Actually, Dad Was a Hero

Chapter 3: Prophecy

〈It is humanity that creates the three demons that will destroy humanity.

But it is also humanity that creates the three heroes that will save humanity.〉

A world called Jindar.

Around the time when the monster invasion, which began in the south of the Loralt Continent, swept through the five kingdoms.

The High Priest of the Delphin Empire, Saima-Nan, delivered a prophecy after performing a three-day ritual.

This prophecy spread not only throughout the Delphin Empire, but also across the entire Loralt Continent, and the humans who had fallen into despair found hope in this prophecy.

However, the problem was who the heroes actually were.

During centuries of peace, adventurers had disappeared, and now there was no one who could clearly be called a hero or a warrior.

So people decided to raise heroes.

The idea was to delay the monster legion’s invasion as much as possible and gather talented individuals to train them as heroes.

It wasn’t easy, but it had to be done.

It was the only hope left.

Thus, hero candidates were discovered throughout the continent.

The conditions were to be as young as possible and to have exceptional talent.

In just four months, 2,815 boys and girls gathered in the capital of the Delphin Kingdom.

Their goal was only one. To become one of the three heroes and save humanity.

After that, all the resources of the continent were invested in only two purposes.

To delay the invasion of the monster legion as much as possible and to raise heroes.

All the surviving humans across the continent joined forces for this.

The courageous took up spears and shields and threw themselves into battle to stop the monsters’ advance.

The diligent took up sickles and pickaxes and dedicated all the resources they produced to the Hero Academy.

Magicians shortened their lifespans to create various potions and magic items and offered them to the hero candidates.

Ancient artifacts, legendary armor, and mythical swords that had been sleeping in warehouses were rediscovered and sent to the Delphin Kingdom.

They bought nine years of time at the cost of their lives, and during that time, more than 2,800 boys and girls underwent harsh training.

Every day, casualties and injuries occurred at the Hero Academy, and there were countless suicides who couldn’t endure the harsh training.

But the obsession, bordering on madness, yielded results.

Amidst countless sacrifices and suffering, three heroes were selected.

No, rather than being selected, it would be more appropriate to say they survived.

Because only three out of 2,815 people were able to keep their bodies and minds intact during the nine years of training.

Thus, three heroes were born.

Those who survived until then felt pride despite suffering from fatigue and starvation.

Their efforts and sacrifices were not in vain.

The heroes would save them.

They would defeat the monster legion and peace would return to the continent.

Everyone thought so.

******

“Uh……so……you’re saying that Mr. Jin Beom-Min is the……hero?”

“Yes.”

Inside a neatly organized, small conference room.

Lee Sang-Jun, the man with droopy eyes sitting opposite him, scratched his head for a moment.

“……Then what happened to the war? Did you win?”

At Lee Sang-Jun’s question, Jin Beom-Min leaned his head back against the chair with a vacant expression and answered in a low voice.

“I don’t know.”

“……Yes?”

“I only remember up to the day we were preparing for the battle of our lives, facing the monster legion in the south of the Delphin Empire.”

“You don’t remember?”

“Yes. Encouraging each other while looking at the monsters filling the horizon……that’s my last memory. And then I woke up here.”

“Here means……”

“Earth, South Korea, Seoul. Whatever you call it, it’s not the Jindar I lived in.”

“Jindar?”

“The world I lived in.”

Lee Sang-Jun frowned and scratched his head repeatedly. Jin Beom-Min’s testimony was completely different from what he had imagined.

He looked up and glanced at the CCTV on the ceiling.

CCTVs installed everywhere were recording every scene, including voices.

It was fortunate for him. It would be proof that Jin Beom-Min’s absurd story was true.

“Uh……well……hmm, let’s assume that’s the case for now. Mr. Jin Beom-Min.”

“Yes.”

“Then, does that mean that……you were able to defeat the……’monsters’ in the incident five days ago because you are a hero?”

Lee Sang-Jun pronounced the word ‘monsters’ in a rather sarcastic tone.

Jin Beom-Min sighed in frustration and replied.

“That’s what I’m saying.”

“……Yes……”

A perfunctory answer. It was an investment that didn’t believe Jin Beom-Min’s words at all.

Jin Beom-Min opened his mouth again. There was a hint of annoyance in his tone.

“You said you saw all the CCTV footage. You still don’t believe me?”

“Ah, yes. I saw it. I saw it, but……”

Lee Sang-Jun trailed off vaguely.

Hearing his answer, Jin Beom-Min fell into thought for a moment.

Except for his wife who died three years ago, he had never told anyone about his past.

The fact that monsters were appearing on Earth was such an unusual situation, and since the other party was an NIS agent dealing with national security, he had made up his mind and revealed his biggest secret.

But despite that, the other party didn’t seem to believe his words at all.

“Can I borrow a pen for a moment……?”

Jin Beom-Min pointed to the pen the other party was holding.

It was a cheap, thousand-won ballpoint pen that could be found anywhere.

“Ah, yes. Here you go.”

After receiving the pen, Jin Beom-Min disassembled it by turning the front part and took out the refill.

Lee Sang-Jun followed his movements with questioning eyes.

Jin Beom-Min lightly infused the refill with magic power and flicked his finger.

Crack!

At that moment, an explosive sound resonated, as if a giant was clapping.

Lee Sang-Jun flinched and tilted his head in surprise at the impact on his face and the sudden explosion.

“Don’t move!”

“Hands up!”

In an instant, the door opened and two people in black suits, a man and a woman, rushed into the conference room. The agents who were monitoring the situation through CCTV in the opposite conference room reacted to the explosion.

While the female agent pointed her gun, the male agent twisted Jin Beom-Min’s arm and pressed his neck to subdue him.

No, he tried to subdue him.

But Jin Beom-Min remained upright. Even though the large man, who was clearly an athlete, was pressing down with his weight.

“This……this bastard……!”

Jin Beom-Min completely ignored the two agents struggling to subdue him and pointed to the opposite wall with a calm expression.

Lee Sang-Jun followed Jin Beom-Min’s finger to the wall with a dazed expression.

The refill was half embedded in the wall, trembling.

“Uh……”

Lee Sang-Jun’s eyes widened and he stammered for a moment.

He brought his hand to his tingling cheek and analyzed the situation.

The refill had only flown past his face, but his face was burning as if he had been slapped.

And he thought there was only one thing this meant.

He had been hit by the shock wave, or sonic boom, emitted by the refill Jin Beom-Min threw as it broke the sound barrier.

Lee Sang-Jun rolled his eyes for a moment and then spoke in a calmer voice.

“……It’s okay. Get out.”

At his words, the two agents hesitated for a moment, then reluctantly left the conference room.

Lee Sang-Jun slowly got up from his seat and walked towards the wall. He even touched the refill embedded in the wall with his fingertips.

It was hard to believe, but it was an undeniable reality.

After pacing around the wall with a serious expression for a while, Lee Sang-Jun suddenly sat back in his chair with a lively attitude.

Then he opened the file in front of him and began to check the contents once again.

“According to Mr. Jin Beom-Min’s records……you received permission to create a family registry 25 years ago?”

“……Yes.”

Permission to create a family registry was a procedure for a person without a resident registration to create their own surname and family name.

Usually, it was requested by people who grew up without a birth registration and didn’t even know their parents.

Fortunately, Jin Beom-Min’s appearance wasn’t much different from that of an ordinary Korean, so he was able to get permission without any problems.

Around 1975, the year he reported as his birth year, it wasn’t uncommon for children to be abandoned without a birth registration.

“Did you cross over then? To ‘here’?”

“No. I actually crossed over……a little earlier than that. About……28 years ago.”

“Aha, you adapted for three years?”

Lee Sang-Jun’s attitude changed. It was a completely different, proactive and energetic appearance from his previous skeptical attitude.

Jin Beom-Min felt puzzled, but this was actually Lee Sang-Jun’s true nature.

A skeptical attitude that didn’t believe anything he hadn’t seen with his own eyes.

But the agility to re-examine all situations based on facts, no matter how unbelievable they were, once they were revealed.

It was an essential attitude for an intelligence agent and a kind of talent.

Despite his relatively young age, he held a fairly high position in the NIS because of this talent.

Lee Sang-Jun, who was looking through the documents with an enthusiastic expression, opened his mouth again.

“Then, are the monsters you faced this time……the same as the ones you faced in Mr. Jin Beom-Min’s world?”

“That’s what I think.”

“Then, do you have any idea why they crossed over here?”

“……No.”

Lee Sang-Jun closed his eyes for a moment and fell into thought.

Seeing his eyeballs moving back and forth under his eyelids, he seemed to be using all his thinking power.

“Do you……have any more information about these……monsters? How to deal with them, their weaknesses……”

After thinking for a long time, Lee Sang-Jun asked again.

Jin Beom-Min answered simply.

“A lot.”

“Like what……?”

“……It would be difficult to teach you everything I learned in nine years one by one……”

He had learned a lot in nine years at the Hero Academy.

Understanding the ecology, characteristics, and weaknesses of monsters, how to fight them, how to survive……

And of course, the training included actual combat with monsters. They were days when he couldn’t survive without learning.

Therefore, it was almost impossible to fully convey all that knowledge and experience to someone else.

“Hmm……I guess so. I understand……Then, by any chance……are there any other colleagues who have crossed over to our world?”

Jin Beom-Min shook his head.

“Not that I know of. I’ve been looking for a long time, but……there’s no clue.”

Then Lee Sang-Jun replied in a meaningful voice.

“Then……”

His eyes were quite serious.

“You’re saying that Mr. Jin Beom-Min is the only person on Earth who can deal with monsters?”

“……That’s how it is.”

Jin Beom-Min calmly admitted it.

The only monster extermination expert in the world.

He felt a little embarrassed, but it was true.

Lee Sang-Jun nodded and glanced through the documents again, lost in thought.

He then flipped through the documents he had looked at several times, hesitating, and finally, as if he had made up his mind, he closed the file and turned on the TV on the wall.

“Well……what I’m going to show you now……should not be disclosed to the outside world.”

“……I understand.”

Lee Sang-Jun used the remote control to display something on the screen. It was a map of the United States with a red dot on the southwest side.

“You heard the news that a strange creature appeared in the United States a few weeks ago, right?”

“Yes, I heard.”

He flipped the screen and displayed a picture of a strange-looking, short creature.

“The creatures that appeared then looked like this. Do you recognize them?”

“Goblins……they are.”

“Are they monsters from the world Mr. Jin Beom-Min lived in?”

“Yes. They’re not very strong……low-level monsters.”

Lee Sang-Jun nodded and continued.

“That’s why they were easily repelled by the National Guard. The media is talking about aliens and mutant creatures, but the US government hasn’t issued an official statement yet.”

“I saw it on the news.”

There was no way Jin Beom-Min wouldn’t know. It was big news that was widely known around the world.

He already knew that monsters had appeared on Earth through the news, so when the evacuation alarm went off in Seoul, he didn’t hesitate to take out and equip his hidden sword and armor.

“But……actually, a similar incident happened in Russia. Nine days ago.”