"Well."
"Thirty million? Fifty?"
The amount claimed to be half the hospital bill exceeded thirty million won.
It was a rough guess when he asked the question.
"I told you, I don't know."
"Don't tell me it's even more?"
"Don't worry about it, oppa."
"How can I not worry?"
"I'm doing fine. I'm not even thinking about it."
"That's a lie."
"It's not a lie."
Bickering back and forth, the two arrived in front of a small villa that looked quite old.
The neighborhood was the same as before, but the house had changed.
"Did you sell the house too?"
It had been a lucky break that they got to live in a government-supplied apartment, but it was still the family's only home.
Now, even that was gone.
Sua stopped talking entirely.
She was good at staying silent, and maybe she thought talking more would only lead to Soohyeok pressing her further.
As they climbed the stairs and entered the unit on the 5th floor, Soohyeok's expression hardened.
"What are you doing? Come in."
It was small.
They called it a villa, but in reality, it was barely over 10 pyeong (about 35 square meters).
The only relief was that there were two rooms.
With two women living there, if there had only been one room, things would have been even harder.
Thanks to that, it seemed there was barely enough space in the living room for a TV.
It was far too cramped for a family of four.
They had been poor, but not like this.
No matter how he thought about it, his hospital bills alone couldn't have brought the family to this point.
"What happened?"
His voice was hard as he asked, but again, Sooah remained silent.
"Don't be stupid. It's not something you can hide forever," Soohyeok urged her.
It wasn't something he couldn't understand.
He was an adult now too.
He didn't want to be treated like a patient anymore.
"Haa…"
Finally, Sooah let out a deep sigh and started to unravel the story.
After Soohyeok collapsed, not long after, Han Jung hee was diagnosed with cancer.
Fortunately, it was in the early stages, and she managed to get treatment, but since they didn't have any decent insurance, they had no choice but to sell the house and move.
It was already hard covering Soohyeok's hospital bills, and this was just another blow on top of everything.
"This isn't the time for me to take things easy."
He now fully realized that this wasn't the time to be relaxed just because they were getting half the hospital expenses back — barely thirty million won.
In the end, it was his family who had suffered.
He hated himself for just lying there during such difficult times.
"Still, don't push yourself too hard. Just in case, you should rest a bit," Sooah said in a worried tone.
No matter how okay he looked, as family, she couldn't fully let go of her concern.
"I'll try."
"Oppa, really…"
Sooah sighed before she could finish her sentence.
There was no point in trying to stop him. He wouldn't listen anyway.
"If possible, find something safe and easy. Maybe even focus on studying first."
"I'll try."
At his repeated answer, Sooah finally nodded.
Soohyeok was quite stubborn.
He also had a strong sense of responsibility.
His family had fallen this far because of him — there was no way he'd sit around smiling like a fool.
He wanted to give them a reason to smile genuinely from happiness.
"Father, mother, even Sooah… all of them…"
It was an ugly truth, but in this society, money was an essential element to achieving that kind of happiness.
Money couldn't buy happiness completely, but it was a necessary part of it.
Fortunately, Soohyeok was blessed with a good family.
If he could just solve the money issue, he was confident they could be happy again.
And he had thought long and hard in the hospital about how to make money.
"I have to become a hunter."
He had made up his mind.
The family's dinner was on the later side.
This was because both Yang Seungbon, who worked at a small publishing company, and Han Jeonghee, who worked at a restaurant, got home late.
Having the whole family eat together — it might seem trivial, but Soohyeok deeply appreciated it.
Eating a meal with someone might not be that difficult.
But eating with the same people every day — that was, when you think about it, something truly special.
There was no better time to feel the importance and bond of family.
That's why even with hungry stomachs, Soohyeok and Sooah waited to eat together.
Thanks to that, the family dinner table wasn't fancy, but it was always joyful.
Especially for Soohyeok, a home-cooked meal after such a long time was incredibly moving.
Even compared to the fancy meals he had in the other world, it was better — and compared to the tasteless hospital food, it was no contest.
It helped that his father, Yang Seungbon, who cooked instead of his mother, was a very skilled cook.
That first night back, he also learned something else: Seungbon went out to work at night too. He was doing substitute driving, and it looked like he barely got four hours of sleep.
Soohyeok was happy to be home, but it hit him hard just how bad things were for his family.
He immediately started exercising.
He told Sooah, who had quit her part-time job to look after his health, that it was part of his rehab training.
Of course, Sooah didn't believe him easily. She followed him, worried he might overdo it or get into trouble.
It wasn't a bad thing.
He actually was planning to exercise.
But he also planned to practice his internal energy technique while running.
Because of that, he wanted to recommend Sooah join him.
Ideally, the whole family.
After arriving at a nearby park—
" Sooah, if you can, try breathing like this. First, take a deep breath, press your tongue against the roof of your mouth, pause briefly, then exhale slowly, like this — hoo… deeply."
Soohyeok said to Sooah.
The was an excellent and highly technique of sacred earth versatile foundational breathing technique.
He hoped that Sooah could at least begin practicing it.
After all, a healthy family was always a good thing.
In fact, there was an unusually high amount of qi on Earth these days, and if one trained steadily, the chances of good results were high.
"What is that?"
Sooah asked, eyeing him suspiciously.
It was natural.
It was quite different from ordinary breathing techniques, so anyone would have reacted that way.
"When I was in the hospital, I was bored and saw this on the internet. Apparently, it's good for your health and even helps with dieting."
Because of that, Soohyeok mixed in a bit of a lie.
The powerful effect of a lie comes from 80% truth and 20% falsehood. That's why Soohyeok thought this excuse was quite convincing. There was no way something like the Technique of sacred earth mantras or breathing methods would be online, but the dieting effects were real.
"Oppa, did you buy some weird medicine again?"
"Huh? What?"
But Sooah's reaction was cold.
"All of that's a lie. These days, you trust the internet too much and you'll get burned."
The credibility of the internet had dropped too low.
"B-but they say it helps with skincare and makes your body more glamorous and all that…"
That part was true as well.
The Technique of sacred earth had a remarkable effect of connecting human energy with the earth's energy.
Because of that, the cosmetic benefits were naturally significant.
"Not interested."
But Sooah's reaction was still cold as ice.
'Damn, this isn't working.'
Caring for his family's health was turning out to be harder than he thought.
Still, telling the whole truth wasn't an option since he didn't have any way to prove it yet.
In the end, Soohyeok had no choice but to wait until his abilities were fully developed before telling the truth and beginning their training.
'By then, I'll probably be able to guide their energy myself.'
He figured they'd see faster results that way than starting now.
"There are a lot of scammers these days. You'll get in big trouble if you just believe stuff like that."
Sooah warned him with a laugh as she watched Soohyeok squirm.
It was frustrating from Soohyeok's perspective, but what could he do?
He had no choice but to take on the role of someone who got fooled by a scam.
And just like that, the siblings' workouts—or training, from Soohyeok's perspective—began.
***
Running.
A form of exercise anyone with working limbs could do, yet it offered incredible benefits in many ways.
From the commonly known fat-burning effects to preventing adult diseases like diabetes, improving heart function, stimulating the brain, and even treating depression—running had an endless list of benefits.
In fact, even in martial arts training, running—along with the horse stance that mimicked riding a horse—was considered one of the most fundamental exercises.
That's why Soohyeok ran every day.
Because he needed strength.
Why?
Because, as he heard in the hospital, something called a "portal" had appeared in this world.
And along with it, people with special powers or supernatural abilities—"Awakened ones"—had emerged.
These Awakened people generally fell into two categories: Guardians or Hunters.
Guardians dealt with crimes committed by the Awakened and defended against invasions from other dimensions through the portals. Essentially, they were peacekeepers. Because the job was dangerous, the base salary was high. It also came with a lot of prestige and international recognition.
If Guardians were the defense team, Hunters were the offense.
If the beings coming through the portal were friendly, there'd be no issue—but if they were hostile, someone had to end it.
Hunters crossed into those hostile worlds, invaded enemy territory, plundered resources, and ultimately shut down the portals.
It was a necessary job—but a brutal one. And unlike Guardians, they weren't seen as honorable.
The work Hunters did in other dimensions was often brutal and ruthless, depending on how you looked at it.
Some religious or ideological groups condemned them, saying killing and destroying wasn't the only answer.
But Hunters made more money than Guardians.
Naturally—the danger was higher, and there were additional bonuses for spoils of war.
Soohyeok's goal was to become one of those Hunters.
Because he needed money.
The more, the better.
Some say greed is bad, but Soohyeok disagreed.
He had already become the greatest martial artist on the Hwan continent through sheer ambition.
In his view, it was nonsense to believe anyone could achieve greatness without desire.
Isn't there a saying?
"Man! Be ambitious!"
'And if not, then whatever.'
As for those ideological groups' criticisms?
Nonsense.
Most of them had never set foot on a battlefield.
They didn't understand the desperation, the madness, the chaos of clashing killing intent.
If someone who had actually fought on the front lines said such things—and acted on them—that person would be a hero.
On the Hwan continent, they'd be called a Great Chivalrous One—a Daehyeop.
Unfortunately, Soohyeok didn't think of himself as such a noble figure.
'My family's happiness comes first.'
Heroes? Chivalry? That was too far removed from Soohyeok's reality.
He simply wanted to be compensated for the work he did.
The reason he allowed himself to be greedy was because he believed the reward came only after enduring suffering.