My Students Regret It After I Retired

16 – Darek’s Death, Enas Remembers Leos

Darek, staring blankly at his completely wrecked sword. He mumbled in disbelief.

“Th-this can’t be… he… that guy clearly…”

Darek recalls Leos from the past. Whenever mutants appeared, the man was always the first to step forward and defeat them.

*

– Darek, it’s dangerous, don’t come near.

– What’s dangerous about it? If Chief Leos can take them down in one shot, you think I can’t?

– Obey the order. I’ll handle the mutant.

Darek remembered the words Leos spoke when they were active at the Gate Management Headquarters. The man always took on the mutants alone. He killed them so easily, it was hard to grasp just how dangerous they really were. That’s why Darek would always tell his comrades.

– He handled the mutant all by himself again today. It’s just him trying to hog all the glory, I’m telling you?

– Darek, don’t talk so badly about him. Chief Leos is probably doing it for our sake.

– Look at what that guy does. Everything is always about him, right? Enas. We’re supposed to be doing these subjugations together, is this fair?

– The Captain, they say he almost died a few times catching mutants before… He’s doing this because he doesn’t want to put us in danger, how can you talk bad about that?

– That fuckin’ shit! How would we know what happened before we even got here? Look now! Captain Leos just kills them so easy. You think those mutants look strong? And are we fuckin’ kids? If we die fighting, that’s on us. And besides all that, I hate that I’m out here doing the same thing, but getting paid less, and my achievements are acknowledged less! If I fought I could probably beat Captain Leos myself!

– That’s not true, Darec. You haven’t seen Captain Leos fight properly.

– Whatever, Enas, what are we even talkin’ about? It’s Leos this and Leos that all the time. You’re a problem too, you know? You think he’s nice? Those are the types who are the most messed up.

Darec was always disgruntled. Leos, who acted nice but stole all the achievements whenever mutants appeared, and some of his followers.

That’s why Darec was happier than anyone when Leos’ crimes were revealed.

– Enas! I told you, right? That guys who talk all fancy on the outside are the most twisted! Doing such disgusting things to Belin.

– …I can’t believe it. Captain Leos wouldn’t do that…

While Enas was confused, Belin walked into the gate management headquarters. Belin seemed shocked by what was said, collapsed onto the ground and looked at Enas in tears.

– Enas… what was that just now? Are you saying I’m lying? We’ve been together for so long, how can you not believe me? Leos… Leos did disgusting things to me… I… I really…

– No, Belin, it’s not that…

Belin took the opportunity and started scratching her body with her sword haphazardly.

– I guess… I guess it’s my fault. There’s no reason for me to live like this, being suspected after being treated so horribly by Leos. Others think so too, right? That Captain Leos couldn’t have done it.

As Belin was recklessly self-harming, everyone around started trying to stop her. Kozarik looked at Enas with cold eyes and spoke.

– Enas, how could you even think of suspecting Belin? Look at her, this is how she is, does it look like a lie to you? What would Belin get by falsely implicating Captain Leos? If you have a mouth, answer me. Why would she lie about something like this?

– No, I…

Seeing Enas’ dejected attitude, Kozarik immediately gave Belin a secret wink and began to act.

– If anyone still suspects Belin, speak up now. I’ll smash your face in right now. You see Belin like this and you’re still saying she’s lying? Why? Why don’t you go and text Leos and ask if he’s worried?

Kozarik walked towards Enas and glared at her reproachfully.

– Enas, you have something to say to Belin, right?

-…I’m sorry…I won’t doubt you anymore.

Even after Enas finished speaking, Bellin continued to wail for a long time. After that, no one at the Gate Management Headquarters argued for Leos’s innocence anymore.

It was forbidden to even claim his innocence beside a suffering Bellin.

*

“Damn it… Why? That…that mutant, I’ve seen it before. A Minotaur. Leos killed it in one shot…!”

Darek had a record of dealing with countless monsters emerging from ordinary red gates while working at the Gate Management Headquarters. It wasn’t just knowledge gleaned from the sidelines, he had also accumulated experience through repeated, life-or-death battles with actual monsters.

That’s why the man thought. If Leos could do it, then he should be able to do it too, of course. That arrogance had created the current situation.

“Hey…what are you doing! Everyone, help me!”

Darek shouted behind him, but the mutant Minotaur began emitting ultrasonic waves in all directions from its left head for a moment.

-BEEEEEEEEEEEE!

A tremendous ringing began to assault their ears. Everyone lowered their heads as if in agony, and in that gap, a massive fireball began to form from the right head.

“Damn it… I have to stop it…”

Darek tried desperately to block it, but the sword that was protecting him was already completely shattered. He replayed it dozens, hundreds of times in his head.

How had Leos, that man, dealt with these monsters.

*

A large wooden plank house. As Leos slowly entered the underground space, Heresia spoke in surprise.

“Wow…how did you know about this? From the outside, it looks like a perfectly normal house, but when you come inside, there’s a space leading to the basement?”

“This place was also dug by the Gate Management Headquarters a while ago to use as a bomb shelter. They bought an empty house with no one living in it from the start, so there’s no owner. It seems like someone was occupying it for a while though.”

“…”

Heresia followed Leos’s gaze, and then screamed.

“H-hey… a… a dead body!”

“Aish! Shut up! Will throwing it out be enough?”

“Please, just get rid of it!”

Bendict, picking at his ear, grabbed the corpse and flung it outside with a whoosh.

“Wha… What is that? Why is there a body here…”

Leos replied without much emotion.

“Probably someone who thought it would be safer inside, wandered from around here, and used this place for a bit. But it was a stupid thing to do. Unless you’re in the bunker downstairs, trusting a flimsy wooden house against monsters is just asking to die.”

“…Was it… was it the monsters’ doing?”

“Not ‘monsters’. It was one monster’s doing.”

“…No way, it was that brutally killed, and you’re saying one did it?”

“Yeah, I even wrote about it in one of my old posts, go look it up. Search ‘Mutant Minotaur’ and it should come up.”

Heresis slowly read Leos’s first viral post, utterly shocked.

“No… are you insane? This incredibly dangerous thing is just lurking around here?!”

“It’s not that dangerous. The teeth marks are uneven and parts are ripped off at the same time, so it’s likely a twin-headed mutant. You just gotta be careful of their ultrasonic and fire attacks.”

“And that’s something you can just ‘be careful’ about?”

“They do a slight movement before using their abilities. You just have to shove a dagger in one of the mouths from a distance then. Once one of the heads is taken out, the other loses control and goes berserk, which makes it easier to catch. I wrote all this in my post, why are you asking again?”

“No… this whole response strategy is insane. It says here that they just twitch for 0.1 seconds before attacking! How can you possibly react to that?”

“I can.”

“…So, Leos-nim. Is there any chance someone encountering that twin-headed mutant Minotaur for the first time would survive?”

“If they know the strategy and have exceptional physical abilities, sure, they might survive, but…”

Leos pondered for a moment, then shook his head.

“In any situation, if you don’t know how to respond, survival is impossible. You’ll probably die a gruesome death. That thing, it uses its abilities simultaneously after fighting for a long time.”

*

Darek started running toward the minotaur mutant. Seeing the man charge madly in a situation where they should be fleeing, the others thought he was crazy, but Darek laughed.

‘I remember now. Leos definitely threw daggers when they used their abilities, or if that wasn’t possible, he’d rush forward and jam in attacks. That thing clearly has a long cooldown every time it uses an ability.’

‘The moment I see the fire attack, I dodge. Then, I’ll stab its eyes to blind it, and immediately escape to find a sword and fight again.’

Thinking that, Darek started watching the mutant minotaur’s fire orbs. But.

-BEEEEEEEEEEP!

A brief flinch followed by an ultrasonic attack to the left side of his head.

‘Shit…how can it use two abilities at the same time…?’

The moment Darek clutched his head and fell to the ground.

A huge flame, fired from the right head, started rushing towards him at a maddening speed. Darek, staring blankly at the fire orb, muttered.

“Fuck…where did I go wrong…”

-KABoooM!

A perfect death, leaving not even a corpse.

That was Darek’s end.

“Le…Leos…”

Enas, almost calling out Leos’ name, stopped short. She stared blankly at the minotaur mutant approaching them, and felt it pierce her to the bone.

That here, Leos, who had protected them, no longer existed.