# Chapter 72
Lee Hwan removed his stitches on his own before a week had passed. The wound healed quickly, to the point where it was annoyingly itchy. To think he had suffered so much for something that would heal this easily. It was almost disheartening.
However, perhaps because it had repeatedly burst open, bled, and even gotten infected, the healing wasn’t particularly neat. He could practically draw with his eyes closed what kind of mark this would leave.
Looked like he was about to add another scar to his collection. His body wasn’t a canvas, and if he’d gotten a tattoo instead, at least he might have felt better about it.
Of course, thanks to his remarkable healing ability, tattoos would fade quickly like henna, and even this scar probably wouldn’t last a year…
‘I wonder if gathering all the causality fragments would be faster than that.’
It was wishful thinking, but he wanted to collect all those fragments before the year was out. He wanted to greet spring with a certain someone, both of them in one piece.
If more scars were added to his body by then, he planned to keep that fact secret until they all disappeared. It seemed too cruel to reveal that to Taesung after he recovered his memories.
‘Huh, really.’
If he were to be honest, his own life seemed the most cruel right now. Those scars would all be his anyway, so it was almost laughable who was worrying about whom.
Tak, pak!
His footsteps climbing the hill became light again, just like before. Lee Hwan climbed the steep rocky path as if he were running on flat ground. His side felt a bit tight, but compared to before, it was merely itchy.
Wherever his feet touched, the insect sounds ceased. The strange silence he created with his intrusion was rather pleasing to him.
Pushing off from a tree and climbing a rock, he came upon a rugged mountain path untouched by human feet. Only when Lee Hwan reached an area where only wild animals could venture did he slowly exhale the deep breath he’d been holding.
‘My body… isn’t perfect yet, but it’s healing smoothly.’
His stiffened body was loosening up quickly now that he was moving again, and the wounded area would be completely healed soon. Then he could gear up properly and run gates according to the schedule Kang Dongha had extracted.
Two days ago, Dongha had told him how he’d gently coaxed an executive from his father’s side to skim a gate entry for him.
It was all for everyone’s benefit, so he’d apparently made some request to rein in the “crazy bulldozer” and slip in a small “personal gain,” all without upsetting his brother’s mood.
And so, Lee Hwan was set to take a trip this weekend to the gate he had first become suspicious of. Dongha had warned that the process hadn’t been smooth, so Taesung might be a bit unhinged…
But what did he care? He was the runaway who’d fled from his home because he disliked him. If anything, hearing that Taesung was pissed off actually made him feel a little better.
Whatever Dongha’s intentions were, it didn’t seem likely he’d approached the executive with good feelings, and having to listen to someone talking to him like a child while handing over a gate entry must have wounded his pride terribly.
‘For something like that, it’s awfully quiet though…’
Muttering to himself, Lee Hwan began to stretch his body for the first time in a while.
Arms and legs, fine. Spine, fine. His side pulled a little when he made large movements or twisted his waist, but this too would gradually improve.
He activated his Spatial Control and gravity skill simultaneously, pressing down on a wide area at once. Then he lightened the gravity around himself and jumped in place to monitor his physical condition.
Though he wasn’t completely healed yet, it was clear that both his wound and his condition would gradually improve. Only then did Lee Hwan move his body freely, running, jumping, and climbing.
There was nothing better than vigorous exercise when his mind was cluttered with thoughts, and he couldn’t believe how stifled he’d felt being unable to move roughly for so long. Lee Hwan finally pushed all his worries to the back of his mind and comfortably thought about the plant stem that had been embedded in his side.
‘I should have asked for that.’
The thought came to him, though it was useless. Like a child wanting to collect their fallen teeth. It was disgusting, but honestly, he was curious too.
At the time, everything happened too quickly. The condition of the plant stem, why Taesung had followed him out that day, why Jade had started treating him comfortably—come to think of it, there were many things he wanted to ask.
Since he’d come into conflict with Taesung over the gate issue, it was fair to say those opportunities had flown away. Of course, even if he had asked before, Taesung probably wouldn’t have answered, but there was a huge difference between a 0% chance and a 0.1% chance—as vast as the distance between heaven and earth.
“Haa, haa… this takes a lot of energy.”
Catching his breath, the gravity skill he checked after a long time was, how should he put it? Rather than being useful on its own, it felt more like having an extra hand to use with his existing ability. But with only one body, if he moved excessively, he’d likely get even more muscle pain.
At this rate, even if he consumed more skill stones, their uses would only become more diverse rather than making him overwhelmingly stronger like someone else. Regardless of his ability’s class, he freshly realized this was the difference between S-rank and B-rank.
‘Well, freely using something like Spatial Control is a bit of a cheat anyway.’
Though he rarely used it due to the excessive energy cost, Lee Hwan could also place “restrictions” on desired spaces. He’d used something similar right before his regression.
Of course, if it was a restriction that blocked all living things like back then, his body would clearly break down before he could even use it for a few minutes. Instead, lighter, minor restrictions could be sufficiently used in short battles while coughing up a little blood.
For example, preventing objects above a certain volume from easily entering, or blocking entry to objects charging at speeds above a certain number of kilometers per hour.
Even with just one minute of use, these restrictions could be a great help in emergencies. If he had been A-rank, he could have conserved his energy and used it once per battle.
In other words, it was a bit too taxing to use freely right now.
‘Still, after consuming the skill stone, controlling my ability has become noticeably easier.’
The feeling of improvement was quite satisfying. Although it was problematic that he kept coughing up blood whenever he increased his output, once his strength returned, this too would gradually improve.
The world might not help with that… but well, when had life ever perfectly matched his taste? The satisfying three years before his regression kept fading from his mind.
Now, he didn’t want much, and sometimes he just wanted to talk with someone without any goal. Not to save the world, not to survive, but just for fun.
‘When things calm down a bit, maybe I should join some kind of club.’
If they were people who didn’t know him even before his regression, perhaps he could get close to them more comfortably. It was time to start adapting to this world.
After standing still lost in thought for a while, insects began chirping around him again. Lee Hwan shook the sweat from his hair and blankly gazed up at the night sky where Venus was barely visible. At least the sky looked the same as before his regression.
* * *
He thought things had been resolved too easily. From Saturday morning, Lee Hwan asked twice more to check if what he’d heard was real or an auditory hallucination.
“What? I think your phone must be broken, say it again.”
—…You’re not asking because you didn’t hear me this time, right?
“I’m asking because what you said doesn’t make any sense.”
Even after Lee Hwan’s reaction of disbelief, as if questioning whether what he just heard was even human language, Kang Dongha remained silent. It seemed even he thought it made no sense.
“Why do I need a companion for going around the gate?”
—I know. But the gate requires a minimum entry of two people, and that’s the one thing they won’t budge on.
“You believe that?”
—Of course not. It’s obviously to monitor and prevent us from messing around with the gate.
Lee Hwan groaned and covered his face. When things don’t work out, they really get complicated.
It was strange that Kang Dongha had called him on a weekend morning. Normally, even if Lee Hwan called him, he would answer indifferently. But now, in a clear voice, emphasizing that it absolutely wasn’t his fault, he explained the situation:
An additional condition from the executive. He didn’t care about diverting a few gate entries, but in case of accidents, cleanup would be difficult, so the entry personnel must be at least two people.
Lee Hwan’s mouth gaped before he grabbed his forehead. He had planned to poke around the gate and leave, but what could he possibly do with a complete stranger beside him?
The only person he could share this with was Kang Dongha, but unless he was crazy, he couldn’t take him along. Besides, civilians probably wouldn’t even count toward the entry personnel.
If they had told him in advance, he would have had time to find someone. But a notification on the morning of entry day was an impossible condition to meet. As if they had planned it…
It wasn’t like Kang Taesung to do something like that, but he had been suspiciously quiet. He must have been quietly waiting to make fools of those who dared to attack him. He and Dongha were the idiots who fell for it.
“Haah… Don’t you have anyone trustworthy? Even a civilian?”
—Where would I get someone like that?
“Hire someone then. Someone will definitely come to check the headcount to interfere. I’ll try to figure something out even if we just pretend to enter together.”
—I can manage that much.
For someone who couldn’t do anything properly, at least his mouth worked well. Lee Hwan frowned deeply and packed his things again.
Anyway, the area around the gate had strong magical fluctuations that easily damaged non-gate-specific electronic devices. At each entry, they manually counted and registered personnel under the leader’s command—partly for safety reasons, but largely because of this.
If no video was recorded, there was room for tricks. The reason for raising objections now was 99.99% certainly due to Taesung’s protest, so the higher-ups wouldn’t care or want to know whether Lee Hwan brought two people or twelve.
He just had to pretend to follow orders, humor them, and slip away.
However, that plan was absurdly and hopelessly thwarted when Lee Hwan arrived at the gate entrance, loaded with weapons, provisions, and medicine.
“What the…”
Lee Hwan felt a sharp headache coming on when he spotted someone who had arrived even before him, standing with arms crossed.
“You’re late.”
What was this supposed to mean?
As if preparing for an expedition, Taesung stood in front of the gate with his hair completely tied up, filling his jacket pockets with necessary items. After glancing at Lee Hwan once, he turned his head away as if uninterested.
