Chapter 2
* * * *
“So, were you able to confirm anything?”
The Korean Hero Organization was currently holding a conference regarding the unknown hero that appeared in Central South 2 days ago. The people partic.i.p.ating in this conference were the president, vice president, and HR director of the Organization.
“We weren’t able to confirm anything yet. We’ve never seen a hero with that appearance until the last battle. Checking the C rank and B rank list has proved to be useless, because he doesn’t seem to be registered.”
“He’s a hero that hasn’t registered yet…..how irritating.”
It was already bad enough that he was an existence of the unknown to the organization, but what made it worse was that he went and showed a spectacular battle 2 days ago.
“Things have turned out a lot worse than I have imagined and there’s no way we can cover this up. It’s already bad enough that we released wrong information regarding the level of the earthquake, yet now that hero is known to everyone through the media. Many civilians are asking for information regarding the new hero, but we can’t tell them that he’s an unregistered, unknown being.”
On top of that, there were many complaints because, the lack of manpower at this “C level” earthquake led to many unnecessary casualties.
In order to divert the media’s focus to something else, the Organization had to figure out who the Hero in Silver was and put him/her out in the open.
“President Kim, search for him. I’m sure he’s somewhere around us. Call the colleges and have them test their students, and make sure the hospitals are also informed about this matter.”
“Yes, sir.”
President YooShik Kim pushed his gla.s.ses up.
“Also, Vice President Choi, were you able to figure out what hero ranking the Hero in Silver should be placed into?”
“Hmm, to be honest, we weren’t supplied with a good magic detector this time, so we weren’t able to get any good readings off of it. Looking at it from the situation though, my theory suggests that destroying the Type D and Type C monsters with a single punch indicates he has the strengthof at least a B rank, possibly reaching up to the A rank.”
Everyone nodded as it was an important information to consider.
The messenger kept ringing.
It was a message sent by Minah.
Since the last time Haneul and Minah met, Haneul would constantly be receiving meaningless messages from Minah. As most of the conversations would start off normal but end up leading to “Let’s go to the hospital.” In all honesty though, Minah just couldn’t accept the truth.
“If it was something that could be fixed by going to the hospital, I would have definitely gone already.”
Haneul was also very frustrated.
It would be weird if he wasn’t, because the world and life he knew changed completely in a single moment.
He’s been thinking about every little detail that has happened since Thanksgiving, and that’s when he noticed it.
There was another thing that changed.
“………”
The department of heroes.
Haneul was majoring in computer engineering, yet in this world, it showed that he was majoring in the department of heroes.
‘What the h.e.l.l is…….’
As always, Haneul felt like he was the odd one around here. Although, it seemed like the number of students studying in college dropped, everyone majoring in the department of heroes walked around as if it was normal.
Haneul didn’t go to cla.s.s, and instead sat down on a bench with a blank expression. All the other students around him were conversing with each other as they were pa.s.sing by.
“Hey Haneul.”
He turned his head to look beside him and saw a frustrated Minah.
“Are you still not able to remember anything about me?”
“I told you everything last time.”
Haneul had truthfully told Minah everything. The fact that he was no longer the Haneul that she knew from before and that in his world there were no earthquakes and heroes.
Unfortunately, Minah wasn’t willing to accept it and from her point of view she had all the right not to accept it.
It’s only been 2 months since Haneul was discharged from the army, but in just a couple of days, his whole life had changed.
Haneul got up from his seat.
“I’m sorry.”
There was nothing he could say besides that.
Haneul went inside his cla.s.sroom. He figured since he was here at school anyways, he wanted to try and see what a hero’s cla.s.s would entail.
They were currently studying the application of magic. The teacher was explaining the process of feeling the magic from around the world and then applying it for use, but because the cla.s.s was based off of theories n.o.body was practicing.
At first, Haneul was barely listening to what was going on because everything seemed like a joke.
But as time went on, his att.i.tude changed. Although, Haneul hated theory based cla.s.ses. He found this cla.s.s...o...b.. different. He took every word the teacher was saying seriously because it matched perfectly with his own experience.
‘That feeling I get deep within me as I was fighting the monsters…so that was magic.’
Haneul could sense a feeling all around him as if he could just reach out and grab it if he wanted to.
“We’ll finish up at this point today. Oh, also, if anyone has awakened recently, please make sure to register with the Organization. If you’re not registered, you won’t be able to gain the perks of a Hero, nor would you be able to bring out your powers to its full potential. You can also fall to the dark side and become a villain, so I hope you students take a note of what I’m saying right now.”
After saying that, the teacher walked out.
As Haneul thought about how beneficial this cla.s.s was to him, he walked outside. That’s when Minah blocked his front, making it hard for him to take another step forward.
The students pa.s.sing by were staring at the couple. Their atmosphere seemed to have changed and it was quite different from normal.
“Let’s talk.”
“Okay, Haneul, I understand. Let’s say everything you said is the truth, what can we do from here to make things back to how it used to be?”
“If I knew the answer to that, we wouldn’t be in this situation to begin with. Although you might feel shocked and annoyed right now, it’s the same for me. I was normally a computer engineering student, but in this world, I’m in a weird school learning about magic applications and what not.”
“……Alright, alright, okay. Then let’s sit down and try to resolve this issue together.”
“Do you finally trust everything that I’ve told you?”
With that question from Haneul, Minah crinkled her eyes.
“Sorry. To be honest, I can’t believe it. In my opinion, I really think you should go get yourself checked at a hospital. You might be having a bad reaction to your magic awakening.”
“Sigh. I guess it’s normal to be thinking like that. I can’t even believe myself right now, so it’s no wonder you can’t either.”
“But, I know you’re not joking around right now, so I want to be able to help you.”
Haneul didn’t know she had such a stubborn personality. Guess it’s different when you only look at someone from afar.
“Hey Haneul, when you see recordings of yourself fighting as the Hero in Silver, you were fighting really well. Isn’t it weird that you could fight like that when you came from a world without any of this? How are you able to fight like that?”
“That’s……”
What Minah said was correct.
Haneul knew nothing about heroes, and it’s even more awkward for him to be able to fight like he did a couple days ago if he was just a normal civilian.
“My body just moved on its own. I don’t even know myself on how I did it.”
“Hmmmm…..Don’t get mad and just listen to what I have to say. How do you feel about us going to the hospital together?”
That again.
“I’m not saying that you’re weird, but if there’s a problem, I think we should get things tested even if we don’t get an answer quickly.”
Minah’s eyes were filled with worry, and what she was saying was true.
He felt rejected, but there really was something that could be wrong with his head.
‘Let’s not talk about the other world or the ring, but let’s at least see if there’s anything wrong with me physically.’
“Alright, let’s go to the hospital then.”
The testing process took about 2 hours.
Both Haneul and Minah were now walking out of the hospital.
“Your magic rank seems to be at the B rank. That’s surprising. It’s very rare to see someone at that level right after awakening. I knew you were special after I saw your fights, but you’re more special than I had thought…….”
“Even if you tell me that, I don’t quite understand it.”
The test results.
Haneul had no problems physically, and was extremely healthy. Rather, the hospital was shocked after seeing his magic ranking. The previous physical exam he took had shown that he had some magic potential, but after his awakening, Haneul now grasped amazing amount of powers. His exact hero ranking was unable to be determined by the test, as the decisions are made by the Hero Organization. However, based on the amount of magic that was in the test result, he was clearly matching levels of a B ranked Hero.
“Either way, you’re now famous. The Hero everyone was curious about turns out to be at least a B rank, and you happen to be my boyfriend. My heart’s a little complicated.”
“Minah, are you also majoring to become a hero?”
“That’s right. We met in our first year of college, and you were super stubborn.”
“I was?”
“Yup, and your stubbornness is what opened my heart.”
“The more I hear about this, the more shocked I get.”
“You talking in third person right now, is what’s surprising,” said Minah as she sighed.
“Anyways, the hospital should be contacting the Hero Organization, because the truth is that a student like you awakened and is now a hero. A little after that, you would have to register yourself. Are you going to name yourself as the Silver Knight like before?”
“S, Silver Knight….You’re saying that I thought up that childish name?”
“Childish? You think so? I honestly think that’s a very normal name……..Nice Silver, Genius Silver, Metallic Super Knight, these were all names that you thought up as well.”
Haneul’s face changed.
Aside from all the strange things that Haneul has been going through, the Haneul from this world had a horrible sense in names!
Haneul was now at home and lost in his own thoughts.
The past few days have been very confusing and there were still a lot of unanswered questions, but one thing’s for sure, he had to adapt to this new world.
He thought about many things.
Staying as his confused-self right now wouldn’t change anything.
‘What should I do now.’
At that moment, everything that was confusing to Haneul had disappeared and his eyes started to relax.
Let’s calm down and adapt, since it’s not like I can go back in time.
“A hero huh…….”
* * * *
Flipping through the channels on TV, one was able to see the crying families of those that died in Central South. Their faces’ were full of tears, and it made Haneul very uncomfortable. He didn’t even know their names or know them personally, but the fact that so many people died had made Haneul very melancholy.
Then it also showed the picture of someone who had died, that was related to Haneul…..
‘……..I’m sure someone out there is crying for Black Walker right?’
The next day, Haneul left his house early in the morning. After seeing the news the night before, although late, he decided to go and visit the funeral site for those who had died.
The vicinity of the terminal was still in disarray.
The sun was bright as if that day had never happened, but the broken wreckage of cars and buildings seemed to speak of otherwise.
The funeral site was around the vicinity of the hospital.
There were many people who went to pay their respects, and the whole place was filled with tears.
After looking through several people’s names, Haneul finally came across Black Walker’s. There were a half a dozen people surrounding his name, and when Haneul saw the little picture that was set on top of Black Walker’s name, his mind went blank.
Black Walker was dead.
Haneul’s heart was overflowing with guilt, because he remembered how Black Walker said he was going to survive, yet died.
“Who are you…….”
“I’m…….”
He couldn’t tell them that he survived that h.e.l.l like situation because of Black Walker.
“This hero has helped me before.”
“Thank you for making your way over here…….He was a child that loved to help those around him. I’m sure he’s happier up there now.”
A lady in her 50’s.
She looked to be Black Walker’s mother.
Haneul watched her melancholic back, and after some time pa.s.sed asked, “What type of person was Black Walker? I know this isn’t the right time to be asking, but it’s very important to me.”
“That child was…….”
Chapter 2 – End.