LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 137
Chapter 137
“Ugh…”
As his faint consciousness returned, Gong Dawon regained his senses.
Where was this?
An unfamiliar ceiling.
Bright surroundings.
But Gong Dawon quickly figured out where he was.
“This is…”
“Oh, you’re awake?”
As Gong Dawon regained consciousness, someone greeted him.
They wore a blue shirt and blue pants, with the words ‘Hope Medical Center’ printed on their chest.
Seeing this, Gong Dawon’s eyes widened in an instant.
“A h-hospital?”
“Yes, this is the Hope Medical Center’s Mental Care Center. How are you feeling?”
“A… Mental Care Center? You mean… a psychiatric hospital?”
“Yes, well, some people do call it that.”
“Wh-why?”
“Well, it’s because you’re currently showing severe delusional disorder and anxiety symptoms.”
“W-what nonsense is that! Why am I a mental patient? Y-you’re doing this on purpose!”
“Sir, please don’t act out!”
“Die!”
Enraged, Gong Dawon reached out his hand.
If he did this, his attack skill would activate and instantly subdue the threatening presence.
But…
“…What?”
Nothing surged from his grasp.
No matter how many times he swung, it was the same.
This shouldn’t be happening.
At that moment, Gong Dawon noticed something around his wrist.
The nurse spoke.
“You’re over level 100, so to prevent any unforeseen incidents, you’re wearing a special restraining device. While it’s active, you can’t use your mana or your skills. So please, stay calm and cooperate with your treatment.”
“W-what? Who… who authorized this? I didn’t agree to any of this, w-who decided this?”
“This has been authorized by the government. So please cooperate with your treatment.”
“Nooooo!”
Gong Dawon started to struggle.
But no matter how much he acted out, nothing changed.
This was a special ward of Hope Medical Center’s Mental Care Center, specifically for high-risk patients.
Until his delusional disorder and anxiety were fully treated, Gong Dawon would not be able to leave.
Suho, watching Gong Dawon through a video call, spoke to the head nurse.
“Then, I’ll leave him in your hands.”
“Yes, don’t worry. We’ll take good care of the patient.”
The head nurse smiled brightly at Suho’s words of gratitude.
Why did Suho ask them to look after Gong Dawon?
The reason was simple.
It was Suho himself who had arranged for Gong Dawon to be admitted to Hope Medical Center.
He had no other choice.
Gong Dawon, as a one-star player, couldn’t be handled by an ordinary hospital, and though he was a mental patient with a tragic story, he had used the body of a deceased person without the family’s consent and was a potential threat to civilians.
Therefore, he was placed in Hope Medical Center, which was linked with the Korean Hunter Association, instead of Blue Jade Prison for inpatient treatment.
As Suho ended the video call, he thought to himself.
‘I feel bad for Gong Dawon, but I can’t just leave him there alone.’
Gong Dawon was an unstable mental patient.
He absolutely needed stable treatment, and though it would take time, Suho vowed to heal Gong Dawon someday, once he acquired a mental healing skill that could even treat people’s minds.
For now, that was the best option for both Suho and Gong Dawon.
Just as Suho was about to call someone else, his phone buzzed.
A call was coming in.
It was an unknown number.
Who could it be?
Was it a telemarketer?
But since it started with 010, he decided to answer.
“Yes, this is Suho.”
“Oh, Suho, it’s me, Special Affairs Team 1 Leader.”
Special Affairs Team 1 Leader.
It was Team Leader Oh Bong-ju.
Hearing the urgency in his voice, Suho smiled.
He knew why Oh Bong-ju was so anxious.
But he feigned ignorance and asked back.
“Yes, Team Leader Oh. What’s the matter?”
“Well, um, it’s… you know… that thing…”
“Yes, please, go ahead.”
Oh Bong-ju hesitated to begin.
Of course.
The reason Oh Bong-ju called was none other than the post on Stargram.
After Suho pretended not to know, Oh Bong-ju hesitated for a moment, then spoke up.
And just as expected.
“Suho, do you use Stargram by any chance?”
He brought up Stargram.
Suho replied.
“Yes, I do.”
“Then you’ll understand. You remember that photo I took with the assistant team leader a while back? I posted it on Stargram, and suddenly, people started bashing me like crazy.”
“People?”
“Yes, yes.”
“Would you like me to take a look?”
“Hold on a moment.”
After a while, a screenshot of his post was sent to him, and it was the same post Suho had seen before.
So Suho immediately logged into Oh Bong-ju’s Stargram and checked the comments.
– Haha, still making the rookies do coffee runs, huh? Government workers’ standards, still low as ever.”
-“Wow, they did this back in my day too. Still going strong, I see.”
-“Coffee runs should be done with a thankful heart. Who are you to order others around?”
-“Bet they hinted at it too.”
-“Queens Bakery cookies always have a line. Did they seriously ask for these specific cookies? They’re not cheap.”
└ “Where would a rookie get that kind of money?”
└ “Fact: rookies are broke, but Sword God is loaded.”
└ “This guy’s got zero tact.”
└ “SMH.”
-“Recommendation? More like coercion. Gotta love the sweet old-timers who don’t know they’re in the wrong.”
-“Look at Sword God’s face. Poor guy, he was definitely forced to take that photo.”
The comments were brutal.
No surprise there.
Nowadays, people pounced on any mistake they could find in others.
Suho, well aware of this tendency, made sure not to give the public anything they could latch onto.
Suho remarked.
“The comments are intense.”
“Right? I’m so stressed over this. It’s not just comments; I’m getting flooded with complaints about me.”
“That must be tough.”
“Just as I thought, I knew you’d understand, Suho. So… could you post a clarification on your Stargram account?”
“A clarification?”
“Yes, just something to clarify that it wasn’t forced, that it was just a friendly recommendation. Please, do me this favor.”
A favor.
Could this really be called a favor?
But there was no reason to refuse.
Accepting it was bound to lead to more entertaining results than declining.
Suho responded kindly.
“Shall I?”
“You would?!”
“Yes, it’s no trouble. I’ll do it.”
“As expected of you, Suho! Then I’ll leave it to you?”
“Yes, I understand.”
Oh Bong-ju was genuinely grateful, as though he’d found a savior.
As soon as Suho ended the call, he immediately drafted a post on Stargram as requested.
No photo, just a simple text post with the words he’d been asked to include.
“Hello, this is Ahn Suho.
I’d like to address something regarding the recent post about the coffee run.
It’s true that Team Leader Oh Bong-ju of Special Affairs Team 1 first recommended the cookies from Queens Bakery, but I made the purchase on my own.
So, please don’t misunderstand.
Wishing everyone a good day.”
With the post completed, Suho smiled brightly, put away his phone, and began moving to another location.
A short while later…
[New comment on Ahn Suho’s post.]
[New comment on Ahn Suho’s post.]
[New comment on Ahn Suho’s post.]
[New comment on Ahn Suho’s post.]
…
Comments started pouring onto Suho’s text post at an alarming rate.
Simultaneously…
[New comment on Oh Bong-ju’s post.]
[New comment on Oh Bong-ju’s post.]
[New comment on Oh Bong-ju’s post.]
[New comment on Oh Bong-ju’s post.]
…
Comments began flooding not only Oh Bong-ju’s coffee-run post but all his posts on Stargram.
-“This lunatic ran straight to Sword God to whine, didn’t he?”
-“Isn’t this abuse of power?”
-“Even Sword God, who rarely posts, wrote something like this. Must have been bad.”
-“Sword God is just an employee too, after all. This is really pitiful.”
-“Haha, this is insane. Should’ve just kept quiet, but he went out of his way to make things worse. Here comes justice.”
└ “Alright, let’s go in!”
-“He should just apologize properly. Sigh. It’s his own fault.”
-“I used to work under that jerk Oh Bong-ju. He was incredibly annoying. Once, he even…”
-“I went to school with that guy. Even back then, he…”
And not in a positive way, either.
But there was no need to pay any more attention to it.
Suho then made the call he had been planning earlier.
“Oh, Hunter Ahn.”
The person who answered was Association Vice President Park Gyu-min.
Suho asked.
“Vice President, is the task I mentioned underway?”
“We’ve already sent a team from the Remains Recovery Unit and specialists to handle it.”
“It’ll take some time, but please be thorough. This will benefit you in the long run.”
“I know. I’ve already made it clear they should be meticulous. But… the article will be published, right?”
“Yes, I’ve already informed the journalist. But even if I hadn’t, wouldn’t you have called them yourself, Vice President?”
“Well… ahem, yes, but it looks better when you call them instead of me.”
“It’s all the same. Then please keep me updated, and I’ll be in touch.”
“Alright, you can count on me.”
Along with admitting Gong Dawon to the psychiatric hospital, Suho had initiated another task.
It was none other than retrieving the unidentified remains buried around Gwangju and returning them to their families.
If he hadn’t known, it would be different, but after Gong Dawon, he couldn’t ignore the existence of that place.
In fact, it was a responsibility the Korean Hunter Association should have handled from the beginning.
‘And this is the best I can do.’
He thought it was enough.
After all, no one could handle everything in the world on their own.
To ensure the task proceeded efficiently, Suho enlisted Park Gyu-min.
Since the task concerned human remains, it fell under the jurisdiction of the Awakening Department, which was under Park Gyu-min’s influence.
As Suho was about to end the call, he addressed Park Gyu-min again.
“Oh, by the way, Vice President.”
“Yes, what is it?”
“You’re familiar with Gate Management’s Special Affairs Team Leader, Oh Bong-ju, aren’t you? It seems he’s getting a lot of hate on social media over something related to me, and he keeps bothering me about it.”
“Team Leader Oh?”
“Yes, just earlier, he asked me to post something on Stargram, and frankly, I’m getting a bit tired of it. Could you handle it on your end? Also, he’s been offloading his work onto our team, which is pretty frustrating.”
Work delegation.
Suho had overheard Oh Bong-ju passing off his work onto Jung Chulmin, so he decided to mention it.
After all, what he disliked was what he disliked.
Upon hearing Suho’s words, Park Gyu-min began to get heated.
“Team Leader Oh did that?! Understood. I’ll make sure to bring him in and deal with him properly. That guy…!”
“Alright, I’ll leave it to you then.”
With his business concluded, Suho finally ended the call, feeling a sense of relief.
Now he wouldn’t be bothered by this any longer.
‘Now, I just need to deal with Vampire Blood.’
As Suho was about to check the information on Vampire Blood, his phone rang.
It was Jung Chulmin.
“Yes, Team Leader.”
“Suho, where are you right now?”
“I’m currently in the middle of a Special Quest. Why, what’s going on?”
“A strange gate has been detected by the Detection Department, and I thought it might interest you.”
“A strange gate?”
“The detected mana level is S-rank.”
“…!”
Suho’s eyes widened.
“I’ll head there right away.”
“Alright, I’ll send you the address.”
Ending the call, Suho immediately got into his car.