novelraw Chapter 283 : Chapter 283
Chapter 283 : Chapter 283
Chapter 283: The Traitor
At the command, the subordinate went out and quickly returned with the documents.
Seeing the thin stack of papers in his hand, Byeong-hoo narrowed his brows.
“The volume is small.”
“Ah, yes. The Heroes who debuted after Christmas are only...”
At those words, the wrinkles on Byeong-hoo’s forehead deepened even further.
“The list of Heroes who debuted before that. I told you to bring all the Heroes who registered their names in the roster this month.”
“Pardon? Not after Christmas, but the entire month?”
The subordinate, who had obeyed orders without complaint until now, questioned him for the first time with a puzzled look.
Byeong-hoo’s initial command was somewhat understandable.
But to set the time frame before their first activity?
That would be absolutely impossible unless that guy Ho-cheol could see the future.
No matter how much he wanted to keep Ho-cheol in check, it seemed like an overreaction.
Byeong-hoo clenched his fist as if frustrated.
“That bastard would abduct a Hero already registered on the roster and perfectly mimic that Hero.”
It was an absurd notion from both a Hero’s and a Villain’s perspective, but the story was different if it was Ho-cheol.
That guy freely carries out illegal processes for what he believes is right, as long as he doesn't cross a certain line.
That’s why he was even more dangerous.
Whether he was a Hero or a Villain, he struck at the most vulnerable point in a way they never imagined.
“Then shouldn't we check the roster from before this month, not just this month?”
“No. That’s too big of a risk, even for him.”
Hero registration only happened every even-numbered month.
The previous batch would be Heroes registered in October, and the Hero who registered and was active the latest would have already been active for over a month.
They would have already built recognition among citizens and hired Sidekicks, so the possibility of being discovered if replaced by someone else was high.
Ho-cheol wouldn't take that kind of risk, so checking only the current debut batch was enough.
“And who told you to question my command?”
Byeong-hoo nervously tapped the table with his finger.
Simultaneously, a beam of light shot out like a laser from The Sun floating above his head, grazing the subordinate's cheek.
Pachut—
A single line of light drew a thin red mark across his cheek.
And behind him, where the light hit directly, there was a finger-sized hole.
It pierced through the wall, the wall behind it, and even the wall beyond that.
A power that could easily melt a person.
Everyone swallowed in tension.
“Is it because you are all foolish Villain graduates? It’s a chore to keep telling you this every meeting. Don't think about anything. Just do as you're told, and answer only what is asked. If your head is too difficult for even that, I'll melt it for you once.”
“...S-sorry.”
The subordinate said and rushed out.
Since he had joined hands with the Association beneath the surface and had contacts among active Heroes, obtaining this kind of information was not difficult.
When he returned, he brought a stack of documents several times larger than before.
“Here is the entire volume of the December registered Hero Roster.”
Thump—
The stack of papers fell onto the table with a sound.
Even Byeong-hoo was slightly surprised, his eyebrows twitching, as he hadn't expected this much.
The number of Heroes who registered their names in December easily exceeded three digits.
December was the period when the most Heroes registered.
This was because the system accrued years of service starting from January 1st of every year, meaning a Hero registered today would be promoted to one year of service in a few days, and their base salary would increase.
Naturally, anyone planning to register in February or April would try to register in December even if they had to push themselves.
And the result...
One Villain commented glumly while looking at the large stack of documents.
“Should we... check all of them?”
If Ho-cheol was among them, they definitely had to find him, but a full-scale investigation would not be easy.
It wasn't that they lacked personnel, but they were conducting a large-scale operation where even the lower ranks had assigned tasks.
The time and human resource limitations for checking all of this were clear.
But Byeong-hoo was firm.
“We have to check all of them. No matter what it takes.”
The risk of a few other small-scale operations failing was close to zero.
But in Ho-cheol's case, the problem was not knowing what would happen if they missed him.
“Understood.”
Sidekicks.
Unfortunately, their thoughts couldn't reach that far.
No, even if they could, they wouldn't dare contemplate it.
The number was several times greater than the registered Heroes.
Compared to other reports and strategies, where he merely listened to the report and reviewed future plans, he gave detailed directions for Ho-cheol's matter, down to the fine points.
The meeting ended.
Only Byeong-hoo remained in the quiet conference room.
“Foolish bastard.”
He muttered.
He absolutely couldn't understand Ho-cheol.
He thought Ho-cheol was the only one who could understand him.
But then he suddenly went crazy, and now he was wagging his tail at the Heroes.
He put his hand into his pocket.
When he took it out again, a wallet was in his hand.
He stared intently at the photo inside the wallet.
A young girl with a bright smile.
She was his adopted daughter.
Their relationship wasn't bad, but he couldn't express his affection or emotions outwardly.
He must have seemed like the typical blunt father.
He regretted that deeply.
That this was the only photo they took together.
If he had spent a little more time with her and made her happy, would the heart-crushing pain he felt now have been lessened?
Every time he looked at the photo, he burned with vengeance. But against whom?
His vengeance had no proper target.
A completely empty, futile vengeance that reached no one.
That’s why he couldn't stop it.
A massive, uncontrollable flame was raging in the heart of the man who had lost his most cherished person.
That wildfire, having lost its direction, was already consuming him and would not be extinguished until his dying moment.
***
Ho-cheol's current position was beyond bizarre—it was grotesque.
Although the Association had temporarily lifted his Villain designation for the case of eliminating the Giant Monster, he was still the leader of the massive Villain organization.
At the same time, he was fired from his professorship but was still staying in the dormitory he received as a professor's benefit from Clington Academy.
Since he wasn't a professor, he should have been kicked out of this welfare-type accommodation long ago, but the administrative system, which was paralyzed by Yu-hwa's past attack, had not yet been fully restored.
And even when it was restored, Ho-cheol's case was pushed to an overwhelmingly low priority due to the mountain of accumulated work.
Even if an eviction notice was issued, it would be several months later.
And now, he was even active as a Hero's Sidekick.
It had gone beyond a double life to a triple life.
He sometimes wondered, What kind of foolish act is this?
— But he couldn't ignore the clear threat right in front of him.
Ho-cheol's newly changed daily pattern was extremely complicated.
He left Clington early in the morning and headed to the organization’s headquarters.
Then, in a secluded alley, he put on his mask and returned to the Swordmaster's office.
He faithfully carried out his duties as a Sidekick upon arriving at the Swordmaster's office.
And when the time came, he headed back to the organization, took off his mask, and repeated the cycle of returning to Clington.
The time wasted due to the long commute was considerable, but ultimately, this was the most certain way to ensure safety.
With no sign of surveillance being felt now, Byeong-hoo was probably tracing his movements via public CCTVs rather than through human surveillance.
If one could spy on all the CCTVs in this country, that would truly be Clairvoyance and a surveillance system that surpasses Traits.
Conversely, utilizing just a few blind spots could create a perfect alibi.
Of course, Ho-cheol wasn't the one doing the Sidekick work.
All that miscellaneous work was Wolf-Fang's responsibility.
Why else would he have brought Wolf-Fang along?
There was absolutely no problem with proxy work.
All he had to do was put a mask on him.
Of course, even if this transformation mask changed everything from height to physique, it couldn't change a person's inner self.
If they talked for a long time, they might feel something strange, but this is where the characteristic of the burns shone.
The ugly appearance from the burns was sufficient justification for his taciturnity .
With just a hint of reluctance to interact with others, most people felt sorry to even speak to him or assumed he had some emotional scar and let it go.
As long as he didn't say anything nonsensical, he would never be exposed to others.
While Wolf-Fang was sent out on patrol, Ho-cheol was accessing the Hero Database through the Swordmaster's account.
This network, which covered all kinds of Hero information, boasted top-tier security that Ho-cheol had never dared to breach even during his active Villain days.
However, since it was the Swordmaster's ID, it allowed intrusion too easily.
Of course, the Swordmaster refused to give up his ID, but there was no need to ask him specifically.
The ID and password were blatantly written on a Post-it note stuck to the Swordmaster's monitor.
“Seriously. No matter how good his sword is, he's too old-fashioned.”
To think he wrote down qwer1234! because he couldn't memorize it.
Ho-cheol also struggled to adapt to modern civilization, but that was only because he was lagging behind after being locked up for nearly 10 years.
Wasn't that too technophobic?
Ho-cheol dug up all sorts of information from the Swordmaster's office.
What he was currently looking for was the S-rank Hero who was colluding with Byeong-hoo—the traitor.
The number of S-rank Heroes wasn't that high, so if he filtered a few times for those whose recent activities were strange, the outline would roughly emerge.
Propping up his chin, he turned his hand and tapped his lips like a keyboard with his fingers.
If he could find that spy, he would gain an overwhelming advantage based on that information.
Even if it was hard to completely suppress him, he could at least heavily throw a wet blanket on Byeong-hoo's plan.
Just then, Wolf-Fang returned from patrol.
He cried out with a tearful face.
“Boss, I can't do this!”
“What now?”
Wolf-Fang was just following orders, patrolling as Ho-cheol's proxy.
But for some reason, Da-yeon and Ye-jin were constantly pecking at Wolf-Fang with a sharp attitude.
The toxic nagging and bullying coming from both sides in surround sound were more than just considerable stress for Wolf-Fang; it felt like all the blood in his body was drying up.
Of course, those two were also looking forward to spending time with Ho-cheol, so their mood plummeted when Wolf-Fang suddenly appeared instead.
“Is that so.”
Ho-cheol said, sounding surprised.
It was true that, while they were only gentle in front of him, their personalities were not the kind one would call good, even as a compliment.
Looking back, Ye-jin immediately grumbled behind Ho-cheol's back when he hesitated a bit in front of the kiosk at the start of the semester, and Da-yeon barely treated anyone who wasn't one of her few friends like a human being.
Putting the real Villain, Wolf-Fang, in front of those two only made them want to bully him more to chase him away.
Because then Ho-cheol would come back!
Of course, Ho-cheol only had one reply to Wolf-Fang's plea.
“So what am I supposed to do about it?”
They hadn't actually beaten Wolf-Fang up, so would he change the arrangement just because he heard a few words?
No, he wouldn't even think of saving him if he were actually beaten.
He had to endure things like that.
“Then are you going to find the spy?”
“...No, I am not.”
“Then do well.”
“Yes.”
Having sunk Wolf-Fang's complaint with a single phrase, he continued to browse the Hero Database.
Then, his hand, which was moving the mouse, stopped for the first time.
Ho-cheol grinned.
“Found him.”
He reached out his hand to Wolf-Fang, who was standing next to him.
“The mask.”
Wolf-Fang immediately tore off the mask covering his face and offered it to Ho-cheol.
He only needed the mask when he left the room.
And there was only one reason for him to leave now.
“Oh, surely not. Are you going to go find him yourself?”
“Yes.”
Ho-cheol put on the mask and rose from his seat.
“Let’s go check what he lacks so much that a guy who is an S-rank Hero would try to betray the Heroes.”