Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 304

304. The Time of the Dog and Wolf (3)

Hyun-woo staggered, barely managing to stay on his feet.

His body wasn’t responding the way it should.

Difficulty: Hell. Even when facing all sorts of monsters, agents, and heteromorphic beings, he had never felt like this before.

Was Teacher using some kind of skill? No.

Was he employing some trick to stimulate him mentally? No.

Then why did the mere sight of that man make his blood boil with murderous intent? Why did it make him feel nauseous just to look at him?

Teacher was smiling. Even hidden behind the mask, Hyun-woo could sense it.

Hyun-woo couldn’t bear that smile, that sneer.

“Kang Hyun-woo!”

In that instant, if Lee Ji-tae hadn’t grabbed his shoulder, Hyun-woo would have charged forward.

Lee Ji-tae held Hyun-woo tightly, preventing him from lunging, and looked bewildered.

He hadn’t expected the first encounter between Teacher and Kang Hyun-woo to start in a friendly atmosphere, but he hadn’t anticipated Hyun-woo’s violent reaction.

“What’s wrong with you! I didn’t think you were rational, but I thought you were at least capable of reason!”

“Let go.”

Hyun-woo’s animosity towards Teacher was so intense that he didn’t even consider shaking off Lee Ji-tae and running.

But Lee Ji-tae gripped Hyun-woo’s shoulder even tighter and whispered.

“If you go now, you’ll die.”

At those words, Hyun-woo barely managed to calm himself.

A sensitive reaction to murderous intent, and an instinctive premonition of danger.

These were things Hyun-woo had learned through countless life-or-death experiences in Difficulty: Hell.

Cooling his head slightly, he realized that countless murderous intentions were lurking around Teacher.

Hyun-woo imagined himself being killed in various ways within those murderous intentions.

If Lee Ji-tae hadn’t stopped him, he would have died.

That was the truth.

Then Teacher opened his mouth.

“You’ve worked hard, Lee Ji-tae. Thank you for stopping him.”

Lee Ji-tae wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and nodded.

Lee Ji-tae had used his special ability, the Eye of Foresight, to observe hundreds of futures in which Hyun-woo was killed. It could have happened in just a few seconds.

What he could tell from that was only one thing.

As intense as Kang Hyun-woo’s murderous intent and disgust towards Teacher were, Teacher harbored an equal level of disgust and murderous intent towards Hyun-woo.

It was just that Teacher was more restrained, so it wasn’t 드러난 [revealed].

“Then…….”

Teacher took a long, deep breath. In that moment, Lee Ji-tae felt the murderous intentions that Teacher had been harboring disappear as if washed away.

Of course, they hadn’t completely disappeared. He had simply hidden them deep within his heart.

“Kang Hyun-woo, you’ve worked hard too. But it seems like it’s enough to stop here.”

“You’ve worked hard too. But it seems like your life is enough until today?”

“Haha, maybe. But that’s not something you can decide. The day I die is already set. It’s not today. It’s still a long way off.”

Teacher carefully put Adam down and took a bold step forward.

The sound of wet sand crumbling, *sabak*, was particularly loud. The intensified rain obscured their vision.

Then Lee Ji-tae stood in front of Hyun-woo.

“Teacher.”

“Lee Ji-tae. You’re calling me Teacher again. I told you, you can call me Bi-gwang.”

“Didn’t you say that you can call someone you respect Teacher? Anyway, the name Bi-gwang isn’t your real name, so I’ll just call you Teacher. More than that…….”

Lee Ji-tae took a deep breath and said.

“You’re not thinking of harming Kang Hyun-woo, are you?”

*Shuaaaaa*.

The rain made the silence particularly long.

Teacher fiddled with his mask, watching Lee Ji-tae. He looked like an owner observing a pet dog barking at him.

“Lee Ji-tae, if Kang Hyun-woo becomes an obstacle on the path to the ‘best future,’ what will you do?”

“……You didn’t say anything like that. You said Kang Hyun-woo is an important axis on the path to the best future.”

At Lee Ji-tae’s rebuttal, Teacher laughed as if he was dumbfounded.

“Lee Ji-tae, Lee Ji-tae, Lee Ji-tae. The future is not a destination. It’s a process. How nice would it be if life ended with ‘and they all lived happily ever after’ once we reached the best future.”

One step, one step.

Teacher approached Lee Ji-tae and said.

“But our lives don’t end like that. We have to constantly prune and trim the branches that sprout.”

Teacher’s gaze turned to Kang Hyun-woo behind Lee Ji-tae.

“Sometimes, there comes a moment when we have to cut off even the branches that were necessary.”

But at that moment, Teacher’s eyes softened. He raised both hands and took a step back.

“But I like you. Lee Ji-tae. I don’t want to cut off Kang Hyun-woo even if it means pushing you away. Not for now.”

***

“Tch. Get out of the way, Lee Ji-tae.”

Hyun-woo pushed Lee Ji-tae away and took a step forward. He had no intention of being saved by Lee Ji-tae.

Hyun-woo honestly couldn’t imagine how Teacher would react.

It was clear that he was far stronger than him. There was only one reason why he could be stronger than Hyun-woo, who had been trained in Difficulty: Hell.

Teacher nodded and opened his mouth.

“You don’t seem afraid. Kang Hyun-woo. This isn’t Hell, is it?”

The ‘Hell’ he mentioned probably wasn’t Hell in a philosophical sense.

From the way Teacher shamelessly mentioned Difficulty: Hell, Hyun-woo could tell that he came from the same place as him.

But he didn’t seem to know that his unlimited lives were over.

The question was, what was his identity?

Hyun-woo couldn’t find any clues from him that could help him guess his identity.

But that didn’t mean he wanted to call him Teacher, and he especially didn’t want to add the honorific ‘nim’ [a Korean honorific suffix].

Hyun-woo chose a slightly fishy title.

“Hey, Fish-face. What are you?”

“Fish-face…… That’s a fresh title I’ve never heard before. It’s unexpected for the first question. Is that important?”

“No, it’s not important at all.”

Hyun-woo grinned, revealing his teeth, and muttered.

“Because after I kill you, I can just take off that mask…….”

“Ah, the mask.”

Teacher lightly took off the mask as if it were a joke.

Hyun-woo’s body froze without him even realizing it.

The moment he saw the face revealed beneath the mask, Hyun-woo stopped breathing at his identity, which he had never expected.

“You…… you are…….”

“Yes.”

Teacher grinned. Hyun-woo muttered with trembling lips.

“You’re…… someone I’ve never seen before.”

“Nice to meet you.”

Teacher, with the face of a middle-aged bald man he had never met before, bowed politely.

Hyun-woo’s dumbfounded gaze turned to Lee Ji-tae. Lee Ji-tae looked at Teacher as if he had a headache and said.

“Do you have to joke even in this situation, Teacher?”

“It was a prank I wanted to try at least once.”

Teacher smiled and touched his face again.

In that instant, the face of the middle-aged bald man disappeared as if the mask was being peeled off again, and a new face appeared.

This time, it was the face of President Kim Si-hoo. When he touched his face again, the face of former Chief of Staff Park Gyu appeared.

Again and again, again and again.

“What kind of face were you expecting, Kang Hyun-woo? Who did you think I was?”

Teacher changed faces in an instant, like a 경극 [Beijing opera] actor. Hyun-woo realized that this was his ‘mask’ ability.

Like the mask Hyun-woo possessed.

Even in the meantime, Teacher changed his face.

He changed to Oh Dae-sung’s face and then to Lee Ji-tae’s face.

“Were you expecting this kind of face? This kind?”

“Stop it…….”

“Or this kind of face?”

Swoosh.

The last face that appeared where Teacher’s hand stopped was a face Hyun-woo had never seen before.

But it was familiar somehow.

Of course. Because it was a face that looked similar to his current self.

However, it had a more frowning expression and one eye was distorted.

Hyun-woo immediately recognized his identity and spat out a curse.

“You son of a bitch.”

“You recognize your father’s face, Kang Hyun-woo.”

Before he could be stopped, Hyun-woo’s body shot out. It felt like Hyun-woo had never focused so intently on throwing a punch in his entire life.

However, just as his fist seemed about to shatter the mask, Teacher had already retreated far away.

Teacher was wearing the same expressionless black and white mask as before.

Just like when Teacher first appeared, the rain was pouring down heavily.

Hyun-woo realized that Lee Ji-tae was nowhere to be seen.

No, there was no trace of Lee Ji-tae’s arrival in the first place.

The only people who were awake and facing each other here were Hyun-woo and Teacher.

Teacher opened his mouth, standing leisurely.

“I know what you were expecting. Kang Hyun-woo. You thought I might be your father, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, to be honest, I did. Because then I could kill you with my own hands.”

“I thought you would think that. But I’m sorry to ruin your wish, but I’m not your father.”

Teacher said with a cheerful laugh.

“I killed your dad. Or should I say, I made him commit suicide? I was the first person to give that bastard a return stone.”

***

Hyun-woo wondered what Teacher was talking about.

Teacher seemed to feel that some explanation was needed even after he spoke, and continued to speak as he slowly walked on the muddy ground.

“Ah, don’t worry. It’s not like I took away someone who could have been a kind and gentle father to you. The reason I killed your dad is because that bastard was really hopeless trash.”

“……Hopeless trash?”

“Yeah. He was the guy who ran away with the abortion money your mom barely scraped together and squandered it at a gambling den. Ah, that’s not all. Want to hear more? I can make the hatred you have for your father even stronger.”

“It’s already enough, so I don’t need it. But you gave a return stone to such trash?”

“Of course. Of course.”

Teacher said as if he was asking a question that was too obvious.

“That’s the kind of guy who should go to Hell, so who else would go to Hell? Fortunately, it’s uncertain whether there is an afterlife, but Difficulty: Hell definitely exists.”

“Hahaha,” Teacher said loudly. He still seemed to find the memory amusing.

“I already knew that he didn’t have the mental strength to endure Difficulty: Hell. As expected, as soon as he came back, he was terrified of being dragged back there and committed suicide. It ended too early, but if Hell exists, the place that human will go is already decided.”

Hyun-woo felt his blood run cold.

He didn’t feel any emotion about his father’s miserable suicide. He only felt a slight regret when he knew for sure that he was dead.

But what made his blood run cold was Teacher’s attitude towards handling the ‘return stone’.

It was clear that Teacher had crossed over from Difficulty: Hell to the present due to the ‘promise’. But the way he handled the return stone was like handling a toy.

He trusted such a person, and Adam Fault from Difficulty: Hell, Professor Keller, Yoo-min, and countless people gave up their lives.

“Weren’t you supposed to come over here from Difficulty: Hell with the mission of ‘promise’?”

“Ah, you seem to already know about the promise. That’s right.”

“……Then you should have sent people who had the potential to save the world. But why did you send such trash?”

“I wonder why?”

Teacher replied to Hyun-woo with a playful voice.

“That’s an answer that you yourself know best, Kang Hyun-woo. It’s not just because I wanted to punish a bad guy. I think you already know the answer. I’d like you to say it yourself.”

Let’s say that he had trained and graduated enough from Difficulty: Hell.

So let’s say he gave the return stone to someone else.

The moment he assumed that, there was an answer that immediately came to Hyun-woo’s mind.

But at the same time, he shut his mouth tightly at the answer that was so childish and contemptible.

‘Just in case that bastard comes back stronger than me.’

He had risked all of humanity’s lives to get a new opportunity, so he couldn’t be humiliated by some ridiculous guy.

So he sent trash instead of someone with potential.

Hyun-woo was speechless.

At the same time, he felt dizzy and thought of Lee Ji-tae.

Lee Ji-tae is the most idealistic and virtuous person with the right beliefs that Hyun-woo has ever met.

If a single star were to conquer the world and run it according to its rules, there would be no one better than Lee Ji-tae as a candidate.

And yet, such Lee Ji-tae respects Teacher?

“What are you thinking, Lee Ji-tae…….”

“Don’t blame Lee Ji-tae, Kang Hyun-woo. My personality and achievements are separate. In fact, I’ve done many things that deserve their respect.”

Teacher shrugged shamelessly.

“Among all the terrible futures, I have reached here by choosing only the best options for humanity. And I will continue to do so. Do you think Lee Ji-tae would have had any other choice?”

Teacher turned his gaze to Adam, who was lying on the ground.

“If Adam Fault is there, our choices will become even easier. But Kang Hyun-woo, there will come a point when you have to be excluded from that future. That’s how the best future can move forward in a more straight and correct direction.”

“You said I was the best future at one point?”

“Yes.”

Hyun-woo felt the laughter disappear from Teacher’s answer.

He stared at Hyun-woo with a calm and refined gaze.

“I did.”