Chapter 158: Blue Mist (2)
‘…Looks like a dungeon broke loose.’
Occasionally, parts of a dungeon’s environment would leak into the outside world, accompanied by monsters. However, there were no reports mentioning a dungeon break. Then again, there wasn’t much detailed information available—just a vague statement that high-ranking Hunters were clashing, prompting evacuation orders and restricted access for the surrounding area.
‘I can’t see what’s going on.’
Thanks to the headlights, I could make out the road right in front of me, and the navigation system ensured I wouldn’t lose my way. Still, I couldn’t see a single road sign or landmark, yet modern technology was keeping me on track. Hooray for civilization. Yes, turn left here.
-Hiss hiss!
That was when Belare hissed warily, and I felt it too—a humanoid figure radiating heat rapidly approaching.
Crunch!
The car was grabbed. The tires screeched loudly against the asphalt. The large van, which should have been heavy, was rendered immobile as if it were a toy.
Rip!
Before I had time to understand what was happening, the door was torn off. A massive hand reached in, grabbed my shoulder, and flung me outside.
“Ugh!”
-Hiss!
I tumbled across the ground before colliding with a roadside tree. That hurt. Belare, who had been thrown some distance away, hissed angrily as she slithered back to me at high speed. The dense fog obscured my view of the attacker, but I could guess who it was.
“You really shouldn’t throw people around like that. Someone as fragile as me could easily end up on death’s door, Chief Song Taewon.”
“If it’s you, Hunter Han Yujin, I’m sure you activated a damage-nullifying item the moment you entered this danger zone.”
As expected, he knew me well. Song Taewon stepped out of the fog, his expression anything but pleased. Understandable.
“With fog this dense, you still managed to find me?”
“The sound of the car was enough. Only you, Han Yujin, would be driving in this area.”
I grabbed the hand he offered and stood up. Belare, I know you’re mad, but don’t bite him. Please hold back.
“You could’ve just stopped me with words.”
“You wouldn’t have stopped.”
As expected, he knew me very well. I probably would’ve sped up instead.
“Do you have any information on the current situation?”
“Not yet. Even if I did, it would be classified.”
Song Taewon turned his gaze to the oppressive fog.
“With you here, I’m assuming this situation is related to Haeyeon’s Guild Leader.”
“My little brother is the victim here. He got caught up in this.”
“You say that with such certainty, without even seeing him.”
“Yuhyun doesn’t have this kind of strange ability. There isn’t a single Hunter capable of causing such widespread anomalies at this scale right now.”
I gestured toward the direction of the heat signature and suggested we start there to look for Yuhyun. As we approached, I found the van, its condition far from ideal. The torn-off door was one thing, but would the engine even start after being forcibly stopped? Even if it did, could it move properly?
“Hm… Chief Song, how about you carry me and run? You’d be faster than the van if you went in a straight line.”
“I’d prefer if you returned immediately. The van can still move.”
“But it’ll be hard for you to find the exact location without me. The fog is thick, and you don’t have an address.”
I spoke while pulling up a map app on my phone.
“How about bringing along a human navigator?”
It’s not like I’ll just turn back obediently, and I’d be less of a nuisance tagging along than leaving you to deal with this alone. Song Taewon sighed and extended his hand toward me.
For Song Taewon, the phrase “running like the wind” couldn’t have been more apt. Moving in the direction I indicated, he ran in a perfectly straight line, leaping over entire buildings. When he jumped, his weight pressed heavily onto the ground, but in the air, he felt significantly lighter. Below us, the fog swirled like waves, rushing past in every direction.
As we neared the destination, I felt a heat signature overhead.
“Chief Song!”
Though I couldn’t see clearly through the fog, it was obvious Song Taewon also sensed the oncoming presence. Unable to dodge mid-air, he suddenly dropped downward. He’d increased his weight to force himself to descend faster.
Whoosh!
Almost simultaneously, something sharp tore through the fog above us. A glimpse of golden scales flashed along with the movement of the heat source.
“Noah?!”
It was undoubtedly Noah in his transformed state. But why was he attacking? Did he misunderstand and think Song Taewon was forcibly holding me?
With a thud, Song Taewon’s feet landed on a rooftop. He set me down and tilted his head upward, but the fog remained thick. I activated my teacher skill, sharing Belare’s heat vision with him.
“Noah must’ve misunderstood something.”
“I hope that’s the case. For now, I’ll try to subdue him. I’ll leave the antidote to you.”
Song Taewon pulled a wire rope from his inventory and stretched it taut between his hands. This wasn’t just any ordinary steel cable.
The dense fog rippled with Noah’s movements. With the beat of his dragon wings, the fog would momentarily scatter, only to be drawn back in. Then, he shot upward in a sudden motion.
-Grrrk!
With a low growl, the golden dragon pierced through the fog, diving straight at Song Taewon. His entire body was shrouded in venomous energy, claws and fangs bared for an attack.
Song Taewon braced himself, gripping the wire as he intercepted Noah’s charge.
Clang!
The wire scraped loudly against Noah’s golden scales as it wrapped around him. Twisting his body, Song Taewon locked his thick arms around the dragon’s neck. At the same time, Noah’s claws raked against his side.
Crunch! Boom!
The ground cracked deeply under the force of their struggle before collapsing entirely. To avoid getting caught in the fall, I quickly grabbed onto the nearby railing and used my teacher skill on Noah. He resisted slightly, but thanks to the “Natural Enemy of Lautitars” effect, I could pass Noah’s movements directly to Song Taewon without much difficulty.
But resistance?
‘Something’s definitely wrong.’
Not only was he attacking Song Taewon, but he even resisted my skill.
— Kyaaaah!
Noah crashed through the floors, breaking down to the first level, thrashing wildly to push off Song Taewon, who was pinning him down. Song Taewon skillfully restrained the dragon, increasing his weight to hold him completely immobile. However, Noah’s venom was spreading—if left unchecked, it would paralyze Song Taewon’s body. The range of my pillaging skill was too narrow to block all of the poison effectively.
“Ah, great.”
What to do… Actually, there wasn’t much choice. I sighed heavily, hugged Belare close to my chest, and jumped down into the hole without hesitation.
“Ugh, that hurts.”
Thanks to Grace, I avoided major injuries, but the minor ones were unavoidable. I quickly got up and approached Song Taewon.
— Karrk!
As I drew near, Noah bared his teeth aggressively at me, growling with his face twisted in anger. He didn’t seem capable of speech. While detoxifying Song Taewon, I spoke to Noah.
“Noah, don’t you recognize me? It’s Han Yujin.”
— Grrrr…
Thud! Noah slammed his tail against the ground, then swung it forcefully toward us. Song Taewon deflected the attack with a single arm.
“You can still talk in your transformed state. Try forming words like you would when using a skill.”
— Ngh… Let me go!
Oh, he can still talk. At least he hasn’t completely lost his rationality. However, he didn’t recognize me and seemed to have forgotten how to communicate while transformed. Judging by this, it seemed like he had lost part of his memories—likely his recent ones.
“We’re not your enemies. We have no intention of hurting you. See, we’re only trying to subdue you without causing harm.”
Noah’s large pale gray eyes blinked as he looked at me. Though he occasionally growled, he stopped thrashing.
“Can you return to your human form for now?”
Noah glanced at Song Taewon cautiously before nodding. The wire rope binding the dragon’s body unraveled with a metallic scraping sound as Song Taewon released it. Taking a step back, Noah reverted from his dragon form. He stood there, shoulders slightly hunched, looking back and forth between the two of us.
“Noah, do you not remember me?”
“…”
“My stats are F. I’m much weaker than you.”
I approached him slowly, trying to reassure him.
“We’re in Korea. Do you remember coming to Korea? You’ve helped me out a lot here.”
Was it poison? A curse? Or maybe a mental-affecting skill? I thought of Diarma’s successor, the creature with a jellyfish-like appearance.
A grotesque being that swayed with dazzling, dizzying colors. While its outward appearance and skills didn’t necessarily match, it seemed likely that its abilities included hallucinatory and venomous effects.
‘If the fog is what erased his memories, then it’s even more likely to be toxic.’
The fact that Song Taewon and I were unharmed might have been thanks to our resistance skills. The fog’s effects may also have been weakened after spreading out.
“Korea… I think my sister mentioned something about it.”
Thankfully, his high poison resistance seemed to have prevented a complete memory loss. Relieved, I moved closer to Noah and spoke as gently as possible.
“She probably told you to meet me. Han Yujin. You had a monster to entrust to the Beast Tamer who raises monsters. Do you remember Belare? This jewel snake here.”
-Hiss.
I held up Belare for him to see as I moved even closer. By now, my poison resistance effect should have been helping. I looked into Noah’s eyes, trying to establish direct eye contact. Since it could be a mental issue, I pushed my teacher skill further, attempting to transmit memories of our shared experiences to him.
“You came to me to entrust Belare. And then…”
“…Ngh.”
Noah furrowed his brow deeply, his hand reaching out to grab my shoulder. A low growl, almost like a groan, escaped him as his claws extended. Slowly, they dug shallowly into my shoulder, causing blood to seep out. Song Taewon instinctively moved to intervene, but I raised a hand to stop him.
“My sister… a similar feeling to hers…”
It seemed the memories were starting to return, as the grip on my shoulder tightened. Fortunately, the injury-nullifying effect of Grace activated, preventing my shoulder from being torn apart.
“Do you remember now?”
“…Yes. Ah, Yujin. I—ah!”
Seeing my injured shoulder, Noah immediately let go, his face paling as he hurriedly activated a healing skill.
“I’m so sorry!”
“It’s fine. More importantly, can you tell me what happened?”
Noah nodded and began recounting the events that had occurred.
“I went to meet Choi Seokwon. Then, suddenly, fog began pouring out of his collapsed body. Both the Haeyeon Guild Leader and I retreated immediately, but the fog spread faster than we could escape. It was much thicker than it is now. After I inhaled the fog, my vision blurred briefly, and… I think the Haeyeon Guild Leader attacked me. I don’t remember it well, but I tended to my wounds as I fled.”
So, Yuhyun attacked Noah. He must not have recognized Noah and felt threatened by his partially transformed state.
“While wandering through the fog in confusion, I ended up attacking the two of you. More precisely, I think I was targeting you, Han Yujin. Since Song Taewon seemed more threatening, I tried to deal with him first.”
“Do you think the fog that caused the memory loss is a type of poison?”
“It seems to be primarily poison, mixed with… hallucinations? That’s how it felt, especially when I first encountered it.”
At least I was able to restore his memories using my skill. Turning to Song Taewon, I said, “Yuhyun doesn’t have poison resistance, so it’s likely he’s lost more memories than Noah. But I’m sure he still remembers me and you, Chief Song. Noah, it’s too dangerous for you to get involved further, so please stay back. Chief Song, I’ll have to ask you to stand by as well. Let me try talking to him first.”
Even if Yuhyun had lost significant memories, there’s no way he would forget me entirely. I’ve been by his side since he was just a newborn, unfocused and barely able to see.
To confirm everything, Song Taewon contacted the Hunter Association and the Awakener Management Bureau. They reported that, as soon as the fog had spread, swift evacuations were carried out. However, many people were found to have memory issues, though it seemed to be limited to a partial blur of recent memories. It was dismissed as minor, likely due to the mental shock of the sudden incident.
I left the building and headed straight to where Yuhyun was. I worried he might have moved to another location, but fortunately, I could sense heat in the direction of Choi Seokwon’s villa. No—actually, it was more than heat. It was fire.
Fwoosh—
Flames lashed out, their long tails scattering the fog. Within the clearing, Han Yuhyun stood amidst the ruins of a half-destroyed building. When he saw us, his eyebrows twitched upward.
“Yuhyun.”
I took a step forward, calling my brother’s name with a slightly trembling voice. Surely, he hadn’t forgotten everything. Slowly, Yuhyun opened his mouth to speak.
“Hyung.”
He recognized me. Relief washed over me. But his voice and expression were colder than ice. It was both unfamiliar and painfully familiar at the same time. His tone dropped further, growing even harder and sharper.
“I told you clearly not to come near me.”
…He remembered. Those exact words. Hearing that, I’d gotten angry myself and blocked his number. Memories of that useless fight from back then bubbled up unexpectedly, and before I realized it, my hand clenched tightly into a fist.
–TL Notes–
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