The Hero Returns

"That man is the one who sent the note. And the man he's attacking is Hwang Jun-peong." Zhu In shook his head at the idea popped up in his head. "No. Hwang Jun-peong is not under attack. He's fighting. Then…what was the reason for the note about the Dump Guild? Why are they fighting now?"

The situation was complicated. He was certain of only one thing—it was difficult to take sides.

"What are you doing now? We have to help!"

The guild master of the Meta Guild, who was a fan of Hwang Jun-peong, hurriedly stepped forward. Zhu In shook his head, blocking her.

"Wait a minute."

"What are you talking about? Hwang Jun-peong is being attacked by the Dump Guild —"

"Use your head! Do you think it makes sense for the Dump Guild to ask for civilian evacuation?"

"What the hell do you mean…No, wait. Are you saying Hwang Jun-peong is part of the Dump—"

"There's nothing certain yet. But Hwang Jun-peong has been hiding his identity. So there is room for doubt…"

"Man. Do you want us to just stand here and watch? If we have any doubts, we have to stop the fight first."

"We are not powerful enough to interrupt them."

There was a great diversity of opinion. No one was strong enough to mediate the fight between Su-hyeun and Hwang Jun-peong. And there was room for doubt. Plus, Su-hyeun had requested for the evacuation of civilians in advance. So no one had falsely accused him as being part of the Dump Guild.

Swish—

Slash—!

Su-hyeun's attack grew harsher. Hwang Jun-peong raised both arms over his head to block Su-hyeun's sword. But Su-hyeun's powerful magic was starting to wear out his arms.

Crunch—

"Those idiots—"

Hwang Jun-peong had expected the other awakeners to buy some time for him. But it looked like he might die before they could provide even a little help.

Swish, swish—

Slash—!

Su-hyeun struck low with his sword, aiming below Hwang Jun-peong's arms. He deeply cut Hwang Jun-peong's waist. Hwang Jun-peong's body quaked with pain. He turned his eyes up and down in agony.

Whiz—

Hwang Jun-peong hastily turned his body and started running.

Slash—!

Su-hyeun wouldn't let him flee. He drew his sword across Hwang Jun-peong's back. Hwang Jun-peong's body shook again, but he clenched his teeth and ran. He ran towards the crowd of hundreds of awakeners. There was only one way to escape now.

"I have to take hostages!" Hwang Jun-peong thought.

Su-hyeun had arranged for the awakeners to evacuate civilians. Hwang Jun-peong could guess what kind of personality a man like that possessed.

"If I can grab hold of a hostage, I might be able to run away."

Hwang Jun-peong reached his hand out to the closest people—Zhu In and the guild master of the Meta Guild. A violent temper flowed out from Hwang Jun-peong. Zhu In realized something was wrong.

"Run away!"

Rumble—

Whoosh—!

A translucent curtain formed around Zhu In. It pushed the other awakeners away from him.

People screamed.

"S-sir!"

As the others were pushed back, Zhu In strode forward.

"Please, I hope this works," Zhu In thought.

He opened his hand towards Hwang Jun-peong. Wind gathered and spewed from Zhu In's hand. It was the same wind that had just pushed the others in the opposite direction.

Rip—

Hwang Jun-peong's nails were torn off by the air. Zhu In pushed his magic to the maximum level and shut his eyes.

"Please. Please."

Nothing happened, and it seemed as if his wish had come true. Zhu In opened his eyes once more. He could see Hwang Jun-peong's back.

"I got you."

Drip, drip—

Hwang Jun-peong's hand had pierced Su-hyeun's shoulder. Su-hyeun grabbed Hwang Jun-peong's other arm. With a crunch, Hwang Jun-peong's arm was twisted.

"Argh…" Hwang Jun-peong moaned.

Hwang Jun-peong retracted his hand from Su-hyeun's shoulder. Blood flowed from Su-hyeun's shoulder, but he still moved as if he was fine.

"It's the same as last time."

Thump—

Su-hyeun kicked Hwang Jun-peong's leg while holding his arm. Hwang Jun-peong's knees started to shake and he fell to his knees. Due to the Dragonize skill, his body remained huge. So when he kneeled, his eyes were now level with Su-hyeun's.

"I know you're a coward, so I knew you would try to escape among the bystanders and take hostages."

"God damn—!"

As if it was a humiliation to kneel, Hwang Jun-peong tried to rise again. He stiffened his legs. Even if he was injured, he was still confident in his strength, because he had the power of a dragon. But…

"Don't get up."

Thump—

Gasp—!

Su-hyeun pulled Hwang Jun-peong's arm down. Hwang Jun-peong tried to get up, but his upper body was pushed down. His body staggered.

Bam—

Hwang Jun-peong knelt again. His upper body drooped, but he looked up Su-hyeun. Now, Su-hyeun was looking down on Hwang Jun-peong.

"I told you—" Su-hyeun raised his sword, "—I will drag you down."

"W-wait a minute!"

At that time, an urgent voice came from behind. It was from the guild master of the Meta Guild. There were other guild masters, too. The guild master of the Meta Guild strode towards Su-hyeun.

"I don't know what is going on, but you know who he is, right? If you have a personal grudge, solve it through conversation—"

Slash—

Su-hyeun did not listen to her and swung his sword. Everybody became quiet once they witnessed the moment a thin red line was drawn across Hwang Jun-peong's body.

"H-help…me…"

Hwang Jun-peong reached out to the many awakeners behind Su-hyeun. No. He tried to reach out.

Crack—

Hwang Jun-peong's body was cut in half and the two sides split apart. Su-hyeun turned around and looked at the awakeners who had tried to stop him.

"Sorry, I interrupted you before," he said, "What were you saying?"

There was nothing she could say anymore. Hwang Jun-peong was already dead. People could not believe that they had just witnessed the death of China's finest actor.

"I have a lot of questions," Zhu In said to his rescuer.

He looked down at the dead body of Hwang Jun-peong. The Dragonize skill faded with his life, and his body began to revert to his original form.

"Don't you think you have a lot to explain?"

"Well…"

Su-hyeun scratched his head. Zhu In and the rest of the awakeners watched him with curiosity and wariness.

"I guess so," Su-hyeun answered.

"I did it. Now how am I going to explain it?" he asked himself.

***

Purr, purr—

Miru made a pleasant sound above Su-hyeun's head. Su-hyeun sat on a rock next to the remnants of the building. Zhu In had brought him a bandage, which Su-hyeun now applied to his shoulder. Su-hyeun had many minor injuries, but the biggest one was the penetrating wound in his shoulder.

"So, that dragon was your divine beast," Zhu In said as Su-hyeun fixed the bandage.

Thump—

Zhu In had wanted to talk with Su-hyeun alone, so he had convinced other guild masters to give them some time to themselves. Though some of the guild masters thought Su-hyeun was a terrorist responsible for the death of one of the world's finest actors.

"Ah, yes. His name is Miru."

Su-hyeun glanced at Zhu In's face, then focused on checking the bandage.

"Miru? What does it mean?"

"It means dragon in my country's language."

"Dragon? The dragon's name is Dragon? Ha-ha!" Zhu In laughed quite loudly as if Su-hyeun's answer was funny. Although it wasn't that funny. "It's so weird."

"What is?" Su-hyeun asked.

"You were very scary just a few minutes ago. But now you look very gentle. You seem like a completely different person."

"Is that so?"

Su-hyeun had heard that he looked different when he fought. So it was not an unusual comment anymore.

"But what do you mean by 'my country'? Are you from Korea? Japan? You look Korean…"

"Yes, I am Korean."

"Wait. Are you…Kim Su-hyeun?"

Su-hyeun asked back in surprise, "How did you know?"

"Who else could be that strong yet that young? Though you were far stronger than I expected."

He was right. In Korea, there were no young S-Rank awakeners like Su-hyeun. In fact, he was the youngest S-Rank awakener of all.

"I heard you were at war with the Dump Guild."

That was a well-known fact.

"Was Hwang Jun-peong connected to the Dump Guild?"

"Yes." Su-hyeun glanced at Hwang Jun-peong's body, which hadn't been moved yet. "He was the Dump Guild itself."

"What do you mean?"

"He was the guild master. He created the Dump Guild."

"…What?" Zhu In looked at Hwang Jun-peong's corpse with a startled face.

"He was an actor loved by people for his perfect performances. But he was also the guild master of Dump Guild?" thought Zhu In.

"Hwang Jun-peong had been working in Hollywood a lot lately. He'd turned many American guilds to his side, starting with Chloe of the Star Guild. And he created the Dump."

"Then, the reason why the Dump Guild did not work in China—"

"Because there were a lot of eyes on him. For Hwang Jun-peong, it was easier to operate in Hollywood."

"Oh, wow."

Zhu In didn't know whether to believe this or not. But Su-hyeun's story was quite convincing. Hwang Jun-peong had been hiding the fact that he was an awakener.

As one of the world's top actors, also being an awakener would have been seen as a premium. Yet the rage and madness that Hwang Jun-peong had shown were clearly different from what people knew of him.

"By the way, I forgot to tell you something," Su-hyeun said.

"Yes? Is there anything else left?"

"No, not really but—" Su-hyeun tightened the bandage, then bowed his head toward Zhu In, "—Thank you very much. Thanks to you guys, civilians were kept safe. Also, I'm sorry I had lied to you."

"Y-you have no reason to apologize. And we are the ones who should be thanking you." Zhu In jumped out from his seat and shook Su-hyeun's hand. Then he sighed and sat down again. "Well. I guess everything was solved even before I actually had the opportunity to talk with you."

"What do you mean?"

"It's obvious that he was a villain, right?" Zhu In gestured at Hwang Jun-peong with his chin.

Su-hyeun smiled. "He does look like that."

"So what will you do now?" Zhu In asked. All the suspicions he had about Su-hyeun before now had been completely erased.

"I have to settle an affair first."

The tallest building in Guangzhou had collapsed, and Hwang Jun-peong was dead. Yet the war with the Dump Guild was not over yet. Even though Hwang Jun-peong was gone, the Dump still remained.

"Do you have a personal grudge against the Dump Guild?" Zhu In asked, looking up Su-hyeun as he rose.

"No, I don't."

"Then why did you do this much? I know your intentions are good, but I honestly don't understand."

"Isn't it something that someone should do anyway?"

"That doesn't explain why it has to be you."

"Why should I wait for someone else to do it?"

Zhu In had no answer to Su-hyeun's retort.

"If I do nothing, the world won't change. It'd be selfish to just wait for someone else to change the world for the better."

Zhu In could not say anything in response to Su-hyeun's words. He was absolutely right, but there were not many people who would actually live up to that sentiment. Not even those who knew what was right.

"Thank you again. Then…" Su-hyeun bowed his head toward Zhu In and left.

"He is a hero. A real hero…" Zhu In murmured as he watched Su-hyeun depart.

Unlike others who could not live up to their ideals, Su-hyeun actually did the necessary work. Also, he had the power and cause to do it. At first glance, it might seem like an easy decision, but it was actually more difficult than anything else. There were many people with strong power, but few used it correctly. Zhu In bowed his head in shame. He thought that one day, Su-hyeun would be known to everyone as a hero.