novelraw Chapter 170 : Hong Gil-dong (2)
Chapter 170 : Hong Gil-dong (2)
The Heaven’s Home sweep continued for several days.
Numerous facilities bearing the name had been built across the country, and the Black Parade’s mission was to prioritize striking the highest-risk locations.
Ghost kept Hong Gil-dong with her the entire time. Her intention was to protect him until the incident was over, to ensure he wasn’t eliminated on a whim.
But Hong Gil-dong didn’t just obediently follow Ghost’s orders; he actively cooperated with the operation. Having grown up in Heaven’s Home, he was intimately familiar with its inner workings.
He knew the secret passages common to all facilities, the locations of the back doors, and the Awakened abilities of the “teachers” at each branch.
Thanks to his active cooperation, the rest of the sweep went smoothly.
At this point, even Puppeteer, who had advocated for eliminating Hong Gil-dong, said no more.
But a different problem soon emerged.
“Why is this kid such a blockhead?”
Hong Gil-dong lacked social conditioning.
Heaven’s Home was no true orphanage; it offered no real education. For ten years, Hong Gil-dong was raised not as a person but as a mad dog, taught to attack anyone and submit only to the hand that held the leash.
He never did anything he wasn’t ordered to do. He’d been disciplined to believe he shouldn’t.
It might have been efficient for the one handling the “dog,” but to the normal onlooker…
“He doesn’t do a single thing on his own. Do I have to order him to go to the bathroom?”
To Puppeteer, the boy was frustrating to watch; he wouldn't even drink water unless told.
Ghost, however, defended Hong Gil-dong. As she made sure he ate, she remarked nonchalantly, “Don’t be so hard on the kid. Blame the adults who made this world.”
Puppeteer just sighed. “Ghost, you’re a decent agent, but you’re too soft on kids.”
“This is how it’s supposed to be. It’s the world that’s gone insane.”
Ghost didn’t try to teach Hong Gil-dong anything. She didn’t lecture him about socialization or tell him he was free to act on his own.
Instead, she shared her music with him.
“This is called an MP3 player.”
During a break between missions, Ghost sat beside Hong Gil-dong, pulled out a pair of wired earbuds, and offered him one.
“They were already obsolete in my day, but in a world like this, there’s nothing better for listening to music.”
“What is this?”
“A machine for listening to music.”
“Music?”
As Hong Gil-dong hesitantly put the earbud in, Ghost pressed play.
A blistering guitar riff and a blast of rock music assaulted his eardrum.
“…?”
He turned to look at her, wondering what the hell this was, only to see Ghost bobbing her head, her shoulders moving to the beat, completely lost in the loud noise.
“So? It’s great, right?” she asked.
“No… it’s just loud…”
The moment Ghost’s eyes narrowed into a death glare, Hong Gil-dong hastily changed his tune.
“I-it’s great.”
“See? See? Sounds good, right?” Ghost hummed along, lost in the music. “I don’t get why more people don’t appreciate this stuff…”
And so, every time they had a break, Ghost would find Hong Gil-dong, shove an earbud in his ear, and make him listen to music.
He couldn’t understand what meaning this chaotic bundle of noise was supposed to have.
But after a few days, he found himself unconsciously mimicking her.
Shrugging his shoulders, shaking his head, and humming along to the music.
Watching this, Puppeteer shook his head, muttering that she’d “ruined the kid,” while Ghost just cackled with satisfaction.
Then, one evening, as they sat side by side listening to music again, Hong Gil-dong found himself staring blankly at Ghost cleaning her sword.
He suddenly asked, “Um…”
“Yeah?”
“What should I… call you?”
Ghost answered without much thought. “If you become a Hunter someday, you’ll call us seniors, right? You can just start now.”
“…Yes, senior.”
Ghost grinned, apparently pleased with the title.
From behind them, Puppeteer snapped, “We’re not Hunters, we’re black ops agents,” to which Ghost grumbled, “You’re a decent agent, but you nag too much.”
Hong Gil-dong lowered his gaze from their bickering, closed his eyes, and focused on the music flowing through the earbud.
If I become a Hunter… I’ll get to call her senior.
***
The sweep of Heaven’s Home concluded several days later when Godmother’s corpse was finally identified.
Godmother, the director who had created and run the desolate facilities known as Heaven’s Home, was dead.
The elderly woman was found with a deep groove carved into the crown of her head. An unidentifiable wound marked the spot, as if something had been stabbed deep inside or violently pulled out.
With the ringleader’s body identified and the remaining teachers surrendering, the operation was officially over.
The Black Parade’s mission was complete.
“Good work, everyone.”
The Angel Unit, led by Ghost, prepared to withdraw.
Arrangements had already been made to hand Hong Gil-dong over to the police, and a unit had arrived to take him into custody.
Ghost clapped him on the shoulder, saying, “Don’t be so scared. They’ll take better care of you than we can.”
Hong Gil-dong hesitated before cautiously asking, “Next time…”
“Hm?”
“Next time… will I be able to see you again?”
Ghost let out a short laugh. “It’s best if you never see us again. We’re the cleanup crew that goes into the filthiest places, you know.”
“But still.”
“Forget about gloomy shadows like us. You’ll meet better people in brighter places.”
Seeing that she wouldn’t promise to meet again, Hong Gil-dong said urgently, “Senior!”
“…?”
“I’ll… I’ll become a good Hunter.”
Ghost shook her head slightly. “You don’t need to be a good Hunter.”
“What?”
“Instead, live as a decent person. That’s enough.”
Not a good Hunter, but a decent person. Hong Gil-dong mulled over her words.
Then, Ghost held something out to him. “Here, a gift.”
He took it without thinking and saw that it was the MP3 player.
The beat-up old thing. The one Ghost cherished.
A startled Hong Gil-dong looked up, but Ghost was already striding away.
“Live well!”
She led the way, disappearing into the city’s gloom, and the rest of the Black Parade agents followed.
“Wasn’t that your favorite?”
“This is how the rock spirit is passed down.”
“Ghost, you’re a good agent, but you strike too many damn poses…”
“Puppeteer, you’re a good agent, too, but shut your damn mouth…”
Watching their retreating figures, Hong Gil-dong called out in a trembling voice, “Senior! Th-thank… you…!”
She waved over her shoulder without looking back, stuck a cigarette in her mouth, lit it, and vanished into the darkness.
Hong Gil-dong stared blankly after her, then clutched the MP3 player in his hand.
The small device carried no lingering warmth.
And yet, from it, he felt something unmistakably warm.
***
Things turned out just as Ghost had said.
After a brief detention in a juvenile facility, Hong Gil-dong was released.
He was the first new S-Rank Awakened to appear since the lineage of the Old Five Heroes had ended. The government, for its part, was desperate for an S-Rank Awakened they could mold to their liking.
After several months of intensive education and training, Hong Gil-dong became an exclusive Hunter for the Gate Defense Bureau.
His Hunter name was Rain Man.
More propagandistic names that better suited the government’s tastes were suggested, but he staunchly insisted on Rain Man.
And so Rain Man—the one who made it rain—entered the annals of the Gate era.
After becoming a Hunter, he strove to become a decent person.
He had not been raised to be a proper human being—he was merely an attack dog who killed without a twinge of conscience. But now, he wanted to be a person.
He had been raised as a nobody, someone disposable, but now, however late, he wanted his life to be imbued with meaning.
Because he wanted to keep her words.
Live as a decent person.
He worked tirelessly as a Hunter. As a transcendent-class Awakened, he saved people at countless disaster sites, stopped catastrophes, and killed monsters.
Before long, the world was hailing him as a hero.
People thanked him and greeted him on the streets. Everyone cherished and loved him.
It didn’t feel bad.
And yet, the world was always cruel, and the Gates were always terrifying.
Rain Man always worked with his hood pulled up.
Part of the reason was that he was ashamed to show his face.
But the real reason was so he could always keep the earbuds connected to his MP3 player in his ears.
So he could listen to old rock music anytime, without worrying about what others thought.
So that in his cold world, perpetually shrouded in rain, he could at least feel a little warmth through the music.
***
How many years had passed like that?
“It’s been a long time, Hong Gil-dong.”
At the scene of a raid on a villain organization, he came face-to-face with a nightmare from his past.
The voice was completely different, but the manner of speaking was all too familiar.
Stunned, Rain Man asked hesitantly, “Mother?”
“Yes. It’s me.”
The person before him was a middle-aged man.
A bald, bizarre man with a lightbulb embedded in his head.
But the benevolent expression, the smiling eyes, and the crimson energy flowing within them… it was unmistakably “Mother.”
Particles of light swirled inside the glowing bulb on the crown of his head.
Recognizing the figure as Godmother, Rain Man sighed.
“So you… didn’t die that day.”
“I don’t die that easily. I still have work to do.”
Smiling faintly, Godmother chirped, her voice coming from the middle-aged man, “Even after that day, I continued to switch bodies and run other Heaven’s Home facilities. And finally, I produced a second success story after you.”
“A second success story…?”
“A very cute boy, just like you were. The problem is, his specialty is running fast, so he escaped Heaven’s Home and ran away…”
Godmother’s red eyes curved into a smile.
“But I recently found his location. All the keys are in place. Now, we can finally open the Door.”
“…”
“You’ll help me, won’t you, Hong Gil-dong?”
“…No.”
He was no longer the dog he used to be.
“I am not Hong Gil-dong. I am Rain Man.”
He was a person now.
“Villain name Godmother, currently wanted under the name ‘Brain.’ You are also a target for elimination.”
Rumble, rumble…
In an instant, dark clouds gathered in the sky above the narrow alley.
Preparing to call down the rain, Rain Man spat, “I will eliminate you here.”
“…Rain Man, is it?”
Godmother smiled serenely, even though the strongest S-Rank Awakened could kill her with a flick of his finger.
“That boring Hunter name… Ghost gave it to you, didn’t she?”
Before Rain Man could unleash the downpour, unwilling to listen to that venomous voice any longer…
“It’s to save that very woman that I’m doing all this.”
The statement made no sense, yet he hesitated.
“Let me ask you just one thing, my good hero.”
The monster that was both Godmother and Brain spoke with gentle curiosity.
“If you could only save one—the entire world, or the person you hold dear… which would you choose?”