CHAPTER 206: SIGNS OF SNAPPING

"WONHEE-ya, stop thinking about your ex."

Hmm?

Wonhee turned to Yejun with knitted eyebrows. "What are you saying?"

Yejun, sitting across from her, looked like he was sulking again. "I can tell that you’re thinking of the fake carnivore. You’ve been quiet since we got here."

Oh, right.

The two of them were currently in the drawing room while waiting for Lee Seojin’s registration to be completed.

Coffee and high-end snacks were served for them.

Lee Cheongsan and his men arrived earlier and brought Lee Seojin to the Registration Office. As its name suggested, it was where one would need to register that they awakened to make their new status official.

But it wasn’t just a simple case of submitting documents.

[The APA Appraiser will take a look at Lee Seojin’s status level again to make sure that he really awakened as an A-Class Hunter. Fortunately, the current Appraisers in the world could only read the basic skills of the newly awakened Hunters and not the detailed explanation.]

"It’s hard not to think about Seodam-ssi after what Lee Seojin said," Wonhee said, sipping her coffee before she spoke again. "I just can’t believe that Seodam-ssi hit Seojin. He’s not violent. If he was the type to hit his sibling in the name of discipline, then I would have broken up with him earlier."

"But it’s not surprising, though?"

"It’s not?"

"A-Class Hunters are considered high-ranking Hunters. They’re second to S-Class Hunters, after all," Yejun said casually. "That means A-Class Hunters are also susceptible of falling victims to the Static. Since the fake carnivore worked as an A-Class Hunter for a while, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was already on the verge of snapping. Didn’t he start receiving Advanced Treatment from Park Ruda recently?"

Oh.

How could she forget?

That was exactly why Lee Seodam had broken up with her.

"Seodam-ssi told me that he needed Ruda-ssi’s Advanced Treatment to level up," Wonhee said awkwardly. "So, it didn’t cross my mind that he might be on the verge of breaking down. I didn’t also notice that there was something strange with him."

"Being violent is one of the symptoms of snapping," Yejun said in a serious tone. "It’s one of the reasons why I distanced myself away from my parents when I was on the verge of snapping. The louder the Static sounded in my head, the more violent I became back then. Worse, I barely recognized the people around me during that time."

"Do you think the fact that Seodam-ssi became the Virus’ host is one of the reasons he’s on the verge of snapping now?"

"That’s plausible."

Oh.

Wonhee suddenly felt bad for Seodam.

[He’s battling the Static while fighting off the Virus within him...]

"Wonhee-ya."

"Yeah?"

"It’s Park Ruda’s job to shut down the Static in the fake carnivore’s head," Yejun said in a serious tone. "It’s your job to purify the fake carnivore, but only when it’s needed. But, other than those times, you don’t have to worry about him."

"I know that," Wonhee said defensively. "I just feel guilty because I’m the reason Seodam-ssi’s skills were downgraded. Maybe if he was stronger, then the Virus wouldn’t be able to take over his body from time to time."

"Wonhee-ya, you should seriously stop blaming yourself for things you can’t control."

"It’s hard to do that when I know I can literally change a someone’s life based on my personal feelings. I can’t always be a good judge of character, Yejun-ah. What if I make a mistake?"

"I’ll take care of the consequences for you."

"Did you already talk to my siblings? Oppa and Unnie said the same thing to me."

"No— but we all have the same thing in common. That’s probably why we ended up with the same conclusion."

"And what would that be?"

"We want to lighten the burden off your shoulders, Wonhee-ya," Yejun said, still speaking in a serious tone. Even the look in his eyes was quite intense. "We can’t completely take it off your shoulders even if we wanted to. That’s why we work hard to at least lighten it."

Oh.

That reminded Wonhee that Bitna said the same thing: ["The way I see it, they just want to lighten your burden. You already saved the world once, Wonhee-ya. The System nurtured them first so that you wouldn’t have to suffer again. To simply say, for them, your previous sacrifice was enough— it’s time for you to rest easy and let them do the job they failed to do in the previous world because they weren’t strong enough to support you back then."]

"Wonhee-ya?"

"Yeah?"

"I’m sorry," Yejun said, his voice full of remorse. "I’ll never hide things from you again. You’re right— you have the right to know things that involve you. It’s me who doesn’t have the right to decide what’s good for you."

Ah.

[Yejun looks like he really learned his lesson this time.]

"I will be less clingy, too," Yejun added, appealing really hard for her forgiveness. "I talked to my father and told him I’ll move back to their house. I have my own place, but this is the first time in a long while that I’m sober, so I want to spend time with my parents."

Wonhee beamed, but she didn’t say anything because Yejun wasn’t done talking yet.

[I’m glad that he decided to spend time with his family.]

"Moreover, I’ll be working as the Winter Guild’s Guildmaster again," Yejun said, sighing. "Actually, I asked Soobin Hyung and Semi Noona to let me keep an eye on the fake carnivore."

Wonhee knitted her eyebrows. "Why?"

"Because I’m the strongest Hunter in Korea. The fake carnivore is the host of the Virus. Now that Song Moonho is gone, only I can stop the Virus if it takes over the fake carnivore’s body again."

Oh, that made sense.

"I thought you volunteered for the job because you wanted to make sure that I won’t be able to meet Lee Seodam-ssi alone."

"How did you know?"

"Huh?"

Yejun smiled slyly. "That’s just my official excuse. But, honestly, I just wanted to have a reason to keep Lee Seodam in check. I’m jealous of him because you still care about him."

"I only care about him as a empathetic person— I no longer have romantic feelings for him, and you know that."

"Even if I know that, I still want assurance."

"Why would you be jealous of Seodam-ssi when you already know that I like..."

Oh.

Wonhee trailed off when she realized that she almost blurted out her feelings for Yejun.

And when he saw Yejun’s mischievous smile...

"You did it on purpose," Wonhee said, glaring at Yejun. "Don’t trick me like that again."

"Ah, what a shame," Yejun said playfully. "I almost got a confession out of you, Wonhee-ya."

It wasn’t like she didn’t want to admit that she liked Yejun.

[But my ’like’ might be different from his ’like,’ so I have to make sure that my feelings are as deep as his before I confess.]

"You can take your time, Wonhee-ya," Yejun said, smiling. "I know you’re the type of person to think things through again and again. So, when you confess to me, I would know that you’re 100% serious. After all, you’d be done thinking by then. And when that time comes..."

"What? You’re scaring me."

She only said that.

But she actually felt more thrilled than scared.

[I like how Yejun can be obsessed with me sometimes.]

Something must be wrong with Wonhee.

"Wonhee-ya, I’ll never let you go."

"That sounds toxic."

"It’s alright— I’ll make you want me as much as I want you, Wonhee-ya," Yejun said, laughing softly. "If we’re crazy for each other, then everything will be fine, right?"

Only a person who wasn’t completely sane would say something like that.

But she should have expected that.

[No S-Class Hunter is in their right mind.]

And maybe that also applied to Guides.

After all, Wonhee didn’t feel threatened by what Yejun said even though she could see an imaginary red flag waving at her.

[I guess I’ve also become crazy after getting surrounded by crazy S-Class for a long time.]

***

"WHAT DO you mean by that, sir?" Yool asked Team Leader Park Park Il-sung. "I don’t know what you’re talking about."

Of course, he had to play dumb even though he was shaken.

Team Leader Park Il-sing smiled and shook his head. "You should go back to where you’ve come from, Yool-ssi."

He was about to ask the Team Leader if he was talking about the other world.

But Team Leader Park Il-sung suddenly froze, and then he hunched over while coughing.

Blood.

The Team Leader was coughing up blood— a huge chunk, at that!

And then the old man started to stumble.

Yool gasped out loud. "Team Leader Park!"

***

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