This World is too Cruel to Men – Chapter 165

Fortunately, Dogun was quietly waiting for me at the place he told me to wait.

“Alright, hand over your arm.”

As I approached Dogun and asked for his arm, he hesitated for a moment before finally extending it to me.

At first, I intended to wrap each of his fingers individually with bandages.

After all, he’d have to spend some time unable to move his arm, so imagine if his fingers were all stuck together in a big bandage!

How uncomfortable would that be?

So, even though it might look a bit odd to others, I tried to wrap the bandages around each finger as best as possible—

“Uh… this isn’t going to work.”

It was during this moment that Dogun, who had been sitting quietly as instructed, blurted out something negative.

“What’s that?”

He said it wasn’t going to work.

What on earth was he talking about?

At first, I couldn’t understand what Dogun meant.

Well, that was understandable since his comment was quite out of the blue.

“It’s about the fingers. I think they need to be wrapped up together like in a cast.”

Only after hearing his further explanation did I realize what he was getting at.

The problem was that I couldn’t understand why it had to be that way.

“If you do it like that, it’ll be really uncomfortable, won’t it? Are you sure you’re okay with it?”

That’s why I casually brought it up, to see if he really meant it.

“…Still.”

He was being stubborn about it, which suggested there must be a valid reason he wanted it that way… but what could it possibly be?

While I was starting to get suspicious about this strange turn of events, I was still focusing on wrapping the bandages.

I could hear a sound like tiny nibbles, like a hamster munching on sunflower seeds, drifting into my ears.

And that sound… was coming from the bandaged area.

Having wrapped it only for less than half an hour, it wasn’t hard to recall what was underneath the bandage.

And then it hit me.

When I asked earlier if he’d be uncomfortable, Dogun had hesitated but ultimately stuck to his guns for a reason.

‘It’s… moving.’

It made sense now; following Dogun’s suggestion was the right call.

I really didn’t want to risk tearing the bandages just to make it more comfortable, exposing whatever was inside.

So, I wrapped his arm as thickly as I could, like putting on a cast.

“I think it’s about done. Want to give it a try moving it?”

“Um… yeah, it’s definitely uncomfortable.”

“Well, it can’t be helped. I had to wrap it up in a hurry.”

Still, it wasn’t unmovable. Dogun was sitting there shifting his bandaged arm slightly forward.

I stared at him for a moment, and then, releasing the posture I had maintained to wrap him, I carefully got up.

“Can you wait here and get used to it? I’ll be back soon.”

“Where are you going?”

“Um… just checking to see if I dropped anything before heading down.”

I had no intention of explaining.

Why would I share something good with anyone?

So, I just made up an excuse and grabbed the bag I had taken with the bandages, heading towards the place where I had hidden the bodies.

I cautiously transferred them into the bag, then descended the mountain with Dogun.

While going down, I considered how I should explain everything to Mom.

I had briefly hinted while packing the bandages, but that alone wouldn’t be nearly enough.

Of course, she’d demand an explanation, and I thought it would be best to prepare something in advance, so I was racking my brain…

But to cut to the chase, it was all pointless.

As soon as we revealed ourselves, Mom recognized Dogun right away.

Honestly, she wasn’t completely certain, but she knew his name.

“What? How do you two know each other?”

“He’s a student at our school and is the temporary manager for Baeksulhwa, so of course we know each other.”

“Oh… Mom’s school candidate?”

Now that I thought about it, the last time I went to the training camp at Mom’s request, those two had been stuck together in the same jam.

So it wasn’t because they were members of the same student council but because he was her manager.

In that case, I thought it wasn’t surprising for Mom to know Dogun.

Unlike the local school, which was named Whiser or something, Mom’s school only had one candidate, so it made sense.

“Anyway… I’m so glad you’re safe.”

“Ah, yes… thank you.”

“Thanking Dogun is unnecessary; you should be thanking me.”

“Huh?”

“My daughter says Dogun saved her life twice.”

Saying that, I had to put in some serious effort to detach Dogun from Mom, who was holding onto his hand tightly, repeatedly expressing her gratitude.

“No, we don’t have time for this!”

“Doesn’t she know that you can never thank someone enough for such things?”

“I understand, but really, we’re short on time!”

After convincing Mom, I claimed the driver’s seat.

“Are you sure you’re okay with this? Me driving…”

“I told you we don’t have time.”

My mom’s suggestion that it might be safer to let her drive made sense, but time-wise, it wasn’t the case.

Right now, we needed to hurry.

With both Mom and Dogun safely in the car, I sped towards the address I had received via text earlier.

Once we arrived near the meeting spot?

I also covered myself with things I had secured thanks to Mom’s help to hide my identity.

Then, I quickly informed Dogun about what we were about to do and what he needed to do.

“So, all I have to do is share what I saw, right?”

“Yep, just act like you’re presenting in class.”

As soon as I said that, Dogun chuckled lightly, questioning how this was anything like that, but surprisingly, he didn’t seem too nervous.

Was he perhaps hiding his anxiety?

That might be the case.

“It’s okay. Mistakes are fine. Just remember who’s with you.”

That’s why I said that while holding onto Dogun’s hand tightly.

I intended to comfort him, but before he could even react, I realized something felt off.

How should I put this…

I had never experienced anything like this before.

I didn’t know how to express it.

What was certain was that… a sudden surge of energy was flooding through my weary body.

Perhaps it was because if this was done well, I could finally breathe easy for a while.

No, this didn’t feel like a simple mood lift either.

When I quickly checked in with my body, I realized it was actually slowly recovering.

However, that wasn’t the truly astonishing part.

‘The Talent Organ…’

It was recovering.

It had been in a somewhat unstable state, and not only that, I had been pushing it to the limit in recent times, causing it to overheat very rapidly.

Not to mention that due to years of working as a hero, it had inevitably become worn out and damaged, but now it was healing.

‘How is this possible?’

I couldn’t believe it.

After all, what was happening right now was in stark contrast to everything I had known till now.

The Talent Organ was an entity that could not be treated in the first place.

That fact was common knowledge among heroes.

Couldn’t someone with a healing ability treat it?

If that was possible, I would have done it already.

But that wasn’t an option.

Even the most versatile healing powers couldn’t even begin to affect the Talent Organ.

There were more heroes who retired due to their Talent Organ breaking than heroes who hung up their capes due to injuries.

Of course, while it was possible to continue using talents even when the Organ was damaged…

‘But compared to what I could do, the output is severely diminished.’

That was the common knowledge…

So what on earth was happening now?

“Senpai?”

Before I could even process everything, Dogun’s voice cut through the air, making me let go of his hand instinctively.

In that fleeting moment, filled with hope, I pulled my hand back, realizing.

The phenomenon that just occurred had been caused by Dogun.