Requiem Of A Failed Hero

Mok Jae-Hwa sat in Raith's luxurious hospital room, with his fingers locked and his gaze on the floor as he tried to make sense of what happened.

There were no answers he could find to his question no matter how much he thought about it.

When he entered, Raith was in ruins with cuts all over his body and naked, what kind of fight could have deprived him of clothes?

What was that entity with enormous strength that suddenly ds

disappeared as he was about to enter the palace?

But the peak of all the questions he had was, "How in the world can he get so strong in just a few hours of going to a rank A gate?" Mok Jae-Hwa mumbled, looking at Raith who lay on the bed with his breathing aided by an oxygen mask and was currently unconscious.

'Before I could tell what his strength was. I could gauge it, measure it to a particular standard that was how I was able to know I can beat him at least for the first time. But now, I can't tell again, I can't even tell how strong he is. But there is just one single thing I am sure of.

He is stronger than I am now.'

Hunter Mok Jae-Hwa rubbed his chin and leaned into the chair he was sitting in, laying his eyes on Raith.

'At this point, we don't even need to shelter him from Turner.'

The door opens and a familiar face enters.

"Hyungnim!!" Min-ho comes crying beside Raith, spoiling his facial expression as if Raith was not going to come back alive even though he was a doctor and knew better.

It's been two weeks now and every time Min-ho comes into Raith's room, he always does that. But Mok Jae-Hwa never complained, as a matter of fact, he envied the relationship between the two of them. Sometimes he would just walk out for Min-ho to cry his heart out or sometimes he would just watch as the guy forces a cry out of his face and goes all awkward because he is still sitting there.

One thing has been consistent, he would always visit Raith every day.

"Is there any reason as to why he isn't waking up? Is it Deflux?"

"Deflux?! Ah No! Don't even mention that deadly thing. Hyungnim is just tired, it's more as if his brain and body are taking the maximum time needed to release all the stress and fatigue."

Mok Jae-Hwa looked at Raith once again, "The past three weeks just releasing stress and fatigue. What in the world's hell happened in that place?"

"Hyungnim always have the strangest of encounters. I wonder why this always happens to him. Why do bad things always happen to good people...?" He asked sobbing and looking at Mok Jae-Hwa who quickly averted his gaze to avoid any eye contact.

'...I'm not sure who you mean by good people. Does he even see the person he is talking about?' He looked at Raith again afterward and pocketed his hand, 'Well, Joon-Ho did say he saw Raith die in order to get them out of the dungeon. But I don't fall for that shit... he probably did that because he wanted to hide his abilities. Nice try bro.'

"Doctor, I will take my leave for now and be back later." He said as he walked out of the hospital room, leaving Min-ho alone with Raith.

***

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***

Tokyo, Japan.

"See, I want you to calm your nerves and collect yourself together. It took me a lot of connection to set this special meeting up." Doctor Takeshi said to Absalom who was now dressed in a casual black round-neck shirt, blue jeans, and a nice sneakers. His long hair had been cut short and was just like that of every other person, except that it was red... hence, making him stand out.

But not right now, because he was wearing a face cap.

"Oh this cap feels so good, I don't think I am ever going to get it out of my head." He comments as he walked behind Takeshi who was worried about something else.

"Are you even listening to me?!"

"Ohho! Human, mind your manner of speech. Don't raise your voice at me."

"We've been over this Kazuki"

"Hey! I said no more of that!" Absalom lets out his voice, attracting the attention of hunters that were sitting in the lobby waiting for their rank to be measured by the association."

"Ah... why did I even decide to go this path again..." Doctor Takeshi complained silently, burying his face into his palm, not a single day has been peaceful since he decided to give Absalom the identity of his son that was lost in a gate break that caused the whole of Osaka to be flooded, and many lives were lost. Three seconds of silence for the lost lives.

"I get that you are helping me and I promise to help you in return someday. But human it is necessary that you respect boundaries, I am the son of the greatest demon king in Felfhiem, I can never, never ever call you father." Absalom declared and looked the other way round, crossing his leg over each other.

Other parents and old folks who had also come with their loved ones began to look at him with scornful gazes. Even if he was Absalom, there was no way he would have been able to sit comfortably with the way these old people were glaring at him.

All that needed to be said was obvious from the way they stared at him.

"How can he be so disrespectful to his father?"

"Young boys of these days..."

"He thinks being a hunter is everything?"

"How can he be so cruel."

"He is a bad child..."

He was getting very uncomfortable with the mumbling words that entered his ears.

'... these cockroaches, they don't even know what they are saying... should I just kill all of them?' He wondered as he stole glances back at them and looked at Doctor Takeshi, who seemed to be enjoying this.

Immediately he saw how laid back the Doctor was, he couldn't help but wear an irritatedly angry face.

Just then the association agent came to the Doctor.

"Takeshi-san, you can come with us."