My Students Regret It After I Retired

3 – We absolutely need Leos. We need to bring him back.

Bellin. She stared blankly at her distance.

[I don’t care, get lost. And don’t try contacting me again. I’m blocking you]

The reply from Leos. After that, there was no answer from the man to any calls, texts, or any other contact. She expected this to some extent since he was jailed because of her, but she never thought she’d get blocked so unilaterally, without even a single conversation.

“…”

She stood there, still. Then a man approached and spoke.

“Any contact with Leos?”

“No. He’s not answering calls. I messaged him, but it seems he’s blocked my distance ID entirely. No signal’s getting through.”

“I told you to contact the administrator linked to the Gate Management Headquarters too, but I hear he’s been blocked as well. We were fools to even try reasoning with that kind of vermin. It’s always a problem when a mere component gains a sense of self. That’s why.”

“I was the one who sent him to prison, so maybe it’s because he hates me.”

“Bellin. Do you feel any guilt?”

Keltazar drew a dagger from within his robes, slowly approaching her.

“Bellin. Answer me.”

“Guilt… not really. We in the Imperial Shadow Corps work for the Empire. His Majesty’s orders are absolute, and there’s always a reason for them. There must have been a reason why the Gatekeeper needed to be eliminated, which is why he moved me.”

“Right. To dispose of all the unneeded Gatekeepers at once, a pretext was needed. Leos, that fool, sacrificed himself for the greater good. So, there’s no need for guilt or apologies. Don’t even think about doing as you please with your thoughts. You know what happens to components that develop feelings. What kind of end they meet. Especially you, who even received that elixir you so desperately wanted, right?”

“…I am grateful for that…it was…an absolutely necessary item.”

Bellin stared blankly at her distance, muttering.

“You said the Gate wouldn’t open again.”

Keltazar nodded at her words.

“That was the case even three years ago. Gates hadn’t been generated for a long time, and the existing ones were all closed by the Gatekeepers. But things have changed. Red Gates are now spawning uncontrollably. It’s a natural disaster. It was unpredictable.”

“We said that the Imperial Shadow Corps works for the Empire, right? So, what are we supposed to do now? If we leave it like this, countless people will die.”

“We need to summon the Gatekeepers again.”

“Do you think they’ll return now if we summon them?”

“The Empire is calling them; what could they possibly do to refuse? In times of war, failure to respond to a summons is punishable by immediate execution, that’s the law of the Perren Empire. It’s none of our business even if they feel wronged. When we, no, when the Empire calls, they must come. That is both the rule and the law.”

“Even if others don’t, Leos, at least, won’t come. But we desperately need Leos. To seal the mana of the Red Gate, we need the trait he possesses. We have to bring him back.”

◈Legendary Gatekeeper [EX]: Can seal the mana of a gate once it’s been subdued.

Keltazar, commander of the Imperial Shadow Corps, stared intently at Leos’s trait written on the paper.

“So, it’s this guy’s trait we need to seal the Red Gate, is that it?”

“Yes. Other abilities might handle gates with low mana, but a gate in a rampage or one with potent mana can only be sealed by Leos. When the Gatekeepers were active before, it was always Leos who handled the sealing of every gate, naturally.”

“Then it’s an easy task.”

Keltazar, looking at Belin, added with a chilling smile.

“We’ll bring Leos.”

“Leos…?”

“Yes. Whether that b*stard refuses or not, he’s a citizen of the Peren Empire. In the end, he’s just a cog in the machine that must obey the Empire’s laws. So, we bring him. If he resists, we’ll drag him back half-dead, as a corpse if we have to. As long as we can use his trait, we can take down the monsters in the gate ourselves. He just needs to seal it so they can’t pour out anymore.”

Peredin, a scout in the Imperial Shadow Corps, who had been listening to their conversation, stepped forward.

“I’ll bring him.”

“Are you sure you can do that?”

Peredin smiled at Keltazar.

“Of course. You know I infiltrated the Gate Management Headquarters on your orders. I’ve become quite friendly with Leos during that time. The man’s heart is kind and rather dense. No matter how unfairly he’s been treated, he’s not the type to refuse when a former disciple begs him to return.”

“And if you fail?”

Peredin flicked his dagger and replied.

“I’ll bring him back half-dead. He might be skilled, but he’s alone now, isn’t he? And Leos hasn’t been active for three years. That bug, without proper training or experience in prison, is on a completely different level compared to me, who has spent a lifetime in the Imperial Shadow Corps honing the arts of slaughter. He probably hasn’t even killed a human properly.”

Keltazar nodded.

“True. Battling monsters doesn’t necessarily make you a skilled combatant. Unlike dumb monsters, humans are cunning.”

Feredin looked at Belin and spoke.

“Belin. Wanna come along?”

Belin pondered for a moment, then slowly opened her mouth.

“You gonna kill him?”

“Nah. Not kill him, just bring him. Gotta exploit that guy’s talents, right?”

She was silent for a bit, then spoke.

“…If you’re going, there’s really…no need for me to go…”

Feredin laughed heartily, replying.

“Yeah, I’m the leader of Team 30 of our Empire’s Shadow Squad. Leos is nothing to me.”

Then, the man turned to look at Commander Keltazar and asked.

“Commander Keltazar. Do we have the location?”

“We tracked the location based on the last distance signal. There’s some margin of error, but he’ll be where we expect. Check all the nearby bunkers.”

“As you command.”

Behind Feredin, about nine men dressed in covert outfits slowly started walking forward. He looked at each one, then, after hiding a dagger in his waistband, spoke.

“Look forward to it. I’ll beat the shit out of the Empire’s disobedient mutt and drag him back. And if he won’t come out, I’ll cut him up in places if I have to.”

*

The bunker where Leos was residing. The man stared at the Leos Gallery for a moment, then asked Herisia.

“Herisia. Do you know anything about the admin running this community?”

“The mod…? I don’t really have any info on him. But there is one odd thing!”

Herisia tapped rapidly on the distance and showed it.

[Admin]

Title: I’m feeling drained today…

Body: I didn’t manage to stock up on food… There are too many monsters outside, so I just drank water again today… Are you guys doing okay? I wonder what Leos-nim is up to… Will I ever get to see him before I die…?

“Her way of speaking is unique, right? I see she curses and stuff when she fights, but when she’s talking about everyday things, she uses this kind of language. Like, writing in a diary format, or the way she uses honorifics… I think she’s a woman, like me…”

“Besides that?”

“Hehe… I don’t know…”

Heresia scratched her head awkwardly, and Leos sighed.

“That’s information I could figure out too.”

“W-well… yeah… But the Admin really doesn’t reveal much about herself. She’s been writing a lot of diary entries lately, but usually she only talks about Leos-nim, so there’s nothing else to go on.”

Leos nodded at that. Then, using LEO, the initials from his name, as a nickname, he slowly left a comment on the Admin’s post.

LEO: Admin. If you have no food, go out and look for supplies during the early hours of the morning when the monsters are less active. After the sun sets… No, to be more precise, go out at 1 AM. Monsters are relatively weak to the dark, so if you’re careful of sound, you should be able to find some food nearby.

ㄴ Admin: There’s nowhere I can find food…

ㄴ LEO: Where are you located?

She seemed to be in a really bad state, completely out of it. I wondered if I could give the Admin some physical help, so I asked her for her location, but her answer didn’t come for a long time.

ㄴ Admin: Why do you need to know my location…?

ㄴ LEO: I have plenty of food on my side. If it’s possible, I’ll share some.

ㄴ Admin: No, it’s okay. I’ll try to sort it out myself this early morning. Thank you for the offer.

ㄴ LEO: Big supermarkets are probably already overrun by people. So, go for convenience stores, especially small ones that look like they haven’t been looted much. But, there might be people hiding there too, so bring a weapon, or at least be aware of your surroundings, and run if there’s danger. Also, convenience stores don’t have a lot of places to hide, they’re often under the counter, so check there first as soon as you go in.

ㄴ Admin: Thank you. I’ll do as you said. If I keep starving like this I’m gonna die anyway, so I might as well try what you told me.

The man then took his hand off the distance. Now it was the Admin’s turn to handle things. She ran the Leos Gallery, and believed in Leos without asking for anything in return.

For some reason, the man hoped she wouldn’t die.

[BIUN]

Title: The head mod’s out of food? He’s gonna croak soon lol

Body: Serves you right for defending that criminal Leos, you b*stard! Just die already! Starving to death is a good death for you.

ㄴ Head Mod: FUCK! Seriously! Stop fucking coming here! I’ve blocked you so many times and you still keep coming. Oh? You even got a nickname now? BIUN? What, like a BIUNG-shin (moron)? Good name. You’re blocked again.

Watching the Leos gallery mod bickering with the same troll as always, a chuckle escaped him. It was like watching a comedy sketch.

‘Who is this BIUN?’

There was no need to be curious about the identity of someone who hated me. He hadn’t laughed for three years. So he shouldn’t waste time on useless thoughts and hold onto this feeling, just a little bit longer.

That’s what he thought anyway.

-Beep…beep…beep…

After Herisia came near the shelter, Leos had scattered detection artifacts around just in case another looter might come. One of them.

-Beep…beep…beep…

The detection artifact was beeping loudly.

Its meaning was clear. There was a human nearby.

*

Slowly, I opened the shelter door and looked outside. A voice came from afar.

“Shit! Why are all the shelters around here decommissioned? Who manages the data? Just search every damn place in the area!”

There stood a familiar man.

Peredin.

The man who had been his apprentice at the Gate Management HQ. Around him were men clad in dark shadow suits. I instantly recognized the markings on their clothing.

‘Imperial Shadow Squad.’

His form held my gaze, and I gripped the dagger harder in my hand.

“Leos! Leos!”

The man kept calling my name. It didn’t look like he was doing it with any good intentions.

If it came down to a fight, I would gladly fight.

I had decided, from now on, my survival comes first.