Chapter 110
[You’ve reached 97% of your goal! Only 3% left to achieve!]
[You’re approaching the goal at an incredible speed. Congratulations!]
I frowned at the window appearing before my eyes. What exactly were the conditions for achieving this goal? How did the percentage increase while watching a performance or arguing with Han Jaemin? The criteria made no sense at all. Regardless, thinking that I could die by some means after this 3% was filled, I felt a sense of urgency.
As I turned to leave, Han Jaemin’s subordinates standing outside the door blocked my way. Han Jaemin collected himself from his pale-faced state and stood up.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“You can’t perform the surgery right now anyway. Just let me go out for an hour.”
“No. Uncle, tie him up.”
The men waiting outside rushed in and grabbed my limbs, laying me down on the bed. If I could use mana, I might have fought back, but my body was too unstable to do anything more. As I struggled, the men tied me to the bed with ropes, appearing annoyed.
“He probably can’t use mana or anything, but attach an artifact to the rope just in case.”
The man called “Uncle” nodded and attached a palm-sized artifact to the rope.
“Make sure he can’t move a finger until the surgery.”
“Han Jaemin!”
“Stop making a fuss and stay still. Uncle, how long will it take them to get here?”
“They should arrive in about an hour.”
“Fucking slow.”
Han Jaemin got up and left the ward. Some men remained by my side while others followed Han Jaemin outside. I couldn’t let Han Jaemin take my power like this. I started shouting into the air.
“Hey! Come out!”
“Be quiet.”
“I said come out! System!”
The men gagged me with a cloth bundle, seemingly thinking the problem would be solved if I couldn’t make any noise.
[With user authority]
[Welcome, Administrator]
[User is…]
[Administrator…]
I succeeded in summoning the system, but two windows began to appear mixed together before my eyes. The purple Administrator Mode window and the blue User Mode window flickered repeatedly, disorienting my vision. I kept mentally repeating “Administrator Mode” over and over. The Administrator Mode access that normally worked fine was constantly logging in and out, interrupted by User Mode.
I strained with all my might, frantically repeating the words “Administrator Mode” in my mind. The purple window teasingly appeared and disappeared countless times.
“What’s he saying? System?”
“I don’t know. Maybe he’s gone crazy.”
The conversation between the two men suddenly stopped. It was because an enormous explosion sound was heard from far away. The explosion was so massive that the vibration could be felt even down here underground. Could it be a terrorist attack? The two men watching me exchanged glances before slowly walking to the entrance of the room.
“What’s happening?”
“Did something happen in the lobby?”
“Could it be terrorism? Like Black Rankers?”
“Why would people like that suddenly attack a hospital?”
“Hey, fuck. Are we going to die if we stay here?”
“They can’t get down here. Most people don’t even know this place exists.”
I needed something—any kind of terrorist group would do—to delay my surgery. After a period of silence in the corridor, the sound of an elevator door opening was heard.
“Uh…”
As soon as the elevator door opened, something flew quickly and struck the forehead of one of the men. It didn’t seem to be a bullet, but some small object. Before the man who was hit in the forehead could respond, he flew rapidly to the end of the corridor and crashed into the wall with a shattering sound. The remaining man ran to the corner of the hospital room in panic.
“Fuck, what is that!”
The sound of footsteps grew closer. The man trembled violently, then came over and used me as a shield. The footsteps stopped right outside the door. The person who appeared was none other than Yu Hyunjae.
“Chanhee.”
Yu Hyunjae approached me with a tense face and removed the gag from my mouth.
“There’s an artifact. Be careful, it might explode.”
“I got it. Are you okay? Did it hurt?”
“What could hurt about this? But what’s going on? Did you stage a hospital terror attack?”
“Not quite terrorism, just created a distraction. To come get you.”
“You crazy bastard. Want to go to prison?”
“I couldn’t think of any other way.”
The man who had been listening to our conversation slowly backed away. Yu Hyunjae was still busy untying the ropes binding me. Surprisingly, Yu Hyunjae didn’t stop the man from running away.
“Is it okay to let that person escape?”
“The elevator’s broken anyway.”
“There are stairs.”
“Someone else is in the stairwell.”
“Someone else?”
Soon after, a loud thud came from the stairwell. I looked at Yu Hyunjae with a surprised expression.
“Yes. The person I said I’d bring last time.”
“Wow… They must be quite the fighter too.”
“They’re a Ranker. All done.”
Yu Hyunjae helped me stand up.
“I didn’t come here to handle small fry. This isn’t the treatment I expected.”
“I’m sorry, Professor.”
“At least I caught the ones trying to escape. Didn’t kill them though.”
“Yes. Homicide exemptions for Rankers are complicated in Korea.”
“What an annoying country.”
For someone called a professor, she looked quite young. Having imagined a rather elderly person when told about a necromancy researcher, I couldn’t help but be surprised.
“What? Surprised I’m a younger woman than expected? I hear that a lot.”
“It’s just that becoming a professor usually takes a lot of time.”
“The reason I’m called ‘professor’ isn’t because I’m an official professor. Everyone just calls me that. Understand? And I am actually quite old.”
The professor finished speaking and looked around the hospital room. She seemed to be searching for something.
“Is there no mana training ground here?”
“It’s a hospital, so probably not. Dr. Jeon mentioned there’s a mana expansion space two floors below.”
“Oh, good. Let’s go there.”
Yu Hyunjae took my hand and asked if I could run. The professor said there was probably no need to run, suggesting we walk slowly and enjoy the corridor.
“So, this is the lovely boy you said you needed to protect?”
“I never said it quite like that.”
Yu Hyunjae blushed as we passed a slightly damaged wall.
“Your name is Chanhee, right?”
“Yes.”
“See, why lie about it?”
“Chanhee…!”
Yu Hyunjae turned toward me and hastily cut off his words.
“Huh? Um…”
I tried to answer casually, but my voice cracked. The professor cackled with amusement. Yu Hyunjae, with reddened ears, spoke with the most neutral expression possible.
“I’ll tell you the plan first. Just follow it.”
“Wait. What if there are listening devices?”
“Don’t worry. The research floors are designed to prevent such things. We’re taking advantage of that.”
“Was that Dr. Jeon too?”
“Yes. Dr. Jeon told me about it.”
“I see.”
We stood in the corridor just before the lobby area with the elevator and began discussing the plan. Yu Hyunjae carefully continued.
“First, I’ll handle the security Rankers stationed here.”
“What? By yourself?”
“Yes. It should be fine since everyone’s distracted by the explosion, and most of the important personnel are with Han Jaemin.”
“Even so, isn’t it too much for you alone?”
“I’m not alone. Director Kim Guhyeon is on his way with Combat Division personnel.”
“What? Director Kim?”
“Yes. The Combat Division has been monitoring Han Jaemin anyway, and Director Kim contacted me saying he wanted to help you…”
“That’s absurd.”
“It may be absurd, but we need to use what we can.”
“Won’t this turn into a full-blown conflict? Can you handle it?”
“It’s fine as long as we don’t use large-scale domains. The Grade 1 Rankers are either at Gates or they avoid these kinds of fights. At most we’ll face Grade 2 or 3, and them using a bit of mana won’t cause the building to collapse.”
“So what should I do?”
“Go downstairs with the professor,”
“…downstairs?”
“And do what we planned.”
The professor, who had been leaning against the wall, nodded. She couldn’t understand Korean, but she seemed to realize I had grasped the situation.
“We have one goal.”
“…”
“Let’s meet alive. Preferably happy.”
I nodded without answering. My hand holding the edge of Yu Hyunjae’s sleeve wouldn’t let go easily. Yu Hyunjae gently took my hand and brought it to his lips for a light kiss. As soon as our hands parted, Yu Hyunjae turned around and ran up to the floor with the stairs.
“Let’s go quickly.”
The professor spoke to me without hesitation.
“We don’t have much time, do we?”
