ALL NOVEL 02
02
Standing in front of the bed, Yeon Ji-ho held his phone with a tense expression. Then, calmly, he touched 1, 1, 2 in order.
Trrrr…….
– Yes, this is the 112 situation room.
“Hello, there’s a thief sleeping in my house right now.”
– ……
When there was no response, Yeon Ji-ho took the phone away from his ear to check the screen. The call screen still showed that the time was passing.
– Can you tell me the exact situation…….
“I told you, there’s a thief sleeping in my house!”
– ……
Is it hard to understand?
Yeon Ji-ho calmly repeated the same words. But again, there was no response. He strained to listen, but all he heard was a sigh.
– You shouldn’t make prank calls, student.
Click.
The call was abruptly ended. Yeon Ji-ho let out a frustrated breath and stared at his phone screen.
“A prank call?”
With that thought, Yeon Ji-ho gazed blankly at the bed. There lay a huge man occupying the queen-sized bed that Yeon Ji-ho used alone.
Just a moment ago, he had barely managed to move the man, who had spilled out of the wardrobe, onto the bed. There were no signs of theft, but he called him a thief simply because he had trespassed. How he managed to invade the wardrobe without breaking or opening a window was a mystery.
“Why is he dressed like that?”
The man’s clothing was so strange it was hard to describe. It resembled a suit but was closer to something from the medieval era, complete with a cape and epaulettes on the shoulders. It wouldn’t have been surprising if he had jumped out from a movie set.
“Should I tie him up just in case…?”
After all, he was a trespasser.
Yeon Ji-ho approached the bed and glanced at the man’s thick forearms. Even though he was wearing long sleeves, he could feel the immense muscles beneath.
However, as he got closer, he noticed that the man’s arms were not intact. The sleeves were frayed and torn in places, revealing ugly bruises that looked like they had been tied up somewhere.
As Yeon Ji-ho stared at them, he scratched his head. At first glance, he hadn’t noticed, but up close, the man was covered in wounds. They weren’t severe enough to require a hospital, but his body was a mess of bruises, scars, and scratches.
“Ugh, seriously.”
Eventually, Yeon Ji-ho went outside and headed to the pantry. What he brought back was a first aid kit instead of a rope.
“If you wake up, just leave quietly, okay? Got it?”
Muttering to himself, Yeon Ji-ho carefully approached the sleeping man. Then, he took some alcohol swabs to tend to the wounds on his arms first.
Having lived alone on the outskirts of the city for over five years, Yeon Ji-ho’s house was stocked with a decent amount of medical supplies. Even if an apocalypse hit, he could survive here for about a year.
With a cautious expression, Yeon Ji-ho blew on the man’s wounds as he cleaned them, applied ointment, and began to cut and stick on patches. Just then, when he was about to apply some bruise ointment to the man’s wrist, it happened.
“……Who are you?”
It was a very low voice. The voice echoed in his ears as if he had entered a cave, startling Yeon Ji-ho, who straightened his hunched body. He met the man’s odd-colored eyes.
“Wow……. That’s really amazing.”
“…….”
It was the first time Yeon Ji-ho had seen odd-colored eyes in person, and he couldn’t help but admire them. The man squinted and raised his hand to cover his eyes, as if trying to shield them.
“Uh, uh, wait a minute. I’m not done with your arm yet, so don’t move.”
“What the…….”
The man looked at Yeon Ji-ho with a face that seemed to find the situation bizarre, and sensing something odd, he suddenly looked down at his own arm. With a deeply furrowed brow, he began to peel off the bandage stuck to his arm.
Yeon Ji-ho stopped him.
“I just put that on!”
“What is this?”
“Is this your first time seeing it? It’s a dressing bandage. Yours was a burn wound, so I cut it and put it on. Don’t take it off.”
At those words, the man blinked silently. Judging by his expression, it was clear he didn’t understand a word Yeon Ji-ho was saying.
“……Are you a foreigner? But your Korean is really fluent.”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying. Where is this place?”
The man’s tone was naturally condescending. Instead of pointing that out, Yeon Ji-ho decided to simply tell him what he was curious about.
“This is Sancheonsi, Gyeonggi-do.”
“Not Asterra?”
“Asterra? What’s that?”
“Isn’t it an empire?”
“Empire? This is the Republic of Korea.”
Is he crazy?
Yeon Ji-ho looked at the man with pity. He was very handsome, but it was a sad fact. Just as Yeon Ji-ho was thinking of checking where the nearest mental hospital was, the man spoke again.
“You…… what are you?”
“Uh, I’m Yeon Ji-ho. And you?”
“Are you asking about me right now?”
Was it something I shouldn’t have asked? The man looked at Yeon Ji-ho with a strange expression. The next words cleared up his confusion.
“You don’t know about Set Gorgon?”
“Pardon?”
“Set Gorgon.”
Yeon Ji-ho’s eyes widened in surprise. It was clear from his expression that he recognized the name, and he closed his mouth with a bitter look, as if to say, of course.
However, Yeon Ji-ho’s reaction was far beyond what the man had expected. With an excited expression, Yeon Ji-ho suddenly moved closer and grabbed the man’s uninjured hand without realizing it.
“Have you read ‘The Star of Hadad’ by any chance?”
“You know Hadad too.”
“Wow, Set Gorgon was my favorite character! I just finished reading the entire series. It took me a whole month to read all twelve volumes!”
In fact, Yeon Ji-ho didn’t particularly like long fantasy novels. Unless they were exceptionally interesting, he wasn’t the type to have the patience to read something that long to the end.
However, the fact that he had read all twelve volumes of ‘The Star of Hadad,’ which was a rare long romance novel, meant it was that enjoyable. That’s why he felt even more regretful about the ending.
“How far have you read? Did you see the scene where Set appears from the sand during the desert war? Isn’t that just insane?”
“…….”
“I even remember the lines from there. ‘If I had thought you were dead, I would be sorry.’ The narration was crazy too. ‘The man returned from hell. Perhaps it was because he was truly a demon.’”
Yeon Ji-ho’s bright eyes sparkled with excitement. He felt his heart open up to a fellow web novel enthusiast he hadn’t met in a long time. His only hobby was reading novels, and since there were hardly any people around, he had no one to talk to.
“You…… what on earth are you?”
“Pardon?”
“Are you a soldier from the desert war? How are you still alive? Were there any survivors from there?”
“What are you talking about?”
“After the desert war ended, a giant scorpion attacked our camp. So, very few survived.”
Was that how it went?
Yeon Ji-ho couldn’t know that much. Because the protagonist of ‘The Star of Hadad’ was Hadad, and the story naturally flowed from Hadad’s perspective.
The only information provided in the novel was this much. Hadad lost the desert war and fled with Gliese, and at that moment, monsters attacked Set’s camp, allowing Hadad to escape by the skin of his teeth.
Yeon Ji-ho thought that the timing of the monster’s appearance was quite remarkable. The protagonist buff was indeed unavoidable.
“So, who are you exactly? Reveal your true identity.”
“I told you, I’m Yeon Ji-ho.”
“A commoner? No family name?”
“‘Yeon’ is my family name.”
“Your name is Ji-ho? That’s a very strange name.”
“Your way of speaking is strange.”
Hearing the phrase ‘~Ah, I see’ for the first time sent shivers down Yeon Ji-ho’s spine. The man stared at him for a moment before speaking again.
“I need to go back.”
“Okay, please do. You know the way, right?”
“Yeah. Where is the nearest gate?”
“……Gate?”
What is that?
Yeon Ji-ho, who was planning to tell him where the bus stop was or call a taxi, fell silent at the sudden mention of a gate. Right, he was a lunatic. This wasn’t the time; he needed to check if there was a mental hospital nearby.
“Um, may I ask your name?”
Please at least know your name. Knowing his name would help him take him back to where he originally belonged.
“Didn’t I just say it?”
“Pardon? When?”
“Set Gorgon.”
“Pardon?”
“Set Gorgon. You said you had heard of it.”
As Yeon Ji-ho fumbled to take out his phone, he fell silent. Could he be a patient confusing the novel ‘The Star of Hadad’ with reality?
“You have a face that doesn’t believe me.”
“Oh, did that show?”
He knew very well that he couldn’t hide his expressions, but it was still embarrassing. As Yeon Ji-ho awkwardly scratched his head, the man—no, the one who introduced himself as Set Gorgon—let out a short sigh.
“I will prove my identity. As a member of the Gorgon family……. No, that family must have already disappeared. In what way should I prove myself for you to believe me?”
“Ah, you’re saying you’re really Set Gorgon….”
Yeon Ji-ho muttered with a skeptical expression. He looked as if he didn’t know how to respond to this off-kilter conversation.
“Then how about manifesting your sword energy? You know, Set Gorgon creates a sword using mana instead of a real sword. Haha, of course, I’m just joking….”
Swoosh—.
At that moment, the man’s hand began to shine. Then, a blue sword appeared above his hand.
Yeon Ji-ho swallowed the words he was about to say as a joke. Instead, he thought. This is insane.
“Is it done?”
“…….”
“Now you have a face that believes me.”
He handled the sword of light in his hand as if it were a child’s toy. It was too intricately made to be considered magic or a trick. He didn’t even dare to touch it.
“So, what did you mean by ‘favorite’ that you mentioned earlier?”