ch 233
Became a Swordsmanship Instructor at the Academy
Chapter 233
"That's all for today's class."
"Thank you for your hard work."
After packing up my textbook and returning to the classroom, I found Kim Do-hyun and Yu Hye-ji waiting in front of our classroom.
"Ji-sung, let's have lunch together."
"Oh. Sure, I'll be right out."
It's already been a week since the temporary school closure due to the terrorist attack ended.
I thought all of society's attention would be focused on Kang Shin-hyeok, so my efforts during the last terrorist attack would be completely buried, but surprisingly, many students remembered my efforts and expressed their gratitude.
It's not just the students.
Last weekend, I received a merit certificate in front of all the students, and the vice principal called me aside to apologize for not trusting me.
Probably because among the people I saved, there weren't many students, but whether they were relatives or parents, they were all people with connections.
Of course, there wasn't as dramatic a reversal as I had expected, and I wasn't reinstated after being expelled from the student council, but I definitely escaped from the level of being the school's outcast.
I didn't know at the time, but among the people I saved were Kim Do-hyun's mother and younger sibling.
Thanks to that, my relationship with Kim Do-hyun was completely restored.
Well, I wonder what meaning this has at this point in time.
"Ji-sung, did you see the article that came out during the day?"
"What article?"
"Hunter Kang Shin-hyeok arrested 10 people this morning, including the Antas China boss and executives."
"Ah, I saw that too. They said they were also distributing drugs in Korea and Japan. At this rate, it seems like Antas will really be disbanded before this year ends."
Yu Hye-ji, who was nearby, chimed in.
"At this level, didn't he really come back from seeing the future? I heard Antas is a cell organization, but seeing how quickly he's handling this, it's certain."
Even Nam Ji-hyeon has become quite the fanatic.
"Only now? I believed in Hunter Kang Shin-hyeok from the beginning."
"I... I believed in him too."
From what I remember, I don't think any of these guys did.
When the first press conference ended, articles poured out saying that Kang Shin-hyeok's mind wasn't intact.
That was putting it mildly since they were articles.
Looking at internet communities and public opinion, everyone said Kang Shin-hyeok was crazy.
They said he was trying to play the role of a prophet with his out-of-the-blue apocalyptic theories.
I also thought he was crazy, but for different reasons than other people.
Everything Kang Shin-hyeok said was true.
But I never thought he would expose it all so blatantly like this.
Even revealing all his abilities.
What on earth is he thinking?
Anyway, the initial public opinion was really bad.
World leaders even talked about designating Kang Shin-hyeok as a dangerous person and imposing sanctions, but Kang Shin-hyeok didn't seem to care at all and swept across the entire world.
Starting with Hong Man-sik, the Antas Korea boss, at dawn the day after the press conference, then the next day Sasaki and the executives of Antas Japan. The day after that, even Gorsky, the boss of Antas Russia.
He began to eliminate Antas completely.
Then gradually, public opinion shifted toward Kang Shin-hyeok.
Even I'm starting to think that Kang Shin-hyeok came back from seeing the future.
I know the identities and names of the Antas bosses too, but knowing information and arresting them are completely different levels of difficulty.
The Antas bosses aren't fools either, so they would have hidden after seeing bosses from other countries get caught, but Kang Shin-hyeok caught at least one country's Antas bosses per day, and at most two or three countries' worth, as if he had tracking devices on them.
Thanks to that, Kang Shin-hyeok's popularity at our Hunter School is really amazing.
There's no hunter who doesn't hate Antas.
"Ji-hyeon, is Ji-an not eating today either?"
"Yeah. She says she's not in the mood."
"Even if she's not in the mood, she has to eat. I don't think I saw her in the cafeteria this morning either... Isn't this really going to be a big problem?"
"I forcibly dragged her to eat breakfast. I'm going to stop by the school store later to buy some bread."
Nam Ji-hyeon sighs and speaks with a hardened expression.
The last terrorist attack was a major one that brought down three buildings, but there weren't many casualties.
Because the terrorist ringleader's purpose was revenge against Kang Shin-hyeok, they checked before the explosion.
Still, a total of nine people died from being caught in the explosion.
There were many more injured, but both those who were rescued early and those who were rescued later all recovered after being treated with magic.
Except for exactly one person.
That one person is Min Chan-seong, whom Seong Ji-an had been looking for so desperately.
At first, when there was no contact at all, I thought something might have gone wrong, but on the first day of school, the homeroom teacher said that Chan-seong was in the hospital.
I thought it was fortunate that he was alive, but it wasn't fortunate at all.
What cruel twist of fate—he had become a vegetative state again.
Of course, they say it's better to be in this world than the next even if you're rolling in a dung field, but to become a vegetative state again less than a year after miraculously waking up...
"Ji-sung, how is Chan-seong doing?"
"Hey, Kim Do-hyun. Why are you asking Lee Ji-sung about that?"
"Don't you guys know? Ji-sung is supporting Chan-seong's hospital treatment."
Did he forget I told him not to say anything?
As Do-hyun said, I am supporting Min Chan-seong's treatment.
Last time, it wasn't exactly something I did, and this time, it's not really because of me externally either, but I spoke to the secretary's office.
There was an aspect of aiming for image recovery, but that's not the entire reason for supporting Min Chan-seong's treatment.
He beat me up and was the main culprit in making me fall to the status of the school outcast, but the original body's owner started it first.
From his perspective, it was all too natural to hate me.
But in the end, he forgave me.
I didn't receive direct forgiveness, but anyway, he didn't try to get me expelled.
If he had asked to have me expelled, I wouldn't have been able to recover my image like now.
"Lee Ji-sung? Why aren't you saying anything? How is Chan-seong?"
"Ah, he was transferred to Korea University Hospital yesterday, but there's still no response..."
The atmosphere instantly becomes gloomy.
"Still, I won't give up. I'll continue supporting his treatment until he wakes up."
"Lee Ji-sung has become human."
"...Well, I did a lot of wrong things before."
"Chan-seong is a strong guy, so he'll definitely wake up."
"Right. That bastard is annoying and cunning, but he's not the type to go out so meaninglessly like this."
We barely lifted the mood and all had lunch together before returning to the classroom.
Nam Ji-hyeon hands the bread and milk she bought from the school store to Seong Ji-an, who was lying face down at her seat.
But she doesn't even look.
I wonder if Seong Ji-an might go wrong before Min Chan-seong.
"Ji-an, are you really not going to eat? It's your favorite bread."
"I'll eat it later."
She's gotten so much thinner than before that it really seems like it might kill her.
Sigh, if I keep watching this, I might get depressed too.
The next class is magic practice, so I should go to the practice room early.
—This is an announcement from the Hunter School faculty office. Student Lee Ji-sung from Class 1-8, please come to the vice principal's office immediately.
Huh? Why are they calling me again?
"What? Lee Ji-sung, did you cause some trouble again?"
"No. What trouble would I cause?"
"Then why is the vice principal's office calling you?"
"I don't know either. I'll go and come back."
After giving appropriate answers to the curious kids, I left the classroom and came to the vice principal's office.
KNOCK! KNOCK!
I knocked and opened the door, and I was really surprised.
Kang Shin-hyeok was sitting next to the vice principal.
***
Ji-sung, that guy looks quite surprised.
"Oh, Ji-sung came? Say hello. You know who this is, right?"
"Isn't... isn't that Hunter Kang Shin-hyeok?"
He seems quite flustered. Didn't he think I would come looking for him so openly like this?
"Haha, even stuttering... Ji-sung must be a fan of our Hunter Kang too."
"What fan? You're still talking nonsense as always."
"Oh my, are you saying you're no longer a teacher? Still, we're in front of a student."
"I don't think I was much different when I was a teacher either... Anyway, as I mentioned earlier, I'll take student Ji-sung with me for a while."
"...Yes? Take me where..."
"I heard that our Ji-sung was active during the last terrorist attack, so I became interested. Since he's also this year's martial arts tournament winner and a WHCU participant, he said he would take time from his schedule to give you some brief instruction, so go with him. Don't worry about afternoon classes."
He makes a sour expression at the vice principal's words, but as expected, this guy seems to know that I'm a possessor.
"It probably won't take too long, but if it seems like it'll be too late, I'll contact you separately."
As I spoke, I grabbed Lee Ji-sung's hand and used teleportation magic.
"This... this is teleportation magic. Wh-where is this place?"
Even though he knows I'm a possessor, he seems curious about teleportation magic and keeps looking around.
"It's my office. It's a bit messy, but I've been busy lately, so please understand, Hyeon-seong."
"Hyeon-seong? My name is Ji-sung."
Oh, he answers quite calmly even when I mention his real name.
"Are you more familiar with that name now?"
"...How did you know that name?"
"Because I'm also a possessor?"
Now he finally shows the expression I wanted.
Even while being frantically busy beating down Antas with Luciel, I made time to find this guy like this to give him a warning.
Recently, I've been so busy that I couldn't pay any attention to school, and in the meantime, this guy might pull some nonsense again.
I've resolved to take full responsibility for the future that changed because of me, but I have no intention of being responsible for futures that change because of other guys, not me.
"Ah... no, but my story wasn't in the original work, so how..."
"The original work you know and the original work I know are different."
"What do you mean..."
"The title of the original work you know is I Became the World's Strongest with Internal Energy, isn't it? The protagonist is Kim Do-hyun."
"That's... right. But you're saying the original work you know is different?"
"Yes. It's different. The title of the original work I know is I Became a Delinquent Inferior Student at Hunter School. There are two protagonists, Kim Do-hyun and you, but the real protagonist is you."
"Wh-what do you mean..."
I thought he would understand immediately if I said this, but he seems a bit more stupid than I thought.
"You took the protagonist's opportunities first and treated people carelessly. Why did you do that?"
"Isn't that the same for you too?"
"You and I are different. Even though I took opportunities first, I didn't pull petty tricks like you."
"Petty tricks?"
Look at this guy?
"Did you think I wouldn't know that you erased the middle part of the internal energy manual?"
His face immediately contorts.
"I... I was going to tell you later. And it's a fictional world anyway..."
A fictional world... That's a very Lee Ji-sung-like answer.
"Is it okay to do that just because it's a fictional world?"
"They're not real people anyway."
"Do you really think that? By your logic, you're not a real person either."
"You're also doing whatever you want, and we're both possessors anyway."
Who's doing whatever they want for their own pleasure?
He doesn't even know what kind of great resolution I'm acting with.
And 'we'? That's ridiculous.
"Who's the same as you? I told you earlier too—the original work you know and the original work I know are different."
"..."
"To me, you're just a character in a novel too, so it wouldn't matter if I killed you here, would it?"
"Th-that's...!"
"Why is that different again?"
If he continued to be defiant, I was even thinking of not killing him but at least making him an idiot, but seeing his expression, I lost all my energy.
He looked like he was about to cry, thinking I might really kill him.
And there's even a slightly strange smell... Don't tell me this bastard pissed himself?