Academys Villain Professor Chapter 297

[ … words ]

Ho-cheol slowly blinked as he opened his eyes again.

His last memory was his strength completely draining away after Byeong-hoo’s surrender, causing his consciousness to just flicker out.

Still, the fact that my entire body ached as if being stabbed by knives meant I wasn’t dead.

Honestly, the situation was so serious that I would have accepted death with a thought like, ‘I knew this would happen the way you recklessly pushed your body.’

Even now, my condition hadn’t exactly improved from that time.

I sighed softly in relief internally.

I managed to survive somehow.

Because my vision was still blurry, I couldn’t clearly see anything.

After slowly closing and opening my eyes repeatedly, I could finally see ahead.

When I rolled my eyeballs left and right, I could finally understand my current state.

A pure white ceiling, an oxygen mask covering half my face.

All sorts of medications hanging on the wall were connected to my arm through tubes.

Considering the faint smell of disinfectant wafting through the mask, it was clear where this was without any further thought.

Yes.

It must be a hospital.

I wondered why my body was so heavy, and saw casts attached to my arms and legs.

I slowly got up and removed the mask and the IV needle from my body.

Of course, this shouldn’t be done for recovery or safety, but Ho-cheol still had many enemies remaining.

I was not so complacent as to allow medicine touched by others to enter my body while I was unconscious.

I reached for the call bell right next to me to summon a doctor, but Ho-cheol paused just before pressing the button.

Instead, he pulled back his outstretched hand and opened his palm in front of his eyes.

A palm tightly wrapped in bandages.

He flexed his hand repeatedly for a long time, then sighed and clenched his fist tightly again.

It was an expected situation, but facing it for real left a bitter taste.

When I pressed the call bell, doctors and nurses rushed into my hospital room shortly after.

After the doctors and nurses left, I got off the bed and walked out of the room.

In the hallway right outside, familiar faces were sitting lined up on the chairs attached to the wall.

Ji-an, Da-yeon, Ye-jin.

They had each been staring blankly at the ceiling, wall, or floor, but their eyes turned the moment the door opened.

They widened their eyes when they spotted Ho-cheol.

“Oh, ohh?”

“Professor!”

“Mister!”

The three of them shot up simultaneously and rushed toward Ho-cheol without needing to be first.

However, Ho-cheol moved first.

Ppa-ak—! Peok—!

He clenched his fist and struck the top of Ji-an and Da-yeon’s heads squarely.

“Aack!”

“Bbyak!”

The punch, delivered seriously and not as a joke, sent them both crashing down to crouch on the floor.

Ho-cheol spoke, looking at the two who were rubbing their heads with tears welling up in their eyes.

“Are you two crazy?”

It wasn’t because they rushed toward a patient.

“In that situation, if you interfered like that. You could have truly died!”

In fact, hadn’t Ji-an been hit directly by Byeong-hoo’s attack?

It was lucky that the attack method had converted to simple energy emission by then.

If Byeong-hoo had maintained the high-heat type, Ji-an would have almost died.

“I fought, even risking my life, to protect you, but if you interfere like that and end up dead. Do you think I’d be happy about that? Huh?”

Ho-cheol’s angry gaze shifted to Ye-jin, the only one still standing straight.

In that situation, I definitely saw frost settle on Byeong-hoo’s body.

How did a dying person manage to do such a thing?

“And you too. You were there.”

However, I couldn’t bring myself to hit Ye-jin, who was as severely injured as I was, as hard as the other two.

The visible bandages and wounds under her clothes, glimpsed below her clothes and around her crutches, honestly made me wonder why she was even here.

She should be obediently lying in a hospital bed.

In the end.

Ttak-kong—!

“Ow!”

The punishment ended with a light tap on her forehead with a curled index finger.

Seeing Ji-an and Da-yeon, who were slowly approaching again after the pain subsided somewhat, Ho-cheol sighed again.

The emotion following the anger was, naturally, worry.

“It was dangerous. If I had been even a moment late there, you two really could have died.”

“B-But. You looked really dangerous, Mister…”

Ji-an said, glancing at him defensively, as if making an excuse.

In truth, she also didn’t intend to interfere if Ho-cheol had been dominating Byeong-hoo all along.

No, there wouldn’t have been any reason to interfere.

She was secretly tailing him, after all.

She wondered how much trouble she would be in if he found out.

However, in that situation, if she hadn’t intervened, Ho-cheol truly might have died.

Thinking that…

“I feel a little wronged… More than you worry about me, I worry about you too.”

“Our positions are different. I’m your, and all of your…”

Ho-cheol looked briefly at the three of them and said.

“Guardian. If I, your Guardian, were protected by you, and you ended up getting hurt or dying, what would I do?”

Ho-cheol seemed aghast at the thought again and gave them each another gentle knuckle-punch on the head.

“So, that was the obvious punishment as your Guardian. And this is…”

Ho-cheol embraced the three of them tightly with both arms.

“My answer as the human Jeong Ho-cheol.”

The three hugged in his arms widened their eyes, startled by the completely unexpected situation.

Holding them tightly, Ho-cheol whispered softly.

“Thank you, truly.”

This gratitude wasn’t just because they bought him time and saved his life.

I was consumed by the compulsion to protect others, almost stepping away from the path of a human.

The only reason Ho-cheol could turn back from that wrong choice.

It was thanks to their sacrifice.

If it weren’t for that, even if I had defeated Byeong-hoo, I probably wouldn’t be able to face them as a person like this.

The Ho-cheol of the past had already stepped off the human path once.

At that time, I didn’t even realize it was wrong.

The situation, the people.

Everything was my enemy.

But this time, thanks to them, I could remain human.

Ho-cheol hugged them for a long time, then finally let them go.

Although Ye-jin’s condition was the most conspicuous, Da-yeon’s condition was also not good, even as a formality.

“You two. Stop lingering here and go quickly get treatment. What are you doing here?”

In the first place, receiving even half of the power of Smiley, Jeong Yu-hwa, was a considerable strain on the body for both of them.

It would be quite difficult to manage even in perfect condition, let alone with injuries.

The two looked like they wanted to spend more time with Ho-cheol, but they eventually gave up on seeing his firm attitude and returned to their hospital rooms.

“Heh heh heh. Now it’s just me, right?”

“And you? Don’t you need treatment?”

“I don’t have any major injuries.”

Ji-an smiled confidently.

Although she was directly hit by Byeong-hoo’s attack while buying time for Ho-cheol, her own capability was enough to overwhelm most S-ranks.

That kind of attack wasn’t enough to completely overwhelm her.

Ho-cheol plopped down onto the chair where Da-yeon had been sitting just moments ago.

Ji-an sat down next to him as if she had been waiting.

Ho-cheol thought for a moment and then asked Ji-an.

“Just now. That didn’t hurt much, did it?”

“No. It still throbs, but that’s about it. Didn’t you go easy on me anyway?”

“No. Relatively. To be honest, I hit you with nearly my full strength.”

At those words, Ji-an widened her eyes, genuinely surprised.

“…Mister, are you serious?”

“Yes.”

Ho-cheol clicked his tongue softly and raised his hand.

“My Trait isn’t coming out.”

It was different from the overclocking that occurs when a Trait is used beyond its limit.

I forcibly drew out an output equivalent to Transcendence without going through the process of monsterization.

Ho-cheol finally realized the nature of the phenomenon.

Perhaps the Trait output doesn’t get stronger through monsterization, but the body transforms like a monster to adapt to the strengthened output.

The difference in this order was completely different in nature.

And since I forcibly endured the Trait output that couldn’t be withstood without monsterization, while maintaining my human form.

It was only natural for the Trait to malfunction.

“…Mister.”

Ji-an looked at Ho-cheol, teary-eyed.

She knew better than anyone how terrible and miserable it was for a Trait to disappear.

In some cases, people even committed suicide out of despair when their Trait vanished.

“Don’t look at me with that expression. Right now, the circuits are just a bit twisted. If I rest enough, it will eventually come back.”

I just couldn’t gauge how long that period would be, but the Trait itself hadn’t disappeared.

All I needed to do was live normally until the Trait fully recovered.

Now that the Byeong-hoo incident was over, there probably wouldn’t be any more truly dangerous battles.

The only thing that was a bit disappointing was…

“At this rate, I’m done being a professor.”

How could I be a professor without being able to use my Trait?

At those words, Ji-an brightened up and exclaimed.

“Then I’ll support you in the meantime!”

“You? What, are you going to rob a bank for money?”

“Oh, come on. No way. I’ll be self-sufficient with the vegetable garden.”

Ho-cheol chuckled.

Come to think of it, her Trait, which allowed her to grow all sorts of plants without spending a penny, was infinitely specialized for saving on living expenses, especially food costs.

Ji-an was now shaking Ho-cheol’s arm gently.

“Let’s move to a quiet countryside and live just the two of us. Hmm? How about it?”

“Nonsense.”

It wasn’t Ho-cheol who answered Ji-an’s suggestion.

“Coaxing him like that is a violation of the agreement.”

Ho-cheol and Ji-an’s heads simultaneously turned towards the voice.

So-hee, with her arms crossed, approached quickly and stood in front of Ho-cheol.

She had heard that Ho-cheol had woken up, but she had only just returned after negotiating with the hospital and the Association regarding Ho-cheol’s hospitalization.

She looked down at him with a sulky expression.

“Do you remember the promise?”

“…Probably.”

Despite the slightly ambiguous answer, Ho-cheol definitely remembered the promise.

To come back without a single scratch, completely unharmed.

And now, I was neither unharmed nor had I fully returned.

It would be difficult to say I kept the promise in this state.

“If you woke up, I was planning to slap you right away. But seeing you so injured like this, I just can’t bring myself to do it.”

So-hee bit her lip as she looked at him.

“Do you know how worried and angry I was when I heard you almost died? You should have told me it was dangerous. You said it was nothing when you left this morning, that it was something you could easily resolve, just like always.”

“…I did.”

So-hee’s breathing grew ragged.

Her eyes quickly turned bloodshot as she continued speaking.

“…I was singing a happy tune in the bath. While you were fighting for your life, on the brink of death, I was. I was!”

What So-hee couldn’t forgive right now wasn’t Ho-cheol, who barely survived and returned battered, but herself, who spent the day happily, unaware of it.

Deep betrayal was evident in her pitifully trembling voice.

Ho-cheol struggled to speak for a long time.

If she had just cursed at me, I could have simply accepted it all.

However, the emotions So-hee was feeling now were completely the opposite.

Finally, after a long silence, he managed to open his mouth.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize.”

So-hee’s expression became complicated at his apology.

Of course, she couldn’t hide these hurt feelings and let them burst out, but that didn’t mean she wanted to hear Ho-cheol’s apology.

So-hee took a step forward, drawing closer to Ho-cheol.

Then, she pulled his head toward her and embraced him to her chest while he sat in the chair.

Disappointed in Ho-cheol, angry at him, disappointed in herself, angry at herself.

But those emotions were all temporary.

Right now, she was just grateful that he had returned alive.

“I’m really glad you’re alive. Truly.”

“I’m sorry.”

Ho-cheol apologized again.

With Ho-cheol in a seated position, his face was completely pressed against So-hee’s chest.

Naturally, his voice sounded muffled.

Looking down at the top of his head, So-hee said.

“At times like this, instead of what you want to say, I wish you would say what I want to hear.”

“Ah.”

Ho-cheol uttered a foolish sound for a moment.

To hear words that he usually only said, but reversed, was a surprise.

Ho-cheol said what he really should have said, instead of an apology.

“Thank you.”

“It’s okay. What else is there to be sorry or grateful for between us?”

“But could you let go now? I’m starting to feel suffocated.”

No matter how thick the knitwear she was wearing was, being held this tightly made it hard to breathe.

The feeling was also quite embarrassing.

“No. I’m going to stay like this for ten more minutes.”

Then I really might die.

Fortunately, the situation ended with a nurse scolding her, asking what she was doing to a patient.

***

The next day, people came to visit Ho-cheol in the hospital.

Not only Da-yeon and Ye-jin, who were practically regulars now, but also the Dean and everyone Ho-cheol had become somewhat acquainted with had shown their faces at least once.

And the final visitors today were people who were hard to welcome.

As if to boast that they were Association employees, the ID cards hanging around their necks rattled every time they moved.

“Villain Jeong Ho-cheol.”

Standing beside Ho-cheol’s hospital bed, they took out a sheet of paper and unfolded it, holding the top edge.

“You are being arrested for the act of city center terrorism.”

So-hee, who had been sitting in the chair next to him, peeling fruit, dropped the paring knife she was holding.

“Wait a minute! He’s a patient who needs absolute rest! And more importantly, city center terrorism!”

What kind of ridiculous nonsense was this!

Although she belonged to the same Association, she hadn’t heard anything about this.

In the first place, if they had eyes and noses, wasn’t it entirely thanks to Ho-cheol’s sacrifice that this incident was resolved?

Unlike So-hee, who shouted in surprise, Ho-cheol was composed.

He closed the book he was reading, got off the bed, and gave a slight nod.

“Alright. Let’s go.”

Far from expressing surprise or displeasure, he moved too obediently according to their wishes, as if he had been waiting for this situation.

No, he actually was waiting.

The greatest responsibility for this incident lay with Byeong-hoo, but he wasn’t the only one.

There were still plenty of culprits who needed to be held accountable.

In fact, he had worried that they might run away, but surely people like that wouldn’t have caused trouble in the first place.

Let’s see what kind of final struggle they have prepared.