Chapter 38

‘I can't stand ants.’

For decades now, those words had been his constant refrain.

Why had he come to hate ants?

At some point, he had started having recurring nightmares. Once every year or two, just when he was about to forget, the vivid nightmare would return.

In that dream, he was always running through the darkness, pursued by countless ants.

["D-don't come any closer! Stay away!"]

["Skree! Skreeee!"]

["Aaaagh!"]

He ran and ran in blind panic. But no matter how desperately he tried, he would find himself at a dead end before he knew it, surrounded by ants.

And from among them, an enormous ant as tall as a person strode toward him.

Then...

["SKREEEEEE!"]

Its mouth split wide, closing around his entire head...

CRUNCH!

"AAAAAGH!"

A middle-aged man bolted upright in bed with a scream. Woken by the noise, his wife rubbed her eyes beside him and looked at him with concern.

"Honey, did you have another nightmare?"

"Hah, hah..."

Cold sweat beaded his forehead. He gulped down the cold water on his nightstand.

"Cough."

He choked from drinking too quickly, but it brought him back to reality. Suddenly remembering his wife, whom he had woken, he turned to her with an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry. I woke you, didn't I?"

"Mmm... It's been a while since the last one."

"It has. I'm all right now, so don't worry about me. Go back to sleep."

He gently patted her back, and her eyes drifted shut again.

"Whew."

Sitting on the edge of the bed, he rubbed his face with both hands.

‘Just when I thought I'd stopped having them...’

He sighed, repeating the words inwardly like an incantation.

Yes, it was a dream.

Only a dream.

He was still... alive.

Fortunately, the incantation worked. His heart, which had been pounding fit to burst, gradually settled.

‘Those damn ant dreams. Honestly...’

Somehow, he had a feeling today would be a bad day. There was no hope of getting back to sleep, so he decided to get ready for work, even if it was a little early. Quietly, he rose and slipped out of the bedroom so he wouldn't wake his wife again.

His wife was a schoolteacher. She taught Korean history. He had briefly taught the same subject at a private academy when he was younger, so he knew how demanding the work was.

‘It'd be terrible if she lost sleep because of me and mixed up a date in class.’

With these thoughts running through his mind, he went through his familiar morning routine and got dressed for work.

‘Oh, right. Almost forgot it again.’

He hung his Association-issued name badge around his neck.

[Korean Hunters Association]

Min Byunggu

(Medical Consultant)

The name engraved on his badge caught the morning sunlight and gleamed.

* * *

"I'm here to have my mana reassessed."

As soon as morning came, Suho visited the hospital designated by the Association.

"Please take a seat and wait a moment."

After listening to the nurse's explanations, Suho sat down and idly waited his turn.

Circumstances had led the Association to come to Suho to measure his mana, but normally people visited a hospital like this to be tested for awakening. For that purpose, the Hunters Association had designated hospitals in various regions where people could have their mana measured. At first, these hospitals had existed only in Seoul, but as people began awakening throughout the country, their numbers were gradually increasing nationwide.

However, there was still only one hospital in the country that could perform mana reassessments, since the procedure required the country's sole precision measuring device.

"Mr. Sung Suho, please come in."

After a short wait, a nurse called his name. Inside the reassessment room sat a kindly-looking, middle-aged doctor.

"Mr. Sung Suho?"

"Oh, yes. Hello."

As Suho greeted him, his eyes happened to settle on the doctor's name badge.

[Korean Hunters Association]

Min Byunggu

(Medical Consultant)

‘Medical consultant?’

Given how exacting reassessments were said to be, he seemed to be a doctor the Association itself vouched for.

"The nurse probably explained this outside, but Stardust was officially outlawed recently. So you'll undergo a few tests before your reassessment."

In other words, a doping test.

After a brief explanation, the testing began in earnest. A question occurred to Suho.

"Doctor, wasn't there no way to detect Stardust doping before?"

"That used to be the case, but some of Stardust's ingredients were recently identified, which allowed research to proceed. Based on those findings, one clever doctor developed a doping test in no time. For the record, that doctor is me. Haha."

Min Byunggu shrugged and pointed a thumb at himself. He was quite a jovial fellow.

‘Oh.’

Hearing that, Suho realized something.

‘That's thanks to me.’

The reason they had recently been able to develop a doping test was that Suho himself had discovered the factory and reported to the Association exactly how the demons had been manufacturing Stardust.

‘And that butterfly effect has come full circle, leaving me sitting here taking the very test I made possible.’

He couldn't help chuckling at the situation.

But Dr. Min Byunggu, who was administering the test, studied Suho's expression with curiosity.

"Hmm? There's something different about you compared to the others, Suho."

"Sorry? What do you mean?"

"You're so calm."

Min Byunggu found him intriguing. People who came in requesting reassessments usually fell into one of two camps: overeager dreamers hoping to rise in the world, or self-important types out of touch with reality who insisted they were far more impressive than their rank suggested.

‘Not that there's much difference between them, really.’

In truth, that was a natural reaction. A successful reassessment that raised a hunter's rank could add another digit to their annual salary overnight.

But Suho was different. He showed no excitement or nervousness about the result.

‘Is he just not very ambitious by nature?’

Shortly afterward, Suho's doping test results came back.

"No sign of Stardust doping. Thank you for your patience. Now we'll proceed straight to the mana reassessment. Please place your hand here."

As expected, Suho's mana reading was exactly the same as the value in his status window.

[Mana: 586]

Min Byunggu exclaimed as he checked the results.

"Oh! Congratulations. It really does look like your first measurement was incorrect. With this much mana, you qualify as a C-rank hunter."

As he explained, he checked Suho's reaction once more. But Suho remained composed, as though he had known this would happen.

‘How curious. Are young people all like this these days?’

Tilting his head, Min Byunggu entered the results into the computer.

"Oh, and we need to add your skill information to your hunter records. Could you demonstrate your skills over there?"

Skill information was important data. For hunters to work smoothly together during dungeon raids, they needed a thorough understanding of one another's skills.

Min Byunggu led Suho to a spacious area and asked, "What skills do you have?"

"Hmm. I use swords, and I summon things."

"So you're a summoner. Then let's look at your summoning skill first. Could you bring out a summon?"

"Sure."

Suho readily nodded.

But to use Shadow Extraction, he needed a corpse. Fetching a goblin corpse from the Shadow Dungeon would be a hassle, so there was only one creature he could readily call out.

"Beru, come out for a second."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a fist-sized shadow sprang up from beneath his feet.

["Skree! You called, Young Monarch!"]

But what was this?

"AAAAAAAAGH!"

["Skree?"]

The moment Min Byunggu saw Beru, he recoiled in terror and fell backward.

Beru tilted his head at the noise and turned toward Min Byunggu. Then his eyes widened.

["Huh? Could you be...?"]

"A-a-a-ant...! Urk."

Pointing at Beru with a trembling finger, Min Byunggu finally rolled his eyes back and fainted on the spot.

"... Huh?"

Left utterly bewildered, Suho looked at Beru.

"What did you do to the doctor?"

["No, I... Hmm."]

At Suho's question, Beru took another look at Min Byunggu's face. There was no mistaking it. It was him.

Min Byunggu.

["Long ago... I ate him once."]

"What? Who ate what?"

["I ate this human."]

Beru scratched his head awkwardly.

* * *

Before Earth was reset, back when the Shadow Monarch, Sung Jinwoo, was active as a hunter, Korea had been home to one of the world's few S-rank healers.

The S-rank hunter, Min Byunggu.

He had once joined other S-rank hunters in a major operation to exterminate magic beasts on Jeju Island—that hellish island overrun by countless ant magic beasts.

In that unprecedented battle, Min Byunggu had fought the magic beasts more bravely than anyone and made a heroic sacrifice for his comrades.

By being devoured by Beru, the king of the ants.

Afterward, the world had been reset, and all those memories had vanished from Min Byunggu's mind.

["... But I still remember you."]

Beru's bittersweet voice reached into the unconscious man's mind.

The skill Gluttony.

Beru's innate gift for absorbing the power and memories of those he consumed.

Back then, only recently hatched from his egg, Beru had used that ability to devour Min Byunggu, swallowing his talent as an S-rank healer in its entirety.

["Perhaps that is why you failed to awaken this time."]

But that was not all Beru had learned from Min Byunggu.

Memories. Knowledge.

A heart that hated war and loved peace.

And that... had been the first humanity Beru had ever acquired.

["Had I been human, I probably would have called you my father."]

Min Byunggu was the human who had most influenced the personality Beru had today.

["You even made me develop a taste for historical dramas."]

Beru chuckled. Even unconscious, Min Byunggu shuddered at the sound.

["... I see."]

Had he read the man's feelings? Beru murmured bitterly.

["I've become your nightmare."]

In truth... it probably wasn't only Min Byunggu. Beru was a nightmare to every human he had ever devoured. Yet even among them, Min Byunggu was particularly special.

Was it because he was the first human Beru had eaten? Or because the humanity he had learned from the man had so profoundly shaped who he was today?

At last, Beru felt he understood why.

Look at him.

Even though the world had been reset...

Even without the abilities of an S-rank healer he had once possessed.

["Your life is still noble."]

He had so desperately wanted to quit being a hunter and become a Korean history teacher, yet in this life, he had chosen medicine instead of healing.

["You were still saving lives in your own way."]

Beru smiled brightly. Perhaps that fact delighted him because it showed him that his roots still shone brilliantly. Having walked a path of slaughter and strife from the moment he was born, Beru found that radiance all the more dazzling.

["I won't offer an apology now. We were at war back then. But..."]

Beru's warm voice reached Min Byunggu.

["In this life, I will cheer you on."]

A brilliant light flared, and a tiny seed flowed out of Beru and seeped into Min Byunggu's body.

["I shall take your nightmares away."]

My... father.

* * *

Meanwhile, Suho was surrounded by hospital staff.

"I'm telling you, he really just fainted on his own!"

"We've called the police. You can make your excuses at the station."

"Until we establish what happened, you'll be questioned as a witness..."

"Come on. This really is a misunderstanding."

Suho felt wronged, but the nurses' hostile response was only natural. Dr. Min Byunggu was not only a skilled physician but also Korea's sole Stardust researcher. Though Stardust was an abomination made from humans, its effects were still well worth studying.

What if they could eliminate the harmful aspects and preserve only its benefits? Stardust might be reborn as something capable of transforming the age. In that sense, Min Byunggu was an immensely valuable asset to the nation itself.

Yet, whatever the hunter undergoing reassessment had done to him, the doctor had suddenly screamed and passed out. Usually, in a case like this, a hunter unhappy with the reassessment results had assaulted the doctor...

"Ugh."

Just then, Min Byunggu stirred and sat up from where he had collapsed on the floor.

"Dr. Min!"

"He's awake!"

The startled nurses rushed over to him.

But then something astonishing happened.

"... What's this?"

A brilliant light flared. Barely back to his senses, Min Byunggu looked down at the pure white light gathering in his hands.

It was mana.

"A-an awakening?!"

Everyone who witnessed it stared wide-eyed. Then, without thinking, they all turned to Suho, who stood nearby.

"No, this is a misunderstanding too."