Ch 229
Became a swordsmanship instructor at the academy
Chapter 229
I was momentarily flustered, but whether they're foreigners or locals doesn't matter anyway.
First, I need to subdue them to evacuate the people.
The enemy consists of four people total, including the blonde foreigner who shouted at me.
I can't properly gauge their abilities, but I must never let my guard down.
There would have been faculty members at the back gate as well for security screening and access control of visitors.
Of course, since the scale is much smaller than the main gate, there would have been fewer teachers stationed there, but there should have been at least more than those four over there.
The level of Hunter School teachers ranges from C-rank to A-rank, and even with a surprise attack, they can't be taken lightly.
"If you don't stay still, the lives of the guys here are forfeit."
Where the blonde-haired man pointed, children who appear to be only about seven or eight years old are lying collapsed.
Simultaneously with the thug's threat, one of the terrorist organization members brings a blade with a chillingly sharp edge next to a child.
Looking at it, it seems they used this kind of threat with the children when subduing the teachers too, but I still can't just stand still.
It's not that I don't feel sorry for those children.
But even if all those children die, there are far more people behind me now who trust and follow me.
Of course, if there are many casualties, the image washing I want won't work, so I need to settle this as quickly as possible.
"Alson, isn't that guy the martial arts tournament winner?"
"Ah, that trash?"
"If he's a magician, there's no need to worry. Hey, magician, don't get any funny ideas. You can't use magic in this place right now."
When I circulated my internal energy and felt the surrounding magic, the amount was minimal and even the little magic that remained was constantly scattering and decomposing.
Did these bastards install a magic disruption device too?
It's a device used in government institutions like the Blue House or government buildings, or in prisons that hold hunters.
It seems I trusted Hwasin Group's secretary office too much.
What surveillance, my ass.
Magic disruption devices are strictly managed items because they can be misused for crimes like terrorism.
If there's a disruption device, magic can't be used.
The implementation principle of magic is that the magic caster uses their own magic to resonate with surrounding magic to generate supernatural abilities.
THUD! THUD!
I pretended to give up and raise my hands, then immediately used gravity control magic to knock them down.
"Ugh... URGH. H-how did you use magic...?"
"Magic disruption devices aren't omnipotent."
If there isn't enough magic around to respond to my magic, I just need to cover all the magic required for magic with the caster's magic.
Much more internal energy was consumed than usual, but it's fine.
The ginseng I ate alone cost over 1 billion won, so this much is nothing.
I kicked the heads of the guys who had fallen and were trembling, knocking them all unconscious.
At first, I thought about just killing them outright, but there are too many eyes around.
There's no need to deliberately damage my image by showing a cruel sight.
Besides, they had piled up cover at the back gate entrance, so I need to clear that too.
I used magic to clear the cover as well and kept watch of the surroundings until all the people had moved.
"Young Master, are you alright?"
Oh, the security office staff I had on standby and Secretary Oh have arrived just in time.
But there are only five people total.
Moreover, two of them are magicians who can't be of immediate help.
I asked for at least one team, ten people to be on standby.
Even the team leader isn't here.
"Hey, Secretary Oh. Why are there so few people? I don't see Team Leader Seo either."
"That's... I'm sorry. It's because I didn't trust you, Young Master..."
He's telling me that since nothing happened the day before yesterday and yesterday, he had removed about half the personnel in advance, and I'm really going crazy.
Well, it's still better than having no one at all.
"Right now there's a magic disruption device installed inside the Hunter School, so magicians won't be of help. So the two magicians there and Secretary Oh should evacuate the people, and the remaining three of you follow me to rescue other people."
"Young Master Ji-sung, we'll handle the rescue operation. You should also take cover."
The deputy team leader, who I've seen a few times and am acquainted with, says this, but I shook my head.
I've been waiting for exactly this moment, what evacuation?
"I can use magic even in this place where a magic disruption device is being used. In a situation where every hand is precious, I can't do that. If bombs explode, only I can block the aftermath."
Now is the perfect opportunity to wash my image, so I can't stop here.
The deputy team leader and then Secretary Oh tried to dissuade me again, but I firmly opposed, and eventually, we re-entered the school.
We found people hiding in buildings or corners and evacuated them, and fought and subdued organization members who were binding and taking people away in between, rescuing many people.
But we couldn't save everyone.
The terrorists recognized that we were ignoring warnings and moving around rescuing people.
If we moved rashly, they would kill all the hostages they currently held, and along with that broadcast, they began indiscriminate bombing.
Following additional explosions from the dormitory building that had exploded earlier, next the middle school faculty main building, then the cafeteria disappeared with a roar.
The deputy team leader said we really needed to evacuate now, so we had no choice but to stop the rescue and get out of the school.
For moving with four people, we did rescue many people, but considering the scale of Hunter School festival visitors, there must be quite a lot of people taken hostage.
At first, I thought it was just a means to wash my image, but at this level, many people must have died...
What I knew from the text was so different from reality.
What exactly is the identity of these bastards?
Terrorism did occur in the original work too, but it was never to the level of bombing buildings.
After suppressing the terrorism, although it was a bit chaotic, classes continued normally.
The Hunter School visible in the distance has become complete ruins, so even if all the terrorists are subdued, classes are absolutely impossible immediately.
No, what the hell were the other people doing?
Especially the vice principal, he's an S-rank hunter and I even warned him, but when I was rescuing people with the security team members earlier, the vice principal's figure couldn't be found anywhere.
"Young Master, I'm back. How is your body?"
Secretary Oh happened to return just then.
After getting out of the school, I had sent him to the joint response headquarters set up at a distance from the school to gather information.
"I pushed myself a bit, but I'm fine. Did you find out about the situation?"
"Yes. I happened to have an acquaintance at the response headquarters, and since we took initial action, I was able to hear the story to some extent. The terrorist organization members are estimated to be about 20-30 people, and approximately 1,000 people who couldn't escape the school are estimated."
A thousand people? Even though I thought I had rescued quite a lot, there are more people who couldn't get out than expected.
"What about their purpose? Any demands..."
"I think you should look at this for that."
Along with his words, Secretary Oh handed me a cell phone.
A YouTube video? Some foreign old man with white hair is sitting in a chair.
"What is this?"
"It's a video that was posted on various domestic communities right after the terrorism occurred, presumed to be uploaded by the terrorists. Looking at the background, it's not the school and seems to have been filmed in advance, so please watch it first."
I immediately pressed the play button.
—Old man, shall we start with self-introduction first?
—My name is Guilt Dwain, I'm currently occupying Korea's 1st Hunter School and the leader of the group that planned this incident. But actually, my real job was an orphanage director.
—It's amazing that an orphanage director became a terrorist. Why did you occupy a hunter school in another country?
Is it an interview format?
The questioner doesn't appear in the video.
—It's revenge for a child who had all truth concealed and was executed as a vicious criminal. That child was from our orphanage and was our biggest benefactor.
Revenge?
—That child's name is...
—This interview format doesn't seem good, let's stop. Just continue straight through...
—Ah, yes. Then I'll step back now, so please do as you're comfortable, old man.
—Everyone in the world, even until the moment she was executed, denounced her as a vicious criminal and psychopath, but in reality, it wasn't like that.
After drinking a glass of water beside him, the old man's story continues.
—She called her direct superior, me, 'old man' and threw away things like manners, but she was never a psychopath who treated human lives like fly lives. All the guys who died by that kid's hand were all guys who deserved to die. Even the last guy I didn't order her to kill turned out to be human trash when I checked.
No matter how I look at it, he doesn't seem to be the head of Antas Korea, but who is he talking about?
—Let me say again, the purpose of this terrorism is revenge. The target of revenge is Kang Shin-hyeok.
I was startled by a name I never imagined.
—Kang Shin-hyeok, that bastard without even knowing... even though there were no proper victims, caught Bennett and had her executed.
Now I remember. Bennett is an executive of Antas Italy who Kang Shin-hyeok caught and killed.
But Kang Shin-hyeok should already be dead or returned to his own world?
—There's a saying in Eastern proverbs. A gentleman's revenge is not too late even after ten years. From the day Bennett was executed, I planned revenge. But that bastard Kang Shin-hyeok died absurdly. Just because he died doesn't mean I can end everything like this. Since that bastard Kang Shin-hyeok took away my most precious thing, I also plan to ruin and destroy his precious things.
He speaks with eyes flashing and a voice full of resentment, and even in the video, madness can be felt.
This old bastard doesn't seem to be in his right mind.
—Our target is only people related to that bastard Kang Shin-hyeok, we don't want innocent people to be sacrificed.
Complete bullshit. He says he doesn't want sacrifices but I clearly saw him conducting indiscriminate bombing.
—Our demand is only one, there's no negotiation other than the condition. Hand over Hunter Kim Se-jin and all students who escaped from school that Kang Shin-hyeok taught. Then we'll also release all hostages. The deadline is 19:00. If there's no response by the deadline or signs of pushing through with force, we'll immediately self-destruct with the hostages.
He's completely and utterly insane.
***
—The call cannot be connected, charges will apply after the beep.
I called Se-jin but she's not answering.
First, I was about to gather information online... no, I was about to go directly to the school when light flashed from the portal and Se-jin popped out.
Not only Se-jin but Luciel is with her too.
"Teacher!"
"I was overseas until now so I just saw the message. Terrorism, what on earth happened?"
I heard the explanation from Se-jin.
I also saw the video the terrorists uploaded.
Se-jin says she heard the news and tried to contact me to discuss countermeasures, but when I didn't answer, she thought I might be at the portal and came looking for me.
She came, but after hearing from Luciel that I had gone abroad, she came out together to find me.
"Sorry... It's because I made a pointless request..."
Luciel apologizes, thinking it's her fault.
"No. Even if I had been at school, the situation wouldn't have changed."
It's not lip service.
The terrorists penetrated the school's security by marrying relatives of Hunter School students.
Moreover, they used lightweight bags to bring in bombs and finished installation on the first and second days.
Even if I had been at school, I couldn't have prevented the bombing.
"Do you know the government's policy?"
"They're monitoring with satellites, but it's been identified that multiple people share the detonation devices and they can't advance because they don't know where and how many bombs are installed. And they seem to be planning to ignore the demands."
"Then they'll kill a thousand people?"
"I got contacted earlier, and there was talk of pretending to meet the demands while sending me and several hunters to suppress them. But the other side isn't stupid either and would naturally be prepared."
"Right. That operation doesn't seem good."
When I asked what the vice principal was doing while hearing the explanation earlier, they said the guys set fire to the vice principal's house in advance to get him out of school when the terrorism occurred.
Guys who are that thoroughly prepared couldn't have not prepared countermeasures.
"I'll solve it."
Whether it's Guilt or whatever the terrorism leader's name is, anyway it's an incident that occurred because I caught Bennett.
It's right for me to handle it.
Of course, I absolutely don't agree with everything the leader said.
A terrorist can't become a good person just because he sponsored some orphanage.
It's nonsensical sophistry to begin with.
Even if the people Bennett killed were actually human trash stained with corruption and graft, wasn't there even one victim who was unfairly sacrificed in the process?
Even if there weren't, Bennett wasn't given the right to judge those people.
Why do laws exist, and why does public authority exist?
Moreover, having experienced death once, I know.
Sins committed in life are judged in the afterlife.
There must be casualties and injured people from this terrorism as well...
As I told Choi Seo-ra before, a good criminal organization?
A righteous criminal?
Such things only exist in novels, not in reality.
"Teacher will solve it directly?"
I nodded affirmatively to Se-jin who asked back.
It's a bit earlier than planned, but I was thinking of quitting anyway, and whether the future changes because of me or not, I decided to take full responsibility myself.
"The play is finally ending."
Now it's really time to return.
As Kang Shin-hyeok.