It was late, so there were few people in the cafeteria.
We were able to eat comfortably.
“Yongcheonhwa, do you know Park Hayeon?”
“Uhm, yeah.”
“I’ll tell her to be friends with you.”
“Got it.”
Since I can’t take care of every aspect of Yongcheonhwa’s A-class life, I decided to leave that part to the friendly Park Hayeon.
“Why are you so interested in me…?”
Yongcheonhwa asked, her face full of anxiety.
[So, according to fate, is this girl supposed to be my successor? Somewhat shocking.]
Laura said disappointedly.
She wanted a bold and heroic human, but Yongcheonhwa didn’t seem to be what she wanted.
‘As far as I know, she was supposed to suffer bullying until she couldn’t tolerate it anymore, then fall into darkness. She also partly brought it upon herself.’
The demon Shaks takes over the host’s body when they’re mentally vulnerable.
Ultimately, though Shaks killed Yongcheonhwa, it was the delinquents who drove her to the edge.
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t dying—it was having her body taken over—but if she never gets it back, how is that any different from death?
[Hmph. I dislike mortals who don’t follow my words, but mortals who don’t forge their own destinies are worse. In that sense, you’re not too bad… No, that’s wrong.]
I don’t quite understand the dragon’s sensitivity.
“To be honest, I was sick of seeing people who came to the Academy aspiring to be heroes but instead play delinquent games.”
Of course, the real reason was the guilt of having my “Succession” skill stolen and preventing Shaks from clinging to her, but I couldn’t say that, so I pretended to have a righteous personality.
“Ah…”
She lowered her head with a dark expression, seemingly reflecting on herself.
‘Well, the reason she followed those delinquents in the first place was to climb the ranks and appear cool, wasn’t it?’
Without realizing it, I ended up sounding critical of Yongcheonhwa, but the message itself wasn’t entirely wrong.
If someone wants to be a hero, it’s a hundred times more correct to have an upright heart like Park Hayeon.
Those delinquents who confronted me earlier will continue living like that until they eventually turn into someone like ‘Medusa,’ who I killed before. I sincerely hope they come to their senses because of today’s events.
“I see…”
Yongcheonhwa nodded as if realizing something.
I suddenly felt a gaze and glanced to the side.
Sparkling eyes.
Ashikaga Hitomi was staring at me as if she were looking at Dark Knight like Isiah.
‘Ah.’
Ashikaga Hitomi hesitated whether she should help Shinoda, who looked like he was going to save a fellow student being bullied.
‘Is he like this because he aspires to be a hero? He seems to dislike injustice, and somehow that’s kind of cool.’
She preferred men who had unyielding beliefs, regardless of good or evil.
“Help…”
Slap.
Just as Hitomi was about to say she would help, the delinquent leader fell to the floor.
Shinoda had struck her across the face.
“Eh?”
She was shocked.
‘I barely caught the afterimage… His agility seems much higher than mine.’
Though she was B-rank, her stat was specialized in intelligence, so her agility was relatively low.
She couldn’t keep up with his movements.
“Apologize to Yongcheonhwa.”
Hitomi was surprised to see how the group of delinquents were completely unable to resist against Shinoda alone.
‘Why aren’t they retaliating? Is there something about Shinoda? I’ll need to check that later.’
Anyone who had seen Shinoda dismantle Zhang Yichen in the tournament would fear him, but Hitomi hadn’t witnessed that event.
“Pay attention to what’s happening. What’s wrong with you? Seriously.”
The reprimanding of the delinquents was nearing its conclusion.
She noticed the defiant eyes in their faces that hadn’t been broken yet.
She had seen that defiant look before.
This Hitomi, born into a reputable family, was someone who had been taught the morality of rulers.
Moderate fear only provokes rebellion; one must instill overwhelming fear so they never dare to resist again. That was her father’s teaching.
‘If only I had followed what my father told me back then, I wouldn’t regret now…’
The young Hitomi had thought her father, who delivered such lessons, was cold and merciless.
But after experiencing it firsthand, her opinion changed.
One month ago, when she stepped in to save a resident when Gospels of Salvation’s followers were about to kill him in a witch hunt, she counseled them kindly.
The followers bowed before her sword and pretended to comply, but later they informed the media that the Asikaga’s daughter attacked them unjustly, making an outcry about their mistreatment.
‘Well, that’s understandable. They did get unexpectedly oppressed by a certain Awakened One, so it’s natural they’d be upset.’
The real issue appeared in the difference in response to a similar incident that happened a few days later.
A certain clan had appeared in the same village by chance.
This was a group that profited from drug and weapon smuggling, essentially a yakuza-like organization with a notorious reputation nationwide.
They had engaged in tsujigiri (practicing killing random passersby) while drunk, and despite witnessing this murder, the locals refused to identify them out of fear of retaliation.
‘When I think about it, it’s infuriating again.’
Ashikaga Hitomi had become greatly disappointed in humanity because of that incident.
If she had decapitated a few of them and threatened them, they wouldn’t have dared to inform the media or retaliate against her in any way.
“Mr. Shin, that was amazing! I have one suggestion, do you mind? I have a great idea!”
Hitomi spoke her thoughts, worried that Shinoda might encounter harm later.
‘To prevent them from ever retaliating, I need to instill fear.’
Shinoda fulfilled her expectations excellently, as if he had read her mind.
He looked like a true ruler.
The actions of the leader were truly befitting.
‘Is this what father meant by the true ruler?’
Hitomi found herself getting more and more drawn to him.
At some distant future.
A submerged Seoul.
Only a few tall buildings were visible above the water level.
On the rooftop of the Awakened One’s Association building, Dark Knight and heroes were in a standoff.
“Dark Knight, should I call you Shinoda? You’re finished.”
The notorious ‘Dark Knight,’ a global culprit, soon had their true identity revealed.
Awakened Ones who read the memories of the land, those who read the memories of corpses, and those who track—intelligence agencies of every powerful nation, including the USA, China, and Russia, had assembled special task forces, mobilizing all information resources to track down Dark Knight.
It seemed Isiah had tried to intervene, but stopping it physically was impossible.
Surprisingly, the identity of ‘Dark Knight’ turned out to be the promising student of the Korean Academy, Shinoda.
He was someone close to me.
Shinoda pulled off his hood.
His helmet disappeared, leaving his bare face exposed.
“You’re being played by the Gospel of Salvation. Their goal is to summon the Demon King. What I did was a drastic measure to excise the cancer that is the Gospel of Salvation.”
Shinoda looked into the eyes of his acquaintances on the hero side one by one.
Our eyes met.
“I trust you all. So trust me. I will definitely protect this world from the Demon King’s claws.”
He wasn’t speaking to all the heroes but to those of us with ties to him.
He extended his hands to us, his face filled with a firm conviction that we would follow him.
“Pfft… I just received a prophecy from the seer. There was a divine revelation. <In the final moment, the devil will entice you with all sorts of sweet talk. You must not be bewitched.>”
The white-haired Archbishop of the Gospel of Salvation, although Japanese, spoke fluent Korean he had never learned. This was indeed a strange event, but to the followers of the Gospel of Salvation, this too was a miracle of the gods.
“Ah, the prophecy… Indeed, Shinoda is the devil. That was the temptation.”
Shinoda failed in eradicating the Gospel of Salvation.
Instead, he gained significant attention, spreading worldwide and drawing the belief of a large number of Awakened Ones.
That’s because receiving baptism from the priests raised their stats by one stage.
The number of followers in the Gospel of Salvation grew rapidly every day to the point where the religious leader, Hikaru Hoshi, began to assume the title of Pope.
The first decree as Pope was the elimination of the ‘Dark Knight’ who worships the devil.
He claimed in his dreams that the ‘Dark Knight’ would bring about the end of the world.
“Submit peacefully!”
“You have revealed your sins!”
Brainwashed heroes rushed at ‘Dark Knight,’ who swung his arm and sent them flying far into the sea.
Splash.
They created water splashes as they plunged into the sea.
“Are you all… unable to trust me?”
‘Dark Knight’ looked at us with disbelief.
Others avoided his gaze by turning their heads, but I met his eyes squarely.
“Dark Knight is the one who torched my country. What a wonderful way you deceived me! You must have enjoyed treating me like a fool!”
I detest Dark Knight, who burned my nation and killed my neighbors.
I detest Shinoda.
“That was the most efficient way to remove the Gospel of Salvation. It was a necessary measure to save the world.”
“Stop lying. You’re just a bloodthirsty murderer. Maybe you’re a demon. Everyone around you has met ruin: Park Hayeon, Isiah, Yang Min-seo, and even me.”
I couldn’t help but blurt out something I shouldn’t have said due to the overwhelming emotions.
Shinoda retracted the hand he had extended.
“So be it. I suppose I have to do this alone.”
He said this with a strangely desolate tone, then turned his back on us.
The knight formed light wings on his back and soared into the sky. The direction he was heading to was…
The world was gradually twisting, and soon a grotesque ceiling came into view.
“Huh.”
It was a dream.
I had been sent back to the past.
“Ugh. To have this dream…”
At the time, he had seemed mistaken.
‘It’s not just me he betrayed.’
Not just me, but all of Shinoda’s friends…
Even though we were by his side as he pitifully died, I despised myself for rationalizing and excusing my actions in this manner.
“If only I hadn’t let go of his hand at that time.”
I deeply regretted.
I wasn’t the only one.
Once we realized the true intentions of the Gospel of Salvation, we all bitterly regretted our betrayal of him.
This time, no matter what…
‘I won’t let go.’
