The Second Salvation Myth of a Retired Regressed Hero

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Doyun headed to the position-based class with Sophie. From today, he would be attending the same unarmed combat class as her.

“Oh, it’s Han Doyun.”
“Huh? Why is he here? Wasn’t he in the javelin class?”

Murmurs arose around Doyun – an expected reaction. Doyun simply kept walking forward.

The general perception of Doyun had changed significantly after the tournament.

As the two walked side-by-side, the students muttered:

“I heard he’s joining our class. Does that mean we’ll have both the top ranker and runner-up together?”
“And that top ranker isn’t just any – I saw his match, he was truly no joke.”

Barring the jealousy of a small portion among the top tiers, most welcomed Doyun’s growth and rise with open arms.

Among the myriad races gathered at the Cradle, many students keenly felt the wall of talent and became dejected.

To them, Doyun – an Earthling who had even overcome mana deficiency to claim victory through effort – appeared as an idol, a beacon of hope.

Of course, Sophie had undoubtedly influenced this atmosphere by mobilizing her subordinates.

“That already dominant Sophie faction has now absorbed the top two rankers.”
“No, it’s more like Han Doyun absorbed Sophie’s faction. Can’t you see it? They’re like husband and wife.”

Moreover, by being the first to welcome Doyun after his match, Sophie had firmly cemented her position as Doyun’s woman before everyone.

With Torn gone, no one at the Cradle doubted the relationship between Doyun and Sophie anymore.

While there were no shortage of female admirers harboring crushes on Doyun, none dared encroach upon Sophie’s territory. In terms of ability and influence, Sophie surpassed any other woman at the Cradle.

And among the students, misconceptions about Earthlings only continued to pile up.

“So Han Doyun is from some dimension called Earth? What kind of place breeds such monsters?”
“What do you expect, everywhere humans live is the same. It’s a manaless world, after all.”
“Are you really that dense? You didn’t see him smash steel plates during the mana test? If he’s that strong without mana, it must be a brutal dog-eat-dog world.”
“Or it could just be a world of natural superhumans.”
“Maybe Han Doyun is just exceptionally strong? I heard he was a sword saint on Earth.”
“…A sword saint? What’s that supposed to mean?”

The rumors kept growing more distorted like a rolling snowball.

Unlike the instructors who had observed the students for ages, the students lacked any background knowledge about the dimension of Earth.

While there were a few other Earthlings in this batch besides Doyun, they were such an insignificant minority lacking any notable achievements that hardly any students knew they were Earthlings. To the naturally gifted races, Earthlings were no different from ordinary humans of other dimensions – mere weaklings.

Of course, with his innate senses, Doyun heard all these mutterings. But he deliberately ignored them.

While his face flushed slightly, there was nothing he could do about it.

If Sophie mobilized her faction, she could suppress the rumors. But she had no intention of doing so, instead enjoying this flow that raised Doyun’s reputation.

More than anything, she too harbored the misconception that Earth was a dimension of superhumans.

Soon, the two arrived at the training hall for the unarmed combat class.

“Welcome, welcome, Student Han Doyun! A sincere welcome! Huahahahaha!”

The unarmed combat instructor greeted Doyun with a wide, ear-to-ear grin.

The instructors of other classes envied the unarmed combat instructor. While usually suffering from a dearth of talent, this batch had both the top ranker and runner-up attending his class.

More importantly, the top ranker was none other than the boss monster killer.

‘Han Doyun. He is undoubtedly the boss monster killer.’

The previous boss monster killers were the martial artist Hwangbojun and the spirit magician Salamander – respectively, the current Lion King’s master and father.

The boss monster killers were the strongest warriors since the era of the great heroes and the ones who nurtured the strongest warriors. In other words, they were the pillars upholding the alliance.

And after decades, another boss monster killer had revealed himself.

The major guilds were feverishly eager, while the medium and minor guilds worried a war might even break out – it wasn’t an exaggeration, as the boss monster killer possessed that level of value.

However, the unique nature of talent as a resource meant it couldn’t be acquired through force alone, which the guilds understood.

Rather than a war of blades and blood, they prepared for a war of coins – a cutthroat competition over contract terms to recruit Han Doyun.

‘And I must stay vigilant amidst all this.’

The unarmed combat instructor steeled himself in many ways.

He was one of the instructors sponsored by the major World Tree Guild, a top candidate to recruit Doyun.

He vowed to ensure Doyun signed a contract with the World Tree and secured the best possible terms.

Of course, he would prioritize respecting Doyun’s wishes, simply serving as an impartial mediator between the guild and talent.

But not everything would be smooth sailing.

‘…It’s about to get really troublesome.’

The recent atmosphere at the Cradle had been unsettling, a tension palpable among the major guilds’ instructors as the talent recruitment war heated up.

As a result, he had already been racking his brains over various issues.

“Ahem, ahem!”
“…Here again, are we?”

The old saying ‘even a tiger comes when called’ rang true, as the unarmed combat instructor sensed an unwelcome presence behind him.

The swordsmanship and javelin instructors, who kept stubbornly showing up.

As if aware of their own shamelessness, they averted the unarmed combat instructor’s gaze and fidgeted awkwardly.

“Um… We’d like to speak with Student Doyun for a bit…”
“Student Doyun has already declined. You heard it directly from him.”
“But things could be different now…”
“Haah…”

The unarmed combat instructor sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

While disrespectful towards his senior instructors, they remained silent apart from some awkward coughing, aware of their shameless behavior themselves.

These two simply couldn’t let go of their infatuation with the gem that was Han Doyun, constantly pestering him.

Asking around the other class, they had even been ending lessons 5 minutes early these days. It was a pathetic sight.

“Please leave.”
“Don’t be like that… You have both the top ranker and runner-up in your class. Just make a small concession, won’t you?”
“We don’t care about the other students! Just let us talk to Student Han Doyun for a bit, a little bit!”
“Rrrgghh…!”

The same old spiel. The unarmed combat instructor couldn’t help feeling his head burn just from hearing those words.

“The audacity to ask for concessions…! The unarmed combat class has constantly suffered from a talent drought! And now that we’ve finally hit the jackpot just this once, you want concessions!? How can you even say such things without batting an eye! You’re really going too far!”

“Ah, no, having both the top ranker and runner-up is over the line, my friend! Especially with Student Han Doyun there!”

The swordsmanship instructor rubbed his forehead, muttering dejectedly.

“Haah… The royal bastards kicked up a huge fuss about information security protocols and whatnot when gathering all the guild masters, but they’re utterly useless…”

“…In this case, we must simply admit the talent hunter’s capability.”

Doyun’s eyes sharpened, his keen senses picking up every word of their conversation.

While Sophie hadn’t caught the details amidst the commotion, she asked Doyun about it.

“Did something happen?”

“Yes. Quite an interesting development.”

“Eh? You can hear them from this distance?”

‘Woah… I have pretty good hearing too, but Earthlings are really something else…’ she thought.

Enhancing his hearing with mana, Doyun carefully listened to their discussion.

“But on what grounds did that man come here? Aren’t the royal bastards going to stop him?”
“He’ll just fabricate some grounds.”
“Fabricate them? What grounds could a hero from a neighboring nation possibly have to interfere with another country’s Cradle?”

Two syllables pierced Doyun’s ears.

‘Hero.’

It seemed he would soon encounter these so-called ‘heroes’ for the first time.