novelraw Chapter 202 : Chapter 202
Chapter 202 : Chapter 202
Chapter 202: The Fake
From now on, I am the real one.
At Smiley's declaration, Ho-cheol's expression crumpled again.
“Crazy talk.”
Ho-cheol said with a straight face and swung his sword at Smiley.
Did you think I wouldn't be able to attack because of her face?
The sword that flew right up to her nose seemed to be saying so.
If I don't dodge, I'll really die.
Smiley, who had judged so, immediately leaned her back.
With her upper body bent at a full 90 degrees, she supported her body with one leg and kicked the sword.
A fighting style very similar to Ho-cheol's.
No, in reality, it was the opposite.
Ho-cheol, who had originally just swung his power wildly, had just been imitating her fighting style.
Teong—
Since it was an ordinary sword that could be found anywhere, it broke in half with a single kick from Smiley.
At that, Ho-cheol snatched the fragment of the broken sword in mid-air and brought it down on Smiley again.
But Smiley was not flustered.
The hero who had fought Ho-cheol the most.
She knew how to deal with him better than anyone else.
She spun her body wide and let the blade that was stabbing her shoulder pass.
And at the same time as she spun her body, she struck Ho-cheol's temple with her heel.
Ho-cheol, who had blocked her foot with his arm, was pushed back.
After exchanging a few fierce blows, Smiley shrugged her shoulders.
“Now, see? My face, memory, personality, ideology, will, and even this fighting style. There's no reason why I'm not the real one.”
“Nonsense.”
Ho-cheol clenched and unclenched his throbbing fist.
Her memory is certainly the same.
Of course, that was all.
Even if they shared the same body, memory, and past, that thing was a clear fake.
At the very least, Ho-cheol would never call that thing Smiley.
“So you’re a fake.”
While preparing to run up and twist the fake's neck at any moment, Ho-cheol asked.
“Why on earth did you come here?”
“What reason could there be?”
As if she didn't care at all about the fight just now or Ho-cheol's murderous gaze, she walked around with her hands behind her back.
“I found out that there are three of my precious things here. I came to get them back.”
Ho-cheol immediately thought of two of the precious things the fake had mentioned.
Smiley's exclusive weapon Peacemaker, which the dean was supposed to be keeping, and her legacy, the last remaining power, which the real Smiley had left him before she died.
Most of the fake Smiley's power was probably a one-time thing built up through other dishonest means.
To pretend to be the real Smiley, the power Ho-cheol had received was essential.
But the reasons Ho-cheol had thought of were just those two.
What on earth was the third?
Looking at the thoughtful Ho-cheol, Smiley chuckled as if to say, ‘Don't you even know that?’
“Of course…”
She raised her hand and pointed to Ho-cheol.
“It’s you. My most precious friend, Jeong Ho-cheol!”
Starting with her index finger, she raised all her other fingers and twisted her wrist to hold out her palm.
“The me of the past lived really foolishly, a life tied down by things that had no meaning and were useless. The things I thought were precious then, the things I thought had value, are all trash. I lived my whole life sacrificing myself and then died. Now, I’m going to live a little for myself.”
Her fingertips swayed gently, as if to say, ‘Come here.’
“But one thing is still precious. And that's you.”
She suggested in a subtle tone.
“That’s how precious our relationship was. Now, let’s go together, Ho-cheol.”
Normally, Ho-cheol would have cursed at him, but his expression was just filled with sadness.
The atmosphere was such that even Smiley was momentarily surprised and her hand trembled.
“As expected, you’re a real fake. If you were the real one, you would never have said such a thing.”
If it had been the real Smiley, no matter how painful and terrible her past had been, she would have said that it was also her precious past and would never have called it worthless.
It was the right attitude towards life that Ho-cheol had learned from her.
He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.
And he erased his sad expression from before and returned to his usual cold self.
Now I can really let you go without any lingering feelings.
“To hear a fake call me by that name, it makes me want to vomit.”
“I told you I’m not a fake! Well, you don’t have to call me Smiley either.”
She scratched her cheek.
“I’ve thrown away that foolish name, so from now on, call me by my name.”
“You’re out of your mind. Do you think I’m crazy enough to call you by her name?”
Smiley's real name.
There were not even ten people in this country, including heroes and villains, who knew it.
Jeong Yu-hwa.
“Why. I’d like you to call me Jeong Yu-hwa in a low voice, just like before.”
“Your backer is…”
Ho-cheol asked for confirmation, even though he was half-sure.
“Those idiots who are looking for transcendence, right?”
“Well, I won’t deny it. In the first place, you seem to be sure.”
Yu-hwa nodded her head.
He had been too complacent, and had completely overlooked it.
What the Society had proposed was that they would revive his loved ones if he joined hands with them.
But they had not said that they would not revive them if he did not join hands with them.
In fact, it was more effective as a card to threaten him if they were to revive her.
Ho-cheol had also been desperately denying it, and he had only just come to his senses thanks to the carnage he had committed in front of his eyes.
If Yu-hwa had approached him and had made the proposal in his daily life.
To be honest, could he have refused so firmly as now?
No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't be sure.
In fact, he was even grateful that the fake had caused a big accident.
The only question was why they had revived her and had not approached him at all until now.
“Don’t tell me you’re planning to do that transcendence thing?”
“I don’t? Know?”
She tilted her head and emphasized each syllable.
“I’m not really interested. I’m just thinking of getting back what I’ve lost for now.”
In the end, it was not much different from saying that she had come for Ho-cheol.
Black bubbles rose from the long shadow under her feet.
And a human figure suddenly rose up from it.
“I’ve found what you ordered.”
“Ah, good.”
The man who had come out of the shadow respectfully held up a staff with both hands.
Yu-hwa grinned and gripped the staff, the Peacemaker.
“Hmm. Good. This feeling. It’s been a really long time.”
The purpose of coming to Clington was three things.
He had only achieved one of them.
She asked again towards the second and third.
“Ho-cheol. Are you really not coming with me?”
“You crazy bastard.”
Yu-hwa said in a genuinely disappointed, sad tone.
“Then I have no choice. But it was fun to see you after a long time. But it’s about time to go back.”
Ho-cheol re-gripped his broken sword.
“Who said I’d let you go?”
If I let her go here, it’ll be a pain later.
In the first place, the reason he had talked to her even though he knew it would just build up his displeasure was to wait for the support of other heroes.
It had already been several hours since this incident had occurred.
Shouldn't the other S-rank guys be coming soon?
No, forget about the other guys, even if just the Sword Demon came, it would be a big help in capturing her alive.
But that guy didn’t come even though he knew his daughter was in danger?
A flash of irritation shot up, but in any case, it was already in the past.
In the end, if he didn't come, he had no choice but to stop her.
“I don’t know about the other riffraff, but I can’t let you go.”
“For a confession, the mood is a bit lacking. But I feel good.”
Yu-hwa sneered and shook her head.
“But I have to go in today. I have a curfew.”
She raised her hand and pointed to a few buildings in the corner.
There were the corpses wrapped in the vines and roots that Ji-an had made.
“They look like corpses, but they’re in a state of suspended animation. Those roots are surprisingly keeping them alive somehow.”
Ho-cheol's eyes widened, as he had had no idea.
I thought they were really dead.
Seeing him, who was openly relieved, Yu-hwa gestured with her finger.
“But that won't last long. Even if we transport them to the hospital right now, it'll be a close call for the golden time. They can’t get in because it’s been designated as a special disaster area.”
She crossed her arms and asked.
“Now. Will you keep fighting to catch us? Or will you let us go and send them to the hospital? I’m fine with either.”
Of course, in her heart, she would have preferred to be caught.
She added, as if teasing Ho-cheol.
The two choices presented before him.
Ho-cheol bit his lip.
Just a few lives.
And considering the problems that would arise if he were to let them go, he should of course catch them.
But Ho-cheol could not catch them.
The dying guard she had mentioned to Ho-cheol knew his face.
A relationship where they would just nod their heads in greeting when they passed by, or at most, have a trivial conversation like, "It's really hot today."
But Ho-cheol could not even shake that off.
The shackles that were even heavier than when he was in prison were holding him in the name of a bond.
Yu-hwa waved her hand, looking at Ho-cheol who had lowered his hand that had been holding his sword.
“See you again next time.”
As if there was a separate means of returning, a transparent, invisible film slowly wrapped around her body from her feet up.
It was the same for all the other villains.
By the time Yu-hwa's body was half-disappeared, Ho-cheol asked.
“If you’re a new body, I don’t know, but if you’ve been brought back to life in her body…”
Ho-cheol looked her up and down.
“What happened to the sickness?”
“Technology is good these days.”
Yu-hwa smiled nonchalantly, placing her hand on her chest.
“I took some medicine and got rid of it right away. In fact, I was resurrected two days ago, but it took a while to get fully cured after taking the medicine.”
“Is that so?”
Ho-cheol smiled faintly.
“At the very least, it’s a good thing my friend’s body isn’t sick.”
In turn, Yu-hwa's expression hardened.
“You’re an unwelcome guest who has taken over her body, but in any case, that body is my friend's. Treat it with care.”
Ho-cheol added a gruesome sentence.
“I don’t want to bury a corpse with its limbs not intact.”
“Thank you for your concern. See you again next time.”
Forcing a smile, she disappeared.
***
There were medical facilities in Clington as well.
Although it was called a nurse's office, the actual facilities and the level of the medical staff were on par with an external university hospital.
However, since the building itself was quite small, it was not enough to accommodate all the patients from this raid.
The lightly injured patients went to an external hospital, and the seriously injured who needed surgery went to the nurse's office.
Although they were divided like this, Ji-an was in a special situation, so she was hospitalized in the nurse's office even though she was not seriously injured.
A private room assigned to Ji-an.
Ho-cheol silently looked at Ji-an, who was lying on the bed.
Several hours had passed, but there was still no sign of her waking up.
He let out a sigh and checked the chart he had placed on the side.
The damage situation from this raid.
The amount of property damage was so absurd that it was a pain to count the zeros.
The casualties below, the number of seriously injured also exceeded double digits, and for the lightly injured, it was much faster to count the number of uninjured people.
However.
Nevertheless.
There were 0 fatalities.
An unbelievable, absurd situation.
The heroes who had come from the outside did not know the detailed circumstances and just considered it a miracle.
But this was not a miracle, but thanks to the efforts and sacrifice of one person.
The plants that Ji-an had grown were not just for protecting the patients.
Originally, her Trait could transfer the damage she received to plants.
But today, it was the opposite.
The plants that protected the people, Ji-an had instead taken the damage the plants had received.
On top of that, since the plants themselves had even served as a life support system, even patients who would not have been strange if they had died immediately had somehow been kept alive and put on the operating table.
Ho-cheol let out a sigh.
Thanks to Ji-an, many people had been saved.
But he could not just welcome this self-sacrifice.
Ho-cheol thought it was okay for him to die while helping others.
But Ji-an was different.
What was a kid who still had milk on her lips doing?
Kkiiik—
As he was wondering how to deal with her in the future, the door of the hospital room opened on its own and someone entered.
“Don’t you knock?”
“What’s between us?”
Ho-cheol let out a faint sigh and looked back.
It was Se-ah, with a child's crutch under her left armpit.
Although she was not on the list of seriously injured, she also had large and small wounds all over her body.
In fact, she, who had been lightly injured, had also gone to an external hospital, but she had returned immediately after receiving rough first aid to clean up the mess.
Someone had to clean up the academy.
And Se-ah had volunteered for that role.
Se-ah, who had limped in, stood next to Ho-cheol.
“She hasn’t woken up yet?”
“No. Are you okay?”
At Ho-cheol's question, Se-ah shrugged her shoulders.
“Well. My leg is broken, but this is a pretty cheap price to pay.”
Behind Se-ah, Gom-gom, who also had a cast on its leg and was leaning on a crutch, limped in.
“To think she hasn’t woken up yet. The timing was bad.”
“So what brought you here?”
Se-ah frowned.
“I just wanted to say thank you.”
Just after the villain raid, as Se-ah was evacuating the students, an underground passage had collapsed.
Even Se-ah could not stop a several-hundred-meter-long underground passage from collapsing.
At most, she could only buy a little time.
A major disaster where over a hundred students could have all been buried alive had almost occurred.
But roots and vines had shot up and had stopped the collapse of the entire passage.
“Thanks to that, everyone was saved.”
And such a situation was not just in that underground evacuation route.
Dozens of buildings, passages, and facilities.
Ji-an's Trait had supported them all at the same time.
Even Ho-cheol, the Sword Demon, or Eclipse would not have been able to save everyone in that situation.
Only because it was Ji-an could she have saved them all.
“She saved hundreds of people today.”
Although it was still the same ill-fated relationship where she had almost killed her and the students.
But that was no reason to cover up today's good deed.
“Tell her I said thank you when she wakes up.”
“What do you mean, tell her? You should tell her yourself later.”
“I’m too shy.”
Se-ah, who had grumbled so, turned back again.
“I was very suspicious when you first said you would protect her.”
She added, as if spitting out the words.
“You’ve raised her well.”
After Se-ah had left, not long after, Ji-an opened her eyes.
She, who had met Ho-cheol's eyes, smiled faintly.
“Did I do well?”
“Yes.”
Ho-cheol nodded his head.
As if she hadn't known that he would actually praise her, Ji-an's eyes widened in surprise.
She pulled the blanket up to her mouth with both hands and glanced at him.
“If I really did well, will you give me a reward?”
“You have a look of wanting something in particular.”
That sparkling gaze was not of a kind that would be satisfied with just anything.
She clearly had something she wanted.
“Actually, I do have something in mind.”
“Right.”
Ho-cheol agreed without much thought.
Since she had done such a great thing, he was planning to make some concessions this time even if she were to say some nonsense.
And if Ji-an had any sense, she wouldn't cross the line and ask for a blank check.
However, the ‘reward’ she had in mind was far beyond Ho-cheol's expectations.
She blushed and whispered softly.
“Please call me by my name.”