False peace is like a disease. Because it burrows into the human heart and makes it slacken, and because those who grow slack are ultimately driven to ruin—it truly is like a disease.
“Hmm...”
The middle-aged man looking out the window furrowed his brow as he recalled the words that were practically his creed.
“This place... I still don’t like it.”
The room he sat in was exceedingly comfortable. A desk and chair made of tasteful ebony, enough spaciousness that even with furniture such as bookcases inside there was still room to spare, perfect cooling and even perfect heating, and amusements to pass the time with—in a sense, it was the perfect space.
“I don’t like it... Tch.”
Yet the man kept frowning and grumbling. There were people who disliked even a place that would put anyone’s heart at ease, and if there was a problem, it was that such a person was currently the master of this room.
“Sitting still like this is making me itch. What kind of idiot plants a retired hero in a place like this?”
He was Korea’s former No. 1 hero, Judgment. But now, two years after declaring his retirement, he was an ordinary middle-aged man named Han Seokhun. Perhaps unwilling to let go of him after he declared he would quit being a hero, the state had forcibly placed him in the position of principal, and by now it had been over two years since he took charge of the academy.
“I’m sick of it, sick of it. I need to hurry up and find some guy to replace me...”
Two years should have been enough time to adapt to a position befitting this place, but he still did not like it. The seat he had been forced into was like a prison to him. As he saw it, he was trapped in a place like the prison that held the countless villains he had captured, and he was no different from a villain now caught by the hero known as the state.
“Ah, whatever!”
A former hero being a villain—did that even make sense? He opened the door in search of freedom and, as always, tried to escape the academy—
“Principal. Going out again today?”
“Ah... I got caught.”
The moment he stepped out of the room, the voice that reached him made him mutter to himself and sigh.
“Vice Principal. Do you not have work to do?”
“Am I not doing it right now?”
A middle-aged woman wearing glasses, her hair tied in a ponytail. Dressed in a black suit that would make anyone mistake her for a secretary, she pushed up her glasses and declared confidently.
“Catching the principal when he tries to run away is also part of my job.”
“Who’s running away? I was going to the bathroom—”
“That excuse won’t work, considering I heard you talking to yourself earlier.”
“When did you hear that?”
The battle of nerves continued. But the winner was already decided. It was the same routine every time.
“Ah... damn it.”
Seokhun let out a sigh as if he had given up and scratched the back of his head roughly.
“Please give up and return to your seat. This time, I will catch you no matter what.”
But she had even activated her ability and was fully prepared to catch him—
“Then go ahead and try.”
In the end, the vice principal did not have the ability to catch the former No. 1 hero.
“Aaaaah! Just try coming back next time! I’ll tie you up with rope then!”
And so, she lost him, and the situation came to an end. Every time, the same conclusion repeated itself with her shouting angrily.
“...Then I can just cut it and run. Honestly, even if I’m washed up, aren’t they looking down on me too much?”
He succeeded in leaving the academy just like that—
“Honestly, they’re too soft. This academy is rotten to the core, too.”
And he gave a bitter smile at the fact.
“What a joke, calling this Korea’s only academy when they can’t even properly keep watch over one washed-up relic.”
The vice principal was the No. 2 of this academy. The fact that someone like her lost him every time when he was not even going all out meant there was that much of a difference in skill between him and her.
“This country is rotten to the core, too, if an academy like this is its pride.”
It was not only the academy. The same was true of Korea.
It had already been two years since he retired. And yet, whether there was a popularity vote or self-proclaimed experts came out to rank heroes, he was always mentioned within the top ten. What exactly did that mean?
“Tch. It’d be better to put the students here forward than the heroes we have now.”
It did mean he was still strong enough to be talked about—but it also meant Korea was that lacking in talent. And the reason for that was the same as saying the current heroes had been steeped in this false peace.
“Kyaa! A pickpocket—”
“Oops, pardon me.”
Look. There were over three hundred thousand heroes in Korea alone. And yet, even on a busy street like this, pickpockets openly roamed around.
“Thank you... Ah! Judgment?! Please give me your autograph!”
“What autograph from a retired hero? Take better care of your belongings next time. I’ll be going now.”
Was being a hero all that mattered? They did not even spare a glance for petty criminals like this. Even he, the former No. 1 hero, had gone around on street patrols when he was active, but now he could not see anyone doing that kind of work.
“Honestly, they’re all just trying to grab big cases and pad their records—”
The reason things had turned out this way was clear. Heroes tried to raise their records by catching villains, and the value of those records varied greatly depending on how famous the villains were. Going further, it was because they had a sense of superiority, thinking they were different from ordinary police, and the rotten idea that petty criminals like these should be handled by the police was lodged in the brains of the heroes. Going even further than that, this country, where such an atmosphere was rampant, had rotted away.
“If they’re going to be like that, they should at least catch villains properly.”
But it was not as if they were even catching villains properly. The heroes kept coming up empty every time. Even if there were heroes who raised their records, all they did was catch small fry.
“The Brigade of Evil bastards keep running wild every damn time.”
When it came to people like the Brigade of Evil, the very reason he kept running away from the academy, the heroes of today always pretended not to see them. Could they truly be called heroes? He was absolutely certain they could not. If they were, they would never have left the current situation alone, with the Brigade of Evil trying to swallow Korea whole.
“They’re even making a washed-up relic like me get active...!”
If he did not step forward, the villains ran rampant. That was why he left the academy and patrolled the streets, hunting villains.
He struggled to suppress the urge to smash the heads of the president and the National Assembly members who tried to confine him in a peaceful place called the academy, and today, too, he began combing through every corner as he followed their traces—
“Why the hell do these bastards hide when they’re so damn strong?! Get out here right now—!”
Today as well, he angrily charged into a shadowy back alley.
“—Former hero Judgment.”
But he did not know.
“It has been confirmed that he has left the academy.”
What would happen at the academy while he was gone.
“What about the students of the Hero Department and Hero Handsome?”
“We received information that they would be going out for practical training this afternoon, but—the artificial rain is fully prepared.”
“Is that so? Then it’s going according to plan.”
And—
“Proceed.”
He also did not know that the Brigade of Evil, the very people he had been chasing so relentlessly, was watching him.
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—I’ll tie you up with rope then!
“...Looks like the principal ran away again.”
“It’s always like that.”
The students who heard the vice principal’s shout chuckled and moved on. To them, it was now a familiar part of daily life. So they paid it little mind and moved to do what they each had to do.
“Lunch was good today~”
“Yeah. I wish they’d serve pork cutlet every time.”
Starting with ordinary conversations,
“Did you take notes in class today?”
“Why?”
“I fell asleep while listening...”
Conversations about studying, and—
“Did you hear the news?”
“You mean about Hero Marsha getting married, right? You were her fan, so I figured you’d bring it up.”
Even talk about heroes, fitting for a hero academy.
The break that came after lunchtime ended. The students were savoring that time, enjoying the peace inside the academy.
“Hmm... Is that it for classes today?”
“We have practical training in the afternoon, so we’re done with classes where we sit and listen.”
“Ugh, I feel alive. Studying really isn’t my thing.”
And that was not much different for the students of the Hero Department either.
“Hangyeol, you got confessed to again, didn’t you?”
“Uh... how did you know?”
“I saw a girl come up to you when we were eating this time.”
Having gone through all sorts of incidents and even taken part in practical training, they were now proper sprouts of heroes with a certain level of public recognition. But even so, they were still clearly students, and so it was only natural for them to relax in the peace before them.
“So, did you accept?”
“No. I’m still a student, and I have a lot to do. If it weren’t for that, I would’ve accepted... Why are you making that face?”
“Did you like it? Huh? Did you like it?!”
“No, why?!”
Seong Hangyeol, the student who was practically the center of the Hero Department. Three female students clung to him and glared. It was obvious to anyone that they were interested in him, yet he still failed to notice their feelings and had no idea why they were tearing at his hair.
It was a peaceful sight, no different from any other day. The students enjoying it were spending the day laughing as always, but—
“...Hm?”
“What is it? Why are you suddenly like that?”
“Raindrops suddenly started falling—”
Dark clouds covered the sky that should have been clear. Soon, they frowned at the sudden rain that began to fall.
“Do you have an umbrella?!”
“The weather forecast said it’d be clear today. Does this mean today’s practical training will be canceled?”
The sudden rain. The practical training of the Hero Department students was sure to be canceled because of the dark clouds spread across the sky. The students who should have gone outside chose to return to their classrooms now that they had to stay indoors.
One by one, students ran into the school. The students who had been outside were all entering the school.
The dark clouds covering the sky only grew thicker, and the rain showed no sign of stopping easily.