I Became the Academy’s Kibitz Villain

Chapter 294: Enlightenment From Patriotism (2)

In martial arts novels, there was something called enlightenment.

This enlightenment could be obtained from various things, and this ‘various things’ was really quite diverse.

One might gain enlightenment from a beggar met on the street, from the principles of nature, or through the relationship between men and women.

And here, there was a man who had gained enlightenment as an S-class ability user.

“Is that a new ability?”

“Yes. It’s the first time showing it to others.”

Taejo pointed to the steel hands attached all over his body.

“With multitasking, I can move up to four of them freely.”

As soon as Taejo finished speaking, the four hands, excluding his original ones, started moving freely.

Seeing those movements, which were exactly like a real person moving, I couldn’t help but be impressed by Taejo’s newly developed ability.

“Excellent. You’ve gotten stronger.”

“Even so… But, what about your girlfriend’s energy?”

“Oh. I scolded her a bit yesterday.”

Yumir silently lowered her head.

To be precise, she was leaning against my shoulder, sleeping soundly, worn out by fatigue.

Although transformed, there wasn’t a single red mark or wound on her body, but it was inevitable that she was dozing off in the morning due to physical fatigue.

Last night, I had given her a long sermon about discussing patriotism in the first-class train, and Yumir promised never to talk about it again.

“Maybe she was feeling a bit weak recently, or she just wanted a new stimulus. I might have gone a bit overboard in scolding her.”

“Violence is…”

“I just lightly tapped her with a stick.”

“Ah.”

Perhaps because he was a man, Taejo understood immediately.

“It could have been a big problem. I almost made a huge mistake by inviting her.”

“When I saw them this morning, it seemed like they had all visited heaven.”

“Yes. I worked hard to ‘massage’ the four of them. Thanks to that, my ability control has become more refined.”

“A massage?”

“A massage. Loosening muscles, pressing firmly, and relieving tension.”

Seeing the four steel hands moving slickly on Taejo’s body again, I was convinced he was indeed S-class.

Taejo the Fingering Master.

With six hands, the possible applications of these hands would be endless.

He could wield weapons in each hand and fight like a real Asura.

If he fired guns with each hand, six bullets would fly simultaneously.

He could control the four hands remotely using wires and make them move freely.

Most importantly, the ‘four’ here referred to hands that could move independently, and if he used all hands the same way, the number would reach dozens.

“Mr. Hyun Chul-soo. I have a concern.”

“What is it?”

“I want to officially reveal this later.”

“Hmm….”

Having already shown me his ability to manipulate metal, Taejo had no intention of hiding that he was Taejo.

“Is the concern perhaps about how to present the ‘trigger’ for this enlightenment?”

“Yes.”

Taejo’s eyes started to sparkle.

As I grasped his concern immediately, he looked at me with hopeful eyes, wondering if I had the answer.

“I think people might find it laughable if I say I developed this ability out of patriotism.”

Well.

In this world, the omnipotent patriotism theory worked quite well, so would people find it laughable if he said he developed his ability out of patriotism?

There might be something like that written on the Hero Wiki.

“Mr. Kim Tae-sik. I understand your concern, but there’s one clear thing.”

“What is it?”

“Developing an ability out of patriotism, and needing an ability for patriotism, is indeed the true progress of an ability.”

I had already confirmed two cases.

One was a woman who learned teleportation with the sole purpose of sneaking into a man’s room unnoticed.

Another was a woman who, out of jealousy, developed the ability to clone herself so she could always be in my room.

“It might be a bit inappropriate to mention it directly, but there are quite a few cases of developing abilities out of patriotism. They just keep the truth hidden from everyone.”

I mimicked zipping my mouth shut.

“For now, ask those four to keep it a secret. But you’ll have to give them regular hush injections.”

“That won’t be a problem….”

“…….”

Come to think of it, this man seemed to have a fiancée.

Well, he’d manage.

If she were going to become a demon, she would have already turned into one during the gene thief Faygreen incident.

“And you’ll need to come up with a reasonable excuse. I have two suggestions for the most appropriate explanations.”

“Two?”

“Yes. One is to reveal the original source. Whether it’s a movie, a novel, or a comic, you can say you developed this ability after seeing it in some media.”

“The traditional method.”

“Exactly.”

Developing abilities through media.

If an ability user officially said, ‘I got the motif from here,’ it generally wouldn’t cause much problem.

There was a serious copyright issue, but in this world, the use of abilities by ability users was given more importance than copyright issues.

Of course, if an ability user perfectly or 99% accurately mimicked the fictional abilities seen in media and then denied it, they would be criticized.

“Then do you have any suitable examples?”

“Yes. Doctor Octopus. Inspector Gadget. Asura Man.”

“…What are those?”

“Taejo.”

He was seventeen years old this year.

A boy born after the 2002 World Cup, although that event did not exist in this world.

“Mr. Kim Tae-sik. Don’t look at me with that ‘what the heck is that, old man’ gaze. I’m just someone who studies pre-cataclysm media and has a lot of that information in my head.”

“Ah, yes.”

“I’m certainly not extremely old or anything like that. I’m also an ability user, born after the great upheaval.”

Do Chang-nam.

I only followed classic files, but I didn’t age according to those classics.

“I just mentioned old materials. Understand?”

“…So, you’re saying to claim the motif came from those classics?”

“That’s one way, but there’s an even easier method.”

I stretched my hand out to the side.

“Say you awakened your ability in a crisis. For example, if a baby was about to fall off a bridge, what would a person instinctively extend to save the baby?”

“…A hand?”

“That’s it.”

“Ah. So you’re saying to stage a crisis and make it seem like you awakened your ability in that crisis.”

“Exactly.”

Taejo clapped his hands and nodded.

“I understand. Thank you for the advice. Ah, and.”

Taejo extended one of his Asura hands, created by his ability, towards me.

“I look forward to working with you. I feel like we’ll be meeting often.”

“I look forward to it as well.”

I deliberately shook his Asura hand with my ordinary hand, devoid of any magical power.

It felt hard as steel and lacked warmth, but the nervousness was evident from the hand I shook.

“……!”

“Mr. Kim Tae-sik. Let me tell you one important thing that ability users should be cautious about.”

Squeeze.

Warm energy flowed from Yumir, who had extended her hand behind me, and into my hand. I infused my hand with mana without showing Yumir’s influence as much as possible.

“Just because you learned a new ability doesn’t mean you should recklessly show off that power.”

“…….”

“An ability is just an ability. No matter how innovative, remember that it can always be countered.”

“You are…more remarkable than I thought.”

Indeed.

Since I countered his S-class handshake effortlessly.

“Who are you? I’ve never heard of someone like you.”

“You might have heard of me. But I’m just someone who doesn’t reveal himself.”

“…….”

“I’m just a man invited to Sinŭiju, and this is my girlfriend.”

“…….”

No point in asking more details as I wouldn’t answer anyway.

Under my silent pressure, Taejo finally relaxed his Asura hand and sighed.

“Haa. There are too many S-classes in this world.”

“…….”

That line sounded like it could lead to corruption.

“Fine. Whether there are unknown S-classes or whoever you are doesn’t matter. If I get in trouble while fighting Chinese and Russian S-class beauties, I’ll hand over the baton to you.”

“You might end up just watching from the side.”

“Even if that happens, what matters is not my pride, but the resources of this land.”

Taejo fiddled with a cola can marked with a Taegeuk pattern and opened the lid.

“I don’t care if my pride is shattered. What matters more is the pride of this country.”

“…….”

How.

How could such a righteous person be born from the villain Min Ji-young?

“Tonight, we will depart for Sinŭiju. We plan to move separately by vehicle, not by train, and we’ll arrange a vehicle for you two.”

“Finally.”

“Yes. We’ve received intel that they might cross the border as early as tonight…or tomorrow.”

This matches our understanding.

Indeed, as a Black Agent, Taejo wasn’t just a fool.

“I have a few more things to ask you before we head to Sinŭiju, hyung.”

“…Hyung?”

“You’re more patriotic and knowledgeable, so I’m asking you.”

“……What do you want to know?”

“That.”

Taejo licked his lips and asked cautiously.

“…How did you get permission from your girlfriend to be with other women?”

“…….”

Later.

“As a man with a fiancée, how should you get permission to be with other women-”

During the time heading to Sinŭiju, I gave Taejo various bits of advice about relationships between men and women.