Chapter 11: Meeting (2)

‘I was surprised…’

A-rank Hero Kinesis, Lee Seoyul, recalled what had just happened at the cafe.

Her returning to this cafe was purely by chance.

Of course, it wasn’t that she hadn’t thought coming here would allow her to meet him again, but she was currently on her first day off in a long time.

While it was true she wanted to meet and talk with him, she didn’t intend to let it bother her during her time off.

After all, work and personal life had to be clearly separated.

‘Still, there was so much I wanted to talk about, but once I actually met him, I couldn’t bring up anything.’

Perhaps what she most wanted to ask about was the recent rumors.

Even if she asked, she probably wouldn’t get an answer, and since she considered it almost certain, there was no real need to ask.

“The parfait… it was delicious.”

She’d ordered it because she craved something sweet, and it was made better than she expected.

His appearance didn’t quite seem to fit with making something like this.

“Should I come often…?”

It wouldn’t be a problem if she came as a customer, would it?

He seemed to find it a bit burdensome, but she would just be a customer.

“Hehe…”

It would be fine.

****

After my part-time job ended, I returned home and immediately finished preparing for my hero activities.

‘I wonder if this will be enough…’

I hadn’t paid much attention before, but lately, more than a few people have been showing interest in me.

Even though I almost completely cover my face with sunglasses, a mask, and a hood, my sunglasses could still fall off during an intense fight.

‘Should I wear a mask instead?’

The best option would be to use a special mask made for heroes, but that wasn’t something I could obtain.

Right now, I’m not even a registered hero, nor can I register.

If only I weren’t powerless, I could have made good use of it, which is truly regrettable.

‘And here I am, just thinking about earning money even like this…’

With the power I possess, I could at least be A-rank, and I heard that A-rank heroes earn a completely different level of money.

Of course, that’s expected since A-rank individuals are strong enough to receive calls from all over the world.

I don’t have any connections, and all I have is my power, yet I’ve been branded as powerless…

Strictly speaking, I should see this as building my foundation before earning money.

‘Now, I’m quite accustomed to using my power.’

I can jump and leap over buildings with ease.

Normally, when a villain alert sounds via phone GPS, it’s my understanding that emergency disaster texts are sent to people in the vicinity.

These texts are only sent to those who have enabled location services and agreed to receive disaster alerts, and for me, there’s nothing better.

Unlike heroes who receive all the information directly before deploying, I have no one to brief me, so these disaster texts are like a welcome rain in a drought.

‘Seeing how these villains appear every day, yet things somehow flow peacefully, it feels different from the world I knew.’

Most commit relatively minor crimes, but a crime is still a crime, so if an individual with enough power to cause significant harm commits one, they are apparently handed over to the heroes for arrest.

Well, anyway, for me, it’s a good opportunity to increase my recognition.

‘This time, it’s someone causing a rampage.’

This incident seems quite serious.

A monstrous creature with a deformed body was running wild.

Judging by the wreckage of cars scattered everywhere, the shattered road, and the rising flames, it truly caused a proper rampage.

‘It’s only been less than 3 minutes since the disaster alert came.’

It’s already caused this much chaos.

I looked around to see if anyone was injured, but thankfully, most people seemed to have fled.

Well, if you’re nearby, a disaster alert immediately comes through.

However, there were occasionally injured people who had been caught in the villain’s rampage right nearby.

Thump!

I leaped from a building and landed on the road, then noticed someone inside an overturned car and approached it.

“Are you okay? Are you conscious?”

“Ugh… Ugh… P-Please help me…”

“Are you injured anywhere?”

“I don’t know… I feel like I’m dying…”

Judging by what they said, they must be alive.

“Just a moment, I’ll get you out quickly.”

I lifted the car as carefully as possible so they wouldn’t get hurt further.

Then, I stably righted the car before setting it back down.

“He… he lifted the car…”

“Come out.”

“Y-Yes, sir…!”

The car was already wrecked, but thanks to me righting it, the person inside was able to get out.

Aside from some blood from a slight head injury, they seemed capable of moving.

“T-Thank you…!”

Just then, other nearby heroes began rescuing people one by one.

They were too weak to face this rampaging villain, but it was the job of lower-ranked, registered heroes.

There would be no need to worry now.

Anyway, I had just saved them while passing by, and completely dismissing them from my mind, I approached the man who was still unleashing his fury upon the entire world.

“What are you so angry about?”

I asked cautiously.

“Who the f*ck are you?! Get lost?! Do you wanna die?!”

“You’ll end up dead like this.

How many people have you harmed because of you? Is that okay?”

“I’m completely fucked right now, why would I care about that?!”

Well… there are no villains without their reasons, I suppose.

He certainly seems to have many reasons.

Even more so when I look at his head, which has transformed into that of an ox.

‘Is there such a superpower?’

Beast-kin abilities do exist.

However, I’ve never heard of someone’s head completely turning into an ox’s like that.

I hadn’t seen it in the original story, and though I’d seen many heroes, I’d never seen anyone transform into something so inhuman.

‘Is it a bug…?’

What happened?

“So… is it because your head changed like that?”

“What else would it be, goddammit! How am I supposed to live like this?!”

But causing this kind of chaos is another problem entirely, isn’t it?

“Well… I can understand your feelings, but this has still crossed the line.”

It doesn’t seem like anyone died, but this is still quite extreme.

For expressing anger about his body transforming like that, isn’t it a bit too reckless…?

‘If I transformed like that, I’d probably be angry too…’

But why did he change like that?

“Surely… surely it’s because of the pill I took then… This can’t be happening… This must be a dream…”

*Swish!

“Ugh… Eek?”

Suddenly, his eyes rolled back, and the villain’s body collapsed.

‘What the… I didn’t do anything?’

Didn’t I just hear a sound like something being sliced?

However, despite that, the villain’s body didn’t have any major injuries.

‘What happened?’

As I stood bewildered, someone appeared behind the collapsing villain.

A woman in a black suit, with long silver hair and blue eyes, stood holding a sword, gazing intently at me.

“Pleased to meet you.”

“…”

And then she greeted me.

A sudden greeting…?

“Ah, yes…”

I returned the greeting appropriately, thinking to myself.

She caught the villain I was originally going to handle, and I could let that slide, but…

‘Something’s strange…’

Something is off.

There were several strange things, but the most important point was…

‘Why is she taking a stance?’

She was naturally adopting a posture as if she would rush at me at any moment.

Other things aside, taking a stance as if she would attack me immediately was a different matter.

Until now, heroes had told me to surrender or tried to apprehend me, saying they couldn’t just let me go, but they never showed hostility like this.

“Excuse me?”

“I am A-rank Hero, Sword Princess.”

A-rank Hero Sword Princess.

I’d seen her name while looking up various hero information.

Sword Princess, Han Yua.

The youngest daughter of Hanseong Group, and a hero who proudly achieved A-rank at a young age purely through her skill.

Her superpower’s name was “Mind Sword.”

It was an ability to draw and wield a sword of the mind.

Such a person was looking at me with clear hostility.

‘Has the time come?’

Although I was doing good deeds, my activities were strictly illegal.

It wouldn’t be particularly strange if they tried to capture me.

However, until now, while there had been talk of me surrendering, no one had actively tried to subdue or subjugate me.

After all, I was playing the role of catching villains.

But the opponent before me was different.

‘She’s serious…’

For some reason, unlike other heroes, the hero before me seemed genuinely intent on attacking me.

“… As of this moment, I will use every means necessary to subdue you.”

“Haa…”

“Be prepared.”

It seems I’ll have to fight the hero before me.