novelraw Chapter 20 : Chapter 20
Chapter 20 : Chapter 20
Chapter 20. I Admire You (5)
An abandoned building located somewhere.
There, Shin Yu-hwan was sitting on a luxurious chair, smiling while looking at his phone.
"I have already spoken to Senior, so there should be no major problems for the boys."
A smile that felt incredibly pleasant.
However, unbefitting that smile, blood-covered people were rolling on the floor around Shin Yu-hwan.
Among them was a middle-aged man who seemed to be the only one with his sanity intact.
Maintaining his smile, Shin Yu-hwan looked at him and opened his mouth in a gentle voice.
"You see. There are two things I hate the most in the world. Do you know what they are?"
"Keueugh. What..."
"First are Villains. It is natural because they are not even human in the first place. And the second is guys exactly like you."
Having spoken up to that point, the smile disappeared from Shin Yu-hwan's face.
And his voice had somehow changed from being gentle to being icy cold.
"A guy like you who dares to hold hands with Villains just to try and eat whatever crumbs fall off. Is that not right? Mr. Lee Ho-gyu."
"How on earth..."
"Ah, do not ask me how I knew. I have heard it so much that just listening to it annoys me now."
At Shin Yu-hwan's words, Lee Ho-gyu immediately shut his mouth.
It was a natural action because there was hardly anyone who did not know just how cruel Shin Yu-hwan became when it came to matters related to Villains.
At that sight, Shin Yu-hwan opened his mouth with a satisfied face.
"I did not know it would turn out like this either. At first, I was just going to shake off some dust and put a little pressure on you. But..."
Saying so, Shin Yu-hwan spread open the documents placed next to him.
"It turns out I caught a complete jackpot here, did I not? Demanding a huge sum of money in exchange for producing the goods requested by the Villains. After that, using that money to start a prostitution business. Haha! That is amazing."
"......"
"Would the name 'Pushover' not suit you better than Ho-gyu? And for your son, 'Misfortune' suits him better than Ho-jae."
"W-Why bring up my son here...!"
"Because your son will also be taken in for crimes related to Villains."
Shin Yu-hwan's voice echoed incredibly firmly.
"Upon searching, I found a record of him taking those goods. You know that possessing items related to Villains while knowing what they are is a felony, right?"
"S-Still, please, my son at least..."
"Quiet. That is not a matter for you to be concerned about, so let us stop this conversation now."
Shin Yu-hwan cut off the continuously dragging conversation and stood up from his seat.
At the same time, a pitch-black spear was summoned and grasped in his hand.
"First, let us finish our business."
At those words, Lee Ho-gyu began to tremble as if a motor were attached to him.
Unfortunately, he was not a fool who did not know what those words meant.
Because saying such a thing while even pulling out a spear at this timing meant that he, too, would end up rolling on the floor covered in blood.
In the end, with a feeling of despair, Lee Ho-gyu began his final desperate struggle toward Shin Yu-hwan.
"Y-You devil-like bastard, are you even human after doing all this?"
"Hmm, you are saying that? If you were perhaps trying to be funny, it was not bad. A laugh almost leaked out of me, did it not?"
"Keugh! Someday you will experience the exact same fate!"
"Yes, yes. I feel like I have heard that story over a hundred times already, so I feel no inspiration from it."
Shin Yu-hwan mocked him while taking a posture as if picking his ear.
At that reaction, Lee Ho-gyu gritted his teeth and suddenly turned around and began to run away.
Then, Shin Yu-hwan let out a sigh and watched the fleeing Lee Ho-gyu.
"Haa, what a useless final struggle."
How could it be that these types of people never change every single time?
Shin Yu-hwan thought so and lifted the black spear above his shoulder.
Then, mana imbued with thick killing intent began to gather on the black spear.
It was completely on a different level from the mana Choi Yu-seong had used when he borrowed his ability.
When a sufficient amount of mana had gathered like that, Shin Yu-hwan threw the black spear straight at Lee Ho-gyu without a single ounce of hesitation.
RUUUMBLE!!!
"Nice shot."
The building where one entire wall had completely collapsed.
There, no trace of Lee Ho-gyu could be seen anywhere.
Because it was an attack strong enough to make the building collapse in the first place, how could any trace be left behind?
At that sight, Shin Yu-hwan pulled out his phone with a satisfied face.
Then, he wrote down a text.[Situation over. The resistance was too fierce, so all personnel were killed. Then I will leave the aftermath to you, Team Leader.]
After sending the text just like that, Shin Yu-hwan put his phone back away and muttered.
"Well, gathering information is the Team Leader's job, not mine."
Did the Team Leader not know from the beginning when he sent him that no one would be able to survive?
Therefore, the lack of witnesses is entirely the Team Leader's fault.
Yes, of course it is.
"I should contact the boy later too. Oh my, what should I do if he feels too much respect for me? Hahaha!"
In an uplifted mood, Shin Yu-hwan walked out of the building.
It was a smile he could make because he did not know he would be subjected to endless nagging from his Team Leader a few hours later.
***
Late evening.
Having regained consciousness in the hospital room, I first checked the time.
11:30 PM.
In terms of time, it was not that late to regain consciousness.
'That is, in terms of time.'
Looking at the date, a few days had already passed.
Seeing that, my vision grew faint.
'I lost consciousness for that long?'
Perhaps the fatigue from what happened at the exhibition hall previously had combined with this, causing me to lose consciousness for a long time.
However, even so, the thought occurred to me that I had lost consciousness for far too long.
'This is not a problem to brush over lightly.'
It is a world where it would not be strange if anything happened at any time.
But regardless of the reason, to think I would lose consciousness for days just from using my talent.
It is not good.
It was when I was thinking about the penalty with a complicated face like that.
Suddenly, System notifications began to pour in with tremendous momentum. It seemed that the notifications that had been delayed while I was unconscious were delivering their news all at once.[You have exerted a profound influence on the designated fate of the world.][You have exerted a profound influence on Do Gang-ho's designated fate.]
[You have acquired 9,000 Influence Points.][Im Seong-cheol is recorded in the Embodiment of Admiration (EX).][Do Gang-ho is recorded in the Embodiment of Admiration (EX).][A new ability of the Embodiment of Admiration (EX) is unlocked.]
"Eh...?"
A dumbfounded voice instantly slipped out.
First of all, I was indeed surprised by the acquisition of a massive amount of points.
However, what made me let out such a dumbfounded voice was a different notification.
'A new ability has been unlocked?'
It was understandable; would it not be difficult to focus only on points after hearing that a new ability had been unlocked?
But to think a new ability was suddenly unlocked when I woke up after losing consciousness.
Is unlocking an ability at such an unexpected timing a hobby of the System or something?
Even while having such useless thoughts, I maintained my composure and continued my thoughts regarding the talent.
'First of all, it is a good thing that I can use the abilities of Im Seong-cheol and Do Gang-ho from now on.'
By having Im Seong-cheol and Do Gang-ho's abilities recorded today, I could tell that my speculation was a fact.
That it was not the admiration I had before entering this novel, but that I had to see the heroes' appearances once again and admire them.
However, just because I knew the method right now did not mean I could add other heroes.
Because 'admiration' was something I could only feel when a worthy situation arose.
Therefore, I decided to first examine the new ability that was supposedly unlocked.
[Embodiment of Admiration (EX)]
Descending Hero's Power.
You can consume Influence Points to borrow the power of an admired hero and descend it into your body. (However, if the admired hero is deceased, you cannot use their power.)
If points are insufficient, you can endure a penalty to use 'Descending Hero's Power'.
Check the registered admired heroes through detailed view.
Double the Admiration!
You can simultaneously descend the powers of two or more admired heroes. (However, the amount of points consumed will increase.)
When using 'Double the Admiration!', the amount of usable penalties will increase.
(Currently locked.)
"What is this..."
Checking the newly added ability, I could not help but be momentarily stunned.
Leaving the ability aside for a moment, just what was with that naming sense that sounded like an event product?
Still, it would be right to focus on the ability itself rather than the name for now.
'The name is like that, but it is indeed an ability good enough to be called a cheat.'
Because it was clearly a crazy ability to reproduce the abilities of two or more people at once when even just one was a sufficiently good ability.
However, an unavoidable problem definitely existed as well.
"The amount of points consumed increases..."
What the ability was trying to say was this.
Using two abilities that cost 1 point each separately would cost 2 points, but they could not be mixed.
In such a situation, instead of allowing them to be mixed, it would take 3 points instead of a total of 2.
No wonder it gave so many points while wrapping up this incident; this rotten ability seemed to have had it all planned out.
'Furthermore, it does not end there, but it increases the amount of usable penalties?'
It was written as if granting a favor, but it could not help but be quite burdensome for me.
Even right now, I felt like dying because of the price, but what if I had to use more penalties with an increased limit here?
It was practically no different from telling me not to use it unless it was a moment of absolute desperation.
'Damn it... I am going to have to train really hard.'
I had not even attended training recently because of Do Gang-ho's problem, but that would be impossible from now on.
Since I had to raise my own fundamental level as much as possible so that the need to use the talent would decrease, I absolutely had to go to training.
Just when I could not just be happy despite acquiring such a cheat ability like that, a knock was heard from outside.
KNOCK KNOCK.
'Did my voice reach outside?'
They would not have known I woke up, so knocking meant they heard my voice.
I cleared my slightly hoarse throat and answered the knock.
"You may come in."
At the same time as my permission, the door opened.
Then, what I saw were Im Seong-cheol and Do Gang-ho.
Between them, it was Instructor Im Seong-cheol who opened his mouth first.
"Cadet Choi Yu-seong, is your body alright?"
"Ah, it is alright, but..."
"If it is related to classes, do not worry. Missing classes due to injuries is a frequent occurrence."
Im Seong-cheol told me that there was no problem related to attendance.
However, there was a slight hidden thorn in the words that followed.
"However, it is also unprecedented for a first-year student to be lying here at this time. Is that not right? Cadet Choi Yu-seong."
"I-I am sorry."
"There is no need to be sorry. You just have to make up for what you missed twofold, is that not right?"
That is a bit scary.
Because it was said by Im Seong-cheol, who did not know how to joke, it was difficult to just laugh it off.
Because of that, a quiet silence flowed for a moment, and Im Seong-cheol naturally changed the subject.
"Well, I did not come to find you right now because of your absences, so let us talk about what I originally intended to."
"What is it?"
"The incident the two of you caused is not an ordinary matter, is it? Because of that, there was a lot of talk as well."
Im Seong-cheol spoke while looking at me and Do Gang-ho at the same time.
It is true.
Because there was nothing about the actions we took and the timing we chose that could be overlooked without being addressed.
Therefore, I focused on Im Seong-cheol, and after checking me, Im Seong-cheol opened his mouth.
"First of all, the fact that you two are connected to Shin Yu-hwan will be kept a secret."
"......"
"It will only cause problems if it is needlessly revealed, so that would be for the best."
This is unexpected?
As Im Seong-cheol said, if it had been revealed, it could have become a huge problem.
Because Glory was an academy very sensitive to its school rules.
In that regard, burying this part and moving on was an incredibly fortunate thing.
'But what on earth is the relationship between those two?'
It was a good thing that we moved past it without getting caught by Glory, but my curiosity about the relationship between those two only grew larger by that amount.
The hidden story of the heroes I did not know about; is this not enough to make me sufficiently curious?
'I should ask Shin Yu-hwan about it later.'
I wanted to know right away, but it was not a question suitable to bring up in this atmosphere.
I should set my curiosity aside for a moment and listen to the rest of the story.
"And the incident that happened that day with Cadet Lee Ho-jae... No, with Lee Ho-jae will be handled without any issues."
"Will that really be okay?"
"Upon investigation, it was revealed that the item Lee Ho-jae possessed was a highly dangerous good, so there is no problem. I cannot give you the details, but a Villain was involved."
I had suspected it, but to think he was truly tangled up with a Villain.
I thought I had received a lot of points just because of the awakening of a new ability... But rather, it seemed the reason was that it overlapped with a Villain incident.
It was not something I had planned and executed up to this point, but it was incredibly good news.
"I think this is as far as the story I can tell you goes. I apologize that I cannot tell you more because it is a matter related to security."
"I am thankful even for just this much."
Since I already knew everything anyway.
However, Im Seong-cheol did not know that fact, so he thought I was being considerate and expressed his gratitude.
"Thank you. Ah, and if you have time, try visiting Cadets Kim Su-hyeok and Oh Jin-eon later. They dropped by here every single day after classes ended."
At Im Seong-cheol's words, the thought 'As expected of Kim Su-hyeok' came to mind.
It was to the point of being fascinating how a person could be so profoundly affectionate.
And Oh Jin-eon...
'I did not see it in the novel, but he seems like a good guy.'
His first impression was a bit rough, but I thought he was a decent guy.
I should try to get a bit closer to him later if there is a chance.
It was when I was raising my evaluation of Oh Jin-eon inwardly like that.
Im Seong-cheol looked at the watch on his wrist and opened his mouth.
"Since it is late, I will take my leave now. Make sure to participate in classes normally again starting tomorrow."
I tried to reply to those words, but Im Seong-cheol left immediately without even waiting for my answer.
He was not showing it, but since it was a matter involving a Villain, it seemed he had no time to rest.
It was then.
When Do Gang-ho's voice was heard from behind my back, as if he had been waiting only for this moment.
"Suspicious guy. Do we not have some things to talk about between us too?"
At that voice, I ended up remembering.
That our conversation had fizzled out back then when I lost consciousness.
It seemed tonight was going to be a longer night than usual.