Chapter 3: The Greatest Hero Currently in Existence

“Yes, this is Hyun Heero. How can I help you?”

Heero smiled brightly and snapped his fingers. Instantly, the coffee that had been spilled all over the floor vanished.

Jeongeun couldn’t help but admire him. Heero was a combat hunter who manipulated water. He had probably used his powers to absorb just enough moisture to clean the contaminated area. The more powerful the ability, the harder it is to control delicately, yet Heero did it effortlessly while smiling.

Truly, the greatest hero currently in existence, Heero…

Jeongeun bit his lip, afraid he might drool.

“W-why is Hunter Hyun Heero here…?”

Minseong stuttered unexpectedly. He stood up sharply like a soldier on alert, looking up at Hyun-hee with focused eyes.

Could it be that Son Minseong is also a ‘Heero-in’? As Jeongeun thought of the fandom name, he looked at Minseong with a sense of camaraderie, and Heero, with a pure smile, asked, “I received a report that the deer wall was damaged. Which one of you is Gwiho?”

“Oh, Gwiho is out for a quick meal. I’m Son Minseong, a level 9 public hunter from the Hunter Management Bureau, guarding the deer field’s boundary wall!”

Minseong quickly introduced himself.

“Hello, Minseong. Then who is this…?”

Heero asked, looking at Jeongeun. At that moment, Jeongeun, who had been desperately clenching his jaw, couldn’t help but let his mouth drop open.

Heero is looking at me right now…! He’s asking who I am!

Jeongeun almost forgot that he had been pretending not to speak for a year and was about to introduce himself honestly.

I’m Jin Jeongeun, Heero. I used to be ranked number one among hunters in the country; I wonder if you remember me. The one who always wore a mouthpiece, the Word Sorcerer who was bullied by other hunters. Could you please just call my name once without the surname? Please.

However, before his voice could come out, Minseong thankfully introduced him instead.

“Oh, you don’t need to pay attention to this guy. He’s just a homeless person loitering around here. Gwiho sometimes gives him food.”

Am I some stray cat? Jeongeun silently shed tears of blood in his mind and subtly shook his head. I’m not a homeless person, Heero…

“Hmm, is that so? Then could you guide me to the damaged deer wall, Minseong?”

Heero asked with a kind smile. Minseong immediately declared he would lead the way, grabbing the cart key and heading out. With him at the front, Heero and the first team of the training guild disappeared in a rush.

Left alone in the office, Jeongeun felt dizzy and collapsed onto the folding bed.

‘The halo was shining…’

Heero, whom he hadn’t seen in a year, looked even more handsome. It was on a completely different level compared to seeing him on TV. Jeongeun bit his lip, overwhelmed with emotion, and pressed his palm against his eyes.

‘So kind and gentle. Truly, Heero.’

Jeongeun turned his gaze to the now spotless office floor. The floor that Heero had cleaned with his powers looked even cleaner than before the coffee spill.

Jeongeun sniffled and stared blankly at the floor. If only I had my phone, I would have taken several pictures of that floor. Ever since crawling out of the grave, he had no way to prove his identity and no money, so living without a phone was something he regretted immensely now.

‘No, if I had a phone, I would have taken a selfie with Heero the moment I saw him.’

It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and he had missed it. Jeongeun squeezed his eyes shut and pounded the pillow on the folding bed with his fist.

However, an hour later, Heero returned to the office.

“First, our team’s magician will set up a temporary shield on the wall, but it seems we’ll need to reinforce the wall entirely. I’ll relay this to the management bureau as the association’s opinion.”

Heero said.

Jeongeun, who had finally gotten up and was standing in the corner of the office, looked at Heero with as calm an expression as he could muster.

‘Heero working, Heero being serious… so cool.’

Seeing his serious demeanor without a hint of a smile was moving, and Jeongeun’s heart raced.

“It will take a few hours, and since it’s cramped here with all our team members, I’ll wait nearby. Thank you for guiding us. If Minseong hadn’t patrolled thoroughly and reported early, the wall might have collapsed.”

Heero extended his hand to Minseong. Minseong firmly shook his hand, expressing humility.

“Not at all. It’s an honor to contribute to South Korea!”

Minseong laughed heartily, pretending to be friendly. It seemed he was lying about being the first to notice the wall’s condition.

Jeongeun, who hadn’t intended to make his name known, felt a pang of regret at having his credit taken away at this moment.

‘If I had said I did it, I could have shaken hands with Heero too…’

Just as Jeongeun clenched his fist and silently shed tears of blood inside, Heero asked again.

“By the way, is that person going to stay here?”

Heero glanced at Jeongeun.

Thump. Jeongeun felt as if his heart might stop and barely managed to inhale.

“Ah, um, yeah? Hey, are you still hanging around here? Get out, quickly! This is a sacred government office for wall guardians! Get out, now!”

Minseong hurriedly shoved Jeongeun out. It felt like he was chasing away a stray dog. Jeongeun silently bowed to Heero and left the office.

‘Did I greet him properly just now? I hope I didn’t look weird. I really hit the jackpot today…’

As he felt pleased internally, he heard the door close behind him and someone following him out.

“Excuse me.”

It was Heero.

Jeongeun inhaled sharply again and slowly turned around. Heero, shining like a pure swan in the sunlight, was looking at him with his hands stuffed into the pockets of his black hunter coat.

“Why are you just standing here?”

Heero asked with a fresh smile.

“You’re Jin Jeongeun, right?”

Uh… wait a moment. Yes…?

Hyun-hee took Jeongeun in his car. Sitting in the shiny, sleek white SUV passenger seat, Jeongeun was tense, staring straight ahead.

“It really is you, Jeongeun. Do you know how surprised I was? I was really debating whether to ask or not.”

Heero laughed like a nightingale. Jeongeun was sweating profusely, pressing his lips together tightly.

“Why aren’t you saying anything? Did I upset you by recognizing you?”

“Ah, no, no…!”

Jeongeun’s voice came out low and suddenly. He was too moved to even process hearing his own voice after a year, as Heero flashed a captivating smile.

“Wow, it’s Jeongeun’s voice.”

‘Is this real…? I wouldn’t mind dying right now.’

Jeongeun swallowed hard and glanced at Heero. He blinked his eyes, filled with anticipation, as if waiting for him to say something. Feeling pressured to say anything, Jeongeun opened his mouth again.

“I, um… how did you know it was me?”

After asking, he genuinely became curious. Jeongeun always wore a mouthpiece except when fighting. With a design that covered everything below his eyes and his bangs always long, very few people knew what he looked like. Perhaps only the guild leader, Semi, and the Hunter Association president would know. They were the ones who had actively prevented his face from being known outside.

The team members he had gone dungeon raiding with also had little chance of knowing what he looked like. They had always tried not to look at his face… and had received ‘post-processing’ from Semi.

But how did Heero recognize him? He had entered the same dungeon as him once, but that was eight years ago.

“Hmm? Why wouldn’t you know? Jeongeun, your eye color is purple. There’s no way I wouldn’t recognize you.”

Jeongeun absentmindedly touched around his eyes. His eyes, which had turned a vivid purple after awakening, were indeed quite striking, but… he was sure that none of the other hunters would know his eye color. They only ever saw the mouthpiece.

“Th-thank you…”

“Hmm? What are you thanking me for? Ahaha.”

“Just, just for everything…”

Did I say something too foolish? Jeongeun shut his mouth and felt his face heat up. But what could he do? He was genuinely thankful for everything. Heero recognized him just by looking at his eyes. His observational skills were incredible…

“I thought about pretending not to know since it seemed like you wanted to hide your identity, but I couldn’t help but be a bit greedy.”

Heero leaned toward the steering wheel and looked up at Jeongeun. The sight was so shockingly cute that Jeongeun bit his lip, and Heero said, “Would you like to join our team?”

“Y-yes…?”

His voice cracked comically. Jeongeun stared at Heero with wide eyes as he added, “I want to scout you for the first team of the Sooryun guild.”

My favorite is trying to scout me!

However, Jeongeun couldn’t fully rejoice at the fact. With a heavy heart, he shook his head.

“I can’t fight like I used to anymore.”

Although the magic damage rate had decreased significantly, using spells was still difficult. His skill levels were still marked with question marks, and he was under a status effect debuff.

But Heero calmly replied as if he had already anticipated this.

“I can fix that.”

He added, “If you want, I can bring you back to life.”

Notes:

Heero's fandom is called 희로인 (Heero-in).

• It mixes 희로 (Heero) with the suffix "인 (in)," which means "person" or "member," so it basically means "Heero’s people" or "his fandom members."
• Also, 희로인 sounds almost exactly like the English word "heroin," which makes it a catchy pun.
• The name kind of suggests that fans are "addicted" to Heero — he’s so charismatic and cool that people just can’t get enough of him!