Chapter 49
Chapter 49
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 49
Chapter Title: Public Humiliation
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Inside the dungeon, I checked on Kang Eun-byeol and the other disciples. They had all passed out at first, but as time passed, they began to come to one by one. They seemed to have sustained serious injuries, but their lives weren't in danger.
I led them out through the gate.
For reference, once you defeat the boss inside a Black Gate, the demonic energy destabilizes, opening the gate and allowing free entry and exit.
"How's your body holding up?"
I asked Park Hye-yeon, and she nodded as she replied.
"Thanks to you."
Park Hye-yeon had been using formal speech with me ever since we were in the Black Gate. It felt strange coming from someone who'd been casual before, but no matter what I said, she wouldn't switch back, so I decided to let it be. After all, it was only natural for a student to show respect to their instructor.
"..."
The other disciples said nothing, simply following silently behind us.
'Can't blame them. What they went through was a bigger shock than expected.'
They had been at a site with dozens of casualties. Even without that, nearly losing their lives to Dertod would have been traumatic enough—anything less would have been odd. Still, the venom in their eyes hadn't faded. I was starting to get curious about the details of their backstory.
-Beep beep
As we exited the gate, ambulances were waiting in droves.
"Move in now!"
A man who looked like a paramedic squad leader gestured, and the waiting personnel rushed inside all at once.
The man who gave the order approached me and asked,
"Hello. I'm sorry to bother you with questions when you're probably exhausted from the Black Gate ordeal. Could you tell me about the situation inside?"
I answered calmly.
"After the Black Gate phenomenon suddenly occurred, numerous people died. I took down the monster that emerged from it, and there are no more monsters inside. There are a few survivors. You won't need to use force when you go in."
"Thank you."
He bowed his head briefly and hurried into the gate.
-Tadadadak
Seol Euna came running toward me from a distance. She started examining my body from every angle.
"Juwon, are you okay? Nothing happened, right?"
"Yeah. I'm fine."
She looked me over thoroughly before letting out a sigh of relief.
"Good thing you don't have a scratch on you..."
Then she looked straight into my eyes and said,
"Juwon, for next time... please don't do anything this dangerous. Saving lives is great and all, but you really could have died."
Mid-sentence, she glanced at the disciples beside me and gasped, covering her mouth.
It was probably because she'd used my name in front of them.
"Don't worry about it. Park Hye-yeon has already seen my face anyway, and so have the five Helmont Academy students."
"So... you're planning to operate publicly from now on?"
I shook my head.
"No. Judging by my old disciples' reactions, they seem to have some conscience—at least enough to feel guilty toward me. Not that it's my concern. Either way, any decent human wouldn't go blabbing about my identity, and even if they did, it wouldn't matter. There are already dozens of people the media suspects are the Masked Instructor. Without solid proof, it'd just be another rumor."
I turned to my new disciples and added,
"Naturally, my new disciples won't go around talking about it either. It wouldn't be good for them if I got bogged down with hassle and busyness."
As I looked at them, they nodded and replied,
"Of course we won't tell anyone."
In truth, now that several people knew my identity, perfect anonymity was probably a thing of the past. The perks of staying anonymous were huge, though, so I planned to keep the mask on as much as possible.
'I'll keep operating as the Masked Instructor until irrefutable evidence comes out.'
Just then, the sound of a massive crowd approaching reached us from afar.
-Rumble rumble
'What the?'
Reporters armed with cameras and gear were swarming toward us. They must have spotted the paramedics rushing in and followed the crowd.
"Let's get out of here first."
Getting caught would mean a barrage of annoying questions. With my disciples in no state to handle that, I needed to avoid any delays.
After running for a while...
"Haa... haa... This far should be enough, right?"
Seol Euna asked, panting heavily.
We were now quite a distance from the gate. No sign of reporters.
"What are you going to do now?"
Seol Euna gazed at me as she asked.
"First... I'll help my disciples recover and sort out the incident. A lot of Helmont Academy students died. This won't just blow over, whatever the angle. Things could get messy ahead—conspiracy theories about some mastermind, maybe. Or nothing at all. Black Gates are treated as natural disasters, after all. No one can create them on purpose."
Being inside the Black Gate with them didn't mean I'd get unfairly tangled up, but the world rarely went as planned.
'This could get annoying.'
I'd forced open the Black Gate and entered the dungeon—an unprecedented event in this world, except for the one time before... which was also me.
'Someone must have witnessed it...'
To force it open, I'd absorbed the gate's demonic energy and blasted it skyward. It must have looked like a massive burst of mana from above, so people would investigate. And eventually, they'd figure out I'd pried it open.
-Ding
Suddenly, Seol Euna's phone rang. She showed me her smartphone with a grim expression.
- Black Gate Phenomenon Strikes Downtown—Casualty Estimates Rising...
- What Caused the Black Mana Blanketing the City Sky?
- Witnesses at Scene Include Helmont Academy Students and Suspected Masked Instructor...
As expected, related articles were flooding in fast.
"For now... let's think about that later."
With that, I sent Seol Euna off and took all my disciples back to my place.
-Whoooong
After casting a few healing spells, their wounds began fading away.
"Thank you."
Kang Eun-byeol, the last one I healed, bowed her head in gratitude.
I bowed to my disciples and apologized.
"Sorry. I should have gone in with you."
Kang Eun-byeol shook her head in response.
"You have nothing to apologize for, Instructor. Who could've predicted something like this in a C-rank dungeon? You saved us instead. Thank you—for not just my father, but my life too..."
"More than that... I was shocked to hear the Masked Instructor was the former S-rank instructor at Helmont Academy. I remember the news—how you were unfairly dismissed..."
I let out a sigh and said nothing.
Silence hung in the air for a while before I bid my disciples a simple farewell and sent them out.
"Rest up today after everything. Training resumes tomorrow."
They left one by one at my words. Park Hye-yeon, about to go last, glanced back at me once before heading off.
"Haa..."
Finally, the incident had settled somewhat. The relief was that none of my disciples had died. I decided not to dwell on anything else.
-Splash
Mentally and physically drained, I took a quick bath.
-Click
Afterward, I turned on the TV as I came out.
A program with experts debating was on air.
"Dr. Shim Ji-hyuk, this Black Gate was on an unprecedented scale, wasn't it? Some civilians claim they saw the Masked Instructor enter the gate at the scene. Even survivors say he came in and helped. Now the internet's full of posts praising him as a hero. Does that even make sense?"
Dr. Shim Ji-hyuk shook his head emphatically.
"Entering a Black Gate after it forms? That's nonsense. I stake my PhD in magic on it—no human could do that. If there's any truth, he must have been inside the dungeon by coincidence when the Black Gate hit, then dealt with the monsters afterward. Even so, soloing them is impressive, but only if the Black Gate's rank was low—which is highly likely."
Dr. Shim spoke in an irritated tone.
"The media overhypes the Masked Instructor these days. He's just a mage like any other—not some omnipotent god. People blindly worshipping him after he shares a few mana tricks need to snap out of it. How deluded do you have to be to buy that one guy pried open a Black Gate? It's not a bank vault, for crying out loud. Absurd. Survivors were in chaos, so their judgment was off, but the public swallowing it whole shows a lack of critical thinking. That's why people call the masses no better than animals."
Dr. Shim gestured wildly, ranting on without pause.
"P-Please calm down, Dr. Shim."
The interviewer, flustered by his profanity-laced outburst, tried to soothe him. But Shim's tirade continued.
"Tsk tsk. The Masked Instructor staying silent on this makes him look pathetic—like he wants the 'post-formation entry' rumor to stick. He's enjoying the hero worship now, but when the truth comes out, it'll all turn to backlash. It's a shame he won't debunk the rumors when they're not even his achievements."
-Whisper whisper
Then a staff member approached the interviewer and whispered in their ear.
"I-Is that for real?"
The interviewer stared at Dr. Shim in disbelief.
Dr. Shim snapped irritably,
"What? Did they find proof the Masked Instructor's a fraud?"
The interviewer fell silent for a moment before saying,
"A... a tip video of the Masked Instructor entering the Black Gate... just arrived in our newsroom email."