Chapter 62
At the table in the darkest corner of the restaurant,
beneath the dim artificial moonlight,
sat a man.
No.
A spirit.
His form was clear, but an atmosphere of crushing despair seemed to roll from his body.
The man stared blankly into empty space as though his soul had already left him.
'I should greet him... but... why does he look so familiar?'
Where had he seen him before?
Hong Man-gi searched his memories.
'I'm sure... somewhere....'
An old post on a Hunter community.
Or perhaps a page from an old Hunter magazine.
As the scattered fragments of memory came together,
'Ah!!! No way, is that him?'
A rough frame and solid build.
Coarse but powerful hands that looked as though they had spent decades striking hammers and shaping ore.
Deep wrinkles covered his face, and his short white hair carried the stubborn pride and dignity of a true craftsman.
He was one of South Korea's first-generation Hunters.
A master of alchemy who had created miracles with materials obtained from dungeons.
A living legend once known by the nickname "Iron Alchemist."
A-rank Hunter, Cha Gang-il.
'Why would someone like him....'
Why was he here like this?
The Hunter Association had never made any official announcement regarding his current condition.
No official announcement also meant they had never announced his death.
Yet the figure in front of Hong Man-gi clearly showed that Cha Gang-il was no longer among the living.
Because he had once been such an untouchable figure, Hong Man-gi approached him carefully.
"Excuse me... are you perhaps Hunter Cha Gang-il?"
At Hong Man-gi's voice, the eyes of the man who had been staring into empty space slowly shifted toward him.
"...You... cough... can you see me? Is that why you're asking...?"
His voice was low and rough, almost like grinding metal.
"Yes. I can see you. My name is Hong Man-gi, and I'm the owner of this restaurant."
"How... can that be possible...? Hah... haha...."
Cha Gang-il let out a hollow laugh for a moment, then stared directly at Hong Man-gi.
Eventually, he slowly nodded.
"Hah... hahahaha... that's right. So it really happened. I refused to believe it because I couldn't accept it... but in the end, this is what I've become. Me, the man once called the Iron Alchemist... dead, sitting in some restaurant whining about his regrets. How pathetic."
He was smiling, but behind that smile lay deep self-contempt and regret.
For the final appearance of a man once called a legend, he looked far too miserable and tormented.
Hong Man-gi could not hide the bitterness on his face.
"For now... would you like something to eat?"
Hong Man-gi quietly sat across from him.
"Food? Hmm. I don't know. What meaning could food possibly have for me now?"
Cha Gang-il shook his head.
"There is something I must complete. Until I finish it... I cannot swallow anything."
His voice carried a stubbornness as strong as steel wire.
'So there really is something.'
Hong Man-gi immediately sensed that this was not the kind of regret that could be solved with a warm meal and a few comforting words.
"Are you talking about a recipe?"
At those words, Cha Gang-il's eyes flashed.
"Huh...? How did you know?"
Hong Man-gi calmly answered.
"Because you're the Iron Alchemist. For someone like you, completion would mean creating something new. In other words, I thought perhaps you needed to complete a recipe."
Cha Gang-il nodded.
"Here... look at this."
He pulled something like a translucent parchment scroll from inside his clothing and spread it across the table.
It was a manifestation of his memories, created by his spirit.
Perhaps some kind of skill had been applied to it, because the parchment gave off a faint glow.
"You're right. This is the final recipe I spent my entire life trying to complete."
A complex transmutation circle filled the parchment, surrounded by formulas written in ancient characters that were difficult to recognize.
But there was a blank section in the center.
It looked like a picture missing its final puzzle piece.
"I don't think I can ever leave this world until I complete this...."
"What goes in this blank space?"
"The core material... and another section that needs to be deciphered again. Some parts have changed from when I worked on it myself."
Cha Gang-il's voice carried the obsession of a master craftsman.
Though he had begun with deep despair, the moment he spoke about the work he had left unfinished, Hong Man-gi could see the pride of an A-rank Hunter and legendary artisan returning to him.
Hong Man-gi stared down at the translucent parchment.
Complex transmutation formations.
Ancient characters twisted together.
'No matter how I look at this, there's no way I can understand it....'
Still,
he could clearly feel that this single old parchment contained the dream and frustration of a legendary craftsman's entire life.
"Were you trying to make a weapon?"
Hong Man-gi carefully asked.
Cha Gang-il remained silent for a moment before answering.
"A weapon capable of containing everything, while also cutting through everything."
His voice began to crack.
"A single absolute weapon capable of protecting this world from the greater threat that is coming. That was the goal of my life."
He turned toward Hong Man-gi.
Hong Man-gi swallowed dryly.
"That sounds like an unbelievable weapon...."
"It was. The Association gave me a secret mission. There is an unknown S-rank dungeon discovered recently, the Forge of Chaos. They ordered me to complete this weapon at the Primordial Furnace located deep within it. They said only I could do it. They said the future of South Korea's Hunters depended on my hands."
He laughed weakly, as though telling an absurd story from long ago.
"I believed them too. Cha Gang-il, the Iron Alchemist. If I couldn't do it, who could? I was arrogant enough to believe there was no such thing as impossible for my hands. So I entered that hellish place alone."
Remembering that moment seemed to make him tense again.
His voice began to tremble slightly.
"The dungeon was brutal. As expected of an S-rank dungeon, strange and unbelievable dangers were everywhere. But... if I'm being truthful, none of them were truly my match. Even without a healer or tanker, I killed countless monsters, broke through every trap, and eventually stood before the Primordial Furnace."
"Ah...."
"Well, I hadn't entered to kill the boss. So reaching that point was exhausting, but not impossible. And I obtained the final core material for the weapon, the Heart of Chaos. Everything seemed to be proceeding exactly according to plan."
He paused and clenched his fist.
"But that was as far as my fate allowed me to go."
"What happened?"
"When I finally began the transmutation... my body couldn't keep up. I suppose it was the price of abusing my transmutation skills for decades. The mana inside me had already been depleted long before, and my hands no longer moved with precision. My mind was still that of the Iron Alchemist, but my body... was nothing more than that of an old man worn down by time."
A transparent tear slid from Cha Gang-il's eye.
He had once stood at the very top.
Yet even an elite like him had ultimately collapsed before the unstoppable passage of time and the decline of his own body.
Hong Man-gi tightly bit his lip.
"I could still fight because experience and technique carried me through... but accepting that I could no longer do my true work was unbearable. I... I refused to accept my limits. I thought that if I gave up there, everything would be over. So I gathered every remaining drop of mana and even my own life force and forced the transmutation to continue."
His voice sank.
"But... it turns out you shouldn't try to defy fate. In the end, I couldn't survive the mana rampage... and I died right there... meaninglessly."
He lowered his head and could no longer continue speaking.
A legendary man's empty end.
Even one of the strongest A-rank Hunters and greatest alchemists could not overcome the weight of age.
"In the end, I completed nothing. My life's dream failed. The mission the Association entrusted to me failed. I died holding the Heart of Chaos, clutching this unfinished recipe, and now I'm wandering this world as a restless spirit."
He pointed again toward the incomplete recipe.
"Young man. You are my final hope. This recipe... complete it in my place. Until I see this weapon born into the world, I don't think I can ever close my eyes."
Cha Gang-il's desperate request left Hong Man-gi speechless.
Cha Gang-il seemed to have already guessed roughly what role Hong Man-gi played and what kind of ability he possessed.
That was probably why he had made such a request.
'How am I supposed to do this...?'
Hong Man-gi repeated the thought internally.
Even Cha Gang-il, an A-rank Hunter and master of alchemy, had failed to forge this legendary weapon.
How could Hong Man-gi, whose talents were specialized toward cooking, possibly succeed?
This was not something that could be solved with warm food or heartfelt comfort.
It would require his pure ability and talent as a Hunter.
And it was a desperate task that could force him to take dozens of times more risk than anything he had faced before.
'This feels like something on a completely different level... Can I really do it...?'
Then,
he saw Cha Gang-il's desperate eyes.
Even after falling into despair, the old man had not completely let go of hope.
This was the final appearance of a great craftsman whose lifelong dream and faith had shattered.
'Haa... I can't bring myself to say no.'
The Full Moon Restaurant.
Hong Man-gi had decided this place would become the final resting place of lost spirits.
He would resolve their regrets and help them peacefully walk their final road.
That was the reason he ran this restaurant.
It was where everything had begun.
'Fine.'
His resolve hardened.
"Understood, Hunter Cha Gang-il."
"I'll try."
Cha Gang-il showed a pained expression.
"This may require you to risk your life. If you fail, you could end up like me. I feel terrible asking this of you... but my instincts tell me there is no one else."
His voice trailed away.
Hong Man-gi gave him a faint smile.
"Back when I was F-rank, I risked my life every time I entered a dungeon. I know very well that there are things more frightening than death, like doing nothing and living with regret."
He continued.
"And I've become much stronger now. I think testing how far I've come might be meaningful in its own way."
Cha Gang-il remained silent for a moment.
He stared deeply into Hong Man-gi's eyes.
"Thank you."
