Chapter 152: Hero (3)
The cheers that had filled the area were nowhere to be found.
All that remained were the sound of chalk tapping against the blackboard and the professor’s dry voice.
The day after hearing my na chanted for the first ti in my life, I had returned—almost like a lie—to an utterly ordinary routine.
It seed that a certain level of screening had already been completed, because the curriculum had now been fully reorganized into sothing befitting a hero academy.
Even so, the titles of the textbooks we were using felt slightly unfamiliar.
[Introduction to Hero Studies]
What is a hero?
What does it an to be a hero?
A basic required course that taught the lofty ideals and history behind the concept.
I glanced absentmindedly at the seat beside .
The guy who would normally be chatting nonstop before class and subtly causing trouble even during lectures was nowhere to be seen, and the absence left an oddly quiet feeling.
‘He said he was skipping the morning classes.’
Do Haru had decided to take the entire morning off.
Apparently, since his siblings had been in danger at yesterday’s terror site, he planned to stay with them today.
Just looking at the ssage he sent that morning made his condition obvious enough.
[DoDay (Do Haru): Jinwoo, seriously, thank you so much. I will serve you as my lifelong benefactor. Really… really… thank you for saving my kids. I will buy you sothing delicious later! No, just tell what you want! I will do anything! As long as it is within my ansㅠㅠ My mom and dad keep saying how grateful they are to you too…….]
A wall of praise that completely filled the ssage window—sothing that could only be described as very Do Haru-like.
Even yesterday at the scene, he had been sobbing uncontrollably and clinging to my pant leg as if he were about to bow in gratitude. His sincerity was beyond doubt.
‘Well, it is a good outco.’
He had nearly lost his siblings.
Thinking about it now, it was fortunate that I went there.
Setting aside the fact that I ended up being dragged into another ss during what was supposed to be my hard-earned rest, at least people were saved because of it.
And the ones I saved were Do Haru’s siblings, no less.
Do Haru might currently look like a screw-loose ss drowning himself in dramas and comics, but fundantally, he was a textbook example of a late bloor Phantasmal Beast Summoner.
His growth potential was enormous—like an un-scratched lottery ticket.
Putting a large debt on soone like that was a pretty solid investnt.
‘And I do owe him an apology, too.’
Twice already, he had spent entire days running in and out of the restroom because of .
This incident cleared away a fair bit of that lingering guilt.
“…Therefore, rescue activities conducted by unlicensed and unauthorized individuals are, in principle, restricted.”
At that mont, the old professor’s voice cut through my thoughts.
He pushed his glasses up and pointed his baton at the holographic materials floating in the air.
“Unverified ard intervention can worsen confusion at the scene and lead to even greater loss of life. You must not forget your status as cadets and recklessly rush into disaster sites—”
‘In principle.’
He was not wrong.
The state managed heroes through a licensing system precisely to control those who wielded power.
But principles on paper were always a beat behind reality.
Just yesterday proved that.
If I had obediently followed the rules and done nothing, the Doies and countless other civilians might have beco crawler fodder before Slashhamr ever arrived.
‘That is probably why they apply it so loosely.’
I received no penalties at all for what I did yesterday.
Naturally so. Punishing soone for saving lives would be absurd.
Still, a governnt official handling the aftermath did say this much:
“This ti, you were lucky, but please be careful from now on.”
‘In other words, if it feels like too much, know when to pull back. Do not make it a problem.’
Either way, since things turned out well, the crisis beca an opportunity.
Aside from Do Haru’s ssages about yesterday, there was one more.
[Team Leader Kang Junyoung: Cadet Ryu Jinwoo, the settlent amount related to the ‘Mangwon Gate Incident’ is scheduled to be paid tomorrow. Please confirm.]
A suspicious ssage ntioning money, from soone I had never heard of, with the title Team Leader.
At a glance, it looked like phishing.
Surprisingly, every part of it was real.
To understand how I ended up receiving this ssage, I had to go back to the mont when the incident wrapped up and the site was being secured.
***
“How do you feel? Exhilarating, right?”
After finishing the spectacle in front of the civilians, Slashhamr asked .
“My first thought is that it feels sudden.”
There was no helping it.
‘Ryu Jinwoo! Ryu Jinwoo! Ryu Jinwoo!’
How was I supposed to feel when people were chanting my na like that?
At least for , it was unbearably awkward.
“Hah. Of course it is sudden. Gates open suddenly too, do they not?”
“That is a little different.”
“Just enjoy it as it is. That is what people like us do. After this, you go empty a bottle of liquor, and that is life. How about it? Want a drink?”
“…I am wearing a school uniform.”
I was a minor, no matter how you looked at it.
Academy student or not, alcohol was obviously forbidden.
“Then drink cola or sothing. Anyway, that aside.”
Slashhamr scanned the area, looking for soone.
By now, a field recovery team from the Hero Association had arrived and was collecting the crawler corpses.
Cleanly killed demonic beasts were transported as they were, while severely damaged ones were dismantled on-site before being moved.
In the process, foul bodily fluids burst out, filling the air with a thick stench.
I was newly grateful that, in reality, I did not have to handle filth directly.
As Slashhamr surveyed the scene, he suddenly shouted.
“There he is! Hey! Team Leader Kang! Co over here!”
At his booming voice, a man in a neat suit who had been directing the site hurried over.
“Yes, Slashhamr. Is there a problem?”
“It is about this.”
Slashhamr jerked his chin toward the pile of crawler corpses.
“The corpses? Do not worry. We are handling them at the highest standard so that the venom sacs do not rupture.”
“That is not what I an. If we take everything, it feels a bit off.”
He pointed his thumb at .
“This kid helped take them down too. I think we should split the distribution.”
Team Leader Kang scratched his head awkwardly.
“Ah, well… the demonic beasts in this section are under a contract for full recovery by our guild. In principle, it is difficult to hand byproducts over to outsiders.”
“Haaah, co on. Principles, my ass.”
Slashhamr tapped his chest impatiently.
“Should not the ones who caught them take them? This kid took down plenty. Are you really going to wipe your mouth clean and walk away?”
“That may be so, but he is not a registered hero. Instead, we can calculate the maximum ‘Citizen Cooperation Reward’ according to regulations—”
“How much do you think that asly reward is worth? This kid pulled his weight!”
At Slashhamr’s shout, Team Leader Kang flinched and stepped back.
To be fair, Team Leader Kang was not wrong.
In exchange for rapid deploynt and information support through the guild system, ownership of the spoils went to the guild, which then redistributed them to heroes.
That was how settlents worked for demonic beast hunting.
For outsiders, a modest reporting reward was usually the norm.
But Slashhamr refused to budge.
“No, that is for people who just happen to help a little. This kid fought with us as part of the party. He has a share. A share! Hey, sharpshooter! You recorded everything with the body cam, right?”
As if to drive the point ho, he turned to the sniper woman who had been cleaning her gun.
“Everything is recorded. Including you flexing your muscles like an idiot in the middle of the battlefield.”
She answered indifferently as she removed her goggles. Slashhamr shot Team Leader Kang a triumphant look.
“See? So make sure his share gets properly settled too. You can take it out of my portion if you have to.”
“If you insist that much, I will report it to headquarters and process him as a special contract collaborator.”
“Okay, okay. Problem solved. Let us have a drink soti.”
Team Leader Kang sighed and returned to directing the site.
Slashhamr winked at .
“Am I causing him trouble because of ?”
“So what? Do you not like getting paid?”
“How could I not? Brother.”
Who disliked money?
Anyone who claid to hate it was the most obsessed with it of all.
“And this is a bonus.”
“What is this?”
“When you get paid, upgrade your weapon first. It looks unreliable. Go to the place written there and ntion my na. At the very least, they will not turn you away.”
“Ah, thank you.”
“Do not thank . Just keep training those muscles.”
He flexed his arm muscles proudly at the end.
A fitting end to an odd connection that had begun with muscle admiration.
***
[Team Leader Kang Junyoung: Cadet Ryu Jinwoo, the settlent amount related to the ‘Mangwon Gate Incident’ is scheduled to be paid tomorrow. Please confirm.]
And that was how I ca to receive this phishing-like ssage.
A blessing directly bestowed by a hero, perhaps.
The amount was roughly nine million won.
Ten tis the standard citizen reward, heavily influenced by Slashhamr’s insistence.
For a cadet—and earned in a single day—it was a substantial sum.
And once the relic I had put up for auction sold, funds would be more than sufficient.
‘The more, the better, for now.’
With this money, I planned to visit the place Oh Hamma recomnded and gradually acquire items that would prove useful in the future.
They said there were things money could not buy, but there were just as many things that were only possible because of money.
Since villains would soon begin moving in earnest, I needed to stockpile both money and SP as much as possible to prepare for future variables.
That was when the class-ending bell rang and the break began.
Bzzz—!
A vibration alert buzzed from my watch.
[Cadet Ryu Jinwoo, your leave request has been approved. Please visit the administration office before departure. - Zero Academy Administrative Team]
‘Hm?’
A ssage from the administrative team.
At first, I thought it was just a routine academy notice, but the contents were unusual.
‘Leave? What for?’
It was strange.
I had not submitted any leave request.
Yet a request had been filed and approved.
‘Only the cadet themselves or their family can even submit a leave request in the first place.’
So unless there was a system error, either I had sohow applied half-asleep, or a family mber had done so.
My family…
‘There is exactly one person.’
No way.
The one who filed the request—
‘…Uncle?’
A certain figure ca to mind.
My uncle—or more accurately, the lunatic who had recently been playing the role of my uncle in earnest.
In truth, he was a fake family mber forcibly fabricated so that Edward’s Bren could maintain a connection to .
‘No. It cannot be. Surely not.’
A chill ran down my spine.
I desperately hoped it was nothing more than a clerical error, a mistake by the administrative team.
But ominous premonitions were rarely wrong.
The mont I opened the door to the administration office, a well-dressed man sitting on the sofa frowned when he saw .
[Jack]
[Irritation, Annoyance]
“…Ha.”
A deep sigh escaped .
“…Tsk. Why are you so late?”
My earnest hope was crushed before it even had a chance to step over the threshold.
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