Chapter 39
Chapter 39
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: Villain, Yet Not a Villain
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"Hey, Cadet Seo Ha-eun? What do you mean by that?"
Louise wore an expression that said she couldn't comprehend it at all.
The news and articles had already specified that the perpetrator was the Smiling Man.
The Union's announcement hadn't mentioned any separate true culprit.
Yet suddenly, it wasn't something the Smiling Man had done.
And to hear such words from the mouth of a cadet aspiring to be a hero!
"Ah..."
Even Seo Ha-eun herself seemed to belatedly realize what she had just said.
Her hand covered her mouth, conveying a sense of 'Why did I say that?'
Taking the villain's side. She, of all people.
"..."
She lowered her hand. She couldn't believe her own actions.
"This incident wasn't caused by the Smiling Man."
Even so, she didn't take back her words.
"You seem awfully certain. Mind if I ask why?"
"I've been in the Hero Academy's records archive for over a week. While I was there, I looked into information about the Smiling Man."
Why would she go looking for information on the Smiling Man?
Louise nearly voiced the question but clamped her mouth shut in surprise at herself.
The Smiling Man had killed the S-Rank Hero 'Holy Knight'.
And that Holy Knight was an acquaintance of Seo Ha-eun's, or so she'd heard.
A villain who murdered someone close to her. She'd want revenge.
If that's what was driving her, it was best not to bring it up.
"The Smiling Man has committed serious crimes up until now. But every single one of those crimes targeted heroes. Not indiscriminate masses, but one specific target he chose. Regardless of who else was around, he focused all his malice solely on that one person."
"Hero murder is undoubtedly a grave crime, but..."
"No crimes against civilians in between?"
"None."
Louise, who had come from England, didn't know much about the situation in Korea.
It had nothing to do with how well she spoke Korean.
Unlike her, who tilted her head in uncertainty,
"Indeed... You're right. I once overheard that there are a tiny number of villains who never committed crimes against civilians. The Smiling Man was one of them."
Jin Seo-ah chimed in agreement. But soon, she continued with 'Even so.'
"Villains are always capricious beings. They prioritize emotions over reason. What if the Smiling Man suddenly turned his eyes toward crimes against civilians and carried out this incident?"
"I agree with Cadet Jin Seo-ah. Villains' actions follow no set pattern. Even if they did, we're cadets at Hero Academy. There's no reason we should trust them."
Jin Seo-ah and Louise nodded decisively.
They didn't trust villains. All the heroes who had were dead.
They knew well how rampant false surrenders and betrayals had been.
It was always emphasized in lessons about villains at the academy.
If they had ever thought of themselves as human, they shouldn't have made the wrong choice to begin with.
Harming people as a person. Ruining the world as an Ability user.
That's why they didn't trust villains. They didn't look upon them favorably.
It was only natural for hero cadets.
"..."
"..."
Kang Yuna and Seo Ha-eun exchanged glances as if by prior agreement.
They knew. About that day, which those two didn't.
They hadn't told them until now, but it was time to reveal the truth.
Jin Seo-ah and Louise had fought alongside them that day, after all.
"Actually, there's something we haven't told you two yet."
The monster appearance at the academy not long ago.
Everyone thought S-Rank Hero Valkyrie had handled it.
But she informed them there had been one more person involved.
The villain, the Smiling Man. The fact that he had appeared and saved them.
"...Wait. Hold on a second."
Louise urgently cut off Kang Yuna's words.
Her face was filled with disbelief and shock; she seemed greatly stunned.
"So you're saying... right now... that the Smiling Man saved us?"
"Yes."
"He got us out of the cocoons the monster trapped us in, and even beat the monster nearly to death before Valkyrie arrived?"
"That's what we saw."
For a moment, English spilled from Louise's mouth.
She muttered things like 'Oh God. Unbelievable. This doesn't make sense.'
"..."
Jin Seo-ah's reaction was no different from Louise's.
She let out an 'Ahh' of sigh before opening her mouth with 'No way.'
"That can't be. Why on earth would the Smiling Man do that? He's a heinous criminal who's killed countless heroes. Why would a villain like that save us?"
"We don't know the reason. But it's a definite fact that he saved us."
"Ha-eun and I both saw it. Threads pierced through and advanced, tangled with the monster once, and sent it crashing to the floor. The monster took serious damage then."
"No way, so that's..."
Once, when they had gone to express their deep gratitude to Valkyrie for saving them.
She had waved them off with an uncharacteristically awkward expression.
At first, they thought she was embarrassed by the thanks.
But thinking back now, that gesture seemed like embarrassment of a different kind.
She must have felt uneasy receiving thanks for something she hadn't done.
"The Smiling Man is definitely a villain. The fact that he killed heroes hasn't changed. The ones I believed in and followed..."
Composing herself momentarily from the feeling of betrayal, Seo Ha-eun spoke again.
"...including Holy Knight. Many heroes lost their lives to him."
Yet amid that chaos, the Smiling Man had never caused a single civilian casualty.
Even heroes sometimes caused civilian harm in battle.
How was this villain able to avoid that entirely?
"Thinking about it... you're right. We could write negatively about villains endlessly, but if the records say otherwise, it means there really wasn't a single innocent victim..."
Louise startled herself and slapped her cheeks. This won't do.
No matter what, a cadet speaking positively about a villain!
This was unacceptable. It would disqualify her from facing senior heroes!
"Let's drop this conversation. Fine, say it wasn't the Smiling Man. But what changes? It was still a villain's doing, and we're destined to become heroes who catch villains like that."
"That's... true."
"We can't waver. Even if it's true that the Smiling Man saved us. It's also true that many heroes died by his hand."
Unless the Smiling Man repented everything and turned himself in.
Unless it was all one grand play for the sake of the world.
Otherwise, the Smiling Man could only be a villain.
Jin Seo-ah agreed with Louise. Kang Yuna did too. And...
"...Yes. That's correct."
Seo Ha-eun as well. It was something she couldn't deny.
The sacred ground of Korea's prosecutors, the Jin family home.
"You've arrived."
As always, people greeted Jin Seo-ah.
But today, something felt off.
"Miss?"
Jin Seo-ah's expression wasn't good at all.
She always smiled when returning home.
But now, her face was stiff and hardened.
"Miss. Did something happen?"
"No. Just..."
One sigh. And one question.
"Where's Grandfather?"
"In the training grounds, as usual."
Jin Seo-ah nodded and headed straight to the training grounds.
The Sword Saint had just finished a set of forms and was wrapping up.
"Oh. Seo-ah's here."
"Grandfather."
"Your face looks off today. Something wrong?"
Should she say it, or not?
After a moment's hesitation, Jin Seo-ah made her decision.
They hadn't asked her to keep it secret.
She wanted to ask someone she could trust.
"About the recent incident. The villain, the Smiling Man."
"I heard. What about it?"
"I became friends with a cadet. Seo Ha-eun."
Seo Ha-eun. He'd heard the name. More precisely, he knew her parents.
A hero couple who met a tragic end.
"She said it wasn't done by the Smiling Man."
"That must be confusing. With the announcement out and so many witnesses."
"At first, yeah. But now I'm confused for a different reason."
Jin Seo-ah grumbled as if it was still hard to believe.
"About the Apocalypse-Class monster that appeared at the academy not long ago."
"Right. You nearly got in big trouble that day."
"I thought for sure Valkyrie unnie saved us. But... apparently not."
"Not?"
"Kang Yuna and Seo Ha-eun woke up first during the rescue. They said they saw it happen. The villain, the Smiling Man, appearing and saving us."
A villain saved hero cadets.
This was incredibly hard to believe.
"I thought it was nonsense at first, but piecing it together, it fits. Valkyrie unnie's reaction was odd too. And it's not like one person hallucinated or lied—two of them."
"They could both have seen an illusion."
"There was conviction on their faces. And it wasn't just from that day—it was certainty gained from something else too."
Jin Seo-ah's senses had sharpened greatly as she progressed in her swordsmanship.
She didn't know exactly what, but she'd sensed something from Kang Yuna and Seo Ha-eun's reactions.
That the Smiling Man's involvement wasn't limited to the academy monster incident.
"Hmm..."
The Sword Saint stroked his chin.
He couldn't provide an answer right away either.
"For now, go inside and rest. Have some food. Then we'll talk more in my study."
"Yes, Grandfather. If I'm bothering you..."
"Listening to my granddaughter's worries isn't hard at all. Go on in."
Jin Seo-ah walked away from the training grounds and soon vanished from sight.
Watching her go, the Sword Saint spoke.
"A villain saving hero cadets. What an odd villain."
Then he slowly turned his head to the side.
"Isn't he?"
Rustle—
There stood the Smiling Man.