LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 74
“…What?”
Shin Woo explained what he had witnessed the previous night.
The women, upon hearing his story, wore serious expressions and struggled to respond.
“Of course, I understand it’s hard to believe. But it’s the undeniable truth.”
“Are you sure? What if we’re just deluding ourselves like last time?”
Si-hyun’s doubts were a reasonable conclusion. After all, she had firmly believed Hana was a demon and had suffered bitter regrets for her actions.
However, Shin Woo answered without hesitation.
“As long as I have the Holy Grail, that can never be the case.”
Valentina then asked with a wavering gaze, “If the Vice Principal is truly a Saint… Can we trust him? That means he’s a demon, right?”
“Of course, I don’t intend to trust blindly or let my guard down. That man is the one who turned Hana into that.”
The expression of the boy as he spoke these words revealed deep anger, not mere empty words. Still, Shin Woo decided to take this path. Only for Hana.
“But the Academy is essentially the same. No, it might be worse.”
“…Indeed, if what you say is true, then the Academy is like that too…”
The story he shared was still shocking enough to be hard to believe. Making drugs out of people’s lives? Such things are simply unacceptable.
Sehee sighed and thought to herself. So that’s what he meant by his last words yesterday.
Certainly, the information the boy brought was a horrific and ugly sight that even she, who was the student council president, could not have imagined.
“So what do you want us to do?”
“…”
“It seems you’ve already made up your mind.”
She was right. In fact, Shin Woo had already made his decision even before meeting the Vice Principal last night. The truth he’d witnessed underground was merely a means to solidify that decision.
“I plan to follow the Vice Principal and meet Hana.”
“…”
A heavy silence fell upon the room at his words. No one failed to understand the meaning behind those words.
“So, what’s the reason for telling us this?”
“It’s a proposal. If you’re willing to join me…”
“You know what that implies, right?”
Sehee shot a cold glare at the boy. He was her life savior who had healed her. So she tried to think gratefully and positively about him.
However, what he’d just said was beyond the line. It was as if he crossed a boundary.
“You’re trying to tempt us to betray humanity and side with demons.”
“…”
“No matter what decision you make, I’ll respect it. If you choose to leave the Academy, I might turn a blind eye. But to suggest that to us is a whole other story.”
Her attitude was so firm that there seemed to be no room for persuasion. Yet, Shin Woo did not give up easily and urged back.
“I’m not telling you to side with demons. If I meet Hana, she will obviously come out of the demon side.”
“Do you really think that’s possible? The demons worked hard to get Yu Hana. There’s no way they’d just let her go.”
“Do you really believe staying at the Academy is the best choice for humanity?”
“At the very least, it’s better than teaming up with demons.”
There was an unbridgeable gap between them. Shin Woo glared at Sehee and muttered.
“You only think that because you haven’t seen it…”
“I won’t deny it. Sometimes, not seeing and not knowing can be the correct answer.”
At least until now, her thoughts remained steadfast.
It was nearly impossible to survive perfectly untainted. The very structure of the times was destined to be filthy. Some level of dirtiness is an indispensable cog for maintaining this world.
Shin Woo bit his lip and turned away. He hadn’t entirely failed to anticipate such a situation. After all, if he wouldn’t accept it, there was nothing he could do.
“Valentina, what about you?”
“…I…”
The girl hesitated for a long time. Unlike Shin Woo and Sehee, Valentina didn’t have a solid conviction.
Upon listening to their words, she realized that the Academy’s issues were indeed serious. However, betraying humanity felt like too extreme of a choice.
Just looking outside the Academy made it clear, didn’t it? Cities across the world were falling to the Saint’s attacks, people dying left and right.
Even if the Academy committed heinous massacres, it didn’t seem like they’d killed more than the current situation.
If both were evil, at least humans might be better than demons.
Eventually, the girl bowed her head low at the end of her hesitation and answered.
“…I’m sorry.”
It was a rejection.
Shin Woo calmly nodded, but he couldn’t help but feel his gaze shake with turmoil. Perhaps he had silently believed she would follow him.
The grounds for such conviction were painfully flimsy, however.
If it had been six months ago, she might have truly followed him.
But as Shin Woo closed off his heart, their relationship inevitably began to drift further apart.
Even if Valentina still liked Shin Woo, could she say she loved him enough to give it all up and follow?
Not to mention, his reasons for acting that way were because of another girl he loved.
In a last-ditch effort, Shin Woo glanced at Si-hyun, who had been silent until then.
She had a mysterious expression that made it hard to guess what she was thinking.
“Han Si-hyun, what about you?”
“Can I ask one thing before I answer?”
“Go ahead.”
“If the only way to be with Hana is to betray humanity, what will you do?”
At that moment, Shin Woo fell silent.
The situation seemed to align with her question perfectly. In reality, Sehee had already taken it for granted that Shin Woo was betraying humanity.
However, Shin Woo had no intention of siding with demons. He planned to find a way to break free no matter what when he met Hana.
Yet, as Si-hyun suggested, there might come a time when he would have to make a choice.
What would he give up, and what would he choose when that time comes?
“I will choose the option that makes Hana happy.”
That was the conclusion he had arrived at.
Si-hyun tilted her head slightly at his somewhat off-base response and questioned again.
“So that choice means you’ll be separated forever?”
“I promised. I’d make her happy.”
“Such foolishness.”
As if recalling something, she spoke while looking at Shin Woo with deep eyes.
“Alright. I’ll go with you.”
“…Are you serious? Why?”
“Just. I’m curious. I want to see what kind of ending you and that girl will reach.”
With an answer that was hard to understand, Si-hyun wore a tired smile.
“And besides, I was supposed to die that day anyway.”
*
“What’s the situation of the war?”
“It’s as expected. We cannot fight the Saints with ordinary abilities.”
“We’ve taken immense damage. We’ve already lost three S-rank heroes.”
“The Great Mage has also been severely injured and barely escaped, still unconscious.”
“The situation is similar for the other S-rank heroes. It’s regrettable that no one has definitively won against a Saint.”
“That’s not a major concern. What’s important is buying time to create the Holy Water.”
“It’s actually a good thing. Thanks to this war, we’ve smoothly procured blood, right? We’ve produced double the amount we originally anticipated.”
“We’ve gathered all the heroes into the Academy now. We just need to prepare for the final showdown.”
“With Longinus, the Holy Grail, and the impersonator, we have all the supplies sorted except for one. If we can just survive this war, we can immediately prepare for the ‘Great Atonement Sacrifice’.”
“Our goal is singular.”
“For a more perfect humanity.”
*
Three days had passed since the war began.
In truth, it was a one-sided massacre that was almost embarrassing to call a war.
On the first day, there were some battles with heroes, but after the Saints achieved a great victory, the heroes didn’t even show up for the next two days.
Now on the third day, the Black Goat once again summoned all Saints.
The temple looked exactly as it had a few days ago. The Saints were chattering away as if there hadn’t been a war at all.
“What’s going on? No one is dead, everyone’s fine. How boring.”
“There’s no way a Saint could die to mere humans.”
The White Lamb and the Pink Hawk also returned to the temple and took their seats.
It was then that the Green Horse, who had never spoken to them before, approached the girl and started a conversation.
“You’ve returned safely.”
“Oh, yes. Hello, Lord Horse.”
“I’ve heard the tales. Your accomplishments have reached distant cities, and I’m quite astonished.”
“…My accomplishments?”
Suddenly, the Purple Fox butted in and interrupted the conversation.
“Oh my. Are you denying it? Rumor has it that wherever the Lamb goes, corpses follow. I wanted to see those undead too, but you didn’t bring me along?”
“Haha…”
As the Black Goat entered the conference room, he spoke.
“Everyone did well. I’m glad we had clear results.”
Upon his arrival, all the Saints fell silent and focused on the Black Goat’s words.
“Three out of nine S-rank heroes have died. The others barely retreated after losing to us.”
“After that, they continued to raid the cities for two days, but the heroes haven’t appeared since. They probably realized our plans and intend to maintain their strength in the Academy, even at the cost of people’s lives.”
“So now, we’re putting an end to the senseless massacre and moving on to the next phase.”
The Black Goat’s red eyes glinted ominously.
“From now on, we begin ‘Destroying the Academy.’”