Chapter 197: The Angel Who Dreams (2)

Episode 197: The Angel Who Dreams (2)

“…Hmm, not the reaction I was expecting.”

Just what sort of reaction had he been hoping for?

Leffrey had a lot he wanted to say, but he decided to hold back for now.

“Professors, could it be that you ate something strange this morning?”

No, he couldn’t hold back after all.

“C-Could it be that the demon army placed a curse on you? No, if it were a curse, then Professor Rebecca would have…”

“Uh, Leffrey…”

“Uwaaaaah, just why? Aren’t you all the one who’d do anything in the name of protecting the world that you would steal candy from a child, hide toilet paper, and even pour sauce on someone’s sweet and sour pork directly with no mercy?”

“Isn’t dipping the sweet and sour pork in the sauce crueler… Ahem, well, yes. I see your point.”

(TL Note: 탕수육 (tangsuyuk) is a sweet and sour pork. Whether it’s more ethical to pour the sauce on top, or to dip the pork in the sauce. If you dip it’s more crispy while pouring will make it more soggy overtime, sacrificing the crispness. Just… do you prefer to dip your fries or pour?)

Park Jin-ho’s brown eyes seemed distant,

As if looking at something far away, a bygone era.

“These are dark times. Surely, you understand this too.”

The karma of darkness was overflowing from everywhere. Karma is fate, and it meant that the world’s fate had been set in darkness.

Even if he was a Sword Saint who couldn’t directly sense karma, he could still grasp a fragment of its flow.

Through the tragedies of his family.

Through the death of his beloved disciple.

And lastly, through the end of a prophecy he never wanted to hear.

“Dark times always bring us dark questions.”

“What kind of questions?”

“Should we move forward, even if it means sacrificing a beloved comrade?”

Park Jin-ho closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again.

Leffrey could guess that he must have had many comrades.

‘Professor Park Jin-ho was called Iron Blood.’

However, this current appearance of his was far from befitting his title.

Park Jin-ho’s questions continued.

“Must we put swords in children’s hands instead of books.”

It wasn’t the sort of question one would expect from someone called the Sword Saint. Even so, Leffrey did not say a word

“Must we quietly watch the evil of the wicked simply because they’re on our side.”

The various superhuman families and large guilds.

And the holders of wealth who ruled the world.

Leffrey remembered their faces.

“And.”

“And?”

“Should we kill one very kind child, solely because of a single prophecy that says that child will one day fall into darkness and bring about the end of the world.”

A rough palm stroked Leffrey’s cheek. Though scarred in many places, that hand was still undeniably warm.

“Ah, um, right.”

What was he supposed to say here? Should he lie and claim he had overcome any temptation to fall? Or…

“You already knew, didn’t you? Did the Headmaster tell you?”

“No, but there are a few humans born with the ability to read karma. Shamans, prophets, or those labeled as madmen.”

Park Jin-ho spoke.

“All of them sang the same tune about a new Demon King. Their voices grated on my ears more than I can describe.”

“I see…”

Leffrey asked again in his thoughts.

A prophecy that he would fall and become the new demon king, the professors who knew about this prophecy, and himself surrounded by those professors.

Despite being in such a dangerous situation, Leffrey, for some reason, felt utterly at ease. It was a truly mysterious feeling.

He felt so at peace that he was reminded of the time he soared through the sky. That sight that was so bright and so beautiful it could only bring tears.

‘Why, why am I crying?’

Was it out of fear?

Or was it out of joy?

If it was joy, just why? What was he feeling?

Leaving countless questions behind, Leffrey barely managed to wipe away his tears.

“So, Professor, have you reached an answer?”

* * *

It started as a rumor.

“No way, Lusa, bested by a mere second-year? Do you not know Lusa’s title? She’s called the Martial God, the Martial God!”

“It wasn’t just some second-year. It’s a new hero.”

“Hero? What kind of bullshit is that. Heroes are just legends…”

From person to person, from whisper to whisper, the tale grew ever larger.

“I heard she took down a high-ranking leader of the demon army in one go.”

“Hmph, that’s something the Hero Training Committee, in other words, the academy professors, are more than capable of such a feat…”

“It’s more than just that! I heard she pushed back the entire front line by herself.”

“Right, I heard the United Human Front that had been retreating its whole life has finally begun its counterattack?”

“She’s a true hero!”

And so the story shifted from whispers to shouts.

“Hero! Hero! Our Messiah!”

“Our savior, the one who will pull us out of the Demon King’s darkness!”

“Oh, savior! At last, at last, we behold you!”

The cries grew louder until they became an undeniable truth.

And so the truth that wasn’t truth filled the world.

[Hero Emerges? Announcement by the head of the Seocheon Yu Family.]

[Interview with the New Hero, Miss Yumari]

[“No comment,” says Iriel, head of the Hero Training Committee, regarding Yumari]

[Hero Yumari: Occupies the entrance to the demon world, pushing beyond Mariana Camp.]

And in the end, Leffrey too came face-to-face with that so-called truth.

“Black Lightning Punch! Black Lightning Punch!”

“Black Lightning Punch! She’s a true hero!”

What could he compare this crowd of people to? Clouds? Tidal waves? Maybe a swarm of colored specks? Or perhaps…

“They’re like ants.”

“Pardon?”

“Look at that crowd. Swarming around like ants, wouldn’t you say.”

Rebecca, the woman called a saint to some, muttered those words in a cold voice.

“Professor, you’re calling people ants?”

Leffrey was indeed correct in pointing it out.

If others had heard the so-called Saint Rebecca referring to a gathered crowd as ‘ants,’ social media would have blown up in astonishment.

However, Rebecca showed no intention of stopping.

“Ah, is ‘ants’ too kind of an expression? Then earthworms, cockroaches, or perhaps…”

“Stop, stop it!”

Leffrey flailed about, trying to stop Rebecca.

But with Leffrey’s height, stopping Rebecca wasn’t an easy task.

Thus, Rebecca was able to continue speaking without trouble.

“Fanatics.”

“Sorry?”

“Yes, I think this is the most apt comparison. Fanatics.”

It was an out-of-the-blue comparison. Why was Rebecca calling these people fanatics? Leffrey could not hide that question, and it showed plainly on his face.

Rebecca sighed softly, then muttered once more.

“Leffrey, have you ever heard the word ‘mal-se’, or ‘end times’?”

“Yes, it’s a word that describes the end of the world, isn’t it?”

“Correct. The end of the world. In every religion of this world, there are texts and legends that foretell an apocalypse, and in those writings, there’s always one particular figure.”

For some reason, Leffrey felt he knew exactly which figure that might be, the Antichrist, the Buddha in some Hindu narratives, or the countless fallen saints.

“The False Messiah.”

Rebecca adjusted her veil and gazed at Leffrey.

“Leffrey, what’s another word for ‘Hero’?”

“Hmm, a savior?”

“Correct. Another word for ‘Hero’ is ‘messiah,’ ‘prophet,’ or ‘savior.’”

She looked up at the crowd gathered in New Seoul Plaza. Silently staring at the countless people gathered under the banner of the Seocheon Yu family, a banner with a white longsword, the symbol of the holy sword, and a gray person, the symbol of a hero.

And Rebecca opened her mouth again.

“In that case, what should we call a Fallen Hero?”

What name should one give to a Fallen Hero? If a Hero is a messiah, a savior, and a prophet, then a Hero who has fallen would be…

“A false messiah?”

“You’re a smart student, Leffrey. You immediately deduced Miss Yumari’s true nature.”

At Rebecca’s cold smile that glimmered beneath her veil, Leffrey’s voice became urgent.

“Professor, you said you weren’t going to eliminate Mari.”

“I did.”

Rebecca said.

“To be exact, we *can’t* eliminate her.”

“What?”

“Because Miss Mari, the Fallen Hero, is far stronger than even Professor Lusa, the strongest physical fighter among us professors. And the Seocheon Yu is humanity’s strongest superhuman family, they wield more power than our academy. And on top of that…”

“On top of that?”

“Doorman, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, will be protecting her, and so will the demon army and the corrupted guilds.”

Rebecca’s voice gradually quickened.

“They’ve no doubt anticipated our coming and have set countless traps. That sea of people is likely one such trap.”

“The crowd is a trap…”

“Yes. If we attempt to subjugate the Seocheon Yu Family or Miss Mari, we’ll instantly become enemies of humanity and end up battling our own people.”

By now, Rebecca’s voice was escalating from speed to outright agitation.

“They’ll all degrade you and hate you, and call that justice.”

“I see.”

“You won’t be able to endure it.”

“Maybe not.”

The Saint’s face slowly twisted, revealing only the sorrow that lay beneath. It was the expression of a woman trying to endure an aching heart.

“Even so, do you really intend to enter the Seocheon Yu family to save Yumari?”

“Hmm, I know you don’t approve, Professor. But I have to go.”

And with that, Leffrey smiled.

* * *

Leaving countless questions behind, Leffrey barely wiped away his tears.

“So, Professor, have you reached an answer?”

And Leffrey finally understood his own feelings.

Why he had thought of the vast sky.

The professors, even after learning he might fall and destroy this world, didn’t immediately judge him, but rather waited.

How should this be described.

‘Faith…’

Leffrey thought of that word and smiled faintly.

‘I see. The professors put their faith in me.’

Faith. It was a word so unfamiliar, yet it drifted deep in his heart for reasons he couldn’t explain. Holding onto that word within his heart, Leffrey waited for Sword Saint Park Jin-ho and the other professors to give their answer.

‘But their answer, it’ll be the same. Yes, no matter what answer they give…’

That’s why Leffrey wasn’t afraid to hear it.

Even if their reply turned out to be, “There’s no other way,” at least someone had believed in him.

Between a moment longer than an instant and shorter than eternity,

Park Jin-ho opened his mouth to answer.

“I won’t answer.”

“Eh?”

“I’m not going to answer your question.”

He won’t answer.

What in the world did that mean?

“Professor, what do you…”

“Leffrey. This professor, no, I.”

Iron Blood, a cold title bestowed upon him because he always gave answers to dark questions. The man who held that title pulled Leffrey’s shoulders into a gentle embrace.

And Iron Blood trembled slightly.

He had had to stop the Demon King by sacrificing his comrades.

He had had to seal gates while abandoning countless people.

How had he answered questions like those back then.

“I realize it only now.”

And for the first time,

Leffrey saw the tears of the man known as Iron Blood.

“That some questions don’t need answers.”

Holding Leffrey close,

Iron Blood wept as he spoke.

“Only now did I realize.”

* * *

“Right on the verge of your own fall, and you say you’re going to rescue another who’s fallen?”

It was a voice filled with desperation.

In a way, it was almost a shout.

“The demon king can read karma. He’ll know that you’re coming to rescue that girl. He’ll surely be expecting you!”

Rebecca shouted once more.

“Leffrey, give me an answer. Just how exactly do you plan to save Miss Mari? Huh?”

“I won’t answer.”

“Leffrey…!”

Then, like a mischievous child, Leffrey gave his own head a little smack.

“Some questions don’t need answers, you know.”

And with that, Leffrey left a non-answer as his only reply.

He strode off toward New Seoul Plaza.