ALL NOVEL Episode 156:
Heroes do not protect the world. Just protecting humans.
“...Yuseong?”
When I turned my head at the familiar voice, I saw Maria lying next to Yoosung looking in this direction. Raindrops were hitting the glass window in the dark.
There were two players, two heroes, and now two men and women.
“Saint.”
“How long are you going to call me by that name?”
When Yoosung answered indifferently, Maria shrugged her shoulders as if she was fed up.
A king of heroes and a saint.
After the world became a game, there were two players called heroes. They were heroes who protected the world of humans by attacking the world inside the immeasurable tower.
“Hmm, I don’t know.”
Yoosung turned his head, leaving behind the memories of confronting the Lord of the End. My eyes met Maria, who was lying down in a nightgown.
My hand moved without thinking. Without anyone else, Yoosung's hand moved towards the nape of Maria's neck, and Maria's hand held Yoosung's hand and led it towards her.
“The things we protect...
The King of Heroes asked, caressing the back of Mary’s neck.
“Do you really think they are worth keeping?”
Maria fell silent in response to Yoosung’s question. But the silence was short-lived. After a moment of silence, Maria smiled and answered as usual.
“Are you tired?”
“Hmm, you must be exhausted because you went through 3 full rounds without any rest...
“Who told you about that?” Before
Yoosung had time to continue, Maria covered his mouth. The images of the man and woman struggling on the bed overlapped.
“Why are you just passing it on? “Three rounds without a break is not the only night in the world... Eup, eup!”
Soon, leaving Maria with a bright red face behind, Yooseong answered in bewilderment. No, I was going to answer.
“I’m glad to see that you seem to have as much energy as usual.”
“Hmm, I was actually going to say I was tired
.”
“Which way?”
Maria asked again with a smile, and Yoosung also responded with a smile. It was the most awkward smile in the world.
“Breaking news! The King of Heroes and the Saint have just started a press conference ahead of the ‘joint attack on the 15th tier top!’
Circus Guild Headquarters. Reporters from all over the world, led by the king of heroes and a saint, gathered there.
“I guess my back hurts a little because I worked too hard last night.”
“...Do you want to get hit?”
As Yoosung mumbled like it was someone else's business, Maria next to him smiled and struck Yoosung's shin. click! Meanwhile, flashes were going off endlessly. Yoosung turned his head to the barrage of questions from reporters.
“What do you think a hero does?” And I asked back.
“......yes?”
“No, you’re talking about me as the king of heroes and all. But what is a hero in the first place? If you line up the ten players who are best at fighting, is that a hero? “War Hero.”
Yoosung asked. Ten Heroes and the King of Heroes. In a sense, it wasn't wrong.
We have already seen quite a few ‘heroes' succumb and fall before their own desires.
“Six seasons have already passed since the world became a game.”
Yoosung said.
“The saint next to me became the first player in season 1 and has been doing the same thing for 6 years. Home Now that I think about it, it's already been 5 years since I've been a hero. I've been protecting this world by doing the same thing over and over again for 5 years... who said that? “A hero’s job is not to protect the world, but to protect humans.”
I inadvertently recalled the words the being had said to Yoosung when he was confronting the Lord of the Apocalypse in the post-apocalyptic tower.
The question that the King of Heroes can never be free from.
‘Humans are creatures not worth saving.'
“What do you want to say?”
One of the reporters asked back. And Yoosung could sense it as soon as he saw him. He was a player, not a reporter. A player police officer belonging to the International Player Police Organization (CIPO) and also a player loyal to ‘Mistress', one of the ten heroes
.
“Oh, it’s no big deal. “From now on, I’m going to risk my life to enter a tier 15 tower that no one has ever entered together with my beloved darling, and I wonder if it’s worth it.”
Yoosung continued speaking calmly.
“Is there anyone who can tell me why the ‘King of Heroes’, other than me and the saint, must strap on his gun and enter the tower alone?”
Murmur.
“Those words...
“Mr. Yoo Yoo-seong!”
Maria raised her voice again in bewilderment, and voices of bewilderment echoed among the people.
“Why would anyone give up and go on strike? “I’m just asking.”
Yoosung shrugged his shoulders and answered as if joking.
“Isn’t protecting this world a hero’s job…!”
“Didn’t you hear what I just said? “The world is protected by environmental activists. What kind of world do heroes protect?”
And Yooseong was dumbfounded by the reporter Hana's question and asked back.
“No, while I’m at it, I’m not saying that I specifically support the environmental movement. They know how to shout loudly in front of the US, but I don't understand why they are so quiet in front of China and India. Home When I think about it, it doesn't seem like I'm really protecting the world even if I do environmental activism. “For someone who calls for environmental protection, what big deal would it be to buy a leather chair worth 10 million won for a disposable product?”
In the silence, Yoosung spoke calmly.
“A hero’s job is to protect the world of humans. But humans are actually a cancer that is eating away at this world, so I wonder if I am playing the role of a hero just for this reason.”
It was right then.
“Just leave it at that, Yoosung.”
Maria answered, interrupting Yoosung, who was repeating something he couldn't understand.
“You asked what a hero’s job is?”
The king of heroes and the saint were there. However, what followed was not a press conference, but a conversation between the two heroes.
“A hero is someone who lives for others.”
“It doesn’t matter what kind of people those other people are?”
“yes that's right.”
Maria smiled brightly.
“It doesn’t matter whether they are worth saving or not... or even if they are not worth saving. To be honest, there are quite a few people in this world who are not ‘worth saving.’”
With a self-mocking smile, not typical of a saint.
And without saying a word, I took something out of my pocket. Click, click! Camera shutters rang, and shocked silence fell again among the reporters.
What was in the saint's hand was a cigarette pack. And then, as usual, he took out a cigarette, put it in his mouth, and covered himself with a soft blanket.
“Our job is simply to change other people’s worlds for the better. Just like firefighters who go to a fire.”
Embers danced along the end of the cigarette, scattering smoke.
What the hero protects is the world of humans. And the hero's job is to change the world of humans for the better.
“That’s what I think of as a hero.” Maria said.
“And the person in front of me, Mr. Yoosung, is closer to a hero than anyone I know.”
“Home, I’m a little embarrassed to say that.”
“I like Yoosung like that.”
Maria said. Likewise, leaving behind the eyes of countless people watching her.
“There are not as many people in the world as you might think who would understand without hesitation when I tell them I smoke. “Isn’t that right?”
Maria smiled mischievously at the people, and Yoosung responded in bewilderment.
“Well, that’s true.”
The story ended there. When the Lord of the End told the truth to Yoo Seong that day, it was a truth that was nothing new to Yoo Seong.
Nevertheless, from that day on, it felt like the curse that followed him like a shadow had finally been lifted.
“They say a hero is someone who works hard for you, whether they are worth saving or not.”
So there was no reason to hesitate any longer.
“Let’s go, saintess.”
“Where?”
“To change the world of humans for the better.”
Yooseong said and the saintess smiled quietly.
“...It’s just as you see it.”
At that time, representatives of the UN Peace Security Council were gathered in one place.
The heads of the five permanent members... the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China. And the 10 non-permanent members as well as many countries cooperating with them. Even the homeland of Yuseong, the King of Heroes, was no exception.
And on the TV they were watching, the king and saint of heroes were depicted.
“Player Kang Yoo-seong, the King of Heroes, is already like a time bomb in terms of ideology, with no way of knowing when he will explode.”
“Saint Maria Jaeger is also with him and can be seen as being contaminated by the Hero King’s radical ideology.”
“If we keep going like this, it won’t be long...
One of the representatives of the permanent members opened his mouth, but the man there interrupted him.
“The Player King of Heroes thinks of himself as the Messiah of humans.”
Likewise, one of the ten heroes was the Tomb Keeper.
In addition, many of the remaining heroes, top players, and even the ‘deep sea powerhouses' that each country secretly cherished filled the room.
It was not the meeting room of the official Peace Security Council in New York, USA.
It was a place for a more secret meeting.
“And he thinks that the world and all of humanity owe him a debt…” “He
will demand that we all repay that debt.”
At those words, leaders from around the world held their breath in silence.
“And now there is support for him. “Saint Maria Jaeger played the role of catalyst.”
“However, there is a different way... One of the representatives of the directorate slurred his words, and the tomb keeper picked up his words.
“I didn’t call you here without any plan.”
“Are you saying there is another way?”
“This will only be possible if the heads of countries here join forces more transnationally than ever before.”
The gravekeeper smiled meaningfully and answered.
“Unless we and this world become one and join forces, we will never be able to win against the “enemy of the world.”
“Our job is to maintain peace and order in the world. “Isn’t that right?” The gravekeeper spoke and a brief silence fell. Peace and order in the world. That's why the ‘United Nations' exists, and furthermore, as the core organ and head of the UN, their ‘Peace Security Council' exists.
[Entering the 15th tier Future Tower...]