Chapter 60

"Running, huh. Do you usually go for a morning run?"

"Yes. Hunter Alec, you do too, right?"

"I'll pass. S-ranks don't really need to exercise. Though, when my younger sibling was alive, she used to pester me into running. Come to think of it, my sibling would have been quite pleased to see you."

"I see. Well then, I'll be off."

"...."

Yoon Seo went straight inside the camper. Since Kwon Jihan was still showering, he had to wait.

When Kwon Jihan came out, drying his hair, he started rambling about how his hyung had great running posture, how his hips stayed in place, how his speed was consistent, and how they should run together from now on. Yoon Seo ignored him completely and went to shower.

After getting dressed and stepping out of the camper, he found Alec standing in front of him, in the exact same posture as before. His expression was slightly sulky….

"Yoon Seo, ask me."

"Ask you what?"

"My younger sibling. That was the perfect moment to ask about her earlier. How could you just go in like that? You're truly heartless to no end."

"...."

Do you not understand when someone doesn't want to talk about personal matters, ahjussi?

Why should I ask about something I have zero curiosity about?

As Yoon Seo sighed, Kwon Jihan stored the camper in the guild subspace and spoke.

"Hunter Alec's younger sibling was an incredible person. I respect her too."

That offhand comment instantly piqued Yoon Seo's curiosity. If a man willing to throw himself onto a ticking time bomb out of sheer recklessness said he respected someone, there was no way he wouldn't be curious.

"Was she famous? What did she do?"

He looked at Alec as he asked, and Alec answered.

"She was my youngest sibling, ten years younger than me. She even joined Revengers ten years ago. A fitness fanatic, always nagging me to work out, both before and after she awakening. When she was around, I had to jog every morning and do squats every night."

"Revengers…."

The unexpected name made Yoon Seo's head throb. As he muttered, Alec lifted his chin and spoke.

"Yeah, that Revengers. The pride of my family. I wonder if you know her name. Her name is—"

"Rita Switch?"

[The God of Life is lost in longing at the familiar name.]

"Rita… Oh? You knew?"

Alec's face brightened. He was surprised and pleased that Yoon Seo, a Korean, knew, as most Koreans didn't.

"Holy, your sibling was a Revenger? That's insane."

"What? Whose sibling was a Revenger?"

"Hunter Alec Switch's younger sibling was a Revenger."

"I already knew that."

"We didn't. Hunter Alec, you should've bragged more."

The news that Alec's younger sibling was a Revenger spread quickly, and the hunters preparing for the match started chattering noisily. Alec, his nose now sky-high, proudly began boasting about his youngest sibling. He claimed she had been extraordinary even before her awakening and launched into a tale fit for a biography. Yoon Seo watched, exhaling slowly.

His lips parted.

Yoon Seo had a lot to say to Rita's older brother.

'Rita noona was your sister? Ha, damn. Do you have any idea how much hell I've been through for the past ten years because of her will? Who the hell leaves a will demanding 3 million squats and 5,000 runs before dying? While your youngest sibling was turning into a fitness fanatic, what exactly was the rest of your family doing?'

The memory was still vivid before his eyes. Back then, Rita Switch had been on the brink of death after being attacked by a poison monster, having gone days without food. She had vomited so much blood that it seemed as if her insides would spill out completely. Covered in that blood, Rita left her final words in Yoon Seo's arms.

'Chaeyoon-ah… I have a wish….'

'If I could get out of here, I would have made it come true myself. But now, I don't think I have a chance. Will you do it for me…?'

And thus, her will was born.

3,000,000 squats, 5,000 runs.

Was this a joke? There had been so many people around, yet she specifically chose Seo Chaeyoon. Normally, her Korean was a bit clumsy, but in that moment, it had been so flawlessly fluent, like she had rehearsed it a hundred times, that Yoon Seo couldn't even pretend he had misheard.

'Rita Switch… Alec Switch. I thought "Switch" was a common surname, but they were actually siblings.'

Yoon Seo stared at Alec's back as the man continued his endless bragging about his younger sister. He wanted to grab him by the collar and ask if he had just stood by while his sister spiraled into fitness obsession. But for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to do it.

Even though Alec was a tall, broad-shouldered, well-built middle-aged man with not a hint of sadness in his tone, only joy as he bragged, his back looked strangely small. Yoon Seo bit his lip.

'I have a sibling too.'

'A younger brother or an older brother?'

'Older brother. He's also an S-rank, but he never entered dungeons. He said he would protect the world from outside.'

'Sounds like a great person.'

'He's not a great person. He's lazy and doesn't exercise. Running and squats make life richer. A healthy body leads to a healthy mind. Chaeyoon, you should work out too. Exercise until you die.'

Now that he thought about it, Rita had talked about his brother quite a bit. It always ended with her pushing her fitness beliefs, so Yoon Seo never paid much attention.

"Our distant relative also has a Revenger in the family. The eldest son of my youngest uncle's in-laws' eldest son-in-law is Hunter Lee Kanghoon."

"Hunter Lee Kanghoon is your uncle? Why are you only telling me this now?"

"I know someone from Revengers too. My high school teacher, Shim Sihwan. He was an S-rank healer."

"What the heck? So many people here have connections to Revengers?"

Even during breakfast, the conversation revolved around Revengers.

There were those who knew about their final moments, and those who didn't. Lee Kanghoon had left his will directly with Yoon Seo before dying. Shim Sihwan had died fighting fiercely on a battlefield separate from Yoon Seo's, but had still left a will for him.

'Chaeyoon. Sihwan hyung asked me to pass this on before he died.'

It was absolutely maddening. They had died fighting somewhere completely different, yet they still left their wills specifically for Seo Chaeyoon.

And their wills were these:

Chaeyoon, fill at least five diaries.

Tell Chaeyoon to make 300 leaf bookmarks.

No, seriously, couldn't they have just told anyone? Did they really need to go out of their way to leave those requests specifically for him?

Still, despite how ridiculous it was, Yoon Seo had written in diaries and gone around collecting leaves.

He had already fulfilled those two wills, but Rita Switch's was far from over. It would probably be the last one to be completed. Yoon Seo barely restrained himself from grabbing Alec and shaking him, demanding that he share some of his sister's will.

***

After finishing the meal, they began preparing for deployment. While the leader of Team 2 was inspecting the guild's subspace flying item, Yoon Seo took a pill bottle out of his pocket. He swallowed two pills, and Park Soobin handed him some water from the side.

"Drink it with water."

"Thank you."

Yoon Seo didn't refuse and drank it down. Park Soobin, after taking back the bottle and putting it into his inventory, spoke.

"You've been taking too much medicine since yesterday and today."

"A B-rank was forcibly brought to an S-rank Yellow Dungeon, so of course, I have to take a lot."

"Yoon Seo, you're not B-rank…."

"This bastard is still going on about being B-rank. Does he think we're all as dumb as him after showing off that shield?"

Hong Euiyoon grumbled as he passed by. Since he wasn't wrong, Yoon Seo couldn't refute.

"Heavens, please… please do not let that rough and arrogant man be Seo Chaeyoon…."

Beside him, Alec sighed in a prayerful tone.

From the corner of Yoon Seo's vision, he saw Hwashim taking what was undoubtedly a tranquilizer, looking even more worn out than yesterday. Yoon Seo thought about saying something but stopped, figuring there was no way he was in the right state of mind to chat.

Once preparations were complete, they all took off. The moment they lifted into the air and deactivated the shield, the island floating over the lava immediately sank, leaving no trace.

"If we head straight this way, we'll encounter a monster horde in five minutes."

"Let's go. Move out!"

The relaxed expressions vanished as tension settled over everyone at once. As expected from experienced hunters, they knew exactly when to be at ease and when not to be.

"Hyung, hyung. Yoon Seo hyung."

Kwon Jihan, who clearly didn't understand the distinction, flapped his tiny black wings as he approached Yoon Seo from behind. It seemed those wings could change in size at will.

"Hyung, what do you have in your pockets? Let me take a look."

"Right now?"

"Yeah."

"We're fighting in five minutes."

"So what?"

Kwon Jihan blinked his gray eyes. He looked as if he genuinely didn't see the issue. Just as Yoon Seo stared at him in disbelief, he heard a foreign language from the side. It was Lawrence Mille, leaning against the hot air balloon wall while hugging her boyfriend.

Yoon Seo waited for her to finish speaking before asking.

"Hunter Lawrence, what did you just say?"

"Ah."

Lawrence turned on her automatic translator and repeated herself.

"We were curious too. Especially about what's in the front pocket of your jacket, why is it so stuffed?"

Rio Deli was also looking up at him with a curious expression.

"Which front pocket?"

"The lower left one."

"Oh, that's a grenade."

"Are you insane? Who carries a grenade in a pocket like that? Are you trying to get us all killed?"

"It's fine. If the grenade goes off, Hunter Kwon Jihan will appear like lightning, sacrifice himself, and save us all."

"...."

Did he really just joke like that about Kwon Jihan? The couple was terrified, but Kwon Jihan himself burst out laughing.

"That's funny. What's in the other pockets?"

"You're really persistent."

Yoon Seo sighed as if he had no choice and listed off his gear.

"Flashlight, bandages, ointment, plasters, pocket knife, notebook, pen, compass, thin padding, umbrella, raincoat, chocolate bar, gum, candy, three pill bottles, and a watch with a stopwatch function. That's all."

"...."