Chapter 48
Chapter 48
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 48
Chapter Title: Baek Hyunseo Who Cries and Begs
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Park Hye-yeon only checked her own condition after Dertod was completely dead.
"I'm... I'm alive..."
Park Hye-yeon looked over her body this way and that. Many parts were torn, crushed, and bleeding, but her body moved. It moved freely without any issues.
She couldn't believe it. A powerful monster from the Black Gate. The one that had toyed with dozens of mages like playthings. A single person had slain it.
Standing before Park Hye-yeon's eyes was Choi Juwon, staring blankly at the sky.
Park Hye-yeon spoke to Choi Juwon.
"Masked Instructor... Thank you for saving me... You don't need to worry too much about our students. They're all alive. Most of the students from the other academies who came in with us seem to be dead, though..."
"I know."
Choi Juwon answered quietly, and Park Hye-yeon continued.
"Truly... thank you so much for saving me... Honestly... I thought I was dead. I thought there was no way to survive."
Park Hye-yeon had actually imagined her future in her mind when Dertod swung the blood sword toward her eyes.
Her eyes pierced by the blade, her body torn to shreds and ravaged until death. She had envisioned that scene. At the same time, the thought that she didn't want to die. And a fierce desire to live welled up. In her heart, there was still the fear of dying without fully avenging her father.
That was why, even the vow she made while wallowing in the gutters—to never ask anyone for help again—she had abandoned. She had cried out inwardly, begging anyone to save her. This was the Black Gate. She knew no one else could help. Still, her desire to live made her hope someone would. Of course, she knew such a thing wouldn't happen.
Yet, astonishingly, her wish came true. The Masked Instructor. The person she called instructor had come to her aid.
"Masked Instructor... how did you get in here?"
Suddenly questioning that fact, Park Hye-yeon asked.
Choi Juwon answered her.
"The absorption and release I taught you. It works on demonic energy too, not just external mana. I drew out all the demonic energy from the Black Gate and entered."
"Th-that... that makes sense...?"
Park Hye-yeon stared at Choi Juwon with an expression that said it was impossible. The demonic energy pouring from the Black Gate was beyond what any human could handle.
The moment she tried to say it was impossible, her eyes fell on Dertod's corpse.
"No need to talk about realism... From the start, the fact that you took down this monster alone proves you're no ordinary person, Instructor."
Park Hye-yeon looked at Choi Juwon and asked.
"Who are you? How do you have such immense power? I already knew you weren't ordinary... but I never imagined you'd be this strong."
Choi Juwon didn't answer her question. Instead, he threw out an unexpected remark.
"Don't ask. I can't tell you. And stop with the formal speech. Casual feels more natural."
Park Hye-yeon flinched.
Only then did she realize she had been speaking formally to Choi Juwon. She only used formal speech with people she trusted and respected. After her father died and her mother abandoned her, she hadn't used it with anyone.
But today, for the first time, someone earned it. Choi Juwon. He had become someone she could trust. It was inevitable. In her life, no one had ever risked their life to save her like this.
Park Hye-yeon looked at Choi Juwon and said.
"Then why... did you save me...? The Black Gate is dangerous. I know you're strong. But the gate's rank is assigned recklessly. You could have entered and faced something far stronger. Then you might have died too. Why risk your life to save someone else? Honestly... I don't think we're worth someone like you staking your life on. We can't offer much, no real rewards. So why did you save us?"
Park Hye-yeon couldn't understand. In her life, no one saved others without demanding something in return. In the gutters she crawled through, every action demanded clear payment. Those who helped always had dark ulterior motives. But the Masked Instructor saved her life and just stared at the sky, asking for nothing.
Choi Juwon answered her question.
"Why did I save you? I don't know either."
To get revenge on the Magic Tower, he needed them? Or was it a waste to lose the students he'd raised? Or some moral responsibility as their instructor? He didn't know. Thinking back now, his body had just moved on its own. Especially for Park Hye-yeon, whose situation resembled his own, he didn't want her to die so pointlessly. That was all.
Baek Hyunseo watched Choi Juwon standing in the distance.
The instructor she once liked. The one who grumbled but always cared for her was right there before her eyes.
"The Masked Instructor was Instructor Choi Juwon..."
Even back when Choi Juwon was at Helmont Academy, she'd thought he was no ordinary person many times. But she never imagined he'd possess such absurd strength and ability.
After all, at Helmont Academy, he was an S-Rank Instructor, but he always claimed his combat power was A-Rank. Above all, as an instructor, he'd never used external mana.
Baek Hyunseo fell deep into thought. The instructor she'd longed to see, to apologize to, was right there. The man blamed by everyone because of her, chased out, his life ruined, stood before her now.
The academy's S-Rank Instructor had become a creator known as the Masked Instructor. He was famous now, making lots of money. But was Choi Juwon happy? Thinking about it, no.
"He must be... really struggling..."
From the beginning, the Masked Instructor had been embroiled in endless controversies. When he revealed external mana, when he entered an A-Rank dungeon himself, and after his duel with President Baek Juseok—while some idolized him, many trashed him.
There were issues with stability. Unorthodox methods weren't true magic. Hiding his face meant something shady. People nitpicked with ridiculous reasons. Simple: he knew too much, outshone them.
If the Masked Instructor started online lectures or, heaven forbid, founded an academy, it would upend the market nationwide. To protect their rice bowls, they teamed up with the media to bash him.
As the daughter of President Baek Juseok, Baek Hyunseo had heard plenty through the grapevine. She knew the academy instructors weren't the good guys.
"He seemed happy at Helmont Academy..."
When Choi Juwon worked as a Helmont instructor, he was mostly expressionless, but his speech and actions hinted at it. How satisfied he was with his job, how much pride he took. He didn't seem to chase money or fame. He just enjoyed teaching students and building bonds with them.
Like a freshman thrilled to make new friends at college. Choi Juwon seemed to find happiness in forming relationships.
Baek Hyunseo's thoughts weren't wrong. After possessing this body, Choi Juwon had hardly any real friends. He'd always acted alone, never attached to anyone. Only as a Helmont instructor did he first bond with people. And the result? Brutal betrayal and exile.
Moreover, it all started with Baek Hyunseo using the Helmont Academy Intranet. She knew it well. How enormous her mistake was.
Splash.
Baek Hyunseo started walking unconsciously. She approached Choi Juwon step by step.
Splash.
Each step squelched through blood. Probably from the fellow students slain by Dertod.
Sad. Tragic. Those thoughts surged. Sometimes, seeing the corpses made her want to vomit. But Baek Hyunseo had something more urgent than mourning her dead classmates. She forced herself not to look around and headed to Choi Juwon.
"Instructor Choi Juwon... thank you for saving me."
"And... there's something I absolutely have to say..."
Choi Juwon said nothing, just staring blankly at the sky. Park Hye-yeon beside him glared at Baek Hyunseo.
"Choi Juwon? That's the Instructor's name? How do you know his name?"
Park Hye-yeon questioned her warily, for some reason.
But Baek Hyunseo just kept looking at Choi Juwon and speaking.
"Instructor, I want to clear up the misunderstanding... I can explain everything. How things ended up like this."
On her way here, Baek Hyunseo had imagined Choi Juwon's reactions a hundred, a thousand times. Would he curse her? Yell? Scorn her? She didn't care. She'd done wrong; she'd endure it.
But Choi Juwon's reaction was none of those.
He didn't even listen, just ignored her.
"Instructor... just once... please look at me, I beg you..."
Even as Baek Hyunseo cried and pleaded, Choi Juwon ignored her and said to Park Hye-yeon.
"Let's go check on the surviving students."
Baek Hyunseo wept and begged.
"Instructor, what happened that day was a misunderstanding. I did wrong, yes. But... I never meant for it to happen... I just liked you. If you want, I'll do anything. To earn forgiveness, I'll follow your every word. Tell me to turn myself in, and I will right now. Please..."
Baek Hyunseo pleaded pitifully.
But Choi Juwon had already walked far away.
Baek Hyunseo gazed endlessly at his retreating figure.