"That was close. So close! You almost got autopsied. How lucky."
Right now, Raydel's parents and sister were hugging him so tight that he could not breathe.
A patient room of the same hospital that he woke up in seemed so small with the entire Klein family in it.
Before this, the hospital staff had contacted his family to tell them that he was still alive. They arrived here after thirty minutes had passed. Once they saw Raydel who was still pale, they all cried out loud.
"I told you that this job is deadly! How lucky that heaven has mercy. Thank God!" His mother said while shaking Raydel back and forth.
Raydel was still confused about everything. I came back from death? He thought before looking at himself. He still had all his organs and was not a disgusting corpse because of the horrific death as written in the novel. Did it mean that he had already died before the story even started?
Jinny Klein, who was his sister, said, "you went into the dungeon with your friend, remember?"
Was she talking about the incident in the first chapter?
"The doctor said that you… had a heart attack. It might be when the boss appeared. At first, Mom and Dad didn't believe it, and neither did I. We wanted the doctor to perform autopsy to find the real cause of death, but then you woke up first. It's good that you did before we really autopsied you. You're so lucky!" She continued crying, her tears making a huge stain on Raydel's patient uniform.
A heart attack? But the character Raydel died because of the trap, didn't he? Raydel frowned. When he tried to recall what happened in the dungeon, he only saw distorted scenes and felt a sharp ache in his heart. He rubbed his temples in an attempt to help him remember, but he only saw the back of someone gradually walking away from him. No matter how hard he shouted, the other person did not turn around.
Raydel's heart skipped a beat when he saw that cold-hearted back. It might be the true feeling of the old Raydel who was afraid of losing his friend. The man whose soul was now in Raydel's body had never known if the character really considered the protagonist as his friend because his role was insignificant, since he died so early. But right now, he started to sense that deep down, Raydel… did see Han as his friend.
What a pity. He befriended the protagonist who had such an adamant heart.
So, did this mean that the first chapter had already passed, and I had betrayed the protagonist? Raydel thought. From the memory, the protagonist must have walked away after Raydel lost his mind and tried to sacrifice the protagonist so he could live. Everything happened as written in the novel. The only mystery was… why did he die because of a heart attack?
As far as he could remember, Raydel had no medical conditions or symptoms that could cause a heart attack. In the novel 'Ways to Become the No.1 Hunter,' there was no mention of any human diseases. Everybody died because of the dungeons or by the hand of other hunters, so it was strange that Raydel died because of a heart attack.
After trying to recall his memories one more time, Raydel remembered a feeling.
The feeling from that moment… the moment his heart suddenly jerked up!
The image in his head was him calling out the protagonist's name, and he grabbed onto his head with two hands. Everything went blurry while a strange vision of another place started to overlap what he saw. He heard the sounds of the conversations of a crowd like he was seeing two places at the same time. He felt something like cold water swallowing him whole.
That was when… my soul entered this body?
When that something finished taking over the body, he felt a sharp pain in his heart like it was stabbed by a knife!
"..."
Raydel died because his soul entered this body…?
Could this be called a coincidence? Raydel had a heart attack before he died by the trap in the novel.
As he was contemplating this, Raydel was not aware that Jinny was watching him.
The girl wiped her tears and stole a glance at her brother. She wondered why Raydel was much calmer than usual. Normally, he would be yelling or cursing his family, but now he was so composed and kind. The change in his personality surprised her greatly, but it also made her feel a lot better. She was no longer afraid of getting scolded by him.
"Raydel," Jinny said.
Raydel raised his eyebrows. "What is it?"
It was not a rude 'what?' she thought to herself, surprised again.
"Do you want to contact your friend, Han?"
"Han…," Raydel repeated the name before smiling softly to her, "No, I'm fine. We shouldn't bother him."
The girl blinked at the answer. 'We shouldn't bother him'? In the past, Raydel always talked about Han and was angry that he acted cold toward him. He often talked to himself about what he should do because he was afraid of losing Han, and everything revolved around Han like he was the only best friend in his life. It seemed like Han had never responded to him in any way, which stressed Raydel even more.
But right now, Raydel said that he did not want to bother Han with a straight face. This was unexpected for Jinny who had to listen to her brother lamenting about this whole thing every night.
Or maybe they had really stopped being friends? She thought.
"Okay, I won't contact him then," she said.
"Yeah, you don't have to," Raydel said. "Thank you. And sorry for worrying everyone."
This time, not only Jinny was shocked to hear that sentence, but also the whole family. They all stared at Raydel, finding it hard to believe what they just heard. They all had the same thought in their head. Raydel said 'sorry'?! His mother reached toward him and touched his forehead to check if he had a fever.
They thought that it was strange that Raydel did not scream or throw a tantrum, but they didn't want to mention it since they feared that it might trigger him to start saying some nasty things again. This might be the only few hours that their malignant son would act this nice, so the entire family decided to take advantage of the moment as much as they could. They all happily talked about each other's well beings without even a word about Han.
Raydel stayed in the hospital for about two days before he was allowed to go home.
The B-rank dungeon Han and Raydel entered was located at the center of the capital city. After Raydel died from a heart attack, his family took him back to a hospital in his hometown for the religious rituals. While Raydel studied in a high school in the capital city, he lived in a dorm near a downtown. Now, all his belongings were transported back to his home, he could stay here without worrying about the dorm.
Raydel's family lived in a small, rural area, surrounded by similar-looking housing estates. The house was situated near a train line that only a few people used. His bedroom since childhood was on the second floor with a tiny terrace he could walk out for fresh air. It also gave him a view of the trains running past his home every day.
After going back to his home, Raydel had to prepare for his university exams. Even though his real body had already graduated from university, he still had to study all over again. His family would also sit together for every meal. Raydel would bring his books to read while his sister, sitting beside him, would hum and watch a figure skating competition on television.
Jinny usually went to the department store near their home to practice ice skating. It was never mentioned in the novel about Raydel's family, so all of this was new information. Raydel's father was an AC mechanic, and his mother was a kindergarten teacher. Jinny was in tenth grade, and loved ice skating a lot. She dreamed of competing in a prestige tournament, but because the family was poor, they could not support her with special classes. She could only practice it during her holidays.
Raydel wanted to study in the Faculty of Political science. He had never thought that this character would be interested in this field of study. In the world of the 'Ways to Become the No.1 Hunter,' everyone wanted to be a hunter. So, when Raydel knew that the protagonist was also a hunter apart from being a student, he wanted to compete with him.
Raydel suddenly wondered if he wanted to continue being a hunter.
Maybe it was because the old Raydel could not bear to see his friend achieving something, so he got jealous and tried to do the same even though he did not want it at all. This time, the new Raydel had no need to get involved with the hunter's world again, so he was preparing for the university exam instead.
…In this world, dungeons and towers had been appearing for years. But there was no need to explain further since no dungeons would ever show up in this small town, so there was nothing to worry about. A side character like him just needed to get into a university, graduate, and become a salaryman.
Once he made the decision, Raydel picked up his phone and unlocked the screen.
He looked at the contact info that he had saved and scrolled down until he found a name.
Han's contact was saved in the "Fav Person" category.
Raydel blocked him immediately. He also deleted and blocked everything related to Han. He felt no regret or sadness, but rather a relief to finally cut off the hunter's world completely. Han might not even notice that he was blocked since he was probably busy hating Raydel.
Raydel locked the phone and sighed.
Goodbye, the hunter's world.
Then, he spent most of his time studying.
Time moved slowly. It went from one day to one week, to half a month, to an entire month. Raydel started to get comfortable with this new life. The only remaining thing from his past life was the memory of him reading the novel 'Ways to Become the No.1 Hunter.' Actually, even the stuff about hunters and dungeons also began to fade from his mind.
Until one day…
His father came knocking on his door before yelling in shock, "Jinny… at the hospital…!"
*
"My legs are broken. I fell badly."
Jinny, who was lying on the bed and wearing a splint, said softly.
Raydel, who was dragged to the hospital by his family, sat on the bench. Outside the window, the evening sky became pinkish orange while the air got colder. Raydel thought he was lucky to wear a thick hoodie. He listened to the conversations from the lower floor for a while before shrugging his shoulders.
"How did you fall though? You don't normally fall, right?" he asked.
"Well, some kids suddenly ran against me." Jinny pouted, but her eyes started sparkling. "Did you bring me the snacks like I asked you to, though? I would love me some chocolate right now. Give me some."
Raydel opened his backpack and searched for the chocolate through endless sea of snacks in there. He handed her an expensive brand of chocolate. Jinny ate it happily. Once he saw his sister cheerfully chewing on the chocolate, Raydel smiled before putting one in his mouth.
The girl finished it and licked her fingers clean. She looked at the splints on her legs.
"Should I become a hunter instead?"
Raydel raised his eyebrows. "Why?"
"I would probably have higher chance of making it as a successful hunter than a successful ice skater." Jinny crossed her arms and slouched dispiritedly. "Have you ever read the statistics about dungeons? New thirty dungeons appear across the country every day, so of course most people become hunters to make a quick buck. I was thinking that maybe I should become a hunter too. If I get some good 'artifacts' from monsters, I could make a lot of money with it, you know? Then, I can pay for my ice skating course myself."
Such a shame that hunters were a job that was reserved for main characters and villains. A side character that was not in any way involved with the protagonist would never become a successful hunter.
Raydel did not say what he thought out loud.
"What about you? Don't you want to be a hunter anymore?" Jinny asked.
"Not anymore. I want to focus on my exam preparation."
"You don't like it? But to be honest, you never got any artifacts, right?"
An artifact could bestow hunters a power. You could only get it from killing a monster or buy some from the market held by the Hunter Guild.
"Yeah, I had no luck with it. That's why I don't think I should be a hunter," Raydel said.
"What about your friend? Is he still a hunter?"
Han? Raydel thought before speaking the truth, "he's still a hunter. A successful one at that as well."
That was certain. The protagonist would finally become the best hunter of the era.
"What? That sounds nice. I'm getting jealous now. He must be rich for sure," Jinny said, but then her smile turned into a sniff. She frowned. "Do you smell that?"
"What smell?"
"It smells really bad, like someone left some garbage nearby."
Raydel sat still, trying to smell it, and then, he suddenly smelled something so nasty it hurt his nose. His brows furrowed. He leaned over the window to make sure that no one was leaving garbage in the area. This hospital mainly focused on hygiene, so having such a foul smell like this was unusual.
"It smelled like formalin," Jinny said before pointing at the window to tell Raydel to close it. She then laid down on the bed. "You're going to be here with me tonight, right? Thank you."
"It's nothing."
The girl hummed gleefully. She turned on the television while Raydel continued his exam preparations. The mysterious smell was slowly fading away from their minds.
He fell asleep while reading. Once he woke up again, it was already in the middle of the night.
In the room dimly lit by the moonlight, Jinny was sleeping soundly with a remote control in her hand. The television was already turned off.
Raydel looked around. He laid still as he took in the silence of the hospital and sighed softly. Placing his book down on the table next to the sofa on which he was lying, he felt a little thirsty, so he rubbed his eyes and used his phone's flashlight to light the way to the fridge.
As he was choosing a bottle of water, he suddenly smelled something.
Raydel stopped as his nose twitched from the smell. He frowned when he realized it was the same smell from the evening.
At that moment, he caught a glimpse of someone walking past the door.
There were always relatives of patients and nurses walking around in the hospital all day, but it was only at this moment that Raydel felt something was off about this person because he walked in a… slow and weird way.
Like he was dragging his legs…
This man walked as if he was injured. Raydel immediately put the water bottle back in the fridge, thinking he should offer some help to that person. But when he opened the door and saw the back of that person, he realized that the person was just standing still in the middle of the hallway, with his head hanging low and arms dangling beside his body.
He didn't wear the patient uniform like Jinny did, and instead wore a blanket belonging to the hospital. No, it wasn't a blanket. It seemed more like a cloth they used to cover bodies… in a morgue.
Raydel was perplexed, seeing the person's clothes. Then, he suddenly heard the sound of teeth gritting coming from the person.
The disguting smell got stronger.
As he was about to call that person, he heard a nurse's voice.
"You over there, what's happening?"
She tightened her coat before walking up to the patient. But when she saw the patient's face, she jerked back and her face went pale. She was too stunned to scream and too late to run away. That man jumped at her and bit her neck with its sharp teeth in an instant.