Saving My Favorite in a Doomed World Chapter 68

The first thing he saw the moment he stepped out was the toilet in the men’s restroom of the training center.

 

It seemed Riel had connected the dimension to a bathroom door. As soon as Hwa-shin stepped out, the ‘rift’ he had emerged from vanished instantly. 

 

It would be nice to have the ability to go back and forth like that. 

 

As soon as he left the restroom, Hwashin headed straight for the training grounds.

 

[If you’re done with your business, come to the Education Center. The training grounds.] 

 

A message had arrived from Mueum. He didn’t know how much time had passed while he was inside the gap, but Lee Suho’s measurement had clearly finished.

 

From near the entrance, loud noise filled the air.

 

“Amazing! Our talent! Our elite!” 

 

“Unnie! I’m going to marry Lee Suho!”

 

“…A-ah, no. I—I just met you today.” 

 

“Both of you, stop it.” 

 

Now it finally feels like I’m back.

 

He lifted the corners of his mouth with his fingers. As if nothing had happened, a smile returned to Hwashin’s face.

 

Ziiing—

 

The door opened.

 

“Guys—”

 

The moment Hwashin stepped inside, a girl ran over and hugged him.

 

When he gently peeled her off, a somewhat familiar face stood in front of him. But she hadn’t been this big before.

 

“Uncle!”

 

“….Ha Yujin?”

 

“As expected! You remember!”

 

He had seen plenty of cases where monsters grew rapidly. 

 

“She’s Ha Cheongwon’s younger sister. Haven’t you seen her before?”

 

“….I’ve seen her.”

 

Back then she had been, at most, about ten years old. She had been short, and her pronunciation had been clumsy. He knew illnesses could delay growth, but could someone grow this much? Normally?

 

Ha Yujin looked up at him with a bright smile.

 

“Uncle, you’re surprised, right!”

 

“….Well, I am surprised.”

 

“Seeing you smile, you’re definitely the right person. You hate kids, don’t you?” 

 

Seeing how quick-witted she was, she was definitely Ha Cheong-won’s sister. 

 

It was then—

 

The door opened again, and Ha Cheongwon rushed in, panting heavily. Judging by his messy hair, he must have been running around quite a bit.

 

“Ha Yujin—!”

 

As soon as she heard Ha Cheong-won’s voice, Ha Yujin scurried away and hid behind Yoo Jian’s back. 

 

“Ah, Hwashin-ssi, you’re here as well.”

 

Ha Cheongwon bowed his head hurriedly before striding over to Ha Yujin.

 

“Ha Yujin, when did you come to the Association? I told you it was fine to do the measurement later. Your body hasn’t fully recovered yet, so why do you keep wandering around?”

 

“I’m all better now. Uncle Hwashin healed everything.”

 

Ha Cheongwon is ‘Oppa,’ but why am I ‘Uncle’? Even if my inside is like that, doesn’t my appearance look like an ‘Oppa’? I think I look younger than Ha Cheongwon. 

 

“Yujin. You’re not fully recovered yet. You know that. Because you suddenly grew so much, your physical condition still isn’t very good.”

 

“But—.”

 

Ha Yujin bit her lip tightly.

 

…This is exactly why I dislike kids. If you want something, you should just say it.

 

“Ha Cheongwon-ssi.”

 

Hwashin stood beside him with a smile. Ha Cheongwon, whose mind was already half elsewhere, turned to look at him.

 

“Before scolding her, why don’t you ask your sister about the result first?”

 

“The result?”

 

“She said she came for the measurement.”

 

There are countless reasons kids don’t listen, but they all share one thing in common.

 

Seeking attention. Ha Yujin probably just wants her brother’s attention. Ha Cheongwon must have been very busy lately, and he probably hasn’t been able to visit the hospital often.

 

If she even came to the place where her brother works and did the measurement, she must have gotten a fairly decent result.

 

‘I saved her hoping for that, after all.’

 

At Hwashin’s advice, Ha Cheongwon sighed as if he had no choice.

 

“….Haah. Alright. Okay, Yujin. Oppa won’t get angry, so… just tell me what rank you got.”

 

“….”

 

Yu-jin pouted. She was protesting, ‘I’m sulking—.’ Caught in the middle, the timid Lee Suho was fidgeting among the family members he was meeting for the first time. Since Lee Suho had also been to see San Ihyeong, wasn’t his measurement done too? He saw people calling him an elite earlier. 

 

Ha Yujin peeked her head out and answered.

 

S-rank.

 

Her voice was so quiet it almost faded away, but it was clearly audible.

 

“…..What?”

 

At Ha Yujin’s answer, Ha Cheong-won pushed up the frame of his glasses. C-can you say that again? 

 

“….I said S-rank.” 

 

“It’s crazy, right? This one’s an S-rank, that one’s an S-rank! I mean, they say there are only about 100 S-ranks in the whole world, but does it make sense that this many are in this small country!” 

 

Yoo Jian hugged Ha Yujin tightly.

 

“Ahh, our lucky charm!”

 

Seriously, how can she be that happy? 

 

In any case, the fact that Ha Yujin was an S-rank was good news for Hwa-shin as well. 

 

At least saving her was worth it. …Though if it’s not the ability I expected, even an S-rank might be useless.

 

Resting his fingers against his chin, Hwashin glanced toward Ha Cheongwon.

 

‘Haha….. look at this guy?’ 

 

Seriously.

 

He’s about to burst with happiness, isn’t he? Ha Cheongwon’s ears had turned bright red. As if he couldn’t control the corners of his mouth lifting, he bit his lips tightly with a strange expression.

 

‘Since his dying sister became an S-rank, he must be happy.’ 

 

At this rate he’s going to cry—wow, he’s actually crying?

 

While Hwashin stood beside him casually recording Ha Cheongwon crying on his phone, Lee Suho quietly approached him.

 

Lee Suho opened his bright, clear eyes wide and whispered to Hwashin. Unlike his sparkling eyes, his tone and voice were timid.

 

“I-I’m S-rank too.”

 

“Ah, yeah. I figured you would be.” 

 

Lee Suho was essentially the protagonist of that world, so he had to be at least that much. When Hwashin replied casually, Lee Suho tugged on Hwa-shin’s sleeve once more. 

 

“If I’m an S-rank, I can k-keep staying here, right? I can keep being friends with Mueum and Hyung, right?”

 

“….What?”

 

The moment he heard the question, Hwashin burst into laughter, clutching his stomach.

 

Lee Suho stomped his feet at the sight. Jeong Mueum watched them with his arms crossed, looking utterly exasperated. After laughing his fill, Hwashin wiped his tears and bent down. When he met Lee Suho’s eyes, Suho lowered his gaze.

 

‘Seriously, I… I never thought I’d come to cherish kids other than the protagonists after arriving in this world.’

 

When he first entered <Your Hero Is Here>, he hadn’t given a thought to the others. Whether they died or not. 

 

—That’s too much. Even so, it’s the book you loved. 

 

Too much, Riel? That’s just how it is. 

 

There’s only so much space in one’s heart, and the number of people you can care about is limited. But this much should be fine.

 

“You did well, yes.” 

 

Lee Suho had always been alone.

 

He must have been lonely. Elric—Yoo Hwashin—knew that feeling well.

 

After all, the one who hated loneliness the most had been Yoo Hwashin himself.

 

“But honestly, even if you weren’t S-rank, you could stay here. That’s not what matters.”

 

“…..”

 

“Still, it’s better that you turned out this way.”

 

Good job.

 

When he ruffled Suho’s hair, it instantly became messy. While fixing his hair again, Lee Suho finally smiled like a boy. The mischievous grin made him look like a high school student. Jeong Mueum also smacked the back of Lee Suho’s head.

 

“Why would you even ask that?”

 

“…B-but.”

 

Mueum seems pretty rough with his friends—

 

“Why, why are you hitting me?”

 

—or so it seemed. But Lee Suho wasn’t any pushover either. He smacked the back of Jeong Mueum’s head right back.

 

“Hey, Lee Su-ho’s hitting back?” 

 

“Y-yeah. I hi-hit you.”

 

Wow, those two are pretty close.

 

Ha Cheongwon finally seemed to regain his senses and cleared his throat a couple of times.

 

“Th-then does that mean two new S-ranks have been registered just today?”

 

Two S-ranks had appeared consecutively. This wasn’t just shocking for the Association—it would shake the entire world. Jeong Mueum, who still had Lee Suho in a headlock, nodded.

 

“Yes, that’s right. It’s good news, but from the Association’s perspective it’s definitely worrying, isn’t it?”

 

“Information on S-ranks tends to spread quickly. From now on, the pressure on our country will intensify. We’ll have to prepare responses in advance. It’s also a matter directly related to my sister, and I don’t particularly want Yu-jin’s information to spread too much.” 

 

“Look at Ha Cheongwon-ssi getting so talkative when it’s about his sister.”

 

But Ha Cheongwon was right. The appearance of an S-rank was good news, but the risks were just as large. Countries that possessed S-ranks inevitably faced heavy scrutiny from powerful nations.

 

There are cases where a single S-rank clears an S-rank Gate. If someone has the ability to clear an S-rank Gate, they could turn a city in any country into a disaster zone. 

 

‘Though even that becomes meaningless later.’

 

When the Gates collide all at once and occur simultaneously across the world, dimensions will warp completely. In the end, heroes who entered through different Gates from different worlds will even meet in one place. 

 

Ziiing—

 

The automatic door opened and Cha Jaeha, dressed neatly in a suit, walked in. Yoo Jian let out an impressed exclamation.

 

“Wow, Cha Jaeha~.”

 

“What are you looking at?”

 

“The state of you.”

 

Neither of them ever backs down from a word. This chaotic family—this devoted reader rather likes it.

 

“Have you finished the report?”

 

“Yes, I finished everything and came here. …I heard the SH2 unit also produced different research results.”

 

“Ah, I will speak with you regarding that matter separately. It’s information related to Lee Suho…ssi coming out of the Gate.” 

 

At Ha Cheongwon’s words, Cha Jaeha nodded. The reason Cha Jaeha came here immediately was probably to see Lee Suho. He likely wanted to judge for himself whether Suho could be an immediate combat asset.

 

Just as expected, Cha Jaeha—

 

“Then shall we have a round?”

 

—challenged him to a fight right away.

 

“Pardon?”

 

Our kind protagonist. Fighting.

 

***

 

[ F I G H T I N G   L E E   S U H O ]

 

Text reading ‘Fighting Lee Suho’ flashed on Yoo Jian’s phone. Jeong Mueum sat without taking anyone’s side. He looked full of complaints.

 

Neither of them tried to stop the fight.

 

At the center of the training hall, Lee Suho and Cha Jaeha faced each other across two white lines.

 

Hwashin, sitting in a folding chair prepared beside the training ground, leaned his back against the seat. 

 

Even if he tried to forget, the moment he saw Cha Jaeha, memories from the ‘rift’ inevitably resurfaced.

 

[Was the reason everything ended in destruction because Cha Jae-ha died?] 

 

[Yes. That world was destroyed because Cha Jaeha—the only protagonist of that world—died.]

 

Because the protagonist died, the world was destroyed.

 

Swinging his crossed leg slightly, Hwashin thought.

 

‘If this world was destroyed because Cha Jaeha died in the first place, then would preventing his death stop the destruction?’

 

No. That wasn’t it.

 

‘If Cha Jaeha hadn’t chosen that method, the gates would never have closed.’

 

“Lee Suho, you have to win!! You’re the one who can defeat that jerk!”

 

‘A way to prevent destruction.’ 

 

Hwashin glanced toward Yoo Jian, who was shouting at the top of her lungs, and Jeong Mueum, who sighed at the sight.

 

Then he looked at Cha Jaeha standing before him.

 

This place was not a book. They were not characters—they were real people who were alive. Perhaps because he had realized that clearly, his mood felt strangely unsettled.

 

He didn’t want them to die.

 

He didn’t want this world to be destroyed.

 

The goal remained the same, but the reason had changed.

 

‘It’s not because I cherished this book that I don’t want its destruction.’

 

He had simply come to want to live together with this world.

 

“What are you thinking about so deeply?”

 

Ha Cheongwon, who was standing beside him, asked. Was Ha Cheongwon always this perceptive? Hwashin let out a small chuckle. Thinking about it, Ha Cheongwon had also become somewhat different from the original story.

 

Or perhaps there had never been an original story in the first place.

 

“Nothing. Just…”

 

Ha Cheongwon was a principled man who followed the rules. He was a character who had lost his only younger sister, awakened as an A-rank because of that, and clashed with Cha Jaeha at every turn. 

 

But the Ha Cheon-won here broke the rules to hide Lee Suho, and his only younger sister became an S-rank, making them S-rank siblings, and his mental state was weaker than expected. 

 

“I just like this peace.”

 

Hwashin closed his eyes slightly.

 

Yes.

 

Already—

 

Ha Cheongwon had changed.

 

Ha Yujin was alive.

 

Lee Suho had come here.

 

Cha Jaeha—

 

Many things in this world had already changed. 

 

Then, of course, shouldn’t we be able to stop the destruction too? A world where the protagonist doesn’t die, a world where Cha Jae-ha doesn’t become the lead actor of destruction. 

 

In the Red Gates that appear after the School Ghost Story, involvement with Freak is inevitable. 

 

What he had to do from now on was already decided.

 

Yoo Hwashin slowly opened his eyes.

 

“Fighting!!”

 

“Lee Suho, if things look bad, just run away at the right moment.”

 

In front of him, Cha Jaeha rolled his neck a few times before looking straight ahead. Lee Suho trembled as he clenched his fists, but his expression was resolute.

 

Cha Jaeha put on his gloves.

 

Then he spoke.

 

“Shall we begin.”