Rick Wesley sat on a chair outside the isolation room, anxiously flicking his fingers.
He was not asleep. He had merely closed his eyes and was recalling the time he had first met Ollie Barclay.
The year the Gates first opened.
The world had changed, a new existence called Hunters had appeared, and American intelligence had fallen into chaos.
In those days when everything was nothing but confusion, Rick Wesley had been laying the foundations of USAA as a former military A-rank Hunter.
“I need manpower… preferably S-rank.”
The man he met then for the first time was Ollie Barclay.
From Texas. A tall young man who appeared wearing a cowboy hat, a leather jacket, and two revolvers at his waist.
“I heard this is where you beat up the worst bastards in the world?”
Perhaps because of the words he spoke as soon as he entered Rick’s office, his first impression had been eccentricity itself.
“S-rank Awakener, energy-type?”
“My weapons are guns. When you say America, you mean guns, don’t you?”
Rick could not forget the face of the man who had grinned and held out his hand.
“So, when do we start beating up the bad guys?”
Ollie Barclay was a typical Texas man.
Strong, independent, righteous, free, and cheerful.
“You have not even passed yet.”
“Huh? But I’m S-rank?”
He never lost his jokes in any situation, and if it was for a comrade, he would even risk his own life.
Together, they built USAA.
From its early days with only a handful of members until it grew into the strongest guild in the world, Ollie always stood on the front line.
America’s strongest ranged damage dealer.
When Ollie’s gunshots rang out on the battlefield, the enemy always fell.
And one year ago.
After the Fallon dungeon break, Ollie Barclay began to change.
At first, it was subtle. His jokes decreased. He spent more time alone. By the time Rick noticed, it was already too late.
They hid it as much as they could, then hid it again, but even that clearly had its limit.
“We must handle him!”
“You know best what results an S-rank rampage will bring, do you not?!”
The moment Ollie’s number exceeded 90, Rick Wesley was placed at a crossroads.
“I will… think it over.”
The decision to kill a comrade, a friend, a brother-in-arms who had spent twenty years with him.
One day, as he could not sleep beneath the weight of that decision, he learned the news of mental contamination healing.
At first, he did not believe it.
But he confirmed it through his internal information network, and once it was confirmed that Eun Seo-jin’s contamination level changes were real, Rick decided to go to Korea without hesitating for even one second.
“Please….”
All those moments flashed past like a revolving lantern. Watching Ollie, who had been like that, collapse under mental contamination and growl like a beast was more painful to Rick than death.
“Please save him.”
At that very moment.
“Cough-!”
CRASH-!
Beyond the isolation room door Eun Seo-jin was guarding, Song Ji-hu vomited blood and collapsed on the spot.
“Guild leader!”
Eun Seo-jin rushed in like lightning and supported him. Rick Wesley also approached with a feeling as if his heart had dropped.
“Mister Song!”
Rick Wesley sprang to his feet.
Song Ji-hu’s state was terrible. Dark-red blood was streaming from his eyes, nose, and mouth. His complexion was as pale as a corpse.
“Did it fail? What in the world happened… Medical staff! Call the medical staff immediately!”
Had something gone wrong? Had it failed? Tension tightened around his throat.
“His contamination! The number is dropping!”
A scream-like shout burst from the medical staff monitoring Ollie Barclay’s condition from behind.
“What?”
“From 96… to 61!”
Rick Wesley snatched the measuring device and gripped it. His eyes trembled convulsively as he checked the numbers stamped on the screen.
[Mental Contamination Level: 61.2%]
From 96.4 to 61.2. A decrease of 35.
From late stage to middle stage. In a single dive, he had shaved off 35 points.
At this unprecedented miracle in human history, Rick Wesley’s hands trembled.
“…Rick…?”
From inside the isolation room came Ollie Barclay’s cracked voice, the voice of a man who had been unconscious for a year.
Rick Wesley’s feet moved into the isolation room.
Ollie Barclay, bound in restraints, was blinking as if trying to focus his eyes.
For the first time in a year, he was looking at Rick with eyes that had clear focus.
“Ollie…!”
Rick Wesley’s voice trembled.
“Are you conscious?”
“How… long was I asleep?”
“Long enough… You slept long enough, my friend. Now it is time to wake up.”
Seeing Rick Wesley dripping tears, Ollie Barclay asked a question.
“Rick, the Texas Cowboys won the championship, right?”
At those words, Rick Wesley burst into loud laughter.
***
The next day.
A top-class vacation cottage annex provided by USAA.
Song Ji-hu lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling. USAA’s care was extremely attentive.
Even though Eun Seo-jin was beside him, USAA guards stood in shifts before the door around the clock.
Beside the sickbed, top-grade recovery potions airlifted from America and all kinds of supplements were piled up like a mountain.
His physical wounds had healed, but the mental exhaustion remained.
While in a forced dive, he had fought Shepherd while maintaining his mind with Ollie Barclay’s. On top of that, there was the shock of the connection being forcibly severed by Ollie Barclay.
Click-
“Excuse me.”
The door opened, and Rick Wesley entered. Gratitude welling from the heart had spread across his entire face.
“How is your body?”
“I’m fine. I’m used to this much.”
Song Ji-hu raised himself. Eun Seo-jin quickly placed a cushion behind his back.
“Thanks.”
Rick Wesley sat in the chair beside the bed.
“Ollie’s contamination level has finally stabilized at 60. It dropped by one more overnight. He is still exhausted, but conversation is possible.”
Rick Wesley stopped speaking for a moment and lowered his head.
“You saved Ollie Barclay and me. And USAA as well. Truly, thank you.”
It was the greatest expression of gratitude Rick Wesley could show.
Moreover, he had seen with his own eyes that this was a treatment dangerous even to Song Ji-hu’s life.
The sight of him almost collapsing while pouring blood from his eyes, nose, and mouth. Knowing that, he had still thrown himself in for Ollie.
There was no reason not to trust this person.
“That’s good. I’ll probably have to go in once or twice more.”
“Before that, it seems Mister Song needs to recover first.”
Rick Wesley looked at Song Ji-hu with worried eyes.
“I have something to ask. Ollie sometimes wakes up and says it feels like someone is inside his head… Could that be a kind of aftereffect?”
“Yes, probably.”
At those words, the corner of Song Ji-hu’s mouth twisted upward. It was a smile close to cynicism.
Ollie himself had begun sensing Shepherd’s existence.
‘I faced that bastard sooner than expected, but….’
If anything, it was positive.
If he could strike at the bastard before he harvested more souls, it would be possible to seize the flow.
‘It will be difficult to enter the mental imagery again right away….’
Song Ji-hu picked up his phone from the bedside table and checked the date.
March 19.
‘The day after tomorrow.’
And Im Jae-hyeok. In every worldline where Song Ji-hu had failed to save him, that Gate tomorrow had been the root cause.
The sight of Im Jae-hyeok shedding tears of blood as his soul was harvested rose vividly in his mind.
[Ryu Jin : The weapon is complete.]
Seeing the text from Ryu Jin that had arrived while his body was being treated, Song Ji-hu looked straight at Rick Wesley.
“Guild Leader Wesley. One of the three requests we negotiated. Can I use one now?”
At Song Ji-hu’s words, Rick Wesley grinned and nodded.
“Tell me. I will help with anything.”
“I would like you to help me clear a Gate the day after tomorrow.”
“Is it an S-rank dungeon?”
At Rick Wesley’s question, filled with tension, Song Ji-hu shook his head.
“No. It is C-rank.”
“Pardon?”
Rick Wesley looked at Song Ji-hu with an expression as if all the strength had drained out of him.
His eyes seemed to be asking whether Song Ji-hu was really going to use one of the three chances he had obtained with such difficulty just to clear a C-rank Gate.
As USAA was called the world’s strongest, they could clear even an S-rank dungeon if they set their minds to it. Yet only C-rank? For a moment, Rick Wesley seriously suspected he had misheard.
“But I think it would be good to have enough power to handle an A-rank… Gate.”
“We will prepare. However, since it is a C-rank Gate, I will not deduct it from the three chances. I would be grateful if you considered it USAA’s thanks for your dedication and hard work.”
At an answer that showed Rick Wesley’s personality all too well, Song Ji-hu grinned.
“Please be ready to move tomorrow morning. There is somewhere we need to go.”
“Understood.”
Yoon Yeong-su bowed his head.
***
March 20. Early morning.
Song Ji-hu raised himself from the bed and rolled his wrists.
Until yesterday, even stretching out his arms had drained his strength, but today he was much better.
The effect of the recovery potions provided by USAA was certain.
‘There won’t be a problem with tomorrow’s Gate.’
Tomorrow was the Incheon Gate, and after that, Ollie Barclay’s second treatment. More precisely, Shepherd, whom he would meet inside it.
The dagger was beginning to show its limits.
Song Ji-hu changed clothes and left the cottage.
“Then I will see you tomorrow.”
Rick Wesley saw Song Ji-hu off, and Yoon Yeong-su was already waiting in the lobby.
“Go to this address.”
Once Eun Seo-jin got in, Song Ji-hu handed Yoon Yeong-su an address.
“We will depart.”
The car set off, and Song Ji-hu’s gaze lingered on the sword at Eun Seo-jin’s waist. It was the sword he had been using since waking, but it did not look particularly good.
“Is your current weapon all right?”
At Song Ji-hu’s question, Eun Seo-jin brushed the sword at his waist once, then nodded.
“To be honest… it is difficult to say it is all right.”
After waking, he had been too distracted by this and that, so he had simply been using it, but it was not a weapon suited to an S-rank.
Even by the standards of three years ago, it had been mid-grade, and for the current Eun Seo-jin, it was certainly lacking.
“Then try entrusting it to the blacksmith we’re visiting now. His skill should be quite good.”
Eun Seo-jin tilted his head slightly.
“I will think about it after seeing the weapon you receive, guild leader.”
To a Hunter, was a weapon not no different from their hands and feet? That was why simply finding a skilled blacksmith was not enough.
“It is a matter that requires caution anyway.”
The blacksmith had to be skilled as a basic requirement, and at the same time, understand his magic power wavelength and craft a weapon that matched even his combat style. That was why he had no choice but to keep putting off weapon production.
“Right. You should see it for yourself and judge.”
The signs of the Hunter Shopping District swept past outside the car window.
Past the bustling main street, toward the outskirts where there were fewer and fewer people.
And at the far end of the shopping district.
When they arrived at Ryu Jin’s workshop that Song Ji-hu had mentioned, Eun Seo-jin and Yoon Yeong-su’s expressions turned strange.
“Is this really the right place?”
“Yeah. His skill alone is incredible. Have you ever seen me talk nonsense?”
“That is true, but….”
Feeling half doubtful because the place looked far too shabby for someone supposedly skilled, they got out of the car and arrived at the entrance of the building.
That was when shouting came from underground.