The Hero Returns

"Please, help us! Please!"

He was clinging onto someone's leg and desperately crying out. Hak-Joon was sitting on a higher place, watching this scene unfold.

The person frantically asking for help was none other than himself.

<< A dream? >>

His face below seemed to be slightly older than his current self. Seeing how that version was crying out the names one by one, he must've been close with every one of them.

<< Who are they? >>

However, the real Hak-Joon had no idea who they were since he couldn't see their faces. Even the names being called out were unfamiliar.

"Please, please..."

His figure sitting on the floor howling out came across as truly pitiful and sad.

No one looked back at him despite his ardent, desperate cries. They could've reached out or glanced in his direction at least once.

For some reason, the past and present didn't seem all that different to him.

<< This dream.... >>

....It was so vivid that it irritated him.

He wanted to wake up as soon as possible. A dream with such an unpleasant feeling was so rare that it could probably be counted in one hand.

It was then, the scene below Hak-Joon changed.

"This... Goddammit..."

Expletives came out from Hak-Joon's mouth.

His heart pounded away as his breathing became shallow and heavy. His vision was clouding over, and it felt like the inside of his head was getting hotter.

The 'Hak-Joon' below was currently holding onto a certain woman in the scene; it was the woman with short bob-cut hair was bleeding from both her mouth and eyes.

"But, why...?"

Step!

A familiar face approached.

It was the face he didn't want to see, even in his dreams.

It was Jung Dong-Yeong.

"That's why you shouldn't have done that, Hak-Joon-ah".

As always, he spoke with a kindly voice. With a tone seemingly chiding a younger brother, he was driving a cold hard dagger deep into Hak-Joon's heart.

"Had you listened to everything I said, that girl wouldn't have died, you know?"

"Aaaaaahk!"

"Aaaaaahk!"

Hak-Joon woke up from his dream with a scream.

His whole body was soaked in sweat. Hak-Joon had been sleeping inside a darkened storage facility.

<< Where am I? >>

His confusion lasted only for a short while.

He remembered the situation before he fell into a slumber.

<< I didn't fall asleep, but... I got knocked out, instead. >>

His arm, the shoulders, and his back flinched.

His whole body was screaming in pain. He had blacked out while getting severely beaten up.

The face he didn't want to remember popped back up inside his head on its own.

It belonged to Jung Dong-Yeong.

"Goddammit."

A younger brother? Family? Friend?

What a nonsensical notion that was.

Jung Dong-Yeong always physically abused his fellow Guild members, the ones he called his 'family', for minor matters that didn't warrant such a treatment.

"If you tell me the truth, I'll go easy on you, Hak-Joon-ah. You knew, didn't you?"

Jung Dong-Yeong was aware of Hak-Joon's relationship with Su-hyeun and believed that the two were plotting something behind his back from the very beginning.

Of course, Hak-Joon didn't know that and from his perspective, this whole thing came across as massively unfair.

"Didn't I tell you what I hate the most? Lying and betrayal. Those two. I told you to never do those two things, didn't I?"

"Heh."

What a bunch of bullcrap that was.

Don't do those two things?

"Just those two?"

That wasn't even true.

Jung Dong-Yeong would start throwing his fists around first if something got on his nerves or pissed him off somehow.

If a dungeon conquest had been scheduled prior, he'd hold himself back but once the schedule was cleared, he'd start beating people up without fail.

This time, he went too far. Hak-Joon ended up fainting, after all.

Jung Dong-Yeong didn't even bother to confirm the detail of the actual relationship and simply decided to vent some steam here.

Squeeze!

Bang!

Hak-Joon slammed his fist against the storage wall. His anger welled up so much that he could hardly contain himself.

He felt like abandoning everything and leaving.

Ring!

Just then, his phone with the cracked screen resting on the ground began ringing noisily.

Hak-Joon's gaze shifted towards the name appearing on the phone's screen. The moment he saw the name of the sender, 'Yun-seon', he ended up biting hard onto his lip.

He picked up the phone, sucked in a deep breath, and opened his mouth.

"...Hello?"

* * *

Su-hyeun changed his clothes at home, took a shower, and headed to the Awakeners Accreditation Authority immediately.

As he walked down the familiar hallway, several people recognized his face and began glancing in his direction. They were Awakeners that fought alongside him a few days ago.

<< I guess my quiet days are as good as over. >>

Even if he was left with little choice back then, there was no doubt that this event outed his face publicly. It might be limited to a few Awakeners at the moment, sure, but it was only a matter of time before everyone found out, too.

<< Well, this is annoying. >>

He wasn't all that interested in the attention. Rather than feeling chuffed, he was instead burdened by it. To high-ranking Awakeners, 'attention' was the same thing as expectations.

Su-hyeun was well aware of how burdensome attention and expectation could be.

"Fuu-woo-"

Su-hyeun arrived before the director's office and took a deep breath.

He had to meet the director sooner or later, but that didn't mean he held a favorable impression of him. It'd be truly difficult to find a polar opposite of the director in this world.

Knock, knock!

Su-hyeun knocked on the office's door.

When he did, the person on the other side answered.

"Come in."

It was a heavy, bassy voice.

Just hearing it alone worsened Su-hyeun's mood. He inwardly recited the Hanja word for 'patience' and opened the door.

Creak!

He spotted two men inside the office.

One of them was the director, while the other was someone he met a few days ago: Kang Seung-Cheol.

"Good to see you."

"...Uh, sure."

Su-hyeun formed a somewhat weird expression and waved his hand at Kang Seung-Cheol, greeting him with a warm, inviting face.

He was hoping against hoping, but as expected, they wanted to talk about "that".

He stared at the director. The man's uptight-looking face, where liver spots had begun showing up, seemed quite old even now. In reality, it was far younger than what Su-hyeun remembered.

Unfortunately, the light in that man's eyes remained the same as it was in the past.

"I heard you were looking for me," said Su-hyeun.

"That's correct. I wanted to speak to you for quite some time. I'm glad to finally make your acquaintance."

Rather unexpectedly, the director was smiling affably.

Thinking back to how he tried to paint Su-hyeun as a con-man not too long ago, one had to wonder whether the director had two switchable faces or not.

"I've heard a lot about you. It must've been two years? I was asking around about you the whole time. As it turned out, you truly are talented."

The director then went on to praise Su-hyeun for a long while. The latter settled down on the spot on the couch the older man pointed out. Sipping on the prepared refreshment, he closed his eyes and ears off.

"Okay, so. What is it that you wish to speak to me about?"

Su-hyeun couldn't endure any longer and eventually chose to speak up.

He couldn't bear to hear any more of this nonsense; he knew they were just pretenses and lies with an ulterior motive behind them.

The director had to momentarily stop at Su-hyeun's unexpected question.

His stiff expression only lasted for a brief moment. Soon, he formed a good-natured smiled and spoke again, "You seemed to be impatient. Very well. Let me get straight to the point, then. My friend, are you willing to work for us?"

"When you say 'us', do you mean the organization?"

"Similar, but a little different. Here...." The director looked at Kang Seung-Cheol standing next to him and continued. "If you decide to join us, then you will be entering the same department as the department head Kang Seung-Cheol here."

"I'm guessing it's a bit different from the normal organization."

"Indeed. Unlike other organizations, this organization is about fostering properly-trained Awakeners. As long as you agree... I'd like to leave you with the important position of being in charge of the whole operation."

That wasn't something you'd ask of a person you met for the first time today.

The organization consisted of the A-rank Awakener Kang Seung-Cheol along with dozens of rank B Awakeners. The director wanted to suddenly entrust an organization featuring such a high level of combat potential to him?

When considering the abilities alone, Su-hyeun seemed to naturally fit the role.

"According to the department head Kang Seung-Cheol, you're an S-rank Awakener." The director's persuasion continued. "Not only are you unaffiliated with any guilds, but you are also exceptionally skilled. On top of that, you have proven your sense of righteousness towards our country during the previous event. There is nobody else better suited for this role than you, my friend."

"Righteousness...?"

Su-hyeun's lips curled into a thin grin.

What absolute nonsense that was.

<< Do you even believe in that, anyway? >>

The director could've evacuated people ahead of time during the last event, but he still chose to ignore it.

If it weren't for Su-hyeun, hundreds of thousands of people would've died that day.

This man had turned his gaze away from their deaths and utterly refused to heed his request back then, yet he now dared to speak of righteousness?

If having a thick skin was a skill, then the director would've been the best in the entire world.

"I'll have to decline," Hak-Joon replied.

"Young man...."

"Please don't try to persuade me. Even if you try a hundred times, my answer will remain the same. There's no reason to waste our energy and get our feelings hurt in the process, now is there?"

The director kept quiet at Su-hyeun's firm reply.

He was a man who had experienced all sorts of trials and tribulations for a while. He, of course. met numerous people before. As such, he was quite confident of being able to read his opponents correctly.

He heard that this Awakener was only in his mid-twenties. A more in-depth investigation revealed that Su-hyeun didn't come from any notable wealth, either.

Money and power, plus enticing, sweet words.

The director thought that, as his opponent was still young, giving him praise and offering generous conditions would be more than enough to entice Su-hyeun.

But now...

<< I heard that he'd been staying under the radar for two years. Just what kind of a man is he? >>

It was already quite bizarre to hide in the shadows when you possessed such a high level of talent. Even after emerging into the light, he wasn't enticed by power and wealth.

The event that led to him revealing himself was also like that; he did it not for the sake of some benefits, but to save the citizens.

<< Sense of justice? >>

What utter nonsense.

The director was a man who never believed in this so-called sense of justice or righteousness, even though he mouthed off this term almost all the time.

To him, righteousness was simply nothing more than a nice-sounding word.

<< Is this folly of one's youth? No, it must be.... >>

His expression or the way he carried himself made it hard to believe Su-hyeun was still young. His actions made him sound like no ordinary man, but now that they were sitting face to face like this, he far exceeded the director's initial expectations.

<< If enticement isn't going to work.... >>

Should he threaten him instead?

<< Threaten an S-rank Awakener? >>

The director's expression crumpled unsightly. This was the first time in so long that he failed to control his expressions to this degree.

A standard procedure in enticement would be to say some sweet-sounding words first, followed by scary-sounding threats before throwing a carrot. Rinse and repeat.

However, his opponent was an S-rank Awakener. Although he hadn't gotten the official re-evaluation yet, his abilities had already been proven.

Not only would threatening him not affect Su-hyeun but dealing with the potential fallout also presented a difficult prospect. In the current situation, it was the director who should be minding Su-hyeun's moods instead, not the other way around.

"Can I talk to you about something I find amusing?" Su-hyeun asked.

Plop!

Su-hyeun placed a smartphone in front and spoke up.

"I think you'll be very interested in hearing it as well, director."

"...Interested?"

The smartphone was resting before his eyes.

For some strange reason, Su-hyeun's voice came across as rather ominous to the director's ears. His instincts were telling him to ignore it, but he simply had to listen.

"Let us hear it, then," the director replied.

"A wise decision."

Su-hyeun smirked and pushed the smartphone towards the director. Its screen was already switched on and the older man was able to confirm the name of the file saved on the device.

The director's eyes widened. The always-affable facade of his was now cracking up.

"What is it that you want?" The director asked.

Quite different from how he was like when entering the office earlier, Su-hyeun grinned widely as he replied, "Many, many things."

<< So, the table has been set.... >>

Now, it was time to flip this table that the dear director had oh-so-carefully organized.