Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 314

314. The Best Future (1)

Adam stared at Hyun-woo, his expression bleak.

His demeanor was markedly different from when he had flatly refused Maria’s order to kill Hyun-woo.

Hyun-woo seized a brief moment to snap the joints that Teacher had broken back into place.

The pain was still present, but it was an injury that could be sufficiently managed with a potion. However, neither Teacher nor Adam moved.

Hyun-woo needed to make a quick decision. This situation was a complete miscalculation.

‘Becoming the worst person in the world’ wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t for the immediate future.

It was something to be achieved after dealing with Teacher and completing all preparations. When that time came, Hyun-woo would enact a new plan.

But now, everything seemed worthless.

“Adam.”

It was then that Hyun-woo heard Teacher urging Adam. But Adam didn’t respond.

Adam simply stood there with a stiff expression, but Hyun-woo could sense the bewilderment she must be experiencing.

“Kill Kang Hyun-woo. Then you can return to Maria Keller…”

“Shut up.”

Adam said, glaring at Teacher with a terrifying look.

“Don’t order me around.”

Adam’s figure flickered momentarily. She was fighting against two conflicting instincts.

The instinct of a dog to follow Kang Hyun-woo as her master and obey his commands, and the wolf-like instinct to kill Kang Hyun-woo and return to Professor Keller.

It was difficult to even discern which instinct was more rational.

*Ts, tsuts.*

Adam covered her face and fidgeted, her fingers twitching in the air. Seeing this, Teacher clicked his tongue.

“You’ve persuaded her quite a bit. I should have separated you…”

He turned his head and looked at Hyun-woo. Hyun-woo anticipated that Teacher would move himself.

Considering the movements he had displayed so far, killing him would be an easy task.

He would lightly push him, then quickly break him down.

But Teacher didn’t move.

As if there was no need to exchange even light blows.

He said to Hyun-woo in a dismissive tone.

“Then there’s no choice. Kang Hyun-woo, commit suicide.”

Hyun-woo had expected many things, but not this. He looked at Teacher suspiciously and opened his mouth.

“Are you senile?”

“I’m saying this for your own good. In fact, it’s a better future for you to commit suicide than for Adam Fault to kill you. Why not end your life neatly without unnecessarily burdening the people around you with guilt?”

“If it’s so good, why don’t you do it?”

Hyun-woo said, twisting his lips.

“Isn’t that right, Kang Hyun-woo? Or should I call you the Star of the Apocalypse?”

***

At Hyun-woo’s words, the Almighty League hunters all held their breath.

None of them understood what Hyun-woo was implying. Then, Teacher placed his hand on the broken mask, as if there was no need for further explanation.

Soon, the peeled-off mask fell to the floor and shattered.

The face revealed was soaked in the rain. Raindrops trickled down along the wrinkles.

“Oh my…”

Song Yeo-un muttered in disbelief.

The face revealed under the mask looked almost identical to Kang Hyun-woo.

If Kang Hyun-woo aged naturally, he would look like that in his 40s or 50s. But unlike Hyun-woo, his hair had faded to white.

Other than that, there were no other noticeable differences.

“Song Yeo-un, Seo Ji-hoo, and all our dear Almighty League hunters.”

Teacher began, slowly looking around at the people present.

“I’m sorry to greet you like this. As you can see, I am another Kang Hyun-woo. I think I need to explain a little about this.”

“What…”

Hyun-woo, who was about to retort with ‘What kind of friendly self-introduction is that?’, realized that the situation was strange.

Why was that bastard admitting it so readily? He had been hiding it all this time, so he should have denied it, or at least been embarrassed.

But with Teacher’s following words, Hyun-woo understood his intentions.

“I came from a slightly later point in the future. And I fought desperately to save humanity there. But… unfortunately, the future outcome is not very optimistic. No, to put it bluntly, it’s hell itself.”

Teacher took his eyes off the hunters and looked at Hyun-woo.

“And the cause of that hell… I’m ashamed to say it’s me.”

“You goddamn son of a bitch, how dare you be so brazen!”

It was hard to say who was to blame for creating that hellish chaos, but at least the one who turned the world into the ‘Star of the Apocalypse’ was that bastard, Kang Hyun-woo from Hell.

But that bastard was shamelessly blaming Hyun-woo for the cause.

Hyun-woo tried to rush at Teacher. But at that moment, Teacher tilted his head.

A lightning bolt suddenly struck between Hyun-woo and Teacher. Along with the shock that struck his whole body, an electric shock that paralyzed his entire body was transmitted.

Lee Ji-tae was stabbing his sword into Kang Hyun-woo’s arm.

*Kwaddeudeudeuk!*

The arm of the Constrictor Yayul and Lee Ji-tae’s sword collided, creating a violent noise. Hyun-woo bounced back, creating distance.

The environment was not favorable.

The pouring rain, the magnetic field storm, the gathering clouds, the wet floor.

All of that was advantageous to Lee Ji-tae.

Hyun-woo wondered if even this environment was induced by Teacher. The situation was getting worse and worse.

“So, I regressed [traveled back in time] to correct and fix my mistakes. To prevent humanity from facing such a terrible future again. To bear and take responsibility for everyone’s hopes and wishes.”

Lee Ji-tae didn’t seem surprised to see that Teacher looked like an older Kang Hyun-woo.

He already knew.

That was why he trusted Teacher, and at the same time, why he didn’t want to harm Kang Hyun-woo.

“I didn’t want to harm Kang Hyun-woo in this world if possible. Even while watching him run around like a reckless fool, I tried to overlook it, though I’m ashamed to say it. If that’s another repetition, it might be my mistake. But I had to prevent him from eventually becoming the harbinger of the apocalypse.”

“You’re the Star of the Apocalypse!”

Teacher unilaterally ignored Hyun-woo’s cry.

The people in that place were focused on Teacher’s words as if they were entranced.

“As you all heard, Kang Hyun-woo is the worst person in the world.”

Hyun-woo felt the gazes fixed on him.

Only Song Yeo-un and Seo Ji-hoo were trying not to look at Hyun-woo, but he could see the other hunters glancing at him.

Hyun-woo let out a hollow laugh.

“The worst person in the world… you’ve already seen what happens to the world if Leviathan doesn’t die. The world is on the verge of becoming hell. Humans all become servants or monsters, and if they can’t, they die. I have seen countless sacrifices.”

Teacher raised his hand and pointed to Song Yeo-un.

“Song Yeo-un, you become a spider. Together with your sister Song Ji-min, you become an amorphous spider swarm and serve another spider. I hope you like eating insects alive.”

Song Yeo-un bared his teeth and glared at Teacher. But Teacher immediately turned his hand towards Seo Ji-hoo.

“Seo Ji-hoo, you don’t live very long. As the medical system collapses, your mother, who is being treated in the hospital, dies as her symptoms worsen. She could have lived if she had a simple immune system, but she didn’t have that either. You try to find medicine but become food for the monsters.”

Seo Ji-hoo’s expression didn’t change. But his clenched fist revealed his complex emotions.

“And you, you. I don’t think the life of tearing people apart alive will be so enjoyable, but you’ll have to get used to it. And you, the feeling of drinking molten iron doesn’t seem pleasant, but you’ll gain quite a bit of strength in return. Of course, you still have to drink molten iron.”

Teacher continued to make bleak or disgusting prophecies calmly.

Some meet a terrible end, and some survive in a disgusting way.

But everyone was the same.

The life that Teacher described was a life of hell.

“Song Yeo-un, you were about to say I’m an unlucky fortune teller, right?”

Song Yeo-un flinched. Teacher said with a benevolent smile.

“I understand. But I’m not making a prophecy. Prophecies are about the future.”

Teacher looked up at the sky and continued.

“This moment is nothing more than the past to me. But I’m trying to talk about the present. A better present, a present where the world is not hell, where humanity has found hope.”

Teacher said that and heavily raised his hand, pointing to Kang Hyun-woo.

“And to make that future come, you have to kill Kang Hyun-woo.”

Hyun-woo realized how terrible a mistake he had made.

If Teacher had taken off his mask from the beginning and said he came from the future, he could have just been dismissed as a madman.

But Hyun-woo himself declared, ‘That man is another Kang Hyun-woo.’ That alone left an extraordinary impression.

Especially with the special abilities that bastard possessed.

No, but Hyun-woo felt that it was useless to regret his mistake.

That bastard would have repeated the choices until the future where Hyun-woo made a mistake came to pass.

To create the best future optimized for himself.

“You goddamn bastard…”

Hyun-woo gritted his teeth and took out Tum. Now that it had come to this, he had to kill Teacher, even if he couldn’t get help from the other Almighty League hunters.

The ‘Leviathan’ problem could be solved through extreme methods.

Teacher tilted his head as if he was puzzled, looking at Hyun-woo preparing to fight. It was as if it was obvious.

“Even if the world becomes hell, you’ve decided to survive.”

Hyun-woo didn’t care whether the world became hell or not.

He was more short-sighted and focused only on the immediate goal.

That was the reason why he shouldn’t die here.

The reason why Teacher had kept him alive until now was because Hyun-woo was creating the best future.

Then the reason why he was trying to kill him now was because Hyun-woo could no longer create the best future.

Because the best future that Teacher was thinking of was ruined.

No, more than that.

Because Hyun-woo’s survival itself could be Teacher’s worst-case scenario.

It didn’t matter if there was hell or despair at the end.

Hyun-woo couldn’t stand to see that unsightly bastard profiting from his death.

“You’re the one who made hell, so why are you blaming me? You senile old man.”

***

[If you want to save the world, give your life.]

It was a very common cliché in cartoons or novels when he was young.

The protagonist heroically sacrifices his life to save the world, or conversely, turns the world into an enemy to save his loved ones.

Hyun-woo enjoyed watching them without any regrets.

Because the person sacrificing was never himself.

“Are you really not going to commit suicide, Hyun-woo? Are you going to push the world into hell?”

But he never thought that the day would come when he would be forced to make such a choice.

The hunters began to murmur and whisper.

It was a foregone conclusion that the world would be covered in shadows if the Leviathan mission was not completed. Then the prophecies that Teacher had made might come true.

“If you don’t have the courage to commit suicide, ask Adam. Adam promised to help you finish it, right? Maybe she can end it all at once without pain.”

Adam trembled and looked at Hyun-woo.

He did promise that. But Hyun-woo had no intention of doing so.

“You don’t like this, you don’t like that. So when are you going to commit suicide? If you really can’t do it, try running away. You won’t be able to go far, but you can show your colleagues your determination.”

Hyun-woo had never thought about his tone of voice until now.

But listening to the words of Teacher, who was another version of himself, he was amazed that he hadn’t been killed until now.

Hyun-woo tried his best not to care and focused on Teacher. His words were plausible, but there were parts that didn’t make sense.

‘Why now?’

Why is he trying to kill me now of all times?

If Hyun-woo becomes the cause of creating hell in the future no matter what he does, he can just kill him earlier than now.

Teacher already had hundreds or thousands of opportunities to do so.

He could have given his mother abortion money, killed him in the orphanage, or even from his growth process to the days when he was rummaging through the underground water of the chemical complex, there were many easier opportunities than now.

But why is he trying to kill himself now of all times?

Hyun-woo thought about it in his own way.

If it were me, why would I do that?

Cutting off complex thoughts and thinking simply, he quickly came to a conclusion.

As soon as the conclusion came out, Hyun-woo opened his eyes wide and kicked the ground. The moment he stepped on the ground so hard that it shattered, splashes of water splashed up, creating a faint mist all around.

Hyun-woo immediately used Ultimate Skill: Beast of the Apocalypse.

Starting from his legs, he was covered in thick crystal moss and transformed into the form of a beast.

The moment he rushed towards Teacher, a loud noise rang out.

Lee Ji-tae, holding a lightning-like sword, was confronting Hyun-woo.