seemed like he should buy some food that Geon-joo liked on the way back. As Sa-yoon racked his brain trying to remember what Geon-joo enjoyed eating, he realized that apart from monster roasts and inn food, nothing came to mind. Come to think of it, except for the time he took him to the Yongho Guild, they rarely had comfortable meals together in a normal restaurant. Realizing that they hadn’t built any bond over meals despite both being Korean, Sa-yoon immediately picked up his phone and made a restaurant reservation for the next day.

There’s an age-old saying that goes:

People who give you food, especially delicious food, are good people.

“We should become less awkward after sharing a few meals together.”

Though he wasn’t sure if a few meals could resolve all the complications between them, time would take care of what was lacking.

As a solution began to take shape, the anxiety and displeasure that had been constricting his throat began to fade. Feeling like he could finally breathe easier, Sa-yoon took a deep breath and exhaled. Shortly after, a text message arrived from Jongsik.

[Confirmed that Geon-joo is in his room. Seems he’s still sleeping.]

“Still sleeping…”

Even accounting for fatigue, it was an excessive amount of time. Frowning at the possibility that he might be sick, Sa-yoon sent a message instructing Jongsik to check on Geon-joo’s condition if he didn’t wake up after four more hours. Then, he turned the steering wheel.

The destination was drawing near.

***

After arriving in Pohang and securing lodging near Lee Jae-hee’s residence, Sa-yoon double-checked his weapons and plan before leaving the room. It was a simple plan of sneaking into the house using a stealth skill and then targeting the subject’s neck, but with less than a day remaining, caution was necessary.

Since he hadn’t planted a tracking device on the guy’s body, there was no way to know his real-time location. After infiltrating, he might have to wait for an hour or even ten hours. Unable to use time flexibly, he needed to seize the opportunity when it presented itself without fail. After rechecking the quantity and grade of smoke grenades, sleep-inducing incense, deadly poison, and daggers, Sa-yoon removed his conspicuous white shirt and coat, storing them in his inventory.

Although it was a shame to part with the S-rank coat, tight-fitting clothes were optimal for assassination and stealth. Changing into a form-fitting T-shirt and pants, he checked the remaining time.

Sixteen hours.

He had consumed more time than expected coming down to Pohang, securing lodging, and investigating the people around the residence to understand Lee Jae-hee’s usual movements. Now, there really wasn’t much time left. It would be utterly stupid to fail the quest after coming this far. Taking a deep breath, Sa-yoon concealed a dagger at his wrist and left the room.

Deeming car travel too conspicuous, Sa-yoon used space compression to move quickly during moments when no one was around, making his way to Lee Jae-hee’s pre-scouted residence.

Standing in front of the door, he checked for any presence, but there was no energy felt from inside. The house was empty. Pleased with the timing, Sa-yoon lowered his head and reached for the door lock.

This is when Gyeongjin comes in handy.

The report he submitted not only included Lee Jae-hee’s house password but even his card PIN, making the job easier. Every time he encountered this level of information gathering, he couldn’t help but marvel at how it was obtained.

If only he had provided movement patterns as well, it would have been even smoother.

Swallowing his regret while thinking that this guy would be quite troublesome if turned into an enemy, Sa-yoon entered the numbers according to the password and infiltrated the house.

Now begins the waiting game. He needed to seize an opportunity to assassinate Lee Jae-hee after he entered the house but before he noticed Sa-yoon’s concealment. Crouching in a corner of the living room, Sa-yoon gripped his dagger and held his breath.

With fifteen hours remaining, if Lee Jae-hee didn’t return even after ten hours, he’d have to go look for him personally.

The only variable that could come into play now was Lee Jae-hee returning excessively late, so Sa-yoon muttered to himself that he just needed to avoid having to go search for him. Half-leaning against the side of the sofa, he waited for the homeowner’s return.

For about eleven hours.

“…Fuck, is this guy already dead somewhere?”

When ten hours had passed, he considered going out to look, but worried about missing each other, he waited another hour. As a result, the timer was down to four hours, and Sa-yoon had become someone who had been sitting in another person’s house for eleven hours. He was in a situation where he might fail the quest without even getting a chance to act.

Could he have entered a gate?

It was far from his usual cycle. However, unable to completely rule it out, Sa-yoon bit his lip and left Lee Jae-hee’s house, running around according to the movement patterns he had figured out.

He visited the stores Lee Jae-hee frequently went to, checked the empty lot, and even went to the fishing spot 5 kilometers away from the house. After wasting 2 hours and 30 minutes like this with nothing to show for it, Sa-yoon returned to Lee Jae-hee’s house, using another 30 minutes. Catching his breath after running around non-stop for nearly three hours, he ran his fingers through his hair.

One hour remained.

Feeling like everything was about to go to hell at this rate, Sa-yoon nervously shook his head. Suddenly, he sensed a presence in front of the door he was about to open.

“……”

Nothing’s going right.

Of all times, Lee Jae-hee had returned home while Sa-yoon was away. Frowning at the difficulty of brazenly opening the door and entering now, Sa-yoon alternated his gaze between the timer, now counting down by the minute, and the door. With 50 minutes left, he reached out towards the door lock.

There was no more time to hesitate.

Even if it meant causing a commotion, even if it turned into a fierce battle instead of an assassination, he had no choice but to confront him head-on.

If he had known it would come to this, he should have come a day earlier. Knowing that regretting the past was pointless, Sa-yoon gritted his teeth, unable to suppress his rising irritation, and proceeded to enter the door lock password. He had quickly input two of the four digits when—

Ding!

“…!”

Already?

Despite clearly having time left, the system chimed, causing Sa-yoon’s eyes to widen. His startled gaze confirmed the notification floating in the air.

<The pairing wearer has removed the ‘Falsilo’s Fate Pairing’!>

The content of the notification that entered his view was different from what he had expected.