Please Give Me A Kiss, Healer! Chapter 124

Jiwoo answered without saying a word and looked around.

A large worm with a translucent tail crawled across the ground beside him.

It was a monster that wasn’t in the monster encyclopedia, a monster that had never been discovered before.

There were at least dozens of monsters like that, with no assigned names and no known weaknesses.

Their appearances were all different, but they had one thing in common.

‘They don’t attack me.’

Jiwoo hadn’t noticed it until he met the man earlier. Before that, he had constantly been mixed in with the other Hunters, and he had been too busy helping them to pay attention.

The new monsters were also unaffected by the Holy Eyes skill. They all ignored Jiwoo’s presence and simply went on their way.

They were all heading in the same direction, probably toward the B-1 area where the people were gathered.

[Hunter Do Jiwoo?]

When there was no answer for a while, Lee Yeon-woo urged him anxiously. Jiwoo gripped the communicator tightly.

“I’m fine. I’m hiding somewhere safe.”

[That’s a relief. We’re moving with the other Hunters right now. Stay hidden and wait so they don’t find you.]

After ending the call, Jiwoo entered the subway station. The deeper he went down the underground stairs, the stronger the smell of blood became.

When the monsters appeared, the subway station was where the largest number of people fled.

But that had been the beginning of the disaster. The energy of so many living beings gathered in one place was the greatest bait for attracting monsters.

Jiwoo searched the subway station using his Search skill, but there wasn’t a single person alive.

With no people, there were no monsters either. Jiwoo continued going farther and farther underground until he found a convenience store that appeared to have been relatively well preserved.

[I’ll be right back. I’m going to the restroom.]

A message that the part-time worker must have written was posted above the locked door. Jiwoo easily broke the lock and went inside.

When he entered the office that had probably been used as both a break room and a storage room, an eerie silence greeted him.

After confirming that there was no one there, Jiwoo collapsed onto the floor like a puppet with its strings cut.

‘What is this?’

Jiwoo went over everything that had happened in just a few hours. None of it was easy to understand.

The S-rank Gate that had opened in the sky. The people who had been massacred. The endless stream of monsters pouring in from another world.

The only way to save this world was to approach the portal and cut off the passage connecting it to the other world.

But if what the man had said was true, beyond that portal was…

Jiwoo quietly grasped the hourglass necklace. As he tightly enclosed it in his palm, the golden dust inside the hourglass trembled faintly.

Not long after, Shin Woo-hyuk found Jiwoo with just a few transmissions.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

He carefully approached and gently helped the seated Jiwoo to his feet.

Jiwoo was clearly exhausted, but fortunately, there didn’t seem to be any signs of injury from another battle. Relief spread across Shin Woo-hyuk’s face.

“The other Hunters who were searching outside are waiting. We’re all going to gather and cross through the center to return to the B-1 area.”

“……”

“Hunter Do Jiwoo?”

Jiwoo, who had been silent the entire time, raised his head. The moment their eyes met, Shin Woo-hyuk’s face twisted sharply.

“What happened?”

“Guild Master.”

Jiwoo’s exposed face was a mess of tears. His eyelashes were soaked, and his chin trembled as he spoke again.

“We have to close the portal.”

No matter how much he thought about it, there was simply no other way to resolve this situation. The hourglass, which had lost its light, trembled briefly once more.

But that was all.

The necklace showed no other reaction. It didn’t shine like before, nor did it bring Kang-woo to where Jiwoo was.

 

 

 

****

 

 

 

 

“That thing is a portal?”

“If you look closely… it does seem a little different from a Gate.”

Jiwoo explained everything he had seen and heard to Shin Woo-hyuk and Lee Yeon-woo.

The thing floating in the sky was actually a portal, not a Gate, and if they destroyed the portal, the monsters would stop appearing as well.

Of course, he didn’t mention the man’s existence, the fact that the portal was connected to another world, or that Kang-woo might be beyond the portal.

“Destroying the portal shouldn’t be difficult. No more monsters are appearing from it, either. The problem is how we’re going to get up there.”

Lee Yeon-woo fell deep into thought. If they had enough time, they could request support from fighter jets or call in other Awakeners with flight abilities.

But right now, they were in the middle of enemy territory, surrounded by swarms of monsters.

On top of that, the B-1 area had warned them that the defended zone would collapse if they didn’t return soon.

Just then, Jiwoo, who had been quietly listening, stepped forward.

“I can do it.”

“Really? Do you have a way?”

“Yes, if you can keep it a secret.”

Jiwoo glanced at the Hunters sitting behind him in the subway station, repairing their weapons.

‘Kang Jae-gyu is the biggest problem.’

Jiwoo’s gaze lingered on Kang Jae-gyu, who was muttering curses under his breath. Shin Woo-hyuk, who was standing beside him, reassured Jiwoo.

“It should be fine. We got through it without any problems last time.”

Lee Yeon-woo also grabbed Jiwoo’s shoulder and assured him.

“Don’t worry about keeping it a secret. We’re on the same Emergency Disaster Team now, so of course we’ll protect you.”

The pale-skinned man who looked like a corpse and the Hunter wearing a black helmet also nodded.

“Anyone who carelessly opens his mouth will get chopped with an axe.”

Kang Jae-gyu, who was wrapping a bandage, may or may not have heard him, but he seemed to tremble at those words.

They left the subway station and climbed onto the roof of the nearest building.

A cold wind blew as the vast city spread out before them.

The power was out, so there were no lights anywhere, but thanks to the light in the sky, they could see as clearly as if it were broad daylight.

Only one person would participate in the plan Jiwoo had proposed.

“Are you ready, Guild Master?”

Jiwoo decided to approach the portal together with Shin Woo-hyuk. Since he was considered the best when it came to single-target attack power, it was perhaps the obvious choice.

When Jiwoo summoned two Whitebirds, Shin Woo-hyuk’s eyes lit up.

“You want us to ride this monster up there?”

“You don’t have to worry. It’s one of the monsters I command… I mean, one of my monsters.”

“Can you communicate with it like you did with those ants?”

“Yes, I can communicate with them.”

Jiwoo could sense a slight resistance from the hesitant Shin Woo-hyuk, but there was nothing he could do about it.

Jiwoo climbed onto a Whitebird first and wrapped his arms around its white-feathered neck.

“I’m counting on you, White Hawk 31.”

─ I have no choice but to do it this once.

White Hawk 31 lowered its body and let Shin Woo-hyuk climb on. Every time its great wings cut through the sky, their hair whipped wildly in the wind.

Yeouido spread out beneath their feet. Hunters were breaking through toward the B-1 area, while swarms of monsters were rushing toward the same place like a black tide.

It didn’t take long to reach the portal in the sky.

Once they were within attack range, Shin Woo-hyuk raised his sword. Flames blazed along the blade, and just as he was about to aim for the core of the portal—

“Guild Master, wait!”

Jiwoo shouted urgently and flew closer to the portal.

“What are you doing, Hunter Do Jiwoo? Move aside!”

Standing in front of a portal from which a monster could emerge at any moment was an extremely dangerous thing to do.

But even though Jiwoo understood his desperation, he didn’t move.

“I’ll… be okay. I don’t know why, but these monsters don’t attack me.”

“What does that mean…? Are you saying you’re going to go inside that thing?”

“I’ll only be gone for a moment. There’s someone I need to find, Guild Master.”

Someone he needed to find.

At those words, Shin Woo-hyuk narrowed his eyes as if he had figured something out. He remembered receiving a report not long ago that the head of the Emergency Disaster Team had suddenly disappeared.

“Don’t tell me… that person is Team Leader Seo Kang-woo?”

“I’m not sure. I just… want to check for a moment and come back.”

“Even so, you can’t! How can you even say that right now…!”

Shin Woo-hyuk shouted sharply, but Jiwoo had already made up his mind.

From the moment he learned that Kang-woo was beyond the portal, to the moment he decided that he had to close the portal for the sake of this world—

Not once did the option of giving up on Kang-woo exist.