The Hero Returns

Act 9

A bout of silence descended on the conference venue at what Luslec said.

The only sounds were the intermittent camera flashes of the reporters, and their pens scribbling away on their notepads. As for the officials from the German government, they had basically turned into mutes after failing to think up a suitable response.

Even Luslec himself didn’t seem to expect such a reaction, so he glanced back to Su-hyeun. The latter sighed and then smirked while raising his thumb up.

Only then did Luslec began grinning again, and that grin was the same as pouring oil into the already-incendiary mood inside the conference venue.

“Don’t you think you’ve crossed the line there?!”

“Oh? Should I soften the language a bit, then? Were your feelings hurt just now?”

“No, never mind. In any case, we sincerely hope that you don’t interpret our intentions in such a manner.” Louis Hesse cooled his rage inwardly for a bit, coughed to clear his throat, and then continued to speak, “Our opinion always has been that the dungeon in question was on the brink of being fully raided, all thanks to the sacrifices of the three S-rank awakeners and many other German awakener authority-affiliated awakeners. Yes, we avoided losses to civilian lives, thanks to your efforts, but it will be wrong not to consider their heroic sacrifices.”

What he said was utter garbage.

Lee Ju-ho chuckled hollowly and retorted, “In case an outbreak occurs due to the failure of the raid, all raid operations that happened before the outbreak are no longer acknowledged. Normally, you’d be criticized on moral grounds.”

“Yes, but that’s nothing but criticism on some shaky moral grounds. As I’ve said earlier, we at the Awakener Management Bureau are unwilling to simply forego the resulting articles created through the sacrifices of the awakeners inside the dungeon.”

“Resulting articles, you say.” Su-hyeun quietly closed his eyes at what Louis Hesse said.

Something about this exchange sounded familiar to him.

“Right, this also happened back then,” he thought.

Louis Hesse was also the minister of Germany’s Awakener Management Bureau. However, it wasn’t just him.

The story was exactly the same back when he wasn’t Kim Su-hyeun but Kim Sung-in. Various awakener authorities argued about their ownership over the dungeons he had raided.

“Back then, what did I do?”

Back then, he was fearful of sowing discord.

He didn’t have any attachment to money, and he wasn’t doing it for money, either, so, he just let all those events slide by.

He simply did what they wanted from him, and after letting such things happen once or twice, it soon became a normal thing for everybody. Then, from a certain moment onward, even Su-hyeun began thinking that such a thing was par for the course.

“This incident has caused numerous damage to private citizens’ property. All resources recovered from the indigo-colored dungeon will be used for their sake. Mister Kim, for their sake, please try to understand where we are coming from,” Louis Hess said, changing his approach. He was now saying “Please yield on the account of the citizens” on top of the contributions of the German awakeners.

“Mister Kim, you also spend all the wealth you accrued until now on people encountering hardships in life, don’t you? You can think of this as the same. Please, for their sake, let us come to a favorable arrangement,” he continued while getting up from his chair to bow deeply afterward. He seemed so respectful while performing that gesture.

If someone unfamiliar saw this scene, they would’ve thought of him as a minister genuinely willing to lower his head to a foreign awakener for the sake of his own countrymen.

Of course, you’d instantly realize that that’s not true if you thought about it for a second.

“You say it’s the same thing…”

The smirk on Su-hyeun’s lips grew deeper. However, his eyes weren’t smiling at all, just his lips stretching almost to touch his ears.

Seeing that expression from the side, Lee Ju-ho heard the alarm bells go off in his head. “Yup, he’s pissed,” he thought.

Su-hyeun usually didn’t express his anger outwardly. His personality dictated that he would normally cool his anger inwardly.

However, when he made such an expression, he would cause an incident or two without exception.

Sure enough, such an incident would ensue here.

“So, you trying to cheat the Paragon Guild in whatever way and dodging responsibilities are the same thing as me trying to be a good person now, are they?”

“W—what are you even…?”

“Don’t play dumb, please. Someone has to take the blame for this outbreak. And let’s not forget, all issues related to awakeners and dungeons are primarily the Awakener Management Bureau’s responsibility.”

Su-hyeun’s eyes narrowed to slits.

He was forcibly suppressing his killing intent since his opponent right now was a regular person, but even then, Louis Hesse felt like he’d wet his pants just by being subjected to Su-hyeun’s glare.

Not just the aura he gave off but even the sense of presence Su-hyeun emitted proved to be so much larger and imposing than any politician Louis Hesse had dealt with up until now.

“An absurd excuse and an attempt to appeal to our sympathy. With only those, you plan to steal away the dungeon’s ownership. You even say that you’d look after the citizens affected by this incident with what you took away…You know, none of this would’ve happened if it wasn’t for your greed.”

“What do you mean, our greed? Sir, it was simply a mistake on our part.”

“Did you determine that you could raid that dungeon by yourselves?”

“Yes, we did.”

“The awakeners affiliated with the Paragon Guild, Gordon Rohan, Thomas, Lee Ju-ho, and myself—not once did anyone succeed in raiding an indigo-colored dungeon without us. So, may we hear about what kind of stupid and totally absurd basis prompted you to make such a decision?”

“Well, that’s…” Louis Hesse couldn’t readily answer.

In all honesty, they had no assurance. They were taking a gamble, a shot in the dark, so to speak.

“You probably thought that if things go wrong, you could just request the Paragon Guild for help, didn’t you?”

When Su-hyeun asked that pointed question, Louis Hesse shuddered just a little.

Did he use some kind of skill to read the latter’s mind or some such?

“No, that can’t be it. Using a type of skill that read someone else’s thoughts is definitely illegal unless it’s a special situation,” he thought.

Su-hyeun didn’t seem to be the type to resort to using potentially problematic skills in situations like this one, and he was known throughout the world as an upright person.

“It looks like things worked out according to your plan so far. We did come rushing here to mop up all the crap you left behind, after all. But now, after we cleaned up your mess, you are demanding for us to give up even our own luggage…”

“Mister Kim.”

“You know what, let’s just follow the international law, shall we? We’re wasting time on something petty, anyway.”

Dururuk—

Su-hyeun abruptly got up from his chair. With that gesture, he was indicating that there was no reason to talk anymore.

“According to international law, it’s not a split of nine to one but 10 to zero. And obviously, the 10 goes to us. Oh, and also, please don’t expect the Paragon Guild to pitch in on the repair work on your destroyed city. On top of that, this will be the last time Germany and the Paragon Guild will be in touch.”

“M—Mister Kim?!”

“If similar incidents happen to Germany at a later time, and if a dungeon that’s beyond your capability to deal with shows up, then I advise you to seek out other mercenary guilds.”

Louis Hesse’s expression gradually grew stiff at Su-hyeun’s continuous cold dagger-like verbal shots.

Su-hyeun left behind the Germans’ desperate calls and exited from the conference venue.

Soon after he left, Lee Ju-ho, Luslec, and Thomas followed him outside. Su-hyeun wordlessly and confidently strode outside the bureau’s building but then quietly closed his eyes as he walked forward.

He tried to put on a confident appearance, but he wasn’t feeling so hot right now.

“Were you being serious?” Lee Ju-ho asked with a quiet voice.

Only then did Su-hyeun open his eyes.

Lee Ju-ho was making a concerned face. “Just now, what you said right at the end…”

Su-hyeun didn’t reply. He believed that Lee Ju-ho would understand without listening to his verbal reply.

“You did well.”

Tap—

Lee Ju-ho patted on Su-hyeun’s shoulder. “That old saying of ‘beginning is the hardest part’? Knowing it and actually doing it right are two different things, you know? A lot of people are morons and selfish to the core, so they more often than not look to follow the set precedence rather than separate what’s right and wrong.”

“Our world is like that, after all.”

“I know it was hard for you to say those things. Still, that was refreshing to watch. Besides all that, you don’t have to worry too much.” Lee Ju-ho grinned and continued, “Those events you are worried about, they probably won’t happen.”

* * *

Su-hyeun and Luslec visited a cafe on their own.

Although a place for the latter to stay had already been prepared, they didn’t feel like resting right now. It felt as if some things hadn’t been fully resolved yet, somehow.

“Thank you for your hard work,” Su-hyeun said as he pushed a cup of coffee forward and settled down on his chair.

Luslec reached out with both of his hands and received the cup. “Wow, so this is that thing called coffee? This will be my first time drinking it.”

“You don’t have coffee on your side?”

“No, we don’t.”

“Since it’s your first time drinking it, it might come across as a bit bitter. Lots of people say that, you see.”

“Well, there are times when you have to gladly drink poison, so something tasting bitter is nothing much to complain about. Thank you, I’ll enjoy this.”

After making his reply, Luslec turned his head away slightly and drank the coffee. Su-hyeun smiled faintly at this over-the-top display of etiquette and brought the steaming cup of coffee to his lips.

Their conversation entered a temporary lull as they drank at the same time. Su-hyeun fidgeted around with the warm coffee cup and didn’t say anything.

“You know, it was so strange.” The first person to break the silence was Luslec. “They should be thinking about how to reward a hero who willingly sacrificed himself by walking through the fire, yet…why were they hoping to gain more from him instead?”

“Is that how you see it?”

“Yes. I mean, isn’t it true? People usually think that all heroes are boundlessly kind and good, and as such, they should act accordingly, too. So, if you act like you are in a desperate need or if you plead ardently, then the heroes would always humor you. That kind of thing is—”

“No, not that.” Su-hyeun shook his head. That wasn’t what he was asking.

“I was asking you if you saw me as a hero.”

“Pardon me?”

“Earlier today, did I resemble the hero from the myths you heard about, Mister Luslec?”

Su-hyeun was acting a little different today from his normal self.

To be more specific, he was acting differently from himself of the previous lifetime.

What he altered this time wasn’t the future of the world, but his own.

That was why he got curious to find out how different his actions of today were compared to that of Kim Sung-in—to learn how different he was now when compared to the “hero” created by the world busy goading him forward from behind.

“Before I can answer that, you don’t mind me asking you another question first, do you?”

“What question is it?”

“Mister Su-hyeun, what do you think a ‘hero’ is?”

“What do I think it is?”

“Yes. I was wondering about your opinion on the subject matter that made you ask me that question. Well, it’s not a super important question, anyway.”

Sluuurp—

Luslec asked and then began drinking his coffee once more. As expected, the taste must’ve been a bit too bitter because he furrowed his brows, but he still continued to stare at Su-hyeun regardless.

“My thoughts on the hero…” Su-hyeun began contemplating it deeply.

He hadn’t given it much thought until now.

A hero…

An individual possessing a remarkable air, boundless bravery, and extraordinary talents…

An individual who, unlike other people, willingly took on and resolved various difficult matters…

It didn’t really matter what the dictionary definitions were like. With those definitions in mind, Su-hyeun definitely qualified as a hero.

However, Su-hyeun didn’t really see those as what a “hero” was, and it was the same story for the rest of the world as well.

The “hero” that Su-hyeun thought of, and what the world thought of, was “an individual possessing excellent abilities who frequently sacrificed himself to serve the community without complaining once about it. He was someone who mustn’t get angry and someone who cannot walk by unconcerned while ignoring the others in unfortunate situations. And finally…”

He pictured what a hero should look like in his mind and began thinking up of all the qualifications of being one.

That image of a hero was what Su-hyeun, and indeed the rest of the world, thought of as a true hero, and it was a figure of a person that didn’t exist in this world as well.

And even before he realized it, Su-hyeun believed that he needed to become that individual.

He believed that only then would the people not be disappointed by him.

“The ‘hero’ that I think of is…”

For some reason, a chuckle wanted to break out from him.

In the end, Su-hyeun couldn’t hold it back and chuckled softly, “I guess…it’s someone who discards ‘me.'”