I Became the Academy’s Kibitz Villain

Chapter 277: Where There Is Light, There Is Darkness (1)

At that moment, underground at the Busan Hero Association.

“Ms. Yoon Iseon, I apologize for calling you here during your finals.”

“It’s okay, Chairman. I finished all my studying for the finals.”

Yoon Iseon was summoned to the Hero Association.

It wasn’t a sudden call; it was a scheduled one.

“And on the way, Irin kept me company, so I had a pleasant trip.”

“Have you already become close?”

“Yes. We are not much different in age, and we used to see each other often when I was A-rank. We became friends this time.”

“I have many things I’m curious about.”

The chairman glanced at the two and felt he knew why Tae Irin had taken more interest in Yoon Iseon than before.

Ah.

Even if both were S-rank, the S-rank was just an indicator of overall combat power.

There were differences in magic power even among S-ranks.

“Chairman?”

“Hmm. I was just thinking about how to introduce the place to you today.”

“It doesn’t seem like that’s all…”

“No.”

The chairman’s blatant lie didn’t bother the two women much.

What mattered was why Yoon Iseon was invited to Busan today.

“You said there’s something you want to show me?”

“Yes. The materials I’m about to show you are top-secret, accessible only to S-ranks. It must not be disclosed to anyone.”

The chairman pointed to the wall of his office.

“As you can see in front of you, the photos of S-rank heroes are displayed like this in the chairman’s office, from the 8th-ranked Armored Taejo to the 1st-ranked Gwang Ik Gong.”

“Yes, I see. I’m there too. Did you leave that space below for more S-ranks to be added?”

“…Yes.”

The chairman, who was about to continue, swallowed with a moved expression.

“It’s been a while since someone didn’t interrupt me and even asked questions.”

“Who else made you that emotional?”

“I called you here to talk about that S-rank… the ones who no longer exist.”

Click.

As the chairman snapped his fingers, the space below the wall opened to the sides.

“……!”

And below, numerous photos were hung.

Each distinguished by different colors, the photos were in frames of the same size as the portraits above but were divided into three categories.

One.

Memorial photos.

“These are the S-rank heroes who died in action. You might recognize some faces.”

“Yes…. Someone who passed away last year is here too. And these…”

“Those who defected. Either naturalized to another country, married and immigrated, or left Korea altogether.”

One.

Under the portraits, a red X marked over the Taegeukgi (Korean flag) and replaced by another national flag.

“You know all these faces, right?”

“…Yes. I recognize them. There are active villains, missing persons, and some with uncertain status.”

“Exactly. The problem is… the number is quite large.”

Apart from the current eight.

The dead.

As well as those whose Taegeukgi was replaced by another national flag or marked with a question mark numbered over 30.

“It’s a funny thing. If you gather the Korean S-ranks spread across other countries, at least 70% of the S-rank heroes within the top 50 worldwide would be Koreans.”

“Nationality-wise, they aren’t Korean anymore.”

“…That’s true.”

The chairman bitterly smiled and shook his head at Yoon Iseon’s remark.

“Do you know why they left?”

“…I heard it was because the country kept harassing them. That’s what I heard.”

“That’s right. They were harassed. Extremely so. Take Cheonma, who went to China, for example. His parents were driven to quit their jobs. They actually did.”

“Out of patriotism….”

“Yes. Patriotism. With the grand logic that if you’re not patriotic, you’re a traitor, they harassed people.”

Tae Irin, who had been listening quietly, approached one of the frames with a sarcastic remark.

“They deliberately pushed heroes to the extreme and decided to keep only those who could overcome the extreme situations in Korea. They treated them like crap, so who would want to stay in Korea?”

“Ms. Iseon, since you are an adult, I’ll speak frankly.”

The chairman said seriously, pointing to an unusual number of women in the frames.

“People from Haegneul and government officials will come after you. By ‘coming after,’ I mean they will lust after you.”

“Are you saying they’ll try to seduce me?”

“Saying ‘seduce’ is quite a refined way to put it. Well, to put it bluntly….”

“Why are you beating around the bush, Chairman? Sister, can I speak frankly?”

“Yes.”

“They’ll go crazy trying to get you pregnant.”

At Tae Irin’s straightforward words, Yoon Iseon’s expression immediately twisted.

“Get me pregnant?”

“Yes. Since you are 20 and an adult, people from Haegneul, celebrities, or even male A-rank ability users will try to get you pregnant to have an S-rank baby.”

“…….”

“I know. It’s disgusting. That’s why all these people left Korea.”

Tae Irin bitterly smiled, pointing to the photos of numerous women.

“They not only publicly propose on the person’s SNS but also, if they find out the address, they go directly to the house and play General Hwang, asking for marriage. If the parents run a store, they go there to cause a scene and propose, and if refused, they keep bothering them until they accept.”

“Although it’s less now, until four years ago, it was really extreme.”

“Why do they want to make us pregnant?”

Yoon Iseon barely managed to speak with a stiff voice.

“Whether it’s pregnancy or marriage, I will have children later when I find someone I love at the age I want. Why are they forcing pregnancy?”

“Because they think it’s ‘efficient.’ They worry that if you don’t have children at a young age, there won’t be any S-rank ability users born due to late pregnancies.”

“Crazy. Just because they don’t get pregnant….”

“Exactly. I feel the same way as you, sister. In three years, they’ll gather public opinion and go crazy telling me to get pregnant.”

“But Irin, you’re the president’s granddaughter.”

“That’s a separate issue. Rather, because I’m the president’s granddaughter, they’ll pressure me to set an example for the citizens.”

Tae Irin placed her hand on her stomach and bit her lower lip.

“…Luckily, Taejo is working hard on my side, so it hasn’t affected me yet, but soon people will subtly start asking you, sister, if you plan to be patriotic.”

“If that happens, get out of there. And whenever someone asks you to be patriotic, come to us and curse them out. We can listen to your complaints.”

“…So you’re telling me not to defect even if someone asks me to be patriotic?”

“That’s right. And most importantly….”

Bang, bang.

The chairman pointed to the portraits hanging on the black background.

“No matter how much you hate and are annoyed by such comments, don’t become a villain.”

“…….”

The last category.

Cases where Korean ability users became villains.

“It’s a bit unfair. The ones who drive heroes to extreme choices are alive and well, while the heroes have to suffer like this.”

“…That’s not true, sister.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“They’re not alive and well. They’re dead.”

Tae Irin pointed to an empty frame with a calm face.

There was a lone trace of an S-rank hero with only a name but no photo in the memorial frame.

“Tae… Yuhyun?”

“Yes. Tae Yuhyun. That.”

Tae Irin’s eyes trembled slightly.

“My younger brother, who was sold to North Korea right after he was born. …He was S-rank.”

“What?”

“There was a secret not known to the public. A spy secretly sent a child with nuclear missile-level power to North Korea.”

“W-What… That doesn’t make sense….”

“There’s no such thing as something that doesn’t make sense in this world. It’s reality. And….”

Crunch.

Tae Irin clenched her fist and gritted her teeth.

“The person responsible was my and Taejo’s mother.”

“……What?”

“To be exact, our mother.”

Tae Irin shuddered as if even mentioning it was disgusting.

“After giving birth to me and Taejo, she had a youngest child with S-rank talent and handed him over to North Korea, that crazy woman.”

Not even an ability user herself.

This novel was a nationalist novel.

And to stimulate nationalism, it aimed to unconditionally show the most Korean things as great.

Such parts could be seen as positive stimuli.

If it fostered patriotism and a sense of pride in the country, it could be considered acceptable.

However, to create stimulating nationalist settings, the author made very provocative settings for nationalist indoctrination.

Instead of standing tall on its own,

The story developed by cutting others down and provoking rebellious feelings.

Beyond making heroines of various countries belong to the protagonist, the protagonist made the readers feel a nationalist catharsis.

Anti-Japanese. Anti-Chinese. Anti-Communist.

These three elements were used provocatively to blend into the actual setting.

A descendant of a pro-Japanese family,

Receiving political, economic support, and protection from the Chinese Red Party during his studies in China,

Lastly, to secure his political position, a ‘woman’ who committed atrocities in North Korea.

“Her name is Min Ji-young. Mother of Armored Taejo and Baridegi Tae Irin. She sold her S-rank child to North Korea.”

And.

“She died.”

She perished in Pyongyang with the collapse of North Korea.

“She died, but her ideology remains, shaking the roots of this country.”

Min Ji-young Theory.

“The ideology that the higher the ability rank, the more women should have children every year to increase the number of ability users.”

Min Ji-young was dead, but her ideology still remained in this world.

“Saying that you should have as many children as quickly as possible before you get older and have late pregnancies.”