novelraw Chapter 271 : Chapter 271
Chapter 271 : Chapter 271
Chapter 271: Student (2)
The address that arrived via text was not far from here.
It was also not too far from the accident site.
I thought he might have run far away and gone into hiding, but it seemed to be merely an escape to momentarily evade the situation.
That was a small relief for Ho-cheol.
Ho-cheol looked up at the massive chimney.
Was it a defunct bathhouse?
He was at the very top, then.
“He's not a cat, but he sure loves high places.”
Grumbling so, Ho-cheol grabbed the ladder of the chimney and began to climb.
The chimney was easily close to 30 meters high.
At the very top, a familiar back of the head was visible.
Seeing Seong-woo sitting precariously on the edge of the chimney without any safety equipment, Ho-cheol sighed.
Sensing his presence, Seong-woo flinched and turned around.
“P-Professor?”
His eyes, wide with surprise, were filled with astonishment, as he had clearly not expected Ho-cheol’s appearance.
“Did you come to catch me, too, Professor?”
“No.”
Ho-cheol lightly rested his instep on the ladder rung and leaned his body forward.
It was a precarious posture, as if he might fall at any moment, but this height was no danger to him.
“The view is killer, though.”
Although the height wasn't all that great compared to a high-rise building, the atmosphere felt distinctly different because it was a wide-open chimney with no safety equipment.
He pointed his fingertip toward the city below the chimney.
“Anyway, if you’re going to run, you should go somewhere with a properly secured escape route. There are only two or three routes here. Conversely, there are an enormous number of routes for the other side to follow. If it were me, I’d go to another high-rise building.”
“I didn’t exactly come here with that intention.”
“Is that so.”
Ho-cheol sat down next to Seong-woo with a thump.
Perhaps thanks to the thick edges?
It wasn’t impossible to sit down completely.
“But if you didn't come to catch me, there’s no reason for a busy professor to come all the way here, is there?”
“Of course, I need to check if you’re okay. Even if I was half-fired, the professor in charge hasn’t changed yet, has he?”
“Why are you being so unusual about it? You don't even care about extras like us.”
Ho-cheol was instantly bewildered by the reaction, which was sharp beyond mere sensitivity.
Why is he suddenly acting like this?
A faint sneer hung on the corner of Seong-woo's mouth as he turned his head sideways.
“I know everything. Class President and Vice President. Those two were the 1st and 2nd priorities, and the rest of us could all be grouped as 'others'—couldn't we?”
Ho-cheol messed up his hair with a mix of embarrassment and annoyance.
I can't believe he was thinking like that.
“I thought I treated everyone fairly and tried my best.”
“That’s right. The lectures, the evaluations, the process, and the results were all fair. But conversely, you were so overtly concerned only with those two in situations outside of class. Do we look that oblivious?”
Ho-cheol narrowed his brows.
Discrimination outside of class?
It was true that whenever something happened or there was a general announcement to be made, he always went through those two.
But that was...
“They were the Class President and Vice President, weren't they? You guys elected them.”
“I used to think that, too. Until I realized that during this semester, when Professor suddenly appeared huge on the news and became unreachable, he was only communicating with those two.”
When Ho-cheol was active as a Villain, he naturally cut off contact with the students.
It was the obvious principle.
Leaving such a record might needlessly interfere with their Hero path.
The meetings with Da-yeon and Ye-jin were clearly in the realm of coincidence.
And the final lecture notes he handed to them for the students.
It seemed they misunderstood upon receiving that content.
He had met them by chance and simply used that coincidence to deliver the notes, so it was natural for the students who didn't know the detailed inside story to misunderstand.
“We were ultimately just supporting characters, extras. Just there to make the protagonists shine.”
“I...”
Ho-cheol paused, scratching the back of his head.
“I guess I wasn't a very good teacher.”
Of course, it was all a misunderstanding, but the very existence of this situation was the result of his immaturity as a professor.
The saving grace was that it hadn't festered so badly that it was beyond return.
There was still a possibility of recovery, even now.
“But before that, let's correct one thing clearly.”
Ho-cheol corrected Seong-woo's misconception in a rather serious tone.
“Showing more interest in someone, or appearing to show favoritism, is entirely up to interpretation. Some people see that not as interest, but as monitoring, and not as favoritism, but as prejudice.”
That was certainly the case.
Ho-cheol hadn't favored them; he had observed them more closely because he held a prejudice against them.
He kept them closer not out of interest, but for the purpose of surveillance.
Because he thought that if there were problems in his class, those two would unconditionally be the cause.
“If you have a bag full of bullets, and an already unsafetied grenade inside. Which one would you worry about and keep watching more closely?”
“...The grenade.”
“Right. That's a natural course of action. You don't call paying attention to a bomb that you know will definitely explode, even if you don't know when or where, favoritism.”
It was an ambiguous analogy, but not so much that he couldn't understand it.
The ordinary students, including Seong-woo, were the bullets, and Da-yeon and Ye-jin were the bombs.
“I know this well because I was the most dangerous bomb of them all.”
Of course, this was only Ho-cheol's perspective.
Even if he tried to exclude personal feelings as much as possible, he couldn't deny that he had opened his heart to them to some extent.
But that was...
“Because people who have gone through similar pain find common ground and develop a certain level of empathy. It's just that level of internal closeness. No person can be completely free from that emotion.”
“Common ground? You and those two?”
Seong-woo reacted as if he couldn't possibly understand the word "common ground."
“That’s why I’m telling you. The reason I became a Villain was...”
Ho-cheol briefly explained the things he had gone through, his life.
“...That's how I killed the person most precious to me twice, with my own hands. That’s not the work of a sane person. Yes. It certainly isn't. I might have gone mad a long time ago.”
He glanced over at Seong-woo.
He was already completely overwhelmed by Ho-cheol’s past.
It would be troublesome if he was shocked this much, even though I tried my best to soften the details.
He continued with a wry smile.
“And the two you mentioned, the ones I supposedly favor, have also experienced similar levels of hurt and pain, if not as much as me.”
Of course, he skipped over all the sensitive family matters, but even that much made it easy to see that their lives were far from ordinary or peaceful.
“Well, naturally, I don’t want you to necessarily understand or empathize just because I or they are unhappy. I haven’t clung to the past that much, either. But if I don't tell you, you'll never know and the misunderstandings will only accumulate.”
Carrying on with assumptions and misunderstandings that could be resolved by opening up and talking for just a few minutes was more than foolish; it was close to idiotic.
No matter how much Ho-cheol regarded others’ opinions and evaluations as nothing more than a phantom, he still hated the thought of parting ways with his students thinking, That professor bastard is obviously biased—.
“I consider the other 41 of you to be my precious students, too.”
And he added, sounding slightly disgruntled.
“Even if the expression supporting character is how you are perceived from my perspective. There's no reason for you to care about that. You are the protagonist of your own life, and I am merely a six-month supporting character. Why is the protagonist worrying about the supporting character's viewpoint?”
“...I apologize.”
Seong-woo bowed his head deeply and apologized.
Ho-cheol smiled lightly again and gently patted Seong-woo’s neck with his palm.
“Don't curl up. I’m rather glad you told me. Since the other guys probably think similarly, I should gather everyone later and completely clear up any resentment.”
Now, the sulking must be over.
Ho-cheol brought up the real reason he had come here.
“So, you fed up a civilian*?”
Seong-woo's body flinched again.
Ho-cheol bent his index finger and rubbed his brow.
He had heard the general circumstances from the Dean on his way to find him.
Although he was reported to have attacked a civilian, the civilian had provoked him first.
If it were other Heroes or educators, they would have said that you shouldn't harm a civilian, no matter how unreasonable their demands or how harsh their words were...
“You did well.”
“Excuse me?”
Even Seong-woo himself was so astonished that he had to ask again, unable to understand the meaning of that brief sentence.
Ho-cheol picked his ear with his little finger.
“He was rescued from the bridge collapse, but because you only pulled out the person and not the car, he told you to pay for the car that fell into the river, and in the end, he even threw a stone.”
At those words, Seong-woo rubbed the edge of his forehead with one hand.
Although no wound remained, it still throbbed.
“...Yes.”
“How is that a civilian? He didn't have a knife, but how is he any different from a robber? No, he did have a stone.”
Of course, we need Heroes who are so inherently kind—to the point of being a fool—that they think they must protect all civilians, regardless of whether they are evil, as long as they have the label "civilian."
However, not all Heroes can be like that.
The lifespan of endlessly selfless and sacrificial Heroes was not long.
Their ultimate fates were Smiley and The Sun.
They were certainly ideal Heroes, but weren't they constantly worn down and eventually broken by that very contradiction?
In that sense, the Swordmaster was destined for a long career.
He was a man for whom his own life and his sword were far more important than his Hero activities.
In that context, Ho-cheol felt that Heroes did not need to be constantly subjected to abuse.
“You can punch those kind of jerks once or twice.”
Of course, the story would be different if Seong-woo had half-killed that jerk civilian, but he had merely hit his face a few times with his fist.
“Just don't kill them. Then I'm unconditionally on your side.”
Seeing Seong-woo still looking dumbfounded, Ho-cheol firmly pressed his shoulder.
“Having an unconditional ally. If you have one more, besides your parents, the color of your world changes.”
Ho-cheol's colorless world, which was at best smeared with crimson blood, was completely changed by just one person.
Ho-cheol was also striving to be that person for his students, which is why he was making this effort.
Knowing the words were meant for him, Seong-woo asked hesitantly.
“Can you really speak so irresponsibly? Are you sure it's okay?”
Telling a Hero aspirant that it was okay to punch jerks.
It would be quite troublesome if anyone were to overhear it.
“No. I am overflowing with responsibility.”
Ho-cheol shook his head.
“Do you think the adults who advise you to live kindly, quietly, and gently are doing so because they are overflowing with responsibility? They say that so they don't have to take responsibility if you act that way. That's why they say it.”
Because he is a stranger.
Because they are afraid of being dragged into it themselves.
They always give that kind of advice out of such a self-preservation mindset.
“But I am different. No matter what trouble you cause. I will unconditionally take your side, help you, and neatly clean up the mess.”
“Do whatever you think is right.”
Seong-woo stared blankly at Ho-cheol.
It was a perspective he hadn't even been able to conceive of.
Ho-cheol declared resolutely.
“I will take responsibility.”
“Thank you.”
“Don't mention it.”
While they continued the consultation for a long time, Ho-cheol's cell phone rang.
Checking the text, Ho-cheol stood up.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes?”
Where to?
Seong-woo's eyes asked the question.
“That bastard who threw the stone at you. I caught him. I told you, I would take full responsibility and resolve everything.”
“How?”
An aspiring Hero assaulting a civilian.
The professor's solution would typically be to go and beg for a settlement, but the Villain's solution was different.
“There’s always a way.”
Water always knows the answer.