novelraw Chapter 187 : Chapter 187
Chapter 187 : Chapter 187
Chapter 187: Health Check-up
“I don’t want to be hospitalized.”
When Ho-cheol answered shortly, the doctor cursed him with his expression and gaze.
The doctor spread out the diagnosis and vehemently explained the situation.
No, to be precise, he scolded him.
“Alcohol, cigarettes, regular exercise, a balanced diet? What’s the point of taking care of those things when you’re only getting an average of 2 hours of sleep a day? And your Trait overclocking is putting a huge strain on your body. This is also serious.”
Of course, an awakened one’s stamina and recovery were more than twice that of an ordinary person, but that was just enduring it.
The limits were clear.
If it were just a lack of sleep, that would be one thing.
But his rough use of his body was more severe than that of a front-line active hero.
To be precise, the order was reversed.
Not only was he using his body roughly, but his lack of sleep was also slowing down his recovery.
“Right here, especially this part, is serious. This part and this part too. Ah, and here too.”
He was circling various parts of the human figure with a red pen, and about 40 bright red circles appeared.
There was no part of his entire body without a red circle.
From head to toe, from the outside to the inside, there was not a single healthy part.
No, in fact, the expression ‘rotten’ was more fitting.
In the first place, after overworking his body so much and not even giving it a short recovery period, continuing to push it, it was close to a miracle that he hadn't collapsed.
Not to mention an A-rank hero, even an S-rank hero would be at their limit just not collapsing in this state.
“Hmm. Is it that bad?”
Ho-cheol muttered with a very uncomfortable expression.
He himself was quite fine, except for chronic fatigue.
The doctor, who had heard him, was momentarily at a loss for words as if dumbfounded, and then corrected his misunderstanding with a sigh.
“You haven’t been well in a long time, so you’re just mistaking that for being well.”
“Is that so?”
Come to think of it, it was true that he was much more physically and mentally exhausted now than in his villain days.
In those days, at least, Ho-cheol had an organization and subordinates that he could operate at will.
And in his standards, most of the trivial matters were handled by his subordinates.
But now, he had to deal with all the trivial situations and small fries himself.
And those things had steadily accumulated to create his current physical condition.
No matter how weak and simple a villain was, no, because they were a weak enemy, it was surprisingly not an easy thing to control his strength so as not to kill them.
For Ho-cheol, subduing an ambiguously weak villain was as delicate a task as having to peel off a soaking wet newspaper one sheet at a time without tearing it.
“And your stress level. This is as dangerous as your Trait overload, no, in a sense, it’s even more dangerous.”
“Ah, stress.”
That had also been a problem during the vacation.
It was still a strange thing.
He himself didn't feel any major problems, but it always came up at the hospital.
The doctor pressed his temple with the back of his pen.
He warned him with a very serious tone.
“Not only will you be left with a permanent disability in your body due to the Trait overload, but you will die from this.”
“Heok—!”
It was a warning that doctors who dealt with awakened ones often gave, but Ji-an, who did not know that, was even more surprised than Ho-cheol and widened her eyes.
She turned her body and grabbed Ho-cheol's collar.
“Mister, you can’t die!”
“If you just listen to me, maybe my lifespan will increase a little.”
Ignoring the tearful and clinging Ji-an, Ho-cheol asked.
“Well, hospitalization is a bit difficult since I have work to do. Will I be able to recover by just getting less stress and a little more sleep?”
“You must also refrain from using your Trait as much as possible.”
“That is, hmm.”
He could get enough sleep just by reducing his personal study time a little, but refraining from using his Trait was a more difficult request than he had thought.
He used it continuously when dealing with the kids during lectures.
Now that the kids' skills had also improved, it was not easy to subdue them with just 100% of his physical ability.
“As expected, I can’t not use it at all.”
“Then I’ll set a maximum limit on the output frequency and frequency.”
The doctor nodded his head nonchalantly, as he had seen such heroes quite often.
Among the people who came to this hospital, there had not been a single one who had obediently listened to a ban on using their Trait.
“But you must abide by this standard.”
“Well, as long as you let me use my Trait.”
Unlike Ji-an, who had almost no natural healing ability and should not use her Trait at all, Ho-cheol had an outstanding natural healing ability that was among the best of the heroes.
The problem he was having now was that he was using his Trait too often at an excessive output; the Trait itself was not the problem.
He immediately proceeded with a test through the output measurement device next to him.
The doctor, who had been carefully examining the graph that had appeared on the screen of the measurement device, nodded his head.
“This is the maximum output upper limit. Any output above this is absolutely forbidden. And you can’t exceed 15 minutes a day.”
“Isn’t this just about C-rank level?”
Ho-cheol muttered with a displeased expression, holding the strange mechanical device with both hands.
In terms of pure output, it was on the cusp of C-rank.
There were even some newly awakened Traits that were stronger than this.
At this level, it was not much different from a ban on using his Trait.
Of course, if it were Ho-cheol, he could beat up a B-rank villain even without using a Trait, but this was still difficult.
The situation itself was worse than in the early days of his release, when he had secretly used his Trait in a makeshift way.
The doctor finally wrote out a prescription.
“And please take your medicine regularly.”
Looking at the colorful pills he had received from the floor below, Ho-cheol let out a sigh.
I came here for Ji-an's health check-up, but did I somehow end up getting the short end of the stick?
“Don’t worry, Mister! I’ll be by your side and help you with your health management for sure!”
“If you were just not… no, if you were just quieter, I probably wouldn’t have been scolded like that for stress at least.”
“Ing. Me? What did I do?”
Looking at Ji-an, who genuinely didn't know, Ho-cheol finally raised his hand.
Ttak—!
“Ow!”
***
The dean's office.
He had just come to share the results of his health check-up, but the atmosphere was strangely serious.
“What’s the matter with this side?”
Moreover, it wasn't just the dean; the head of the Legal Department also occupied a seat.
“The combination is a bit strange.”
“You’ve finally come.”
The dean, who had been looking out the window with his hands behind his back, turned around.
He stared at Ho-cheol with his one eye.
“What is it now?”
The atmosphere is very serious.
“Yes. We were in the middle of a rather serious conversation.”
“It looks like I’m going to get involved in some troublesome matter. Can I just go?”
“No, listen.”
What a pain.
Grumbling, Ho-cheol plopped down on the sofa opposite the head of the Legal Department.
“What is it?”
The head of the Legal Department just shrugged his shoulders.
It seemed that he didn't know much either, and that the dean had called him on a whim.
A short silence followed, and the dean opened his mouth.
“In a mountain where the tiger has disappeared, the wolf is king.”
It was a sudden expression, but Ho-cheol could fully guess the true meaning of those words.
He leaned back and buried himself in the sofa.
“Right. It’s been almost a month since that kid Ji-an completely left the villain scene, so there’s no need to be so cautious anymore.”
At one time, Ji-an had established a second organization and had held it tightly with her absurd strength and capital, but that was a story from more than a month ago.
Her retirement.
And on top of that, two of the factions of the Trait Society, which had had a considerable influence in the villain industry, had been destroyed at Ho-cheol's hands.
Since large-scale organizations were being disbanded in an instant, the current villain scene in this country was literally a no-man's-land.
Thanks to that, numerous villain organizations were being created and disappearing every day.
Ho-cheol asked, as if puzzled.
“What about the Sun guy?”
“He’s quiet. There haven’t even been any sightings.”
Eclipse.
The former S-rank No. 1 hero who had turned to a villain.
At one time, it had seemed as if he would dominate all the villain organizations in this country, but recently, he had not shown any movement.
“It would be great if he had felt some remorse for being a villain and had quit.”
The dean muttered with a little hope.
“That’s not it.”
Ho-cheol answered firmly.
“In the first place, that man probably doesn’t even realize he’s a villain. He’ll be firmly believing that he’s carrying out true justice.”
The label of a villain.
It was just a result created and evaluated by others.
Such a thing was not important at all.
Ho-cheol, Smiley, and The Sun were all like that.
Just their own goals.
Ho-cheol for revenge.
Smiley for her dream.
Eclipse for a new justice.
They had just pursued their ultimate goals perfectly according to their own will.
The resulting villain or hero was just the result of that.
And so, with Eclipse gone as well, the chaos had only intensified.
In a mountain where the tiger has disappeared, the wolf is king.
No, if it were just a wolf, that would be one thing.
But right now, in the villain industry here, not to mention a wolf, even a dog or a cat was fighting to take the tiger's place.
“The Association is in a very difficult situation right now.”
The decline in the quality of heroes, the mass emergence of villains, and on top of that, the monsterification drugs and Trait boosters flowing in from the Battleground.
The Association and the heroes were currently suffering from an unprecedented chaos.
And strictly speaking, the culprit for most of that was Ho-cheol.
“Well, but when was it not so? So you’re not trying to blame me, are you?”
“Of course not. Those small fries are something that time will eventually solve. The problem is…”
The dean let out a sigh.
“To get back to the point. In fact, you, and the kid you’re with, and even Eclipse, are all unofficial beings, even if you’re called villains.”
The Association had not yet officially designated Eclipse as a villain.
The public and the citizens knew what they knew, but for the Association to officially recognize it was another matter.
“Do you know who the current S-rank No. 1 villain is?”
“In my time, I think it was a guy who looked like a bandit. A bushy beard, and a big build.”
Ho-cheol stroked his chin and thought.
He only vaguely remembered his face, and his memory was hazy.
“Do Beom-san.”
At the head's words, Ho-cheol snapped his fingers as if he had belatedly realized.
“That’s right! That was his name. I was saying that all the S-rank villains were just foreign-influenced, but he was unique, so it was interesting. Anyway, in my time, it was him. I don’t know about it now.”
“It’s still Do Beom-san at No. 1.”
Ho-cheol was slightly impressed.
“Wow. Still? He’s been at it for a long time. But he was originally outside the top 10. Has he been able to maintain that until now?”
It was natural that Ho-cheol didn't remember him.
In the first place, he was just a low-level member who had barely made a name for himself among the S-rank villains.
The reason he had become the No. 1 villain was not because he was particularly competent, but simply because of luck.
The villains who had ranked above him had all either died or had been seriously injured and unable to recover, so his rank had risen automatically.
Naturally, the reason the 10 above him had disappeared was Ho-cheol.
The Ho-cheol of that era was not the type to leave his enemies alone.
So that's how he became No. 1.
But to think he had maintained it for nearly 10 years, was there something else?
“The expression is a bit strange, but when you were active, the level of the villains was unusually high. The dark golden age. It’s not for nothing that such an expression was attached. In any case, he has suddenly started to move.”
The head continued to speak with a serious expression.
“He’s expanding his forces indiscriminately. It seems he’s accepting anyone as long as they don’t have a hero career, after a minimal screening.”
Recently, monster fusion agents and Trait awakening agents were being released in large quantities in the Battleground.
There were huge interests at stake in their distribution, and all the villains who had gained a little weight were rushing to get a piece of the pie.
“Heo.”
Ho-cheol frowned and leaned back.
There was no need to rack his brains to interpret the hidden meaning in those words anymore.
“I’m working my ass off as a professor on weekdays, and now you’re telling me to act as a villain on weekends? I can’t even use my power properly.”
“The purpose doesn’t have to be to just dig up information.”
If that was the only goal, there was no need for it to be Ho-cheol.
Among the talents the dean could mobilize, there were also some awakened ones who had no relation to heroes at all.
But the purpose was not just infiltration and spying.
“If you can just coordinate it so that a really large-scale crime, terrorism or more casualties, doesn’t happen from the inside, or if you can just prepare for it, that would be enough.”
“Heo.”
Ho-cheol laughed as if dumbfounded.
It would be better to just point out a few villains and ask him to beat them all up.
To infiltrate, gain a decent amount of influence, and coordinate it so that a big incident doesn't happen from within a villain organization?
It was a rather terrible mission.
“And the words the old man just said, they become a little strange depending on how you interpret them. Is that okay?”
The meaning of those words was, conversely, a request to just let the minor crimes slide.
Of course, Ho-cheol had committed illegal acts several times since his release, claiming to be for justice, but that was because he was in a neutral position, not a hero or an Association official.
At the very least, it was something the dean of a hero academy should not have said.
In fact, the head of the Legal Department, who had been listening to the conversation without a word until now, shot up from his seat.
“Dean. I can’t just let those words slide.”
“I know. But I called you here and am sharing this conversation with you to show you a minimum of courtesy and respect.”
There was no need for understanding.
It was a notification in the first place.
“Well, the most important thing is a person’s life.”
Ho-cheol also naturally agreed with the dean.
If it had been a newly appointed hero burning with a sense of justice, it would have been a request they would have never accepted, but at the very least, the people gathered here knew well how precarious and fragile this society was.
“Aren’t heroes those who protect justice, not the law?”
At the dean's endlessly serious words, the head shut his mouth.
“A hero is not a plainclothes police officer.”
“But…”
Ho-cheol raised his hand as if dumbfounded and cut him off.
“I’m the one doing all the hard work, so why is the old man taking all the credit?”
He genuinely couldn't understand.