The Hero Returns - Chapter 144

***

A chaotic time had passed. The Ranking Wars continued. People decided to worry about right and wrong after the whole competition. Su-hyeun’s last opponent was Hak-joon. After Adel surrendered, some brave awakeners decided to challenge him. But they all knelt eventually. Hak-joon waited until the end. Like that, the last match of this Ranking Wars was between the two Korean awakeners. And the result, of course, was as everyone expected.

“Huu—”

Hak-joon hit the mat and let out a long breath. He couldn’t win, no matter how hard he tried. With Hak-joon’s abilities, just blocking Su-hyeun’s sword wasn’t an easy thing to do.

<<Is he a monster or something?>> Hak-joon thought.

He realized that “there may be blue and better blue” after he had seen the fight between Su-hyeun and Gordon Rohan. The reason why he had waited until the last was because he was confident that Su-hyeun wouldn’t lose to anyone else until the end.

<<I thought I could hit him at least once…>>

Not only did he fail to hit Su-hyeun once, he couldn’t last for even five minutes. He had to admit it.

“Ok. I lose. I can’t move any more!”

[The game is over.]

[The winner of the Ranking Wars is ‘Kim Su-hyeun’.]

[Congratulations.]

Ping—

Pop, pop, pop—!

Firecrackers burst from all over the stadium. The splendid fireworks filled the sky above the stadium, far above the cracked and broken floor.

Hak-joon, lying on the floor, looked at the flames and said, “That’s so cool.”

“Yea. I agree,” Su-hyeun said.

A loud voice came through among the beautiful and colorful flames.

“Congratulations!”

Clap, clap, clap—!

It was Gordon Rohan. He was clapping from above the stadium. He looked down at Su-hyeun. It looked like he had recovered enough to move.

“I honestly thought I would be there right now.”

Gordon Rohan said and threw a microphone at Su-hyeun. He had probably prepared the microphone to give his victory speech. Unfortunately, Su-hyeun had one instead. Su-hyeun caught the microphone.

“Why don’t you tell people how you feel? How does it feel to be the best awakener in the world?” Gordon Rohan asked.

It was a sort of question that journalists would ask. And, also, it was a question that everyone was wondering about. It was the moment that Su-hyeun took an honored place as the world’s best awakener. It was the place that everybody must acknowledge. It was natural to want to hear his feelings about the moment. Of course, some people who actually had fought and lost against him didn’t want to hear anything about that.

“It’s not like I’m super excited or something,” Su-hyeun answered calmly.

It wasn’t a formal response. Su-hyeun was really calm. After all, Su-hyeun had been once the strongest human being in his previous life. Now, he was just a little closer to how he had been.

“Oh, really? Then how do you feel?” Gordon asked, eyes sparkling.

The cameras kept broadcasting. Everyone all over the world was looking at Su-hyeun to hear his speech about the victory.

Su-hyeun thought for a moment and said, “I don’t feel any different right now. Just… I thought I finally took one step forward… I guess that is about it.”

It was Su-hyeun’s honest feelings. There was still a long way to go, and winning this Ranking Wars was only a step toward reaching his destination. He felt like it was too early to say thoughts or words because it was just one step for him.

“Did you say you finally took one step?” Gordon Rohan’s eyes sparked. “Then what’s your next step? And how far do you plan to go?”

“To the end.”

“To the end?”

“Yes.”

“What is that? Did you already set up your goal or something?”

“Yes. I have my goal.”

At Su-hyeun’s answer, Gordon Rohan frowned a little bit.

He asked again, “Then what will happen when you reach the end, to your goal? Are you going to stop trying?”

“After that… I’ll think about it when I get there. But…,” Su-hyeun met the eyes of Gordon Rohan and continued to say, “I’m going to go faster than anyone else until I get to the end. So, if you can get ahead of me, go ahead.”

Thump—!

Su-hyeun raised his foot and stomped on the floor. Huge magic began to spread under the stadium. It was as if an earthquake occurred.

“Whoever that is, I’ll welcome them.”

Gordon Rohan, who was disappointed for a moment, smiled again.

<<Is he saying if there’s any person who dares to challenge him, to bring it on?>>

He liked it. He liked Su-hyeun’s confidence to tell the entire world to challenge him if there was anyone confident enough.

<<He won against me. He must have confidence like that.>>

“You wait there. I’ll pass you before you reach your goal.” Gordon Rohan reached out to Su-hyeun.

Now, the tables had turned. Gordon Rohan, who had considered Su-hyeun as a challenger, became the challenger now. And he reached his hand out to Su-hyeun.

“Sure.” Su-hyeun held Gordon Rohan’s hand back.

The fireworks, which signaled the end of the Ranking Wars, were filling the stadium without stopping.

***

After the Ranking Wars, Su-hyeun left Gordon Tower with Hak-joon. Not surprisingly, many people were waiting in front of the Gordon Tower. They were the people who had been watching the game on TV. They came in front of Gordon Tower to actually see the players with their own eyes. There were reporters among them. They ran to Su-hyeun as soon as they found him.

“Excuse me, sir. You became the winner of this Ranking Wars. Can you give me a word how do you feel…?”

“Do you have any secret to becoming the world’s best awakener? If you do…”

“Is Adel’s confession really true? If that is true, who were the other awakeners that joined him?”

There were too many questions. Su-hyeun sighed as if he was tired and shook his hands.

This time, Hak-joon stepped between Su-hyeun and the reporters and said, “Sorry. Sorry.”

“…?” Su-hyeun looked at Hak-joon with the look as if asking ‘what are you doing right now?’

“I’ve always wanted to try something like this,” Hak-joon said.

“What do you mean something like this?”

“Being a bodyguard? It’s fun, like I expected.”

Su-hyeun looked at Hak-joon as if Hak-joon had grown a second head. The problem of his bodyguard, who was blocking the reporters, was that he couldn’t speak English at all.

“Su-hyeun!”

“My friend!”

Beyond the reporters, the voices of Lee Ju-ho and Thomas came from one side. Thomas ran to Su-hyeun with a much brighter face than before. Thomas, who almost flew up, opened his arms and pushed through the reporters.

“Argh!”

“A-argh!”

The reporters who had been flocking around Su-hyeun hurriedly stepped aside. Thomas was pushing through them as if he was really in a hurry.

“Calm down. Calm down.”

Su-hyeun bowed to the reporters and held Thomas, who was running forward to him. He ran so quickly. He almost bumped into Su-hyeun.

“Congratulations! Congratulations!” Thomas exclaimed.

“Thank you. Thank you.”

Su-hyeun lifted Thomas up and put him down on the ground. It was as if he’d gotten a new child. Lee Ju-ho walked after Thomas and patted his shoulder.

“Su-hyeun must be tired. So don’t drain his energy too much, okay? I know you’re very happy to see him but…”

“Oh. Yes. I see.” Thomas nodded a couple of times.

He cared about Su-hyeun and he didn’t want to make him more tired. The reporters weren’t eager to approach after being pushed aside by Thomas. As a matter of fact, Thomas was famous for his brutal appearance in this Ranking Wars.

“Oh, by the way. You’ve got a contact,” Lee Ju-ho said after calming down Thomas.

“To me?” Su-hyeun asked.

“Yes. Do you want to hear later? I bet you’re tired.”

“It’s ok. Just tell me.”

“It is from Mr. Bak Yun-gyu. He asked you to call him back today if possible.”

“Did he?”

“Yes. It sounded pretty urgent. So, please, give him a call. And, since you must be tired, go back to your room and get some sleep. Okay?”

“Ok. I will.”

“And congratulations. You did a good job,” Lee Ju-ho said, patting Su-hyeun’s shoulder lightly.

“Thank you.”

Click, click—

The reporters took pictures of them. Since Thomas was right next to Su-hyeun, it looked like they wouldn’t get any interviews.

***

Su-hyeun went back to his room and lay on the bed first. His hair was messed up, and clothes were covered by dust and blood. But he had no power to take care of those at the moment.

“Are you tired?” asked Thomas, who had been following Su-hyeun.

Su-hyeun buried his face in a fluffy pillow and nodded. “Yes. A little bit.”

“Oh! What should I do? What should I do?”

“There’s nothing you should do,” said Lee Ju-ho, grabbing Thomas’s collar, “except don’t bother the tried one and leave the room right now.”

“Aww!”

Thomas pouted out his lips and grumbled. Su-hyeun turned his face and looked at Lee Ju-ho and sulking Thomas.

<<I couldn’t spend much time with Thomas since I had to go through the finals with Hak-joon. But it looks like they’ve become close. Lee Ju-ho is really good at dealing with people.>>

Thomas also seemed quite open to Lee Ju-ho. Thomas was much stronger than Lee Ju-ho, but he meekly let Lee Ju-ho drag him around.

<<That’s a relief,>> Su-hyeun thought, <<I would worry if Thomas was awkward or uncomfortable with other people.>>

If Thomas couldn’t live with people, what Su-hyeun had done would be just a nosy move. Fortunately, Thomas got along quite well. He connected with not only Su-hyeun but also Lee Ju-ho and Hak-joon.

“Oh. That’s right.”

Su-hyeun got up from the bed. He found his smartphone that he had left in the room. He thought he would contact Bak Yun-gyu as soon as he got to the room, but he had forgotten. He turned his phone on. As expected, there was a phone call from an unknown number.

<<I guess that’s Mr. Bak Yun-gyu’s number.>>

Ring, ring, ring—

-Hello? Mr. Su-hyeun?

“Yes. It’s me. I’m sorry I couldn’t contact you sooner.”

-First of all, congratulations. I’ve heard you won the Ranking Wars.

“News travels fast.”

-It was broadcast all over the world and everyone is talking about you right now. There’s no way I could not know about it. I’m so thrilled to have the world’s best awakener from Korea.”

“Ah, yes…” Awkward at receiving praise, Su-hyeun answered bitterly.

He had been hearing congratulations for the whole day. Now, he felt more tired than glad about the celebrations. Bak Yun-gyu changed the topic quickly, as if he noticed Su-hyeun’s feelings.

-I have news to tell you. And I’m so sorry… I have to ask you for a favor.

“What’s it about?”

-A blue-colored dungeon appeared in Korea.

“…Yes?” Su-hyeun widely opened up his tired eyes.

<<What does he mean? A blue-colored dungeon in Korea?>>

This was something Su-hyeun had never expected. He hurriedly checked a small calendar on one side of the corner of the room.

<<A blue one? Not a green one?>>

This was the second time that a dungeon that shouldn’t appear had appeared. The future he knew was twisted again.

<<Why…?>>

It was at that moment, Bak Yun-gyu said something that made Su-hyeun even more confused than he already was.

-And… there are two blue-colored dungeons.

“…!”

-We need your help. Mr. Su-hyeun.

Su-hyeun pulled his phone from his ear with a hard look. He was sure. The future had started to change.