Chapter 104 - Two Sides Of The Same Coin

When the moon and stars dominated the sky with the sun gone, the group camping decided that they should make a bonfire.

Having sticks ready, they took some usable coals from the grill to easily start a fire. 

Seeing the bonfire, Hanon began to feel heavy. This is part of his future vision and he still could remember it quickly.

For him, that fire was the advent of hell. He steeled himself. It's for his students, the students who brought him to hope for the world.

It was not an exaggeration.

With his Spirit of Vision, Hanon was used by the Spectre Gang to deal with dangerous people, to see what they would do. He integrated himself with the darkness and evilness of the human mind. To see a clearer future, he would need to know about the people themselves.

It's a must for his Spirit or it will not work so well.

Targeting evil and dangerous people, he learned vileness and malevolence within the human heart.

[Everyone's evil from when they were born.]

Was the thought that stuck within him.

So, is he evil too?

He should be, shouldn't he?

Every person holds darkness within them. Even the most innocent-looking person hides something sinister. They only need that one moment, that one opportunity to act what the devil whispers to them.

Once this devil emerges from the darkness within them, it controls them.

No

They are the devil themselves once darkness consumed them.

Correct, Hanon is only looking at evil people and that's why he only sees the negativity of human nature. But the more he learns about them, the more a certain thought becomes prominent in his mind.

[They were innocent once. Ordinary and kind like other people.]

There is evil within everyone. There are only evil people because their life had given them the opportunity.

That's what Hanon found out. He despaired at the thought of it. Will he become evil too? Will his family or friends turn against him just because they let the darkness defeat them?

Those questions were stuck in his head. He didn't want to answer them because he didn't want to accept those answers.

That was until he was tasked to be a teacher as an undercover in search of the Devil Himself. He didn't think that he would have the target as his student. His first goal was to learn about the students, then the school, and then the whole city until he pinpoint the target.

Why a teacher? It was just a coincidence that the school needed one.

A coincidence... or what Hanon calls an opportunity. What isn't a coincidence in life? Is what one planned always happen?

Those questions aren't important. What's important is that he met the other side of the world because of this opportunity.

Learning about his students, he saw that they are naive, innocent, dumb, stupid, kind, funny, and more.

Evil is one of them.

Or should he say...

Evil is just one of them. It's not everything.

An evil person is an evil person because being evil is almost everything to them. This logic is so simple that even grade-schoolers will understand.

But Hanon failed to see it. Only because he found the place called school, became a teacher, and met the young stupid people called students that he got an opportunity to see it.

He was in the mundane, the common, and the normal. In other words, being good is normal. There's also good in people, not just evil. Isn't that obvious? Hanon laughed at himself for being stupid too.

Because of his students, he was out of the dark world he thought was permanent. Hanon would be forever grateful.

But now, time is not stopping, not that it ever did. Later, these students of his will be tainted with and experience absolute evil - by the Devil Himself.

No one can blame him for being pale and fearful. However, he needs to steel himself.

'I can do this! I can endure this!'

His and Teren's conclusion was actually a compromise. The truth was, his future of vision changed, albeit slightly, when he met Eline again. He's just waiting for Teren to come back and watch as hell comes to earth.

So where's that devil? Well, he's kissing his crush in the woods.

That was sometime earlier, at the present, Teren was explaining some 'things' to Iesa.

"I have no defense against people with no malice against me. That is my weakness. There are so many people that want me dead, who hold great malice towards me that I have to give all my attention to them."

Teren couldn't believe he was saying his weakness to Iesa. Later on, this will come back and bite him. But even so, seeing Iesa's lovely gaze directed to him, he couldn't help but just say it.

"So are you saying that you will not do anything to her?"

"Not yet."

"I can continue talking to her?"

"Well... if possible..."

"You don't want me to?"

"Yeah..."

"Then I won't." Iesa immediately answered.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I don't want it if you don't want it either."

She said so while twirling her hair. Her eyes wandered but noticing Teren's silence, she looked at him and saw that his eyes were becoming teary.

"E-eh?"

"Urgh... sorry..!" Teren frowned and wiped his eyes. He took in deep breaths before saying, "I'm no longer going to run. F-for you, I will act like a man." he cringed at his own words but he still continued while determinedly looking at Iesa in the eyes, "This will be selfish of me but I need us not to talk anymore."

"..."

Iesa's expression saddened but waited for Teren to finish.

"I have decided this some time ago but instead of just running and hiding, I should fight them head-on. Because if I don't, we will never be able to talk to each other again. But until I won, until then, it's better if we don't talk to each other."

Iesa felt her heart drummed but there was still one thing she doesn't understand.

"I get it but why is... talking to each other bad? Is it figurative?"

"No, literally. It's because this is not the first time I erased your memory."

"... huh?"

"Do you remember your childhood?"

Iesa thought about it a lot in the past so she knew the answer right away.

"No..."

"... that's good." Teren sighed in relief since Iesa doesn't seem to be lying.

"So you don't want me to remember it? Is that why you also don't want me talking to Seres?"

"Yeah, I don't want you to remember it yet."

Understanding what Teren meant by his words, Iesa excitedly nodded. In return, Terne smiled at her too.

He knew well that, with this, he alone carried the burden of their pasts. But instead of sulking like he usually does, he smiled. Because although he was still alone in carrying it, he was supported.

'As a man, like a man, I'll accept the responsibility and fix the mistake of the past.'

Teren didn't act his smile and after a while, he said to her.

"You should return first. I think there are two people who want to talk to me."

Iesa nod but before she did so, she asked.

"C-can we do more than a kiss before we leave?"

"..." Teren took a moment before he processed what she said, "!?"

"I mean! Kiss with a hug! That's more than a kiss, right!?"

Iesa immediately explained herself.

"O-oh... I thought... no, it's nothing..."

"It's fine, right? This is the last time for now, after all."

"Okay"

"H-here I go."