Chapter 10

Why are you two holding hands?

The blue light indicating the rescue target.

The fact that the blue light remained around only one person meant.

‘The others must be fakes.’

They were fakes, but there was no way to distinguish them by appearance.

Even the dark circles beneath their eyes and the positions of the bloodstains on their clothes were identical.

Was this the famous doppelganger?

I had only heard rumors about them, so seeing them in person like this was fascinating.

If I hadn’t had my Awakened ability, I probably wouldn’t have been able to tell which one was real at all.

I fiddled with the penlight again for no reason.

I could have sworn it had been pressed down just moments ago, but the rabbit ear was sticking up again.

‘I should hurry back.’

Both she and her father must have been desperately waiting.

“Let’s go home, Hunter Han Doa.”

All three of their expressions stiffened at once.

“Wait. What are you looking at to decide that?”

“I’m the real one. I-I saw all the other members get attacked by those people.”

“... What? Home?”

Their voices overlapped all at once.

The Han Doas standing on the left and in the center didn’t look like they were lying either.

Combined with Hunter Han Doa’s distinctive beauty, anyone who didn’t know better would have genuinely believed them.

If I hadn’t already seen the correct answer, I probably would’ve been completely torn over which one to choose.

“Yes. Home. Your father is waiting.”

“So what are you basing that on...”

The Han Doa standing in the center pounded her chest in frustration.

I glanced down at the penlight once, then looked back at them.

“Instinct. That alone is enough.”

“No. Ha...”

Whoooom—.

As soon as I finished speaking, a deep bell rang from the ceiling.

Ripples spread across the entire blue field, and letters appeared in midair.

『You have passed the Gate of Trust.』

Black cracks began forming across the cheek of the Han Doa on the left.

“Huh...?”

The person in the center was the same.

The two of them alternated between looking at their own hands and each other’s faces as they backed away.

“No. I’m Han Doa.”

“I definitely remember everything...”

The cracks spread to their necks and arms in an instant.

Their bodies collapsed into black fragments, turning into powder and scattering before they even touched the ground.

“Ah. We were almost there, so why did one person have to die at the end...”

The only one left standing was the Han Doa on the right.

“... Is that really it?”

I had heard doppelgangers were skilled in combat too, so I had been prepared to ambush them if necessary.

“That was kind of anticlimactic.”

Maybe because this was structured as a trial, recognizing the correct one seemed to be enough.

While speaking, I put away the needles I had secretly taken out behind my back.

Hunter Baek Seorin had given them to me as practice toys, and maybe because they were made of good materials, I could move them with less of a headache.

“Um...”

She slowly opened her mouth while looking back and forth between where the other two had disappeared and me.

“How did you really know? No one else could tell.”

“That’s...”

‘She told me not to reveal even a little of it.’

I was about to give her at least a brief explanation, but swallowed my words.

It was something none other than S-rank Hunter Baek Seorin had emphasized.

I didn’t want to show off for a moment only to end up dying from a sword flying in from somewhere.

“I’ll explain later.”

“... You have to tell me later.”

“Uh... I-I’ll tell you if I get the chance.”

“You’re really bad at making excuses.”

My poker face broke at her suddenly pitiful expression.

Han Doa stared at me in disbelief.

‘... Still, she’s way prettier in person than in the photos.’

Now that only one of the three remained, it finally felt like I was properly facing the person I had seen in the articles.

It was like watching something that had been split into three screens suddenly fill the entire display.

Her gaze slowly moved down from my face.

“Move your hand.”

“What?”

“The hand pressing your side.”

I reflexively took a step back.

I knew she was a healing-type Hunter, but even so, it felt wrong to ask someone who had suffered in a place like this for five years to treat me.

As far as I knew, healing-type abilities required not only mana but physical stamina too.

“I’m really fine. I’m going to get treated once we get outside anyway.”

“You’re bleeding all the way onto the floor. How is that fine? Move your hand.”

Her tone suddenly turned cold.

For some reason, I remembered a story about someone hiding an injury in front of a healing-type Hunter and getting thoroughly scolded for it.

‘They kept insisting they were fine. Then they finally gave in after getting hit a few times and had those injuries treated too, was it?’

Han Doa probably wouldn’t do the same thing.

‘But you can’t judge people by appearances.’

After all. Hadn’t Hunter Baek Seorin looked mature when I first met her too?

I obediently moved my hand.

Han Doa frowned when she saw the blood-soaked protective vest.

When she brought her hand close to my side, warm green light enveloped the wound.

“Oh...”

The wound that had reopened several times closed before my eyes.

The throbbing pain that had felt like it was burning hot quickly subsided as well.

“Try moving now.”

I carefully straightened my waist.

Not even the pulling sensation remained.

“It feels completely healed.”

“I only closed the wound. I’m not in great condition either, so I just gave you basic treatment. Don’t overdo it.”

“Yes.”

“Don’t just say yes. You seem like the type who doesn’t listen very well.”

... That’s pretty harsh for someone I just met.

Of course, what she said was somewhat true, so I didn’t say anything.

I wondered if I really needed to be nagged this much by someone I had just met, but since she had just treated me, I obediently nodded.

Han Doa removed her hand from my side and looked around.

A temporary clinic built on the blue field.

All three simple beds surrounded by green light were empty.

From the way they glowed, they were probably artifacts.

Her gaze lingered on the innermost bed for a long time.

“Were there any other survivors...”

“No. The last one died a long time ago too. I kept them lying on that bed and held on for several days, but I couldn’t save them in the end.”

“Then what’s that light still remaining there?”

“Just staying in this place slowly damages your body. If I hadn’t kept going in there and treating myself, I would’ve died a long time ago too.”

I immediately regretted asking.

I was about to apologize when Han Doa spoke first.

“I’m okay now. A lot of time has passed anyway. If I’d kept dwelling on it, I probably wouldn’t still be standing here like this.”

Han Doa nudged the remaining black powder with the tip of her foot.

“Those doppelgangers from earlier. They weren’t like ordinary doppelgangers that only copied faces and memories. Their mana waveforms were the same too, and they could even use the healing ability I use.”

“How are you supposed to tell them apart if they’re that identical?”

“You can’t.”

There was no hesitation in Han Doa’s answer.

“It was the same when we first came in.”

She said everyone in the group worked together to cross the first Gate of Courage.

The person in front would call out the sequence of moving stone slabs, and if someone behind them lost their balance, the others would grab their hand and pull them up.

The problem started after they entered the second gate.

Missing food would turn up in someone else’s bag, and people claimed to have seen someone in the corridor who had definitely been asleep.

Then two people with identical faces started insisting that they were each the real one.

“They both had the same memories, and even the scars from old injuries were identical. Naturally, abilities couldn’t tell them apart either.”

The gate forced them to choose one of the two.

If they chose correctly, the fake disappeared.

If they chose incorrectly, the real one disappeared.

After making one wrong choice, no one could trust the person beside them anymore.

Fights broke out before anyone even knew who the doppelganger was, and whenever Han Doa saved someone who had been injured, that person would turn around and swing a weapon at someone else.

“In the end, no one cared who was real anymore. They only cared about who had suspected them first.”

Han Doa gave a bitter smile as she looked at the collapsed clinic tent.

“I had no choice but to heal their injuries. That was all I could do. But in the end, they all died.”

After wearing a lonely expression for a moment, she added that the remaining doppelgangers had left her alone because she hadn’t attacked anyone.

So she had endured here for five years with two doppelgangers.

“Um...”

Han Doa cautiously called to me.

“You said you came from outside earlier, right?”

“Yes. I came to bring you back, Hunter Han Doa.”

“How long has it been since the accident?”

I hesitated briefly, then told her the truth.

“Five years.”

Han Doa’s eyes trembled.

“Five years...”

The same words escaped her lips once more.

She stared into empty space and couldn’t speak for a long while.

“My father?”

It was the question she barely managed to ask.

“Doctor Han Dojin. Is he still alive?”

“He is.”

Han Doa’s head snapped up.

“This penlight was also in Doctor Han Dojin’s possession.”

I held out the penlight in my hand.

Han Doa rubbed the raised rabbit ear several times with her thumb.

She pressed her lips together as if trying to look fine, but the corners of her eyes quickly reddened.

“Thank goodness...”

Only after saying those words did her ragged breathing settle slightly.

At one edge of my vision, the time continued ticking down.

[Remaining Time: 16:21]

“Let’s get out of here now.”

Han Doa looked over the empty beds.

Unable to easily leave the clinic where no one else remained, she stood there for a long while before finally collecting the green orb at the head of the bed.

The lights surrounding the beds went out one by one.

“That’s everything. Then. Will you guide me?”

“Yes. Follow me.”

We passed through the open iron door and returned to the area with the stone slab where I had first fallen.

I held out my hand to Han Doa in front of the portal.

“Shall we go back?”

Han Doa took my hand.

A warm energy flowed in through my fingertips.

“Wasn’t the treatment already finished?”

“Just hold on until we get out, just in case.”

Well. It wasn’t like I lost anything by holding hands.

Her hand was soft and felt nice too.

‘As expected of a healing-type Hunter.’

It somehow made my chest feel warm.

“Come to think of it, I’m the only one who still doesn’t know your name.”

“Ahh. I never introduced myself. I’m Yoon Jaemin.”

“Yoon Jaemin. That’s a nice name.”

Hunter Han Doa spoke with a bright smile.

I tried hard not to pay attention to that smile as we crossed through the portal together.

For a moment, pure white light swallowed my vision and then disappeared.

When I opened my eyes again, the first thing I saw was a pair of red eyes.

“You’re ba—”

Hunter Baek Seorin’s gaze moved from my face to Han Doa. Then down to our clasped hands.

A sword quietly rose beside her shoulder.

“... Why are you two holding hands?”