Chapter 6: Activity (1)

“What? You’re saying I’ll be off for a while… Yes, yes… Ah, yes, I understand…”

Just as I was about to leave for my part-time job, the call telling me I didn’t need to come in left me with a bewildered expression.

From what I heard, the logistics center hasn’t returned to normal yet due to the incident last time, so it seems I’ll be off for a while.

Not only the logistics center but also the cafe needed new repairs for the damaged sections, so I didn’t need to come in for a few days; in fact, the boss even asked if I was hurt anywhere.

I replied that I was fine and hung up the call.

“Hmph… So, today I’m free?”

I turned off my phone and lay on the bed, lost in thought for a moment.

Honestly, since I had nothing to do, it would be fine to just pass the time…

‘But I feel a bit stiff just staying still.’

I was used to moving my body frequently, so staying still felt a bit off.

Compared to before, the outside world is quite stable now, so wouldn’t it be okay to go out?

And it seems like a good time to check how strong I am.

“Where would be good to test my strength…”

The only place that immediately came to mind was the mountains.

I can’t go to the Superpower Training Center.

As someone classified as powerless, I can’t even enter.

Of course, it’s possible to go in to see off family, but for safety reasons, entering the training grounds themselves was legally prohibited.

This was because powerless people’s physical specs were inferior compared to superhumans.

In that case, I’d have to go somewhere with almost no people…

“No matter how I look at it, it seems only the mountains fit.”

Since it’s a weekday, there probably won’t be many people hiking, so it might not be a bad idea.

“Then… shall I go?”

Quickly deciding on my schedule for the day, I finished my preparations and headed towards a mountain known for being somewhat challenging.

In case something happens, I want to bring something to hide my identity.

For now, I only had a large hoodie, a mask, and the alien sunglasses I bought out of curiosity.

“Will this be enough?”

I don’t know about the others, but these sunglasses are a bit much.

Well, as long as my face isn’t visible.

And so, abruptly, I began to climb the mountain.

I had no major physical issues, even doing logistics part-time, but climbing a mountain was a different matter.

Or so I thought.

‘I’m not tired at all?’

Normally, I would have felt at least a little tired, but thanks to the stat cheat, my body felt unbelievably light, and I had no sense of fatigue whatsoever.

Usually, moving like this would leave me breathless, but I felt nothing and was breathing in and out leisurely.

It became even more apparent when I increased my pace, almost running up the mountain, yet felt no shortness of breath at all.

Before, it felt somewhat unreal, and even though I clearly did those things, it didn’t quite sink in, but now, I truly feel like I’ve become a superhuman…

Honestly, it’s in these everyday aspects that I feel I’ve changed a lot.

Previously, I could shatter walls from a distance with punches that barely used any strength, and send monsters flying into walls just by flicking my finger.

And knives didn’t even properly embed in my body.

Though my clothes were torn and had to be thrown away.

“Wow… what the…”

“Young people these days have such great stamina…”

“Isn’t that all because of, what’s it called, superpowers, huh?”

“Is that a superpower?”

“How strong must that superpower be to climb like that…”

Though not many, the other people climbing alongside me were astonished to see me.

And so, I traversed the mountain, which normally takes over 3 hours to climb, in just 10 minutes and arrived at the summit.

“Hmm…”

Even after running non-stop until I reached the summit, I wasn’t out of breath at all.

Indeed, it was a physique far beyond that of an ordinary person.

“Hmph…”

After quickly reaching the mountain peak, I gazed down at the heart of Seoul, lost in thought for a moment.

I was momentarily captivated by the sight of the entire city spread out before my eyes,

‘Huh?’

Something was strange.

Not only could I see people walking around on the streets, but also various incidents unfolding in different places, all with real-time clarity.

‘What’s that?’

I could even see a villain escaping.

They were fleeing towards a less populated, undeveloped area.

‘What is this…’

My eyesight had improved so much that I could distinguish what was happening even from such a distance.

No, isn’t this beyond just “good”?

It’s like…

‘Did I get a telescope attached?’

It was then that I felt flustered, wondering if this was also due to the stat cheat.

“It’s uncommon for a young person to hike a mountain on a weekday.”

Someone’s voice came from behind me.

I instinctively turned around to see an old man in hiking clothes standing there.

The old man waved his hand as if greeting me and approached.

“I saw you running earlier. Your stamina is incredible. Young folks these days would rather die than think about climbing a mountain.”

“Ah, ahaha…”

I didn’t even break a sweat, so he won’t look at me strangely, right?

“Looking closely, you don’t even seem tired. Is it, what’s it called, a superpower? It doesn’t look like you climbed with something like that… Your basic physical strength must be good.”

“Yes, well…”

Fortunately, he seemed to let it go.

“Haha… Have one of these. You climbed a mountain, so you should fill your belly.”

“Oh… you really shouldn’t have…”

“Take it. I can’t eat it all by myself anyway.”

“Ah, um… Thank you.”

I thanked the old man, who was handing me a chocolate bar, and accepted it.

‘This looks expensive…’

What an interesting person.

As I unwrapped and ate the chocolate, I glanced at him and cautiously asked.

“Do you come up here often, by any chance?”

“Oh, yes… I come up occasionally when I need to clear my head.”

The old man sat down and began to tell his story.

“You know, there was a time when I just ran forward, looking only ahead. In a world where everyone ignored me because I had no powers.”

He suddenly started talking to himself.

It felt awkward to just ignore him, so I sat down with him and began to listen.

“No matter what I did, people in the world wouldn’t acknowledge me. Every time… I wanted to prove my ability. To show that even without superpowers, I could do anything.”

“Are you a powerless person?”

“The world seems to change so quickly. It used to be normal not to have superpowers… to think it’s changed so much in just a few decades.”

“Indeed…”

“And so, I kept running and running, and before I knew it, I reached this age.”

As he spoke, he paused for a moment and sighed.

I sensed a bitter aura.

“But what good is all that? Looking back now, it all seems futile. My sons and daughters only cause me grief. Nothing in the world goes right. A few days ago, strange things started appearing again, causing such a commotion, didn’t they? When I feel like I can’t bear these kinds of things, I sometimes come up here to clear my head.”

“I see…”

After finishing his words, the old man turned to me for a moment and asked.

“Why did you come all the way up here?”

I came because I had nothing to do and wanted to check my stat cheat.

I couldn’t answer that, could I?

I pondered what to say, but no suitable reason came to mind, so I answered vaguely.

“Just, I happened to come up by chance.”

The old man stared at me for a moment as if intrigued, then chuckled.

I wondered if it was funny, but looking closely, his laughter held a strange sense of leisure.

“Haha… Yes… Chance… By chance, you say…”

Just as the conversation had lulled, I unconsciously lifted my head to survey the city again.

‘Huh?’

Below the mountain range, I saw someone rapidly running among the trees.

‘A lost person?’

They certainly didn’t look like that.

And it wasn’t a properly maintained path either; I couldn’t just stand there and watch someone running in the raw wilderness.

‘Should I go?’

I’m torn.

If I left them, I felt a continuous urge to chase after them immediately.

Remembering what had happened in Seoul earlier, I couldn’t just let it be.

If I left them like that, I would definitely lose them.

The people following behind were too far away.

‘What if I stop them and get exposed?’

But if I chased them, I felt anxious about being discovered.

Even though I came to check the extent of my powers, it was clearly an action that carried risk.

‘Hah.’

I looked around.

Most people weren’t interested in me, and there was only the old man I was talking to.

‘If this old man is an ordinary person, it won’t be a big problem.’

He probably thinks I’m a fairly strong superhuman.

He doesn’t seem like the type to go looking things up either.

‘What’s the point of hiding it now, anyway?’

Did I think the same thing before?

At that time, it was an urgent situation, so I acted without proper consideration.

I might vaguely be feeling it.

That with this level of power, most people wouldn’t even be a match.

Running away with a body that knows no limits was a foolish thing to do.

Especially now, when the risk is relatively low.

‘Let’s give it a try.’

Let’s start my activities from now on.

I’ll hide my identity and raise my recognition.

If I become famous enough that the country can’t rashly touch me, I might even be recognized as a hero.

Having made my decision, I turned back to the old man and spoke.

“Excuse me for a moment… Um… Grandpa?”

“Hmm? What is it?”

“It looks like someone is running down there.”

“Huh? Where…”

At first, he couldn’t see where it was, but when I pointed directly, it seemed he could see something moving, whether it was a person or not.

“No… You can see that?”

“Yes, well…”

“If you hadn’t pointed it out, I never would have found it… Unlike young people these days, you have good eyesight.”

“So, um… I’m going to go down there for a moment.”

“Huh…? What did you just say? You’re going down there?”

It’s clearly hundreds of meters high from a glance.

It was a natural reaction.

I was at the summit, and considering mountains usually range from hundreds to thousands of meters in height, it would take at least several hours to get down there.

For an ordinary person, that is.

“Please keep it a secret.”

Saying that, I pulled my hood low and put on my mask.

“What in the…”

Well, I wasn’t doing anything publicly anyway, and this old man didn’t know who I was and didn’t seem like someone who would tell anyone, so revealing my powers didn’t seem like a problem.

And with my face covered by the hood, mask, and though a bit embarrassing, the alien sunglasses, it would be fine.

Saying that, I jumped down without even waiting for a reply.

“Wh-What are you doing?!”

I heard the old man’s voice calling me from behind, but I replied that I was fine and continued my descent.

It’s the stat cheat.

I instinctively knew that falling from this height wouldn’t cause a single scratch.

Soon after,

BOOM!!

I landed precisely in front of the man who was running along the mountain range below the summit.

“Wh-What the hell?!”

The man, horrified by my sudden appearance, stumbled backward.

Well, I already knew who this guy was.

You couldn’t *not* know by his attire.

I saw him earlier.

“Just wondering where you’re running off to.”

He’s a villain.

The very villain I happened to see causing an incident and escaping while I was admiring the Seoul cityscape earlier.

I couldn’t just stand by and watch.

Because if I left him, he’d probably get away.

‘Well… I can just send him back up when I’m done.’

This is a mountain, after all.

It’s not even a managed path on a mountain summit; it’s an entirely unrelated mountain range.

Naturally, there are no CCTVs or anything similar.

And since my face is covered right now, there’s no worry of being exposed by the villain in front of me.

It was a perfect situation to both check my abilities and practice power control.

“Wh-What crazy bastard… Where the hell did you fall from?!”

“From the sky.”

Let’s do this.

Without killing him, that is.