Breakup with the Heroine (2)
In the dim back alleys of the city, where the moonlight barely pierced through the shadows, Yu Dahui stood with her head tilted slightly, her white hair cascading like fresh snow under the glowing lunar light. Her expression was utterly blank as she looked down at the man sprawled before her.
Lee Jinhyuk, breathing in ragged gasps, could only stare back at her with his face a complete mess of blood and bruises—the best he could manage in his current state.
“You’re a mid-tier hero, right?”
The girl’s voice was flat, emotionless, as if she were discussing the weather.
She looked about sixteen or seventeen—slender arms and legs, lifeless eyes.
“Cheolseok-han of the Mirinae Clan. I heard he used to be pretty good once.”
Clad in a hero’s uniform, the man was known as “Iron Wall” within the clan. Now he only vomited blood intermittently.
Ten years as a hero, and here he was, beaten down by a girl who looked like a mere student.
“Shit…”
“Cough, cough… T-this villain bastard…”
Lee Jinhyuk had never been a weak hero. He had brought down at least two-digit villains before, cleared powerful monster outbreaks and dangerous dungeons more times than he could count. It wasn’t just that this girl was strong.
There was something more.
“Did you drink too much?”
“Hah… hah…”
“It’s because of the alcohol, isn’t it? If you were sober, things would’ve turned out differently.”
“Yeah… yeah…”
Alcohol. Right, alcohol.
Lee Jinhyuk had been drunk. That was why he couldn’t perform at his usual level.
He could even convince himself it was the alcohol that ruined him. But in the back of his mind, he knew the truth: he had simply lost to someone weaker.
“Hey.”
Suddenly.
“What do you think is the difference between heroes and villains?”
“Hah, what nonsense are you talking about?”
“Think about it. Heroes and villains are both the same, aren’t they? They use their powerful abilities to satisfy their own greed. Isn’t that right?”
The girl spoke in that same monotone voice.
“You got drunk four years ago and accidentally killed a civilian while on the job, right?”
“That’s…”
The fact was Lee Jinhyuk’s biggest shame.
His face tightened involuntarily at the girl’s random story.
If he could, he would have gagged that mouth shut, but his body—ruined beyond repair—could barely move.
“But in the news, it said you died in an accident while fighting a villain. They completely left out the part about you getting drunk and causing the crash.”
Lee Jinhyuk gritted his teeth hard enough to crack them.
Very few people knew the full story of that incident. It had been a big deal at the time, but the clan had buried it quietly with their influence.
So how did this brat know about it?
“The victims’ families sued you, but thanks to the Mirinae Clan’s legal team, it was ruled as an on-duty accident with a suspended sentence.”
“…!”
“A few of the families who didn’t accept the verdict protested in front of the Mirinae Clan. Later, when the media’s attention faded, they received a recommendation for resignation—document forgery and slander, from their own company.”
“…”
Powerful abilities and enormous wealth. The giant clans that built those could influence the financial world, the media, and the legal system.
Turning a few ordinary civilians into idiots was child’s play.
“We’re both just villains, aren’t we?”
“Shut up… ugh?!”
The girl stepped on Lee Jinhyuk’s throat mid-sentence and kept talking, her voice gentle.
“Is that the only difference between us? Having a powerful backer who can cover up crimes? Committing crimes without leaving evidence?”
“Cough, ugh!”
Every time she stomped harder, Lee Jinhyuk twitched like a worm.
Just like the old saying—step on a worm and it twitches. In other words, worms only twitch when stepped on.
That’s right. Lee Jinhyuk was nothing but a worm.
His ribs were already broken—four of them—and one arm and leg crushed. He could barely resist, let alone fight back.
A worm that crushes and squashes…
“The reason you act as a hero… is it money? Power? Reputation? Something like that?”
“S-sto… stop! Cough, cough!”
She pressed harder. His front teeth rattled, then one by one fell out with a soft click. His nose was already flattened, and his cheekbones were starting to cave in.
“Ugh… this, this brat…”
Are you trying to kill me with your feet?!
You crazy…!
“But me…”
“Cough, ugh! Stop! Stop it already…!”
“The reason I act as a villain isn’t really anything special. It’s actually a pretty trivial reason.”
Lee Jinhyuk tried to move his trembling hand to kick her foot away, but his body wouldn’t obey.
My body…
My body doesn’t listen to me anymore.
“I’m here.”
The overwhelming pain of his skull being crushed, and the girl’s soft voice, brushed gently against his ears.
So gently.
“Please… stop! S-save me…!”
“If you hate heroes, then that’s your choice.”
Finally.
Crack.
“Really.”
The sound of bones twisting rang out repeatedly.
Ah. But what? You asked to be saved at the end? Disappointing.
The girl shrugged once.
A hero begging for his life from a villain?
It was almost funny.
Weak justice, they called it useless, right?
Lee Jinhyuk was useless, and now he was powerless too.
Hero disqualification, plain and simple.
The girl finished organizing her thoughts.
Then she slowly lifted her foot. Several teeth were embedded in the sole of her shoe. She shook it once, and four teeth fell to the ground with a clatter.
“Hmph.”
“Gurgle… glurk…”
The man was foaming at the mouth, his whole body convulsing. His jaw was shattered, and his spine seemed damaged.
He wasn’t looking much better, but he wouldn’t die.
He hadn’t been killed with the intention of dying in the first place.
Death was, after all, just peaceful rest.
The girl didn’t want to give him that rest. Pain was living. That was what she thought.
She wanted this man to keep living.
Keep going.
“…Of course, I can’t act as a hero anymore.”
The girl gave him a small, faint smile, then searched through his pockets for his phone and called an ambulance.
Suddenly, the girl turned and walked away.
Out of the dark alley.
“…?”
Ring. Ring.
Suddenly, the girl’s phone rang.
She glanced at the caller ID. It was someone she knew well.
She pulled a new set of clothes from the bag she had prepared earlier, changed out of the blood-soaked clothes without hurry, and answered the call.
“Why the sudden call?”
“Yu Dahui. Did you see the news today? The Union kids received their commendation awards.”
“Ah, yeah.”
Yu Dahui, the white-haired girl, nodded at the man’s words.
Six trainees had defeated a mid-to-high-rank monster that appeared in the academy, making it quite the hot topic.
So she was angry. But that was only natural.
After all, it was Yu Dahui and her group who had sent the monster into the academy in the first place. Opening a rift to the desired position wasn’t easy, so the result had been less than satisfactory.
They had ended up promoting hero aspirants for nothing.
They had expected a few casualties, at least.
“I didn’t think they’d all survive.”
“You didn’t do a bad job?”
The Union Academy could be called a cradle.
A cradle for the core stones that would one day lead Korea.
“They sent two monsters of that level, and not a single casualty? That makes sense?”
That was why Yu Dahui had decided to stomp them. She wanted to crush the flame of hope that was called hope itself. She wanted to snuff out those tiny flames before they could burn brightly.
“Did I not follow the plan? I locked the finalists in the training ground. Honestly, I didn’t expect even one of the Minotaur or the Long-Armed Monkey to die.”
“Things never go as planned, do they?”
Yu Dahui let out a long sigh.
She knew the homeroom teacher was a High Ranker.
But the students were a heavy burden.
In that situation, successfully hunting a Minotaur was impressive. It was definitely an amazing person.
“Even if they’re rotten, they’re still edible, right?”
“The kids were amazing too. Who would’ve thought students could defeat the black-handed Long-Armed Monkey?”
Yu Dahui gave a bitter smile at the man’s words inside the phone.
The public had called them the golden generation, but they were clearly different from before.
…So she wanted to break them even more.
“Hah. I wanted to retire at least Hong Daye.”
Because of the aftereffects from the past, she was weaker, but Hong Daye was still someone discussed as a candidate for the Ten Strongest.
Thinking about the future, it would be good to retire her in every possible way.
This time alone, she hadn’t defeated the Minotaur properly without the right equipment.
Truly an annoying woman.
“By the way, how about the others?”
“Baek Yurin is always the same—completely self-reliant. Seong Yura is lost in her bullying games?”
In simple terms, they were doing whatever they felt like.
Well, whether it was good or not didn’t matter much.
At the end of the day, Yu Dahui and her group were only cooperating for their own goals.
They had a common intersection, but their individual motives were completely different.
“They’re staying in the academy but barely even contacting each other.”
“That’s true.”
The person on the phone agreed.
“Oh, right. There was one pretty interesting person, wasn’t there?”
“Who?”
“There’s a guy named Lee Jinhyuk.”
“Never heard of him. Who is he?”
Yu Dahui blinked twice.
She already knew the person she needed to be careful about.
“Forgot? One of the people who received the commendation this time.”
“Ah. Him?”
Yu Dahui responded a little indifferently.
Lee Jinhyuk, Lee Jinhyuk…
To be honest, he was a nobody, wasn’t he?
She didn’t think she needed to remember someone like him unless it was Lee Siwoo, Yu Seolhyeon, Seo Nari, or Yuria.
She had scanned his information after the incident this time. His practical score was terrible.
His theory score was high, but still…
“So why him?”
“He seemed useful as a brain. I watched all the matches Lee Jinhyuk participated in. There was one where everything went exactly according to his plan. It was amazing.”
“Tch. Whatever.”
Yu Dahui cut him off, clearly not interested.
It sounded like the self-proclaimed hero fan was about to spill TMI.
Whenever someone was interested in a hero, they always did that.
“I’ll aim for the next training camp or finals. Gather detailed info on positions, numbers, attending instructors, schedules, and send it this way.”
“Okay. Got it.”
“Then… do you have anything else to say?”
“No? Well, it’s getting late. I should hang up. I have to go to the academy tomorrow too.”
“Class valedictorian, eh?”
That was the end.
Yu Dahui hung up the phone without further words.
That man was a total weirdo, even by Yu Dahui’s standards.
Unlike the other kids, there was no reason for him to come to the academy, yet he had applied himself.
He said he wanted to see the hero aspirants up close.
“A self-proclaimed hero fan who likes to break heroes. He’s really not in his right mind.”
“Heroes must overcome hardship and trials to become true heroes, right?”
But then they break in the middle and say they weren’t born to be heroes? Nonsense.
“Anyway, were those the kids from Team 1 and Team 16? The ones who defeated the monkey monster?”
Yu Dahui muttered to herself while looking up at the distant moon.
“Well, it does have a nice taste when you step on it.”
When she met them next, she would crush them properly.
Very, very thoroughly.