My Students Regret It After I Retired

84 – Hemina, Her Past and Present

A group of people opposing the Emperor. The name, Scarlet Faction, began to spread everywhere. The start of it all was a post Rakart made on the Interrunner.

Rakart wrote about the name Scarlet Faction and what this group would do. In short, they had established a group opposing the Emperor, who treated people like tools, and they intended to take action to resolve the Emperor’s tyranny instead of just watching it.

In one sentence, the Scarlet Faction officially announced on the Interrunner. That they would rebel against the Emperor.

The post, practically a declaration of rebellion, caused an enormous ripple.

[No way… they’re saying they’re going against the Emperor, right?]

ㄴ Looks like it. But is it okay to say it out loud like this? I heard Leos is included, what if they try to kill him first?

ㄴ Kill him? Please. There isn’t even a single other person who can seal the Red Gate besides Leos.

ㄴ Well, there’s been rumors that they already clashed once.

ㄴ I don’t know about that. The Emperor would have to be totally insane to kill Leos. It doesn’t make any sense.

The community’s reactions were a mixed bag, but most were leaning towards supporting Leos. It was inevitable, really. In Interrunner, Leos was a source of information and, for many, practically a savior who’d kept them alive.

Even the people who usually stirred up drama were cheering Leos on.

[Idk what’s going on but I’m on Leos’ side. I still remember that asshole Emperor’s plan to kill everyone trapped in the Red Gate vortex. That guy’s just nuts.]

ㄴ What if you get arrested lol

ㄴ Arrested for what? You can’t get arrested for posting on Interrunner. The admin here doesn’t even cooperate with them anyway, so what are you worried about.

ㄴ Speaking of which, who the hell is the admin? They keep getting pressured by the Empire but they’re still going, must be someone pretty capable.

ㄴ Dunno. Probably some crazy rich guy, yeah? Gotta be expensive to maintain and run a server like this.

Hemia, the admin of the Leos Gallery and the entire Interrunner site, read the posts about herself with a blank expression before scrolling past them.

[Isn’t Leos a crazy fucker? Should’ve just stayed put. Why make a ruckus by forming that damn Scarlet Brigade. Just gonna hurt the people who are living peacefully;;]

Hemia immediately deleted the posts from a few obvious Empire propaganda shills, banned their accounts, and continued doing what she could.

“Haa…”

Hemia spent a long time deleting posts before collapsing onto her bed with a sigh.

“Leos-nim…”

Hemia’s family had died in the Red Gate. More precisely, they were ravaged and killed by the monsters there. Hemia, who witnessed the whole thing, could do nothing but run. Consumed by self-hatred, she headed back to the Red Gate, and that’s when she met Leos.

– Describe the appearance of the monster that killed your family. If it came from outside the Gate, it must be a mutated monster.

Leos asked Hemia about the appearance of the monster that had killed her family, and not long after, he came back carrying the creature’s carcass in his arms.

– You kill it.

Hemia was able to avenge her family with her own hands, and that incident was what led her to create the Leos Gallery and become a long-time fan of Leos.

Even before Leos was unjustly targeted and condemned by the people, she had only ever acted for him. Her stance had never wavered. Even now, she was grateful that she could punish the forces trying to slander Leos.

‘Leos-nim, am I even helping you at all?’

Hemina thought to herself, staring at the Distance. The Distance had the words [Administrator Mode] written on it.

‘What on earth is this?’

Hemina, the administrator of Interrunner. She wasn’t the initial operator. Strictly speaking, she was just an administrator who had been active only in Leos Gallery. But while sorting through her parents’ belongings, she’d discovered a mysterious Distance.

That Distance was what Hemina now possessed.

‘Did my mother or father create Interrunner…?’

Most of the abilities Hemina used came from this administrator Distance. Despite being an ordinary person with no special skills, she was able to manage the community in various ways, such as deleting and modifying posts, by using the Distance’s administrator mode.

Moreover, from some point on, she also became capable of handling tasks like approving requests to use the internal shop feature.

‘The shop also appeared out of nowhere…what kind of changes are even taking place?’

Thanks to the mysterious Distance, Hemina had taken on the position of operator for Interrunner, but she knew nothing. Because Leos had been effectively using the administrator shop that had suddenly appeared, she just thought it was fortunate that a new feature had been added, but she couldn’t do anything about the shop herself.

She could monitor if users were misusing it, but she couldn’t produce anything herself. For example, to use the Interrunner shop, Hemina also had to pay with legitimate points.

If it weren’t for such limitations, Hemina would have surely created and given countless high-tier artifacts to Leos.

Hemina stood up and slowly walked over to Leos.

“Leos-nim.”

“What is it?”

As Leos looked at Hemina and asked, she smiled and said,

“I’ve been wanting to say this for a while, but thank you. You saved me when I almost fell to Torigal… You saved me back then too…”

Hemina had rushed to Leos, gripped by anxiety. If the days of opposing the Emperor continued like this, she was worried that Leos might die someday.

She wanted him to stop what he was doing and live a safe life right away, but she knew that the righteous Leos she knew wouldn’t. That’s why she changed her course to support Leos as much as possible and not hinder him.

Even so, it was difficult to suppress the feelings that sometimes welled up. The constant, unsettling anxiety. Hemina had said what she had always wanted to say to Leos to alleviate it.

He had saved her when she was about to be killed by Judge Torigal, and he had also avenged the monsters that killed her family. Leos had shown Hemina grace twice, yet he had never asked for anything in return.

Hemina’s heart grew fonder of Leos because of that. A person who acted from the bottom of his heart, without expecting a reward. That was Leos.

“Don’t thank me. That Torigal b*stard was a piece of trash who took bribes and gave a biased verdict in my past trial. He was going to die anyway.”

“…Still…”

“Don’t waste your breath and rest.”

Leos turned to leave for another place, but paused, then asked Hemina,

“Is the pain… gone?”

“…Yes…?”

Hemina looked at Leos blankly for a moment.

“I know how hard it is to lose those you cherish. The pain may remain even after time passes, but you must overcome it. Live. No matter what, living well is the best thing you can do for those who left first.”

Hemina, tears streaming down her face, spoke to Leos.

“You… remembered? That time we met before…?”

“…? Is there a reason I wouldn’t remember?”

Hemina hugged Leos tightly from behind and said,

“I thought you didn’t remember. I thought it was a memory precious only to me. I thought you wouldn’t even care about someone like me since you’ve met so many people.”

Leos peeled Hemina off, saying,

“It seems your heart is much better, seeing you act like this. That’s a relief.”

With those words, Leos left. Hemina stood there for a long time, staring at the place Leos had been.

*

Rakart got up early in the morning and headed towards where Leos was.

“Leos, the people are gathering quite a bit now. I’ve selected those who can become combat personnel, and if you want, we can attack the Imperial Palace right now. Of course, we have to be careful. Ah… by the way, Enas, who you said was your former disciple, has also joined the Crimson Corps.”

“Enas…?”

“I said it didn’t matter what you did, so I accepted it. Her talent is honestly absurdly good, so I thought she’d be a great help. And more than anything, her maniacal obsession with you also played a part. I don’t think she’d ever betray us. That’s an important point too.”

When Leos didn’t say anything, Rakart spoke.

“If she makes you uncomfortable, I’ll tell her to leave right away. Since you said it didn’t matter what you did, I assumed you’d approved.”

Leos shook his head. “It’s fine. I said it, so I have to keep to it. I told you to do whatever you want. I just won’t pay attention.”

Rakart nodded. Then he asked, “Is it about time we launch an attack? We should pay them back, right? We’ve gathered quite a bit of forces. And there are many skilled people. While not quite up to the Royal Knights, I think we can wear down their forces.”

“The attack is for later. We’re going to do something else from now on.”

“Something else…?”

Leos headed towards where the Crimson Dawn members were gathered.

“We’re moving to where the Crimson Dawn members are gathered right now. And we’re going to create ability holders. That’s the only way to destroy the Imperial Palace and the Heavenly Council, the real power behind them.”