Chapter 739 – 739. Savior Of The Academy
739. Savior of the Academy
“Cut! Cut! Cut! Seong, you were amazing! Absolutely amazing acting!”
Makina flew over, making a fuss.
I got up and brushed the dust off my body. I held back on fully recovering for now. There might be other attackers coming later.
“Did you get a good shot?”
“I filmed it with three cameras at the same time! Wanna see? Your face looks great, and the patheticness of those losers is captured perfectly. Should I upload it to NewTube? It’ll easily get over a million views!”
Makina, who was obsessed with NewTube these days, excitedly transferred the video to my smartphone. Just as Makina said, it was filmed very well. Even the audio was clear without any noise.
“Makina, can you edit this? Make me look like an even more pitiful victim.”
“Of course. That kind of work is a piece of cake for me! But you’re not thinking of using a high-level talent like me for free, are you?”
“What are you expecting when you’re freeloading at my place?”
“Spirit stones! Give me some spirit stones! You haven’t given me any lately!”
“Those are precious. I can’t just give them to you for editing a video. I’ll give them to you when the time comes, so do a good job.”
“Ugh…”
A disgruntled look was directed at me. When I stared back, Makina turned her head away. Makina had been with me for several years and knew how nasty my personality was. And she couldn’t defy me due to our contract.
“Now, all that’s left is the cleanup.”
There were corpses everywhere. They had died from electrocution, so it wasn’t messy and was quiet. Though, that might change with time.
Contacting the police was a bad idea. This was something that happened due to a fight between Awakened. The police wouldn’t be of much help. If I asked Han Sohee, it would be cleaned up neatly. However, there was a chance that Han Sohee would tell Seong Hari about this.
‘If Seong Hari finds out, she’ll get angry and go wild. That might not give me the outcome I want. Maybe instead…’
The phone rang. Exactly when the fifth ring started, the other person answered.
“…I’ll say this in advance, I’m busy. I don’t have time to have dinner with you.”
Academy Dean, Kang Jiyoung, said firmly. It was because I had been persistently asking her to have dinner with me lately to gain her favor.
“Auntie, it’s not about that today…”
“Don’t call me Auntie, call me Dean. You’re an Academy student now. Don’t forget that.”
“It’s not even work hours right now.”
“…That’s a valid point, hard to argue with. What’s the purpose of your call?”
“I was attacked by a villain group called Mebius.”
“…Where are you? Did you contact Seong Hari?”
“I didn’t tell Mom. You know she wouldn’t let it slide. You’re the first person I contacted.”
“…Good. The fact that you contacted me first… does that mean you don’t want this to become public?”
“That’s right.”
“Understood.”
The reason Kang Jiyoung was actively helping me was because of the Parent-Teacher Association. The PTA could use this incident as an excuse to exercise their authority and expand their influence. Especially Seong Hari, who would be extremely agitated.
“I need to know the general situation, so tell me over the phone.”
I couldn’t tell her everything truthfully, so I mixed in lies about the connection with loan sharks. It was a clever lie, so even if Kang Jiyoung investigated separately, it would be difficult to uncover the truth. No, now that I’d been attacked by a villain group, the cause didn’t matter.
“To think you’d cause trouble as soon as you entered the Academy… I guess the genes don’t lie. I’m already dreading what kind of trouble you’ll cause in the future.”
“It wasn’t me who started it, Mebius or whatever attacked me first.”
“Do you have proof?”
“I have solid proof. Proof that will at least shake things up a bit, if not turn South Korea upside down.”
I held up my smartphone and smiled happily.
***
A week had passed.
During that time, whenever I had free time, I went around eliminating loan sharks under the Hero Alliance. Rumors about me spread in the loan shark market. Since I didn’t touch loan sharks not related to the Hero Alliance, most of them didn’t interfere with me and secretly supported me. From their perspective, I was reducing their troublesome competitors.
Cash Road.
That was my target loan shark for today. It was a five-story building in Gangwon-do, an incredibly large office for a loan shark.
As always, I kicked the door open and went inside.
I expected the employees to reflexively greet me, but the scene inside was beyond my expectations.
Instead of employees, there were armed men. There were about ten of them, and they had taken up positions that made them difficult to deal with.
They were different from the Mebius or whatever lowlifes who attacked me a week ago. These guys were all professionally trained. Their individual levels were estimated to be E to D-rank. If they attacked me all at once, I couldn’t easily guarantee victory.
“You’ve arrived. We’ve been waiting for you.”
A man walked out from the center. He was about my height, but he was very skinny. The word ‘lanky’ immediately came to mind.
The man, who stood within arm’s reach of me without any fear, arrogantly pushed up his rimless glasses.
“Hello, student Seong Yujin. It’s not nice to meet you, but I guess I should say it’s nice to meet you.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m Shin Jongcheol from above. My title is section chief, so please call me Section Chief Shin.”
“From above…”
“Yes. The higher-ups moved as student Seong Yujin wanted.”
The ‘higher-ups’ Shin Jongcheol was talking about was undoubtedly the Hero Alliance. He deliberately didn’t mention the Hero Alliance’s name. The Hero Alliance wanted to resolve this matter as quietly as possible.
“We are a hunter unit that specializes in handling things.”
“More like hunting dogs than hunters.”
“Yes, well, we’re also called that. Normally, we would have gone straight for the back of student Seong Yujin’s neck. But I came forward like this and even greeted you. Do you understand what that means?”
“You want to end this on good terms.”
“Yes. On good terms. The higher-ups don’t want to cause any conflict with student Seong Yujin. They’ve determined that any friction with you would only result in losses, not gains. They want to compromise with you before incurring more losses.”
“This doesn’t feel like a compromising atmosphere.”
The men around us were holding weapons, but they were restraining their energy. However, their eyes were fierce. They looked like they would attack and kill me immediately if things went wrong.
“I’m not an Awakened. They’re here to protect my safety. And… to handle things if something goes wrong.”
Shin Jongcheol smiled at me. It was a threat that they would kill me here if the negotiations failed. I smiled back at him.
“Student Seong Yujin. What do you want? Judging from your actions, it doesn’t seem like it’s money. Well, you’re a gold spoon, so you probably don’t need money. Do you perhaps have a grudge against someone in the higher-ups? Depending on who it is, we’ll hand them over.”
“So you’re going that route. Well, it’d be easier for me if we could talk. Park Seonggu. Hand him over.”
“…Um. Are you perhaps talking about the Park Seonggu I know?”
“Probably.”
Shin Jongcheol’s face hardened. As his smile disappeared, his expression became sharp. It was the face of a cruel and ruthless killer.
“You crazy bastard. Just because we treated you nicely, you don’t know your limits. Do you even know who that person is?”
Park Seonggu.
He was the Gangwon-do branch manager of the Hero Alliance. He was one of the five most powerful people in the Hero Alliance.
“I know, that’s why I’m saying his name.”
“That person is not someone you can meet just because you want to. You insolent brat. I’ll deal with you here… Kgh?!”
I reached out my right hand and grabbed Shin Jongcheol’s neck. My fingernails dug into his neck, and blood flowed out.
“I’ve been annoyed since earlier… Did you think you were the boss and I was the subordinate? What kind of guy did the Hero Alliance send to me?”
“Kuh! Cough! Ugh!”
Shin Jongcheol struggled. He hit my right hand with his arm and kicked my body with his foot. I twisted and broke Shin Jongcheol’s arm with my left hand.
“…!!”
The strength left Shin Jongcheol’s body, and his eyes rolled upwards. I released my right hand before Shin Jongcheol died. The unconscious Shin Jongcheol fell to the floor limply.
Immediately after, a man appeared behind me. He silently and quickly swung the kukri in his hand. He was aiming for the back of my neck.
‘A split second.’
The world slowed down. I rotated my body, grabbed the man’s wrist, and snatched the kukri away. The man’s eyes widened. But his shock was brief. He soon tried to distance himself from me.
‘Slower than Ryu Hana.’
Swish.
The man’s neck was severed, and his head rolled on the floor.
The enemies moved simultaneously.
‘Moka.’
“Koo-ooo-ook!”
The summoned Moka materialized and scattered lightning in all directions. The legs of the enemies rushing toward me faltered. I didn’t miss the opportunity and swung the kukri at the closest ones. A blue aura flickered on the kukri’s blade.
“Aura…! He’s at least D-rank or higher. Respond carefully!”
“Activate the barrier!”
The man furthest away from me, at the very back, used a barrier.
My body became more than ten times heavier. My legs wouldn’t move easily. Moka, who had been flying around the building and scattering lightning, seemed to feel the pressure more severely than I did and fell to the floor, unable to move.
‘This barrier. It’s not ordinary. They prepared this to kill me for sure.’
The enemies approached. Their footsteps were light.
“He’s not at the level of a student who just entered the Academy.”
“But he’ll end up like this anyway. The mid-temperature barrier is amazing.”
“No time for chatter. Deal with him quickly. You know how much money it costs to maintain this barrier.”
“Yes, Captain.”
The enemies got closer.
‘Thousand Hearts.’
I activated the skill.
All the pressure that had been pressing down on my body disappeared. My body became light.
Yeongcheon Style (影天流) Lightning Flash (雷光).
The lightning-infused blade cut through the enemies. I didn’t stop there. For the one minute that Thousand Hearts lasted, my physical abilities increased. I generated lightning and moved more fiercely than before.
“…Damn it. This mission was the worst.”
The last enemy I killed, the captain, charged at me knowing he would die. I cleanly bisected his body.
“……”
After finishing the battle, I took a breath and approached Shin Jongcheol, who was still lying on the floor.
“Don’t pretend to be unconscious. I know you woke up earlier.”
“…P-please, spare me.”
“I’ll spare you. You have to tell the higher-ups what happened, and you have to clean up this mess.”
“Kuaaaaaaak!”
I swung the kukri and cut off Shin Jongcheol’s limbs. I used pressure points and potions to make sure Shin Jongcheol didn’t die.
“I’m looking forward to when Park Seonggu will contact me.”
『Karma: Goodness has increased by 1.』
My karma increased as I killed the bad guys.
“Sweet.”
***
That evening, I received a call from Park Seonggu.
He wanted to meet in person at the Hero Alliance Gangwon-do branch office to talk. I didn’t think it was a trap. He had formally invited me.
“Welcome. I’m Park Seonggu.”
Park Seonggu was a well-built middle-aged man. He looked like a nice uncle, but his actual personality was cold and ruthless. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to climb to the position of branch manager of the Hero Alliance.
“I’m Seong Yujin.”
I sat opposite him.
“Do you like coffee?”
“I saw some raspberry juice earlier. Please give me that.”
“Very well.”
Park Seonggu’s secretary brought coffee and raspberry juice. I took a sip of the sweet raspberry juice.
“I heard about what happened from Section Chief Shin. You specifically mentioned me. Since we don’t have much time, I’ll get straight to the point. What do you want?”
“If I tell you what I want, will you grant it? And not try to kill me like you did this afternoon?”
“That was Section Chief Shin’s independent action. We didn’t order him to do anything.”
I chuckled at the obvious lie. Shin Jongcheol had mentioned the higher-ups. Shin Jongcheol, who was just a hunting dog, wouldn’t have moved without orders.
“What happened to him?”
“Section Chief Shin is dead. There was an accident, his limbs were cut off, and he died from excessive bleeding.”
I had treated Shin Jongcheol with pressure points and potions. Excessive bleeding? That was impossible from the moment I gave him first aid. Shin Jongcheol had been disposed of by the Hero Alliance.
“You’ve been lightly provoking the Hero Alliance. If you had a grudge against the Hero Alliance, you would have taken a different approach. You wanted to contact me from the beginning.”
“Do you really think so? If I had wanted to meet you from the beginning, I think I could have.”
“Even if you had met me that way, we would have just had a meaningless conversation and it would have ended. I wouldn’t have been able to see you like this. I’ll ask again. What do you want?”
“I’ll ask you the opposite. How far can the Hero Alliance go?”
