Solo Leveling: Ragnarok – 38



Episode 38

‘I hate ants.’

It’s been decades already.

‘He’ was a word he always used as a habit.

Why do I hate ants?

He had been having nightmares periodically for some time.

Once a year or once every two years.

A vivid nightmare that comes back as soon as you forget it.

In that dream he was always running in the dark.

Being chased by countless ants.

‘Oh don’t come! ‘Don’t come!’

‘Keeeeek! ‘Keeeeek!’

‘Ugh!’

He ran and ran like that.

But no matter how hard you try if you come to your senses you will find yourself at a dead end.

Ants were surrounding him.

And in the middle of it all.

A huge human-like ant was trotting towards me.

and….

‘Keeeeeeek-!’

His mouth was torn long and his entire head was taken off…

Quack!

“Aaaahhh-!”

A middle-aged man jumped out of bed screaming.

The wife who was sleeping next to the noise rubbed her eyes and looked at her husband with concern.

“Honey did you have a nightmare again?”

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“Gasp….”

Cold sweat was forming on my husband’s forehead.

He took a gulp of cold water that was on the nightstand.

“Cough.”

I drank it too quickly and it made me dizzy but thanks to that I came back to reality.

Then he looked back at his wife who had suddenly woken up because of him and looked sorry.

“sorry. “You woke up because of me right?”

“Hmm… it’s been a while.”

“I see. “I’m fine now so don’t worry about me and sleep more.”

As I patted her back affectionately my wife’s eyes slowly closed again.

“Whoa.”

The man sat down on the bed and washed his face with both hands.

‘I thought I wasn’t going to sleep for a while….’

The man sighed and repeated it to himself like a mantra.

Yes it’s a dream.

It’s just a dream.

He is still… alive.

Fortunately the spell worked.

My heart which was pounding as if it was going to burst gradually became stable.

‘Anyway that damn dream of ants is really….’

For some reason it seemed like the sun was going to be fierce today.

It was too late to sleep and although it was a little early I decided to get ready for work.

Secretly.

He got up quietly and left the door so as not to wake his wife again.

My wife’s occupation was a school teacher.

The subject is national history.

He also worked as an instructor at an academy for a while and taught Korean history when he was young so he knew how difficult the job was.

‘It would be a big problem if you had trouble sleeping because of me and got confused about the year in class.’

Thinking about this and that he skillfully got ready for work and put on his clothes.

‘Achacha. I almost left it behind again.’

He wore a name tag issued by the association around his neck.

[Korea Hunter Association]

Min Byeong-gu

(Consulting Physician)

Shiny.

His name engraved on the nametag sparkled in the morning sunlight.

* * *

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“I came to have my horsepower re-measured.”

As soon as morning dawned Suho visited the hospital designated by the association.

“Please sit down and wait for a moment.”

After hearing various explanations from the nurse Suho sat down on a chair and waited for his turn.

As it happened the association came to Suho first and measured his magic power but it was normal for him to come to the hospital like this and get an awakening test.

To this end the Hunter Association has designated hospitals in various regions where magical power can be measured.

At first it was only in Seoul but as awakened people began to appear all over the country the number of such hospitals gradually increased throughout the country.

However there was still only one hospital in the country that could receive ‘horsepower re-measurement’ and this was because the only precision measuring device in the country was used for the re-measurement.

“Sung Su-ho please come in.”

After waiting for a while the nurse called Suho.

I went into the re-measurement room and there was a nice-looking middle-aged doctor sitting inside.

“Mr. Seong Su-ho?”

“Oh yeah. hello.”

Suddenly Suho’s gaze who was greeting him rested on his name tag.

[Korea Hunter Association]

Min Byeong-gu

(Consulting Physician)

‘Consulting doctor?’

It seemed like he was a doctor who was endorsed by the association as it was a difficult re-measurement.

“As you may have heard from the nurse earlier stardust has officially become illegal not long ago. So you will undergo some tests first before re-measurement.”

It was a so-called doping test.

After a while the examination began in earnest with a brief explanation and Suho suddenly asked a question.

“By the way teacher. Wasn’t there originally a way to detect stardust doping?”

“It was like that originally but recently research has been conducted as some of the ingredients of stardust have been revealed. Based on that research a smart doctor quickly developed a doping test. For your information that doctor is me. haha.”

Min Byeong-gu shrugs his shoulders and points to himself with his thumb.

He was a quite pleasant doctor.

‘ah.’

After hearing those words Suho realized.

‘It’s thanks to me.’

Why doping tests were developed recently.

That was because Suho himself discovered the factory and reported to the association how the devils had been making stardust.

‘The butterfly effect has turned around and I’m actually sitting there taking the doping test.’

It was a situation that made me laugh for no reason.

However Dr. Min Byeong-gu who was conducting the test looked at Su-ho’s expression with wonder.

“Hmm? “Suho has a different vibe from other people.”

“yes? “What’s the atmosphere like?”

“It’s so calming.”

Min Byung-gu found Suho fascinating.

Usually people who come to get remeasured have one of two reactions.

A dreamer who is overly motivated and dreams of rising social status.

Or ‘they say they are a much greater person’ and have excessive self-consciousness that makes them unable to discern reality.

‘In the end they are both similar guys.’

Actually that was a natural reaction.

If the re-measurement is successful and the hunter’s grade is raised the number of annual salaries can change overnight.

But Suho was different.

There was no anticipation or nervousness about the re-measurement results.

‘Are you naturally not very greedy?’

After a while Suho’s doping test results came out.

“You don’t have any stardust doping. Thank you for your hard work. Then we will re-measure the horsepower right away. “Put your hand here.”

I tried it but the magic result of Mana Guard was the same as the status window.

[horse power: 586]

An exclamation burst out of Min Byeong-gu’s mouth after checking the result sheet.

“oh. Congratulations! I really think the first measurement was an error. “With this much magical power you become a C-class hunter.”

While explaining Min Byung-gu looked at Su-ho’s reaction one more time.

But Suho’s reaction was still calm.

As if I knew it would happen.

‘It’s fascinating. ‘Are young people these days really like this?’

Min Byeong-gu tilted his head and immediately entered the test results into the computer.

“Oh and I need to upload skill information to the hunter data. Could you show me your skills in front of me?”

Skill information was important data.

This is because for smooth collaboration between hunters when conquering a dungeon they had to be familiar with each other’s skills.

Min Byung-gu brought Su-ho to a large space and asked.

“What skills do you have?”

“hmm. “I use a sword and summon summons.”

“You are a summoner. Now let’s look at the summoning skills first. Would you like to take out the summoned beast?”

“yes.”

Suho quickly nods his head.

However in order to use the shadow extraction skill a corpse was needed.

However it was cumbersome to retrieve the goblin corpse from the shadow dungeon so there was only one goblin that was easiest to summon.

“Ber come out for a moment.”

No sooner had those words ended.

Sooooook-!

[Keeeeek! Did you call me Solord?]

A shadow the size of a fist jumped out from under Suho’s feet.

But what is this?

“Aaaahhh-!”

[Kiek?]

Suddenly Min Byeong-gu looked at Ber and fell backwards in shock.

Ber tilted his head at the noise and looked back at Min Byeong-gu.

And his eyes widened.

[uh? Could it be that you…?]

“Dog dog dog dog…! “Kkororok.”

Min Byeong-gu who was pointing at Ber with a trembling finger eventually rolled his eyes and fainted on the spot.

“…uh?”

Suddenly Suho looked at Ber with a puzzled expression.

“What did you do to the doctor?”

[No I… Uhm.]

Hearing Suho’s words Ber checked Min Byeong-gu’s face once again.

Of course he is right.

Min Byeong-gu.

[He was eaten by me once… a long time ago.]

“what? Who eats what?”

[I am this person.]

It was Ver scratching his head with an awkward expression.

* * *

Before the Earth resets.

The era when Shadow Lord Seong Jin-woo was active as a hunter.

At that time there were only a few S-class healers living in Korea in the world.

S-class hunter Min Byeong-gu.

At one time he participated in a large-scale subjugation of demonic beasts in cooperation with other S-class hunters.

jeju island.

That hellish island that was occupied by countless ant monsters.

In that unprecedented battle Min Byeong-gu fought against the demonic beasts more courageously than anyone else.

He sacrificed himself fiercely for his colleagues.

By being eaten by Ver the king of ants.

After that the world resets.

All those memories had disappeared from Min Byeong-gu’s mind.

[…I still remember you.]

Ber’s bitter voice penetrated Min Byeong-gu’s mind as he fainted.

Skill Predation.

Ber’s talent to absorb the power and memories of the object he ingests.

Ber who had just hatched from an egg at the time used his abilities to devour Min Byeong-gu and swallow up his talent as an S-class healer.

[Maybe that’s why you didn’t wake up this time.]

But that wasn’t all that Berg learned from Min Byeong-gu.

memory. knowledge.

The heart that hated war and loved peace.

which….

It was the first ‘humanity’ that Ber had acquired since he was born.

[Perhaps if I were human I would have called you father.]

Min Byung-gu was the person who had the most influence on Ber’s current personality.

[Because of you I also started to like historical dramas.]

The sound of Ber’s laughter.

Even in his unconscious state Min Byeong-gu trembled when he heard the sound of laughter.

[…I see.]

Did you read his mind?

Ber muttered bitterly.

[I have become your nightmare.]

In fact… it’s probably not just Min Byung-gu.

Ber was the nightmare of all the humans he had preyed on.

But among them Min Byeong-gu was particularly special.

Is it because he was the first human to be eaten?

Or is it because the humanity I learned from him had a huge impact on my current identity?

Ber finally seemed to understand the reason.

Look.

Even though the world was reset…

Even though he doesn’t have the skills of an S-class healer like back then.

[Your life is still noble.]

I wanted so badly to quit being a hunter and become a teacher of Korean history but I never thought I would choose the path of medicine instead of being a healer in this life.

[You were still saving someone’s life in your place.]

Ber smiled brightly.

The reason why I am willing to feel that fact is probably because I realized that my roots are still shining brightly.

Since Ber had walked a path of slaughter and struggle from the moment he was born his brilliance was even more dazzling.

[Now I won’t say I’m sorry. Because we were at war at that time. but….]

Suddenly Ber’s warm voice reached Min Byeong-gu.

[I will support you in this life.]

Paaaaat!

And the small seed that flowed from Ber seeped into Min Byeong-gu’s body.

[I will take your nightmares away.]

My… father.

* * *

Meanwhile Suho was surrounded by hospital staff.

“No you really fainted alone?”

“I called the police now so you can go to the police station and make an excuse.”

“As a witness until the truth is revealed….”

“Wow. “I’m saying it’s really a misunderstanding.”

Suho felt unfair but the nurses’ sharp reaction was natural.

Dr. Min Byeong-gu was a talented doctor and the only stardust researcher in Korea.

Although stardust was a wrong product that used humans as its material the effect itself is still worth studying.

What if we could eliminate the wrong things and bring back only the good functions?

Stardust might be reborn as an item that could change the times.

In that sense Min Byeong-gu could be said to be a very important financial resource for the nation.

But what on earth did the hunter who was receiving the re-measurement do? He suddenly screamed and fainted.

Usually in cases like this you don’t like the re-measurement results and end up in trouble…

“Okay.”

At that time Min Byeong-gu who had fallen on the floor suddenly got up.

“Teacher Min!”

“The teacher has woken up!”

Nurses rush to Min Byeong-gu in surprise.

But something surprising happened.

“…This?”

Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Min Byung-gu who had a hard time coming to his senses suddenly looked down at the pure white light forming on his hands.

It was magical power.

“Awakening?!”

Everyone’s eyes widened as they witnessed the scene.

And without thinking all eyes turned to Suho who was standing next to him.

“No this is also a misunderstanding.”

I really didn’t do anything.