Hunter Kindergarten, Dolphin Class! - Chapter 129

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 129

A silent commotion broke out.

Everyone who rushed into the hospital room couldn’t easily approach Lee Seo-hyeok, who was crying like a young child, and demanded an explanation from me with their eyes.

‘No… twins, if you guys do that too.’

It wasn’t a reproachful look, but I felt strangely wronged.

I had no choice but to make excuses in a crawling voice.

“…I didn’t make him cry.”

“Sob! Yes, yes! Teacher didn’t make me cry. I cried on my own!”

Seo-hyeok, wouldn’t that sound even stranger?

Still, people who realized that Lee Seo-hyeok was in a state where he could speak well quickly showed relieved expressions.

“You, you scared me. I thought something happened. Seo-hyeok, my heart is weak.”

“It’s fine since you woke up.”

“Hyuuuung! Don’t get hurt!”

“Older Brother… don’t cry…”

“Oh my, Seo-hyeok. My child.”

I got caught in between the crowd that rushed in like a tide, unable to be pushed out.

I thought I would awkwardly participate in the back-and-forth well-wishes and tearful conversations.

“Um… for now, I think we need to proceed with Hunter Lee Seo-hyeok’s examination.”

Several medical staff members who, like me, had inadvertently gotten caught up in this crowd, quietly raised their hands and spoke.

“Ah.”

“That’s right, we should do the examination first.”

“You’re right, go quickly. Seo-hyeok.”

After that, Lee Seo-hyeok followed the medical staff for a brief examination, and during that time I played with the twins and became a conversation partner for the two Grandparents who had regained their composure.

“Is there any particular fruit you like?”

“I eat all kinds of fruit well.”

Haha, the bonus was that fruit kept coming non-stop throughout the entire conversation.

Like a true fruit ghost, I skillfully moved my mouth while eagerly accepting whatever was offered to me.

While I was doing that, Lee Seo-hyeok, who had finished all his tests, returned.

“They said there are no particular abnormalities. However, they recommended staying hospitalized for another week and suggested regular check-ups from now on.”

“Alright, stay hospitalized for another week.”

With Moon Chae-yeong’s refreshing permission, the atmosphere became even more relaxed.

‘It’s a relief that there’s nothing wrong with his body.’

What kind of injection did he get from what kind of bastard that made him lie unconscious for a whole day?

Since it was such an urgent situation, Moon Chae-yeong and Kang Ho-won had given me an abbreviated explanation, so the information I had was too limited.

‘I roughly heard that during a mission, he got caught by some crazy bastard and strange drugs entered his body.’

Hmm… Would wanting to know more details here be meddling?

Besides, this kind of information is probably treated as classified, so they wouldn’t bother telling me about it.

‘It seems like they’ve already told me enough to cross the line.’

I nodded my head and folded my surging curiosity in half.

‘Right, it’s enough that Lee Seo-hyeok regained consciousness.’

Lee Seo-hyeok, who had been unconscious for a day, was now receiving fruit that Grandmother fed him like a baby bird.

Meanwhile, the twins sitting on Lee Seo-hyeok’s left and right seemed busy constantly watching their hyung as if he was fascinating.

“Older Brother, the mango is delicious. Since Lee Seo-ra knows Older Brother likes mango, I asked Grandmother to buy mango.”

“Mmm, thank you, Seo-ra.”

“No, Lee Seo-ra. Hyung likes tangerines more than mango. Hyung, eat tangerine. Right, Teacher?!”

…Seo-ro, how could Teacher know that.

“Oh, okay. I’ll eat the tangerines too.”

Now that I look at it, it’s not amazing, but rather who can better match Lee Seo-hyeok’s preferences in a competition.

“….”

Seeing the twins who had regained their energy and Lee Seo-hyeok’s much more comfortable complexion made me feel relieved.

Even more so because I had seen Lee Seo-hyeok’s past through the NEW chapter.

‘The status abnormality will disappear too.’

‘Obsessive sense of responsibility, treating the past like the present.’ Was that it?

I felt a strange conviction.

I felt it even more after hearing the questions Lee Seo-hyeok kept asking me.

He would finally escape from the past that had been tormenting him.

No, perhaps he had already escaped from it.

“…Teacher.”

When he woke up from his long sleep, his face looked like he had realized something.

‘If this happens, the twins’ deficiency and obsession problem with Lee Seo-hyeok will naturally be resolved too.’

The excessive worry about their brother was now a problem that time would solve.

‘Since Lee Seo-hyeok said he would change, the twins who see that will notice it too.’

Just look at right now.

“You, I’m just saying this just in case, but don’t think about forcing yourself to go to work and focus on your body’s recovery….”

“Yes, this time I’ll also try to rest properly.”

Lee Seo-hyeok quickly and politely cut off Choi Un-seong’s worry.

“Oh, really? What’s gotten into you…. Actually listening to this kind of talk.”

If Lee Seo-hyeok shows that he can take care of himself like that, the twins will feel at ease too.

‘Good.’

Seo-ro’s status abnormality ‘I only look at my goal! I want to become a Hunter!’ would realistically change into a different form or naturally disappear as the child grows and encounters reality and dreams.

‘The three of them can live well by relying on each other like this.’

I chuckled softly while peeling the tangerine that Grandmother handed me.

What was funny was that I had a feeling I would continue to meddle in these siblings’ affairs in various ways.

‘I think it’s because seeing Lee Seo-hyeok strangely reminds me of my own childhood.’

Just as the situation and my thoughts were coming to a heartwarming conclusion.

“Get some rest now. Grandmother, Grandfather. We’ll be taking our leave.”

Led by Kang Ho-won who suddenly stood up, the Field Team Na members left the hospital room.

“Yes, we’ll see you when we come to work next week.”

“Alright~ Rest well.”

-Click.

But why am I…?

Kang Ho-won took me along when he left.

I stared blankly at the backs of Field Team Na who were walking ahead, telling me to follow them.

This is ridiculous.

‘No way… Grandfather just handed me a Cheongsong Apple.’

***

And so, I ended up following them to the Field Team Na office.

Everyone placed their drinks and snacks on the table and sat down.

Including me, of course.

“Please have some.”

“Yes, thank you.”

For now, I decided to put the snacks they offered in my mouth and observe the situation.

“I think it would be better to cover up this incident. Since we haven’t told any outside parties exactly how Seo-hyeok got injured, it would actually be easier for us to let this slide.”

“I think that would be best too. Setting aside the hassle if it gets out, Seo-hyeok might be in danger.”

“Right, I already silenced the people from the examination room earlier.”

Hey, wait a minute.

Listening quietly like this, something seems off.

I hurriedly put down the coffee I was drinking and raised my hand to speak.

“Um, is it okay for me to be hearing this?”

“It is classified information.”

Exactly! That’s why I asked because I thought so!

“Just to be clear, you do know that just because I was a temporary team member or something once for that trip to Mugang last time, doesn’t mean I actually became a real team member, right…?”

“We know.”

But why is your attitude like this?

When your words and actions are completely different, how am I supposed to interpret this…

“Yes, yes. Teacher is an ‘ordinary kindergarten teacher,’ right? I’m constantly surprised by your ‘ordinariness,’ Teacher.”

Look at Kang Ho-won, this bastard sneakily adding his personal feelings when he speaks.

I stared at Kang Ho-won with coldly narrowed eyes as he looked at me with a face that said ‘I have a lot to say but I’ll hold back.’

However, Field Team Na paid no attention to my attitude and instead began treating me more seriously as a ‘semi-team member.’

‘Ah whatever, I don’t know anymore. You guys told me to listen…’

Well, it was true that I was somewhat curious about this incident involving Lee Seo-hyeok too.

I straightened my posture at Moon Chae-yeong’s words as she was about to begin her explanation in earnest.

“A few days ago, we carried out a mission to arrest a group that was illegally researching Dungeons and Monsters at an abandoned research facility overseas.”

This isn’t easy from the start. The scale is much bigger than I thought.

“At that time, Seo-hyeok was injected with an unknown drug by a researcher inside the facility, and that’s how this situation came about. And just yesterday, the Field Team Leader found out what that drug was through interrogation.”

A drug that serves as the foundation for advancing the New Humanity Project.

In other words, it’s an insane drug that artificially turns ordinary people without awakening abilities into Awakeners.

“But even that is just fertilizer for them to create a ‘god’.”

“A god? How do you create a god?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying. How could humans creating a god even be possible? If that faithful bear cub from the retired Team Da had seen that, he would have turned the place upside down.”

Kang Ho-won’s commentary followed Moon Chae-yeong’s concise explanation.

Wait, is he talking about Kwon Hae-seong right now?

…Anyway, all of this happened at a research facility established by some senile foreign grandfather who wanted to create a god with human hands.

“It seems to have started from an obsessed delusion about how perfect the ‘god’ they created would be in a world where everyone is an Awakener… What’s crazy is that this research was a follow-up study and they were trying to create that ‘god’ through the corpses of dead Monsters.”

This is dizzying.

Isn’t this the kind of story you’d only see in apocalyptic science fiction novels?

“The biggest problem here is that when Seo-hyeok regained consciousness this time, part of that project succeeded. Of course, this is separate from the fact that we’re happy Seo-hyeok woke up.”

Moon Chae-yeong displayed a photo sent to her mobile phone, saying it was Lee Seo-hyeok’s wave graph.

“Seo-hyeok’s grade has risen from A-rank to S-rank. Moreover, waves that weren’t detected before have also appeared. This means… a Sub Skill has been created. Oh, Seo-hyeok is also aware of this fact.”

Even if the suddenly appearing Sub Skill is questionable, his grade increased without any ‘ritual’?

A truth that became established theory after countless research.

Once a grade is determined, it cannot be changed.

‘When ritual conditions are achieved, the ability grade temporarily increases, but even that isn’t permanent.’

Just like how Kwon Hae-seong had drawn a Holy Sign to display unprecedented strength.

However, through multiple examinations, it was revealed that Lee Seo-hyeok had undergone permanent grade enhancement, not temporary grade enhancement.

“We don’t know what kind of waves this will create if it becomes known to the world.”

Choi Un-seong calmly stated this frightening fact.

“As you know, the difference between Awakeners and ordinary people is just the amount of mana and whether it’s opened or not, right? This drug artificially twisted those two things. It forcibly opened mana and artificially made it generate in large quantities.”

Good Lord.

“The nightmares aren’t really anything special either. They just appear to be side effects of the drug. Since they’re forcibly opening mana, the heart and brain can’t handle it. They’re basically overworking them almost to the point of death. If they lose consciousness, they die, and if they wake up, they’ve succeeded in opening their mana, so they become what they call ‘new humans’ – Awakeners. Unintentionally… this time Seo-hyeok became the first successful test subject.”

Wow… even experiments done by elementary school students would be more humane than that.

“…But you don’t seem very surprised?”

Choi Un-seong seemed to be observing my expression as I listened to his explanation, then asked.

“…I was surprised.”

Of course, I was surprised.

It’s just that I had already been surprised by myself a while ago and caused all kinds of chaos internally.

Just before leaving the hospital room, I wanted to check just to be sure, so I opened Lee Seo-hyeok’s Status Window to confirm.

『 Official Target Subject : Lee Seo-hyeok

Ability : Ability Nullification

Grade : S-

*Detailed Description : Nullifies all of the opponent’s abilities

Sub Skill : Ability Copy(Can copy and use others’ abilities for a brief moment.) A(A+)

Ritual Condition : Whistling

Status Abnormality : Obsessive sense of responsibility, experiencing the past as if it were the present.

NEW! STORY 0. Regret

STORY 1. First Society 』

The underlined status abnormality and….

I discovered the suddenly increased grade and the new Sub Skill that had appeared.

If there hadn’t been people passing by in the hallway, my jaw would have dropped in shock.

But even though it was something I already knew, hearing it spoken aloud was still shocking enough to make my head spin.

I’m doing my best to maintain a poker face right now, and it seems to be having some effect.

“Right, as Un-seong said, if this gets out it’ll be beyond just troublesome…. What do you think about keeping it between us and covering it up? Of course, Representative Baek Cheonhyeong and a few researchers inevitably know about it.”

“Let’s do that.”

“That would be better for Seo-hyeok too. Still, let’s dig into this a bit more among ourselves? I feel uneasy about leaving this research as it is.”

“Right, let’s do that. Um… what about you, Teacher?”

Moon Chae-yeong finally asked for my opinion.

Ah, I have to speak too?

“Yes…. I also think it would be better to cover it up if we can. If this fact becomes known to the world, it would become complete chaos….”

It’s scary.

It wouldn’t be strange if countries went to war to get their hands on this drug.

‘Imagine randomly injecting people and getting lucky with one person becoming an S-rank Awakener. That would open up an insanely cost-effective resource development route.’

And what’s more.

[ They’re bad people. Right? ]

[ I think they should go to Eternal Rest, what do you think? ]

The White Dog Doll hanging from my bag has been making ominous sounds since earlier.

[ Now I can go look for my eyes. ]

And it’s been suggesting we resume the forgotten body part search.

…Nabi, why is the conversation suddenly jumping in that direction.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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