Chapter 173: Episode 44. They Are Busy Too
Chapter 173: Episode 44. They Are Busy Too
“Uhum, hm hm, hmm~”
The little girl walked through the darkened hallway with a thumping sound. Her smooth blonde hair was tied low in two pigtails and a red velvet ribbon hung around the neck of her lace blouse.
Giiiing—!
At the other end of the hallway, as she got closer to the white-lighted room, the eerie sound of the drill turning and the screams of people became louder.
“Doctor, are you busy?”
The girl, who entered the room by pushing the half-open door, opened her mouth with a bright voice.
“I have something to ask you.”
Kkuaaaak!
Even with the appearance of the girl, the drill continued to rotate. The bright red blood splashed on the transparent screen that ran across the centre of the room.
“Doctor!”
The girl, who had been waiting with her arms folded, shouted in frustration. This time, as if he had heard correctly, the drill stopped and a shadow of a huge body was reflected through the screen.
“What?”
Suddenly, the man who pulled off the screen came out and threw the drill he was holding at the desk next to him. The drill and the man’s sanitary apron were stained with blood and dripping down.
“It was a very important task.”
The man called “Doctor” grunted and wiped the blood from his hand roughly. Wearing a clunky mask with a respirator on his bald head, she heard a hissing noise with every breath he took.
“Important task? What’s that? Where did you get that from?”
The girl tilted her head and pointed behind Doctor. Tied up on the iron table, it wriggled and murmured for help.
“Samael said Koreans shouldn’t be touched yet.”
“That’s safe.”
Doctor, who had blocked his view by putting a screen to see if he was stabbed, frowned.
“Abel. Didn’t you bring your new doll to show off? I haven’t seen it.”
“This? What do you think. Isn’t she pretty?”
At Doctor’s words, Abel circled around the place with a proud face. Red shoes glistened under the lightly swaying dress skirt.
“How did you make it when I didn’t even help you?”
She looked like an ordinary person. However, seeing that Abel could control it, underneath that skin was probably stuffed with cotton or wood used to make dolls.
“Fufu, among the new peoples, there is a producer that I can use. I put a lot of effort into it.”
“You and I are the same.”
“At least, I didn’t bring Koreans and use them!”
Abel, who spoke harshly, moved cautiously to see if the blood on the floor might get on her shoes and held out the box she was holding.
“Here. Take it.”
“What else?”
“Samael told me to deliver it. Just like last time, you can make a space moving marble. I put his blood and coordinates in it.”
Inside the box were marbles to be converted, a glass bottle of blood, and a piece of paper with coordinates written on it. Doctor, who gasped and exhaled harshly, nodded his head.
“I’m bored to death.”
“Hold on. But from now on, it’s going to be pretty fun? He told me to look forward to it.”
Abel clasped her hands together as if she was really happy. Seeing this, Doctor sighed and set the box down next to the drill.
“I’ll make it for you, so give it to Samael. Send in more guys that can be used for experiments.”
“Aren’t you still getting 10 people per month? Need more here?”
“Not enough! It’s not really enough. Most people die before doing anything. Or bring me something healthy.”
“Anyway, I have a lot of greed.”
“What’s your request?”
“It’s not that difficult for me.”
Abel smiled shyly and waved her hand towards Doctor. Abel whispered something in his ear as Doctor bent over his huge body in response to the action.
* * *
The new gate was designated as D45 Area.
It would be a lie if it said that the current situation, where all domestic and international attention had been focused on whether it would be the second SS-grade gate after N19 Area gate belonging to Requiem Guild, wasn’t burdensome, but the situation wasn’t bad. …the late Lee Joo-ha thought so until this morning.
“Your face is worse than ten days ago. Do you have anything to worry about?”
“Well. I don’t think you’re not that easy either.”
“Hm, it was like that at the last meeting. Are we supposed to leave now? You’re speaking informally now?”
“Stop!”
As soon as their eyes met, Lee Joo-ha shouted while interrupting between Cheon Sa-yeon and Ha Tae-heon, who growled as if he had waited.
“Why are you arguing with Tae-heon as soon as you arrive, Master Cheon Sa-yeon!”
“It’s hard to believe, but Deputy Master Ha Tae-heon was the first to argue.”
“When?”
“During the last meeting.”
“……”
Were you arguing over something that happened more than ten days ago like a moth? Cheon Sa-yeon, who read her inner thoughts from Lee Joo-ha’s eyes, raised the corners of his lips lightly.
“Hello.”
At that time, a woman with a cute impression greeted her with a bright voice from behind Cheon Sa-yeon. Ha Tae-heon and Lee Joo-ha recalled her name without difficulty. They had already met her a few times.
“This time, I’m Min Ah-rin, who is in charge of managing the healer team under Requiem.”
“Aa. Nice to meet you.”
Lee Joo-ha held Min Ah-rin’s white hand and shook hands.
‘For sure… Han Yi-gyeol seems to have been close with that talented person.’
Lee Joo-ha, who smiled neatly hiding her soaring curiosity, continued.
“Thank you for coming. I’m looking forward for this clearing time.”
“Please take good care of me, too.”
Min Ah-rin, who answered Lee Joo-ha with a smile, looked at Ha Tae-heon standing behind for a moment, then looked away.
They didn’t know what the grade was the new gate, so the first clear had no choice but to be careful. Just like Cheon Sa-yeon directly participated in clearing the gate of N19 Area, Lee Joo-ha didn’t hesitate to participate in this clear and was the first to express her intention to participate.
Meanwhile, she received an offer from Requiem to support her healer workforce. It was the same for any guild with less healer manpower. But would he support the healer for nothing in return? Besides, Master Cheon Sa-yeon even participated as well?
Even if the goal was to form friendship, it was very uncomfortable. It was unexpectedly Ha Tae-heon who stopped Lee Joo-ha, who was going to refuse after much consideration.
“When you don’t know what the motive is, it might be better to keep it nearby and watch.”
There was no way Ha Tae-heon would bring up such a thing hastily. In the end, Lee Joo-ha believed in his serious character and accepted Requiem’s offer.
And today. Cheon Sa-yeon, who met again after ten days, looked particularly tired as he had at the last meeting, but his attitude was the same as usual. The problem was that his usual attitude looked like he had a lot of plans, but well. Anyway.
After greeting, Lee Joo-ha, who moved away from Cheon Sa-yeon and Min Ah-rin, secretly sighed and a soft voice came from the side.
“Our healer team is also ready.”
A man with curly brown hair and wearing silver-rimmed glasses. He was Do Ha-seok, an S-rank healer belonging to Roheon. He put his arm playfully on Ha Tae-heon’s shoulder, who was standing next to him.
“If you add up the people from Requiem, there are 20 healers? It’s very reassuring.”
As they normally cleared the gate, it was rare that there were more than 10 healers, so it was true that, as Do Ha-seok said, it was a little less worrying.
“That’s right. With that number of people, even if the gate is SS-grade, it will be safe to some extent. Healer Do Ha-seok, take time later to say hello to Requiem’s healer team. Healer Min Ah-rin, who just came and went, is the manager.”
“Aha.”
Do Ha-seok, who rolled his eyes for a moment, smiled.
“Of course, I have to say hello. Since I will greet her, can I become friends?”
“Ugh. Do whatever you like.”
Lee Joo-ha shook her head and left first. Only after the distance widened enough that the conversation couldn’t be heard did Ha Tae-heon open his tightly shut mouth.
“Let’s greet her together.”
“Um? Well, it doesn’t matter to me.”
Do Ha-seok looked at Ha Tae-heon with curious eyes and asked, lowering his voice.
“Is that what it is?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ve known each other before.”
“We met a few times.”
Ha Tae-heon answered calmly and recalled Min Ah-rin shaking hands with Lee Joo-ha.
She was one of the few people with whom Han Yi-gyeol became close. This time, it seemed like it would have been better to have a conversation.
“It’s amazing. You know Healer from Requiem.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“I’m not going to disturb you.”
Only then did Ha Tae-heon, understanding what Do Ha-seok was saying, frowned.
“It’s not like that.”
“I didn’t know you liked that type.”
“I said no.”
“Ha Tae-heon, it’s a little, how should I say this. I think a sly type would suit you.”
“…move.”
Seeing Do Ha-seok listened to his denial, Ha Tae-heon turned around and slap his arm on his shoulder in annoyance.
“Ooh, I see. I’ll stop teasing you.”
“Shut up.”
“It’s just that I’m upset. You went on vacation and you didn’t have any present.”
Do Ha-seok, who was still clinging to Ha Tae-heon without getting tired, lowered the tip of his eyebrows as if he was very sad and pretended to cry.
“It’s the first vacation you got after joining the guild, but they don’t even tell me who you’ve been hanging out with.”
“Why do I have to tell you that?”
“I’m curious.”
Ha Tae-heon sighed with an absurd face in response at the shameless answer of asking something so obvious.
“I hope you don’t pay any attention to me.”
“No, honestly, I can’t help but be curious, right? In the past, you would bring an injured woman to me several times when I met you, but at some point it stopped and you even took a vacation to go on a trip. The more I think about it, the more interesting it gets.”
Ha Tae-heon slowly blinked his eyes at Do Ha-seok’s words.
‘I was like that.’
The more he thought about it, the more he couldn’t clearly remember anything other than that related to Han Yi-gyeol. He realized once again how deeply he had fallen.
“How fun that change is for someone like me who is crazy about research…”
Ha Tae-heon continued to think of Han Yi-gyeol as he heard Do Ha-seok’s voice talking nonsense next to him.