Weak Class of Anti-Hero
Chapter 35: The Price of Peace

Chapter 35: The Price of Peace

I looked at the image of the monster on the tablet, then at the director’s face.

I stood up, shook my head, and started to leave.

The director was taken aback. "Where are you going?"

"I refuse," I said, without turning around.

A surprised silence filled the Sanctuary. Refusing a direct order from the director, especially for a mission of this importance, was unthinkable.

"Pardon?" he said, his tone growing colder. "This isn’t a suggestion, Kang Ji-Hoon. It’s an order."

I stopped and turned to face him.

"And I refuse it," I repeated, my voice calm. "You said this world needed heroes. I’m not one."

I gestured outward. "I’ve spent my life fighting. To survive. For my mother. For my place in this academy. For my revenge. I’m tired of fighting."

I looked him straight in the eye. "You gave me power. You gave me status. Now I want what I’ve never had."

"And what is that?" the director asked, perplexed.

"Normal days," I said. "I want to hang out with my friends. I want to have coffee with a girl. I want to spend a day without thinking about death, monsters, or the end of the world. I want to live a simple life. That’s all."

"You don’t understand the stakes..." he began.

"Oh, I understand perfectly," I cut him off. "You want me to be your weapon. Your scalpel. Just like you used my father. But I’m not my father. I’m not your soldier."

I deactivated my interface. "I’m taking a vacation. Indefinitely. Don’t contact me."

With those words, I left the Sanctuary, leaving him alone with his suicide mission and his S+ rank monster.

I might have been a King of the academy, but for the first time, I was going to use my power not to fight, but to choose not to.

I walked out of the academy that evening. No one tried to stop me.

I returned to my empty apartment in Gwanak-gu. It was the first time it truly felt like home.

The next day, I did what I said I would do.

I called Min-Soo and Bora. "Day off. We’re going to the amusement park."

They were surprised, but they accepted joyfully. We spent the day at Lotte World, riding roller coasters, eating cotton candy, laughing. I screamed on the rides. I lost at all the shooting games. It was simple. It was stupid. It was perfect.

In the evening, I sent a message to Ji-Soo.

"Hey. I know things ended badly last time. It wasn’t your fault. I’d like us to try again. Just coffee. No family drama."

She replied almost immediately.

"Hey. I’d really like that."

We met the day after. We talked for hours. About everything. About nothing. About her art. About my "studies." I continued to lie about who I was, but for the rest, I was honest. I laughed at her jokes. I listened to her talk about her dreams. It was easy. It was normal.

For a week, I lived that life.

I went grocery shopping. I cleaned the apartment. I watched movies. I saw my friends. I saw Ji-Soo.

I ignored the calls from the academy. I ignored the news alerts talking about "abnormal seismic activity" in the north.

I tucked my dagger away in the back of my mind. I tucked away the monster. I tried to just be Ji-Hoon.

And for a brief moment, I almost managed to convince myself that it could last.

That I could truly run from what I was. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

The bubble burst one evening, a week later.

I was with Ji-Soo. We were walking along the Han River, looking at the city lights. It was a perfect evening.

Suddenly, all the sirens in the city started wailing at once.

Our terminals vibrated with a national emergency alert. The message was the same for everyone.

[NATIONAL EVACUATION ALERT - LEVEL 1]

[Unidentified threat detected in the northern region. State of emergency declared.]

[All citizens must proceed immediately to the nearest breach shelter. This is not a drill.]

Panic erupted in the streets. People started running, screaming.

Ji-Soo looked at me, her eyes filled with fear. "What’s happening?"

I knew. The breach. The monster.

The director had sent a team. Another team. And they had failed.

My gaze turned north. I couldn’t see anything, but I could feel it. A wave of Aura. An immense, dark, hungry Aura. An Aura that was spreading, that was beginning to devour the world.

I could no longer ignore it. I could no longer hide.

My normal life had just crashed against reality.

I looked at Ji-Soo. Her frightened face. I thought of Min-Soo and Bora. Of Mrs. Lee. Of the normal people running for their lives.

"Go home," I told her, my voice suddenly hard. "Find shelter. Don’t go outside."

"But what about you? Where are you going?"

I didn’t answer her. I turned and started to run. Not toward a shelter.

North.

My vacation was over.

I ran through the city in the midst of the chaos. The streets were blocked with cars. People were pushing and shoving, panicked.

I used Reinforcement, my speed far exceeding that of the crowd. I weaved my way through, a ghost in the anarchy.

My terminal rang. It was the director. I answered.

"You felt it, didn’t you?" he said, his voice grave, without a hint of "I told you so."

"What happened?" I asked, still running.

"I sent a team. Three of the best Kings. They were wiped out in minutes. The Abyss Lord absorbed their energy. It’s stronger now. It has begun to extend the breach’s influence. If it reaches the demilitarized zone, then Seoul... it will be the end."

"I’m coming," I said.

"It’s too late to go on foot. Get to the roof of the nearest tall building. A helicopter is on its way for you."

I changed direction. I found a large office building, went inside, and ran up the stairs four at a time, ignoring the crowded elevators.

When I reached the roof, the wind whipped at my face. I could see the panic spreading across the entire city below.

One week.

I had taken one week of vacation. One week of normal life.

And during that week, the world had edged a little closer to its end.

The academy’s black helicopter appeared in the sky, heading toward me.

I looked at my hands. I summoned my dagger. Black energy swirled around it, eager.

The monster inside me, which I had tried to lull to sleep, was wide awake. And it was hungry.

The price of my week of peace was going to be very, very high.

The helicopter took me north. The landscape changed rapidly. The bustling city gave way to a countryside that looked... sick.

The influence of the breach was visible. The grass was gray. The trees were dead, their branches twisted like skeletons. There was a dark mist hanging over the ground.

We landed several kilometers from the source. The pilot gave me tactical combat gear and a tablet showing the breach’s location.

"We can’t go any further," he said. "The Aura here is so dense it’s making the electronics fail. Good luck, Kang Ji-Hoon."

He didn’t wait for my reply. The helicopter took off immediately, leaving me alone in this landscape of death.

I started walking.

The silence was absolute. No birds. No insects. Just the sound of my own footsteps on the dead earth.

The further I walked, the more the pressure increased. It was the Abyss Lord’s Aura. An overwhelming presence that weighed on my body and mind.

I could see why the other Kings had failed. Facing such pressure was already a fight in itself.

But my power, my dagger, seemed to like it. The energy of the Void within me vibrated, not with fear, but with excitement. It was like coming home.

After an hour of walking, I reached the center of the corrupted zone.

The breach was there. A gaping tear in reality, much larger than the last time. It was a black portal that seemed to suck in light and hope.

And in front of it, the Abyss Lord waited.

It was even bigger, even more monstrous. It had absorbed the power of the three S-Ranks.

It saw me. Its multiple eyes all turned toward me.

"[The anomaly]," it said, its voice resonating in my skull. "[You have finally decided to come and play. I was beginning to get bored.]"

It took a step toward me, making the ground tremble.

"[Your little escape cost the lives of several of your kind. Do you feel their deaths on your conscience?]"

I didn’t answer. I just raised my dagger.

The only answer I could give it was the fight.