The all-knowing Player

Hunters (2)

"Wow. Seems like it actually works!" a familiar voice exclaims right next to me.

I turn around, looking for the owner of the voice, but find nothing until my eye is caught by a blue window.

{Call

You have been connected with [Player Sung Jin-Woo].}

"Huh? What is this?" I mutter for myself, examining the window.

That type of window never appeared in the original story. Is it because there are two players now?

"Last time, we concluded that the system works like a video game, right?" the familiar voice that I now identify as Jin-Woo's reminds me. "So I figured that, if it really does, then the players should be able to communicate and call each other. And we really can! How useful is that?"

"We can just call with our phones, you know."

"Yeah, but this probably works in dungeons, too. Besides, I don't have your phone number."

He really doesn't? Oh, right. Since he insisted on staying in contact after leaving the hospital, I saved his number on my phone but never gave him mine nor called him. I figured that if I don't see him again after leaving, I won't be dragged into high-level dungeons and therefore won't level up as fast as him. The less I level up, the more time I get to stay as I am before becoming the destruction monarch's puppet. I shudder at that thought. How come I can think about it calmly?

Anyways, if he can call me through the system, there is no use for me to not give him my phone number. I suppress a sigh. Here goes my attempt to avoid getting involved in the plot. Not that I don't want to see him ever again after leaving the hospital, of course. On the contrary, the choice of simply disappearing after what we went through was hard to make, but I figured that it is needed. Since we are both in the same situation, he surely expects me to stay by his side, and now that he found a way to call me wherever I am, I cannot escape it. I might as well give him my phone number.

"Right. Hold on, I'll send you a message." I pull out my phone and do so, waiting a bit before asking. "Did you receive it?"

"Yes, thank you. I wonder if there is a video call option?" he continues with a lower voice.

"We'll experiment that later." I say, noticing the strange stares that I earned while talking to seemingly nothing. At least they can't hear the air answer. "I'll be back soon."

"Okay. See you!"

[*]

The doctor takes off the bandage on my hand, carefully, as if it would break away if he pulled too hard on it. I watch him as he slowly puts away the last layer of the long fabric, allowing me to see the wounds. A long scar crosses the palm of my hand horizontally, starting somewhere between my thumb and my second finger. My other hand is in the exact same condition.

"The wound is already healed?" the doctor exclaims, surprised. "Being a hunter sure helps, but it's my first time seeing such serious wounds heal this quickly. And you aren't even a high-ranker."

The last sentence stings, but I don't answer. I already knew that my wounds were healed since I felt the ache disappear after accepting the status recovery this morning. But I didn't expect to see scars. If the system was able to regrow Jin-Woo's leg, how come it can't make some scars disappear? Sure, they are faint, but still... It shouldn't matter. My hands are healed and this is all that counts.

"This means that I am completely healed, right? I was originally supposed to leave the hospital tomorrow, and now that everything's alright, we won't have to change the date."