In fact, I thought that as soon as we came out of the dungeon, Yu Hanul would directly ask me how I had defeated an S-rank monster. But he didn’t ask me anything like that.
No, he didn’t just
not
ask.
He’s even avoiding my gaze.
I stared straight at Yu Hanul, but he never once met my eyes. His head was clearly turned toward me, yet his gaze subtly slipped away. He’d been like that ever since we left the dungeon. He was clearly avoiding me now.
“Then I’ll go contact the embassy,” Yu Hanul said. “Hunter Han Jaeyeong can return to Korea immediately, but…you’ll need to stay longer, right?”
“Yeah. It’ll look better if we all return together with Daon and Hunter Lee Pyeonghwa, so it can’t be helped.”
Even if it was an accident, Han Jaeyeong was someone who had to bear responsibility for that situation. Returning alone while leaving me and Lee Pyeonghwa behind would look bad in many ways.
Yu Hanul nodded. “Understood. I’ll convey that as well. See you later.”
With that, Yu Hanul left as swiftly as the wind. The doctor, too, departed after giving Han Jaeyeong a deeply suspicious look.
Han Jaeyeong then stared at me with a baffled expression. “My god, they treated me like absolute trash. ‘An imbalance between mana and body’? ‘Mana circuits on the verge of collapse’? And this is about someone who used incantation magic right after awakening?”
It was only natural for Han Jaeyeong to find it absurd. They had merely pointed out the obvious facts, yet from others’ perspectives, it looked like they were harassing a junior Hunter.
“What would a doctor even know about magic? It’s just that… I really do need a bit of time. My level went up quite a bit.” It’s widely known that when your level rises significantly, you need time to adapt. It was a good excuse for me.
Han Jaeyeong tilted their head at my words. “Well, you did encounter an S-rank monster, so of course your level would go up. But the main contributor was Yu Hanul, so it shouldn’t have been that huge of a jump. And just for
that
, the doctor was so firm? Did the embassy introduce some quack…?”
“Maybe the doctor’s just overly cautious.”
“Hm.”
Han Jaeyeong’s eyes narrowed, but I kept a straight posture. For whatever reason, as long as Yu Hanul didn’t reveal the truth, there was no reason for Han Jaeyeong to press me any further.
“You’re really okay?”
“I told you, I’m fine.”
…To be honest, looking only at the objective numbers, I’m not fine at all.
Pay attention to the balance between body and mana.
It is recommended to prioritize increasing your stamina stat.
The system itself keeps flashing warning messages like this.
My body is barely holding out against the excessive mana, teetering on the edge. In a normal case, using abilities carelessly at this point could turn someone into what’s called a “water balloon”.
But I’m not a normal case, and I’ve already thought of a way to solve the problem. Of course, I couldn’t say that to Han Jaeyeong, so I glossed over it again.
“Maybe the doctor’s just being overly worried because they’ve never seen a potential S-rank before.”
Theoretically, there was nothing particularly wrong with what I said. No matter how advanced medicine is, the relationship between magic—an abruptly appeared power—and the human body is still an unknown realm, and it’s common knowledge that S-rank Hunters with high latent potential like me are even more of an unknown.
“Well, I guess that makes sense. They probably don’t see S-rank Hunters very often in the U.S.”
Since Han Jaeyeong is also an S-rank Hunter, they must have experienced this kind of thing many times. They seemed to accept it without much trouble.
“Then how long do you need to adapt?”
“Probably about five days.”
“That’s not too bad. I need some time too, since there’s the Xuemei matter and I should contact the Hunter Association while I’m here.”
“Because of this incident?”
“Yes. I need some information, after all. I’ll share it with you if I find out anything.”
Having said that, Han Jaeyeong stood up from their seat.
It looked like they were leaving neatly, but then they added one more thing.
“By the way, why did you fight with Yu Hanul this time?”
"Fight?"
“Didn’t you notice? At least on Yu Hanul’s side, the atmosphere was really tense.”
They looked like they were having the time of their life. When it seemed I still hadn’t caught on, Han Jaeyeong elaborated.
“He kept calling you ‘Hunter Jeong Daon,’ you know. He used to call you ‘Daon’ every single time. I don’t know what it is, but didn’t you do something wrong?”
“…Why are you paying attention to details like that?”
Do I really have to worry about things like that too?
Seeing my expression, Han Jaeyeong burst out laughing openly. “Tell me later who won. I’ll side with whoever did.”
“As if.”
After Han Jaeyeong left the hospital room, teasing me, I sank into thought for a while. In front of Han Jaeyeong, I’d acted like it was nothing, but…
Did he really remember something?
This was definitely an emergency. Inside the dungeon, he’d said we should talk after getting out, yet once we actually escaped, instead of questioning me, he started avoiding me.
To be fair, this wasn’t the first time Yu Hanul had acted like that. He’d already suspected me several times before. It was just that things had always smoothed over somehow. The first time, his suspicion was still shallow, so I brushed it off easily. The next time he doubted me, for reasons unknown, he ended up declaring that he would just trust me. But this time, it didn’t seem like it would pass so easily.
What on earth did you remember?
I needed to know that in order to come up with a countermeasure. I wouldn’t mind if he just avoided me like this for the rest of his life, but given Yu Hanul’s personality, he wouldn’t let things drag on indefinitely like this. Once he sorted out his thoughts, he would inevitably try to talk. What mattered was how I would respond then, and there were several possible scenarios.
First, Yu Hanul realizes that I was the Demon Lord, the Destroyer of Worlds. This is the worst case. From Yu Hanul’s perspective, having received a quest to save the world, “Enemy of Humanity” and “Destroyer of Worlds” would look much the same. In that case, Jeong Daon would die by Yu Hanul’s hand. As I am now, I have no way to stop him.
Second, Yu Hanul only realizes that I was the “princess” in my past life, and this is the best case. Given that Yu Hanul called me “Your Highness” back in the last dungeon, I might have to be prepared for at least this much. Back in my past life, when I was still Emperor Orbis’ younger sister and a princess, not yet the Destroyer of Worlds, I had crossed paths with Yu Hanul, who was a knight, several times. Back then, we had a fairly decent relationship, as far as I remember. Then, after long years and many circumstances, I became the Demon Lord who would destroy the world, and Yu Hanul became the hero who defeated that Demon Lord.
But setting aside that long, tiresome story, judging from how Yu Hanul treated me with such deference in the dungeon when his memories were in turmoil, it seemed he didn’t remember that the “princess” was also the Destroyer of Worlds. It was probably an issue of
when
in his past memories he’d recalled.
If it’s just that much, it’d be a relief.
An acquaintance turns out to have been the princess I served in a past life! It sounds like a novel title from a slightly different genre, but doesn’t it seem kind of fun? At least if he’s only remembered that much, Yu Hanul wouldn’t immediately put a sword to my throat. In that case, I’d be willing to put on a performance like, “What an incredible coincidence,” or “My goodness, that’s truly amazing.”
Or rather, I could just pretend not to remember my past life at all.
And the third is...
He realizes both that I was a princess in my past life and that I was the Destroyer of Worlds, but lets it go anyway… hmm.
Even as I say it, that’s a ridiculous assumption. There’s no need to consider something so implausible. No matter how generous Yu Hanul is, he wouldn’t ignore something that could pose such a massive threat to the world.
Either way, the biggest problem is that even if I gloss over things for now… there’s a high chance Yu Hanul will eventually recover all his memories.
The system was stimulating Yu Hanul’s subconscious and bringing back his past-life memories even faster than I’d expected. That meant that even if things passed for now, it was practically guaranteed that Yu Hanul would turn against me in the near future.
So then, what was the way to break through this situation?
First method: recover enough strength so that Yu Hanul can’t kill me.
…That looks pretty hard.
First of all, Yu Hanul’s pace of regaining his memories is too fast, and there are too many constraints imposed by the system for me to recover my power faster than that.
Then, the second method: defeat the Enemy of Humanity before Yu Hanul recovers all his memories. If I destroy the Enemy of Humanity with my own hands, that would prove that I’m not a dangerous enemy. Of course, this too is vague at present, since I don’t even know Orbis’ whereabouts…
This is giving me a headache, seriously.
Orbis alone was already enough of a headache, and now I had to worry about my life being threatened by the hero as well. Just as I frowned deeply…
– The system requests that “Jeong Daon” provide support to “Yu Hanul.”
– Would you like to participate in the quest “SAVE THE WORLD”?
As if mocking me, the system presented a third countermeasure.
I glared at the words floating in my vision. “…Don’t piss me off.”
Of course, that could be one option. In fact, it was a perfect solution. If I joined that quest, then by the system’s rules I would become a guaranteed ally. In other words, I could avoid Yu Hanul’s suspicions, and at the same time gain the strongest card for killing Orbis, but…
“Was this truly the right thing to do?”
The image of Yu Hanul looking up at the sky after killing me flickered before my eyes.
A hero who killed the Demon Lord trying to destroy the world and reached a happy ending should have a face full of fulfillment and happiness. Yet for some reason, that face had been filled only with emptiness and anguish. A killing deemed necessary for humanity’s survival. However it had happened, as a hero it must have been an unavoidable choice, and he would have been guilty of nothing.
And yet, the hero had to shoulder suffering even after reaching the ending.
And now, even in his reincarnated life, Yu Hanul was still carrying that same burden, except now, the enemy was Orbis, someone he had a connection with in his past life. Of course, what Yu Hanul thinks after completing the quest, or what regrets he feels, has nothing to do with me…
But this question still arises: why must only one person bear such a burden?
This isn’t mere sympathy. It is a fundamental question I hold toward humanity. If making someone commit murder, wrapped in the fine-sounding title of “hero,” is a decision made for humanity’s survival… Then is that what the collective called humanity defines as justice?
“And why should I take part in this stupid farce, anyway?”
No, that’s not it.
I dismissed the quest window floating before my eyes and closed them.
…I’ll sleep on it and think about it again later.
In any case, for now, recovering my stamina quickly is the key.
I soon fell into a deep sleep.