Chapter 56 – I Did That?

“Sijoon. I’ll wait for you at the front.”

“First… Nevermind. See you later.”

Yoo Hayeon said to me then left the room.

Shin Haeyoung’s conversation with me was going to be long, but it seemed like Hayeon was going to wait no matter what I said so I didn’t bother telling her to go first.

I had been getting up to leave, but I found myself sitting in front of President Haeyoung again.

I’m feeling pressure seeing her face-to-face.

The kind grandmother was smiling.

She was a figure who used to be an S-Rank Hero.

Although she was wrinkled and old, her eyes were full of charisma which proved her past achievements were real.

I carefully asked her, “So what did you want to speak to me about?”

“It’s nothing much. I wanted to see what the person who led the clearing of the gate looked like.”

President Haeyoung drank a cup of coffee gracefully.

Then she added, “I also wanted to see how the child of miracles grew up. You look the same as you did when you were little, Sijoon.” 

”Child of miracles…”

Child of miracles.

I’m certain Shin Haeil called me by that title.

But I didn’t even know why he called me that.

To get my question answered, I put my hand above the desk and asked her with a serious expression, “Can you explain what a child of miracles means?”

“…? Do you perhaps not recall what happened that day?”

President Haeyoung wore a look that read, ”Did I hear you wrong?” and made a perplexed face.

I don’t understand being called the child of miracles even more…

What kind of stunt did I pull in the past?

The fact that someone else knew of a past that I didn’t know of put me at quite a loss.

Perhaps she saw my confusion, she spoke to me with a flustered tone.

“Y-You…really don’t remember, do you…”

“Yes. What did I do before? Why am I called the child of miracles?”

“Hm… Explaining it will be long…” 

President Haeyoung looked taken aback.

Just what in the world did I do to be called the child of miracles?

It was like a thorny truth lingering in one corner of my mind.

I wanted to find out about the past that I didn’t know of.

Seeing my expression, President Haeyoung began to explain.

“This is confidential, but I’m telling it to you because you were the one who was involved, Sijoon.”

It was confidential.

It seemed like my past was much more glorious than I expected.

She flicked two of her fingers.

Snap.

With that sound, strange mana floated buoyantly in the room.

As I watched the magic happen, she let me know what it was.

“It’s the wind spirit. I summoned it to block the sound.”

“Aha…”

From what I remember from V. AGE, Shin Haeyoung had an innate ability to control spirits.

Spirits of the four major elements: Water, Fire, Earth, Wind.

Among them, she was able to control three of the elemental spirits, and she was practically called an all-around character who could fill in for what her teammates lacked.

Yet despite her scam-like ability, Shin Haeyoung lost her life pretty early in V.AGE.

The reason was that she tried to resolve her dissatisfaction with the Hero Association alone.

No matter if she was an S-Rank Hero, there were so many heroes within the Hero Association. Among them was a hero whose ability was the best for 1v1, hence she lost her life trying to deal with them by herself.

But the good thing for her was that I was here. I had no plans on letting her die.

If I saved her, the chances of clearing V. AGE would increase a lot.

In order to clear V. AGE for the sake of a comfortable future, the life of a former S-Rank Hero was very important.

As I was thinking about that, the president began to explain to me about the past.

It seemed like she remembered all the details. 

“It was 10 years ago.”

She told me about my hidden memories.

 ***

10 years ago, it was a time of great unrest in society with the emergence of villains and the formation of gates occurring simultaneously.

However, there were people who tried hard to bring stability to such a society.

They were Awakeners known as Heroes.

As usual, the days of villains appearing and monsters from gates emerging continued.

Shin Haeyoung set up an academy with the money she made as an S-Rank Hero. She was living a retired life in leisure as the president of the board there.

While she was in the midst of that, she received a phone call.

“Who is it…?”

Drawn to the sound, she identified the caller.

It was the Hero Association, which was starting to get more and more corrupted.

Although she didn’t want to answer the phone, she was forced to slide the screen.

“Hello?”

–It’s an emergency! A villain has appeared in the outskirts of Seoul! Please, would you be able to provide your help just one more time for the sake of the people?!”

“…What?”

The Hero Association was suddenly calling and requesting help.

She didn’t understand the current situation, but she could tell that it was urgent.

“Are they dangerous?”

–Yes! Very dangerous…!! It just happened to be today when the heroes are on vacation…”

The villain organization carried out an attack while the heroes were on vacation. They had planted an informant in the association hence this was the result.

Haeyoung sighed at the thought of the eroding Hero Association.

“Haa… Where is the location?”

Haeyoung had no choice but to move for the sake of the people.

Since she had the mindset of a hero and was one down to her bones, she could never stand to see people getting hurt.

–The location is… XXX..

Ultimately, Shin Haeyoung moved toward the reported location.

She wondered why she was doing this even after her retirement.

She created an academy to cultivate people with talent, but she felt very devastated at the fact that there were no heroes.

Haeyoung held such worries as she arrived at the scene.

She met her blood-related family there.

“Shin Haeil…?”

He was two years older than her, someone she could not bring herself to call Oppa.

He was a criminal leading a villain organization called Black Dawn.

In front of Shin Haeil was a huge gate with an ominous red glow. He was preparing something along with the collaborators next to him.

Shin Haeil made a short comment to his younger sister.

“I’m afraid you’re late.”

What was she late for?

Haeyoung could understand that 10 seconds later.

At the gate, countless monsters between B and A-Rank could be seen.

If those monsters flooded into the city, the future of South Korea would be insecure.

Having assessed that, Shin Haeyoung, instead of catching Shin Haeil, who was the worst criminal in front of her, used her ability to obstruct the monsters pouring out of the gate.

“Spirit of the Earth, stop them.”

She built a wall to block the path of the monsters.

Her next move was to eliminate the monsters that had been obstructed.

But what she desired did not come true.

“This isn’t needed. Monsters should be jumping and running around. Like children. Isn’t that so?”

A criminal with a white face and red eyes demolished the wall she had built.

“N… No!”

The obstructed monsters began to scatter in all directions.

For some reason, other heroes did not come to provide support.

She would later learn that it was the Hero Association’s plot to not report it to the heroes.

The monsters who ran free immediately set out for their prey.

There was a young boy within the vicinity who had not been able to evacuate.

I have to save him.

The moment she was about to use her ability to save the boy from the galloping monsters, the disruptor did not let Haeyoung go.

“Stay put. The monsters said they wanted to play, did they not?”

She questioned if she had no choice but to watch the child die like this.

I’m sorry, child…

The moment she tried to send her regrets and apologies to the boy, and as monsters dashed in to pounce the child…

A miracle unfolded.

“I’ll make a contract. The price is…”

The young boy murmured something, then the monsters in front of him lost their shape and form and crumbled.

It was just like a miracle.

It was a situation that could only be explained as a miracle.

“…We’re withdrawing.”

Shin Haeil left the place with a scowl on his face.

Decades later, the incident was wrapped up by stating that heroes who picked up on the unusual magic came and cleared the gate.

I apologize, we haven’t heard anything.

The association made an excuse by feigning ignorance and saying, “Did we make such a request to you?”

That was the trigger where Shin Haeyoung and the Hero Association had a falling out.

After that, Han Sijoon, who fell unconscious, was called the child of miracles among those who knew about the incident. 

Sijoon’s appellation was clearly established by an individual with prophetic abilities later on.

 ***

Having heard Shin Haeyoung’s explanation, I couldn’t comprehend what she was talking about. 

”I did…?”

“Yes. Hundreds of monster hordes. All at once.”

I…did that?

I don’t remember it at all though?

I wanted to yell that she was lying, but the president’s eyes were telling the truth.

Why was it that I couldn’t remember it when such a huge thing happened?

I tried to contemplate it for a bit, but my head was muddled by the overload of information.

But then I recalled one memory from the past.

The cost for Fate of a Childhood Friend was 15, wasn’t it…? 

The memory of the character creation window flashed by, and I had no choice but to understand the reason for the high cost of fate and the past pertaining to it.

The past which I had, yet could not remember. 

Ah… 

I now came to realize why my life span was low.