# Chapter 197
When Lee Hwan glared, Taesung sat beside the bed with a faint smile.
“Patient, you have damage to the organs and muscles in your abdomen and back, but fortunately, it doesn’t seem like there will be any permanent after-effects… Still, you’ll need to rest for a few weeks. Do you feel dizzy or nauseous?”
“No, nothing like that… But my stomach does hurt a bit.”
“I’ll give you more painkillers. The wounds are healing well.”
No matter what conversation Taesung and Lee Hwan were having, the doctor seemed not to hear them, only rattling off information about the treatment.
“I kept your name out of the press releases. No need for unwanted attention.”
“You’re still recovering, so you need to be careful. The bruised areas and lacerations both affected your internal organs, so even for a Hunter, you’ll need to recuperate for a while.”
“How badly were you injured?”
“Since you’re both under visitor restrictions, please leave after a short while…”
“I wasn’t hurt much.”
“Your side is gradually healing, so let’s check it once more this evening.”
“You have bandages wrapped all over under your clothes. I can smell the medicine from here, did you think I wouldn’t notice?”
“Your condition is stable… I’ll give you painkillers until tomorrow morning.”
The confusing three-way conversation went back and forth. Lee Hwan glanced at the TV he had turned off earlier and sighed deeply.
“There will be tests first thing tomorrow morning, so please rest. If you’re uncomfortable, press the call button.”
After quickly examining his eyes, checking inside his mouth, and disinfecting the wounds under the bandages, the medical staff finished with brief pleasantries and left the room en masse.
Lee Hwan gently touched his abdomen, which was tinged completely green, and glanced at Taesung again.
If a mere bruise hadn’t faded even after three days, how hard must he have been hit? Lee Hwan firmly resolved that if he ever got into trouble with physical-type Awakened ones in the future, he should keep at least 50 meters away.
“Okay, first… let’s get a grasp of the situation.”
“You just woke up, shouldn’t you rest a bit more?”
“I’ve been resting all this time before waking up, so no need.”
Lee Hwan swept aside the blanket Taesung had covered him with and got up from the bed, groaning.
When he momentarily stumbled, finding the floor unfamiliar after several days, Taesung supported him as if he had been waiting for this.
“I didn’t know I’d been like this for three days. So, what happened? How’s Jade? What about Kang Dongha?”
He examined Taesung’s face as he mentioned each member of the hellish dream team one by one. Fortunately, Taesung’s expression wasn’t too bad, suggesting Jade was fine.
“Jade is…”
Just as Taesung opened his mouth to share news about him—
“Jade came to catch Kang Taesung, who’s been wandering around unconscious.”
Suddenly, the door flung open, and an expressionless man appeared, limping with crutches.
His light green eyes, filled with irritation, glared at Taesung before reaching Lee Hwan, where they softened slightly.
“You’re awake.”
That bluntly tossed greeting was somehow endearing.
* * *
Naru Group, a massive pillar of South Korea’s economy, was utterly destroyed.
As various crimes and human experimentation conducted in the shadows emerged to the surface one after another, both domestic and international communities were in uproar.
Foreign countries eagerly seized the opportunity to pressure the government, while domestically, fights broke out almost daily over who would get what benefits and who could avoid responsibility.
At least with Kang Taesung and Kang Dongha at the center of the exposé, Naru barely survived, though at the cost of losing its major executives.
But with various affiliates sold off in fire sales and facing universal ostracism, it would likely never regain its former stature, even if the world turned upside down.
Companies that subcontracted for Naru went bankrupt one after another. Dark clouds loomed over South Korea’s economic society, and the KOSPI was bluer than a blueberry pound cake for quite some time.
People called the incident the “Naru Gate.”
On the day of the incident, after Beolmae stormed the basement, the Director was subdued by multiple people, handcuffed, and dragged away. The same happened to all Awakened ones—most collapsed and died or became unconscious after the drug effects wore off, adding to the negative image of Naru’s secret experiments.
The drugs they took served exactly that purpose in the future. In the apocalyptic era where monsters flooded the world, these were used as a last resort to increase survival chances, even slightly, in emergencies.
Afterward, Beolmae cleverly dragged the horribly deformed mutant monsters out of Building D as well.
When bloody mutant monsters appeared on the street in broad daylight, chaos erupted among Naru employees.
Videos of the scene were captured from various angles and sold to all kinds of broadcasting stations, and fragmented images of the underground laboratory, which seemed intentionally leaked by the Management Bureau, were also publicly broadcast with breaking news tags.
Two media outlets had already joined in advance. It all happened before Naru could do anything.
Simultaneously, as if they had been waiting, Praxis blew the lid off the Naru incident. Their comprehensive exposé, from experimental details to evidence of illegal activities, turned both domestic and international communities upside down.
Although it was a twisted report that thoroughly hid certain things to prevent anyone from taking too much interest in the partial-awakening project, it was enough to make Naru get torn to shreds.
spand774
This isn’t some urban legend… The Naru laboratory only has floors from B1 to Ground n. If you discover a B5, report it to the desk immediately.
└ Chills
└ Why is this real
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They say if you’re caught by the research lab, it’s an express pass to the underworld, that’s why it’s called Naru [ferry/crossing]
Instead of the partial-awakening project, what was revealed was the resurrection project, and the existence of Jade, the only survivor, was kept strictly confidential, with all participants officially announced as deceased.
After all, “Kim Jeongshik” was already officially dead from illness. Jade, seemingly without much attachment to his past, let go of the deceased Kim Jeongshik.
‘So, is Hyunsik better, or Daesik?’
‘Why are you so fixated on names ending with ‘-sik’?’
‘At my age, I can’t use a name like Hajun, can I?’
Despite having one leg bone completely shattered, which supposedly required at least half a year of rest even for an Awakened person, Jade was getting around just fine with only a protective guard on his leg.
Taesung called it an old man’s bravado, but Jade pretended not to hear.
After all, when it came to bravado, nothing could compare to Kang Taesung, who pretended to be in a coma for two weeks before suddenly holding a press conference.
—Many believe that the testimony about discovering Naru’s secret experiments belatedly and preparing for years to reveal it to the world appears to be true given the circumstances.
—That’s right. The Management Bureau has also expressed regret over the treatment of Hunter Kang Taesung, which was exposed through his acquaintances. There are questions about whether the management law for minor Awakened persons was inadequate, and yesterday afternoon, they formally urged legislation. According to officials, Hunter Kang Taesung was strictly forbidden from outside contact and was forced to enter Gates from the time he was a minor…
‘Wasn’t it the Kangs who made him go into Gates?’
‘It was Jade. He said that since Taesung was an Awakened one anyway, there was no need for more education, and it was obvious they would put him in the Hunter department right away to intimidate him and control him as they pleased.’
Looking back now, his consideration had a Spartan element to it.
As the world-famous Kang Taesung became the center of attention, the mysterious Kang Dongha was also on many people’s lips.
Thanks to him being the direct descendant of Naru’s Chairman and the son of Naru’s Vice Chairman, there were plenty of defensive shields of anguish claiming that while part of Naru was corrupt, not everything was rotten to the core.
Mockery about whether people had bought Naru stocks always followed… but in reality, it wasn’t just shareholders who wanted to wail as Naru collapsed.
The Chairman, Vice Chairman, Kang Dongying, and several other owner family members were summoned regularly. While the Chairman, who had always appeared in a wheelchair during audit seasons, was one thing, even the still-healthy Vice Chairman appeared in hospital clothes to face public criticism.
Though no verdict had been reached yet, rumor had it that even the Chairman, who claimed he hadn’t known about the experiments, would inevitably face imprisonment.
So Kang Dongying, whatever the case, wouldn’t be able to live with the same authority as before. He was even a registered Awakened person, so he was dragged to the Hunter Management Bureau for investigation.
Images of him in restraints were captured for about 2 seconds and widely reported—such a rare sight. If Kang Dongha had seen it, he would probably have printed it in ultra-high definition and decorated walls with it everywhere.
Meanwhile, Kang Dongha, who would have been investigated long ago if he had been in a normal state, never appeared on any paparazzi’s camera. With no news for almost a month, some speculated that he was either already dead or nearly so.
Indeed, even Lee Hwan didn’t see him until he was discharged from the hospital. The last face he had seen was just the blank photo on the bloody ID card.
It’s not that he liked his personality, but they had been entangled throughout the tiresome regressions, and in the end, he had been a great help.
Besides, hadn’t Lee Hwan promised to save him? All the others he had wanted to protect had more or less survived, so it would be shameful if only Kang Dongha died. As Lee Hwan recovered from his injuries day by day, he felt somewhat troubled.
Watching the situation unfold day after day, Lee Hwan felt a mixture of relief and emptiness, and a sense of unreality. Was it true that the regressions that had only repeated death had finally ended? Was the world that had been rushing toward destruction really stabilized?
His mind, which had always encountered bad endings, couldn’t readily accept peace. Instead, night after night, it created unique doubts, detached from the world. His head was always in confusion.
Were all the things that had happened to him real in the first place? Could this all be an elaborate dream he’d been having while collapsed from injuries sustained during a Gate run…
But when he turned on the TV and saw the date, it was always unmistakably 2022. As he sat blankly leaning against the bed headboard, his lover, who wouldn’t have been by his side during this period, came at his own will, spread the blanket to cover him, and kissed him.
Every time he looked at Taesung sitting next to him, protecting him, Lee Hwan felt as if a warm energy was gradually rising from within. The emotion, which rippled like a liquid, made everything he had experienced feel real.
That feeling was so similar to the happiness he had felt long ago that Lee Hwan finally felt reassured and closed his eyes. He felt the warmth of the warm human radiator who never listened when told to go rest.
And so, the month-long recovery came to an end.
