Chapter 78
78 The Reunion with the Hunter Association Chairman
Dodak liked Cheon Dowoon's fanny pack.
When the bag flap was closed, the sunlight was blocked, making it feel like being underground. He could take his leaves out for photosynthesis.
If Rootlets dried out, he could apply the moisture cream next to him. Maintaining moisture with the cream and then taking a nap.
That was Dodak's routine.
-Hoo-oong….
Waking up from his nap, Dodak rubbed his eyes with his Rootlets.
Just as he was thinking he was getting hungry, the bag opened, and he was lifted up.
"Dodak-ah. Let's eat."
Along with the Helper's voice, a feast was laid out before him. How did he know he was hungry and prepare a meal like this?
Dodak felt good. The Helper's Mana was overflowing before his eyes.
There was some nasty Secretary's Mana mixed in, but it didn't matter.
He could just spit that out after eating it.
-Hoo-oong, hoo-oong!
Dodak immediately started eating.
As he puffed out his belly and absorbed the Mana, Mana was sucked out of the Secretary's body.
"Hee-up…!"
As the Mana that felt like it would burst his heart disappeared, the Secretary exhaled.
His relief was short-lived. He widened his eyes in surprise at the Mana that was rapidly draining away.
'Wh-what. Is he absorbing my Mana right now? Was this person also an Awakened like me?'
He momentarily thought it was Cheon Dowoon's ability.
But something was different. There was no sign of him activating any ability.
Looking at Cheon Dowoon, his gaze stopped at the Root on his palm.
'That's… no, could it be Mandragora?'
No way. How could a Mandragora follow a person?
In the first place, he had never seen such a plump Mandragora.
He was momentarily stunned by the incomprehensible sight. He was flustered by the Mana that was being drawn out endlessly.
'W-wait a minute. You're taking too much… N-no. Stop taking it!'
It was good that his body was stabilizing, but if he lost any more Mana, he would collapse from exhaustion.
Sensing the crisis, the Secretary activated his ability.
'If it's Mana absorption, I won't lose either!'
He would protect the remaining Mana. He started a Mana tug-of-war with Dodak.
-Hoo-oong?
Dodak tilted his head as the Mana that had been flowing in smoothly stopped.
Dodak looked at the Secretary.
That shady thing was not giving up the Helper's Mana.
-Hoo-oong!
Enraged, Dodak slammed the ground with his Rootlets.
How dare he covet his Helper's Mana? That was his. Give it over.
Dodak began to inhale Mana with great force.
Until now, he had been savoring the taste, but now he was eating with all his might to avoid being robbed.
Nom nom nom, nom nom nom. Munch munch.
"Ah, aaaa…! No…! M-my strength…."
The Secretary's knees buckled. He gasped for breath, supporting himself on the ground.
Was this how it felt to have your soul sucked out by a vacuum cleaner? The Secretary trembled at the feeling of his soul being threshed in a thresher.
'T-this speed of absorption… I was a frog in a well.'
Once called a human Mandragora, he groaned and collapsed.
He didn't have the strength to get up, feeling like his soul had been sucked out.
-Hoo-oong.
After finishing his meal, Dodak swayed from side to side. He began to sort out the Secretary's Mana that had been mixed in and absorbed.
Finishing the work, Dodak lowered his head.
-Bleeh.
Plant sap poured out of Dodak's mouth. He converted the Secretary's Mana into plant sap and spat it all out.
Having finished his picky eating, Dodak patted his full belly with his Rootlets.
"Are you full?"
-Hoo-oong.
"Okay. Then go in and sleep. You need to sleep a lot to be healthy."
Cheon Dowoon put Dodak in his fanny pack. He wiped the plant sap on his hand on the Secretary's shoulder.
At that moment, the iron gate of the Chairman's house opened, and armed agents poured out.
"Step back!"
"Secretary, are you okay?"
"Get away from the Secretary!"
The agents who came out in a rush pointed their guns at Cheon Dowoon.
He had only come to meet an old acquaintance, but why was it so noisy? Cheon Dowoon looked at them with a subtle expression.
Chairman Lee Un-soo's mansion had a separate security management team.
When you sit in a high position, you tend to incur resentment even if you do your job well.
There were even Hunters who committed acts of terrorism because they failed the promotion test.
As such, the Chairman's house was equipped with a strict security system.
"Team Leader. Something seems strange here."
A security guard, staring at the CCTV in front of the house, called the team leader.
"A young man came with Lee Baek-ho. The situation is a bit odd."
The guard said, looking at Cheon Dowoon on the screen.
At first, he thought it was a friend Lee Baek-ho had brought. But when the Secretary came forward and put pressure on him, he guessed that wasn't the case.
Since similar things had happened a few times before, he thought the young man would be scolded and run away.
But he was wrong.
"Something… it looks like the Secretary is being pushed back. Is it just me? What does it look like to you, Team Leader?"
In the screen, the Secretary was having his Mana sucked by Mandragora.
However, it was not clear what he was doing on the screen.
He watched with half-doubt for a while. The Secretary collapsing was captured on the screen.
"E-everyone, arm yourselves! It's an emergency!"
He sounded the emergency bell in the security team. A red warning light and a siren rang.
About 50 security guards who gathered in an instant armed themselves and went out through the iron gate.
"Step back!"
They shouted loudly and pointed their guns at Cheon Dowoon.
Six Awakened stepped forward and activated their capture abilities. Chains of light rose from Cheon Dowoon's feet and bound his body.
'How annoying.'
Cheon Dowoon flicked his hand with a nonchalant expression. With just that, the streaks of light that wrapped around his body burst and disappeared.
"Wh-what the heck…!"
"Quiet. Everyone, just lie down for a bit. It's too noisy."
Cheon Dowoon suppressed the area with Mana.
Everyone except Chairman Lee Un-soo and his grandson, and the Secretary, whose physical condition was not good, were subjected to dozens of times the gravity.
"Euheok!"
The 50 agents who had appeared with great fanfare dropped their guns and fell to the ground.
Even if they tried to get up, they could not move because of the force pressing down on them.
'Wh-what…! Who the hell is that guy?'
The security team looked at Cheon Dowoon with horrified faces.
Chairman Lee Baek-ho and Lee Baek-ho were also frozen by the vast Mana they had never felt before. The most surprised of them was the Secretary.
'Th-this can't be happening?'
That guy had already absorbed more than three people's worth of Mana from him. It didn't make sense that he could release this much power in that state.
While he was frozen in surprise, Cheon Dowoon scanned the Secretary.
"You're still conscious. The Mana Hole seems fine."
He would recover even if he left him alone, but he couldn't send his old acquaintance's subordinate to the hospital at their reunion.
Cheon Dowoon grabbed the Secretary's shoulder and injected Mana. He filled his empty Mana Hole and stood up.
"Heo…."
The Secretary let out a sound that was neither admiration nor groan.
Through the Mana entering his body, he glimpsed Cheon Dowoon's power for a moment.
An abyss. A bottomless swamp.
It was so deep that he couldn't even guess how much power he had.
"Who the hell are you…."
Who are you? He wanted to ask, but Cheon Dowoon had already passed him and went to Chairman Lee Un-soo.
The Chairman stood his grandson behind him with a nervous face.
Although he had retired from the field, he was also an Awakened.
He sensed that the person in front of him was unbelievably strong.
'The only good thing is that he doesn't seem hostile.'
The fact that he saved the Secretary was proof of that. He could have left him to become a cripple, but he stepped in and saved him.
Right now, he had no choice but to put his hope in that.
Why did you approach my grandson? Just as he was about to ask, Cheon Dowoon spoke first.
"Long time no see."
"What…?"
"I can tell by your face. You've changed a lot. But you still have the old atmosphere."
"What are you talking about… Do you know me?"
"I know you. Don't you remember me?"
The Chairman's expression wavered at the unexpected situation.
He looked at Cheon Dowoon. Even if he looked, he couldn't remember someone he had briefly met decades ago.
Considering the passage of time, he couldn't connect the boy at the time with Cheon Dowoon.
"You really don't remember? You even gave me your business card to contact you. Was it all just empty words?"
"G-gave you a business card? Did I?"
Chairman Lee Un-soo's eyes shook. Judging by how confidently he spoke, he must know him.
But he had no idea.
If he had handed a business card to someone with such great power, he wouldn't have forgotten.
"Where did you meet me?"
"The ruins."
"The ruins…?"
"You were buried under the rubble of a building. You couldn't move because you hurt your leg. I carried you on my back to the Shelter."
To be exact, he carried him on his shoulder like a piece of luggage.
If he still didn't remember, he would just leave. Cheon Dowoon looked at the Chairman's expression.
There was no change in the Chairman's expression.
Cheon Dowoon was not disappointed. He had thought that this might happen.
The old era, when every moment was like a war.
He was the one who founded the Hunter Association in that chaotic time. He must have experienced countless things worse than being buried in a building.
'That incident must have been a trivial event that he doesn't even remember.'
There was no need to pester someone who had already forgotten and ask why he didn't know him.
"Never mind if you don't remember."
Cheon Dowoon turned around. He also released the security team that had been suppressed by Mana.
Although their bodies were freed, the security guards did not recklessly step forward.
It was partly because they had lost their will in the face of Cheon Dowoon's power, but they could not step forward because Chairman Lee Un-soo's expression was strange, and they remained silent.
"You…."
The Chairman looked at Cheon Dowoon with a stiff face.
He wasn't standing still because he couldn't remember. He was speechless because the memories were coming back too vividly.
"You… you."
A young boy overlapped with Cheon Dowoon's back.
The boy who had taken him to the Shelter and turned away without a word.
The boy who was wandering around the ruins wearing combat uniforms armed with guns and swords.
[You were lucky. The sign next to you became a pillar and you weren't crushed.]
The boy who lifted a huge concrete pile with one hand flickered before his eyes.
[Until we get out of here, you'll guide me.]
He also remembered demanding directions in exchange for the water he had drunk.
The Chairman forced open his stiff mouth.
"Why… why didn't you contact me all this time?"
Cheon Dowoon's steps stopped.
Chairman Lee Un-soo moved his feet, which would not fall, and walked towards him.
"Do you know how much I searched for you after that? Whether you were alive or not, how a child was doing such dangerous things. I even gave you my business card to contact me in case there was anything I could do to help. Why did you come only now?"
Cheon Dowoon slowly turned to look at him.
Their eyes met. One was an old man, and the other was a young man, looking at each other.
The corners of Cheon Dowoon's mouth went up.
"You remember?"
"I've never forgotten. How could I forget the benefactor of my life?"
Chairman Lee Un-soo said with a face full of emotion.
Why hadn't he contacted him all this time? How had he been? How was he still so young?
He could guess the latter because he had seen his power a little while ago.
"You… you've become unbelievably strong."
"I was always strong."
"Haha, that's right, you were. You were."
Chairman Lee Un-soo laughed. He remembered the 15-year-old boy who had dealt with A-Class monsters in the blink of an eye.
That boy had grown up and appeared. He appeared only when he was an old man over 80 years old.
"Grandfather. Who is Big Bro? How do you two know each other?"
Lee Baek-ho, who was next to him, couldn't stand his curiosity and asked. It was a question that scratched the curiosity of the security guards.
"How did you come with him?"
"That's… Big Bro saved me. I almost died inside the Gate. Big Bro helped me and saved me then."
He left out the part about going into the Gate alone on a whim.
The Chairman, who was half out of his mind with the reunion with Cheon Dowoon, did not point out that part. He was not in the mood to point it out.
"He saved you?"
The boy who had saved his life in his youth had now saved his grandson.
A smile spread across his surprised face. That quiet smile gradually turned into a hearty laugh.
The security guards who were watching were surprised. They had never seen the Chairman laugh like that.
"Really. You haven't changed. So, did you make my grandson guide you?"
"No. Instead of guiding me, I had him chop some firewood."
"Haha, you really haven't changed. You're just like you were back then."
The Chairman laughed again.
He didn't know what had happened between him and his grandson. But it was certain that he had saved his grandson.
Gratitude and joy. What would be the word that included all of those? The Chairman looked at him and opened his mouth.
"Long time no see."
He couldn't say more than that. Cheon Dowoon smiled.
"Yeah. It's been a long time."
With that, the emotions were fully conveyed. The relationship that had passed by in the ruins faced each other after 60 years.
It's been a long time. The two smiled at each other.