Academy’s Villain Professor-Chapter 139 : Chapter 139

Chapter 139 : Memory
The space flipped.
The special space, which had been simultaneously contracting and expanding, made a whoosh sound, like a thin film peeling off, and twisted completely.
As the space returned to normal, Ho-cheol found himself standing, half-in, half-out of the bathroom, in his original space.
Confirming he was completely back in his dorm, a vein bulged on his forehead.
He clenched his fist, about to punch the wall, but barely held back and relaxed his hand.
Honestly, until now, he could clearly distinguish between anger and annoyance, but he hadn't separately recognized stress.
But now he clearly realized that this was, in fact, stress.
“Ha. When I was a villain, I could just smash everything.”
Being able to relieve stress easily was one of the few advantages of being a villain.
He took a long breath.
Barely calming his surging anger and annoyance, he put his hand in his pocket.
A hard piece of plastic the size of a fingernail.
The USB on his palm was proof that the situation until just a moment ago was a clear reality, not an illusion or a fantasy.
Ho-cheol recalled the recent situation.
He had thought he had been moved to another space against his will, but upon reflection, that was impossible.
No matter how defenseless he was, to be moved to a special space, ignoring his basic resistance to Traits?
And he hadn't even detected it.
That was a feat that would be impossible even if Ho-cheol had a space-related Trait instead of a time-related one.
“Is it a phase shift?”
Therefore, the answer Ho-cheol came to was the opposite.
He hadn't been moved; they had.
A Trait that projected their space onto this dorm.
In that case, Ho-cheol hadn't moved at all, so there was no need to get hung up on the impossible conditions mentioned earlier.
Since the dorm had no resistance to Traits.
“A rather tricky Trait.”
It had endless applications both in and out of combat.
However, most of those applications were limited to when the opponent had no information about the Trait.
Later, I'll make him regret using this Trait for such a trivial matter.
With that resolution, Ho-cheol closed the bathroom door.
In any case, since he had received something called information, he immediately plugged the USB into his computer to check it.
No, he stopped with it halfway in.
Those guys had said that the information in this USB was simply information about the guys who had a falling out with them, but Ho-cheol, of course, didn't believe them.
There are some things you can trust, and some you can't.
Certainly, judging by the situation and their reactions at that time, it wasn't a lie, but there was a high probability that they had hidden a more important truth.
No, it was certain.
What if there was a program installed that would steal all the information on the computer?
Unfortunately, if such a situation occurred, for Ho-cheol, whose computer skills were limited to word processing at best, the only solution was to stomp his feet and pull the plug on the computer.
He stuffed the USB back into his pocket.
He had to check it, but not here.
If he were to check its contents, it should naturally be done on a computer with thorough security of that kind.
If the worst came to worst, someone else's computer that he wouldn't mind getting hacked would be fine too.
For example, So-hee's personal laptop.
Ho-cheol sat back down in his chair.
The urge to go to the bathroom had completely disappeared.
Instead, he narrowed his eyes and fell into thought.
“Transcendence, transcendence……”
A new keyword.
Transcendence.
Now that he knew that the three seemingly separate incidents were actually moving for a single purpose, it was a priority to grasp the main thread rather than the minor details.
He nervously tapped the desk with his fingertips.
“I feel like I've heard it somewhere.”
He felt like he had vaguely heard it.
No, he had definitely heard it.
The problem was, he had only heard the word.
He couldn't even remember when, where, from whom, or in what situation he had heard it.
It was natural.
It was a memory from over ten years ago.
And he didn't have a trait for that.
Moreover, the word transcendence was a topic that would probably have interested him less than what he had for lunch that day, not only for his present self, but also for his villain self.
He would have let it go in one ear and out the other the moment he heard it.
He focused more on recalling past memories.
How much time had passed?
He nervously ruffled his hair and raised his head again.
“Ha, damn it, who was it?”
Who on earth had said such a thing to his villain self?
It was too late to turn back now.
If he hadn't remembered it from the beginning, that would be one thing.
But now that he realized there was a clue in his memory, however faint, he had to find it.
“It doesn't seem like it'll come to me with just meditation.”
Seeing as it didn't come to him even after thinking this much, unlike Ji-an's case, this one seemed to be a lost cause.
“Tsk. I don't like that.”
These days, worries about such faint memories were actually quite easy to solve.
To go through one's memories through a mental-type Trait and make only the memory of the desired keyword come to mind clearly.
Of course, there was a rather tricky procedure, but if Ho-cheol mobilized his connections, it could be considered nonexistent.
However, he seemed reluctant, and the rhythm of his tapping on the desk grew faster.
No, it was beyond reluctant; it was almost impossible.
Even if Ho-cheol tried to maintain a relaxed and defenseless state as much as possible, his resistance to mental-type traits was extremely strong.
It was his constitution in the first place.
Even if he used a Trait to go through his memories, the limit would probably be the last few days.
If he were to go through memories from over ten years ago, the output would have to be at least S-rank or higher.
And since he wouldn't be able to pinpoint just that memory, but would have to quickly scan through years' worth of memories, there was also the side effect of having to share those memories with a complete stranger.
Honestly, that was too uncomfortable.
Wasn't there a better way?
After thinking for a moment, Ho-cheol snapped his fingers.
Of course, it couldn't be considered a ‘good way’ at all, but at least it was much better than the previous ‘having my memories from the past few years read by a complete stranger, an S-rank mental-type Trait user.’
He took out his phone and found one of the saved contacts.
After a short ring.
To think you'd contact me first. What a surprise.
The voice of the head of the Legal Department came from the other side of the phone.
“Ah, I just wanted to check something. You're not busy right now, are you?”
I'm busy, but speak.
“Among the villains you caught a couple of months ago, there should be a guy with a weird concept, smoking a long pipe.”
A villain who collected and emitted all sorts of pheromones through his Trait.
I owed him one during the MT.
If Ho-cheol had responded even a little carelessly back then, Da-yeon would surely have been kidnapped.
They were still being interrogated in a detention facility in the basement of the Legal Department, not in prison, for comparison and contrast with Ji-an's information.
The finger that had been restlessly tapping the table finally stopped.
“Let me use that.”
Basement of the Legal Department.
Although it was not on the level of Zero Chain, there was a detention facility for villains here as well.
And most of the villains who belonged to the now-defunct Ji-an's ‘Organization’ were imprisoned here.
Originally, they should have been imprisoned in Zero Chain after their trial, but the collapse of Zero Chain had pushed their priority back, and Ji-an's sudden defection to this side had left their existence in limbo.
Of course, Ji-an had no attachment or positive feelings towards her subordinates anyway and had told them to do as they pleased, but the Association had found another use for them.
The villains currently imprisoned in the basement of the Legal Department were a kind of comparison and confirmation control group.
In Ji-an's investigation, if there were any inconsistencies, suspicious parts, or parts that needed confirmation, they were used to verify the accuracy of the information.
And today, Ho-cheol was also planning to use them.
Drreureuk—
The door opened, and Ho-cheol walked into the interrogation room.
He skillfully pulled a chair, sat down, and looked at the woman sitting opposite him with a desk between them.
She crossed her legs and opened her mouth in a relaxed and light tone.
“What's this? I thought it was a special interrogation, maybe some kind of torture, but what an unexpected face.”
She twisted her lips into a smile.
“The place you hit me back then still throbs.”
In fact, the expression ‘hit’ was not enough.
The attempted kidnapping of a student.
And on top of that, the replay of an unpleasant past memory.
The price for making Ho-cheol the angriest since his release was steep.
She had been so horribly destroyed that the Association agent who had first found her had ed a fatality.
“I need to use your Trait.”
“Aha. Not something you're curious about, but a trait. I was wondering why they didn't give me any medicine before the investigation today, so that's why.”
The woman leaned forward with a deeper smile.
“My tobacco, some sweet candy, and a bath in a warm tub. Listen to my conditions first. There's no cooperation before that.”
All three were conditions that, frankly, Ho-cheol could probably get some concessions on if he made a slightly aggressive request to the Legal Department.
But he had no reason or intention to grant them.
“Your attitude is stiff.”
Ho-cheol let out a sigh.
“I'm a captive anyway. Shouldn't I at least take care of my own needs like this?”
“Take care of your needs…”
Ho-cheol slowly stood up from his seat.
The woman naturally thought he would leave the interrogation room and negotiate for her conditions.
Her Trait was so rare that there wasn't even a Trait that could produce a similar effect.
A rare Trait with no substitute.
The moment he had revealed his true intention of needing her Trait, she was in the absolute position of power.
Unlike at the MT, how many eyes were watching the inside of the interrogation room here?
There was law here, and she was protected by the law.
But that confidence gradually faded as Ho-cheol came around behind the woman.
Ho-cheol grabbed the back of her head.
“Huh? Wai…”
Before she could even let out a sound of confusion.
Ho-cheol swung her head and slammed it into the desk.
“This is your tobacco.”
Kwang—!
Once.
“This is your candy.”
Kwaang—!
Twice.
“And this is your tub.”
Kwaaang—!
Thrice.
Without giving her a chance to say or do anything, he slammed her face into the desk three times in a row, and only then did he relax his grip on the back of her head.
“Satisfied? I'd like you to grant my request now.”
Of course, the woman was also an awakened one, so this wasn't a fatal injury, but the pain was definitely there.
With blood dripping from her nose, she shrieked.
“Wh-what is this! You, you! You said you were a professor! This is all being filmed! Do you want to lose your job?”
Ho-cheol looked down at the suit he was wearing.
A drop of blood had splattered on his sleeve, staining it red.
“Job? Job, you say.”
He rolled up the sleeves of his dress shirt to his elbows.
Then he leaned forward and met the woman's eyes.
“That sounds good. I held back this much because I'm a professor. You want to meet me again when I no longer have any dignity or principles to uphold, when I'm not even a professor anymore?”
Their gazes locked.
A calm gaze with no particular emotion.
But the woman who received it directly felt a chill run down her spine.
Her body, every single cell, seemed to have already admitted defeat, and her body wouldn't move.
In a situation where resistance was completely impossible, she, placed before Ho-cheol, was nothing but prey.
“Let me ask you again. Is there anything else you need?”
She slowly opened her mouth.
She tried to say something, but her breath caught in her throat and she couldn't make a sound.
In the end, she slowly shook her head, answering in place of words.
“That's right. That's the right answer.”
Ho-cheol stood up again and returned to his seat.
Only after his gaze, which had bound her entire body, was gone, could the woman breathe again.
“It was bothering me from before, use honorifics.”
“……Yes.”
The woman completely erased her relaxed, even arrogant, attitude from just a moment ago.
She uncrossed her legs and placed her neatly folded hands on her thighs.
Now we can finally have a humble conversation.
Ho-cheol brought up his business again.
“Last time on the island, you trapped me in a specific memory with a certain pheromone. To get out, I had to meet a condition.”
“Yes.”
“I’m looking for something in my memory, but the memory is too faint. I’m trying to find it. Can you pinpoint it with your pheromone?”
“That’s impossible… sir.”
Seeing Ho-cheol's expression turn grim, she quickly added the honorific to the end of her sentence.
Of course, the reason Ho-cheol had reacted that way was not because of the honorifics.
“Why is it impossible?”
“To be precise, it's not impossible, but close to impossible… sir. If it's a faint memory, there's a pheromone that maximizes memory, and if it's to find a hint in the memory, there's a pheromone that repeats the memory, but both are quite dangerous to the body… sir. If you use both of them at the same time.”
The woman's voice trailed off.
Honestly, if it were up to her, she would have liked to just use the pheromone without warning, just to screw with him once.
But having seen how crazy that man was in front of her, if she didn't tell him something this important, the future where he would come to strangle her at any time was clearly visible.
“Dangerous?”
In fact, Ho-cheol waved his hand as if dumbfounded.
“Your future of being stubborn and talking nonsense without listening to me seems more dangerous.”
For Ho-cheol, it was a warning that was beyond ridiculous, it was pathetic.
Had there ever been anything he had done that wasn't dangerous?
He had survived until now because he had always risked his life and taken dangers.
To ignore it even after being warned like this, there was nothing the woman could do.
“Are you really going to do it… sir? But what's the keyword you're looking for?”
At those words, Ho-cheol briefly turned his head to the side.
Inside, it was just a mirror, but outside, the head of the Legal Department and a few agents would be watching the situation and waiting to move at any time.
And the agents other than the head of the Legal Department should not hear this keyword.
After waiting for a moment, the sound of someone knocking on the wall a couple of times came from beyond the mirror, as if all the other agents had been sent out.
“Transcendence.”
Only then did Ho-cheol speak shortly.
“I've heard this word in my memory. I need to find who, when, where, and why it was said.”
“Ah, then I'll get ready right away… sir.”
The woman slowly created pheromones from within her body.
As if she had completed the pheromones, she let out a light breath.
Two breaths, two colored breaths.
A pale green breath floated above her left palm, and an orange breath floated above her right hand.
“A pheromone that maximizes the function of the brain responsible for memory, and a pheromone that induces a kind of hypnotic state to quickly replay past memories. But if you mix these two and inhale them, I don't know how they will work or what side effects will occur. Are you really going to do it… sir?”
Ho-cheol tilted his head.
“Do it.”
In the end, the two-colored smoke slowly flew towards Ho-cheol.
And without any resistance, he inhaled them in one breath.
In an instant, his vision darkened with dizziness.
If he wanted to endure and shake it off, he could do it as much as he wanted, but there was no need.
He let himself go with the flow and completely closed his eyes.
“—ce.”
Jeong Ho-cheol opened his eyes to a low voice ringing in his ears.
“—ce. You need to wake up.”
“What time is it?”
He sat up and looked around.
“When is it?”
At the very least, it wasn't summer.