ReLife Player

[Hound(9)]

«…Hah.»

After defeating the Hound, Eunha looked up at the sky in a daze.

The sky was so paradisiacal, but his mind was complicated.

He felt like he was trying to untangle a tangled thread, only to tangle it further.

«I’m crazy, I’m so crazy. I’m crazy, I really am.»

In your excitement, you swing your sword like a madman.

I vowed not to be a player in my second life.

I had no excuse for being a player and killing monsters.

He even took pleasure in killing them.

«I’ll think before I act.»

What did you promise yourself after your regression? You promised to live happily ever after, and you promised to do whatever it takes to be happy.

Still, this behavior was too much. I could have kept the hounds at bay until the players came to the rescue and focused on hunting down the Hell Hounds alone.

There was no need to go on a rampage.

You didn’t have to be crazy, or you’d get yourself killed.

Facing death with reckless abandon and confidence, it didn’t take much thought to realize what would have happened if the Gift hadn’t manifested.

«Yes, my gift. It wasn’t <Berserk>.»

Eun-ha learned that his gift was not <Berserk> after this incident.

Although it had the commonality of maximizing his strength with a small amount of mana left in his body, he still maintained some flawed reasoning. He didn’t go berserk.»

«It must have been measured incorrectly before the regression.»

The trigger for the gift was the same before and after the regression.

When a certain level of mana was consumed, the Gift would manifest.

The abilities were the same.

If you consume mana while the Gift is active, your physical abilities increase by leaps and bounds.

Thus, Eunha was able to suppress the pain that a child’s body could not withstand with the manifestation of his Gift. As his physical strength increased by leaps and bounds, his ability to recover also increased proportionally.

The bleeding could be stopped, of course, but the flesh that had been torn away could not be replaced.

He would need the help of a player with corresponding knowledge to repair the damage.

«The recoil of the Gift is different.»

<Berserk> was a Gift that, when manifested, caused a person to lose their senses and go berserk. Once it started, it usually didn’t stop until all of its mana was spent.

In contrast, the moment the current Gift stopped manifesting, his physical abilities would drop significantly until he recovered his mana.

«…Ugh.»

There was a recoil, as a child’s body couldn’t withstand the intensity of the fight.

If he lost consciousness here, he might die.

The wound had healed, but the amount of blood loss was not normal. Something had to be done about his leg, which was missing flesh.

«…This is bad.»

The Gift wasn’t going to stop manifesting. It was better to let it run out of mana and wait for someone to rescue it.

Passing out like this on a mountaintop where no one was coming was a sure death.

Will I die here?

I can’t die here.

Gritting my teeth, I jabbed my thigh with my stiletto.

«…Uck!»

It was stupid. Holding my breath, I slammed the stiletto down, trying not to lose consciousness, but unnecessarily increasing the amount of blood loss.

Moreover, the pain of the stiletto was unbearable.

Blood spurting from his mouth and nose, he lost his strength and fell to the ground.

His body was shaking. His hands and feet were cold.

His vision blurred.

I can’t die here.

If I die….

‘How many times do I have to tell you?, I told you to take care of your body!’

I heard my partner’s voice.

It was a voice he hadn’t heard in a long time.

In his fading consciousness, Eunha smiled softly.

‘My body is yours? ‘No, it belongs to me’

‘…I’m the one who treats your body. I know your body better than you do, and of course, it’s mine!’

‘Why are you getting mad?’

‘Do I look like I’m getting mad?’

‘I said it before, please come back safely.’

‘…I’m sorry. Okay?‘

‘Forget the apology…If you really feel sorry, keep this weekend free.’

‘Why.’

‘…If I tell you to keep it free, then keep it free. Do you want to die?’

‘Ugh, okay. Got it.’

☆

«Ah….»

When he opened his eyes, he was in a hospital room.

Getting out of bed, Eunha checked his body. He rolled up his sleeves and looked inside his pants, but there were no wounds anywhere.

«…I see.»

Someone must have saved him.

The player must have been quite a skilled player, considering he was able to administer first aid before being taken to the hospital.

How long had he been unconscious, how many days?

Eunha looked around for a calendar, but couldn’t find one. He felt like he’d been unconscious for a while, but his young body couldn’t tell for sure.

Where the hell is this?

It was a single room. No one would give a child a single room unless the hospital was desperately empty.

Whoever had admitted him to a single room must have had a purpose.

Who?

What purpose?

His thoughts didn’t last long.

As if waiting for him to wake up, someone opened the door and walked in.

«Hi.»

«…Hi.»

A woman in a leather jacket.

She opened the door, smiled brightly, and sat down on the chair in front of the bed.

Shin Seo-young.

Eunha was stunned for a moment as he looked at her.

She never thought he’d see it with his own eyes….

Before his regression, he was an <Undead>, he had faced the Twelve in the course of an important operation.

<Shinpung> was a person appointed as the first of the Twelve by the invitation of the fairy Im Gae-eul.

All he knew about <Shinpung> was what he had studied at the academy.

Later, he was amazed to see the woman who was hailed as the Empress or insulted as the National Harlot in person.

Of course, I wasn’t completely mesmerized.

A visit from the Twelve meant it was important.

I had some idea of what that important matter might be.

I couldn’t help but wonder.

«Are you awake? Does anything hurt?»

Seo-young ran a hand through his hair, worried.

«Yes, I think I’m okay. Noona saved me, didn’t she?»

«…Yes, I did. I brought you to the hospital as soon as I found you. Your name is Eunha, right? No Eunha.»

«Yes, I’m Eunha. What’s your name?»

«…Seo-young Shin. You can call me Seo-young.»

A seemingly normal conversation.

In reality, it was a battleground. The two were gauging each other’s reactions before getting down to business.

To see where the other was at with the situation.

«How long have I been here? How are my friends?»

«…It’s only been six hours since you were taken to the hospital. I called your family, they should be on their way by now.»

This is a big deal.

Eunha kept a poker face, but inside he was shaking. He didn’t know how to explain it to his family.

«Your friends are all fine. Seo-na and Ha-yang were worried. They’re probably resting in another hospital room right now.»

Eun-ha realized two things from Seo-young’s words.

The first was that Eunha’s identity had already been revealed.

He had kind of expected it. He’d been thinking that might be the case since he’d been in the hospital.

The second was that she knew his social circle. And that she was close to the children.

This was a surprise. He wondered why she was so close to his friends

Was she really reaching out to them as a favor?

Or was she trying to find out something about them?

Not a normal girl.

On the contrary, Seo-young thought as she saw him meet her gaze without averting it.

He had woken up in the hospital room and was acting nonchalant.

Ordinarily, he would have been confused, bewildered, or wary of a stranger entering his room.

But he greeted her as if he’d known she was coming, even asking how long he’d been in the hospital to get a sense of the situation.

She shouldn’t just treat him like a child.

She decided that from this moment on, she would treat him as an adult.

And now she got down to business.

«Noona needs to investigate something. So I need you to answer her questions truthfully, Eunha, because you’re an important reference.»

«A reference?»

Eunha repeated, looking confused.

«Yes, a reference. Eunha, you were in a serious condition in the Baekundae mountain in Bukhansan. It’s strange that the students from Doan Elementary School were up there at the time the monsters appeared, and the boss of the monster horde was killed near where you fell. So your noona has a lot of questions.»

«First of all, can you explain why you were there?»

«…I don’t really remember.»

«I was there? Well, I remember running away from the monsters….»

«After that, I’m not sure, maybe I got up there because I was running away?»

Eunha was annoyed.

Investigating the incident was inevitable. The question was where to start and how far to go.

…I can’t say that I defeated the monster.

If I did, Mana Management would not release him.

They could act forcibly to make him a competent player. Eunha vowed not to become a player in his second life.

He wanted to live a peaceful and quiet life as much as possible.

«…So, do you know who defeated the monsters there?»

«…I don’t know. I can’t even believe I was on the peak of Bukhansan Mountain… But I feel like someone appeared and saved me. Oh, now that I think about it, there was a really huge monster»

«…I’m pretty sure that’s when someone showed up and saved the day.»

The best option was to create a fictional character.

There was no one else at the scene.

So he decided to create a fictional character and blame the whole thing on him.

Shin Seoyoung and the Mana Management Bureau might find it suspicious, but it was for the best.

Living a normal life until their scrutiny wore off, or at least for the rest of his life, would allay their suspicions.

Look at him. I can hear his eyeballs rolling all the way over here.

He was calm and well organized for a first grader.

Even though he said he couldn’t remember, he was able to answer the questions well.

Shin realized that he was trying to play dumb.

She, too, was a player. Having rolled countless times in the player’s world, she could tell that he was lying by keeping a poker face.

His skill at lying outright and acting as if he wasn’t lying wasn’t normal.

She needed to modify her demeanor.

The opponent was a player, a very skilled and shameless one.

And to deal with a skilled and brazen opponent,

«I think you killed them Eunha, all the monsters in it, even the hellhounds.»

Similarly, you had to go out brazen. In other words, a frontal assault.