The Hero - Volume 3 - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

“Stupid.”

“I know.”

“The students are always going to show jealousy and envy. Furthermore, it just so happens that the newbie hero that appears in our school is the hero that the whole nation shows interest in.”

“I’m sure they wouldn’t like me then.”

“You knew yet you acted that way?”

“I got mad.”

“I guess you were always like that.”

Minah was sitting next to Haneul as she shrugged her shoulders.

“However, acting that way just because you got mad is a problem. They’re definitely going to be gossiping about it. I’m guessing you forgot that you won’t be able to finish school for awhile?”

“I’m sorry. It was my bad. I’m regretting it right now.”

Haneul normally doesn’t have the personality to cause big incidents as he did in class. If compared to the light, he was dark; he wasn’t a leader, he was a follower.

But once he came to World B, everything started to change.

‘It’s not a bad feeling but……How should I say it. I feel like I’m overfilled with confidence.’

“You must be caught up in deep thought again? Tell it to me, your girlfriend. I’ll listen to you.”

“I told you. I’m not the Haneul that was your boyfriend. That’s why we can’t act the way we used to.”

“You did say that.”

“Then….”

“So what about it.”

“What?”

“From the way I see it, the Haneul that I knew just got a little bit different compared to before. Besides that, everything is still the same. It means whatever it was before or now, I still like you.”

Damn.

Haneul became flustered as his face became as red as an apple.

“You, how can you say things like…..”

“Are you embarrassed? How cute. That reaction is definitely the same as the Haneul from before. Actually, I might be liking this reaction better? It’s been 2 years since we’ve been together and we’ve slowly begun to fall apart. In that sense, we can act as if this is a new start for us.”

Minah smiled brightly and grabbed Haneul’s hand.

“Haneul, don’t worry! Even if you say you forgot everything about me, I don’t care. Even if you were to forget about me at this moment, I will still make you fall in love with me again.”

*     *     *     *     *

There was contact from the Organization.

It was the acceptance notification. I thought it was a spam message at first. The message from them was very simple.

<Congrats! Accepted. You have officially become a hero Haneul. – Hero Organization – >

That was it.

That was all they could write for a Hero Organization that was ran by the government?

Haneul thought a hero had a heavier meaning to it.

Heroes were an existence where one could become one, if they deserved it. An existence that protects justice and the people.

‘It seems like certain concepts are hard to get rid of. I keep thinking in regards to the standards of World A.’

It was to the point where a nameless hero would be at the same level as a common labor official.

Just in case, Haneul decided to message Minah.

– Yes, you’re right. They’re normally like that. It’s pretty crappy huh? But usually, that’s the normal response. For a hero that’s falling in ranks, they may get many messages throughout the day, so they decided to get rid of the empty formalities and instead be simple, and concise. Still, they should be sending out an appreciation plaque. You’re now officially a hero. Congrats.

(TN – The Organization seems to send messages to a hero if their ranking drops. For some heroes, they can drop many times within the same day. Hence the reason why they decide to cut out the BS formalities.)

Guess this is normal.

‘It feels like they’re being very sloppy……..Well, I guess it’s okay since I’m not going to blatantly talk about me being a hero like the celebrities do.’

– When does the money come out?

– Wow, Haneul from the new world is showing me a new side to him. Should I say that there’s been an upgrade to your ability in being able to survive? Any who, your salary comes in the day before the 11th.

(TN – So the 10th, lol.)

If it’s the 11th then…….It’s a little over 2 weeks from now.

If half the pay comes in, then about $3,000 will be…….

Haneul laughed with a sweet smile on his face and thought of what to get for his first paycheck. First, get rid of the debt from everyday life……and then eating out would be nice.

– Oh, by the way Haneul. What rank are you?

– Where can I see that at?

– It wasn’t in your message? That’s weird, they normally send a rank out on those messages as well.

Haneul didn’t think much of it.

He’ll roughly be at Rank B, because that’s what people were gossiping about online.

‘Is Rank B considered high?’

Thinking about it as an alphabet and what Haneul read online, the rank shouldn’t be on the low side but he was still unsure.

– By the way, what is your rank at?

– I’m rank B, level 102.

Haneul’s eyes went round in shock.

Minah is in the B ranking? Haneul was shocked to find that Minah was a hero, but it was even more shocking and unheard of for her level to be so high.

Because Haneul stopped talking, Minah continued to press forward with the conversation.

– Well, you were just placed in the ranking and there has yet to be an announcement for your rank, so just wait a little while. Once your rank is decided, they’ll be placing you in the level system as well. The information should come out in a few days.

– Okay, understood.

Haneul was unable to comprehend where Minah’s strength would come from when her body looked so frail.

‘Minah. The more I learn about her, the less I’m able to comprehend.’

As Haneul continued to think about Minah, he eventually fell asleep.

*     *     *     *

Downtown, completely filled with darkness.

The scenery looked very dismal with no people in sight. The neon lights were broken and the only thing lighting the way were street lights.

It looked like a place where a drunk would occasionally pop out in the middle of the night.

Right then, a drunk guy tipsily drinking away at alcohol appeared and walked clumsily towards a bench. He lay upon it, looking up at the sky. He was drunk to the point where he couldn’t control his body, and it even felt like he was seeing hallucinations.

It was odd.

The clouds were in a peculiar shape.

“What the? Is the sky spinning around in circles?”

With those thoughts, the man rubbed his eyes.

Out of nowhere, as if the sky was splitting, the clouds split up into spider websand shot out everywhere.

“Huh?”

The drunk’s eyes were wide with surprise.

The alcohol in his body vanished in an instant.

He looked back up towards the sky.

This wasn’t a hallucination.

“Earthquake, it’s an earthquake!”

The drunk was shocked and started to run away.

Soon, sirens were heard everywhere.

The briefing room was filled with the hustle and bustle of people.

It was the same as the last earthquake. Another situation occurred without any signs.

“Grab a hold of the director immediately!”

The person in charge of the briefing room quickly yelled.

Suddenly, JooHyuk Park flew out from the director’s office.

“What is it! What’s going on!”

“D, director…Why are you…..”

“Report! Why did it appear again without any signs? When did the signs start to occur!”

“A, about 10 minutes ago.”

“What have you been doing for the past 10 minutes?”

“I didn’t know the d, director was there!”

“Get the Special Ops ready immediately and send a draft call out to the heroes!  Measure the density of the earthquake as well as the level!”

Because of the incident from Central South not too long ago, Ops Director JooHyuk Park was burdened with a lot of work and was pulling an all-nighter. A little while after he fell asleep, he woke up to the noise being made outside of his office.

Unbeknownst to him, another situation had arisen.

It was another earthquake.

“The n, numbers keep increasing. It has exceeded a Level B earthquake!”

“Mother fucker! This is bullshit. It hasn’t even been that long since the last incident……”

JooHyuk Park gritted his teeth.

Chapter 1-End.