I’ll Retire After Saving the World

TL: SHW

Swaaah…

Swaaah…

The sound of the waves is quiet. The coastline is receding. It's low tide.

Mini-me stood blankly, gazing at the ocean. Who knows what grand thoughts might be swirling around in that small head of his?

I turned my head to look at the sea. The endlessly stretching sea. The water receding from the shore. The wet sand.

To Mini-me, this must all feel unfamiliar.

I shouldn’t interrupt this emotional moment, right? Diverse experiences are good for emotional development. It’s better to see as much as possible now than not see at all.

“Sniff.”

Mini-me sniffled.

He’s not going to cry, is he?

I raised my eyebrows and observed Mini-me, curious. Should I say something?

But before I could decide, Mini-me spoke first.

“…It’s hot.”

“……”

Well, of course.

It’s August now, and naturally, it’s summer.

Lee Mi-seon’s villa is air-conditioned enough to need a coat indoors. Even without air conditioning, awakened beings wouldn’t collapse from heatstroke, but if you can stay cool, why not, right? Even Hunters sweat, after all.

Although Mini-me is set to awaken in the future, he hasn’t awakened yet. And we’re on a mudflat with no shade from the sunlight. It’d be strange if he weren’t hot.

I asked with an awkward smile.

“Do you want to go back inside?”

“……”

He’s thinking about it.

That face, he’s hot and wants to go in, but he’s also fascinated by the sea.

Is it because this is before I was rescued by the old man, time-wise? Or because he’s me? It’s just too easy to read him.

Did I looked like that to the old man? How ridiculous I must have seemed. I think I now understand why the old man would occasionally smirk and chuckle when he looked at me.

I gave Mini-me a nudge on the back.

“Huh?”

“If you don’t want to go inside, go into the sea.”

“…Into the sea?”

“Yeah. Is it too far?”

Even though we’ve only been at the shore for a short while, the sea has already moved farther away. The mysteries of nature.

“Still, if you step on the mudflat, it’ll feel cool.”

“Hm…”

I squatted down in front of the hesitant Mini-me. Lee Mi-seon had bought Mini-me a pair of shoes. I undid the Velcro on his sandals and took them off, and Mini-me obediently placed his hands on my shoulders, quietly following my lead.

“Alright. Go ahead.”

For the first time in his life, he stepped onto a sandy beach. At first, he waddled unsteadily, but once he got used to it, he started moving faster.

…He’s going to fall at this rate.

“Ahh!”

See? I told you he’d fall.

His white clothes were a mess. It might feel gross, but it’s a mudflat, so it wouldn’t have hurt. And it’s hot, so this is actually better, right? It’ll feel cool.

“Hey, hyung!”

“Hm?”

“Your little brother fell, and you’re just going to stand there and watch?”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“Isn’t I-rok capable of getting up on his own?”

“Seriously!”

“Can’t get up? Then hyung will help you.”

“…I can get up on my own!”

Mini-me lifted his head in defiance. Not only his clothes but also his face and hair were smeared with mud, making a complete mess.

I grinned. Seeing me grin, Mini-me must have been annoyed. He pursed his lips out of habit, only to accidentally eat some mud and start coughing and gagging.

In the end, I couldn’t hold back and burst out laughing.

“Alright. Get up.”

I walked over to Mini-me and offered my hand. He grabbed it, but true to his stubborn nature, he leaned his weight onto my hand.

If I fell because of the weight of a ten-year-old kid, my pride would be wounded.

Would my Hyung have pretended to fall on purpose?

No way.

It’s my brother we’re talking about. There’s no way he was some angel who endlessly coddled his little brother.

No matter how precious his younger brother was, he never did anything he didn’t want to do. Back then, it felt like my brother did whatever I asked of him, but looking back now with a bit more maturity, that wasn’t the case. He just sweet-talked me, distracted me, and then did whatever he wanted.

That’s just how the Woo family is. Even my biological father, who left me nothing but our surname, usually yielded to my mother. But when he decided to stand his ground, not even she could win against him.

In the end, it’s the same genes running through us, isn’t it?

When the old man had asked, I should have just quickly agreed to change my surname. If I had at least changed my surname, maybe I could have diluted even a little bit of that cursed blood.

But, well, even so, I doubt I would’ve actually changed it.

Like pulling out a radish, I grabbed Mini-me’s hand and lifted him straight up.

“Huh?”

“There. Now you’re standing, right?”

Mini-me dangled lightly in the air. I debated whether to let go of his hand and make him fall again, but even for an Hyung, that felt like going too far, so I quietly set him back down.

Mini-me flinched slightly at the sensation of mud against his bare feet. After staring quietly at the puddles of seawater scattered across the mudflat, he bent down and started splashing his hand in the water.

It’s peaceful. It reminds me of the day I brought Mini-me here.

I deliberately avoided thinking about my Hyung.

During all that time, I believed that one day he would find me. I thought it was just that something had gone wrong, that he had run into trouble, or that the lab had gotten in the way. That’s why he couldn’t find me. Otherwise, he would’ve come to take me with him already.

At some point, I started thinking that I’d go and find him instead.

I wanted the power to destroy that annoying lab director and the researchers. I wanted to rise to a position where I could wield such power. After learning more about the world, I realized that if I could get to such a position, finding one person wouldn’t be difficult at all.

I wanted to find my brother.

If only I could have properly remembered his face, I wouldn’t have felt so suffocated.

“I-rok.”

“Yeah?”

Mini-me, who seemed to have given up on his dirty clothes, plopped down on the ground and began playing with the mud with his hands. Was he engaging in some kind of sensory play?

“Did you remember hyung’s face?”

“…….”

Mini-me’s hands stopped moving.

“Did you remember?”

Mini-me slowly started moving his hands again. He didn’t answer.

If he remembered, he wouldn’t have avoided answering like that.

“When was the last time I-rok saw hyung’s face? Was it when you were five? Or six? That was a long time ago.”

“…Still!”

“Still?”

“If I see hyung’s face, I’ll recognize him right away!”

Mini-me said with irritation.

“He’s my hyung. There’s no way I wouldn’t recognize you.”

He didn’t recognize him, though, this kid.

There’s no need to tell him the truth, and I don’t plan to.

Well, from his perspective, he would never in his wildest dreams think that I’m himself.

Even though I’m his hyung, I can’t help but wonder if, genetically, we’re basically like twins. Hyung was created in an artificial womb, but still, half of him was a success. Hyung’s peers all died before they were even born.

Using Hyung’s data, several more failures were made before I was finally born. I don’t know how similar our genes are. Hyung might have known. But seeing how Mini-me boldly declared he could recognize him and then clung to me like that, I guess we must have looked quite similar.

That must mean I looked so much like him that this kid didn’t even realize we weren’t the same person.

“Right. There’s no way I-rok wouldn’t recognize his hyung.”

The same goes for me.

It’s as if twenty years of waiting were reset to zero. This time, Woo I-rok's waiting doesn't happen. Lucky kid.

No, it’s not lucky. After all, I had father. That’s more than enough.

Still, since Hong Seok-young said he’s planning to raid Ark, wouldn’t I be able to get a hold of the Cleaners list? I hope I can find even one picture of my hyung.

“Hyung.”

“Yeah?”

Splat.

“…Hmm?”

I looked down at my clothes. There was a black clump. Mud dripped, drip, drip.

“Don’t let your guard down.”

“…This little…”

Woo I-rok was holding a lump of mud and grinning mischievously. Even with a face covered in mud, that grin was more absurd than anything else. When Mini-me wiped his nose with his somewhat clean forearm, the mud smudged, leaving him looking even more ridiculous.

Did this kid just pick a fight with an active Hunter?

Father always told me one thing when fighting others.

‘Wait for them to strike first.’

Since Mini-me struck first, this counts as self-defense.

I scooped up a handful of mud and hurled it at Mini-me.

Splat.

“…….”

If I were to make an excuse, it’s that I’ve never used mud as a weapon before. Not even the old man taught me something like that.

So, in other words…

“I-rok?”

It was an accident that the mud ended up on his face.

“I hate you so much, hyung!!”

“You really hate me?”

“…Not really, but I’m annoyed!”

Mini-me charged at me. I thought about dodging, but this time I stayed still. Sometimes he joked, sometimes he teased me, and sometimes he played pranks, but my hyung never rejected my hand.

That was the one thing he always gave in to.

I felt the weight around my waist, and instead of holding my ground, I let myself fall backward.

Thud.

The mudflat was soft. Mini-me hugged my waist and laughed loudly. For the first time since I kidnapped him from the orphanage, he was laughing out loud.

Without getting up, I lay on the mudflat and patted Mini-me on the head.

The cloudless sky above matched my mood.

“…Hyung.”

“Yeah?”

“Get your hand off me.”

“Are you saying you’re too grown up now to be okay with your head being patted? Hyung’s going to be hurt.”

“You’re pretending to pat my head, but you’re rubbing mud on it!”

“……”

I raised my other hand and ruffled Mini-me’s hair even more.

“Ah! Stop it!”

“You started it by smearing it on me first.”

“You were the one who laughed first!”

“Who told you to fall over?”

As I smeared mud all over his hair and face, a chuckle escaped me.

The sulking kid who pouted his lips when we left the villa earlier was nowhere to be seen. All that was left was a lump of mud fuming with frustration. But I was careful not to get any mud around his eyes, so his glaring, mud-free eyes stood out clearly.

He looked just like any other ordinary kid his age. The kind of kid who gets annoyed at their Hyung’s pranks. Not a child raised in confinement by a lab.

Even without the old man, I think I can handle this.

Of course.

I’m my father’s son, why wouldn’t I be able to?

*

Perhaps tired from playing on the mudflat, Mini-me fell asleep the moment he washed up and changed into clean clothes. I pulled an elementary school first-grade textbook out of his hand and tucked a blanket over him.

“Did he have fun playing?”

Right on cue, Hong Seok-young appeared.

When I gave a slight nod, Hong Seok-young approached quietly and looked down at Mini-me.

“I was worried because he seemed constantly tense. But it looks like he’s starting to adjust.”

“I hope so.”

“With such a caring hyung looking after him, what’s there to worry about?”

Hong Seok-young’s gaze, fixed on Mini-me, seemed heavy. Perhaps he was thinking about his deceased son.

“Are Seung-yeon and Tae-woo still in Yeosu?”

“No.”

I recalled the message Lee Seung-yeon had sent me.@@novelbin@@

“They said they’d move after lunch. They mentioned heading to Busan.”

“Those kids sure are having fun.”

“They’re kids, after all.”

“True enough. They have no idea how much the adults are struggling to clean up after them….”

“They’re kids.”

“Right, they’re kids! It’s the age for that kind of thing.”

For some reason, Hong Seok-young looked pleased as he nodded.

…Did he come all this way just to say that?

But the way he glanced at me hinted that he had something more to say.

Sure enough, he soon opened his mouth.

“I thought I should tell you about the person who’s currently watching those two.”

“That… Hunter, you mean?”

“Yeah. He’s someone I used to look out for when I was in another guild….”

“Is there something specific I should know?”

Hong Seok-young scratched his head awkwardly.

“It’s nothing major…. It’s just that he’s got a really troublesome personality.”

...You probably shouldn't call that 'nothing major'.

“If he bothers you, don’t stab him or anything.”

“Stab… I won't stab him."

“No.”

Hong Seok-young firmly rejected my words.

“You can stab him. But if you do, it’ll just get even more annoying. So even if he acts annoying, just leave him alone. He'll quiet down if you don't give him attention."

“…….”

"Ah, and he's Eun-young's oppa. Just so you know."

What?

Whose oppa?

“Oh, I should give Eun-young a heads-up too. She doesn’t really like her oppa.”

Looking satisfied, Hong Seok-young waved me off and hurried away to find Han Eun-young.

“…….”

Only the sound of Mini-me’s soft breathing filled the room.