22. An Uncomfortable Cohabitation
22. An Uncomfortable Cohabitation
22. An Uncomfortable Cohabitation
"...What exactly does that mean?"
It was practically a threat.
But what he was saying was close to the truth.
He was telling me that if I died, Yu Ha-yeon, destined to become an S-rank Hero, would walk the path of a villain.
Shin Hae-il looked at me with an all-knowing expression and spoke.
"You already know what my words mean. Do not look away."
"..."
He was right.
I remembered the route in V. AGE where Yu Ha-yeon became a villain.
She had lost her parents and fought on alone.
The path of an S-rank Hero was never smooth, and loneliness was her constant companion.
'Will.'
A person's mental strength has a fixed capacity.
That capacity differs for everyone, and it manifests as a stat called Will.
From what I recalled, Yu Ha-yeon's Will was 6.
The Yu Ha-yeon who followed the original scenario lived in constant pain.
An inescapable loneliness and isolation.
Then one day, a Gate appeared in the middle of Daegu.
Its measured level was S-rank.
Unseen Magic Beasts and bizarre structures poured out, invading the city and its people.
'Gate Erosion.'
In Gates with high-level readings, mana leaks out and warps the surrounding environment.
Yu Ha-yeon witnessed a peaceful region transformed into a hellscape in an instant.
The only reward for all her suffering and hard work was the sight of people dying.
Seeing the heroes and civilians dying in that catastrophe, she concluded the world was wrong and chose the villain's path.
That branching point was an event that occurred if I, the player, left the S-rank Gate in Daegu alone.
Yu Ha-yeon, fallen to villainy, could neither cry nor laugh. She destroyed cities and lost her mind.
As long as that image remained vivid in my memory, I couldn't easily abandon her and choose death.
High talent paired with low Will.
That was why her spirit couldn't bear it and she became a villain.
"You are still steeped in anxiety, yet why do you cling to that pride?"
Shin Hae-il, with his empty eye sockets, seemed to see right through my fear of turning into a villain.
Given my memories of the future, he was a deeply troublesome opponent.
Shin Hae-il then made me an offer I couldn't refuse.
"If you are so insistent, what about this? Just once. Follow Black Dawn to a location we desire. Do that one thing, and I shall set you free."
Normally, the standard rule is to never accept a villain's proposal.
Villains habitually lie and betray people who trust them, so negotiating with them is off the table.
But among players, the villain Shin Hae-il was considered an exception.
— Guys. If you bring what Shin Hae-il wants, he gives you an A-rank weapon. Should I do it?
— Why ask? Just take the quest. Master Hae-il never lies. Trust him and go.
In the game, Shin Hae-il was known as the angel among villains.
He never gave out a quest a player couldn't complete, and unlike other villains who deceived you about rewards, he even gave out bonuses.
Though if you completed every quest he gave, half the world would belong to Black Dawn, so a careful balancing act with him was necessary.
I decided to ask about his 'proposal.'
"When are you going to that location? I'd like to know the exact date."
"When the time comes. Wait without worry. The right moment will arrive soon, and I shall guarantee you a degree of freedom."
An offer of guaranteed freedom and an early release.
They would stop my plan of dying by any means necessary.
I was forced into a cooperative situation.
My pride was broken, but for Yu Ha-yeon, who would be doomed without me, I resolved to bend.
"..."
Once I steadied my resolve, Shin Hae-il spoke again.
"Do not forget that we have been quite considerate of you. For a kidnapping victim, the treatment has been excellent, so do show behavior that befits it."
His tone was like that of a kindly grandfather.
Someone meeting him for the first time might think he was a good person and let their guard down.
I knew him, so I never would.
'A man who's a sly old fox inside, perpetually dreaming of the world's destruction in his head.'
Behind that kindly face was a twisted villain who believed human lives were worthless.
Absolute trust could never exist between us.
I rose from my seat, dragging my chains, and addressed them.
"I don't trust you. So don't trust me, either."
Living with them wouldn't dissolve my hostility. It was my indirect way of telling them I'd prefer if they didn't bother talking to me.
The first one to react was Han Yu-wol.
"You really do have a peculiar personality. Enough to make me want to bite you so you can't open your mouth."
Black Dawn stared at me blankly.
Their reactions were varied.
"Bullshit."
"Crazy bastard."
"I'm heading back."
"..."
"What's 'trust'? Is that English?"
And so, my uncomfortable cohabitation with Black Dawn, the group considered the absolute worst in V. AGE, began.
***
A place where lying on a bed reveals a white ceiling.
A hospital.
A private room prepared by the academy for a student who had been through a major incident. The student lay there, drained of will, listening to the news on the TV.
— The group that attacked the academy has been identified as 'Black Dawn.' The exact reason for their attack has not been determined, but unfortunately, one male student is reported to have been kidnapped by them.
His name was Han Si-jun.
A cadet at the academy and the childhood friend of the female student watching the TV intently.
How had he gotten caught up in this incident?
Nobody knew, and the news wasn't providing any answers.
The only thing Yu Ha-yeon knew was the fact that Han Si-jun was acquainted with Black Dawn's villain, Han Yu-wol.
Yu Ha-yeon couldn't forget Han Yu-wol's face, smiling with delight as she looked at Yu Ha-yeon's despair.
"Si-jun... he's alive, right...? He has to be... He'll come back and smile again..."
She kept seeing Han Si-jun with her fangs buried in him, his eyes closed.
That image appeared in Yu Ha-yeon's dreams, disrupting her recovery. It was a trigger that revived the memory of losing someone precious.
— Currently, the Hero Association has stated they will negotiate with the villains to recover him, and they announce they are seeking cooperation from heroes of major guilds.
The news continued to broadcast details about the academy attack.
A 'guild' was an organization formed by like-minded heroes.
If they cooperated, people skilled in search and detection would surely find the kidnapped Han Si-jun.
But Yu Ha-yeon couldn't find peace of mind.
"I thought I was the best... but I guess I'm not..."
Yu Ha-yeon had always been first place.
Facing a group with the immense power of Black Dawn right in front of her, the helplessness of being unable to do anything cut her to the bone.
Why hadn't I put in the effort?
The reason was Han Si-jun.
To walk alongside him, it had been a necessary choice.
'Ha-yeon, you always get perfect scores~ But our son...'
Unlike Yu Ha-yeon, who had maintained top grades without much effort, Han Si-jun had no talent to boast of.
'Why do you hang out with him? I guess he's handsome, but nothing special.'
They didn't know how warm Han Si-jun's heart was.
Students spouting off without a clue.
It wasn't just their opinion. Most people tried to weigh the value of my relationship with Han Si-jun.
'Hey, you're losing out! Your talent's wasted on him.'
People constantly picking at Han Si-jun.
Maybe that was the reason.
Not having attended elementary school, he was already introverted. He grew even more avoidant of people and stopped trying to build relationships with anyone except me.
'Si-jun didn't do anything. Why won't people ever leave him alone?'
Yu Ha-yeon couldn't just stand by and watch Han Si-jun keep getting hurt.
'If I become ordinary again, Si-jun will be at ease too.'
First year of middle school.
From then on, Yu Ha-yeon decided to abandon 'extraordinariness' and feign 'ordinariness.'
She deliberately made mistakes on exams she knew would be perfect scores.
She pretended not to know the answer when called on in class, even when she did.
As she did so, the arrows of comparison aimed at Han Si-jun gradually began to fade.
To stay by the side of an ordinary boy, she had to hide her extraordinariness.
It felt stifling, but if it meant a peaceful life with Han Si-jun, anything was fine.
'Still, don't just slack off on exams. Other kids are trying hard, too. It's disingenuous.'
Of course, Han Si-jun wasn't the type to be happy about that.
He said it was fine to ignore other people's opinions and to do what she wanted.
A guy who was upright but stubborn, and dead once you stripped away his pride.
Yu Ha-yeon really liked that Han Si-jun.
Giving up the academy's top seat, the ordinary position of class president instead of student council president.
That was the reason she settled for even that.
If Yu Ha-yeon just put in the effort, nothing was impossible.
But maybe she had grown too complacent in that ordinariness.
Believing only in her talent and not making an effort, Yu Ha-yeon was completely unprepared for the sudden attack.
Clumsy swordsmanship.
Clumsy basic physical conditioning.
It was all the barren ground Yu Ha-yeon stood on, a result of living solely by relying on her ability.
How long had it been since she'd fallen into this helpless weakness?
After her family was consumed by a fire that reached the heavens, she had been too complacent with reality.
— Can this boy truly be recovered? All attention is focused here, and dissatisfaction at the Hero Academy is erupting...
Click.
Yu Ha-yeon pressed the power button on the remote and shut the TV off.
She couldn't listen to it anymore.
Yu Ha-yeon couldn't stay still any longer.
"From now on... I won't walk beside you."
I'll go on ahead first.
It's fine if you come slowly, Si-jun.
It's fine even if you lag behind.
"I'll pull you forward from the front."
If I do that, you won't leave me.
The weight of protecting someone precious.
Having witnessed someone being taken from her, this was the moment her resolve to protect solidified.