Chapter 204: Reality (5)
TL: SHW
Hope answered my questions without resistance.
So readily, in fact, that I was the one who ended up flustered. Is it really okay to tell me all this? Hope spilled everything without hesitation.
Even Gamble, who had been sitting there looking uncomfortable at first, eventually started adding details to Hope's answers.
"And Noah hates cilantro!"
"Doesn't she like opera? For someone who goes around shouting about how much she hates humans, she sure does like human civilization."
"She collects dishes too. Personally, I think she collects them so she'll have something to throw whenever she's stressed."
"......"
Honestly, most of what they told me was the kind of information I wasn't sure I needed at all.
What was I supposed to do with Noah Michel's favorite foods, least favorite foods, and hobbies?
...I hated that I'd caught myself thinking it might actually come in handy someday.
"More importantly..."
Well, knowing something was still better than knowing nothing. If I analyzed details like those, I might get a better sense of what kind of person Noah Michel was, which would give me some idea of how to deal with her. That's why profilers exist in the first place.
"Hm? Is there something else you're curious about?"
The area where Hope seemed most likely to be useful was Dungeon structure. Even then, Hope grumbled about not being an expert. But what did that matter? What Hope told me about how Dungeons were structured was new even to me.
The only problem was that Gamble looked bored whenever Hope talked about Dungeons. Which meant she already knew all of it.
Maybe the reason Gamble at Pharos had been able to churn out things like the Mana Meter so readily was because Hope had been around. It felt like I'd stumbled onto a trade secret no one else knew.
"Is there no way to close a Dungeon from the outside?"
"Umm... Like I said earlier, I'm not an engineer, so I don't really know that part. Sandra can..."
"Shh, shh!"
"Huh?"
"No!!"
"Hmm?"
"We can't even properly analyze the mana around a Gate yet!"
"But..."
"We can't!!"
Hope pouted.
"Okay..."
Gamble cleared her throat over and over, as though that might somehow make me forget what Hope had just said.
Unfortunately for her, by now I knew more about Sandra Gamble's research than Gamble did. Even without that, Lee Mi-seon had talked my ear off about it, asking where someone that talented had been hiding all this time.
Where else? In a garage in California.
I glanced at Hong Seok-young. He picked up on it immediately.
"Dr. Gamble."
"Y-Yes!"
"The research you were working on..."
"Ah, yes! It's a device that analyzes a Gate's Mana Pattern and tracks the flow of mana inside! If it works properly, I thought we might be able to check the residual power and figure out when the door will open!"
The Mana Meter.
"Good. Let me know if you need anything. I'll support your work as much as possible."
"Th-Th-Thank you!!"
"Don't mention it."
Hong Seok-young had finally regained his composure and grinned.
"You know you're part of our guild, right? The harder you work and the more results you produce, the more research funding you'll get."
"Ah... yes!"
"Let's do our best."
Pat. Pat.
Hong Seok-young's large, scarred hand patted Gamble on the shoulder. The pats landed with fairly heavy thumps, but Gamble couldn't even let on that they hurt and just nodded vigorously.
Now, what else did I need to ask...?
"Want me to tell you about Henry too? Henry likes hamburgers..."
...Should I pass that on to Lee Mi-seon? The whole world was after him, so even trivial details like that might matter.
But right now...
"Ah. Hold on."
Hong Seok-young raised a hand and cut Hope off.
"It's been quite a while. Let's get something to eat and continue afterward. You stay here."
Hong Seok-young looked at Gamble.
"Doctor, go stay with Hunter Lee for a while. She has something she wants to discuss with you privately."
"Yes!"
Gamble left the room without the slightest suspicion. Hope blinked.
"You have something to say to me too?"
"Mm... I do, but I was serious about eating first. Quite a bit of time has passed."
The way Hong Seok-young emphasized the time struck me as strange, so I checked the clock.
I immediately understood why. It was already almost time for Woo I-rok to get home. Time really flew.
"You stay here and behave."
"I can't even move like this!"
"Really?"
"......It's not like I can't move at all, but even I'm not omnipotent."
"Perfect."
Hong Seok-young called over a Daseon Hunter to keep watch over Hope, then left the room. I followed him with a puzzled expression.
***
"Where are you going?"
"To meet I-rok."
He said it so naturally that I thought I'd misheard him.
"...Why are you doing that?"
And in the middle of a serious conversation?
A Hunter wasn't going to die from missing one meal. When he'd insisted on taking a break and cut off the conversation, I'd assumed there was some other important reason. Not this...
"Hey now. Do you know how important it is to go pick up my son?"
"He's not your son, and we're not even picking him up."
"Didn't he say he was heading out this morning? It's important to ask how his day went when he gets back, too. Kids like talking about what happened at school. You have to listen to every little thing."
Hong Seok-young thought for a moment, then added,
"And you have to make it really obvious that you're listening."
"I already do that just fine."
"No. You've still got a long way to go."
"How would you know?"
"Because I'm the one with experience as a dad, aren't I? I know these things."
"......"
If he put it like that, anything I said in response would make me the bad guy.
What a cheap shot.
In the end, there was only one thing I could say.
"...That still doesn't explain why you're coming out with me right now."
"A big brother and a dad aren't the same."
"That's not..."
I sighed.
"No, forget it. Whatever. Fine. I had something I wanted to talk to you about anyway."
"Something to talk about?"
Hong Seok-young looked back at me.
"While I was talking to Hunter Lee..."
Lee Mi-seon's position wasn't exactly flexible, given her ties to the Association.
To be precise, Lee Mi-seon probably wouldn't care as long as Henry Lehman was captured under the International Ability Association's banner. The jurisdictional mess might be real, but it wasn't enough to make her hesitate to pursue Henry Lehman right now.
She probably knew it too. If Hong Seok-young moved now, even the International Ability Association would end up with nothing to show for it.
"So you're telling me to go catch Henry Lehman? With Hope?"
"If he falls into the Association's hands, or another country's, it'll be hard for us to get anything out of him. From what Hope said, Michel doesn't seem to be all that involved with Lehman's Ark..."
"Which, conversely, could mean Lehman has very little to do with that future incident."
"He's stealing Hunters' corpses. How do we know what he's doing behind Michel's back?"
"...Hmm. The U.S. government would cooperate with me. The Association too, more or less. They wouldn't dare pull anything blatant. But if he crosses into Europe, where Noah Michel has a lot of influence, things could get difficult."
Hong Seok-young nodded.
"I'll give it some thought. Why? You aren't coming?"
"I can't."
Apparently this old man had forgotten that I'd lied about being from Ark....
When I finished explaining, Hong Seok-young scratched his head and laughed awkwardly.
"Ha ha. Right. That was a thing."
We really didn't need to be alike in ways like this.
When I stared at him as though he were pathetic, Hong Seok-young bristled and shouted instead.
"That's why everything would be solved if you'd just become my son already!"
"What kind of nonsense is that now?"
"If you can't leave the country under your current identity, just use another one. With my name, I can pull off at least that much."
This time, Hong Seok-young looked at me as though I were the pathetic one.
"For someone who's thrown my name around so much, you really have no idea how much pull I have. How about becoming Hong Seok-young's son? I'm telling you, your whole world will change."
"......"
"Don't be satisfied just because you've experienced it once."
"God, you're seriously irritating..."
"Even if it irritates you, wouldn't it be nice to become my son and take a trip abroad?"
"I've already traveled overseas plenty."
"I know you, and overseas business trips don't count as vacations."
"......"
"An actual trip abroad. You've been on one?"
"......"
So annoying....
Leaving Hong Seok-young's snickering behind, I hurried toward the entrance. It was about time for Woo I-rok to arrive.
Clatter.
My hurried foot caught a small stone and sent it rolling.
"......"
It was pretty big for a pebble. Definitely too big to be rolling around indoors like this.
I looked around.
The first thing that caught my eye was a wall covered in cracks and scorch marks.
"Hwijae-gun?"
Hong Seok-young called to me in confusion. I roughly dragged a palm down my face.
Right. I had to deal with this too.
"A house."
"Hm?"
"We need a house."
"A house?"
I pointed toward the wrecked hallway. Han Tae-kyung had collapsed right there. The blood had been cleaned away, but suspicious stains had seeped into the floor and walls.
"You said you were the one with experience as a dad. Does this look like a suitable place to raise a kid?"
"......Hmm."
"This is just... somewhere we're staying temporarily. Like a hotel."
It wasn't somewhere we could stay long-term.
"It's not good for him emotionally. And I don't like having people like Hope lying around the place either."
"That's true..."
"We need a proper home. Don't you have a spare place somewhere? Put it under the guild's name and let me use it, or give it to me as a performance bonus."
"Didn't Han Tae-kyung send you on a lot of Dungeon Raids? The payouts from those should be enough to buy an apartment around here."
"A house someone else buys for me is better."
"I can picture exactly how I must have raised you, so clearly that I don't even know what to say to that."
"I'm telling you, you didn't raise me."
"So stubborn... Fine. At least now I know exactly how to raise I-rok from here on out."
"Are you crazy? Absolutely do not raise him like me."
I snapped at him. Hong Seok-young's eyes widened.
"Why?"
"You'll spoil him rotten."
"So you do know?"
"I turned out pretty well, all things considered."
Hong Seok-young started snickering again. I pretended not to hear him and stepped outside. Just then, I spotted a black SUV driving up the road toward the guesthouse.
Watching the car Woo I-rok should be riding in approach, I said curtly,
"Anyway, we need a house."
"Hmm. All right. Ah, is I-rok planning to stay at his current school?"
"I was originally going to transfer him, but... he's adapted much better than I expected. I don't think he'll want to leave."
"Right?"
Still watching the approaching car, Hong Seok-young continued,
"His commute would be a little longer than it is now, but not so long that he couldn't manage it."
"What?"
"I got a place to stay during the semester once Pilot High School was up and running as planned."
"...That room at the inn?"
"No. I was only staying there to keep an eye on you."
"Ah. Right..."
"I was planning to live alone, so it might be a little cramped for two people... but one of you is still a child, so it should be fine."
Hong Seok-young passed me and headed into the garden. I could hear him muttering, strangely unlike himself.
"It's an apartment... I had the whole place remodeled, and all the appliances are already there. There's even a student desk."
...A student desk?
"You can use everything that's there. I'll give you the address later."
"Wait... Don't tell me you had all that prepared in advance?"
"Ahem!"
Without answering me, Hong Seok-young hurried off, looking around for Woo I-rok even though the car hadn't arrived yet.
"Hah."
I clicked my tongue, dumbfounded.
What was that? Is he actually embarrassed?
***
For more chapters, you can check out my Patreon here --> https://patreon.com/SHWTL
If you enjoy this novel, please review and rate it at Novelupdates. Thanks! 😊
To receive the latest update notifications or report mistakes, join our Discord server linked below.