episode_0185

“……You want to borrow a plane?”

Lounging on the sofa in the rebuilt academy main building’s Dean’s office, Yang Chan-ho turned to us with a dumbfounded expression.

“Yes, as quickly as possible, if that’s alright.”

“……?”

“You have a private jet, don’t you, Hero?”

“No…”

At my words, uttered in a calm tone as if I had simply left it somewhere, Yang Chan-ho let out a hollow laugh, genuinely dumbfounded.

And the moment he was about to retort something at me, it was Baek Ayun who stepped forward.

“Dean-nim.”

“……Hmm.”

Perhaps he thought he should be careful with his words towards a student who might have lost a loved one?

Yang Chan-ho closed his half-open mouth and glanced at me sideways. He seemed quite resentful of me for bringing Baek Ayun here, but…

‘This is really unfair.’

To be fair, I wasn’t entirely blameless. Of course, I had thought about getting help from this person, but it wasn’t me who actively put that into action.

I glanced back at Cheon Soyul, who was standing beside me in a model student pose.

Anyway, strictly speaking, it was Cheon Soyul rather than me who calmed Baek Ayun down when she was insisting emphatically on going to Istanbul. The girl, who was so agitated she wouldn’t even listen to me, was helpless against Cheon Soyul.

Perhaps it’s a difference in compatibility. In any case, with her having regained her composure, we arrived at one conclusion.

That we couldn’t leave Elder Gwon Hwang behind.

Even setting Cheon Soyul aside, I had a connection with that old man in my own way. I clearly remembered him as someone with a very gentle and easygoing personality…

‘Aside from everything else, he’s her grandfather.’

The closest family member of a kid at Cheongsong Academy, second only to Cheon Soyul herself.

We received only news of his disappearance without knowing what happened to him, and you expect us to do nothing and stand by? For me, despite appearances, I’m a person with a lot of affection and I tend to meddle in others’ affairs.

Thus, this was the conclusion we reached.

‘Appropriate the Hero’s private jet.’

The international situation was chaotic with the recent emergence of S-rank gates, and Gwon Hwang himself had headed to Istanbul to resolve such a situation.

It was a very ambiguous situation for us to fly to the Middle East via normal airline routes. Naturally, we had no choice but to resort to other methods. What could be the most certain way?

The Special S-rank Awakened, no, the world’s strongest who far surpassed even that level—Hero Yang Chan-ho.

If we could just borrow that person’s private jet, we could reach anywhere on the five continents within 24 hours.

“Please, Dean-nim. Just help us this one time.”

“……Hmm, hmmm.”

Meanwhile, Baek Ayun’s desperate pleas deepened in real time. She bowed her head deeply, her voice trembling as she spoke to Yang Chan-ho.

Yang Chan-ho wore a deeply troubled expression, uncharacteristic of him. He looked at me, unable to do one thing or another…

‘No, why does he keep looking at me?’

It’s absurd when I think about it. What does that look mean? Is he telling me to take this pitiful, helpless child out of here?

‘I can’t do that.’

With a rather mischievous smile on my lips, I stepped one more pace forward.

I acted spontaneously towards Yang Chan-ho, who flinched.

“I would also like to ask this of you, Dean-nim!”

“……Hey, hey!”

*Thump!* It was a truly sudden kneel. With my fists placed on both thighs, I bowed my head respectfully to Yang Chan-ho.

It wasn’t just Yang Chan-ho who was surprised by my sudden action.

“Oh, Oppa…”

Baek Ayun, who had just been pleading with Yang Chan-ho, turned to look at me with wide, surprised eyes. The normalized honorific was very satisfying. See, ‘Oppa’ works just fine.

“……You really are something.”

Cheon Soyul, who clearly understood my intentions to some extent, simply let out a wry laugh and shook her head as if dumbfounded. She subtly made a similar expression to mine, as if contemplating doing the same thing to pressure our Dean-nim. But perhaps she thought kneeling was going too far; she crossed her arms instead.

Instead, she looked directly at Yang Chan-ho and spoke in a polite tone.

“I also ask for your help, Dean-nim. Only you have the power to move us to the other side of the continent right now.”

“……Are you also going, Miss Soyul……?”

“Because she’s my best friend. This one.”

At Yang Chan-ho’s complicated question, Cheon Soyul pointed at Baek Ayun with a glance.

Baek Ayun covered her mouth, genuinely touched.

“Soyul-ssi……!”

“Ah, don’t cling…”

I nodded my head at the heartwarming sight of the two of them. Yes, this is what second-year academy students should be like.

A somewhat warm atmosphere was beginning to form, but in other words, one person was inevitably excluded from that atmosphere.

“No, no… Just wait a moment.”

Yang Chan-ho pressed his forehead firmly, an expression on his face as if he couldn’t keep up with the situation flowing as naturally as water. He seemed to have quite a headache, and I felt so sorry that it made my own chest ache.

Yang Chan-ho glared sharply at me and opened his mouth.

“You, you Lee Hyunjin. What exactly are you planning to do? Do you know or not that there’s an ‘operation’ in a week?”

“……Um.”

And at those words, I couldn’t help but hesitate for a moment. I truly had no good reply regarding that point.

Yang Chan-ho’s gaze grew even sharper.

“Surely you’re not going to say you’ll rescue Gwon Hwang and return within a week, are you? With no information or anything.”

“……”

As I scratched my cheek in silence, having nothing to say, this time Baek Ayun looked at me, gauging my reaction.

“Operation…?”

“Hmm.”

Indeed, it’s understandable that she wouldn’t know. The talk about the Moonlight Cult subjugation operation wasn’t publicly known. But there was no need to worry about it in the current situation, so I declared to Yang Chan-ho.

“Well, I’ll be back soon.”

“……”

“Haha. You trust me, right?”

A short, concise, and nonchalant reply.

Yang Chan-ho clutched the back of his neck.

*****

“You all… out of all the batches I’ve seen, you’re truly legendary, 9th batch.”

“Aw, you don’t have to praise us that much.”

“Answering like that even when you know it’s not a compliment is the most malicious part.”

In the end, we got the private jet.

Our operation of threatening(?) the Hero was successful, and Yang Chan-ho personally drove us to the airport. I hadn’t expected this kind of after-care service.

Even though he pretends not to be, this person is surprisingly affectionate.

Anyway.

“Is that it? The airport.”

The smoothly moving car soon arrived in Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi Province. Basically, most airports with international flights were currently off-limits to civilians, but…

Heads of state and the nation’s Special S-rank Awakened were exceptions to such restrictions. It wasn’t Incheon Airport, which is usually used for overseas travel, but Seoul Airport in Seongnam-si. It was a place most people would probably never even get to see the vicinity of in their entire lives.

“In all my life, I never thought I’d come to a place like this.”

“……I also never thought the day would come when I’d put students on my private jet.”

“Don’t say that, Dean-nim. Wouldn’t it be better to think of it as extending grace and help to future S-ranks with generous benevolence?”

Because Yang Chan-ho seemed quite unhappy, I tried to speak in a slick, flattering tone, hoping to butter him up for a moment, but.

“……It seems you don’t understand that’s not what’s important, Hyunjin-gun.”

For some reason, Yang Chan-ho’s complexion was darker than I expected.

“What I’m worried about is the very fact that I have to put you on my private jet and send you to a country where an S-rank Gate Break has occurred.”

“Huh? What do you mean…”

“Perhaps your guardians will try to kill me if they find out about this.”

At his continued words, I instinctively shut my mouth. And rolling my eyes, I thought:

‘……He’s right?’

Now that I think about it, while I did all this purely with the desire to help Baek Ayun,

if we’re being precise, aren’t we stepping into a very dangerous area ourselves right now? Instead of stopping us, he even lent us his plane and pushed us forward?

What would happen if our guardians found out about this?

Manroe Cheon Sehee, Ice Empress Seol Hayeon, Hidden Sword Yeon Seobaek. Aren’t they individuals who, by their sheer combat power alone, are counted among the top S-ranks in the country?

“Hmm.”

I imagined Yang Chan-ho’s future, where he might suffer from their hysterics. I couldn’t bring myself to say anything specific, but merely mumbled towards Yang Chan-ho.

“Good luck…”

“……”

Veins bulged on the back of Yang Chan-ho’s hand as he gripped and turned the steering wheel. He might pull out a mop from the trunk at this rate.

To prevent any unforeseen circumstances, we kept our mouths shut and quietly moved for about ten minutes.

*Screech.*

The car stopped. Yang Chan-ho unbuckled his seatbelt and opened the door first to get out, and the two of us in the back seats also looked at each other before getting out.

“……Oh.”

“Wow.”

There, visible at a glance, was a dazzling sight… quite magnificent even compared to aircraft in typical sci-fi movies.

It was a sleek aircraft that, in every way, looked as if it was imbued with the power of magic.

“I have too many complicated procedures to leave this country, so I can’t accompany you,” Yang Chan-ho said, lighting a cigarette with a *flick*. That’s when he opened his mouth.

“Still, be happy. As you wish, my ‘Lightning Storm’ will take you to the other side of the continent within four hours.”

“?”

It was Cheon Soyul who reacted to the rather childish-sounding name. She subtly turned her head, staring intently at the aircraft.

I don’t know if it uses the same lightning power, but somehow its sharp appearance seemed quite similar to hers… She’d get angry if I said that though.

Anyway.

“……Listen seriously.”

Yang Chan-ho looked at us steadily, his gaze much softer than before.

“I believe in you all. To be precise, rather than believing in you yourselves, I believe in the power you’ve accumulated that doesn’t suit your age.”

“……”

“So, I want you to promise me. It would be best if you can find Baek Muyeom Sunbae-nim, but even if the situation doesn’t allow it—”

“You yourselves must return safely. Without getting hurt.”

Adding those words, Yang Chan-ho took out a small smart key and issued an activation command towards the Hero’s private jet, ‘Lightning Storm’.

*Whirrr……!*

Immediately, the Lightning Storm’s fuselage began to be covered in bluish current.