Hero Hunter is on Parental Leave C35

Chapter 35 

The night before discharge.

Thanks to Won Iheun’s resources and the hospital’s consideration, the child had been placed in a deluxe private suite and was recovering swiftly under devoted care.

“Kyahang!”

Back to normal temperature, Jaehee happily gnawed and chewed on the ears of his Tintinping plushie. On either side of him, two grown men lay together. Even though it was a special-room bed, it was still cramped for two adults and a child to lie on it.

“It’s tight.”

“Jaehee is truly beautiful when he smiles.”

“…How about you get down to the extra bed.”

“Don’t be so cold. The child likes it like this.”

The man ignored all of Yeongung’s grumbling. And as he said, Jaehee was holding on to each of their thumbs—one in each hand. The habit of falling asleep clutching Yeongung’s thumb had now extended to Won Iheun as well.

“Looks like he likes you.”

“Bu…!”

The child reacted to his father’s words. He dropped the plushie from his mouth and kicked the bed with his chubby feet. Yeongung took out a handkerchief and wiped the drool dribbling from the corner of his mouth.

“Jiji…!”

At the childish nickname directed at him, a nerve twitched in Won Iheun’s brow.

“My baby… you should say ‘Dad.’ Here, try it. Da-d.”

“Ji… jii…!”

“…Da. D.”

“J… j…!”

Even as he repeatedly tried to coax the child into calling him Dad, Jaehee continued to call him jiji.

The standoff between the two—already identical in looks and stubbornness—continued.

“And you still say he’s stubborn because he takes after me?”

The two men who looked exactly alike turned to him at the same time.

A puff of laughter escaped Yeongung; he clutched his stomach as he began to laugh in earnest. It was a bright smile—one that made anyone who saw it feel good.

No changed appearance could ever be a wall to an Alpha. No matter the shell, the one inside was still Yeongung, and that simple truth inflamed the Alpha’s desire. Barely managing to suppress his pheromones, Won Iheun groaned.

“This is torture.”

Still wide awake, Jaehee stared up at the man with clear, curious eyes.

Remembering the outrageous things he had blurted out earlier in front of the nurse, Yeongung quickly warned him. Otherwise that shameless mouth of his would spew things wholly unfit for a child’s ears.

“Say one more stupid thing and you’re dead.”

At the glare, Won Iheun startled back a step and took out a mobile from the item pouch. It was a tactic to put the baby to sleep first.

A wise choice. Jaehee’s attention shifted from his father to the spinning mobile. As the mobile turned, its soft classical lullaby drifted through the room, and Jaehee’s eyes fluttered closed.

What interested Yeongung, however, was not the mobile but the pouch itself. In that brief moment it had opened, he had glimpsed unexpected items inside.

“How is the inventory of the country’s top-ranked guild master filled with baby supplies?”

“I told you—I’m going to raise him properly.”

It was only one of the countless inventories Iheun possessed, yet the sincerity he held toward the child was unmistakable.

As the lullaby ended, the now-asleep baby breathed in soft, steady little snores. A wave of contagious drowsiness hit Yeongung too.

“Haaam… I’m getting sleepy myself.”

“Of course you are. You haven’t slept properly in days because you were taking care of him.”

“…Won Iheun…”

“…”

“…I’ll wait… so…”

Through narrowing vision, Yeongung glimpsed the man opening his mouth as though to say something—yet unable to force the words out. He wanted to decipher the shape of his lips, but sleep overtook him, and he succumbed instantly.

“Th… that’s… wh… I… ugh…!”

The man struggled to move his uncooperating tongue, trying to speak—but blood spilled from his mouth. It was hemoptysis from the backlash.

Clamping a hand over his lips, Won Iheun moved quietly to the bathroom so as not to wake the father and child.

“Kh-cough…”

Unsteadily gripping the sink, he spat out a handful of black, clotted blood. Its ominous color was the system’s yellow card—punishment for an Awakener attempting to break prohibition.

“…Damn it.”

He had claimed he’d finished clearing all the overdue tasks, but in truth, there was still a problem left unresolved.

The black energy that had parasitized inside him and devoured only the memories relating to Yeongung. Over the past two years, he had successfully eradicated that malignant force. Thanks to that, all the memories and emotions he’d held for Yeongung had returned.

But once that tumor was removed, another one latched on. The system’s restriction—prohibiting him from speaking about key events: the contract with the system, the black energy, and the fact he had regained memories about Yeongung. A new prohibition had been imposed.

He recalled the system’s loathsome voice.

{This is Happy System JIRI speaking~ But Master Won Iheun, you’ve made JIRI very, very unhappy today, you know?}

“What utter nonsense.”

A blue system window spun mockingly around the furious man.

{Mm-mm! Bad words, no-no! JIRI always provides correct and proper information for all Awakeners. The one behaving like trash today… is you, Master Won. So JIRI is very sad.}

“Shut up. Disgusting thing.”

{You broke your deal with me. In exchange for saving the Hero Hunter’s life, JIRI was supposed to take what you valued most, remember?}

The window shook more violently, as though angered.

{This isn’t right at all. To maintain fairness, the system has decided to grant you a new penalty.}

“A new penalty…?”

[Status Window]

• Penalty Target: Won Iheun (SSS-grade) 
• Applied Penalty: Prohibition (禁制) 
• Prohibition Details:

  You are forbidden from revealing any details of your transactions with the System or the fact that you regained memories concerning Hero Hunter. 

• Damage:

  Minimum → hemoptysis

  Maximum → death 💀

  (Damage scaled by degree of disclosure) 

• P.S.: Written disclosure also prohibited. Do not attempt any tricks. 

{Hmm~ perhaps the penalty is too lenient? Well… since something rather adorable was born between the two of you, the System is a bit entertained. So let’s compromise at this level, shall we?}

Rage surged at the system’s childlike, falsely innocent tone.

Bang—!

Won Iheun slammed his fist into the penalty window. He knew it would not break the restriction even if he shattered the display—but he didn’t stop.

“Damn it… I only just realized how I felt… too late—so late it kills me—so late it makes me want to tear myself apart with regret…! And now you’re saying I can’t say it!?”

Now in the voice of a woman in her twenties, the system responded in a condescending tone.

{It’s not the System’s fault that Master Won didn’t even understand his own feelings until the person he loved was at death’s door.}

Letters scattered above his head, then reassembled into a single word: idiot.

{Beeew—ong-shin.}

At that moment, a longsword forged from the hardest mineral found in Gates struck through the system window.

{Oh no, the System is soooo scared~ pulling out the Immortal Sword and everything.}

Having mocked him thoroughly, the system pretended to cry.

{But you should already be grateful the system allowed the Hero Hunter’s life to continue at all. He was supposed to die.}

“Shut that mouth.”

Another crack exploded across the blue pane.

{Ahh—SSS-grade power… always impressive!}

Opening a new window, the system giggled chillingly.

{Do you think Hero Hunter will still love you? Even though you’re a liar?}

With that final taunt, it disappeared.

Ssssshh—

Water thundered from the tap as the blood washed away.

He scrubbed the splattered stains with foam from the dispenser.

Won Iheun peeled off his blood-wet shirt and threw it onto the tiled floor in irritation.

Among all the filth the system had spewed, there was one thing he agreed with:

He had realized his feelings far, far too late.

He had only understood—on the brink of disappearing due to the Hidden Bug—that he could not live without Yeongung.

“A real idiot… That’s exactly what I am.”

It was the consequence of the past—the negligence he had cultivated with his own hands.

He was born into a lineage of superior traits. Many in his family were dominant, some even extreme like himself.

With dominant traits came power and pleasure—and the members of his bloodline were infamous even among the most debauched conglomerate families.

Drugs, sex, orgies…

They used beauty and dominant pheromones as weapons, rutting like animals and breeding without restraint.

His parents maintained a web of simultaneous lovers throughout their marriage. As a result, he ended up with a horde of unwanted half and step-siblings, his family tree a hopeless snarl he had long since given up untangling.

The shock and disgust he had felt when he first witnessed his parents’ adultery—

‘Good… ahh… harder… rougher…!’

‘Madam…!’

‘Inside—finish inside…’

As a child, he had stumbled into the study and seen his Omega father bent over like a dog, taking the body of a young guard—a nephew-aged subordinate—while another guard stood before him.

Creatures ruled by their basest instincts.

Not that his Alpha father was any better—his appetites were easily ten times more depraved.

What revolted him was the knowledge that he was born from such filth—his glamorous exterior inherited from them.

To someone like him, love, lovers, marriage—these were fragile, unstable illusions that could shatter at any moment.

So when Yeongung had proposed becoming partners for the first time, he had no choice but to refuse.

He had wanted to remain by his side as a friend, as a comrade—for a long, long time.

Foolishly, he had ignored both his own feelings and Yeongung’s feelings for him.

But once was enough.

He would not let regret strike him a second time.

“Prohibition? Please. That kind of shit means nothing.”

He had already broken the system’s rules once.

The first time was hard—never the second.

“Just wait and see. In the end, the ones who’ll be smiling… will be him and me.”