Hunter Hospital VIP room located in Seoul.
"Hey hey, I went too far. I won't tease you anymore."
Yoo jin threw the words out while picking up a banana.
Despite Yoo jin's apology, Cho Sang-geun covered himself with the blanket and did not show his face.
Like a child who suffered their first heartbreak in life.
Like a child who was the only one not to receive a gift from Santa.
A Returnee, no less.
As Cho Sang-geun stayed hidden inside the blanket despite Yoo jin's apology, Lee Si-wang, who was in the next bed, read the room and opened his mouth.
"Guild Master. Teacher Yoo jin is apologizing sincerely too, please take off the blanket."
Not like a subordinate, but a voice gentler than usual?
Continued as if soothing a young child.
However, even at Lee Si-wang's voice, the blanket wrapped tightly around the body did not think of moving.
Lee Si-wang, who spat out the words, turned his head to Yoo jin and scratched his cheek.
At that gaze, Yoo jin also raised his hand and swept his forehead.
It was inevitable.
A gentleman quite advanced in age.
On top of that, he never imagined the sight of Cho Sang-geun, who always maintained his dignity, sulking while covered in a blanket as if he had regressed to childhood, would unfold before his eyes.
'I should have teased him moderately.'
The root cause of all this was clearly Yoo jin.
Himself.
Back then, laughter came out to the point he couldn't control his emotions so he couldn't pay attention.
Thinking about it now, he recalled Cho Sang-geun's expression darkening moment by moment and his cheeks becoming red enough to be confirmed with the naked eye.
"Haa―"
Yoo jin, who swept his forehead, opened his eyes wide toward Lee Si-wang and gestured with his chin.
He didn't open his lips, but his intention was being clearly conveyed.
Lee Si-wang didn't spit out a voice, but moved his lips.
'No, what am I supposed to do?'
Lee Si-wang appealed by even lifting both hands, but who was the opponent.
Based on what he had experienced so far, he was not an opponent that words would work on.
Yoo jin pointed at Cho Sang-geun, who was covered in the blanket, with his chin and crumpled his expression roughly.
That is.
To Lee Si-wang.
There was no right to refuse.
'Why is the hard stuff always dumped on me.'
Lee Si-wang, who made a crying face, lamented his situation and spoke to Cho Sang-geun.
"Guild Master...... Teacher Yoo jin is sincerely reflecting. I am too."
It was true that a large portion of why things turned out this way lay with Yoo jin, but.
It couldn't be said that Lee Si-wang himself had absolutely no fault.
He definitely also.
'Pfft.......'
Laughed, after all.
"I am sincerely sorry, Guild Master......."
The eyebrows of Lee Si-wang, who was making a sunken expression, twitched.
Rustle.
The blanket that seemed like it would absolutely not move began to slowly go down.
And Cho Sang-geun's revealed face.
"Since you go as far as to say that, I will let it pass just this once......."
His expression was still sunken, but at the words coming from Cho Sang-geun's mouth, Lee Si-wang's expression brightened.
Lee Si-wang, who let out a sigh of relief, moved his gaze to Yoo jin again and nodded.
Yoo jin showing a smile like usual only now.
To change the atmosphere, Lee Si-wang quickly opened his mouth.
"By the way, why did you reveal directly that you are a Returnee?"
"Wasn't it revealed anyway? You guys went to Yeoncheon because you were marked by the Wily Raccoon due to that."
"That is true, but for the general public to know this quickly......."
"Well, there are many reasons. The biggest one is because flies kept swarming."
"Flies?"
"Yeah, flies kept swarming around my kids."
Lee Si-wang and Cho Sang-geun made eye contact and soon nodded.
There was something they could roughly guess.
The incident during the school trip.
A Russian S-Rank assassin attacking the students.
Furthermore, the fact that the one who commissioned it was the former Association President.
Lee Si-wang saw it directly with his eyes.
And Cho Sang-geun knew to some extent due to reports.
Although they couldn't talk properly because of the subsequent Yeoncheon dispatch.
"It's not that I don't understand, but from Teacher Yoo jin's position, wouldn't it have been a better choice not to reveal it if you wanted to continue being a teacher?"
"I agree. I feel like flies will swarm even more instead."
"I don't know, flies that swarm even after doing this can't be helped."
Yoo jin, who finally tossed the banana he picked up earlier into his mouth, made a nonchalant expression.
"Now, flies will swarm you, not the students."
At Cho Sang-geun's voice, Yoo jin's eyes turned toward Cho Sang-geun.
"It doesn't matter. As long as they swarm me and not the kids."
"It won't be just at the level of flies. Now the Association, the government. On top of that, other countries too. Huge flies will all rush at you."
"Really?"
"To make a contract, they will visit the school and bother you. They will probably even attach tails to follow you. Not only you, but even the students......."
Behind Cho Sang-geun's voice, silence continued for a moment.
Yoo jin, who finished the remaining banana in one bite with a contemplative face, tossed the peel into the trash can and lightly opened his mouth.
"Then well...... everyone dies. The flies too. The countries that sent the fly bastards too."
Chill.
Although quite some time had passed since they were together.
And although they thought they had become quite close.
They still couldn't get used to this feeling.
A faintly blooming smile.
However, a voice spitting out sincerity.
Gulp.
Both Cho Sang-geun and Lee Si-wang.
Could know for sure now.
Although he is spitting it out lightly.
That it is absolutely not a joke.
Although he is laughing, that it is sincere.
If this Returnee in front of their eyes sets his mind to it.
Sincerely, whether flies, power, or nations.
That he can make them disappear.......
"I just need to be able to be a teacher."
The appearance of Yoo jin smiling after saying that was incredibly grotesque.
However, neither S-Rank Cho Sang-geun.
Nor Vice Guild Master Lee Si-wang.
Could spit that out of their mouths.
They had to live first.
How long has it been since they almost died in Yeoncheon.
He resolved a Dungeon Break that even the nation couldn't handle in 1 second.
"......."
"......."
Like that, Cho Sang-geun and Lee Si-wang became mutes who had eaten honey.
In the midst of that.
"Ah, right!"
As if something came to mind, Yoo jin clapped his hands.
And then.
"Keep your promise."
He voiced out while looking at the patients.
"Yes...?"
"What promise...."
"I told you I came because I had something to receive."
"Ah―"
Right, the reward.
But both of them couldn't understand what connection that reward and a promise had.
"What, what's with those expressions? You promised first."
Yoo jin's gaze headed to Cho Sang-geun.
"I made a promise?"
"Eh? Look at him trying to play dumb."
"No, it's not that, it's because I really can't remember."
Something to receive.
If it's a reward.
It would definitely be the price for resolving the Dungeon Break that became a restricted area.
A large reward fitting that magnitude.
He had no memory of promising that.
No matter how much he searched his memory.
Yoo jin, who was looking at the blank expression, crumpled his brow like a trident.
"No, you promised with your own mouth! That you'd buy hamburgers for the kids. And give them a tour of Ignis!"
"......."
Cho Sang-geun's mouth fell open.
Only a single word filled his head.
"Just that?"
It couldn't be helped.
What could he do when only those words came to mind.
He saved his life.
He saved his subordinates who were like family.
He defeated a Dungeon Break and monsters that even S-Ranks couldn't handle.
On top of that, he liberated a restricted area, and resolved the safety and future of the citizens.......
"Just that? What do you mean."
"No, you saved our lives...... even if you have no interest in material things, I was thinking of at least...... the reward for what you did is just that much......."
Looking at Cho Sang-geun who was dumbfounded, Yoo jin lifted one corner of his lips.
"Do you know how precious hamburgers are to kids? And how precious of a life memory a tour of a large guild like Ignis would be to guys whose dream is to be a Hunter?"
Cho Sang-geun had no choice but to be truly stunned.
"......."
After a long time passed like that.
"Haha―"
A voice flowed out through a faint smile.
"You are really......."
A teacher.
From the bone.
No.
Where the entire brain is filled with students.
Not profit.
Not money.
That incomprehensible nature of thinking only about students.......
Yoo jin's smile spread even to Cho Sang-geun and Lee Si-wang.
"I will tell Secretary Kim. Both conditions. So that we can do them as soon as possible."
"Thank you."
Yoo jin, who conveyed his gratitude, slowly turned his body.
"Are you leaving already?"
At Lee Si-wang's voice, Yoo jin said without even turning his head.
"What do you mean already, I was here all day. Because your senior was sulking."
"......."
Lee Si-wang remained silent, but this time laughter leaked out from Cho Sang-geun's mouth.
"Then let's meet again."
Yoo jin waved his hand without looking back.
Slide.
Yoo jin, who was about to leave the door, stopped in place.
At that appearance, Cho Sang-geun and Lee Si-wang's gazes were fixed on the hospital room door.
"Do you have anything to say?"
At Yoo jin's hesitating appearance, Cho Sang-geun's voice filled the hospital room.
"By any chance, have you guys heard the Giants' voices?"
At the incomprehensible words, Cho Sang-geun and Lee Si-wang's heads tilted.
"Voices?"
"Giant-type entities can't speak...... Why? Did something happen?"
"No, it's nothing. I'm going. Suck honey well. Both of you."
Yoo jin's face quickly leaving the hospital room had darkened.
***
Time goes back.
Yeoncheon.
To be precise, the very next moment after the Rune-embedded Giants were struck by lightning.
Yoo jin approached the dead Giants.
Giants whose forms hardly remained.
Turning to ash.
As he arrived at the place where they were becoming crystals and rising to the sky.
― Thank you.
― For freeing us from pain....
― For letting us die as warriors, not toys.......
Only Yoo jin could hear the voices of the Giants.
However.
As for the meaning contained in their voices, neither Yoo jin nor anyone else could know for now.
***
Next day.
Taewoon High.
The hallway reminded one of an idol fan meeting scene.
The gazes of most students, who seemed to be waiting for someone, were fixed on smartphone screens.
Some were wearing earphones, and some had the volume turned up loud.
『Returnee, no! Thanks to Teacher Yoo jin, I am alive right now! Everyone, I was on the verge of dying to a Giant in Yeoncheon but that person appeared and the lightning just went Boom!』
Kim Chun-sik, who took the role of cameraman for the Yeoncheon incident, bowed his head while sobbing inside the screen.
In the comment window attached below the screen, all kinds of exclamations were exploding.
― Wow, for that person, the Returnee will be a lifesaver for life.
― If it were me, I'd say he's not just a person but a god, a god!
― The national hero is a teacher lololol.
― How do I join Teacher Yoo jin's fan club?
― There is a Demon King fan cafe.
The link is.......
It was then.
Before the video even ended, the entire hallway buzzed.
"Huh? Teacher Yoo jin is coming over there!"
At a single word shouted by someone, all students turned their heads in unison.
At the end of the hallway, as Yoo jin's figure walking as usual was seen, students rushed at him as if sprinting with full power.
"Teacher! I saw the video! You are really so cool!"
"Please come to our class first, please!"
"Can't you give me just one autograph?"
Yoo jin, surrounded by students who flocked in an instant, stopped for a moment with an absurd face.
"What, why are you guys suddenly like this?"
However, the kids had absolutely no intention of listening.
"Teach! I don't know how many times I replayed you striking with lightning! Wow, I really thought I was watching a movie!"
"Why is a Returnee working as a teacher?"
"Are you a lightning ability user?"
"Please be our homeroom teacher!"
"Sign here please!"
"Move, I'm first!"
"I waited since morning."
"Me too, you know?"
"I practically slept here!!"
"Please take a photo!"
"Please give me an autograph!"
Yoo jin's mouth was not closing at the wave of students filling the hallway.
'Ah...... did I reveal it for nothing?'
It was already too late to have such worries.