The Hero Returns

Act 5

Thousands of people flocked to downtown Guangzhou, China.

"Oh my god!"

"He's here! He's here!"

"Where? Where? Oh! It's him!"

When the middle-aged actor got out of the long black sedan, people started to yell and cheer. They had all immediately come to Guangzhou to see him in person, despite the tragedy in Beijing. He waved at the people. The place filled with loud cheers.

His name was Hwang Jun-peong. He was a Chinese actor and a popular Hollywood star. One magazine even mentioned him among the hundred most influential figures in the world. He was almost forty, but he was unbelievably handsome. His body was like a sculpture with perfect body proportions. And his acting was superb. It was impossible to compare with other actors. Those facts made everyone enthusiastic about him.

"Mr. Hwang! I am your fan!"

"Please give me your autograph!"

"Can I take a picture with you…?"

Hwang Jun-peong shook each hand that reached out to him.

"Thank you. I can't give you an autograph because of the schedule. But you can take as many pictures as you want."

"Thank you!"

"How should I pose... Oh, I look more handsome from this angle..."

Hwang Jun-peong took photos with about ten people around him. While doing so, one man who looked like a reporter stuck a microphone in Hwang Jun-peong's direction.

"Mr. Hwang! You said you would donate all of your proceeds from the movie Desperado to the families of the Beijing disaster. Is that true?"

Hwang Jun-peong looked a little embarrassed at the question, then replied, "Yes. That is true."

"Wow!"

"Nice!"

People cheered out at Hwang Jun-peong's response. He smiled with embarrassment and opened his mouth again.

"The Beijing disaster was really heartbreaking. I personally knew Lin Zhuming, so I felt great regret."

"Then, Mr. Hwang. How about—"

"That's all for now. I'm sorry."

Hwang Jun-peong refused continuous questions from the reporter and turned. He made a gesture to his manager, a young woman in her mid-twenties who quickly came over to him.

"I'm tired, let's get inside."

Hwang Jun-peong waved several more times to the fans, then whispered to his manager. The manager nodded and began to restrain the crowds that blocked the road with the help of the company staff. With much difficulty, Hwang Jun-peong finally managed to enter the building lobby. He went straight to his penthouse at the top of the building.

Flop—

He loosened his tie and laid it on the couch. The manager approached him and said, "If you need anything, please call me. I'm sure you are tired so please get some rest."

"Just bring some girls."

The manager was surprised by Hwang Jun-peong's raw request. She has only recently become his manager and she could not adjust to Hwang Jun-peong. Before, he seemed like a gentleman who could not ignore the plight of the poor. But now he looked like a completely different person. It was as if two people shared one body. When the manager hesitated, Hwang Jun-peong opened his eyes wide and smiled.

"Do you want to do it?"

"No. No, sir."

The manager hurriedly bowed and left the room. Hwang Jun-peong watched the manager leave and clicked his tongue.

"Tut. She is too slow."

Hwang Jun-peong got up and walked to the window. There were a lot of people just below the tall building. Thousands of them were all gathered to see him.

"Seeing from this high, they look like ants," Hwang Jun-peong muttered. He remembered the conversation with the reporter and laughed. "Idiots."

"You look like you're having fun."

Hwang Jun-peong quickly turned his head to view the new speaker. A stranger now sat on the couch.

"…Who are you?" Hwang Jun-peong asked in a low voice.

He narrowed his eyes. He could tell this stranger was not a stalker or something who liked to dig him up. If he was a stalker, there was no way he could not notice him.

"I'm a fan," the stranger said.

"Are you kidding?"

"An anti-fan is still a fan, isn't it?"

He was not Chinese. Hwang Jun-peong assumed he might be Japanese or Korean. He looked young. Hwang Jun-peong thought for a moment and then asked with a light smile, "Are you Kim Su-hyeun?"

"Am I that famous? Everybody notices me."

"I've heard your name a lot. I am your fan, too."

"You mean anti-fan?"

"Ha-ha. Yes." Hwang Jun-peong coolly laughed.

He walked to the refrigerator and opened the door. The refrigerator was filled with a variety of drinks including bottled water, soda, and bottled beer. Hwang Jun-peong took a beer and threw it at Su-hyeun. Su-hyeun caught the bottle.

"Let's have a drink," Hwang Jun-peong suggested.

"I didn't come here for a drink."

"Well. I think you came here because you found out everything, right? It will be our last time, so this will be fine."

Su-hyeun looked at Hwang Jun-peong for a while, then removed the bottlecap.

Gulp—

Because of the tense situation, he could not enjoy the taste of the beer.

"I heard a lot about you. It was splendid. And I wanted to meet you once," Hwang Jun-peong said.

"But you couldn't, because your face was too well known. Not like me."

"So, how much do you know?"

"Everything about you." Su-hyeun shook the half-empty beer bottle. "It was funny. Donating money for the people you murdered? Did you say you felt sorry and heartbroken?"

Shatter—!

Su-hyeun strengthened his grip. The bottle broke and beer spilled over the table.

"Is that deception?"

Su-hyeun stared at Hwang Jun-peong with a ghastly gaze. Hwang Jun-peong twisted his lips.

He opened his bottle and answered, "Because it's funny."

"What do you mean?"

"It's the best play, isn't it? I mean the acting."

Gulp—

Hwang Jun-peong quaffed the beer, then continued to speak. "Fooling someone, laughing behind their back, acting like somebody else, and watching people who love to watch it. It was all very funny to me. That was why I dreamed of becoming an actor."

"You could have just focused on acting then."

"As time goes on, the stimulation dulls. I stopped having fun once I got used to this job. But..."

Thump, thump—

Hwang Jun-peong walked to the big window.

"Look at those idiots. They don't know who I actually am, but they cheer for this fake Hwang Jun-peong they see. Soon, the bereaved family will come and tell me," Hwang Jun-peong turned his head and said in a low voice, "'Thank you very much for helping us afford our son's funeral. Sob, sob, sob.'"

Su-hyeun remained silent.

"They don't know anything about me. What fools. I lose track of time when I look down on those ants."

"Is that funny?"

"Yes, very much. It's thrilling."

The answer came without any hesitation.

"Is that why you created the Dump Guild? To hide the fact that you are an awakener?"

At Su-hyeun's words, Hwang Jun-peong grinned. He was known as a normal actor, not an awakener. But he was the worst awakener that Su-hyeun had ever heard of. He was the founder of the Dump Guild. And he was a terrible criminal who had managed to hide his identity. That was the real Hwang Jun-peong.

"Yes. I thought I was hiding it well. But you... I don't know how you figured it out."

Sizzling—

Hwang Jun-peong lit up a cigarette and asked, "You leaked information to the Chinese Agency, didn't you?"

"Because I knew you targeted Beijing. You're a cautious guy and I thought you wouldn't risk revealing yourself."

Su-hyeun thought he knew a lot about Hwang Jun-peong, but there was one mistake he made.

"I never thought you would murder Lin Zhuming."

Hwang Jun-peong was a cautious person. He had been hiding his identity for a lifetime. He was always very careful to hide his true intentions. Su-hyeun thought if the Chinese Agency was involved, Hwang Jun-peong would not take any action. Even if he did, Su-hyeun never expected Hwang Jun-peong to gamble when two S-rank awakeners were involved.

"Lin Zhuming! I really wanted to kill that bitch with my own hands. I met her once at a party, she was annoying. Ha-ha!"

"Did he have a personal grudge?" Su-hyeun thought. "No. This couldn't be called a grudge."

He had killed her simply because he thought she was annoying. It would be impossible to consider him normal.

"He's a real psychopath," Su-hyeun thought.

The Dump Guild had all kinds of human beings. The most common one among them was the one who wanted to show off their strength. Twisted exhibitionists usually related to the crime directly.

However, Hwang Jun-peong was not like those people. He was crazier than anyone else. He was a famous actor before he became an awakener. But according to his own words, he had this twisted personality from the beginning. He enjoyed cheating and deceiving others.

"You must think you're above them." Su-hyeun pointed to the fans visible through the window. "Maybe you're right. You're surely a great actor, Hwang Jun-peong. You deserve to think of yourself that way."

"Are you complimenting me? You'll make me blush."

"That was not a compliment." Su-hyeun stood. "I meant I will drag you down."

"...What will you do? How will you get me here?"

"I put your manager to sleep. Your people won't be back for at least an hour. I also soundproofed the room."

"You've prepared a lot, haven't you?"

At Hwang Jun-peong's words, Su-hyeun nodded.

"The penthouse is nice. The living room is so spacious. I could even play soccer here, right?"

"Ha-ha-ha."

Hwang Jun-peong laughed strangely. He threw his beer bottle and warmed up his hand.

"It's perfect. I would be in trouble if I revealed my identity during the fight. Who else knows about me?"

"No one. If you kill me, nobody would know. I can guarantee that."

"You're pretty determined, huh."

"Because I'll be in trouble if you run away."

"Run away? Me?"

"Don't pretend like you have the guts. I know you, and you are that kind of person."

For the first time, there was a crack in Hwang Jun-peong's smile.

"Why do you pretend to know me? What the hell are you?"

"I know you well."

What Su-hyeun said was not an empty phrase. This was not the first time that Su-hyeun had faced off against Hwang Jun-peong.

"It was because of me," Su-hyeun thought.

He was complacent. He had reflected on it a lot. In his previous life, Su-hyeun had missed Hwang Jun-peong because of a small mistake. He had run away and made another guild. It had taken almost half a year to clean up the resurrected Dump Guild. Su-hyeun still felt sick thinking about all the people who were victimized by the Dump Guild during that time.

"I won't miss you this time," Su-hyeun said.

"…You're annoying."

"Then bring it on."

Schwing—

Su-hyeun drew his sword.

"Don't run away."

"Okay."

Rumble—

Enormous magic suddenly filled up the large living room. It was the most ominous magic Su-hyeun had ever encountered.

"I will kill you quickly."

It was highly concentrated magic that gave Su-hyeun chills. Su-hyeun had caught him in his previous life. But Su-hyeun was different from that time, he was much stronger now.

"It's been ten years since he became an awakener," Su-hyeun thought.

Hwang Jun-peong became an awakener in the first year that dungeons and awakeners started to appear. Since then, Hwang Jun-peong spent most of his time in the Tower of Trials except for a few months out of the year.

When other people attacked the dungeons, he worked as an actor and expanded his power in the Tower of Trials. He was a talented awakener. Just by virtue of sheer talent, he was comparable to other S-Rank awakeners.

There were two reasons that Su-hyeun left him alone so far, even though he knew his identity. First, Hwang Jun-peong could conceal his identity and vanish if he figured out somebody had discovered the truth. If Hwang Jun-peong decided to go to ground, it would be more difficult to find him again.

Second, Su-hyeun did not want to make any mistakes. He wanted to make sure he could catch him. He needed time to get strong enough. He waited until he was confident to not miss Hwang Jun-peong.