Chapter 157
At the very top floor of the Hero Association.
Shouts completely out of place with the luxurious surroundings echoed throughout the room.
“We have to execute him no matter what! Forget that strange Test Subject for a moment—he's still an executive of Pandemonium!”
“No, that's exactly the problem! How are we supposed to kill him?! Didn't you see that gigantic thing floating in the sky?!”
“We've managed to suppress the media for now, but videos and photos of the sword in the sky are already spreading across social media.”
“Just tell them it's some new magic the Academy has been researching!”
“Do you take the public for idiots?! Who would possibly believe that?!”
Watching the complete circus unfold before her, Chun Ga-eun desperately maintained her composure.
Because she genuinely felt like despising every single person present.
It was nothing but a meaningless waste of time and empty armchair debates.
No matter how many countermeasures they discussed, nothing but garbage would come out of their mouths.
To begin with, these incompetent fools didn't even know what had actually happened at the Academy.
Then again, that was only natural.
They had never bothered trying to find out.
All they cared about was preserving their own positions and lining their own pockets.
That was why all they could think about was public image while pretending to speak on behalf of the people.
At the very least, things hadn't been like this in the past.
After the Heroes of the Great War had retired or withdrawn from public life, the Hero Association had gradually lost its true purpose.
Just then, one of the Association's assembly members turned his criticism toward her.
“Chun Ga-eun, you should have dealt with him! Do you think the Association granted you the status of a top-ranking Hero for nothing?!”
“What?”
The absurdity of the accusation made Chun Ga-eun fail to hide her expression for an instant.
Her head tilted sideways.
The title of a top-ranking Hero was something she had earned with her own hands.
For nearly several decades, she had lived as the government's shadow.
The number of lives she had saved during that time likely numbered in the hundreds of thousands.
And now they were questioning whether she deserved that position?
The veins on her forehead bulged.
“You're saying I should have killed Devil Knight?”
“With your strength, you could have captured him! Was your title as a top-ranking Hero nothing more than empty fame?”
“And if I had killed him? Do you really think the Academy would still be standing right now?”
“Have you lost your mind?!”
The assembly member roared in outrage after hearing Chun Ga-eun's response.
Her gaze immediately turned icy.
She had always known there were people like this, but seeing fools who didn't even know their own place try to lecture her made anger surge within her.
“You'd do well not to interrupt me again.”
Meeting her utterly emotionless eyes, the assembly member's face turned deathly pale before he collapsed back into his chair.
“He was strong. If we had truly fought to the death, one of us would certainly have died.”
“Then that means you could have killed him!”
Crunch.
Chun Ga-eun barely managed to suppress the curse that rose to the tip of her tongue.
She wanted to overturn the entire room—Association executives, Guild Masters, all of them.
But if she did that, things would truly spiral out of control.
Within this room, the power she possessed meant very little.
Her status as a top-ranking Hero held no authority over these people.
More accurately...
They had never truly acknowledged her as one.
“The situation isn't nearly that simple.”
As she thought about Yoo Seongwoo, Chun Ga-eun instinctively slipped a hand into her pocket.
She desperately wanted a cigarette.
What Yoo Seongwoo had done was incredibly provocative.
But it had also been brilliant.
He understood his own position and had deliberately manipulated the situation into its current state.
Part of her found it admirable.
Another part was furious because she was the one suffering the consequences.
‘The next time I see him, I'm definitely punching him.’
The current situation could be summarized in one phrase.
Caught between a rock and a hard place.
To the public, Devil Knight was nothing less than an S-rank Villain—the bastard responsible for the Academy's Hell Manifestation.
Yet that very criminal had suddenly barged into the Academy...
...only to announce his surrender.
From the Association's and the Guilds' perspectives, they wanted to execute him immediately.
But his strength was simply too overwhelming.
Furthermore, even if they declared his execution, there was no reason to believe he would quietly accept it.
On the other hand, treating the situation as a declaration of war, mobilizing additional Heroes, and launching a large-scale operation lacked sufficient justification.
After all...
Devil Knight had voluntarily surrendered.
In fact, after summoning the Greatsword of World Annihilation at the beginning, he had obediently allowed himself to be imprisoned in the Academy's underground prison.
“So you're suggesting we simply let him walk around the Academy?”
“How do we know what kind of scheme he's plotting?”
Hearing that, Chun Ga-eun frowned.
It was a reasonable point.
But under the current circumstances, it was nothing more than prideful criticism that offered no actual solution.
At that moment, the Guild Master of one of the nation's largest Guilds spoke up.
“In the end, we simply need to eliminate him quietly. If that's the case, shouldn't we just call someone strong enough to do it?”
“What do you mean?”
“If Hero Chun Ga-eun alone isn't enough, then we simply bring someone else.”
“Then tell me—who in South Korea possesses that kind of power?”
Based on their estimates, Devil Knight possessed strength on par with one of Pandemonium's High-ranking Executives.
Even Chun Ga-eun, a top-ranking Hero, had failed.
Who could casually kill someone like that?
“What about the Swordmaster?”
Silence instantly filled the conference room.
The Swordmaster.
The weight carried by that name was immeasurable.
A first-generation Hero who had fought during the Great War alongside Baek Hyun-joong.
The strongest Hero still alive.
Rumors even claimed that the Swordmaster's swordsmanship had reached a transcendent realm that surpassed even Baek Hyun-joong.
Hearing the suggestion, Chun Ga-eun let out a scoff.
As if the Swordmaster would actually listen to these people.
To begin with, he had secluded himself within his family's estate for decades.
Most people in the room thought the same.
“Do we have any better option?”
“Well...”
“Besides, isn't his grandson, Dan Chun-woo, currently attending the Academy?”
It wasn't an entirely unreasonable suggestion.
The Heavenly Demon's love for her blood relatives had been legendary, after all.
The moment Dan Chun-woo was mentioned, everyone's gaze once again shifted toward Chun Ga-eun.
The look in their eyes gave her a very bad feeling.
“Don't tell me... you're expecting me to persuade Cadet Dan Chun-woo to summon the Swordmaster?”
“Would you rather negotiate with that demon?”
“Even if the Swordmaster comes, there's no guarantee there won't be casualties. Besides, once Devil Knight learns the Swordmaster is coming, do you really think he'll just sit still?”
Before she could continue, another assembly member interrupted.
“How would Devil Knight possibly know the Swordmaster is coming? We simply pretend to cooperate with his demands until the Swordmaster arrives.”
Chun Ga-eun fell silent.
If everything went exactly as he described...
Then quietly eliminating Devil Knight was certainly possible.
The only problem...
...was that she knew Devil Knight was actually on their side.
‘But even if I told them... there's no way these people would believe me...’
She'd be lucky if they didn't arrest her for supposedly being bewitched by a demon.
In the end, Chun Ga-eun had no choice but to nod along.
To begin with, the entire plan depended on one thing.
The Swordmaster had to accept their request.
‘As if the Swordmaster would ever agree to something like this.’
Under heavy surveillance, I sat imprisoned while wearing restraints that bound all four of my limbs.
The collar around my neck continuously absorbed my Mana.
It really made me feel like some ridiculously dangerous Villain.
Beyond the prison bars, I spotted Chun Ga-eun.
She was furiously puffing away at a cigarette with an extremely irritated expression.
“You seem to be in quite a bad mood. Did something happen?”
“How can you sound so relaxed? Have you forgotten that your life is on the line?”
“Because I know there's nothing the Association can do to me right now.”
“That's true... but don't get too comfortable. They've managed to come up with something.”
After saying that, Chun Ga-eun tossed her finished cigarette onto the floor and crushed it beneath her foot.
“A solution? What kind of solution?”
That was unexpected.
At the same time, I couldn't help feeling puzzled.
Right now, the Association had neither the strength nor the justification to deal with me.
That was precisely why I had dared to make such a bold move.
“The Swordmaster might come to kill you.”
“...What?”
For a moment, I thought I'd misheard.
The Swordmaster?
Why was that name suddenly coming up here?
Of course, it wasn't as though he never appeared in Become a Hero.
If you chose Dan Chun-woo as your Playable Character, meeting the Swordmaster from the middle of the game onward wasn't particularly difficult.
To Dan Chun-woo, he was his grandfather.
To the player, he was the NPC who taught powerful sword techniques.
Furthermore, right before the final battle against the End, the Swordmaster stood in its path and sacrificed himself to demonstrate just how terrifying the End truly was.
The scene where his final strike left an everlasting wound across the End's chest had been one of the game's greatest moments.
But...
Now the Swordmaster was coming to kill me?
Chun Ga-eun hurriedly added,
“Nothing's certain yet.”
“What do you mean?”
“We contacted him in hopes of having him kill you, but whether the Swordmaster will even accept the request is another matter.”
“Ah.”
I immediately understood what was happening.
In other words...
The Swordmaster coming to kill me was nothing more than wishful thinking.
“Whether he'll accept the Association's request is uncertain, but until then, the Academy will probably cooperate with us.”
“Then I suppose it's time for me to reveal the cards I'm holding.”
I had already expected that the Academy wouldn't simply accept me.
That was why...
Before that happened, I needed to become someone they absolutely couldn't afford to lose.
For example...
Someone capable of tracking the whereabouts of Baek Hyun-joong, whom everyone believed to be dead.
I needed to provide them with a reason they couldn't touch me.
Even if that reason was only temporary.
That didn't matter.
My goal was to find Baek Hyun-joong.
And through that...
I might even be able to uncover Pandemonium's moles hidden within both the Academy and the Hero Association.
I would cut away the rotten roots festering within Hero society.
The Hero Association wasn't the only group after me.
Pandemonium.
They would also stop at nothing to reclaim me.
And now that I had used the Greatsword of World Annihilation, they undoubtedly knew I was at the Academy.
However, neither their leader nor any of their High-ranking Executives could make a move.
They had suffered catastrophic injuries during their battle against the Heavenly Demon.
Once there was a reason why I absolutely could not die...
Anyone who tried to eliminate me would undoubtedly be one of Pandemonium's agents.
Once those infiltrators were removed and replaced with people on our side...
Everything afterward would become much easier.
I glanced toward the corner of my vision.
No new blue notification window appeared.
That meant both the leader and the High-ranking Executive had survived the battle with the Heavenly Demon.
As for the Heavenly Demon...
The moment I thought of her, my emotions stirred once more.
“Haa...”
“You really are okay, right? You understand that you can't cause any unnecessary incidents while you're here.”
“Of course.”
This was the new future the Heavenly Demon had purchased with her own sacrifice.
During that time...
I had to finish every preparation for the final battle.
Just then, a voice came through Chun Ga-eun's communicator.
[Instructor Chun Ga-eun? We've just received word that the Swordmaster has agreed to visit the Academy.]