Chapter 104
Chapter 104: Rumor (4)
Hero Academy offers a variety of welfare facilities for its students.
In addition to the training center equipped with the latest machines, there’s a library filled with rare high-quality books, and a daycare where children can be left from morning until evening—its facilities rival those of any large guild.
Among them, the most favored space by the students is undoubtedly the dining hall.
The reason is simple.
It’s rumored that the food at Hero Academy is exceptionally delicious.
“I heard the chef here used to work at the Blue House.”
“Really?”
“They say his cooking skills are absolutely amazing.”
Yoo Ji-han’s party was on their way to the Hero Academy dining hall for the first time.
Kim Si-hu, who had heard the rumors, looked quite excited.
“Chilla, don’t touch other people’s food.”
“Chirp.”
Chilla was with Min Yu-ri.
Thanks to some arrangements, Chilla was allowed inside the dining hall.
They even said they would prepare special food just for Chilla if needed.
Thanks to that, Yoo Ji-han’s party felt that Hero Academy truly paid attention to even the small details.
“Chili shrimp, sweet and sour pork, mantou… Looks like today’s menu is Chinese cuisine.”
“Sounds delicious.”
They walked in while looking at the menu hanging at the entrance of the dining hall.
The aroma of spices wafting through the air was already stimulating everyone’s nose.
It was an enticing scent that naturally made saliva pool at the corners of their mouths.
“Hmm?”
Yoo Ji-han spotted a familiar face right at the front of the queue.
It was another party that had also passed the Hero Academy entrance exam with him.
They seemed to have come to eat as well.
“Hello there!”
Yoo Ji-han approached them with a smile to greet them.
Aside from Jung Young-wook’s party and Go Mina’s party, Yoo Ji-han’s party hadn’t really spoken properly with any of their fellow students at Hero Academy.
Since they would likely be seeing their peers regularly for almost a year, having a light conversation wouldn’t be too bad.
Having recently watched the feedback video, he figured they would recognize each other.
“…”
“Uh… yeah.”
But the heroes who received his greeting paused when they noticed Yoo Ji-han.
They replied somewhat absentmindedly while giving a slight nod.
Their faces, which had been smiling just moments ago, suddenly turned stiff.
“Looks like you’re here for a meal.”
“Well, would we be here otherwise?”
“…That’s true.”
“Sorry, but we need to get our food now.”
It was a rather cold response.
In that instant, Yoo Ji-han sensed a strange atmosphere from them.
“Enjoy your meal.”
After quickly wrapping up the brief exchange, he turned to look at the long queue ahead of him.
‘What’s going on?’
Despite saying they needed to get food, it seemed they would have to wait another five minutes.
After returning to his party with a puzzled expression,
Min Yu-ri, who had been observing the situation, quietly remarked.
“Their tone was a bit prickly, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah, I wonder if they’re having a bad day.”
“Weren’t they just laughing a moment ago?”
“…”
Yoo Ji-han shrugged, as if to say he didn’t know either.
Deciding to focus on eating, they waited patiently for their turn and finally collected a plate of appetizing food.
They then moved to a vacant seat with their party members and sat down.
“Here you go.”
“Chirp!”
Min Yu-ri handed Chilla the food that had been given separately.
It was a large meatball, and the way Chilla responded energetically showed he was quite pleased.
‘Delicious.’
The spicy red seasonings were a strong temptation for the tongue.
The meals on their trays tasted just like they would from a professional Chinese restaurant.
As they enjoyed their food, Go Mina’s party, holding the same kind of tray, approached them.
“Ji-han!”
“Oh, Mina.”
“Can we sit here?”
“Of course.”
Go Mina’s party sat facing Yoo Ji-han’s party.
“This food is really tasty!”
“We came here because we heard about it. It’s delicious for real.”
“It used to be such a hassle deciding what to eat, but I’m glad I don’t have to worry about that when I’m here.”
Go Mina’s party mentioned they had already visited this dining hall several times.
Since Go Mina was known to have a somewhat picky palate, her decision to return often was a seal of approval for the food.
“Is the mapo tofu also good?”
“Yeah, it’s worth eating.”
“Oh, I should have gotten that too…”
Yoo Ji-han’s party continued to chat with Go Mina’s party.
The topics were rather mundane.
It felt like the kind of conversation that typical office workers would share, rather than heroes.
However, amidst the banter,
Go Mina, who had finished about half of her meal, cautiously spoke up.
“Um, Ji-han.”
“What’s up?”
“There’s been a strange rumor circulating among the new students lately.”
“A rumor?”
“…”
After hesitating for a moment, she opened her mouth again.
“It’s about you, Ji-han…”
“About me?”
“It’s said that your party attacked another party for no reason in the past.”
“Pardon?”
The members of Yoo Ji-han’s party frowned at this surprising claim.
It was news to them.
‘No way?’
In that moment, a name suddenly flashed through Yoo Ji-han’s mind.
“Was the party that was attacked… the Moon Kyung-jin party?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Gah…!”
Kim Si-hu’s expression distorted in shock as he heard the story.
He abruptly dropped his chopsticks with a clatter and exclaimed.
“That’s the opposite! That jerk Moon Kyung-jin insisted on claiming his territory and attacked us first!”
“Really? No wonder this feels so strange.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he was the one spreading the rumor. When the Hero Department was mediating, he only blamed us! How can someone be this shameless?”
Kim Si-hu was fuming.
He began to look around intensely, as if searching for Moon Kyung-jin’s face in the dining hall.
‘Was this the reason for that rumor?’
Yoo Ji-han thought.
The party he had greeted earlier seemed to have reacted coldly because of this.
He figured other new students would likely show similar attitudes toward Yoo Ji-han’s party too.
‘So that’s why they seemed a bit reserved.’
When they briefly crossed paths, they seemed to ignore Yoo Ji-han, but Moon Kyung-jin still harbored hostility toward him.
Whereas before he attacked physically, now it seemed he was using public opinion as ammunition.
The intentions behind this were somewhat predictable.
It could either be to tarnish the reputation of Yoo Ji-han’s party at Hero Academy or to ostracize them.
“Are you just going to sit still?”
“For now, yes.”
After all, a rumor is just a rumor.
He didn’t intend to take any immediate actions.
‘How childish.’
Yoo Ji-han chuckled to himself.
No matter how he thought about it, these were childish tactics that would only work on younger students.
Naturally, memories of Moon Kyung-jin’s past school life came to mind.
*
“Kyung-jin, is that really true?”
“It is true!”
“No way, that’s ridiculous!”
Inside a franchise café within the Hero Academy building,
Moon Kyung-jin was chatting with other party members who were also fellow students.
“Ha ha! So what happened next?”
“I was swinging the giant monster by its neck like this…”
During the lively banter, laughter never ceased.
Since passing into Hero Academy, he had actively engaged with various peers and made himself known.
As a hero from the Knife Guild, Moon Kyung-jin managed to establish himself as a friendly and likable figure.
“Ouch…”
“Are you okay?”
“Ugh, there’s a bit of pain.”
Moon Kyung-jin grimaced as he rubbed his left leg.
It was a prosthetic leg powered by magic, not a real one.
Everyone in his group knew that his leg was fake.
“Just a moment.”
Moon Kyung-jin pulled a white pill from his pocket and swallowed it.
“What’s that?”
“A potent painkiller. Once you take it, you won’t feel any pain for several hours.”
“Wow, that sounds tough.”
“I hear there’s a culprit among our peers?”
“Was it Yoo Ji-han’s party?”
“Yeah, I didn’t expect them to get into Hero Academy…”
Moon Kyung-jin bit his lower lip, pretending to look upset.
The others exchanged sympathetic looks.
“I can’t believe Hero Academy accepted criminals.”
“That criminal has stolen opportunities from the other heroes.”
“Thinking about the friends we know who got rejected from here is disheartening.”
“What if we raised a protest as fellow students?”
The topic of conversation shifted to punishment for Yoo Ji-han’s party that had attacked Moon Kyung-jin’s group.
The atmosphere leaned towards needing to enact appropriate consequences.
They were framing Yoo Ji-han’s party as ruthless criminals.
“But that feedback video made them look competent…”
It was footage of Yoo Ji-han’s party taking down a Rank 3 Monster, the Giant Monster.
For anyone watching, it was hard to deny their skills based on what they had seen.
At that moment, Moon Kyung-jin spoke up.
“That’s edited.”
“Huh?”
“If you’ve seen the video, you’d notice how it suddenly cuts. What that means is they edited out the parts where they messed up, so they only show the best moments.”
“No wonder! I wondered how they fought so well.”
“How petty can you be to go to such lengths?”
“We should find ourselves a good editor too!”
“Ha ha ha!”
The conversation continued as they mocked Yoo Ji-han’s party.
They jokingly asked each other to introduce any good video editors they knew.
‘Just as planned.’
The pill he had taken earlier was just a vitamin.
But everyone in the vehicle was lambasting Yoo Ji-han’s party as if it were pain medication.
Moon Kyung-jin, who had successfully directed the conversation to his liking, continued to feign pain.
*
Inside a black van.
Sitting on the back seat, Jin Seok-woo was being driven by his manager to their next schedule.
“Hmm…”
With wireless earbuds in his ears, Jin Seok-woo held his mobile phone.
The screen displayed a feedback video of Yoo Ji-han’s party.
Unlike the edited video replayed during Hero Academy training, this was the original, unedited version he received via email.
‘It keeps bothering me.’
Yoo Ji-han’s party, who didn’t retreat even after facing the Barbarian.
They chose to confront the intruders rather than run away, embodying the heroic image people commonly think of.
‘Hmm…’
Jin Seok-woo kept scrubbing through the timeline, watching the footage of Yoo Ji-han’s party.
Despite having watched the video several times, he couldn’t tear his eyes away.
‘It seems like it would be even better if I got involved.’
This video, even if viewers weren’t heroes…
It was thrilling enough to captivate ordinary people.
It had a market value that transcended a simple training material.
Tap tap tap.
Jin Seok-woo tapped on the seat with one finger.
Around five minutes later,
He switched from one hand holding the phone to two hands.
‘…Let me drop him a line.’
Among the recently emerging businesses related to heroes was creating movies showcasing their heroic exploits.
Jin Seok-woo intended to introduce Yoo Ji-han’s party to an acquaintance in that industry.
