Pulling the cart behind me, I stepped into the lavishly decorated hotel lobby. Over on one side of the wide lobby, I saw myself sitting in one of the plush-looking chairs lined up in a row. Since we were indoors, it made sense that he'd taken off his padded coat, but, uh, why had he taken off his pants too?
In front of me—wearing an expression that was troubled, awkward, and deeply embarrassed in every possible way—my younger brother was kneeling on one knee with his body bent forward. What Yoohyun was inspecting so intently was none other than my leg. More precisely, my injured leg.
"Hey, Yoohyun. Me and the Seseong Guild Leader are here."
Only then did the me sitting there notice that we had come in, and, mortified, he patted Yoohyun on the shoulder. He had covered things down to his thighs with the padded coat, sure, but still. Yoohyun straightened up and looked back at me.
"Why didn't you get mad at me even once?"
"…Huh?"
The me sitting on the sofa shook his head as though he hadn't said anything of the sort. Well, of course I wouldn't have said anything like that to twenty-year-old Yoohyun, but still. I met my brother's somewhat stiff face with my own gaze.
"Why would I be mad at you? Nothing had really happened yet at that point."
Ah, well, sure, my little brother had suddenly run away from home and put me through a lot of emotional distress, but other than that, there hadn't been much. Just some con artists and parasites sniffing around for crumbs that didn't even exist.
"And it's not even something you remember. It wasn't really you who did it, either."
How much had he figured out? There was no way he'd blurted out, in my own voice no less, that when I'd gone to ask him to heal my leg he'd coldly driven me away. It was probably just something like, Why did you leave me injured like that?
"Even so. To hyung, it would have felt like it was me."
"Oh. Uh, yeah."
I nodded on reflex, but the inside of my mouth turned uncomfortable. He was my brother. Both of them were. They were both Yoohyun.
"I'll heal it for you as quickly as possible."
Yoohyun looked back at the pre-regression me—at my leg—and said it. The difference between the injured leg and the normal one was strikingly obvious. A long scar wound its way around the relatively thin leg.
It wasn't like that leg was completely unusable, but it had no choice except to grow weaker and weaker over time. Even that was already much better than it had once been. Right after I'd first injured it, when I couldn't use it properly, the muscle had wasted away so fast it was ridiculous. At least by this point it had returned to about an ordinary level. The good leg, on the other hand, had grown sturdy from being used more and bearing more force.
"…What are you staring at like that? It's your leg."
My pre-regression self said brusquely. Right, I used to hate showing my injured leg to other people.
"Couldn't you erase the scar even now if you used a good enough potion?"
"Forget it. What's the point if only the outside looks fine? We're inside a dungeon, on top of everything."
"Hyung, sit down too."
Yoohyun said that to me.
"No, I'm fi—"
Urk. That brat didn't even bother listening to the rest of what I was saying before grabbing me and pressing me down into a chair. The me sitting in the chair beside me looked over with an expression that practically said, Yeah, I used to do that too.
"Hey, wait! I can just roll my pant leg up, can't I? Or just cut it off!"
"Take it off."
The me who was me said it. That damned bastard! …Although when I try to tell myself to go to hell, it feels weirdly unpleasant.
"It looks like it's been at least a year."
Just then, Sung Hyunjae approached me, where I was clutching the bundle of padded coat to myself. I flinched and shot him a wary look. Whether I did that or not, Sung Hyunjae slowly bent at the waist.
"May I take a look?"
"At… what?"
"Your leg."
The pre-regression me, pressed tightly against the backrest of the chair, frowned.
"You already looked before, so why… huh?"
Huh? An equally baffled sound slipped out of my own mouth. He'd looked before? No way. Seriously?
"Do you remember something?"
"No, it's just… what am I even saying?"
I shook my head in confusion. But that had definitely been the reaction of someone who had met Sung Hyunjae before the regression. What was going on? Since the Sung Hyunjae from before the regression and the Sung Hyunjae now were the same and yet different beings, had that had some kind of effect? I didn't know the details, but still.
"Mr. Sung Hyunjae, please, feel free to look all you want."
"What? Hey!"
"I'm giving permission. Therefore, it's mutual consent."
Since I'm me, after all. I glared at myself like a beast whose tail had been stepped on.
What? Why? What?
With his good leg, he dared to try kicking Sung Hyunjae, but Sung Hyunjae lightly caught it with a smack. Good grief, the savory smell was already wafting up before the seaweed had even been stir-fried.
The problem was, I looked pretty much the same myself. Since there were two of me, did that mean the embarrassment got doubled too? Yoohyun ran his hands over my leg with a grave expression.
"The bone…"
"It doesn't hurt ri— Aagh!"
"It doesn't hurt?"
"It hurts if you press on it, if you press on it!"
"I only pressed lightly. At this rate, doesn't it hurt every time you walk?"
"It doesn't. Walking is fine."
Without crutches or a cane, I did feel some pain, but not enough that I couldn't walk. Yoohyun ground his teeth.
"I should've cut him up too easily. I should've crushed him slowly."
"If you ever run into him again, step on him for me."
Assuming he was still alive, that is. He had to be alive, right? Meanwhile, Mr. Sung Hyunjae seemed to be having the time of his life. Resting an elbow on the armrest of the chair and propping up his chin, the Seseong Guild Leader stared at me while I was dying of embarrassment.
"Nothing else coming back to you?"
"No! Wait, why are you taking my sock off too?!"
"To check the level of response."
Hahaha, serves you right. No, wait a second.
"Yoohyun, that leg is the one that's fi— hey, hey."
"There's bruising. And you scarred your knee too. It's upsetting, hyung."
"Come on, people bump into things and fall sometimes when they're living their lives. It's fine, really."
So now give me my pants back already. Thank god the cardigan was long.
"…Seseong Guild Leader, shouldn't you examine that side too?"
When Yoohyun stood back up, I said through gritted teeth.
"Of course I should."
"What do you mean, of course?! My little brother already took a very good look!"
"Different people see different things. Wouldn't it be better if several people checked?"
"No thanks."
I cut him off and hurriedly grabbed my pants. I could vividly feel Sung Hyunjae's gaze stabbing into my leg. Apparently he really didn't like the state I was in. He looked mildly sulky for a moment before, as expected, turning his gaze to my pre-regression self, who was pulling his pants back on.
"If one used surgical treatment and a high-rank healer, it could be healed without much difficulty."
"I'll decline."
My pre-regression self said it with his head slightly bowed. With a sunken expression, he let out a short breath, then looked up at Sung Hyunjae.
"A high-rank healer wouldn't move for pocket change. I don't have the means to pay that back."
"It could be processed as a guild member welfare benefit. It would vary depending on rank and contract terms, and there is the issue that the injury predates your registration, but I am the guild leader."
"You're even more unlikeable than you were on TV."
His voice was blunt, though it trembled a little. Really, the nerve on me. He must have already judged the situation and concluded the man wouldn't do anything to him, but still—this was an F-rank without even Fear Resistance facing a born S-rank.
"I'll heal hyung myself, so don't worry. Both of you."
Even though those were the words he must have wanted to hear more than anything, my pre-regression self quietly averted his gaze. Yoohyun's face darkened as he looked at him. Uh, well. Mm.
"Uh, we should probably start getting ready for night soon! Are all the curtains closed? Or is it enough if we just close the ones in the rooms we're staying in?"
"On the way in, I saw three places where the curtains were open."
"You've got good eyes. Then I'll leave those to you, Mr. Sung Hyunjae."
Just in case, it was probably better to keep as many curtains drawn as possible. Sung Hyunjae nodded and headed off, taking the elevator up.
"Yoohyun, you—there's a kitchen here, right?"
"Yeah. There was one on the first floor."
"Then can you organize the groceries we bought? It'd be nice if you could also get things ready for cooking."
Yoohyun said he understood and pushed the supermarket cart toward the restaurant beside the lobby. Then that left us.
"Let's tear down that decorative fabric and cover the glass wall and the door."
Rather than simply meaning Draw the curtains, it was probably more accurate to say Make it impossible to see inside from the outside. Together, I went into the lounge, which was a little removed from the restaurant. My pre-regression self pulled a hooked wire from his inventory. The sharp hook flew up toward the cloth hanging from the ceiling. Then, riiiip, it sliced the fabric down in one go.
I bent to gather up the heap of fallen cloth, then took off my cardigan and put it into my inventory. Maybe the heating was on too—it was kind of warm.
"You really…"
"No, this is an item. Equipment."
Sure, I did look a little ridiculous wearing Chinese-style clothes with a jacket and a cardigan layered over them, but still! My fashion sense wasn't that catastrophic. It was average enough.
"You said the cardigan is an item too. Is it okay to stack them like that?"
"It should be fine since the effect types and rank differences are big enough, but I was just wearing it for warmth. It's magical beast wool, you know. It's warm even as ordinary clothing."
Even after I explained myself, the me who was me still looked at me with deeply dubious eyes. Why couldn't I trust myself?
"The padded coat wouldn't go into my inventory."
"Well, obviously—wait. Since this is a dungeon, does that mean ordinary clothes count as dungeon items too?"
If you really thought about it, I supposed that was how it worked. I picked up a small flower vase from the table and tried putting it into my inventory.
[Error! Cannot place it in inventory!]
Yep, error. This dungeon was a complete mess. Apparently only things that had originally been dungeon items—like the hooked wire I'd used earlier—could go into the inventory.
"To be honest."
I glanced toward the restaurant, where Yoohyun had gone. No matter how S-rank a Hunter he was, surely he couldn't hear us from this far away.
"I can't promise that I'll be able to get you out."
"Yeah."
The answer came back calm, as if he'd already guessed that.
"But I'm going to take you out if it's possible. Somehow."
"…Why?"
I looked back at myself. His lowered eyes were heavy.
"It won't do you any good. I'm not all that useful either."
That was exactly right. The me in front of me had nothing except the Caregiver title. On top of that, he was younger than I had been right before the regression, so the total amount of future knowledge he possessed was smaller too. Of course there were things he could do, but speaking coldly, they weren't enough to justify dragging him out with difficulty.
It would make more sense to take other S-ranks out instead. Yerim might be here too.
But.
"This is a secret from Yoohyun, so you'd keep it, right?"
As I rolled up the second length of cloth, I went on.
"I probably won't live very long."
"What?"
"They say my body is in bad shape. I'm not planning to give up easily, and I'll try to stay alive longer, but even so, I think there's a limit."
"…Your body and mine are the same, aren't they? Did you regress because you came down with some incurable disease or something?"
"It's different. The current me has several high-rank skills that my body can't handle. I have two L-rank titles and five L-rank skills attached to them."
I looked suspicious. It was hard to believe.
"On top of that, there are various other problems too, so apparently my body can't withstand it. Since my body itself is still only F-rank."
"What if you don't use the skills?"
"I'm not in a position where I can afford not to use them. I can't die right now just to extend my lifespan a little, can I?"
Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined that the first person I'd confess something like this to would be myself. But because I knew exactly what kind of bastard I was better than anyone, because I could trust him, my heart felt lighter and the words came out easily. If you really thought about it, this was no different from talking to myself.
"So I want you to be there. For Yoohyun's sake. If you start taking care of your health properly from now on, I think you might be able to live a long time. If I ask an elder I know, I think it might even be possible to raise your rank too."
It'd take quite a bit of maneuvering, though. But even mid-rank might be enough to live well past a hundred, wouldn't it? Becoming a transcendent like Young Chaos would be difficult, but S-rank… with a good teacher, who knew.
"Without me, I don't think Yoohyun will be able to go on living. Maybe if it were after a hundred years, it'd be okay because at least I'd have lived as long as an ordinary human, but not after only ten or twenty years. It could even be much shorter than that."
There was a mountain of things piled up, so I couldn't make any guarantees. Even aside from my physical condition, all sorts of other problems could still arise.
"But since you're me, if you were there—ugh!"
My collar was seized roughly, almost like he was yanking it away. I growled low.
"What kind of bullshit are you spouting, you fucked-up bastard?"
"Bullshit?"
"Fuck, you really…"
I was shoved. I staggered and toppled onto the long sofa. My pre-regression self bent his knees and ruthlessly drove them down into my abdomen.
"Ghk, hey!"
That hurts! Wait, what the hell, Eunhye? Eunhye? Don't tell me you didn't nullify the damage because that's me? Or do you also think I deserved to get hit for saying that?
"You're different from me."
Eyes cold with anger looked down at me. They seemed sad, too.
"You can already feel it too, can't you? That's why this bullshit about asking me to be your stand-in is coming out of your mouth so smoothly."
The corners of my mouth, the corners of my eyes, twisted.
"I'm just F-rank, and you're not. Damn it, I heard people say often enough that I was just a lump of inferiority, but I never thought I'd end up like this with myself."
"…What we were jealous of was our little brother's place beside him."
"Yeah. You. You, damn it. Must be nice. Being acknowledged enough to come into a dungeon like this together with him."
My own hand clenched around my own throat. The expression on his face said he wanted to strangle me right there.
"I forced myself not to think about it. I'm a monster, and Yoohyun is… yeah, he looked happy. But then you drag me out and say you'll fill your empty place with me. You cheap bastard. If I were better than you, would you still have said that kind of crap? You're saying it because as long as you're alive, you're sure your place won't be stolen."
"To be honest—ugh—yeah. That's true."
I knew perfectly well that I was doing something petty and underhanded.
"But you're me. …You'd accept it, wouldn't you?"
Even if the situation were reversed. I'm not the kind of bastard who would leave Yoohyun to die. A small grinding sound came from between clenched teeth.
"You crazy bastard. No matter what, even so… are you really me? I mean, I do love my little brother. I really do."
"Yoohyun died."
I froze.
"Because of me. He died trying to save me. That's why I regressed—"
Smack. One side of my face went numb. My lip might have split too.
"What are you talking about?"
"It's enough to drive anyone crazy. Of course it is. Do I look sane to you?"
"Why would Yoohyun die!"
His fist came flying again. This time I'd been waiting for it, and I barely dodged, then kicked at his leg—the injured one. With a grunt, he staggered, and in that gap I rolled my body off the sofa. I hit the floor, but didn't stop; I rolled once more.
Sure enough.
Thunk!
A knife stabbed into the floor. Fuck, what a murderous bastard. Then again, it is me.
"You call yourself a hyung after that?! Wait a second, you—your title, don't tell me…"
"That's right."
"You piece of shit!"
The moment I saw myself yanking the knife free, I hurriedly rolled under the table. Since one of his legs was bad, it was harder for him to attack if his opponent was lower down. So instead of the knife, I pulled out a spear. Rather than bending down, he dropped both knees to the floor in a sliding motion and thrust the spear low.
"Should've just died! Fuck!"
"I was going to!"
I pulled out a shield that had been rolling around in my inventory and blocked the spear.
Clang!
The impact shoved me backward. So his rank really had gone up after all. He was too strong for it to be just a difference in level. Grabbing one of the heavy table legs, he spun his body and whipped out a low kick that practically swept the floor. At the same time, he threw the spear into the air.
The spear's special effect flashed through my mind.
Was he really trying to kill me?!
If that kick hit and shoved me back, I'd land exactly where the spear would come down. And it was a spearblade that would plunge straight down with brutal force. I hurriedly pulled out a dagger and stabbed it into the floor so I could brace myself and avoid being pushed back.
"Then why are you still alive?! Totally fine, too!"
"You tell me!"
I hurled curses at myself again. Honestly, it felt better that way. If not me, then who else was going to get this angry for me? Even Yoohyun was saying it was fortunate that he was the one who had died.
"Hyung!"
Maybe because the commotion had gotten too loud, Yoohyun came running. He hurriedly grabbed hold of the me attacking me, then looked me over with worried eyes.
"Are you okay? What on earth happened? …Hyung?"
For some reason, tears started to spill. I was crying too.
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