Conquering the Broken Heroine?

The incident was certainly settled for now.
Miraculously, without a single casualty.

The end of a nightmare, that was the only truth for the students.

But that didn’t mean the adults’ story was over.
The situation where South Korea’s most important facility, the Hunter Academy, was breached by someone impersonating a soldier.

The follow-up measures for the damage inflicted on the academy students by the terrorist, and so on, naturally left a mountain of work for the adults.

“If there were a mouse hole, I’d like to crawl into it. I’m just ashamed!”

Adults had such responsibilities.

“I’ll resign from my position as an academy professor effective today!”

Seo Han-byeol decided to quit her academy professor position first.

If there was someone who should take the greatest responsibility, it would be Seo Han-byeol herself, who let the terrorist slip away right under her nose, fooled by a lie.

Particularly, some hunters from the younger generation who hadn’t experienced battlefields from the first gate alongside Seo Han-byeol, rather than public opinion, criticized her harshly.

“Unfortunately─”

Of course, such partial public opinion didn’t matter.
At least not to the woman facing Seo Han-byeol.

Red hair burning like a lion’s mane.
Golden eyes resembling spears, sharpened so keenly they seemed about to pierce through.

Numerous medals were neatly attached to the chest of her ash-gray uniform, clinking every time she moved.

She was the first hunter who, despite her young age, stood up barehanded against the first gate, that desperate era, and ultimately saved her homeland.

“I can’t accept that resignation.”

Director of the Hunter Management Bureau.
Principal of the Hunter Academy.

“Why can’t I, Director Lee Yeon!”
“Not Director. I’m the Principal now, aren’t I?”
“Why can’t I, Principal Lee Yeon!”

Hero Lee Yeon.
She rejected Seo Han-byeol’s resignation.

“Lack of talent.”

For such a simple reason.

“It’s the result of weighing the importance of someone of your skill level against your responsibility in this incident. That’s all there is to it.”

There was always a shortage of skilled and experienced veterans in the hunter industry.

In today’s peaceful world after the first gate.
Paradoxically, because of that, the number of capable hunters was woefully insufficient.

It was due to lack of experience.
Veterans who had real combat experience, not just hunting games in hunting grounds.

You can’t force hunters to fight life-or-death battles.
After all, isn’t the hunter profession itself created to survive?

Therefore, hunters debuting today were weak hunters with only a shell.
Young people trying to determine hunter rankings solely by Awakener grades.

Lee Yeon could assert.
Seo Han-byeol’s combat power would be superior to all those young people combined.

“But─!”
“And this incident was a force majeure. It’s not just your responsibility.”

The attitude of trying to take responsibility is good.
However, the source of responsibility needed to be clear.

Would this incident be solely Seo Han-byeol’s responsibility?
The opponent was a terrorist who broke through the strict security of the Hunter Academy.

It was the reality of not just her, but the academy, management bureau, and other parts of the South Korean government.
Lee Yeon wasn’t disappointed in that aspect.

A clown who danced to the tune of a being beyond the starry sky, one Player, died.
That alone was an achievement.

“If you have time to write a resignation, focus more on education instead.”

It wasn’t empty words, but sincere.
Lee Yeon hoped that Seo Han-byeol, as an excellent hunter and professor, would guide the students well.

Especially this batch, even more so.
Lee Yeon couldn’t forget the CCTV footage vividly recording the scene of the incident.

Children trembling at the terrorist’s threat.
Up to that point, it could be understood.

But being deceived by the terrorist’s sweet talk and hitting a fellow academy student from behind was absolutely unacceptable as a hunter.

That student will soon face punishment according to military law.
It wasn’t just that student who provoked Lee Yeon’s anger.

How could they run away leaving an injured comrade behind?

As if it were natural.
The vast majority of students attending the academy.
Leaving only one behind.

When she first heard the news, Lee Yeon seriously considered whether all currently enrolled students should be disposed of.

What awaits academy students who fail to show meaningful change during their remaining time until graduation is not a diploma, but erasure of records.

“…Is this girl the only one salvaged?”

They say flowers bloom even in a dump, don’t they?

“Han Seoyeon, was it?”
“That’s right!”

What Lee Yeon focused on was the black-haired girl.

“How were the results of the re-measurement of her ability?”
“Still unchanged. E-rank!”
“Is there a possibility of something else─”
“None!”

Han Seoyeon.
A powerless person who remains E-rank no matter how many re-examinations are attempted.

A shabby ability that only summons one worn hwando.
With such an ability, she protected her friend.

While everyone was running away.
She cut down Carol, an S-rank monster.

“…Ho.”

It was truly surprising.
Lee Yeon marveled.

The girl in the video showed quick movements like a physical enhancement type Awakener.
She beheaded Carol with a single strike using swordsmanship without any waste, surpassing even decent professional hunters.

“Excellent.”
“Of course! She’s a student I’ve had my eye on!”

An E-rank powerless person.
Such a student protected an S-rank student from a terrorist.

Moreover, according to the ‘personal information’ she knew, she was abandoned by her parents around the age of seven and grew up in the slums.

How much bone-grinding effort must she have repeated?
As a hunter, it was impossible not to like.
That effort, rare to see these days.

[A hunter, by definition, refers to those who hunt fear.]

Above all, what was appealing was her spirit.
The pure justice she once pursued as a hero.

[So that the world no longer fears anything.]

Even though she can no longer be purely so now.

“Unfortunate birth. Unhappy growing environment. Despite that, entering the Hunter Academy.”

What should be done?

“In the midst of crisis, not yielding to the terrorist but taking up the sword to save a friend, is it…”

Concealment.
Or disclosure.
There were two choices.

Of course, even if something was chosen, the big result wouldn’t change.

Those who deserve punishment among those involved in the incident will all be punished.
Those who use the incident to engage in unnecessary politics or make false accusations will also all be punished.

And public opinion didn’t need to see this dirty process with their own eyes.

Academy students are the future of the nation, for better or worse.
The unsightly behavior of such students will also be edited out.

The scene of murder.
A somewhat controversial scene.

A happy ending was a certainty.
Because that’s what the leader of the nation wanted.

If concealed, nothing would happen.
If disclosed, there would be reactions.

For better.
Or for worse.

As the nation’s leader, Lee Yeon chose concealment.

[I won’t run away. Just watch. I’ll protect you properly.]

As a hero, Lee Yeon chose disclosure.

Those few lines of dialogue.
Ridiculously, that’s what moved her heart.
That one judgment, though small, twisted fate.

“That aside─”

The details of the terrorist entered Lee Yeon’s eyes.

“A soldier…”

Soldier.
Losers outdated in the age of hunters.
The new homeland had no need for such incompetent ones.

It was a specter.
A specter wandering without knowing its place.

An unfamiliar ceiling.
Really.

The white walls and smell of alcohol that greeted her eyes upon opening them was the first medical facility Han Seoyeon encountered since falling into a ruined story novel.

There weren’t any in the slums.
No hospitals or health centers.
No medicine or beds.
Nothing.

“Are you feeling a bit better?”

She turns her head at the familiar voice.
Michaela had come to visit her.

“That─!”

Normally, a joyful reaction would have instinctively burst out first.

“That man…?”

The first words that came out,
Were about the well-being of a lowly and terrible criminal.

“He’s dead.”
“…I see.”

Michaela said calmly.
Han Seoyeon replied calmly.

It would be a natural reaction.
At most, a criminal had died.

The head of a man impersonating a soldier who tried to kill innocent students was simply pierced through.
It’s only natural not to feel sadness or sympathy.

“I killed a person, didn’t I…”

It was just a realization anew.
Even if it wasn’t intentional.
I really killed someone.

A person.
With these hands.
Even though to someone it might be just a few sentences of text on a scrap of paper, undeniably.

Since falling into the world of [The Falling Star Swordsman of the Academy], she knew this would happen someday.
Since deciding to become a munchkin protagonist, she was prepared to kill someone someday.

Among villains, there are many who have committed unforgivable crimes.
There were those who shouldn’t be allowed to live to atone for their sins.

However, her resolve was for ‘someday’, not ‘anytime’, it seems.

It was a ridiculous story.
Despite wanting so much to become a munchkin catharsis protagonist.

In catharsis stories, killing a villain isn’t called murder.
It’s just expressed as righteous punishment.

It’s a pathetic story.
Just speaking eloquently, Han Seoyeon might still be far from becoming a munchkin protagonist.

“Do you regret it?”
“No.”

She didn’t regret it.
If things had remained as they were, Han Suho might have been in danger.

The whole act of being a munchkin protagonist was to make her younger sister a bit happier.
In the face of her sister’s crisis, what else could she have done?

“I don’t regret it. Because I was able to protect Suho.”

If she couldn’t have saved Han Suho without killing the man.
Even if given the chance to go back to the past several times, Han Seoyeon would have killed the man.

“Then, do you have lingering attachments?”
“…I’m not sure.”

Perhaps she might.
Lingering attachments that she might have been able to resolve the incident without killing the man.

Despite having killed so many monsters while in the slums, despite accumulating so much blood sin.
It might be a selfish mindset, if anything.

“I don’t know. Honestly.”

Does the mind follow the body?
Combining her past life and current life, she had lived about half of an average human lifespan.

Yet her mind seemed so immature.

“Do you consider killing a person a sin?”
“…”

She couldn’t deny it outright.
Because it was true.

“I have it too.”

What Michaela uttered was an unexpected statement.
Her secret shrouded in mystery.

“I’ve killed people before.”

Blue eyes that don’t speak lies.
They met Han Seoyeon’s red eyes.

“Do you think of me as a sinner?”

Her eyes trembled.
The words that were about to form at the corners of her mouth couldn’t easily come out.