novelraw Chapter 241 : Chapter 241
Chapter 241 : Chapter 241
Chapter 241: Training (2)
Ho-cheol's basic training didn't need to be anything grand.
It was just about drilling optimized movements into the body until they could be done even in one's sleep.
Vwoosh— Vwoosh— Vwoosh—
Ji-an, who had been swinging a vine whip made from her Trait, let her arms hang limp.
She had already surpassed 150 swings.
The problem was, this didn't even meet the minimum standard Ho-cheol had set.
“Mister, I’m so tired.”
Jiaeeeeeng—
Ho-cheol let Ji-an's whining go in one ear and out the other as he sat in a chair.
From the way he had turned his back completely, one could feel his firm resolve not to even speak to her until she finished the basic training allotted to her.
Even at her pained cries that her arms hurt, Ho-cheol still didn't look back.
She wasn't even that tired, just exaggerating.
In fact, until just before he turned away, she hadn't shed a single drop of sweat.
Above all, none of the students who had received Ho-cheol's training ever said they were tired.
If they were really tired, such words wouldn't even come out; only faint screams begging to be saved would be heard.
Of course, not even meeting her eyes might be a bit harsh, but this too was unavoidable.
Ji-an's concentration when looking at Ho-cheol's face was worse than a 5-year-old kid's.
To be precise, she concentrated only on looking at his face, unable to pay attention to anything else.
Fortunately, there was no need to check if Ji-an was practicing properly.
“Come on! Quickly, 250 more times for movements 3 through 6!”
For Ye-jin and Da-yeon, who were always the ones suffering and training, the appearance of a new junior was incredibly welcome.
So much so that they voluntarily gave up their precious break time to act as training assistants.
Especially Da-yeon, who had lost the ‘Ji-an Cheek Free Use Pass’ after being defeated in a series of duels, was intently watching, just waiting for the moment she got distracted.
Ho-cheol's permission had been given to squish her cheeks as punishment when she slacked off.
“G-g-g-geuk, g-g-g-gak!”
Ji-an made bizarre noises as she continued her basic training.
Ho-cheol also seemed to be just sitting in the chair with his eyes closed, but in reality, he was training harder than those three.
Overwhelming combat experience, his inherent sense, and insight into his opponent.
Through this, Ho-cheol could draw a perfect image of his opponent even in his imagination, and he conducted a simulation battle through it.
The opponent was, naturally, Smiley.
Their conditions were both perfect, facing each other holding proper weapons.
The first move, as always, was Ho-cheol's.
The first thrust, and as a counter, Smiley's staff struck up in a bizarre trajectory.
Blocking downwards, turning his body to elbow the temple, a light tilt of the head to evade, followed by a low kick.
How long did that fierce, albeit imaginary, battle continue?
In the end, Ho-cheol's Purple Crystal Sword struck aside Smiley's Peacemaker.
Her torso was wide open; the sword pierced her heart exactly like that.
In a battle of just over 2 minutes, they had exchanged 384 blows.
And the price for taking her life was by no means small.
In front of the fallen Smiley, an arm dropped—thud.
He had fought this imaginary battle tens, hundreds of times, but this was the best outcome.
His win rate was over 70%.
However, most of those victories were only achieved by enduring such fatal injuries.
A complete victory without this kind of loss was perhaps barely 5%.
That's how close and dangerous an opponent she was.
In truth, that was getting off cheap.
The 30% where he couldn't guarantee victory wouldn't end with just this.
No matter how realistic and objective the simulation, in the end, it was fake.
That difference clearly worked against Ho-cheol.
Even this 70% win rate was the rate when Ho-cheol could face Smiley without any emotional disturbance.
If he faced her in reality, could he end her life again?
What if he slipped up, even slightly, or hesitated?
In that one fatal opening, his head would fly.
He let out a shallow sigh and opened his eyes.
In front of him, the three troublemakers were staring intently at his face from right up close.
Only when their eyes met did they hurriedly back away, but he had already seen them.
“What is it.”
“We finished.”
“It was supposed to take two hours?”
“...Um, 3 hours have passed.”
At those words, Ho-cheol was a little flustered.
He had certainly run the simulation tens of times; had that much time really passed?
“Right. Good work. Now go and rest.”
Of course, even at his words, they needlessly lingered around Ho-cheol, shuffling their feet.
“Why.”
“No, um, your expression looked bad.”
“It's okay to confide in us. We might surprisingly come up with a good idea, you know?”
Ho-cheol let out a dry laugh at their confident attitude.
Needless meddling was the essence of a hero, after all.
He was grateful for their attitude and mindset, but naturally, confiding in them right now was impossible.
No matter how much 'a worry shared is a worry halved', you had to consider who you were sharing it with.
Still, his motivation stirred a little.
To protect these earnest fools, at least he had to keep his mind sharp.
He stood up from the chair and reached out.
He lightly patted the top of all three heads in turn.
“I had one just until now, but not anymore.”
Just as he was about to wrap things up.
Wolf Fang urgently entered the training room.
Ho-cheol sighed at his bewildered expression.
“I’m scared every time you walk in now, man.”
He never seemed to bring good news, not even once.
And unfortunately, this time too, just as Ho-cheol expected, Wolf Fang brought bad information.
“The Villain Alliance has apparently put a bounty on your head, Boss.”
“Villain Alliance? What’s that now.”
“Um, they say the remaining minor villain organizations newly banded together to create it.”
Ho-cheol scoffed.
“A name that’s uninspired, lacks personality, and is even tacky. With a name like that, nothing they try will work out.”
Unhappy isn't much better.
Wolf Fang suppressed the urge to say that and continued his explanation.
“But the force behind it is very suspicious. It smells suspiciously of outside intervention.”
“Well, I can roughly guess.”
Ho-cheol's organization had now grown absurdly large.
It was at a level where it had destroyed the entire, rather balanced, villain ecosystem; it was no different from a malignant invasive species.
Naturally, it wasn't strange at all for a villain organization to form to oppose it, but the timing, the bounty, and other factors gave off a scent that was too blatant and contrived.
“The Association must be involved.”
“Our intel team has also reached that conclusion. But why would they do such a thing when they know full well it won't be very effective?”
“It’s a bit suspicious to be just buying time.”
“Ah, and it seems there's one other transaction. But we're still sorely lacking information on that.”
Truthfully, it would be resolved quite easily if they mobilized the Sage's Trait, but unfortunately, he had recently captured the boss of the Trait Liberation Society and seemed to have lost interest in this work again, becoming uncooperative.
Ho-cheol had no intention of forcing his cooperation either.
He was only keeping him around because it would be troublesome if he went over to the enemy.
“Putting a bounty on my head is, first, for the purpose of restricting my external activities as much as possible. Another transaction. If there's something the Association is aiming for besides narrowing my range of activity...”
Ho-cheol bent his index finger and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
If their goal was simply to restrict his activities and use that time to quiet or turn public opinion, there was no need to take a risk and use villains.
In that case.
“Aren't they planning to commit terrorism using villains?”
“Pardon?”
Wolf Fang, as well as the trio behind him, clearly sounded bewildered.
“Commit terrorism against who?”
“It’s simple. If a massive accident with casualties occurs, big enough to make people say 'The corruption I exposed is nothing'—would public opinion even care about this issue? Even if someone did release related news, they’d be cursed out for attacking the Association in a situation like this.”
It was a scheme to cover the issue Ho-cheol exposed with a bigger issue, through instigation and fabrication.
In truth, it was a crazy act that the Ho-cheol of just a few days ago wouldn't even have imagined.
But hadn't he been appalled by the Association's malicious mindset?
Since they were the ones who committed such acts.
This much would be trivial.
“No way...”
Ye-jin's shocked murmur scattered inside the training room.
While accompanying Ho-cheol, she had heard this and that about the Association's bad side, but she had never imagined it was this rotten.
“But it’s effective.”
It was a dirty and obvious ploy, but it was just that effective.
To the citizens, the Hero Association's corruption was just something to feel betrayed about and move on.
And in the face of terrorism and villain crimes unfolding before their eyes in real-time, what meaning would corrupt heroes have?
“Then, after batting away the unfavorable public opinion, if they pin all those terrorist acts and crimes on me, it’s the perfect clean-up.”
The Hero Association pinning the series of terrors and accidents entirely on Ho-cheol would wrap things up neatly.
Moreover, in that case, Ho-cheol had no particular means of counterattack.
Even if he presented perfect proof that he had no connection to the villains who caused the terror, the already enraged citizens wouldn't believe that evidence, especially evidence presented by a villain.
Ho-cheol took his hand away from his brow and scoffed at them.
“This is a bad move, you morons.”
In their minds, they must have thought it was a trump card—one that Ho-cheol could never respond to.
However, the point they overlooked was.
Ho-cheol said nonchalantly.
“We’ll do it.”
“Pardon?”
“If the villains instigated by the Association bastards cause an incident, someone has to save people, right? The Association probably benefits from greater damage, so they’ll subtly pressure the heroes to dispatch late. We’ll resolve the situation before that.”
“So you’re saying we should conduct relief efforts?”
“Yes.”
He felt no hesitation about a good deed.
Why refuse to do something good?
“...We might be suspected of staging it.”
Wolf Fang's worry was also valid.
A villain's crime, and another villain arriving there before the heroes?
Forget gratitude, the probability of being called con artists running a scam was higher.
However, Ho-cheol found that worry itself quite unpleasant.
“So, because we don't want to be accused of staging it, we should just watch the obvious casualties happen?”
In the first place, why was he playing this detestable villain role?
Wasn't it because he couldn't protect people through legal means, so he ended up turning this way?
He warned in a low voice.
“Don’t get confused. I’m only letting it slide once.”
There wasn't even an apology.
Wolf Fang pressed his lips together tightly and lowered his head.
It only ended with this warning because he had followed Ho-cheol loyally until now.
If any other villain had said such a thing, they would be testing how flexible their shoulders were by now.
Ho-cheol clicked his tongue and turned around.
Da-yeon and Ye-jin, who had unexpectedly learned of the Association's dark side, had expressions that were far from good.
Looking at the two lost in complex thoughts, Ho-cheol gave a slight nod.
“You two prepare as well.”
“Us?”
Da-yeon asked back, as if surprised.
Of course, they were guaranteed a certain degree of freedom, but they were still hostages.
They roamed freely within the building, but they hadn't actually been outside once since being kidnapped.
They couldn't even dream of an outing.
But it wasn't just to get some fresh air; an occasion to go out like this had arisen?
“Yes. Where else would you find such perfect real-world practice? It'll be quite tough to handle villain suppression and lifesaving in parallel.”
Repel, evacuate, rescue.
The hero's triad.
Even in what they called real combat until now, they had only focused on performing one of the three.
But by Ho-cheol's standards, all three were essential elements for a hero.
Not one could be lacking.
In truth, kidnapping kids who were doing perfectly fine hero work weighed on his mind.
He had to let them gain as much experience as possible through an opportunity like this.
“For the time being, conduct training only at a warm-up level.”
Ho-cheol himself just answered nonchalantly and then turned back to Wolf Fang to give orders.
“Bring gear with a mosaic function to reliably hide their faces. And plenty of spares.”
“Understood.”
In truth, separate from their real-world training.
“When saving people, the more hands, the better.”
That was the core of it.