Editors: Spade, Roki
Proofreader: Sapphire
Jung Yisun paid a heavy price for using his hidden ability during the penalty period.
He had used his hidden ability sparingly on his first entry, and thus was still able to keep himself afloat with potions for two days, but overdoing it again during the penalty period finally caused him to collapse. He was bedridden for five days after clearing the third dungeon, completely unable to move or speak.
Yisun finally got up after five days, but this time, he decided not to leave the house. Apparently they had plenty of time before the fourth dungeon, so he decided to take it easy.
Yisun was so sick he couldn’t even manage to eat porridge, so he only drank potions. It wasn’t until many days later that he was able to eat, and once again, there were neatly sliced pieces of meat in his bowl. He was too tired to think about this habitual occurrence and just silently accepted it. If he were to be honest, he would call it convenient, even. It made him wonder sometimes if his finger muscles weren’t dying, since he didn’t even have to use chopsticks, just a spoon.
Yongin was the first place Yisun visited once a week passed to help his next friend close his eyes. It felt so unreal when they’d first sent Kang Youngjoon off, but now, he had fully accepted their bizarre arrangement. In fact, he was getting impatient.
“Have you finished analyzing the new clues? When can we prepare?”
As soon as they left the crematorium, Yisun asked Sa Hyeon about the oncoming dungeon, but his answer was non-committal.
“No. It’s going to take a long time to analyze it this time.”
“But… it’s already been a week?”
“The parchment we found was burnt and tattered, so they said it’ll take a few more days.”
While Sa Hyeon leisurely looked at his tablet in the car, Yisun felt slightly disappointed with the information. He’d collapsed right after they’d cleared the third dungeon and hadn’t been able to check the items dropped by the boss monster; he never thought that the clues for the next dungeon would be completely destroyed…
At least the part revealing the countdown for the next dungeon was still intact, so they were able to check it easily. This time, they had 21 days to complete the dungeon, rather than the usual 15 days. Since the clue’s original state was destroyed, they couldn’t restore it, but seeing that they still had some time ahead of them, Yisun nodded in relief.
Sa Hyeon handed him his phone.
“I’m giving your phone back now, since those were mostly dealt with…”
Yisun sighed briefly. He had only been sleeping and eating for the whole week and almost forgot about his phone. He hadn’t seen it for ten days, ever since the day they first failed to clear the third dungeon.
After checking the screen for cracks, Yisun belatedly asked, “…Those?”
“Nothing important.”
“Oh… I guess people on the internet must’ve had a lot to say.”
At the lukewarm response, Sa Hyeon’s gaze turned to him. Aware of the piercing black eyes scanning him, Yisun explained that he’d already known about it from Ki Joohyuk. The latter had been worried about him when they’d first entered the second dungeon. It was even harder not to notice when Joohyuk kept sneaking glances to make sure Yisun didn’t have his phone as they were preparing to re-enter the third dungeon.
Yet, Yisun had never been one to care about what other people said, even more so after the First Great Dungeon incident eight years ago. Perhaps he grew weary from the pitying gazes, or maybe he was tired of the people using the situation to cruelly mock him—and so, he simply stopped paying attention. It was the same even when he joined the Honshin Guild.
His friends were quite the opposite; they very much cared about the gossip and trends on the internet, social media, and so on. Yisun got all of his news from them, and after they died, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that he was completely cut off from the world. Only recently, after joining Chord, did he look things up from time to time, though only to seek out information. And whenever he came across anything about himself, he would just casually skim it and move on.
He was used to turning a blind eye to things, after ignoring the countless acts of envy and jealousy he’d received since he’d started his career as an S-class Restorer. The path he was treading was filled with thorns. He had already endured enough pain in his life, and didn’t have any energy left to expend on such matters.
“I don’t particularly care about these kinds of things… but thank you.”
After Yisun thanked him, Sa Hyeon looked away, “It wasn’t me.”
“…Huh?”
“Hunter Ki Joohyuk made the suggestion first, and then the rest of the team also jumped in. The receptionists said they were already organizing the data and sent it to me. I was the last to know.”
“Oh…”
“The team members seem to care about you quite a lot, Yisun-ssi.”
Sa Hyeon’s face was calm as he relayed the news, but Yisun’s expression grew increasingly dazed. He’d read the occasional article about large guilds taking legal action against posts that insulted their Hunters, but Chord had never done that. To begin with, Chord was too exceptional and left no gaps for people to try and criticize them.
Yisun had mixed feelings about being the reason Chord was going to take legal action for the first time ever. It felt strangely unreal to know that Chord, a team of Hunters that could be considered above the law, would be responding directly.
Finally, the car pulled up in front of the HN Guild building. Yisun rode the elevator with Sa Hyeon, but the latter left once they reached the 42nd floor, saying he had some errands to run for the association. Yisun was puzzled, wondering why they had entered the guild building together if he was going to leave right away, when suddenly, he heard a commotion in the office.
“Whoa, since when was this made of stone? My blanket!”
“Heh, Hunter Arin, let’s not touch food in good conscience during penalty.”
“I didn’t touch it on purpose, I was trying to eat when my penalty went off…”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Hearing the familiar voice, Yisun cautiously headed there. As he approached the glass doors, the receptionists greeted him warmly and opened the door for him, and he bowed to them, feeling a little awkward as he remembered what Sa Hyeon had told him.
Once inside the office, he saw that the current commotion was happening in the lounge where the Chord Hunters were gathered. When Yisun approached, they all greeted him happily. Ki Joohyuk, who heard them, welcomed him excitedly.
“Restorer-nim! Are you feeling better now?”
“Ah, yes. But what’s going on with… this?”
Ki Joohyuk was holding a blanket, seemingly made of stone, and Na Gunwoo was sitting in front of a desk in the lounge, shaking his head amusedly. On the desk was a bitten apple, or rather, a bitten lump of stone. Han Arin sat at the end of the desk, her head hanging down like a sinner’s.
“Noona’s hidden ability penalty was triggered, so anything she touches turns to stone.”
“…Seriously?”
“It’s randomly triggered once within a week after she uses her hidden ability. The penalty turns anything she touches within eight hours into stone, and the things that have turned into stone take two days to revert. It’s a disaster of a penalty.”
Yisun’s face was colored with disbelief. Seeing the Chord Hunters’ faces, it didn’t seem like Ki Joohyuk was playing a prank on him… Moreover, the blanket he was clutching looked too delicate to have been originally made of stone; it seemed to have turned into stone as it was draped over the chair.
Suddenly, Yisun remembered hearing from Na Gunwoo that Han Arin’s penalty was quite troublesome. When it came to penalties for use of S-class hidden abilities, he only knew cases where it made one ill for a week like himself, or where it made them unable to use their ability for a day like Sa Hyeon…
The hidden ability to pull a sword out of the ground was fascinating, but he never imagined that the penalty would be turning everything she touched into stone. Yisun’s expression was half astonishment and half admiration, while Han Arin had an extremely miserable face. At this point, almost everything in the lounge had been turned to stone.
“It’s not like I can do anything about it, okay? It was suddenly triggered last night… I thought I’d gotten away with it this time because the penalty didn’t appear for the whole week…!”
“Ahh, there’s no way the penalty would simply disappear, so why don’t you go home instead of staying here in the lounge… Didn’t you live in another place just because you were too scared the penalty would ruin your apartment?”
“Hey, do you know how it feels to wake up and suddenly your bed is made of stone, huh?!”
“Isn’t that a good thing? “May.”
“You…! Come here.”
Han Arin, who was complaining in an aggrieved tone, got up from her seat and pounced on Ki Joohyuk.
“Ahh, is killing people!”
They looked like siblings as they circled around the lounge table. Yisun lowered his head as he laughed briefly, when his gaze locked with Na Gunwoo’s. Behind his round glasses, Gunwoo’s eyes widened in surprise, before smiling.
“Restorer Yisun, now that you’re laughing, you do seem Joohyuk’s age.”
Yisun pursed his lips, feeling a little embarrassed, when his gaze drifted to the ballpoint pen container in the middle of the table. There was a pen that looked like a stone, and when he picked it up, Ki Joohyuk exclaimed.
“Oh my god, you even turned the pen into stone and put it back, pretending nothing happened.”
Ki Joohyuk’s stamina was already spent after five laps around the table. He fell into a half-collapsed heap with his hands on the table, while Han Arin tried to climb over it from the other side. Yisun saw that the table didn’t turn to stone when Arin touched it, confirming that the penalty time was now over.
“…It ends in a single day…”
Muttering to himself, Yisun decided to experiment and used his restoration ability on the ballpoint pen. It wasn’t broken, but since the ability could rewind a damaged object’s time, then it might just work. But since this was the result of an S-class penalty, there was also a possibility it wouldn’t…
“Oh god.”
“Wow, this is…”
The ballpoint pen in Yisun’s hand slowly returned to its original state. Ki Joohyuk exclaimed first, followed by Na Gunwoo. Then Han Arin, who was standing on the other side of the table, was the last to notice the situation.
Han Arin’s eyes blinked slowly… before she kneeled in front of Jung Yisun while sobbing cheerfully, “My light, my salvation, my savior!”
“I didn’t expect it to really work either… looks like it does?”
Yisun was quite stunned, but regardless, Han Arin held her hands in front of him. It was a gesture of wanting to hold the ballpoint pen that had returned to its original state, so Yisun fumblingly placed the ballpoint pen on top of Han Arin’s hand, and she let out a crying sound. She turned the pen over and over, checking its condition.
“Where have you been all this time,” she sobbed. “You’re finally back, I really went through so much.”
The sincerity in her voice made Ki Joohyuk, Na Gunwoo, and the other Chord Hunters around her burst into laughter. Only Yisun stood there, unsure of how to react to the sobbing Han Arin in front of him.
*** *** ***
The commotion in the office only died down after Han Arin returned home. The HN Guild building was enchanted with a protection spell to a certain extent, so she purposely lived in the guild building during her penalty period.
Yisun nodded dumbly as Ki Joohyuk explained how only small items turned into stone because they were inside the guild building; otherwise, there would have been more damage.
“Once, I was recording a video to tease her, and in the end my phone was turned to stone… Anyway, the penalty’s got an attitude.”
“That’s a tremendous penalty…”
“Right? Totally Midas. We call her Handas here.”
Most S-classes wouldn’t talk about their penalties because nothing good came from revealing them, but in Han Arin’s case, her hidden ability and penalty were so excessive that they were impossible to hide. Yisun couldn’t help but sigh when he heard that she once turned an elevator to stone in her old apartment, and while it didn’t collapse, it caused quite a commotion.
Even then, the Restorer at the time was only able to restore 20-30% of the elevator, so it was no wonder that Han Arin was so happy that Yisun was able to restore over 70% of the pen to its original state. Yisun suddenly realized that his penalty was pretty mild in comparison.
Meanwhile, Ki Joohyuk set his phone on the table and opened a video-sharing website. He opened it by habit, as he tends to be active on both the internet and social media. It seemed that all of the recent videos he had watched were related to Chord, so naturally, Chord’s dungeon capture video appeared at the top as a recommended video, and Yisun’s gaze suddenly landed on the screen.
“…Why am I there?”
“Huh? Ah!”
At Yisun’s puzzled question, Ki Joohyuk immediately sucked in a breath and flipped his phone over. He immediately recognized Yisun’s face in the thumbnail. The video that popped up was a compilation highlighting the key moments of the third dungeon attack, and Jung Yisun was on the thumbnail. It was a picture taken when his hood fell off as he was running to stop the Zeus statue at the end.
“Oh, the thing is…that’s at..!”
Ki Joohyuk broke out in a cold sweat. He was the one who asked Sa Hyeon not to let Yisun see the reactions on the internet, yet he ended up doing just that. As Chord’s youngest member, Ki Joohyuk tended to pay a lot of attention to netizens’ reactions and opinions.
But then, he quickly realized that Chord had already decided to respond to the excessive slander, and the internet was cleaned up in no time. Moreover, this video should only have positive comments, so it would be fine for Yisun to watch it. He was only making it awkward by overreacting…
With that, Ki Joohyuk looked at his phone again and laughed, “Oh, this is the video of the third dungeon. It’s an edit compiling the highlights from then.”
“Then why is it me….on the thumbnail? Shouldn’t it be Hunter Han Arin?”
“Well, Restorer-nim did an amazing job as well!” Ki Joohyuk exclaimed with pride.
Moreover, the moment when he restored the throne was also highlighted during the official briefing on how Chord cleared the third dungeon five days ago.
“That throne was apparently the boss’s “HP, and if you hadn’t blocked Zeus’ path at the end, we would’ve been in real trouble… it would’ve taken longer because of the rapid HP recovery, and maybe the statue would’ve gotten a new scepter and used its lightning abilities.”
When Ki Joohyuk excitedly showed him the video of his performance in the third dungeon, Yisun’s expression was somehow subtle. It didn’t look like he was simply embarrassed or self-conscious about the attention.
He simply stared at the phone with his usually pale, lifeless face and fiddled with the edges of his hood mindlessly. In the brief silence, Ki Joohyuk wondered what to do for the 300th time in three seconds, then quickly changed the topic.
“By the way, Restorer-nim, whether it be hoodies or hooded zip-ups, you’re almost always wearing something with a hood. Is it your preference? I mean, it is comfortable to wear…”
“Oh, yeah… It’s just, um, it’s convenient for covering my face…”
“…….”
He said it in a modest way, but still, it meant that he didn’t like drawing attention. Ki Joohyuk somehow felt sad about it. It wasn’t that Yisun was difficult to talk to, but seeing him react that way was unfortunate.
Just as he was thinking about how to respond, Sa Hyeon walked into the room. They were currently standing in the office facing his, the same one that Yisun had been given when he first joined. Ki Joohyuk immediately stood up and greeted him.
“Did the result analysis from the association come out?”
“They’ll be out in two days. For now, it seems like the next dungeon will most likely involve fire, so Hunter Ki Joohyuk, make sure to prepare yourself thoroughly.”
Since the clue to the next dungeon was burnt, everyone assumed that it would be related to fire. Ki Joohyuk turned up his nose and was about to start boasting about being a master of fire, but he stepped outside without a word at Sa Hyeon’s silent stare. Their leader was not one to entertain his jokes.
Yisun saw Sa Hyeon take the seat in front of him, but he merely kept his gaze fixed on the table, wondering which of the Seven Wonders had anything to do with fire. Then, with a sudden realization, he snapped his head up and spoke.
“The next dungeon, should it be the “Temple?”
“Why do you think so?”
“Because among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, that’s the temple that burned down. A man named Herostratus set it on fire, saying that if he was going to do a bad deed, then he might as well do something grand enough to be remembered for generations to come.”
Ever since the day he joined the Raid, Yisun watched all kinds of videos about the Seven Ancient Wonders. Having basic information about all seven of the structures made it easier to be prepared for when the next dungeon was revealed. So when the clue for the next dungeon mentioned burning, the history behind the Temple of Artemis immediately came to his mind.
Sa Hyeon stared at Yisun silently for a moment, and then the corners of lips slowly curved into a smile.
“You’ve been studying hard. Are you interested in architecture?”
“Oh……. Well, not particularly, but, um, they’re the buildings I’m supposed to restore, so I did my research.”
“You seemed excited when you were talking about it.”
“… Huh?”
Confusion colored Yisun’s face at the unexpected words; he was simply saying what came to his mind, but maybe he spoke too fast? He wasn’t even smiling…he pursed his lips awkwardly, unable to picture the expression he had worn earlier. Meanwhile, Sa Hyeon spoke in a calm tone.
“The association thinks it’s the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, but the results aren’t official yet because they have yet to interpret the characters correctly. We don’t even know why the clue that would show up intact up until now was damaged…”
At those words, Yisun let out a small sigh. The clues pointing to the public gardens of Babylon or the dungeons of the Temple of Zeus in Olympia had all been intact. As the stone and wooden slates were clearly inscribed with ancient languages, it was strange that this clue was the only one that was different in form. Perhaps it had something to do with the condition of the dungeon.
Should he find out more about the Artemis Temple? With a serious expression, Yisun was about to go check the documents on his desk, when Sa Hyeon’s question interrupted him.
“What do you enjoy, Yisun-ssi?”
“…What?”
“I’m asking about your hobbies or what you usually do in your spare time… What makes you feel good?”
It was such a random question. Yisun blinked and slightly tilted his head, with an expression conveying he wasn’t sure if he understood the question, but Sa Hyeon simply sat there in front of him with a smile on his face.
Feeling like he had to answer quickly, Yisun finally opened his mouth.
“I had fun playing board games with my friends…”
“Apart from that, what else?”
“Hmm, when my friends played billiards and I watched–”
“Yisun-ssi.”
Sa Hyeon stared at him silently after cutting off his words. There was no hint of annoyance or frustration in his black eyes, but Yisun could tell that these weren’t the answers he wanted to hear. As he remained silent, Sa Hyeon smiled softly as he spoke.
“Don’t talk about things that are impossible to do in the present; tell me something you can do right now. Would it make you happy if I used my shadows to move the corpses around like puppets? I can do that for you.”
“…….”
“Stop talking about things that can only be done with your dead friends, just answer based on what you want, Yisun-ssi.”
Jung Yisun was silent for a long time at the gentle but firm words. Even though he’d known it all along, the realization that it was something impossible to do in the present still hit him. He didn’t feel nostalgia or longing, but the realization that came only after Sa Hyeon’s question brought with it a strange feeling.
Yisun had never been able to imagine a life where he had fun and enjoyed things without them. Besides, he’d always been an introvert; he always followed his friends around and simply enjoyed his time with them. As he had never been pushed to the forefront before, Yisun hesitated for a long time before answering.
As the silence stretched, Sa Hyeon continued staring at him. Yisun was frustrated and redirected the question.
“Why are you suddenly asking me about that?”
“Because you were unstable in the third dungeon, I want to take care of you before we enter the fourth. We didn’t have much time to spare then, since we had to re-enter the third dungeon, but we have plenty of time until the fourth.”
As Yisun sighed briefly, Sa Hyeon continued his explanation in a calm tone. He said he dropped him off at Chord as soon as the penalty period was over because he was lonely, and that he’d also heard about the incident with Han Arin earlier.
“Let’s take it one day at a time. I considered going abroad, but from the way Yisun-ssi spoke right now, it seems that even the overseas trip I was planning would come with the condition of bringing your dead friends along…”
“…….”
“Or, how about I arrange it for after the Raid, like a reward holiday, would that make you feel better?”
Jung Yisun just blinked slowly, and Sa Hyeon smiled as if he was expecting that reaction.
“From the look on your face, I’m guessing not, so tell me, what exactly would make your current self feel better?”
“Oh, well…”
Once the question returned to him, Yisun still didn’t know what to say. It was the same reason as before: he’d never thought about what would make him feel good, and he’d never had a proper hobby, so he was at a loss for an answer. But Sa Hyeon looked determined to get an answer out of him somehow immediately, so Yisun pursed his lips for a long time.
Finally, he fumbled through his memories and answered with difficulty.
“…The smell of freshly baked bread?”
“You mean when you smell it, it makes you feel better?”
“Um, my fri–, yes.”
His friends used to love cooking; they’d had to fend for themselves since they were 17, so it came naturally to them, and Jung Yisun, who had never been much of a cook, was pretty much banned from the kitchen.
Two of his six friends were pretty good cooks, and the friend he’d sent off today was exceptionally good at baking. On weekends, they would occasionally bake bread, and if it was the only luxury they could afford at home, then so it was.
Having swallowed this story back, Yisun nodded slowly, and Sa Hyeon stared at him for a moment before smiling softly.
“That’s quite simple.”
Jung Yisun breathed a sigh of relief at the straightforward answer. He’d been a little nervous that Sa Hyeon was going to keep probing, and felt inwardly relieved that the conversation seemed to have ended smoothly. Sa Hyeon stood up from his seat.
“I’m in my penalty period right now, so I’ll arrange it for two days from now. And you should think of one more thing.”
Why did it have to be two days just for some bread? Yisun was puzzled, but he nodded wordlessly at the mention of Sa Hyeon’s penalty. One whole day without his abilities, followed by another 24 hours where they’re halved, would be an inconvenient time for a man who never had to deal with it until this point.
Yisun didn’t understand why he would go out of his way to get him bread when he could have done so himself, but he didn’t really feel like asking questions, so he threw it to the back of his mind.
Min: I had a random realization that Hyeon is a “I can fix him” typa guy halfway through the chapter :/ also sorry for the long wait, I’m finally done with my research paper and can go back to doing weekly updates for now!
Thank you for the chapter !
Thank you fr reading~~☺🌸
Aah thank you 💜💜
Thank youu for reading~~🌸💞
Congrats on the paper! Thanks for the update 🤣❤️🤣❤️🤣
Thank youu aaa~ 🥺💗
Congrats on completing your research paper
Thanks for the chapter
Thank youuu for reading~ 🥺 🌸
Congratulations! How is your results? Is it good?
Thank you for your translation 💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛
Thanks! I have yet to submit it so I don’t know…😖
Thank youu for reading~ 🥺💗
I hope everything ended good 🤗🤗🤗
Also, wow, you’re right, SH is that kind of person! Though with how much JYS has been neglecting himself and avoided thinking about living in general, just giving him impulses to think about those things might help a little 😅
Also, I love the scenes with the other hunters so much (still not a big fan of SH, but I’ll give it some more time), it’s so painful to see how surprised JYS reacts every time someone makes him feel needed or wanted (in a positive way, big side eye at SH 👀), but the scenes are so sweet 🥲🥹
I hope feeling needed by people other than the dead friends he has been living for since basically high school, and by seeing how his abilities can help other people both in big and small ways, he’ll be able to find the will to keep going and to regain confidence in his restoration powers! It’s hard to keep living for yourself if you don’t feel like it’s worth the pain, so feeling that other people need you is sometimes the only thing that carries you through the really rough patches.
Thank you so much for translating this story! ❤️
Yisun really needs to accept the fact that what happened with his friends was a cruel, unavoidable, accident, and that he was not to blame for whatever happened ;-; and then accept that he has new family(Sa Hyeon exluded until he stops being an a*s) that loves him, and that he can also cherish
Hyeon ain’t the nicest ml out there, he’s pragmatic and calculating, but some poisons are medicine. Although toxic, I think his controlling tendencies and forceful attempts to get Yisun to face his trauma and move on from his past do him more good than harm, at least most of the time…
Also thank you for reading~~ 🥺💞
translator-nim, thank you sm for the update~~ 🌹❤️