Chapter 61
Chapter 61
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 61
Chapter Title: Villain Response Training (4)
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What is a hero?
It refers to the one who instills courage and hope in people.
It refers to the one who possesses grit and will to endure suffering.
It refers to the one who is nobler and more exalted than anyone else.
In other words, a hero is a beacon that pierces the darkness.
So, what is the most essential thing for such a hero?
Justice? That's a given.
Honor? That's secondary.
Selflessness? That's basic.
Then what is it?
"Surrender quietly, villain!"
"If you surrender quietly, I'll give you a lap pillow."
"Yeah! If you surrender quietly, I'll give you a lap pi... la, lap pillow?!"
It is bold decisiveness.
'...The lines got weird starting from the middle.'
In any case, a hero must not hesitate when facing villains or fallen ones.
Even if it's just acting for a training exercise.
...That's the perspective of the villain 'Crow.'
From the viewpoint of Lee Yoo-jin, an academy student and aspiring hero...
'Argh, this is killing me for real!'
It was utter agony, enough to make him want to scream for mercy.
Lee Seo-yeon, Arthur, and Asuka wouldn't see it since he was wearing a coat and mask,
but cold sweat was pouring down his face and back right now.
And that was because the swords they were swinging...
'Capture, it's supposed to be capture!'
were emitting brilliant golden, dark red, and red sword auras.
Scree! Scree, screee!
'Gasp, ugh! Haaah!'
Four blades grazing past his body (two fake swords, two wooden swords).
Slash! Slash, slaash!
Each time, the ground split open like tofu.
Every time he saw that, his blood ran cold, his heart pounding wildly.
But outwardly, unlike his inner turmoil...
"Heroes, is this all you've got?!"
He was sticking faithfully to the concept of the fictional villain 'Crow.'
Perhaps he seemed too immersed in the role,
Asuka swung her sword repeatedly with a worried look.
"...Top student, um... are you okay? You seem too into the villain role..."
『......』
...He knew it.
That his black history was piling up in real time right now.
But it was too late to drop the concept.
So, even if he kicked the blanket in rage later, he had to maintain... no, enjoy this moment now.
That way, he wouldn't die of embarrassment!
'I am Crow, I am Crow, I am Crow...'
He dodged the kids' sword strikes while hypnotizing himself.
From this moment until the training ended.
'I am Crow.'
As long as he wore this crow mask.
'I am... Crow.'
Repeating it over and over, it really started to work like hypnosis; his boiling shame began to calm.
No, beyond calm—it cooled to ice.
『Hoo...』
"Top student?"
Sensing something off, Asuka called out to him... no, to Lee Yoo-jin.
In response, he spoke to Asuka in an emotionless voice that felt utterly chilling.
"Wrong."
"Huh?"
"I am not the top student you know."
Startled by his voice or the shift in aura,
Asuka looked at him with a flustered face,
even stopping her relentless sword swings.
"I am the villain Crow."
He didn't miss the opening and pulled the trigger on Asuka.
Bang—!
"Eek!"
Not expecting an attack from someone who'd only been dodging,
Asuka freaked out and deflected the incoming bullet.
But that was the wrong call.
Clang—, wheeeee—!
What she deflected wasn't a regular bullet, but a special 'noise bullet.'
......!
...! ......!!
A deafening noise that drowned out all surrounding sounds.
In that racket, he used Transfer to plant shock mines at their feet.
──!
""......!""
The shockwave from the exploding mines launched everyone, him included, into the air.
Caught off guard by the mine's blast,
the three grimaced in slight pain.
In contrast, he'd coated himself in mana when planting the mines via Transfer, so he was fine.
It cost him 30% of his mana, but escaping a one-sided disadvantage was a bargain.
Thinking that, he fired 'shock bullets' at the three.
No gunshot sounds.
Or rather, they couldn't be heard.
The noise bullet's cacophony still enveloped the area.
"......!"
"......!!"
Maybe because there were no shots,
they only realized he'd fired when the shock bullets were right in their faces.
They tried to swing their swords belatedly, but the bullets already touched their bodies.
...! ...! ...Boom!
The noise bullet's effect ended, and the shock bullets' blasts rang out.
The three were flung left, center, and right by the shockwaves.
Of course, firing the shock bullets so close sent gut-wrenching pain surging through his body.
But gritting his teeth to endure, he Transfered 'sticky grass' to where they were falling.
And to block the ground-slicing trick Lee Seo-yeon had pulled earlier, he also sent shock flash grenades above them.
Bang, bang-bang!
Three shots.
Boom, boom-boom!
Three explosions.
"...Ngh!"
"Kyaa!"
But only two screams echoed,
so he turned toward the silent direction.
There, Lee Seo-yeon had spread her sword aura like a shield, blocking the flash grenade's shockwave.
As if she'd seen it coming.
Thud.
He landed and immediately unleashed his dual pistols at Lee Seo-yeon.
Mixing special bullets sporadically among regular ones.
But as if anticipating it, she blasted mana from her feet, hovering briefly,
then—
Clang-clang-clang-clang—!
With unbelievable dynamic vision and reflexes, she deflected the bullets with her sword.
Now spotting that special bullets had different colors from regulars, she didn't deflect the grayish shock bullets up close.
Instead, she coated herself in mana, letting them hit,
then—
Boom, boom-boom!
used the shockwaves to escape the sticky grass area.
Meanwhile, Arthur and Asuka...
"Ugh... to get done in like this again..."
"Eek... it's so sticky...!"
Unable to block the shock flash grenades like Lee Seo-yeon,
they were plastered to the sticky grass on the ground, unable to move.
He pulled the triggers at them.
Pop-pop-pop!
The rubber bullets hit their foreheads in their defenseless state, silencing them.
Confirming that, he searched for Lee Seo-yeon.
"...Hm?"
But she, who'd been flying toward him moments ago, was gone.
He hurriedly scanned around.
Wondering why his talent 'Sharpshooter's Acute Senses (A+)' hadn't activated.
But recalling the talent's effect cleared it up.
'...No killing intent?'
It could visually detect attack directions,
but real-time tracking and action sensing only triggered on 'killing intent.'
Lee Seo-yeon was just fighting for training, harboring no real 'murderous intent,' so the talent didn't activate.
And she had exceptional combat sense.
'...She figured it out?'
Well, he'd reacted instantly to every attack attempt,
so even without combat sense, her sharp eyes would've pieced together his talent.
In response, he used Transfer to plant mines around him and heightened his senses.
Tensing to fire the moment she appeared.
A brief moment passed.
Bzzz—.
A stinging sensation on his scalp.
He looked up immediately.
A single sword was plummeting toward him.
...It was Arthur's skill 'Meteor Fall.'
But Arthur was knocked out now.
So this 'Meteor Fall' was Lee Seo-yeon's mimicry...
'...Wait.'
That meant right now, Lee Seo-yeon was...
Kaboom—!
The moment he grasped her plan, mine explosions roared.
"...Damn."
Looking down, Lee Seo-yeon, mana-clad like a bulldozer, was charging through the mines toward him.
Of course, super accuracy triggered mana penetration with each blast, depleting her mana massively.
But like Arthur, with her enormous mana pool, she refilled her mana armor each time it shattered.
Seeing that, he first fired a shock bullet at the sword overhead.
Still some distance, so safe to shoot.
Boom—, clang!
The sword, hit by the shock bullet, had its skill canceled by mana penetration and blast, flying far off.
Seeing that, he stomped the ground and leaped back.
As his body flew backward, he sprayed pistol fire at Lee Seo-yeon.
While thinking.
This time, low on funds, he'd only made pistol special ammo.
Next time he had money, definitely rifle and shotgun rounds.
Rat-a-tat-tat-bang—!
Gunshots echoed relentlessly.
Flames spat from both pistols' muzzles as special bullets flew.
Starting with shock bullets, then incendiary, freeze, lightning, binding—many specials surged at Lee Seo-yeon.
But had she mimicked Arthur's talent 'Outstanding Fighter' too? She deflected them with mana gauntlets on her hands.
Each time, shock bullets exploded,
incendiary, freeze, and lightning caused elemental bursts,
binding bullets restrained her body.
But mana-armored Lee Seo-yeon was a bulldozer—no, a tank.
Thud.
His briefly airborne body hit the ground,
and he backpedaled while keep firing at her.
But the distance closed rapidly.
At near-melee, he finally shed the flash grenade belt around his body and tossed it.
The instant he aimed to shoot it—
Freeze.
Lee Seo-yeon, closing in terrifyingly, halted abruptly.
Seeing that, he stopped too and asked,
"Why'd you stop?"
To his question,
"We won."
Lee Seo-yeon declared victory.
"...We won? Who?"
"Us."
Hearing that, he raised his smartwatch-wearing wrist.
Checking the hero team's training objective.
[Hostages 3/3]
All hostages rescued.
With a deflated voice, he asked her,
"...When did you rescue the hostages?"
The moment he spoke,
"Why, while you all were fighting, I rescued them."
Intense light from the sky, and Noah descended.
Hostages bound to his back.
Staring at Noah, he asked,
"No trap sounds, how'd you rescue them?"
"Park Sung-woo told me. Said the hostage areas are full of traps, so be careful."
Thud.
Noah landed, carefully lowering the back-bound hostages, and continued,
"So I set up barriers. On every building that might have hostages."
『......』
As expected of Noah.
And a method only he could pull off.
No one else overflowed with holy power like that.
"...Ha."
Sighing in defeat, he holstered the pistols in his tactical vest and inventory.
Then plopped down on the ground.
"I lost."
Lee Seo-yeon approached and gently removed his mask.
"Ah."
The mask was off.
The hypnotic concept shattered.
He was no longer the fictional villain 'Crow,' but Lee Yoo-jin again.
And simultaneously,
'Ah... fuuuuck...'
The briefly suppressed shame exploded like Mentos in Coke.
He bowed his head deeply.
Couldn't lift it.
Really wanted to hide somewhere.
But oblivious to his turmoil, Lee Seo-yeon cupped his chin, tilting his head up slightly,
and wiped the sweat from his face with a handkerchief.
Then, holding both his hands, she said,
"Villain 'Crow' captured."
...Declaring Crow's capture.
He bowed his head again.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Villain response training ended.
They returned to the classroom.
Moments later,
Kang Cheol-su entered after the debrief and shouted,
"Alright, this class is reviewing the earlier training via video."
Saying so, he operated his smartwatch.
The classroom darkened like a theater, a large hologram screen appearing upfront.
Then the villain response training video played.
And on it...
"I am not the top student you know."
"What stands here is Crow."
"...A villain who hunts those unworthy of being heroes."
...His black history.
Kang Cheol-su pointed at him.
"Today's training MVP is none other than Lee Yoo-jin, no contest."
"So give a round of applause to Lee Yoo-jin for his excellent villain role!"
With those words, applause erupted from all sides.
And he...
Thud.
slammed his head on the desk.