novelraw Chapter 218 : Chapter 218
Chapter 218 : Chapter 218
Chapter 218: Notebook
An alliance request from an enemy I had been planning to beat half to death just a few hours ago; the offer was sudden, but it was by no means strange.
The leader was confident.
That there was no reason at all for Ho-cheol to refuse the hand he now offered.
If the enemy was a simple monster, group, or villain, it might be different.
But Ho-cheol must have keenly felt the strength of the Giant monster just before.
At least, he couldn't do it alone.
The government or other heroes wouldn't work either.
The cooperation of the Society, which had gathered information on the Giant monster and stockpiled power, must be essential.
However, Ho-cheol did not take the leader's hand.
Instead, he just stared at that hand silently.
“Haha. My palm lines aren't exactly pretty, so this is embarrassing.”
As the leader chattered, Ho-cheol finally raised his gaze and met his eyes.
Ho-cheol asked, as if genuinely bewildered.
“You. Do you think what you're doing right now is the same as me?”
Sarcasm or a pure question.
Either way, he wasn't taking his hand.
It wasn't a very pleasing reaction.
The leader's brow furrowed slightly, then he immediately nodded.
“It's the same because there's no difference. The core is committing illegal acts in the process, for the safety and happiness of the unspecified masses. Surely, you aren't trying to blur the essence with such a trivial standard. —that we have fatalities, and you do not.”
At those words, Ho-cheol scoffed.
“Jeez.”
His shoulders just shrugged once, but that laugh was mixed with deep contempt.
“That so-called trivial standard tends to divide more things than you think.”
Ho-cheol paused for a moment and looked at the leader, but he just listened silently to Ho-cheol's words without any reaction.
“Actually, I know well too. No, I know better than anyone. That not killing people while committing crimes… is nothing more than mental masturbation.”
Once you've already committed an illegal act, you're ultimately standing in the same domain, just with a different depth of sin.
Nevertheless, protecting human life without distinguishing between good and evil was purely for his self-satisfaction.
“What I said was different is, of course, different.”
He raised his middle finger, as if counting a number, or perhaps cursing.
“First, one.”
He aimed that middle finger at the leader.
“Even if we perform the same actions, do we agonize at every moment of choice? Or do we only look at the goal and ignore sacrifices in the means and process? I am clearly the former. You are the latter.”
Ho-cheol always emphasized the importance of choices and actions over the essence, but that didn't mean the essence wasn't important.
Rather, he was the unusual case; choices and actions usually follow the essence.
“You probably think like that. That if you save more people in the end, it's okay if someone dies in the process. We saved 1,000 people, so it's okay if about 10 died in the process. That kind of thinking is arrogance and a shortcut to catastrophe.”
This wasn't just Ho-cheol's personal opinion.
It was close to a truth he had already realized through experience.
“The sin built by spilling others' blood is not offset by the achievement of saving others. You shouldn't atone, let alone lessen the guilt, with that act.”
Ho-cheol subsequently raised one more finger.
“And, whether you can stop the moment you cross the line, or not.”
This was, in fact, the biggest difference why Ho-cheol could not acknowledge the Society.
The leader, who had only been listening silently to Ho-cheol's words without any particular reaction until now, asked.
“Are you saying you are different?”
“Yes.”
“You can stop the moment you cross the line?”
“No, me stopping after I've crossed the line? That's ridiculous. I crossed the line because I can't stop.”
Ho-cheol said, full of conviction.
“I don't even trust myself.”
As he said that, his eyes were glinting more dangerously than in his villain days when he used to kill people indiscriminately.
The leader momentarily took a step back.
He felt from Ho-cheol a conviction that could never be broken by any persuasion or logic, and at the same time, a madness beyond that.
This sensation flowing down his spine was not just eeriness.
A fear coming from the unknown.
Had he ever felt this kind of emotion from a human?
Even the Giant from before had not been able to evoke the emotion of fear in the leader.
But Ho-cheol, who was not even one-hundredth the size of that Giant, made him feel it.
“That's why I've prepared a device that can stop me, in case I cross the line.”
The means, the method, and the preparation.
It's close to perfect.
Ho-cheol closed his eyes for a moment and caught his breath.
“It's not something sentimental like guilt or remorse. It's a due responsibility. A minimal responsibility, to not ruin everything because of just me.”
Having steeled his resolve, he opened his eyes again.
Looking at the leader, he asked.
“I'll ask again. Are you prepared to take responsibility for everything right now, like me? If you answer yes, I'll take that hand.”
The leader could not answer.
The hand he had extended was still floating in the air, but it was just a pose; unlike before, the emotion in this hand was just empty.
Ho-cheol flicked the back of the leader's hand with his index and middle fingers, as if mocking him.
“Even if we have the same goal and take the same means. As long as the process for every choice and action is different, you are, in the end, villains.”
Silence hung between the two.
The leader's expression, which had been relaxed until just moments ago, distorted.
Then, lowering his hand, he laughed softly.
It was neither a sneer at Ho-cheol for not seeing reality properly, nor a cynical laugh at himself for failing to persuade him.
He completely understood.
That at least, the day Ho-cheol would join hands with him and they would understand each other would never come.
Letting out a hollow laugh, he shook his head.
“That's a shame.”
Taking another step back, he raised both hands and shrugged his shoulders.
“In that case, are we enemies?”
“We were enemies from the start.”
The leader tapped the ground lightly with the tip of his toe.
At the same time, his body began to blur slightly.
“She asked me to definitely persuade you and bring you this time, if possible.”
Smacking his lips as if in regret, he looked at Ho-cheol.
“The next time we meet. At that time, we will truly be facing each other as enemies.”
Ho-cheol folded only the index finger on the hand where the index and middle fingers had been raised.
This time, the purpose was not to count, but a real curse.
Before he knew it, the leader had completely disappeared.
Ho-cheol's subordinates, who had been watching from a short distance away until now, flocked over.
“That just now, if you had been determined and used your Trait, Boss, couldn't you have caught him?”
Wolf Fang asked, as if he couldn't understand.
That escape just now was certainly fast, but Ho-cheol could have more than caught him.
“Because catching just that one guy won't end this.”
Just a month ago, I would have ended it right there by capturing only the leader, as Wolf Fang questioned.
The rest would just be nobodies anyway.
But now, Smiley's existence was also quite bothersome.
As long as I didn't know what she would do, rather than simply capturing him.
Ho-cheol took a small mechanical device from his bosom.
“It's working.”
After checking the coordinates, the distorted numbers that appeared on the screen, he held the device out to Wolf Fang.
Toward Wolf Fang, who was asking 'what is this' with his expression, he added.
“I put a tracker on that bastard's sleeve earlier.”
“Heh.”
Not just Wolf Fang, but the executives and Ha-rin who were listening from behind were also genuinely impressed.
Did he attach it when he flicked the back of his hand just now?
That sleight of hand was not noticed by anyone here.
Well, the man himself didn't feel it, so it must still be working.
“And if we had fought properly just now. I might be fine, but you guys could have died. That was a bit of an anxiety factor.”
“Yes?”
Ho-cheol narrowed his brows.
“I don't know what kind of bullshit that bastard pulled, but he's gotten absurdly strong.”
In fact, this ominousness was also among the reasons Ho-cheol refused to cooperate with them.
Their goal is to kill the Giant monster?
They can't trust the government and heroes because they'll use it?
There was an absurd blind spot in the leader's words.
What if that guy also intends to use that Giant right now?
What if transcendence is essential as a tool for that use?
He's a guy who runs his mouth well anyway, so he'd probably gloss over it slyly.
“Even if he got stronger, he'd be no match for you anyway, Boss.”
“If I were in perfect condition, I would have.”
Ho-cheol grimaced.
Then he coughed up a handful of blood.
“Damn it.”
Using a lot of power against the Giant earlier was a problem, and it seemed that fog just now was the cause.
As expected, there's no way that would be good for the body.
“A-are you okay?”
Ha-rin freaked out and ran to Ho-cheol, supporting him.
Wiping the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand, he said.
“Anyway, we might not find the exact location, but keep tailing him and at least specify the region. It's even better if you find the entrance/exit.”
“Understood.”
Still supporting Ho-cheol, Ha-rin asked with a curious expression.
“By the way, that Giant you were talking about earlier? A Giant monster? Is it that big?”
“It was absurdly big.”
Even if I'd scarfed down ten boxes of Tenten a day during my growth spurt, I wouldn't have gotten that big.
“First, I need to properly find out what that damned transcendence is.”
The next goal was set.
***
Da-yeon, having finished her patrol duty, entered her private room.
She didn't forget to lock the door, and just in case, she even added the chain lock.
Inside that completely isolated space.
Dodorororo—
She ran quickly and threw herself onto the bed.
Normally, she would never get on the bedding before washing up, but today was an exception.
In case someone was peeking.
She, having even pulled the blanket over her head, took out the notebook she had hidden in her bosom.
Professor.
The notebook Ho-cheol had left.
She stared at it blankly.
He had carried it around like a part of his body for several months, enough for it to get stained by his hands.
She stealthily brought the notebook close to her face and took a long breath in.
It was hard to be certain, but it seemed to faintly carry his scent.
It felt like the professor was right next to her.
With a strange sense of satisfaction, she hugged the notebook tightly again and rolled around this way and that.
From inside the blanket, small springs and groaning sounds echoed faintly.
Only after dancing with the notebook to her heart's content could she finally calm her fluttering heart and open the first page.
Why did he leave this notebook for me?
Her heart pounded every time she thought that.
And she was soon able to realize his intention.
For some reason, the notebook felt a bit light, and it seemed he had torn out everything except the necessary content.
And the remaining content, although a little disappointing, was not for her.
To be precise, it was content for all the students he was in charge of.
He probably just gave it to me because he met me first; he would have reacted the same way if he had met another student.
Number 1 to 43.
A detailed analysis of everyone's Trait, the resulting growth direction, their shortcomings, and a detailed and meticulous explanation of the 'special move' that Ho-cheol was originally supposed to help them create during class.
Since he's in a situation where he can't lecture right now.
He has no choice but to do it this way.
— It was as if the professor beyond the notebook was saying that.
No, he definitely would have said that.
And a small note attached after it.
[Don't hog it alone. Look at it together with the kids.]
Da-yeon smiled slightly and nodded.
“Okay.”
That's a given.
Because I'm the class president.
In truth, they hadn't even voted for the second semester yet, but the class kids surely wanted her to serve another term.
Surely!
Although it was a bit disappointing that he didn't leave the notebook just for her, it was also proof that she had met him first.
With that alone, Da-yeon could feel a sense of superiority bordering on pleasure.
Could this be what they call fate?
Her gaze turned to the few pages she had not yet turned.
What content would be there?
Surely it couldn't be a diary he hadn't managed to tear out?
While harboring a strange anticipation, she slowly turned the page.
However, the moment she saw the next page, Da-yeon's expression stiffened.
“This is….”
The content was about the fatal weaknesses Ho-cheol possessed, methods to defeat him using those weaknesses, the conditions and situations necessary for it, personnel organization, etc.
A 'How to Defeat Jeong Ho-cheol' guide, of sorts, was explained in detail and in a matter-of-fact way.
And the short note attached at the end was proof that this was not a joke or a mistake.
[I don't know who it is, but if you're reading this, you must be my student. I'm sorry for entrusting such a heavy burden to you.]
[Still, if I'm in an irreversible situation. You guys are surely the only ones who can stop me.]
Certainly, this strategy was something only his students could accomplish.
Da-yeon just stared blankly at the notebook for a long time.
And how much time had passed?
“…Don't be ridiculous.”
Ujijik—
Force entered the hand gripping the notebook.
She crumpled the paper and wiped her eyes.
The back of her hand became damp.
Who do you think would listen to such a ridiculous request?
The professor of the notebook wanted her to stop him by defeating or killing him.
But Da-yeon did not fall for such nonsense.
“I.”
Da-yeon sniffled and tucked the notebook back into her bosom.
“I will save you.”
I can save you.
No, only I can save you.
She bit her lip resolutely.