Without knowing how he had gotten back to his room, Elion was suddenly awakened by the sound at his door and realized that he had fallen asleep in his bathtub.
Stepping out of the cold water, he walked toward his room's door, and before he could open it, something in his mind went click and made him wonder—who would be calling for him in this hotel if no one knew him?
Moreover, to request his services there was a phone that could be used, and it remained silent.
"Who is it?"
"I know you're the healer who helped me in that unfortunate incident this afternoon. I just wanted to thank you properly. My alias is Parker. May we talk?"
Elion, who had a weapon, instinctively placed it behind his back to conceal it and opened the door.
"It's you." Elion recognized the man at the door as the guy who had nearly bled to death.
"Yes." Parker, who looked at Elion soaked with water and, upon noticing one of his hands hidden, stepped back and said, "I didn't come to hurt you."
"Then explain to me—how did you find my room?" Elion asked without lowering his guard. He was confident that he could keep himself safe now that he knew how to use weapons.
He now had an instinctive mastery over medium-range weapons.
Not memories or taught techniques, but a deep understanding of weight, reach, and the exact moment to attack or defend.
Every object he gripped felt right, familiar… as if his body had learned in another life.
Elion could say with certainty that the price had been completely worth it now that Parker was standing at his door.
"The hotel doesn't provide that information." Elion said this when he saw Parker fall silent, as if warning him that he was ready to take action even if the hotel's rules stipulated no bloodshed. But just as they had forgiven John for acting in self-defense, Elion believed he could argue the same, and that this hotel would protect him.
Of course, all of this depended on whether the organization was on his side.
But Parker said with a faint smile, "I know. But when I saw you in the hallways, I knew where your room was because I'm staying across from you."
"And?" Elion still did not lower his guard.
"We can't talk in the hallway." Parker said, glancing to the sides, knowing that even now they might be being listened to by the weasels.
Elion understood this, so he let Parker into his room, holding his weapon the entire time and making sure he could defend himself if this guy tried to attack.
Once both of them were inside the room, Elion asked, "Did your wounds reopen?"
"I didn't come here to be treated. I want to ask you a favor—please don't associate me with the murders of the assassins who came after me." Parker knew that Elion was only a healer and could be forced to talk by the people who were looking for him right now.
"You know that's not in my hands. If someone comes and forces me to talk, of course I'll tell them everything I know." Elion felt that sincerity among people in this world of assassins was worth a lot, and that was exactly what he was doing.
At this point, Elion deliberately paused in his speech.
Parker should have understood what he meant.
"Do you remember anything about the assassins?"
"What do you mean?" Elion seemed confused, since Parker had taken the bodies away.
But for Parker, the situation was urgent, so he neither held back nor lingered to examine any clues associated with the bodies.
He had some vague conjectures about the types who wanted to kill him.
However, that was something he could not confirm with certainty.
So when he saw Elion, he thought that maybe he had some information that could be useful to him.
"What exactly did you see?"
Elion sat down on the sofa and poured himself a cup of coffee, thinking about situations that might be unfolding at this very moment, and asked, "I suppose you did something very bad to a powerful assassin organization. They're after you, but you still doubt whether they've truly identified you, right? If you have so many enemies, it would be logical not to know who was behind what happened this afternoon."
"You've guessed everything." Parker had nothing more to say, surprised by Elion's analysis, so he hoped Elion could give him a clue.
"I saw crow tattoos on the backs of their right hands. Both individuals strangely had the same tattoo." Elion shared the only detail that had struck him as curious when he recalled it.
"What?!"