‘This aura… as I thought, it’s just as bad as I remembered.’

When Min Ga-on entered, the warm hospital room was filled with an icy chill. Frost spread along the windows, and the leaves of the plants crackled as they froze.

The air felt as heavy as a winter morning, and I couldn’t help but cough, almost like I had a lung disease.

“Cough…!”

It felt like shards of ice were stabbing into my lungs. My whole body felt frozen from head to toe. How useless is this damn body of mine?! If I had to wake up in someone else’s body, why couldn’t it be one like Min Ga‑on’s?

I didn’t expect an S‑class skill to feel this powerful when experienced through an F‑rank body. My whole body was shivering as if I had a fever—or maybe I actually did. Min Ga-on was a water-type hunter, capable of controlling both water and ice. Seeing me coughing violently, like I was about to vomit blood, he looked a little surprised.

“…Oh no, Yeon-ho hyung.”

Could that really be his voice? I’d never heard a tone so sweet before, like sugar dissolved in water.

“I didn’t think it through. I didn’t realize it would be this hard for you.”

[Support Skill, “□□□□” (□) has been deactivated!]

[Item, “□□” (□) has been deactivated!]

I could feel Min Ga-on’s advanced passive skills and items being instantly deactivated. The frost-like aura on his shoulders dissipated like fog lifting. The oppressive pressure remained, but at least the buff effects were gone. My relentless coughing finally began to subside.

Even so, my ragged breathing made tears well up in my eyes. Min Ga-on, who had been studying my face closely, curved his lips into a faint smile. It looked warm at first glance, but his eyes stayed cold as ice. That contrast made it feel even more disconcerting.

I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was wrong. I didn’t know Min Ga-on well enough to get a read on him in such a short time. But one thing was certain: the whole room radiated an uneasy tension. Min Ga-on asked again, his voice tinged with amusement.

“Are you feeling alright now? I’ll make sure to be more careful next time so this doesn’t happen again.”

His voice sounded concerned on the surface, but beneath it, there was something darker.

‘Next time? Do I even have to see him again?’

I met his fixed gaze head-on and spoke.

“…You’re my guardian?”

Min Ga-on gave a small nod.

“I heard you have amnesia… but you really don’t remember anything at all?”

Even with a faint smile on his face, the look in his eyes created a strange tension between us.

“After I became a hunter, Hyung’s parents supported me. They tragically passed away in an unexpected accident…”

Min Ga-on’s voice changed slightly. When he said “unexpected accident,” I noticed his eyes darken for a moment, as if he knew more than he was letting on.

Ah, I remember now. Min Ga-on’s S‑rank awakening had caused a huge stir, not only in the hunter community but also in the media. He was young, handsome, and the first S‑rank hunter specializing in water and ice to appear in the world. As a result, he drew massive public attention, and even the most trivial personal details were exposed in the press.

His father was serving a life sentence for murder, and his mother had run away in the middle of the night to escape her husband’s abuse. Had Min Ga-on not awakened as a hunter, his life would have been an ordinary, miserable one. 

The media presented his past as a tragic life story, but it was clear how much trauma he still carried. Still, he received support from several major corporations, and one well-known construction company CEO even adopted him. By some standards, it could be considered a happy ending.

‘So that construction company CEO was Ryu Yeon-ho’s parent…?’

By relationship, Ryu Yeon-ho, the original owner of this body, would have been like an older brother to Min Ga-on. But I hadn’t heard any rumors about Min Ga-on’s adoptive parents dying. 

Naturally, he was an S‑rank hunter. After upgrading his skills properly, Min Ga-on became a major figure in just six months, wielding influence over the government, the Hunter Association, and the media. In a situation like that, no reporter would dare spread rumors about his private life.

“Don’t worry, Yeon-ho hyung.”

Min Ga-on took a step closer, while I remained tense, like a wildcat with its fur bristling.

“I’ve received a lot of help from your parents all this time, Yeon-ho hyung. Now let me return that favor.”

He took a small step forward.

“In a way, my guild, ‘Hwabing,’ is basically yours, Yeon-ho hyung. And…”

‘It’s mine too.’ His last words, whispered so softly, were barely audible. His eyes, impossible to look away from, felt like they could see right through me. There was a strange intensity in them, as if he had found something he had long been longing for. But my focus was completely elsewhere. We were far too close.

‘Were they always… this close?’

No. I’d bet on my skill that they definitely weren’t. My whole body was still shaking. The fear and unease I felt whenever I faced Min Ga-on wasn’t just nervousness—it was deep, like long-buried trauma. Yet Min Ga-on acted as if we were old friends or family. The contrast sent chills down my spine.

He closed in until his breath brushed against me. As I stepped back, my foot hit the wall behind me. But he was already standing exactly where my escape should have been, leaving me nowhere to go. Like a hunter driving prey into a corner, he blocked every possible route. Min Ga-on’s cold hand slowly reached out and gripped my left wrist, which was still trembling.

“Ugh…!”

It felt like touching burning ice. The sharp pain spreading through my wrist made me wince. It was because I had come into direct contact with a powerful water-and-ice energy.

“So, you must never do something like this again.” 

Min Ga‑on ran his thumb over the long red scar on my wrist, almost like he was giving me a warning. My wrist twitched each time his cold finger brushed the scar, as if it still hurt. It was the scar from when Ryu Yeon‑ho had tried to take his own life. The long, deep cut wasn’t an accident. It had been intentional and planned, and above all, it showed how hopeless he’d felt. The original owner of this body had truly wanted to die.

Maybe that’s why I was able to possess this body. I must have taken over after Ryu Yeon‑ho’s soul left. It was a strange twist of fate. He was only twenty‑eight… so why would he do something so foolish? It wasn’t something I had done, and I knew nothing about Ryu Yeon‑ho, so I had nothing to say. I just swallowed hard.

[Healing skill “□□□ □□” (F) has been activated!]

A sudden system message had appeared. I had begun to doubt my mental state, even though I had thought I was fine until then. I hadn’t known much about healing skills, but I had known that passive skills that activated on their own were uncommon. And the system message hadn’t been over yet.

[Healing skill “□□□ □□” (F) has been canceled due to a low recovery success rate!]

Ah… it seemed this skill didn’t have any proficiency at all. If the proficiency was low and the success rate wasn’t high enough, the skill would just get canceled and do nothing. All my tension was for nothing. I let out a small, awkward laugh before I even realized it.

But “recovery success rate”? I had no idea what it was supposed to recover. Maybe it meant restoring something to its original state by removing a status condition. I’d need to look into the skill more to figure that out.

I wasn’t sure if there was any point in looking into an F-rank healing skill in this unrealistic situation, though… Right then, new text flashed bright white across the system window once again.

[Healing Skill “□□□ □□” (F):

Recovery success rate has increased to 9%.

Recovery effect has increased by 3%.

A sustained recovery effect has been added.

Cooldown has been reduced to 48 hours.]

It was a skill level-up message. My eyes went wide this time. When I first unlocked a skill, it leveled up really fast, even if I didn’t use it much. Even if it fails to activate because the conditions aren’t met, I still gain proficiency.

But the longer I worked on a skill and the stronger it got, the longer it took to reach the next level. My last skill had taken me a whole year to level up. Yet this healing skill leveled up after just one attempt—even though it failed to activate. I’d never seen any skill level up this fast. Was it because it was an F-rank skill…?

‘No matter what… this is way too fast.’

I would’ve needed prior experience with an F-rank skill to even guess at its mechanics. Unfortunately, in both my past life and this one, this was the first time I had ever actually wielded one.

“…Yeon-ho hyung?”

I’d spent too long lost in thought. The man in front of me was staring at me with a suspicious look. I shook off the hand holding my wrist. With my poor stamina, it shouldn’t have worked, but Min Ga-on let go and stepped back. I had a feeling that if I backed down here, it would be over. So I deliberately answered with a more confident tone.

“So… if I promise not to do anything reckless, I can be discharged, right?”

“Of course.”

His answer took a moment, as if he didn’t like my request, but it didn’t matter. After all, my goal was simply to put some distance between us. As long as he wasn’t monitoring me, I could easily get to the emergency safe house or the money I had saved back when I was Hong Jun‑il. 

My first step was to leave this hospital and carefully plan my next move. It seemed like a solid plan—at least until Min Ga‑on added his reply with a smile.

“So… I can go home with you today, Yeon-ho hyung? Sounds good.”

“…”

What a sly bastard. I had no idea why he was so fixated on this whole brother act, but for me, it was the worst situation. A brother who supposedly tried to kill himself, barely survived, and now has amnesia… I must look like someone too unstable to be left alone.

“Ah… and there’s one more good thing.”

Min Ga-on leaned down slightly toward me, bringing his eyes level with mine.

“You know, Yeon-ho hyung…”

A low, firm voice whispered quietly.

“You’ve stuttered since you were young.”

I was floored. His eyes narrowed, and for a brief second, it almost looked like blue sparks were flickering in them. He had the kind of look that said he was sure he’d struck his opponent’s weakest point.

“So you’re fine now?”

A cold sweat ran down my back. It felt like all the blood in my body had turned cold.

This crazy bastard—he noticed everything about his hyung, didn’t he?