Academys Villain Professor Chapter 299

[ … words ]

The crowd that rushed in was not the Association’s internal staff, but the Heroes who usually viewed the Association with uncomfortable scrutiny.

This entire setup had been planned by Ho-cheol from the start.

He had requested them to wait nearby so they could storm in simultaneously with the broadcast, so it was no surprise that they arrived at the Association at the perfect time.

Of course, if Ho-cheol moved directly, he would be monitored, and the Heroes’ positions would become awkward.

So, he communicated with the Sword Demon through Wolf Fang, who had visited him on the pretext of checking on him yesterday.

No matter how intensely the Association monitored him, they couldn’t attach tails to the dozen or so visitors who had been to the hospital.

Since the Association didn’t have the authority to stop Heroes, they were able to descend to the basement with great ease.

They looked at the Bureau Directors, who were still holding weapons, and shouted.

“Based on Article 3, Paragraph 31 of the Hero Current Law! For attempted murder and…”

Simultaneously, they all converged, snatching the weapons and pulling the Bureau Directors’ arms.

Of course, the Bureau Directors were completely unable to react.

They were so preoccupied with the news that the government was moving that they couldn’t even think about anything else.

The concepts of Hero and Villain were ultimately nothing more than powerful neighborhood bullies and a civilian defense force in the face of the truly overwhelming power and military might of the state.

Hunters and monsters were perhaps treated as no more than wild animals and a game warden.

Ho-cheol shrugged his shoulders, looking at the Bureau Directors.

“Well, I did spread some money around, but that’s not the only reason. You guys were just so hated.”

When the concept of Awakeners first appeared, the government was preoccupied with solving the monster and Gate problems, so it completely entrusted public order to the Heroes.

Although they were forced to overlook the Association’s growth because they had successfully managed their public image and received the full support of the citizens, it was natural for the government to want to nationalize the Association, a massive powerful and concessionary organization.

However, recent repeated disturbances had shaken the Association’s support.

Furthermore, Ho-cheol made a deal with the government: he would handle all the cumbersome and labor-intensive work, and all the merit and profit would be attributed to the state.

For the government, which found the existence of the Association profoundly inconvenient but couldn’t bring itself to operate on it due to its symbolic importance and criticality, this was something to welcome with open arms.

As they were being dragged out of the room, one of the Bureau Directors belatedly regained his senses and shouted at Ho-cheol in a desperate outburst.

“Don’t be ridiculous! You were just lucky!”

It wasn’t just that he couldn’t accept the current situation of their capture; Ho-cheol’s overly relaxed and confident demeanor infuriated him further.

“Don’t act as if you anticipated all of this! Don’t act as if you watched all our decisions and actions from some infinitely high vantage point!”

At those words, Ho-cheol stood up from his spot and stood in front of him.

As Ho-cheol tilted his head as if encouraging him to talk more, the Bureau Director raised a vein in his neck and yelled.

“You only succeeded because you were lucky, and everything just happened to fall into place perfectly! Don’t think you succeeded through your own skill!”

“Why do you think that?”

Ho-cheol scratched his cheek as if he was slightly baffled.

He had considered a few contingencies for a final outburst, but he hadn’t anticipated such denial of reality and attempts to belittle his plan.

And their misunderstanding was truly laughable.

“Is it because this room had no signal? Is it because I was lucky enough not to be body-searched, so the camera I hid in my clothes wasn’t discovered? Is it because I, who lost my Trait, docilely allowed myself to be captured? Is it because you didn’t kill me before the Heroes burst in? Do you think all these factors are simply due to my good luck and an artistic overlap of timing?”

Ho-cheol leaned his head forward and smiled faintly.

“You thought that gathering all of you to kill me, who had lost my Trait, in this perfectly prepared room, was your plan, didn’t you? Actually, it wasn’t quite that.”

Then, he lifted the veil and revealed the utterly preposterous truth to them.

“I devised this plan first. I structured it, controlled the flow, and executed it. I came first, and you merely followed along.”

The Bureau Director blinked, confused by the incomprehensible words.

“You really don’t get it? The weapons you brought, they’re confiscated items from villains, aren’t they? They’re all things meant to ensure my death, like increased power, defense penetration, or non-healing effects, right? But they’re all fake.”

“What?”

“Where do you think they all came from? And can you trust the employee who appraised their performance and the Traits attached? In fact, they are just ordinary weapons without any of those things; you simply accepted it based on the employee’s appraisal report.”

The special item appraiser within the Association was a spy planted by Ho-cheol from the start.

Ho-cheol looked around and pointed at the wall.

“And this room? Who built it?”

In the first place, such a room did not exist in the Association’s basement.

The Bureau Directors hastily constructed it upon receiving the information that Ho-cheol had lost his Trait.

Obtaining Trait suppression metal and constructing the facility left traces, making it impossible through legitimate channels.

“To build an illegal facility, you must have used an unregistered contractor. The black market and back alleys are overflowing with people who specialize in illegal work. Among them, those who are tight-lipped and deal with special Gate metals are extremely few.”

Ho-cheol counted on his fingers for a moment.

“It comes out to about five people, right? And all of them, I manage them.”

The contractors using special Gate materials in the back alleys were already on a list Ho-cheol had secured and controlled.

He tapped the wall with his palm.

“So don’t be disappointed. Even if you had requested an anti-signal effect, I would have secretly removed it anyway.”

After that, Ho-cheol explained the plan he had devised.

From the smallest movement of a single employee to the judgment calls of the Bureau Directors.

As his explanation continued, the Bureau Directors’ expressions turned darker.

The means they thought they were using to control variables were actually all part of Ho-cheol’s plan.

“Wow, I understand why villains explain their entire plan. My dopamine is surging while I explain this.”

Ho-cheol, who finished his explanation with a refreshed expression, nodded.

“So I told you. You simply followed the plan I devised first.”

In fact, this plan was much more complex and meticulous than Ho-cheol’s usual schemes.

Originally, there was one thing he uniquely didn’t consider when structuring these kinds of plans.

His own safety.

He could just endure or take on a certain level of risk and damage as he saw fit.

But since he had promised not to get hurt anymore, the plan naturally became more complicated.

One Bureau Director asked in a trembling voice.

“If. If your plan had gone wrong even slightly?”

“Then that would be unfortunate. I would just have to reorganize the whole thing, wouldn’t I?”

Ho-cheol asked the Bureau Director who had first become enraged about luck and chance again.

“Do you still think I succeeded because I was lucky?”

The Bureau Director couldn’t bring himself to answer.

Ho-cheol, covering his mouth with his hand, looked less like a person and more like something else in human form.

“…M-Monster.”

“I’m human. I went through all that trouble to stay human, so I’d be offended if you called me a monster.”

The Bureau Director of Finance, who had been silently listening to Ho-cheol’s boasts, asked.

“Since when. Since when have you been drawing this picture?”

Ho-cheol answered without a moment’s hesitation.

“From the very beginning.”

That beginning wasn’t just the moment when his relationship with them went sour.

“When you came all the way to me with your little ‘deal’ while I was quietly counting ceiling stains and doing well.”

The Legal Department Bureau Director visited Ho-cheol at Zero—Chain, where he was imprisoned, seeking a meeting and offering his release in exchange for a deal.

At that moment, Ho-cheol had already drawn the big picture of this entire situation.

The Association had been rotten for ten years anyway, and things wouldn’t change just because he stepped outside.

Although the detailed process and form might be slightly different, the scene where everyone would witness their ugly true faces was exactly as Ho-cheol intended.

“I regret it. We should never have let a villain like you out.”

“I agree.”

Ho-cheol added, watching them finally being dragged away.

“Oh, Wednesday is No Leftovers Day, so they serve a quite edible menu. Try asking for a lot of rice then. They give you 20% more.”

He didn’t forget his advice as a Zero—Chain senior.

***

After receiving appropriate first aid for the gunshot wound on my shoulder, I returned to the hospital.

I received a bucketful of insults from So-hee for punching one more hole in my body in just a few hours, but it was less than I expected.

It seemed the special move I pulled just before leaving worked quite well.

I should use it more often when I’m in trouble.

And two days later.

Ho-cheol, who had fully recovered except for his Trait still not coming out, was discharged from the hospital.

Only on the day of his discharge did he check who was in the adjacent room and gasped in disbelief.

“The perpetrator and the victim were hospitalized just separated by a wall? Isn’t that too insensitive?”

“Who’s the perpetrator?”

“Naturally, that crazy guy.”

Ho-cheol pointed through the window installed in the door. Lying on that hospital bed was Byeong-hoo.

“And why wasn’t he arrested?”

“Because his injuries are much more severe than yours, Ho-cheol. They said it would be difficult to even transport him.”

“That serious?”

This was a somewhat surprising result for Ho-cheol.

I don’t recall inflicting injuries severe enough for him to require an oxygen mask for almost a week.

“No. I don’t know exactly either. They said it wasn’t an internal or external injury caused by the fight, but a side effect that occurred as his body completely changed and then reverted.”

“Ah.”

Hearing So-hee’s answer, Ho-cheol also let out a small sigh of realization.

It wasn’t an external injury or internal organ damage from Trait overuse.

Even now, he was merely maintaining a human shape, but his internal organs and body structure were said to be different from a human’s.

Could it be that a person who has reached the realm beyond Transcendence, even once, can never truly return to being a complete human?

Even if they did return, how much effort and sacrifice would follow?

Of course, essence is more important than appearance, but the problem was that this change even altered his essence to that of a monster.

“Still.”

Ho-cheol sighed with a complicated expression, looking at the still unconscious Byeong-hoo.

Placing his hand on the window, he muttered.

“I hope he can return to being human again.”

Ho-cheol was subtly comparing himself to Byeong-hoo.

If he had lost someone dear and hadn’t been able to rise again, he wouldn’t have been much different from him.

He was a different, failed future version of himself.

I could fully understand the emotions he felt and the mindset he moved with.

He quickly glanced around the hospital room.

Being in the intensive care unit, it was naturally clean.

But apart from that, there was absolutely no sign of human presence.

It was quite different from his own room, which had been constantly visited by people bringing gifts.

“Well, there wouldn’t be anyone to visit him anyway.”

Ho-cheol’s gaze lowered to the items in his hand.

The pile of bottled drinks and health tonics that accumulated as get-well gifts.

There were so many that he couldn’t carry them all, so he had distributed them to other patients, doctors, and nurses.

The only thing left was the item he was carrying.

Scratching the back of his head, Ho-cheol ignored the “Authorized Personnel Only” sign and arbitrarily opened the door and stepped inside.

Byeong-hoo was still unconscious with his eyes closed.

Ho-cheol sighed again, looking at him.

“Tsk. Poor fellow.”

Then, he placed a gift set of drinks on top of the refrigerator.

“Get well soon. And live a good life from now on.”

As if he had heard that, Byeong-hoo, who had been unconscious until now, slowly opened his eyes and turned his head toward Ho-cheol.

He barely managed to raise his trembling arm and flipped him the middle finger.

Ho-cheol, not to be outdone, raised both hands and returned two middle fingers.

***

Ho-cheol returned to his lodging in Clington after a long time and looked around the house with a strange expression.

“Hmm.”

As expected, thanks to So-hee and Ji-an diligently maintaining it, it was spotless.

As he stood blankly in the entryway, So-hee and Ji-an, who were standing behind him, asked with curiosity.

“What’s wrong?”

“No. Just… realizing it’s already been a year since I lived here.”

Although the actual time spent here was shorter due to long absences in between, his heart had always remained in this house.

“I think this is truly where I belong. My mind is completely at ease.”

He took off his shoes and spoke briefly.

“I’m home.”

“Are you really here to stay now?”

“I guess so?”

He answered So-hee’s question casually, but a shiver suddenly ran down his spine.

His sixth sense, trained through countless near-death experiences, suddenly sent out a danger signal.

It was the feeling he only got when the most fatal and overwhelming danger was imminent, not just simple danger.

His neck creaked as he slowly turned around.

So-hee slowly closed the front door.

Kung— Cheol-keok— Chal-kak— Kii-eek—

Closing the door, turning the lock, and securing the bolt.

As if that wasn’t enough, at Ji-an’s gesture, the plants standing on the shoe rack began to grow sluggishly, tightly blocking the door.

So no one could enter.

And no one could leave.

After completely barricading the door, the look in both of their eyes as they stared at Ho-cheol was of a dangerous kind he had never seen before.

He wondered if he would be tormented by these two for at least a few days.

That worry slowly crept up.

At that moment, So-hee smiled brightly.

“Your expression suggests you thought we’d torment you merrily for a few days. Surely we wouldn’t do that.”

Ho-cheol felt a little relieved by her statement, but he immediately despaired at the words that followed.

“We’re going to torment you together for at least half a month.”

“That’s not nearly enough. One month. One month of no going out! Even if we have to go out, we’ll go together!”

Ji-an chimed in agreement.

“Wow.”

Ho-cheol quietly exclaimed in admiration.

Although it was doubtful if that single word of despair could be called admiration.

“…Save me.”

“No.”

So-hee smiled and grabbed one of his arms.

Ho-cheol, who couldn’t use his Trait right now, would find it difficult to shake off even So-hee’s strength, let alone Ji-an’s.

Ho-cheol’s piteous scream as he was dragged away leaked out through the entryway.