Academys Villain Professor Chapter 298

[ … words ]

Of course, Ho-cheol had his own reasons for being willing to comply, but…

So-hee shot up from her seat and spread her arms to block Ho-cheol.

“Absolutely! I won’t let you go!”

Her expression was so resolute it was almost tearful.

Considering she had nearly sent Ho-cheol to his death by letting him go carelessly just two days ago, it would have been strange for her not to object.

Ho-cheol forced a wry smile at the completely unexpected obstruction.

The Association staff also looked quite flustered.

“Agent So-hee. No matter who you are, shielding a villain is…”

“Don’t you know Article 13, Paragraph 33 of the Association’s internal regulations regarding villain arrests?”

So-hee shouted vehemently.

“Oh, that sounded quite professional just now, didn’t it?”

Ho-cheol admired her.

She seemed surprisingly knowledgeable in this area when she needed to be.

In any case, I appreciated her concern, but I had a plan.

It would be troublesome if things got complicated here.

Ho-cheol raised his hand and gently pressed down on So-hee’s arms.

Seeing So-hee still holding her arms out as wide as possible, Ho-cheol whispered in her ear.

“It’s really okay this time. I’m not going to fight, and I’m going with a definite safety measure in place.”

“That’s just your own delusion. How do you know what they’ll do!”

Although they were going to the Hero Association, So-hee had now clearly realized what a messed-up organization the Association was.

It wouldn’t be strange if they called in the now-powerless Ho-cheol and simply put a bullet in his head.

No, they were definitely calling him in to do just that.

For them, solving most of the problems currently facing them could be achieved simply by getting rid of Ho-cheol.

“Hmm.”

Ho-cheol narrowed his eyebrows as if genuinely troubled, then returned to normal.

Honestly, I could easily push her away by force and proceed with the plan, but such a cruel act against So-hee felt quite uneasy.

After a brief moment of thought, Ho-cheol finally took decisive action.

He moved the hands that were pressing down on her arms inward and placed them on her shoulders.

“If you can’t trust my verbal promise.”

So-hee still sent a resolute and determined gaze, showing no intention of moving aside.

Ho-cheol chuckled at her expression and leaned his head forward.

When his face first drew close, So-hee thought Ho-cheol was just going to whisper something important to her.

In fact, that had happened several times before.

However.

This time was different.

The face approaching her didn’t veer off course even as it came close, approaching directly until the very end.

And then, they collided.

Skin met skin.

So-hee’s eyes widened more than ever at the soft sensation.

Her resolute expression from moments ago was now replaced by embarrassment and fluster, turning bright red instead of determination.

“I even put a stamp on it this time.”

“Hi-hyueuung?”

So-hee made a foolish noise.

Their faces moved apart, and Ho-cheol, whose lips were redder than before, moved So-hee to the side.

She was unable to resist, blankly moving where he led her and slumping down onto the hospital bed.

“Well, let’s go quickly while she’s distracted.”

The Association staff looked somewhat dumbfounded, but nonetheless, driven by their duty to execute the mission, they pretended not to notice and put handcuffs on Ho-cheol’s wrist.

Reports occasionally surfaced that their relationship was suspicious, but they never thought it was this suspicious.

Immediately after Ho-cheol left, So-hee finally touched her lips with her fingertips.

This warmth and sensation was neither a dream nor an illusion.

“Ah? Eh? Oh?”

She could only repeat foolish sounds.

***

Ho-cheol was dragged, perhaps naturally, not to the temporary detention center where villains are normally taken, but to the basement of the Association Headquarters.

A warrant was issued, and immediately they whisked him away like this.

It only showed how ridiculous the Association was.

In a secret, hidden room in the Association basement.

Ho-cheol looked around the spacious interior and murmured in admiration.

The entire wall surface was plastered with metal that absorbs Traits.

That metal was so expensive, this was such a waste of money.

In the first place, the Association didn’t have a room like this, nor any reason to exist.

They probably rushed to build it.

To kill me.

“Thorough in preparation.”

The agents who brought him disappeared, and Ho-cheol was left alone in the dark room.

He straightened his clothes while still wearing the handcuffs.

So far, things were going according to plan.

In fact, if things got complicated, it would be quite difficult for Ho-cheol.

Until now, if things didn’t flow in the desired direction, I could forcibly adjust the trajectory through sheer power.

But now, I had lost all that strength.

I relied not on power, but on my past experience, judgment, and the malice of humans.

How much time passed like that?

Kii-eek—

The door opened.

And in came all the Bureau Directors of the Hero Association.

No, all of them except for the Legal Department Bureau Director, who had betrayed them.

Ho-cheol scoffed when he saw them.

“Well now. Quite menacing, aren’t we.”

The weapons in their hands.

The guns and knives suggested they weren’t here for a casual chat and laughs.

They simply glared at Ho-cheol without speaking.

“You’re relaxed. Didn’t I hear you can’t use your Trait right now?”

“Why. There’s no need to be anxious just because I can’t use my Trait, is there? This is the Hero Association Headquarters, of all places. It should be safe here. I thought so just now. So why bring such deadly objects?”

Unable to listen to Ho-cheol’s sarcasm any longer, one of the Bureau Directors raised a gun and aimed the barrel at Ho-cheol.

Tang—!

“Aow, shit.”

Ho-cheol turned his head and looked at his shoulder.

A hole was cleanly punched through his right shoulder, blood flowing out.

“Let’s just kill him quickly. There’s nothing good about drawing this out by listening to him.”

The Bureau Director who just pulled the trigger now raised his gun and aimed accurately at Ho-cheol’s temple.

“This is troublesome.”

Ho-cheol muttered sincerely.

Of course, the gun barrel in front of me wasn’t the problem.

I was just worried that So-hee would thoroughly yell at me again.

“…It seems you genuinely intend to kill me.”

Ho-cheol muttered with a serious expression.

And then, he asked, as if unable to understand.

“But why did you personally step forward? Didn’t you go to great lengths to avoid getting blood on your own hands?”

Of course, Ho-cheol knew the answer to that question.

Just two days ago, Ho-cheol eliminated all the military forces the Bureau Directors operated personally.

Having lost the teams that were absolutely loyal to them, they had no choice but to move directly.

The Bureau Directors also knew well.

If they entrusted this job to other subordinates, the cleanup afterward would be considerably difficult.

Even if the job was handled cleanly, silencing them would be a burden, and given Ho-cheol’s subtle eloquence—no, it wasn’t even subtle.

If a person just offered an unimaginable sum of money, anyone would take Ho-cheol’s side.

“But none of you are Hero-born. You all rose up as external experts in your respective fields, didn’t you?”

Surprisingly, the Association was extremely wary of giving power to Heroes.

Whether it was because they feared the emergence of an absolute leader who could control both the Association and the Heroes, or simply to divide the power among themselves.

There was no way to know, but it was clear considering only one of the Bureau Directors was a Hero-born.

“The reason you want to kill me is because I can’t use my Trait right now. If that’s truly the only reason, then I’m quite disappointed.”

“Ah, there’s nothing more to talk about. Let’s just kill him right now.”

Cheol-keok—

Their opponent was Jeong Ho-cheol.

It wouldn’t be strange for him to be up to some kind of trick again.

He was openly talking, seemingly stalling for time.

If they got caught up in it, the plan might get twisted again.

They drew their weapons and aimed at Ho-cheol.

The discussion was already over; seven of them would simultaneously cut off Ho-cheol’s breath.

All the weapons they held were special weapons imbued with Traits.

They were originally used by villains and confiscated by the Association, and these were the seven best performing weapons out of the hundreds and thousands seized.

No matter how outstanding Ho-cheol was, it was impossible to dodge or block all seven weapons in this narrow room while wearing handcuffs.

“People sometimes make a mistake. They think Traits are omnipotent. Well, they are close to omnipotent, and they are indeed the most dangerous problem to be wary of, but even so.”

Ho-cheol lightly tapped his heart area with his index finger.

Even though I only tapped my clothes, a tak-tak sound was heard, as if something hard was hidden underneath.

“You shouldn’t completely ignore science and technology, you know?”

The first to have an ominous thought was the Bureau Director of Finance.

He hurriedly grabbed Ho-cheol’s collar and tore his outer shirt open.

Boo-uk—

And between Ho-cheol’s shirt and its lining, a finger-sized camera plop—fell out.

The Bureau Directors froze.

“I bet you’re thinking, ‘It’s recording, so let’s destroy it first.’

—Don’t have such a foolish thought. It’s being broadcast in real-time.”

“Broadcast?”

“Yes. By now, my subordinates would have occupied a broadcasting station and relayed the entire situation nationwide.”

Ho-cheol smirked, leaning his back against the wall.

“How does it feel to debut as a superstar criminal?”

“Y-You’re lying!”

The Bureau Director who first shot Ho-cheol shouted in anger, aiming his gun at Ho-cheol’s temple.

However, Ho-cheol was unfazed.

He even raised his hand and grabbed the gun in a mocking gesture.

“Fake anger. Fake threat. Don’t you know who you can pull that on?”

Ho-cheol could state with certainty.

The opponent would never pull that trigger.

All their actions and choices were made under calculation.

From letting him out to collaborating with Byeong-hoo, and even bringing him in to kill him today.

They continuously crunched the numbers and determined that this was more profitable.

They would never do anything that resulted in a loss.

This was the common behavioral principle shared by all the Bureau Directors.

They couldn’t tolerate even the smallest loss.

This was an obsession and madness greater than Ho-cheol’s own obsession with human life.

“Right now, you’re just attempting murder, but if you pull that and decide to become a sole murderer. Go ahead and pull it. The other Bureau Directors would be thrilled. Some sucker who couldn’t control his emotions takes the fall for everyone.”

The Bureau Director gnashed his lips for a long time before lowering the gun.

Ho-cheol was right.

There was a reason they had been trying to simultaneously cut off his breath in the end.

If someone took the initiative and killed Ho-cheol, only that Bureau Director would suffer the loss.

Everyone wanted to share the responsibility.

The gun barrel aimed at his head disappeared, and Ho-cheol turned his head to look at the other Bureau Directors.

“Don’t scheme. Well, you could insist that this video itself was manipulated. But I have no intention of going easy this time.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Just like before. This time too, we will surely…”

“No, this is different from before. The government drew a sword too.”

“…What?”

The Bureau Director asked back, genuinely flustered by Ho-cheol’s words.

“I told you. I won’t be lenient this time. Until now, I had uses for you, and I hadn’t fully exhausted your resources, so I acted mildly. But now you’ve truly been stripped bare. I have absolutely no reason to go easy on you now.”

In fact, if Ho-cheol had truly made up his mind, he could have easily had the heads of the Association executives roll.

But that would only be a temporary stopgap measure.

It would only amount to cutting off the visible rotten part.

The larger, unseen core would remain rotten.

If that part wasn’t perfectly dealt with, it would start rotting from that area again for life.

That’s why Ho-cheol always left a loophole, a way to retreat, for the Association side.

Only then would they use the power, the future, and everything they had accumulated for decades to struggle to survive without completely fleeing or going into hiding.

And in that state, stripped bare.

To devour them in a situation where they could no longer escape.

And today was the day.

Even the information that I couldn’t use my Trait was something Ho-cheol could have kept a secret if he had set his mind to it.

But he deliberately didn’t hide it.

Because if the bait wasn’t this tempting, he wouldn’t have been able to lure out these people, who were actively trying to keep a low profile.

“That’s nonsense! Why would the government side with someone like you!”

“What do you mean, nonsense?”

After guaranteeing Heroes maximum independent authority and activity, they were fighting among themselves internally.

How aghast must the government have been seeing that?

While they were contemplating how to handle it, Ho-cheol approached, offering to normalize everything, so the government had no reason to refuse.

In addition to that.

“Have you seen anything in this world that money can’t buy?”

Ho-cheol smiled confidently and stood up from the bed.

The urgent sound of footsteps approaching from a distance was like the tolling bell announcing the final moments of the Bureau Directors.