# Chapter 50
The patches he had been using finally ran out. Lee Hwan went around Hunter supply merchants to buy forty medical patches with a thick wad of cash, making sure no record would remain anywhere.
If manipulating an Awakened person’s identity wasn’t such a sensitive issue, he could have bought a fake ID somewhere long ago. But in reality, even being an unregistered Awakened was a felony, so he couldn’t carelessly leave medical records either.
Anyone who had completed elementary education knew that after the first Gate formation, tremendous chaos and panic swept across the world. People died and were injured as monsters overflowed due to lack of knowledge about Gate management.
However, the greater damage originated from people. All kinds of crimes flourished while the military and police were in panic, with criminals possessing abilities being the most conspicuous.
If other Awakened hadn’t quickly subdued them and established norms, abilities would certainly have become targets of oppression.
Korea had always been a country that registered and managed all citizens. Afterward, true to being a nation of “hurry, hurry,” society was rebuilt instantly and absolutely did not tolerate unregistered Awakened.
‘Sigh, these crazy bastards should take it easy.’
Awakened people were issued separate medical numbers when visiting medical institutions. They also had separate insurance for Hunters. Awakened individuals outside state management couldn’t properly receive medical services, so meeting private doctors illegally through connections was the best option.
Thanks to that, Lee Hwan had ended up in this state. His side still hadn’t healed. The wound that had opened was somewhat closed, but if he overexerted himself again, it would burst open again.
The good thing was that until it burst, it would just be moderately painful and moderately annoying.
‘How did I get injured back then to end up like this…’
Lee Hwan was recalling his memories with a frown when he picked up his phone to check the time and was startled. He’d almost been late. Since he didn’t want to be tardy starting from Monday, going to work came first.
Lee Hwan quickly attached a new patch to his side and hurriedly put on his shirt over it.
What kept circling in his mind throughout the crowded bus ride to work was, of course, Kang Dongha’s request for cooperation that he had heard last week. Whether he had been busy punching numbers into a calculator because of this incident or not, after the commotion had passed, Lee Hwan was able to hear new information.
‘Well, Joo Lee Hwan Supporter… Honestly, I don’t think you know everything in detail. When I think about it, what you say is always vague.’
‘…What are you up to now, calling my name like that?’
‘Just hear me out first. Since you don’t know everything about my work, just as I don’t properly know what you want, how about we start trading information step by step from the beginning? First, I need an Awakened to accompany me to meetings continuously.’
He still hadn’t properly received an apology for the wedge driven between them. Yet Lee Hwan was a bit stunned by how Dongha continued to say what he wanted until the end. Just as he was contemplating where to leave a mark on the new office, the conversation quickly continued.
‘What? Did I not make enough of a scene?’
‘Cup, put down the cup and just listen… Hey, Kang, Kang Taesung!’
‘What?’
‘Aren’t you trying to stalk… no, investigate Kang Taesung? Isn’t that why you keep wearing that ridiculous watch? Listen. For some reason, that bastard showed his face at one of our meetings, so if you follow him, couldn’t you dig up various things?’
‘…Kang Taesung? What kind of meeting is that?’
WHACK!
The bus handle that had tilted while turning a corner returned to its position and struck Lee Hwan’s forehead. The consciousness that had been searching through his memories instantly returned to the present.
“Ugh…”
Lee Hwan let out a pained groan even though it didn’t really hurt. Recalling last week’s conversation brought on a headache. If he hadn’t been in front of Kang Dongha at the time, he might have unknowingly sat down and panted.
What kind of incident was about to happen that his life was flowing in such a mess?
‘What kind of meeting is it, what do they do there?’
‘It’s like an association, called HPA. In Korean, it’s…’
Health Promotion Association.
It was a meeting of secret personnel that he had found out about only by nearly shoving a mug to the crown of Kang Dongha’s head.
Somehow, despite the ginseng-scented naming that didn’t indicate who was promoting whose health or how, Lee Hwan got goosebumps learning that this association had a history of 15 years.
‘Why is the name like this?’
‘It’s just called the Health Promotion Association, but in reality, several research projects in the research wing are quite entangled with it.’
‘…Semi-awakening.’
Lee Hwan felt like he had found a clue again while simultaneously feeling all the blood in his body turn cold. Weekday work and sick leave instantly lost their weight and vanished from his mind.
‘Why would Kang Taesung appear at such a place? For what reason? Did he just show his face? Or what was he doing?’
‘Ack, let go, this. I don’t know. I don’t know either. I’m already suffering because I have to be careful around Dongying hyung because of that.’
Would the future change again? This time in such an incomprehensible and absurd way. Lee Hwan’s eyes swept across the crowded bus before slowly wandering through empty space, lost in thought.
‘How on earth did that crazy Kang Taesung end up in such a place?’
He must have had some purpose for doing so. Something he needed separately, apart from those strange experiments. The Taesung before the regression wasn’t foolish or greedy enough to set foot in such gatherings.
And even now, though he certainly appeared rough and quick-tempered, he still wasn’t a stupid person. He might have lost his memory and become a bit younger, but Taesung was still Taesung.
‘Is that… so?’
Lee Hwan silently touched his neck.
Even if he wasn’t his friend, he knew that he was still Taesung. Nevertheless, the occasional feeling of dissonance made Lee Hwan anxious. Could it be that by jumping into the past from 7 years ago, Lee Hwan had twisted or shaken his yet-to-be-completed life philosophy? If that was the case, had his path completely changed in this life?
All because of him alone—from his close friend to adversary. To a lunatic. And to a member of a suspicious gathering.
He suddenly felt nauseated at the unnecessary assumption. Lee Hwan tried hard to swallow the dry heave as he painfully looked out the window.
Already at the intersection of the main road. The bus carrying him was steadily passing through traffic signals, already approaching his workplace. Somehow, Lee Hwan felt like he had boarded a hellbound train that he couldn’t get off.
‘If this is a nightmare, it’s truly a novel approach…’
“Haah.”
He had been sighing so frequently lately that even the bus floor seemed to sink.
Lee Hwan still believed in that assumption. The ‘Kang Dongha Eye of the Storm’ theory—that being with Kang Dongha would somehow lead to clues about the apocalypse. If so, the secret of an unknown gathering that had arrived out of nowhere through Kang Dongha’s mouth would be connected to the Monster Wave as anticipated beforehand.
Life after regression, which he had initially thought would be simple and straightforward, was somehow becoming an arduous labor that made him dizzy.
Screech-!
The bus doors opened, and Lee Hwan disembarked in a disheveled state. Contrary to his mood, the unusually refreshing air further disturbed his complicated state of mind.
‘Damn it. I wanted to take some time with this.’
Lee Hwan wrapped his aching side, took a deep breath, and wiped away the slight sweat that had formed on his forehead.
Considering when he had regressed, it seemed that the apocalypse wasn’t really 7 years away. In reality, everything had already been prepared but only erupted 7 years later. He could almost hear the sound of things stacking up already.
If that was the case, Lee Hwan had to hurry as well. To take another big step forward from here, he ultimately had to investigate the basement of Research Wing D, which he had put on hold.
‘From now on, it really, really becomes dangerous.’
For the first time since awakening, Lee Hwan felt like his stomach was starting to ache.
* * *
Going to work. Coming home. Training alone, and making preparations for infiltrating the research wing.
Several days passed in pain. A day felt like both 1 second and 1 year, and it seemed like both a lot had changed and nothing had changed.
His side still hurt. In contrast, his arm was healing steadily and well. The stained scar remained in the shape of Taesung’s hand, just as it had been initially. It felt like he was still being held by him, making Lee Hwan feel strange every time he looked at it.
The office atmosphere towards Lee Hwan grew cold again, like it had been initially. No one ostracized him or excluded him from work, but the mood would chill whenever Lee Hwan entered during lively conversations.
Unusually, Lee Hwan became quite depressed. It would have been different if they hadn’t been friendly from the start, but to be adrift again just as he was beginning to be accepted by team members made him feel empty.
Still, going to work and doing his job gave him the feeling of escaping far from the mess of problems and returning to the past, which was nice.
These past few days had been truly busy. Since he had to search the research wing, there was much to check before and after work hours. All those preparations were finally reaching their end with only execution remaining, so Lee Hwan already felt a sense of accomplishment for the exploration of Wing D that he hadn’t even started yet.
Meanwhile, curious about news regarding Taesung, he quietly poked around here and there. Kang Taesung, who had disappeared after choking his neck and burning his arm. What had happened to him afterward?
In truth, he had expected him to come looking for him at least once after that day. However, not only did he not encounter Taesung in daily life, but there wasn’t even a rumor of anything happening after the HPA news, which was extremely puzzling.
If he were to face him, it would be really serious trouble, yet Lee Hwan couldn’t determine his own feelings as he kept wavering between wanting to meet him and wanting to avoid him. His heart just raced anxiously whenever he thought of him.
‘I can’t even go to where the attack team is…’
To make matters worse, Taesung knew both Lee Hwan’s face and mask. If he was caught sneaking around, it would truly be the end.
But then again, he didn’t have any acquaintances on the attack team to ask instead, and there wouldn’t be any team members who would know about Jade’s situation either. So, despite being extremely busy with no time to even look up, Lee Hwan could only imagine what was happening with Taesung and Jade by thinking on his own.
‘Has Jade returned?’
If, based on Taesung’s nuance, Jade had been taken to that inexplicable experiment, had he returned? Someone who had previously undergone similar experiments would surely be related to semi-awakening. How powerful was the experiment’s influence that even the great Taesung lost his close associate?
Or was it because he still lacked power within Naru?
It was truly ridiculous, but Lee Hwan felt a tingling in his chest as he thought about it. He hadn’t known that the period when he wasn’t by his side had been such a brutal situation. If he had known Taesung then, he would have comforted him, just like before the regression.
Recalling the pre-regression Taesung, who had remained composed despite the vigilance of his relatives and the pressure of the media, Lee Hwan’s mood became unsettled. Since regressing, he had often wondered: how many things had that idiot gone through to reach that point?
