novelraw Chapter 252 : Chapter 252
Chapter 252 : Chapter 252
Chapter 252: Cleanup
Wiiiiiing—! Wiiiiiing—!
At the sound of sirens coming from far away, below the building, So-hee snapped her head up.
It was a miracle the building hadn't collapsed from the ferocity of the fight.
Several distant mountains had even crumbled.
Of course, heroes and police would flock here.
She grabbed Ho-cheol's arm with both hands and shook him.
“Come on, pull yourself together, let's go.”
However, Ho-cheol remained with his head bowed, looking only at Smiley.
She clicked her tongue.
She fully understood Ho-cheol's despair.
But now, time was pressing.
What if they lingered here and the worst-case scenario occurred, for example, if the heroes or police who gathered tried to arrest him, and something happened to Smiley's body?
She couldn't even guess what Ho-cheol would do.
Withdrawing now to compose his emotions was the best course of action.
Seeing Ho-cheol still unresponsive, So-hee sighed.
Even if she was a non-combat agent, she was still an Awakened.
Carrying two people should somehow be possible.
The thought of going down all those high stairs made her a little dizzy, but there was no helping it.
So-hee, who had somewhat hardened her resolve, was about to carry Ho-cheol and Smiley's corpse.
Ho-cheol shot up.
“Agh—!”
At the sudden movement, So-hee, who was squatting beside him, was startled, fell backward, and landed hard on her rear.
She looked at the standing Ho-cheol with a shocked expression.
Why the sudden move?
Surely, he wasn't going to lose his mind and kill all the heroes and police coming, was he?
However, contrary to her worry, Ho-cheol's expression was not much different from usual.
“Yeah. Time to bounce.”
So-hee stared blankly at him.
He seemed much more stable and relaxed than she expected.
“Why? Are you not feeling well?”
Ho-cheol asked worriedly, looking at So-hee's dumbfounded expression.
“No. Um, are you okay?”
“Of course. Why wouldn't I be okay?”
Ho-cheol bent down to tend to Jeong Yu-hwa.
His touch as he handled his friend was too soft and too careful.
“I heard everything you were calling out earlier. I just couldn't answer because I was organizing my thoughts.”
For the current him, there was absolutely no reason to despair or be tormented.
“I protected you, of course, and everyone around you. I delivered the final words I hadn't been able to say. Above all, I got rid of all the lingering regrets that she probably would have kept holding onto.”
On the contrary, Ho-cheol prided himself on the fact that there was no cleaner conclusion than this, at least in his eyes.
Ho-cheol held out his free hand to So-hee, signaling her to get up.
If So-hee hadn't stopped him at the last moment.
It probably would have remained a huge wound for the rest of his life.
No, he wouldn't even have had the chance to be wounded.
“Thank you.”
So-hee, rubbing her throbbing backside, smiled, took his hand, and stood up.
As they quickly descended the stairs, she looked at Yu-hwa on his back and asked.
“…You two must have been very close.”
“That's right.”
So-hee asked cautiously.
“Were you lovers? That kind of relationship?”
“You mean a man and woman relationship?”
Ho-cheol shook his head.
“It wasn't that. Just…”
He struggled to choose his words.
What kind of relationship was it?
Hero and villain, simple friend—it was a far more complex kind than merely those.
A bond that allowed them to understand each other's meaning without exchanging words.
They were neither close nor dependent on each other.
Yet, they needed each other.
“It was that kind of funny relationship.”
“It's not funny.”
Ho-cheol's steps stopped instantly.
His head turned toward So-hee, who was following him down.
A relationship where he could speak his true feelings without any hesitation.
This was possible because Ho-cheol himself didn't draw a line and accepted the other person.
Because he threw himself at the other person.
“Is that so? Hearing you say that makes me feel a little relieved.”
If he had known this sooner.
If, ten years ago, he could have just let it go—that damn pride, that revenge—what was the big deal?
Wouldn't the outcome have been slightly different now?
***
Returning to the hideout, Ho-cheol placed Yu-hwa somewhere safe and immediately convened an executive meeting.
This organization was assembled because he didn't know what the New World Trait Liberation Society and Smiley would do.
After all, he couldn't deal with them through legal means, and individual force had its limits.
In the case of the Society, Ho-cheol first formed a villain organization and completely crushed them with the numbers he gathered through it.
If he had continued to be a professor at Clington, he would have suffered tens of times more.
In any case, the immediate threats were all over.
That's why Ho-cheol originally intended to dismantle the organization itself and put all the executives and subordinates in jail.
However, the plan changed.
The Hero Association was shaking.
Of course, it was all self-inflicted, but in any case, they had already lost the trust of the citizens, the cooperation of the S-rank Heroes.
In the end, with Smiley's posthumous video spreading, resignations were rampant even internally, reaching a level where the function was virtually suspended.
Even if the heroes were intact, the central organization, the Association, was shaking.
A situation was created where the villains would run rampant relatively easily.
Furthermore, if Ho-cheol were to dismantle the organization now, the precarious order of the villain world would collapse.
A situation so terrible that the term 'chaos' wouldn't be enough would surely occur.
“I can't stand to see that.”
Of course, Ho-cheol didn't have anything specific to do; he just needed to maintain the appearance of an organization to suppress the villains.
Therefore, Ho-cheol's decision was quite simple.
The organization would be maintained.
However.
“I'm stepping away from this villain game now. You guys handle it.”
At his short declaration, the executives in the conference room murmured.
Of course, Wolf Fang, who somewhat guessed Ho-cheol's true intentions, or Ha-rin, who wasn't a villain in the first place, didn't show much agitation.
However, the atmosphere of the four executives, especially Slasher, worsened.
He joined Ho-cheol because he was promised a fight with a truly strong opponent.
The people he had fought so far were only the scraps barely making the S-rank cutoff.
His dissatisfaction had piled up completely.
But Ho-cheol was suddenly quitting?
He felt like he had been stabbed in the back.
“Who would listen to that ridiculous…!”
He slammed the table and rose from his seat.
No, he tried to rise.
Before he could, Ho-cheol's sword touched his Adam's apple.
As Ho-cheol lightly twisted his wrist, the sword, catching the light from the lamp, glinted, and a drop of blood trickled down.
“No getting angry or raising your voice in the conference room.”
A drop of sweat rolled down Slasher's forehead.
He hadn't seen it.
The other executives had also kept their eyes on him.
When Ho-cheol's Trait was activated at full power, it was impossible for them to catch his movement in that compressed time.
Instead, they could guess the process by the emission of energy that occurred when time returned to normal.
And at their level, they could at least barely catch Ho-cheol's first movement.
But this time, until the moment the sword touched his neck.
They felt absolutely no movement from Ho-cheol, nor any subsequent repercussions.
If, until now, the series of movements took place in a tiny compressed time that they couldn't see, this time, it was as if that time itself had been cleanly cut off and vanished.
“You want to fight a guy who's that strong? Then come at me.”
What would happen if he foolishly charged in right now?
A vivid image was painted in everyone's minds.
He wouldn't kill him.
But they were certain they would suffer every other wretched thing short of death.
Since they also held a position second only to Ho-cheol in the organization, they had seen the Association President being tortured in real-time underground.
And they were convinced.
This man was only not killing anyone, but he was as vicious as any villain.
What Slasher wanted was a life-or-death battle with an opponent on equal footing, not a meaningless death.
He sat back down in his awkward posture.
Seeing him lose his will to fight, Ho-cheol withdrew his sword.
Wiping the blood flowing down the blade, he added.
“Behave yourselves. Soon, a truly absurd fight. No, a war will break out. Then you can fight to your heart's content.”
Behind the Society and Smiley, there was an even greater enemy.
No, it wasn't even an enemy.
A monster that wasn't a villain was a type of natural disaster.
At his words, everyone momentarily tensed up.
The executives who had watched Ho-cheol for a long time knew that he had always scornfully referred to any mighty enemy or battle they faced.
But war?
It meant something that far surpassed the mediocre level was about to happen.
Even Slasher's complexion, who had seemed disappointed just a moment ago, brightened considerably.
“The meeting is over then.”
Ho-cheol got up and left the conference room.
As he walked out of the conference room and was about to return to his room, a voice was heard from behind him.
“Excuse me?”
I turned around, and So-hee was standing there.
No, it wasn't just So-hee.
Ji-an was clinging to her waist next to her.
That sight felt quite alien to me.
I chuckled and asked Ji-an.
“What? You said you didn't want me to abandon you to go rescue others?”
At my playful question, Ji-an bristled like a drenched cat.
“Don't say that!”
“What did you say?”
Although she had been emotional then and blurted out words she didn't mean, it was obvious that So-hee, the person in question, would be upset if she heard it!
The reason she was next to So-hee right now was precisely because those words she said earlier bothered her.
“Anyway. Did you come here to ask me to get her off you?”
“No. Not that.”
Holding Ji-an's shoulder with one hand, So-hee pulled a letter from her pocket.
“…It's the will. She asked me to deliver it.”
The relaxed atmosphere instantly froze.
Ji-an also realized that this wasn't the time for her to joke around, stopped the kak-kak sound she was making, and kept quiet.
Ho-cheol took the will with a slightly complex expression.
“Is that so?”
Ho-cheol opened the envelope and checked the inside.
The letter, about three pages long, was densely filled with small handwriting.
She must have had so much to say.
He leaned against the wall of the corridor and read the letter.
How much time passed like that?
After reading every single sentence of the letter, he let out a slight sigh.
He folded the letter in half again.
Then, he snapped his fingers to create a flame and burned the letter right there.
“Oh? Oh!”
Seeing So-hee look surprised, Ho-cheol briefly explained.
“She told me not to be pathetic and unfold it every day, and to burn it once I had read it all.”
Ho-cheol could fully understand.
He, too, in the opposite situation, would wish for the remaining person not to look back at the past and not to have lingering regrets.
“Is that so?”
So-hee, who didn't know the contents, could only accept it and move on.
However, having spent some time with Smiley and having some affection for her, she was also curious.
“…What was the content?”
“Just rambling. Trivial and personal stories.”
Ho-cheol lightly brushed off the letter, which was now only ashes.
Of course, it wasn't a simple content that could be dismissed so easily.
Although he didn't show it outwardly, he was subtly shocked.
Who would have thought that the kids he rescued in the tunnel incident back then would turn out to be Smiley and Ye-jin?
“But what will you do from now on?”
As someone who didn't attend the executive meeting, it was naturally something she would be curious about.
“For now…”
Ho-cheol scratched the back of his head.
The stacked tasks and problems to be solved were mountainous.
Smiley's matter was so trivial that it was nothing, almost.
Therefore.
“Let's go eat.”
For now, let's just be happy that we met again.
***
A long-awaited meal out.
And this was the first time in several months that the three of them had gathered to eat together.
The menu was meat, due to Ji-an's strong demand.
Although I scolded her, asking why she wanted meat so early in the morning, we went to a Korean BBQ restaurant as she wished.
While they were fully enjoying the meal.
“Well, yeah. I knew this would happen, actually.”
It was a bit irresponsible, wasn't it?
Ho-cheol put down his chopsticks and looked around.
The only saving grace was perhaps that they had already eaten everything, and the cold noodles served for dessert were also slowly hitting the bottom of the bowl.
Seeing the surrounding heroes who had them cornered, Ji-an bared her teeth and let out a low growl, displeased.
Did she know that making that sound with meat sauce smeared all over her mouth didn't make her threatening at all?
Ho-cheol chuckled, pulled out a napkin, and wiped her lips clean.
Only then did she realize her condition and blush.
Ho-cheol got up from his seat and looked around.
Three S-ranks and a large number of A-ranks.
It seemed they had prepared thoroughly, but unfortunately, he couldn't live up to their expectations.
He tilted his head.
“I surrender.”
He was thinking of going to the Association after eating, but since they came to greet him personally, it was truly welcome.