The Hero Returns

Act 9

Su-hyeun looked at Gwon Jae-hoon’s back as he moved farther away. Soon, he was lost behind the crowd of reporters. From then, the awakeners from the Authority, including Bak Yun-gyu, started to move quickly.

“We’ll answer questions after the raid,” said Bak Yun-gyu. “The Authority will contact you guys first. So, please, leave for now.”

“Hey. We heard that we were allowed to interview before and after the raid…”

“That was what the Hahoetal Guild said. If you want your interview, go and ask the Hahoetal Guild. They’re still over there.”

“…”

There weren’t many reporters who wanted to cover the Hahoetal Guild at this point. The Hahoetal Guild had said they would attack the dungeons without any consultation with the Authority. And now, they had lost their right to the raid.

But even so, there were no reporters who fought strongly for the interview with Su-hyeun. A reporter had to be quick-witted. Especially when they dealt with a high-rank awakener like Su-hyeun, they had to study his face. If they pushed too hard, Su-hyeun might not allow them to cover him after the raid, either.

“Oh well. It is what it is.”

“This is good enough for today.”

“Yea. And we got a fantastic story. And there will be more to talk about after the raid anyway.”

Above all, they hadn’t lost anything. They had come a long way, but it was evident that they got better news than they had expected in the first place. Kim Su-hyeun was the most famous person in the world these days. It was obvious that people would like to hear and read about him more than the Hahoetal Guild.

“Everyone is gone, finally.”

Hak-joon, who had been sweating nervously, sighed as soon as all the reporters left. To him, the reporters’ interest was more difficult to deal with than the Ranking Wars or the dungeon raids.

“You’ll have to get used to it. You’ll attract public attention more and more,” Lee Ju-so said, tapping Hak-joon’s shoulder. “No matter what anyone says, you’re the youngest S-Rank awakener after Su-hyeun. To people, you’ll look like a hero, probably.”

“A hero? Don’t say that!”

“But it’s true.”

“Oh, Ju-ho!”

Hak-joon lowered his head and scratched it as if he was embarrassed. Lee Ju-ho smiled at that, but soon, he stopped smiling and said, “You have to get used to it.”

As Lee Ju-ho’s voice changed suddenly, Hak-joon couldn’t answer with a joke, like before. Meanwhile, Lee Ju-ho’s words continued.

“Su-hyeun looks fine now… But you have to be okay with it, too. Don’t be shy. Don’t be discouraged.”

“Ju-ho…”

“In the next ten years… No, maybe in five years, the world will be changed,” Lee Ju-ho said, as he looked at the giant blue-colored dungeon in front of his eyes. “As Su-hyeun said, those things might try to swallow our world. When that time comes, you and Su-hyeun have to be a support for the people. So…”

Lee Ju-ho tapped Hak-joon’s shoulder, who scratched the back of his neck bashfully.

“What I’m trying to say is… please, be a hero to people like me.”

“…”

Lee Ju-ho, done speaking, left to stop Thomas, who was clinging to Su-hyeun. Lee Ju-ho spoke as if it wasn’t a big deal, but Hak-joon knew why he had spoken like that. He was talking about a difference in talent.

Lee Ju-ho had been trying hard to catch up to Su-hyeun, to play a role as an awakener. For that reason, he took a risk and raised the difficulty of his trials, and was able to reach A-Rank.

But raising the level of difficulty from 4 to 5 was never enough to become an S-rank awakener. If Su-hyeun hadn’t advised him against it, Lee Ju-ho might try to challenge for level six.

“The difference between five and six is a way larger than the difference between four and five. I’m saying just in case…you must never raise the difficulty of trials at this stage. Okay?”

Lee Ju-ho had confessed his concern last time, when they had all drunk alcohol together. And that was the advice that Su-hyeun had given to Lee Ju-ho.

From that day, Lee Ju-ho seemed concerned. And, from that moment, he tried to take care of Su-hyeun and Hak-joon, rather than actually step forward for the work himself, as if that was the only thing he could do.

The night when they had drunk together Lee Ju-ho had said, “Well. I can’t help it.” He poured very strong liquor into his mouth. “It’s a matter of talent.”

Talent. Lee Ju-ho had said calmly, but everyone knew the hidden meaning of the word. Hak-joon thought Lee Ju-ho got better as time went on, but he now knew he still had that idea in mind. Hak-joon always thought of Lee Ju-ho as his big brother. But he seemed very small today. Hak-joon couldn’t say anything, he just followed Lee Ju-ho. When all the reporters left, Su-hyeun approached Bak Yun-gyu.

“What you said before, do you really mean it?” Bak Yun-gyu asked directly.

Su-hyeun had declared that he would attack the blue-colored dungeon by himself.

“Yes, I mean it.”

“Then—”

“Please attack the other dungeon over there with your team from the Authority. And please take Hak-joon, Thomas, and Ju-ho with you.”

“Are you sure?”

Bak Yun-gyu was glad that Hak-joon and Thomas would join his team. Although Hak-joon had become S-Rank only recently, he was a talented awakener who went up to the finals of the Ranking Wars. And Thomas…there was nothing more to say.

<<Then, we’ll have three S-Rank awakeners. But…>>

Su-hyeun was an excellent awakener. But Bak Yun-gyu still couldn’t help but think that attacking the blue-colored dungeon alone would be a very dangerous idea. Moreover, if something went wrong, losing Su-hyeun would be a blow to the whole country.

“How about we attack the two dungeons together, one by one?” Bak Yun-gyu suggested.

Su-hyeun shook his head without any hesitation. “We don’t know how big these dungeons will be. Since we can’t guess how long it will take to attack each one, we must attach both of them at the same time.”

“But…”

“If I think it’s too dangerous, I’ll just come out. Don’t worry so much.”

Su-hyeun’s answer was so firm that Bak Yun-gyu realized that his persuasion would never work.

“Okay, then. We’ll join you as soon as we finish our dungeon.”

“If that makes you more comfortable.”

Stomp, stomp—

Su-hyeun walked right up to the dungeon. Bak Yun-gyu was puzzled by his sudden movement.

“A-are you going right now?”

“Sure. Why not? I don’t have anything to prepare since I’m going by myself.”

“But…still…”

“I’ll see you later.”

Su-hyeun bowed his head toward Bak Yun-gyu. Then, he asked Thomas to take care of the other dungeon well.

<<Alone…>> A thought that came to Su-hyeun’s mind. <<Is it the first time for this life?>>

It was the first time that Su-hyeun went into a dungeon all by himself in this life.

<<But before that…>>

Puff—

As he stepped into the blue-colored dungeon, Su-hyeun turned his head.

<<I guess I have to clean up some flies.>>

***

News spread quickly. The newspaper headlines had been filled with the appearance of the blue-colored dungeons and the Hahoetal Guild. But now, they were all talking about Kim Su-hyeun, Choi Hak-joon, and Thomas.

『Kim Su-hyeun goes to the blue-colored dungeons raid! It’s his second time!』

『”I can easily defeat the blue-colored dungeon alone.” Kim Su-hyeun departs from his party and goes to dungeon alone…』

『What Hahoetal Guild said was a lie? Kim Su-hyeun insisted the Hahoetal Guild has no right to attack…』

『A cutting remark! The Hahoetal Guild is humiliated! Kim Su-hyeun said the Hahoetal Guild is inadequate! But “I can do it by myself.”』

In just half an hour, the similar articles were exploding. People who weren’t even there wrote articles, too. They heard the news from someone else and wrote down the articles as if they had been there. Like that, right at the moment of the attack, the attention of the public was all focused on the appearance of the twin blue dungeons.

“Damn! Trash reporters!”

Crack—!

Gwon Jae-hoon, who was checking the articles, threw his smartphone to the floor. The broken screen of the smartphone shook for a moment and went black.

“Bastards. Let’s see if you guys still write the same articles in a few days.”

“Are you really going to do it?” Yun Jae-ho asked nervously.

He had gathered the people as secretly as possible, but he still couldn’t help being uneasy. He wasn’t sure how strong Kim Su-hyeun would be. And even if they succeed in getting rid of him, that would cause a problem, too.

<<If we succeed in interrupting him…the blue-colored dungeon will cause an outbreak.>>

A dungeon’s outbreak was a disaster. It was the awakeners who were supposed to stop dungeon outbreaks from happening. But their sabotage might cause an outbreak intentionally. If it were a red or orange dungeon, Yun Jae-ho wouldn’t hesitate this much. That was also immoral and unethical, but the scale of the disaster was very different. The problem for him was that the dungeon in question was a blue-colored one.

“So what? You want us to give in?” Gwon Jae-hoon asked angrily.

Yun Jae-ho couldn’t say anything at that. He thought if he answered wrong, at the moment, his neck would be snapped.

“Just shut up and follow me. You guys all know what you’re going to do, right?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Of course. It’s not our first for this kind of work.”

At Gwon Jae-hoon’s question, the guild members nodded. Sabotage was useful, at times. It was a technique that Hahoetal Guild had used several times. They disrupted other competitive guilds or when they needed to take revenge for something. And then, they pretended not to know about it.

Of course, after that, the Hahoetal Guild would take care of the dungeons, which the other guilds had failed to finish. Like that, the Hahoetal Guild was praised for preventing the outbreaks of an unstable dungeon. It had happened several times before.

“Then, let’s go.”

Gwon Jae-hoon led the guild members and moved toward the dungeon. Of course, before going in, it was essential to make sure that there was nobody around. If anybody noticed them going in, it would cause trouble later.

Many guilds were surrounding the blue-colored dungeons for protection and surveillance reasons. It was for a minimum of safety to buy time in the case of a dungeon outbreak.

And among them, people from the Hahoetal Guild were there, too. Gwon Jae-hoon had already talked to his guild members about what he would do. So, he and the other members from the Hahoetal Guild could easily get in the dungeon, avoiding other people’s eyes.

Puff—

When they stepped into the blue-colored dungeon, their eyes were filled with blue fog. Instantly, their vision blurred, and soon a whole new world appeared in front of them. Black clouds filled the sky. The ground had sand all over the place. It seemed like a desert, and it was about to rain.

<<It’s a strange landscape.>>

Gwon Jae-hoon thought the scenery in the dungeon was quite strange. It was so large. Except for the oasis, they were standing in and one tree next to it, it was just a never-ending sand desert.

<<It’ll be hard to surprise him like this…>>

“What took you so long?”

A voice came from the only tree inside the enormous dungeon. Gwon Jae-hoon and the members of his guild looked up and their eyes opened wide.

“W-what are you doing here…?”

“Don’t take my line. I should be the one asking that.”

Su-hyeun, reclining on a branch of the tree, looked down at them and asked, “Why are you here?”