The Hero Returns

Act 1

At Jordan's question, Hak-joon hurriedly turned his head to look. He blinked his eyes several times before muttering out with a stunned expression, "Huh? Where did he disappear to?"

It wasn't as if he understood what Jordan said, but at least he could tell that the American mouthed the name "Su-hyeun." The man who should've been next to him was not here, so how could he not get flustered?

"Where is Kim Su…."

"I-I, dun speak Engreesh."

It was impossible to communicate. Jordan frowned, feeling rather frustrated. It seemed that Hak-joon also didn't know where Su-hyeun had disappeared to.

<<What about the bucket hat, then?>>

Two people had vanished at the same time.

Could there be some kind of connection here?

Jordan took a look at Chloe's expression. She also seemed somewhat taken aback herself.

<<Is it because the bucket hat vanished? Or…>>

Jordan narrowed his eyes and shifted his gaze away from her.

<<Or is it because Kim Su-hyeun has disappeared, too?>>

Caw, caaaaaw—!

The ominous cry of a bird resounded throughout the forest.

It came from the Blackbirds.

* * *

Shu-aaahk—

Slash—!

The body of a blackbird roaming in the air split in half and fell to the ground while scattering blood everywhere.

Wheee-ree-reek—

Swiiish—

The man pulled the bucket hat lower with one hand and fell back down to the ground. Almost at the same time, he flung himself into the densest part of the foliage.

However, someone else was chasing after the bucket hat-wearing man. As a matter of fact, this tail had been following him ever since he had left his initial position.

<<How persistent.>>

He could more or less tell just who was chasing after him; no one other than a fellow S-Rank could keep up with him.

Chloe wouldn't come after him, and he had already confirmed that Jordan did not sense his departure. More importantly, he knew that the vice guild master of Maximum Guild wasn't as quick on his feet as this person. He already knew quite a lot of intel related to that man, after all.

In that case…

Crack—

"Is it Kim Su-hyeun?"

The man stopped and turned around. That prompted Su-hyeun to come to a stop, too.

"That's right."

"You're faster than I thought. Sticking pretty close to me and all."

The man grinned once Su-hyeun fully revealed himself.

The young Korean's speed was indeed quite quick. To think that he'd catch up when no regular S-Rank could even hope to pull off something like that.

"I'm sure you didn't chase after me for no reason, so what do you want? You must have some business with me."

"You're MacRebur, right?"

Su-hyeun's question caused the bucket hat man's expression to freeze up for a second.

MacRebur.

That was the man's real name.

"You…Who are you?"

"Ah, so I was right. That's a relief."

"What do you mean by relief? And how do you even know my name?"

Initially, he was curious about why Su-hyeun chose to chase after him.

This young man unhesitantly followed MacRebur quietly slipping away as if he knew this would happen beforehand. He thought that it was merely down to the kid's vague sense of curiosity or suspicion. However, the story would have to change now since Su-hyeun knew his name.

After all, MacRebur had already used a false name to introduce himself. Su-hyeun knowing his real name despite that practically meant the same thing as the kid knowing his real identity as well.

"If you aren't planning to answer, then…" MacRebur muttered.

"I wanted to ask you about something, actually."

Su-hyeun took a step closer to MacRebur and spoke up. "Well, it's not like you'd answer me right away, anyway. So…let me ask after I put you in a more cooperative frame of mind, okay?"

"You insane son of a…."

MacRebur's brows shot up while swearing angrily, perhaps finding Su-hyeun's attitude far too impudent.

But that lasted only for a second. Not long afterward, MacRebur's expression regained its previous composure. It was a stunningly bizarre level of change in his emotional state.

Witnessing that, Su-hyeun retorted matter-of-factly, however. "As an assassin-type awakener, controlling your emotions is the basics of all basics. Right, you're doing pretty well in that regard."

MacRebur nearly lost control of his emotions again just then. Su-hyeun knew not only his name, but also what his abilities were, too. He tried to remain composed, but his shock didn't want to wear out quickly.

<<It doesn't matter. Because…>>

Shu-wuwuwu—

MacRebur's figure got sucked into the shade cast by the dense foliage of the jungle.

<<It'll be the end if I just kill him!>>

Fuu-woong—

With that, MacRebur vanished without a trace. Only a semi-transparent "something" remained wavering for a brief moment or two where he used to stand.

However, Su-hyeun remained calm as he scanned his vicinity. As expected, MacRebur's aura was gone with nary a clue as to where he might have disappeared to.

"Hide in the shadows and aim for your target's back. Even this is basic for an assassin," said Su-hyeun.

Su-hyeun's gaze shifted to his side.

Tap—

Although faint, a certain noise could still be heard. Even MacRebur's flustered emotion could be sensed quite clearly, as well.

Su-hyeun shifted his gaze again and continued on with what he wanted to say. "In 2018, there was a catastrophe that took place in an American embassy. The number of victims was 11, including the ambassador. It was determined to be an incident caused by some sort of explosive device."

Tap—

"In 2019, there was the free-for-all riot that took place in the Canadian Awakener Organization. The director of the organization got sucked into the fight among the awakeners and was killed. And in August of the same year…."

Swish, tap, tap, tap!

Su-hyeun stood still and continued to say something - all the while his gaze shifted busily in this and that direction again and again.

MacRebur circling around such Su-hyeun waiting for an opening found it harder and harder to maintain his composure.

<<This b*stard… just who is he?>>

The incidents Su-hyeun brought up happened to be none other than the very ones MacRebur was involved in.

Of course, there were plenty of other incidents not known to the rest of the world. However, those incidents Su-hyeun mentioned? Almost no one knew that those were MacRebur's handiwork.

On top of that…

<<Again.>>

Tap—

MacRebur was gradually closing the distance but had to back away again. He used a skill to hide his body and cautiously approached Su-hyeun, but his target had accurately saw through his position.

At first, he thought it was pure coincidence. Or maybe the b*stard was particularly lucky.

But when the same thing repeated three, four times in a row, he knew that this was no coincidence at all.

<<He can actually see where I am….>>

His composure began crumbling away bit by bit. At the same time, the questions regarding Su-hyeun quickly mushroomed in the corner of his mind.

<<Goddammit.>>

He couldn't make up his mind.

Su-hyeun was accurately seeing through his current position. As an assassin, he naturally favored sneak attacks, yet this was the same as forcing him into an open confrontation.

Should he escape from here? Or should he stay and fight?

If he did escape from here, then he probably would be able to meet his target at a different time.

However…

<<No, I can't let him live.>>

This b*stard knew too much about him.

He needed to suppress his target and find out just who the hell this kid was. If he couldn't, then he absolutely had to make sure that Su-hyeun was not breathing anymore.

Su-pahk—!

Aiming for Su-hyeun's blind spot, MacRebur exploded in speed without warning. The location he dashed to was right behind Su-hyeun's back. He then closed the distance in the blink of an eye while yanking out his dagger.

At the same time…

Shu-ahhk—

Countless black blades rose up in all directions with Su-hyeun in the middle.

Chwa-rahrahrahrahk—

The moment all those black swords pounced on Su-hyeun's silhouette…

<<It's done.>>

MacRebur cried out inwardly in elation. His attack worked far easier than he initially thought. Fortunately, he had accurately aimed for Su-hyeun's blind spot, it seemed.

But then…

"Huh?"

He definitely thought he caught his prey, yet there was no sensation at the tip of his dagger.

Sliiice—

Drop—

A burning pain was transmitted through his arm. Something weighty fell near his feet next. He shifted his gaze lower only to discover a severed arm spurting blood rolling around on the ground.

"Ah, ah? Ahhhhk!"

"Shut up."

Baaaang—!

Su-hyeun grabbed MacRebur's head from behind and slammed the assassin face-first into the ground.

MacRebur had lost his cool from the horrifying reality of his limb being cut off, and couldn't even offer proper resistance as his face was viciously planted into the ground below.

For a moment there, he thought he'd blackout. He would've done so for real if it weren't for Su-hyeun lifting the assassin up in the air by the head.

"Okay, so you won't run away with this, I hope?" Su-hyeun said.

"Euh….euh, euh…."

Countless emotions fleeted in and out of MacRebur's eyes.

His previous composed look was long gone by now. His eyes were filled with confusion and fear and no longer belonged to an assassin.

"The weakest point of an assassin like you always has been yourselves. Your stealth would gradually come undone just because you started losing your cool."

"It…can't be….That's why….my name…."

"Everything after that, too. Even then, you did maintain your cool pretty well, I have to say. But maybe because your past work got found out, your composure began to crumble little by little."

Craaack—

"Kuwaaaaahk—!"

To prevent MacRebur from escaping too far, Su-hyeun stomped on one of the assassin's legs and shattered it.

As the scream resounded out, Su-hyeun's ice-cold eyes looked down MacRebur. "This is nothing much, you know. How many died by your hands up until now?"

"Euh, euh….Euh, euh…."

"Since you are an assassin, you should've run away like one. You made a mistake of taking me head-on. Well, even if you did run away and wait for another opportunity, later on, the end result would've been the same."

MacRebur heard those words and realized that he'd played into Su-hyeun's trap all along.

His opponent already knew who he was and dug a double, no triple, layered trap with the knowledge as the foundation. He prevented him from retreating and ensured his complete defeat even if they fought head-on.

<<I need to escape no matter what….>>

"Hey, I can see you thinking of running away from your eyes."

Grab—

"W-wait, hold on…!"

When Su-hyeun placed his foot on MacRebur's other leg, the assassin cried out in pure shock.

Unfortunately for him…

"Hold on, my ass."

Craaaack—

"Kkeuh….Aaaaaah—!"

After crushing both legs of his prey, Su-hyeun finally lowered himself and matched MacRebur's line of sight. The latter, as he lay there moaning in pain, soon realized that he could no longer escape from here.

"The Dump Guild."

<<He already knows everything.>>

"Right?"

"Keuh….keuh, keuh….Kekeke."

The pained moan leaking out of his mouth was now mixed with a cackle.

It just felt too funny, now that everything was laid bare in the open like this. MacRebur was curious about how much Su-hyeun knew, but it seemed that he knew everything.

"You're actually laughing. What a crazy bastard you are," retorted Su-hyeun.

"I'm not sure how much you know, but…You shouldn't have come here."

"You're bluffing."

"No, I'm telling you the truth. You…should've stayed in Korea." MacRebur cackled and continued on. "But what to do now? You only have a pair of hands, after all. And soon enough, in Korea there will be…."

"Oh, that. You don't have to worry about that."

"…What did you say?"

Only then did MacRebur take a good look into Su-hyeun's eyes.

The latter didn't seem to be panicking one iota from what he had said a second ago. No, he seemed utterly disinterested as if he knew about it already.

<<There's no way…>>

Even that?

<<This makes no sense!>>

Unless they had a traitor among their midst, Su-hyeun couldn't have known about it.

MacRebur momentarily wondered if Su-hyeun didn't care at all about South Korea, but that didn't seem to be the case. Those eyes, rather than indifference, were a lot closer to confidence, instead.

It must have meant there was something he could place his trust in.

"It can't be…."

"Enough. I'll be the one asking questions from now on. Time's wasting."

This would be the first time in a long while.

Every member of the Dump Guild was infamous for their viciousness. And if it was an S-Rank from that group, then making him talk would be incredibly difficult to say the least.

"The Dump Guild's American headquarters. Tell me everything you know."

"…What was that?"

MacRebur was wondering what kind of questions would be asked since Su-hyeun seemed to know everything, but then, he realized that the contents of the question were quite ominous in nature.

"The Dump Guild. You cockroach-like b*stards…."

The biggest reason why Su-hyeun came to America was…

"I'm planning to stomp you out of existence using this chance."

…to completely eradicate the Dump Guild currently hiding in the United States of America.