The Hero Returns

Act 8

Jump—

Su-hyeun, who cut off Jung Dong-yeong, jumped back to the building of Ares Guild. The Ares Guild's awakeners who gathered because of the uproar made absent expressions. They did not know what to do with Jung Dong-yeong's death. Hak-joon was the same. As if he still had no idea what was going on, Hak-joon had a vacant look as well.

Su-hyeun walked toward Hak-joon and said, "You can go."

"G-go where?" Hak-joon asked.

"You know where. Why do you ask me?" Su-hyeun said.

Hak-joon regained his bearings at Su-hyeun's question. Then, he jumped up, turned his body, and started to run.

"You can't go anywhere!"

"Wait a minute. You have to tell us before you go or not! What happened here?"

The people of Ares Guild blocked Hak-joon. Hak-joon was in the room with Su-hyeun and he overlooked Jung Dong-yeong's death. They did not consider him as a member of their guild anymore.

"Move," Su-hyeun said.

Rumble—

With the words of Su-hyeun, once again the top of the building was shaken.

"You guys won't move?" Su-hyeun said again.

"But… that…"

The guild members of Ares Guild saw Su-hyeun's face. They cleared the way one by one. Soon, a path was made through the people. Hak-joon made his way through them and ran in a hurry.

Chuff, chuff—

Soon, the sound of a helicopter came closer.

"Just in time," Su-hyeun thought.

He already made a mess. So, the people from the Awakeners Accreditation Authority came now to take charge of the settlement. He scratched his head. He had made a fuss as he liked, but the problem was the settlement.

"I guess I will be scolded."

It was certainly a problem to ignore Kim Do-ui's advice and move immediately. Although Ares Guild was a pawn of Dump Guild, there was a procedure he should have had followed.

"Useless," he thought and sighed. But he still thought it was good that he had let Hak-joon go first.

***

Hak-joon pressed the accelerator pedal of his car. He drove roughly, not like usual, because he wanted to go home as soon as possible. He parked his car in a hurry when he arrived. He used the stairs, feeling that he could not wait for an elevator. He didn't rest at all and went up about 10 floors. He could see a familiar door.

It was not like this was more movement than usual for him. But strangely, he was breathless. His heart was beating fast because of tension.

Swish—

"Wait!"

Somebody called Hak-joon. Hak-joon, who was in a hurry, reached his arm to that man. The man, who lowered his head and stood next to the elevator, immediately raised his arms. Hak-joon narrowed his eyes and reached his hand to that man's neck.

"Who are you?" Hak-joon asked.

He was not alone. The three more people were around the man who had called him. They were all B-Rank awakeners.

<<Why are they here?>> Hak-joon thought. Hak-joon revealed his violent temple just in case.

"We came here because of Mr. Su-hyeun. My name is Lee Ju-ho..."

"Lee Ju-ho?" Hak-joon asked.

"Yes. You might have heard my name. I didn't come here for bad intentions. Are you Choi Hak-joon?"

When Hak-joon nodded, Lee Ju-ho sighed and continued to say, "Su-hyeun had asked us to stay here until you came. Man. Seriously. I know what is going on but why are you so sensitive? Move this already!"

Lee Ju-ho with a tearful face slowly moved Hak-joon's arm from his neck. Hak-joon became puzzled again. Soon after, Lee Ju-ho quickly left. It looked like Lee Ju-ho thought his role was over now. Hak-joon looked at the back of Lee Ju-ho who was descending the stairs. Hak-joon reacted pretty sensitively because he thought he was the suspicious man who walking around in front of Yun-seon's house, but it turned out that man was just safeguarding her. The other three looked the same.

"What is this?" Hak-joon thought.

At first, he thought Su-hyeun made a fuss impulsively because he was upset. But he already had detoxified Yun-seon and paid attention to her safety. Su-hyeun moved much more carefully than Hak-joon expected. Hak-joon took his breath again to relax and headed to Yun-seon's house.

When he pressed the doorbell, the answer came back after a while.

"Hak-joon?"

The voice came through the bell was what he often heard, but it was a little different than usual. It was bright and high-pitched unlike the usual voice, which was weak and drooping. Soon, the door opened. He could see a familiar face.

"Hak-joon!"

He didn't mishear. It was a bright voice. It was the brightest voice he had heard in recent years.

"Are... you all healed?"

"Yes!"

It was hard to ask, but the answer came back immediately. Hak-joon was glad.

"Sigh—"

The heart that was beating hard became calm little by little. It felt like all his energy was disappearing from his body. He barely held that feeling and stepped forward. He hugged her.

"I am so glad." Hak-joon bit his lips tightly while he was holding Yun-seon. "I... am so glad..."

He thought there would be a lot of things to say when this moment came. But strangely, no words came to his mind. He just repeated he was glad over and over, and finally burst into tears.

***

"...So, did you finally do it?"

"Yes, I did."

Su-hyeun and members of Ares Guild were sandwiched between Kim Do-ui and Kang Seung-cheol. Kim Do-ui leered at awakeners of Ares Guild and looked at Su-hyeun. Su-hyeun looked very confident. Unlike other awakeners who hunched their shoulders, Su-hyeun, who was the main culprit of this situation, sat up straight.

"This is a case that you may have to be punished severely. Ares Guild is a guild treated as a semi-large guild, and you killed the guild master of such guild," Kim Do-ui said.

"I know," Su-hyeun calmly said.

"If you knew, why did you do this?"

"I can't just overlook that they made more victims."

Kim Do-ui realized why he had such a dignified attitude from his answer. He was thinking there was nothing wrong with what he had done. To Su-hyeun, Jung Dong-yeong was an obvious criminal. He thought he would make more crimes if he just waited and did nothing. The most representative cases were Hak-joon and Yun-seon. Su-hyeun did not regret having acted to Jung Dong-yeong at all.

"Well, don't push him too hard. I bet you knew Ares Guild did illegal things here and there," Kang Seung-cheol said to Kim Do-ui.

"Well…"

"It was just not revealed yet because they spent their money everywhere and lobbied a lot. But it was true that Ares Guild was closer to a criminal guild. Well, and if Dump Guild was related here, it is not something we can just overlook, even though they used billions of dollars."

Kim Do-ui groaned. It was as what Kang Seung-cheol said. Ares Guild was a vicious guild that had long been committing large and small crimes. From the beginning, the guild master Jung Dong-yeong was from the notorious gang. So, it was natural that the tendency of the guild had followed him.

The reason why Ares Guild had not been punished so far was because of the bribe of the guild master, Jung Dong-yeong. The money was sent to the top of the audits, so surveillance was not done properly. In addition, he did not commit serious crimes that crossed the line. So, the Authority did not touch Jung Dong-yeong and Ares Guild.

"If we think about right and wrong... Jung Dong-yeong had a problem in the first place. There will be no problem if we consider this as an accident caused by a dispute between awakeners," Kang Seung-cheol said.

"Well, that is not wrong, but..."

"And besides, as this man said, if Jung Dong-yeong was related to Dump Guild, we should give him a prize or something. And..." Kang Seung-cheol whispered at Kim Do-ui's ear, "the director said just put this to bed."

"Did he really say that? What happened?"

"I don't know." Kang Seung-cheol shrugged.

Kim Do-ui nodded. He was actually a little worried that Su-hyeun might fall out with the Authority. So, he thought this was a fortune. One way or another, Kim Do-ui agreed that Ares Guild was a social evil.

"Okay. Then, let's investigate more at first," Kim Do-ui said.

"Good idea," Kang Seung-cheol agreed.

Kang Seung-cheol began to like Kim Do-ui for the first time. They had been conflicted in every case. It was the first time that they agreed on something.

"Then, I will leave now," Su-hyeun said.

"How can you be so calm like that? Huh?"

Kim Do-ui made a confused face at Su-hyeun. Su-hyeun could be accused of a crime by the case progress but he acted like that would never happen. At Kim Do-ui's question, Su-hyeun shrugged his shoulders and left. Kim Do-ui sighed as he watched Su-hyeun being far away.

<<He is not an ordinary man,>> he thought.

He had met many awakeners for a long time. But from their first meeting, Su-hyeun gave him a strange feeling. He saved the citizens, even revealing his identity that he had hidden so far. He also revealed his ability as a new S-Rank. Not just that, but this time he killed Jung Dong-yeong and punished Ares Guild for commiting so many crimes.

<<Although it looked like he bulldozed through ostensibly…>> he thought.

It was like what Kang Seung-cheol had said. The fighting between awakeners was something like extraterritoriality. If it was not a crime like a purposeless murder, under a valid reason, a murder was somewhat accepted. Moreover, if it was about a malicious awakener like Jung Dong-yeong, it was quite understandable. The pawn of Dump Guild was without a doubt.

"Even if not that... Government can't touch S-Rank awakener these days."

The S-Rank awakeners were directly related to the force level of the country. He had a justifiable cause, and he was attracting attention to S-Rank awakeners. He was like a tycoon that was hard to touch.

"Well, in the only case, if he is really S-Rank..."

Soon, there would be a reexamination. The treatment of Su-hyeun would be decided as the relationship between Dump Guild and Jung Dong-yeong as well as the new rank he would get.

***

<<It went easier than I thought.>>

It was the way back home. Su-hyeun was relieved. It was true that he did the things somewhat in a fit of anger. Of course, he was confident that it would not be the worst situation in various circumstances. In the future that he remembered, when Hak-joon killed Jung Dong-yeong, he was pronounced innocent. So, he thought he could manage somehow.

<<His relationship with Dump Guild, the crimes he had committed so far, and I also have some contribution of my own.>>

He expected the fact that he had saved the people of Anyang would help him avoid the worst situation. Of course, that would be the matter when people failed to find a relationship between Jung Dong-yeong and Dump Guild. If they found it, then it would be another achievement for Su-hyeun.

"The problem is it won't be easy to find it."

It was clear that Ares Guild had a relationship with Dump Guild. But the problem was with only that information, it would be still hard to find the root of Dump Guild. Even if the Authority started to do investigate, they would hide more. In particular, Dump Guild was not active in Korea yet.

"To find them…" Su-hyeun, who was walking on the street, looked over the top of the far away building. "I guess throwing bait is the best."

And the bait was the accident just had happened in the Ares Guild building. He took away his eyes and walked again.

He headed to a narrow alley. He felt a gaze looking at him from afar. Not long after, the gaze lost direction and purpose because once Su-hyeun entered the alley, he disappeared.