Hero Hunter is on Parental Leave C82

Chapter 82

With his delicate, androgynous face, it was difficult to tell the intruder’s gender at a glance. Yeongung watched the flamboyantly handsome uninvited guest with open wariness.

The stranger had just told him not to bully his “employee,” yet he punished that very employee without mercy. With a slender wrist that looked like it might snap if struck, he flung the large man away. The body slammed into a steel structure, the man’s waist folding in half like paper.

His spine was completely destroyed. He would never live without a wheelchair again. Realizing this, despair filled his eyes as he stared at his numb lower body.

Yeongung clicked his tongue.

“Didn’t you just tell me not to bully your employee?”

It was closer to an accusation than a question. The man had tried to kill him moments ago, yet instead of satisfaction, Yeongung felt disgust. The beauty before him had used his subordinate as a disposable pawn. That casual disregard for life clashed head-on with Yeongung’s beliefs.

But the silver-haired beauty seemed utterly unconcerned about the subordinate who had become crippled in an instant. Instead, he looked at Yeongung with rapture.

“Ah…! You remembered what I said?”

The mismatched focus, the ecstatic expression, the hands clasped as if in prayer—Yeongung felt an unsettling familiarity.

“…You’re a nutcase too.”

The blue-eyed beauty widened his eyes and tilted his head, as if hearing such a thing for the first time.

“A nutcase…?”

“I’m basically a professional at spotting psychos. And you’re definitely one.”

“A nutcase… I like it.”

“What?”

“It’s the first nickname my hero gave me.”

Yeongung stared at him like he was some bizarre life-form. Taking an insult as a term of endearment—what kind of mental circuitry was that?

“Hero” was the English nickname foreigners often used for Yeongung, playing on both his name and the meaning of 영웅. Yeongung studied the nearly white silver hair and blue eyes. A foreigner fluent in Korean? But his features were closer to East Asian than Western… or perhaps he was albino.

Feeling Yeongung’s gaze, the beauty breathed harshly, haah, haah.

“You have no idea how desperately I’ve waited for this moment… Hero.”

His voice was as beautiful as his appearance—clear and pure like a boy who hadn’t gone through puberty, yet carrying a strange, gloomy undertone.

After steadying his breath, he stepped closer.

“Handsome uncle.”

Pulling down the hood of his robe, silver hair spilled free. He moved like a wind-up doll with a broken spring.

“Did you like the flowers?”

Flowers…?

The boy who had delivered the bouquet flashed through Yeongung’s mind.

‘Handsome uncle, please take this.’

‘The pretty hyung told me to give it to you.’

So it wasn’t Won Iheun’s event…? It could have been another person, but Yeongung’s instincts—honed through countless gates—told him otherwise. The boy and the silver-haired beauty were the same person.

With that bony body, he’d displayed monstrous strength—without mana. The assassination squad had been fodder. This man was the real thing. Yeongung sharply observed how the man made no move to attack him. As expected, the status window remained silent.

“Hero, my name is—”

Yeongung briefly considered capturing him alive. He didn’t care about the man’s name, but chose to listen.

“My name is Sa Baekhwa. Baekhwa… please call me Baekhwa.”

The silver-haired man was already close enough to reach for Yeongung’s arm—

“Looks like managing your admirers is hard work.”

Won Iheun appeared behind him and pulled Yeongung back by the waist. Interrupted just a fingertip away from his hero, Baekhwa’s face twisted with venom—a look he’d never once shown Yeongung.

“We’re done cleaning up the bugs.”

As if to reassure him, Won Iheun kissed Yeongung’s nape. Chok. The wet sound made Yeongung’s pale skin flush red. Burying his face against Yeongung’s neck, Won Iheun looked straight at Baekhwa—an unmistakable provocation.

“Disgusting… disgusting… disgusting!”

Darkness gathered around Baekhwa in his fury. The ground beneath his feet blackened; flowers and plants withered away, as if life itself were being drained.

“You tainted him…”

The blue eyes that had sparkled moments ago now held only murderous intent toward Won Iheun.

“So, originally, today was meant to be a kind of teaser. I even planned to shower Hero with gifts.”

Baekhwa staggered as he approached, unsteady. His gaze shifted to the crippled masked man. Realizing his fate, the man closed his eyes in resignation. Baekhwa lifted his hand and made a slicing gesture across his own neck.

“Hey—what are you—!”

Yeongung sensed danger and tried to intervene—

Thunk.

The man’s head rolled across the amusement park floor.

Without using the system—just a gesture, and a human head severed…?

The two lizard monsters frozen in the cage were next, their limbs sliced clean off. Every lead they’d secured vanished in an instant.

“Pity, but let’s end things here for today.”

Sa Baekhwa dusted off his hands lightly, as if finished with an errand. Beneath the rolled-back sleeves of his robe, his skin was blackened, like a patient poisoned. Yeongung etched every detail of him into memory.

“Who says you get to decide?”

His teeth ground together. He couldn’t leave empty-handed. Yeongung drew his sword. As the dwarven blade began to awaken to his mana, Won Iheun stepped in front of him.

“Let him go. We’ll clash with him again soon.”

A black-haired man appeared and lifted Baekhwa into his arms like a child. Baekhwa’s small frame contrasted sharply with the man’s solid build. His face was hidden beneath a robe.

“See you again, Hero. Be sure to follow the invitation.”

Whether it was a teleport scroll or something else, the two vanished without a trace. Invitation? To what?

Left behind, Yeongung turned to his alpha. Won Iheun had called Baekhwa “that guy.”

“…You knew who he was from the start.”

Shing.

Yeongung’s sword leveled at Won Iheun.

“I’m sick of this. Fine, the geas—I get it, you couldn’t help that. But you were hiding something else from me too.”

“…”

Won Iheun stayed silent even as the blade cut his jawline and drew blood.

“You knew about the rift. About Sa Baekhwa. Not because of Jaehee’s illness or this attack—but from the beginning. Right?”

Still, no answer. This would go nowhere. Changing tactics, Yeongung turned the blade on himself, pressing it to his own throat.

“Put that away—now—!”

For the first time, the man who’d stood like a statue went pale. So this works. Yeongung curled one lip into a twisted smile.

“Feel like talking properly now?”

“…Alright. Please… put it down.”

He was terrified Yeongung would hurt himself. Such a small wound meant nothing to Yeongung. Emotional scars hurt far more. He hated the secrets between them.

At his earnest plea, Yeongung lowered the sword.

“Bastard… I hate secrets between us more than anything.”

“I understand. I’ll tell you everything. All of it.”

Won Iheun cupped the back of Yeongung’s head and pulled him into his chest. Yeongung thumped the solid alpha’s torso lightly.

“You better really understand. This is your last chance.”

“…Ha. I was wrong. But don’t ever do something like this again either. I can’t bear it—if you’re hurt… or killed.”

At first Yeongung thought he was exaggerating—then he felt Won Iheun’s fingers trembling.

“Won Iheun. We’ve cleared countless gates together. This is nothing. I’m fine.”

As Yeongung soothed him, a massive beast burst through the park’s foliage—it was Pepper, carrying Jaehee.

“Utdya! Baby!”

“Aeooong!”

After quickly assessing the surroundings, Pepper covered Jaehee’s eyes with his tail so he wouldn’t see the carnage. Yeongung and Won Iheun swiftly cleaned up as well, freezing the assassin’s severed head and the lizard monsters’ remains and storing them in inventory.

Once everything was cleared, Pepper lowered his tail. The baby angel burst into giggles, thinking it was all part of a game.