Chapter 39 – Hana’s Identity

The next day after I did this and that with Ban Hana…

To get to the point, I began to live with her.

It was more of a forced cohabitation in which I had no say in the matter.

”Sijoon. Take responsibility. Hana is lonely. Stay with me.”

Hana brought over a big rabbit doll from her room and was hugging it.

Since she had been lonely, she used her space dimensional hole to come into my room.

Responsibility, huh… I suppose I should take responsibility.

I had no other choice but to nod my head at her.

”Alright. But you have been alone for a bit today. I’m going out.”

 “T-To where? I want to go too! Me too!”

When she heard I was going outside, she flung her rabbit doll aside and prepared to head out.

Her action indicated that she was planning to follow me.

 But I had no plans on bringing her.

”No. I have to go there by myself.”

“…What is it, Sijoon? Is it someone who’s more important than me…?”

If we’re talking about importance, Hana is more important.

But it was a sudden arrangement which I couldn’t bail out of so I must leave the dorm.

Also, that text, rather than it being an arrangement…

It’s more like a summon than an arrangement.

–Today. Please come to the counselor room around noon. You cannot bring Hana. You have to come. Student Han Sijoon.

It was the text that I got this morning on the phone.

It was a message from Teacher Shin Sihwa, which came off quite forcefully unlike her usual soft and gentle nature.

It works out since I have to clear up the misunderstanding.

Ms. Sihwa had misunderstood that I was pushing my body as someone with a life limit.

It was true that I had a life limit, but her misunderstanding and my life expectancy were significantly different matters.

There was no need for me to create unnecessary conflict with the misunderstanding.

I had to clear it up and listen to what she had to say, so I needed to go to Ms. Sihwa.

I patted Hana on the head who had been screaming, “Bring me too!” 

”You’re obviously more important to me. But the arrangement has been set so I have no other choice. In return, if you wait and stay quietly, I’ll give you a reward.”

“R-Reward? You’re talking about that, right?! 

That.

When I nodded my head indicating she was right, Hana jumped onto the bed and put the rabbit doll in her embrace.

“Hana will be good and wait for you. I’ll stay put. I’ll be a good girl.”

Is it that great of a reward?

Then again, kissing did feel really good.

But I never imagined she would enjoy it that much.

Why does Hana like it though?

When the thought occurred to me, an idea struck me.

Is it because of the lack of affection…?

Hana was someone who lived without proper care from her parents.

As a result, it seemed there was a side to her which craved affection, the human touch which she had not received.

I wondered if the act of kissing was also such affection.

Although it might not be the answer, I firmly believed it wasn’t the wrong answer.

On the bed, I stroked Hana’s hair as she hugged the rabbit. Then I pressed a hat down on my head as I headed out for the door.

”G-Go on! Sijoon!”

”Yeah. I’ll be back. You’re going to stay put, right? Without any incident?”

“Hana is an adult. Not a child!” 

In any case, she stated she would not cause any incidents.

She won’t… cause anything, right…?

I was a bit concerned. But because there was a huge reward at stake, she’d try not to cause any accidents.

What I needed to think about right now was the matter pertaining to Ms. Shin Sihwa. 

Just what in the world did she want to talk about that she asked me to leave Hana behind?

 

With that question in mind, I headed towards the counseling room at the Hero Academy. 

 ***

”Excuse me.”

–Come in. Student Han Sijoon. 

I went to the counseling room at the academy because I received a text.

It appeared she had finished eating lunch as she was sitting there waiting for me.

Red hair and red eyes.

Yet the teacher had a warm smile. 

She had a big chest as she did a big heart. 

Ms. Sihwa suddenly blushed and raised her arms on the desk, covering her chest.

“Ahem… F-For starters…please have a seat, Sijoon.”

“…I understand, Teacher.”

Was I staring at it too blatantly…?

I hadn’t been aware of my gaze, something which I didn’t do.

I didn’t know if she got those gazes often, but she moved on naturally. 

Did I just misunderstand…?

I’m not that kind of boy.

It just so happened my eyes went that way.

I prayed that she didn’t misunderstand and sat on a chair facing Ms. Sihwa.

Plop.

With the desk in the middle, we faced each other.

What did she want to say to me that she called me here?

It was Ms. Sihwa who spoke first. 

”I’ll get straight to the point. Sijoon, what is your relationship with Ms. Hana?”

“…!”

A straightforward comment that went straight for the body.

What’s our relationship?

She had a serious look as she asked that.

Does she know what our relationship is…?”

 

On the outside, she was someone who had been kidnapped with me at the villain organization, Black Dawn. And in that situation, I became friends with her.

But if we were to look deep into it?

It was a relationship where I kissed Hana as a reward.

If that truth was caught, I’d be canceled by society and even expelled as well.

Han Sijoon. You were cheating…? Pervert. Die.

Yoo Hayeon’s expected reaction.

Such delusions came to my mind, and the moment I thought I was cornered…

What came out of Ms. Sihwa’s lips though were something different from what I expected.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean what relationship you two have together. What I wanted to say was pertaining to that child’s identity.”

Ahh…

So she wasn’t talking about that kind of relationship.

What was more important was the meaning behind what she said about her “identity”.

”Hana’s identity…?”

”Yes. Identity. Because you’re a student and met Hana over there for the first time, you wouldn’t know, but I know that child.”

“You know her? What do you mean…” 

…Did she already find out Hana’s identity?

Hana’s identity was being a member of the villain organization, the Black Dawn, an indispensable existence for their operations.

If that truth had been caught by Ms. Sihwa, then there was a high likelihood that Ban Hana would be imprisoned where the villains were.

She’d be locked up in the “Infinity Prison.”

And that was something that must never happen to Hana who had room for rehabilitation.

I looked at the teacher as composed as possible. 

Her usual gentleness vanished, and there was a sharp look on her face with a hint of anger. She parted her mouth. 

I’m begging, please let it not be true. 

“I…” 

While I was in the middle of being anxious…

What came out of Ms. Sihwa’s mouth was something even I didn’t know. 

”I’ve seen that child before. More specifically, that child’s parents.”

 “Parents…”

What Shin Sihwa was saying was that she knew Ban Hana’s parents, not Shin Haeil.

It seemed she was talking about her actual parents. 

“I doubted it at first. But when we did a physical examination on Hana’s body, the magic fluctuation I saw was too similar to the people I knew of.”

Each person possessed their own magic, and it varied from person to person, distinguishing the individual. In other words, magic was similar to DNA, which had a role in V. AGE that could distinguish people.

For her to sense something odd in the magic fluctuation meant…

She was connected to the parents who abandoned Hana.

Shin Sihwa is acquainted with Hana’s parents…?

That rainy day…

Hana had been abandoned by her parents.

It seemed Ms. Sihwa knew a backstory which I wasn’t aware of.

In such a situation, a question came to me.

I cautiously asked her, “Why are you telling me this…?” 

If she knew of Hana’s parents, then shouldn’t she be letting Hana know about it?

I didn’t understand why she was telling this to me. 

“It seems like Hana depends on you a lot, Sijoon. Very much so. She keeps talking about you even when she’s with me… Just what did you do for her to talk about nothing but you?”

”I didn’t do anything, Teacher.”

“…Criminals often say things like that in court.”

Ms. Sihwa teased me.

Then an abrupt look of seriousness formed on her face as she addressed me.

“My real point starts here. Student Han Sijoon. Have you met the Black Dawn outside of the academy grounds?”

“N-No… I met her for the first time after I got kidnapped.”

…How did she know?

The fact that Han Yoowol and I had a point of contact.

Convinced of it, Ms. Sihwa was asking me just to check.

”…It’s okay, you don’t have to say it if you don’t want to. I’m not asking to fault you. You probably met them…to treat…your illness…”

What is she talking about?

Misunderstanding me again, she gave me a slight pitiful gaze.

What is she misunderstanding this time?

I couldn’t wrap my head around her train of thought.

“The reason why I asked about your point of contact is because of Ban Hana. I do not want that child to be involved with the Black Dawn again.”

“I agree as well.”

“If you’re on the same page as me, that’s a relief.” 

Relieved, Ms. Sihwa let out a sigh. 

She’s right…

 

No matter how much I looked at Hana, she was not someone who could return to the Black Dawn.

She had the mentality to grow up in a good environment, surrounded by good people… She was a person with talent who should not be mixed up with the villain organization.

However, Ms. Sihwa began to say she didn’t want her involved with them in a different sense.

It came as a shock to me as well.

“You remember what I said about Hana’s parents, right? That I knew them.”

“Yes… You know her parents who abandoned her…”

”They did not abandon her. Please choose your words carefully, Sijoon.” 

Ms. Sihwa responded as if she was angry by the word, “abandon.”

She explained the incident to me.

“It happened when I was 11 years old. My parent’s friends were overjoyed to be having a child in their later years of their age. I still remember, because she was infertile, she got treatment for it to have a child. That was how a baby was born between them. With the woman with pink hair.”

That child’s name was Ban Hana.

The Ban Hana that I knew.

“Their household was always full of smiles. When I followed my parents over to their house, it was always harmonious there. Then one day, it happened when it was pouring.”

“That incident is one that my parents still regret.”

Ms. Sihwa cried out in a low voice as she continued to explain.

“A man broke into that harmonious family. The name of the perpetrator is ‘Shin Haeil.’ He was an unlucky hero who had to retire after his eyes had been scooped out by a villain. And a few years later, he re-emerged in an organization called the Black Dawn.”

”Wait a minute. Then…”

 ”…You’re quick on the uptake, Sijoon. That’s right.”

Shin Sihwa nodded her head indicating I was right.

 It made me want to puke just even thinking about it.

That old goon is crazy…

 

After killing Hana’s parents…

Shin Haeil raised the dead parents’ child with his two hands.

No matter how much I thought about it, that was not the action of a human.

And right now…

I found why that naive child became a villain, and why she brought a city to its ruins.