Saved a Heroine From the Brink of Death

[ Side story 1. Original main character Lee Soo-hyuk ]

[ Side story 1. Original main character Lee Soo-hyuk ]

Lee Soo-hyuk, who had an eventful second year, graduated after living a smooth academy life following ‘that incident’.

Because he graduated at the top of his class, he received many love calls from guilds, but since Lee Soo-hyuk had already signed a contract with Ares during his cadet days, he had no choice but to join Ares.

Some guilds tried to take Lee Soo-hyuk even at the risk of losing money, but they kicked him out as soon as they saw the heinous penalty amount written on the contract.

Among them, there were several guilds that were ranked higher than Ares Guild, so Lee Soo-hyuk expressed his regret.

Anyway, Lee Soo-hyuk, who joined the Ares Guild and acquired the qualification of a hero, made a successful debut. Starting as a beginner hero, he achieved crazy results and earned the qualification of a mid-level hero in two years, and before the period called ‘Gate Runaway’, he had accumulated enough achievements to reach the level of a high-level hero. All of this was possible because of the full support of the Ares Guild.

If we just talk like this, it would seem that Lee Soo-hyuk has been living a smooth life.

However, Lee Soo-hyuk has been living in hell since graduating from the academy.

Aside from the three hours of sleep a day and the essential activities that a living being must do, all remaining time is ‘within the gate.’ Whether it was 12 hours or 20 hours, Lee Soo-hyuk went around the gate.

Ares Guild manipulated him under the pretext of ‘Lee Soo-hyeok’. And all the profits they made from him were returned to the guild. Only the monthly salary paid by Ares Guild was accumulated in Lee Soo-hyeok’s bank account.

Clearly, he was growing steadily and was being spotlighted by the world as a ‘young hero leading the next generation’, but his spirit was dying.

‘Fuck… I shouldn’t have made that contract back then…!’

There was no such thing as personal time.

Weekend? I can’t remember how many years ago I last experienced something like that. I don’t even have time to check the balance in my bank account.

Ares Guild controlled himself by mentioning the ‘contract’. He had reached the level of a high-level hero with the power of the Half-Dragon and had thought about wiping out Ares Guild with the power he had accumulated, but Ares Guild was a large guild. Not only were there high-level heroes, but there were also two top-level heroes. Lee Soo-hyuk had no choice but to control his anger.

He resented his academy days.

I made a mistake in signing the contract.

Signing the contract was the beginning of everything.

I thought the contract terms were good, but they weren’t.

What Lee Soo-hyuk signed was a modern-day slave sales contract.

-Sell slave Lee Su-hyeok to the Ares Guild.

Lee Soo-hyuk sold himself to the Ares Guild in exchange for a few elixirs and a deposit, and thus became a slave of the Ares Guild.

“Hero Lee Soo-hyuk. Here is today’s gate schedule. There are two A-class gates and seven B-class gates in Yangyang-gun, so you just need to clean them up today. In the morning, attack five B-class gates, in the afternoon, attack one A-class gate and the rest of the B-class gates, and at night, attack the remaining A-class gate. The detailed schedule is in the file I sent you, so you can refer to it.”

“… If we clear the second A-class gate, it will be morning, right?”

“Oh, are you curious about tomorrow’s schedule?”

“No, that’s not it. If you go around the gate until morning, when will you sleep?”

Lee Soo-hyuk complained to his manager as if he was at a loss. He couldn’t say anything because it was the guild master who had personally assigned it to him.

“Can’t you just sleep in between going through the B-class gate? There’s no chance that a high-class hero will get hurt in the B-class gate.”

“… … Are you kidding me?”

“I’m serious.”

“Fuck.”

Lee Soo-hyuk let out a sigh.

What’s the point of getting the world’s attention and having money pile up in your bank account? What’s the point of growing up by eating a lot of high-end elixirs? You’re being treated worse than livestock…

I reported it to the Heroes’ Human Rights Commission, but it was rejected. I don’t know if it’s because of the power of the Ares Guild or what. One thing is certain… If you’re caught by those crazy guys, you’re caught in the wrong hands.

“Oh, by the way, SJ Investment CEO Han Seong-jin is visiting the guild this Friday. He is a major investor in our guild.”

“But why are you telling me that?”

“Because Representative Han said he wanted to meet Hero Lee Soo-hyeok, I cleared Hero’s schedule.”

“By the way, is that SJ? That investment firm with headquarters in the US.”

“Yes, that’s SJ. SJ Investment.”

Lee Soo-hyuk had bad memories of SJ. Didn’t the stocks he invested in during his academy days go down because of those guys? It was a long time ago, but it’s still a painful memory when he thinks about it.

“… Let’s check.”

But Lee Soo-hyuk is an adult.

You can’t let your personal feelings get in the way of your work.

He cooled his head and headed to the gate to proceed with today’s schedule.

‘I’ll have to hurry up and finish this quickly and sleep inside the gate.’

I don’t know how the guild calculated their attack speed, but if they attack the gate faster than that, they’ll have some extra time. And unless they leave the gate, there’s no way for the guild to know. Lee Soo-hyuk smiled and headed for the gate.

That day, Lee Soo-hyuk was able to sleep for about 20 minutes.

***

“…I am Lee Su-hyeok, a high-ranking hero belonging to the Ares Guild.”

“I’m Han Seong-jin. It’s an honor to meet the poster boy of the Ares Guild.”

Han Seong-jin shook Lee Soo-hyuk’s hand with a friendly smile.

“But… I think I’ve seen your face a few times. Have we met before somewhere?”

Lee Soo-hyuk asked while looking at Han Seong-jin’s face.

“Hmm… I might have seen Hero Lee Soo-hyuk when he was a student at the academy. I visited there a few times on business.”

“Oh… is that so?”

Han Sung-jin erased several memories from the past through the ‘Imprint of Subordination’. These were mainly things that could have caused him to harbor ‘malice’ towards himself. Now, his power has been strengthened and the imprint has been removed, but the effects have not disappeared.

I chatted with Lee Soo-hyuk about this and that. After about ten minutes of this random conversation, I brought up the main topic.

“Your contract with the Ares Guild will end in a year?”

“Oh, yes. That’s right.”

Lee Soo-hyuk nodded.

“To be honest, I’m also invested in Ares Guild, but I don’t think Ares Guild is a very good place for heroes. And it seems like they’re exploiting the hero Lee Soo-hyuk in particular.”

“That’s true… I guess.”

Lee Soo-hyuk looked around and nodded.

I was too busy to check on the treatment of other guild members, but when I looked at myself, I saw that there was no guild as evil as this one. It was to the point where I wondered if the guild master had a grudge against me.

“I don’t think it makes sense that Hero Lee Soo-hyuk is being treated like this. It’s beyond my understanding that they’re keeping Hero Lee Soo-hyuk tied up with just a few top-tier elixirs and a small salary.”

Lee Soo-hyuk nodded to Han Seong-jin’s words. Then he asked Han Seong-jin.

“What is the intention behind saying such things? It doesn’t seem like you are simply trying to disparage the Ares Guild.”

“Let’s skip the introduction and get to the point. There is a guild that I am heavily investing in. How about you join there when your contract period ends?”

“Another guild? May I ask the name of the guild?”

“This is Seven Star.”

“Seven Stars… .”

It has been slowly gaining ground since before the gate explosion and has entered the top 10 guilds, and is now the best guild in Korea. It is also the kind of guild that any hero would aspire to join.

“Do you really want me in Seven Star?” “Of course. Mr. Lee Soo-hyuk needs to look at his own value more objectively. There is no guild in the world that would underestimate the talent of a hero in his 20s who can acquire a high-level hero. It is still a bit lacking compared to some foreign guilds, but… At least in the ‘financial’ aspect, we will make sure that you do not experience any inconvenience.”

Lee Soo-hyuk nodded. If SJ, a global investment firm, is behind you, there will certainly be no inconvenience in terms of money. Since it is something that the head of the company promised, there will be no shortage of money, and most things can be handled with money.

“Would you like to see the contract?”

“…yes.”

Han Seong-jin shoved the contract toward Lee Su-hyeok.

Lee Soo-hyuk looked over the contract. He had intended to make a decision after reading the contract. Perhaps because he was tired, he couldn’t read the words very well.

Lee Soo-hyuk glanced over the contract to make sure there were no toxic clauses. Then he took his eyes off the contract.

‘Han Seong-jin… I can trust you.’

I don’t know why, but that thought occurred to me.

I think this person is trustworthy.

This was the effect of a mental magic that Han Seong-jin had requested from ‘Madogeonga’, but Lee Soo-hyuk had no way of knowing about it. It was a magic that even worked on Lee Soo-hyuk, who was a high-level hero with excellent resistance to magic.

The effect is that you come to have ‘trust’ towards the other person. It’s temporary, but… that’s enough.

“I will…sign. Thank you for giving me this great opportunity.”

“Haha. What is it?”

Lee Soo-hyuk, who trusted Han Seong-jin, signed the contract without even looking at it.

The contract period is 15 years.

That was the number of years Lee Soo-hyuk lived in hell.

‘You have to live hard for the world.’

The price for putting Cynthia in danger during her Academy days was still being paid.