Chapter 7: Activity (2)

“Are you a hero? God, did you really follow me all the way here?! Are you crazy or something?!”

It seems he’s mistaking me for a hero.

Well, for me, it’s actually for the best.

I plan to quickly knock him out, call a hero, and then escape before the hero arrives.

“Everyone ignores me, don’t they? Huh? This… if I take this, they won’t be able to ignore me anymore, right?!”

He pulled out a strange pill from his pocket and poured it directly into his mouth.

‘What is that?’

A pill?

I’ve never seen it before.

Given that he just dumped it into his mouth and shouted that he wouldn’t be ignored anymore, it must be some kind of superpower-related doping drug, right?

“Heh, heh heh! What is this… It’s insane? With this, with this… those damn hero bastards! Die, you motherf**kers!”

As if my guess was correct, he took the pill and shouted excitedly to himself.

‘What kind of power is it?’

To check what kind of ability he possessed, I refrained from attacking for a moment and watched him, and then the villain attacked me first.

Along with a yell mixed with curses, he slammed his hand onto the ground, and the terrain seemed to shake for a moment before countless sharp tentacles shot out from the ground towards me.

The villain smiled triumphantly, perhaps thinking I would die from this, but to me, it simply looked infinitely slow.

I extended both hands and began to shatter them one by one, starting with the ones that were piercing closest to me.

With just a light tap, the thorns couldn’t withstand it and burst apart.

Smash! Smash! Smash!

“What the hell…”

Having shattered dozens of rock-like tentacles, I adopted a stance towards the bewildered man.

‘Shall I try pushing myself a bit?’

My opponent is a villain.

He seems to possess a decent amount of power, so it should be fine to reveal some of my own.

As I felt the omnipotent sensation enveloping my entire body, my body instantly accelerated.

Whoosh!

Moving behind the man in slowed time, I lightly swung my fist, stopping it right in front of him without making direct contact.

Boom!

However, even that alone caused a powerful shockwave through the air, and the man’s body couldn’t withstand it, sending him flying sideways as if shot.

Whoosh! Bang!

“Cough…”

I was worried I hadn’t controlled my strength, but fortunately, that didn’t seem to be the case.

I looked down at the man struggling to get up, groaning as he lay on the ground.

“Kuk… Ugh… F**k… This can’t be… Don’t mess with me… Ugh… Hurl…”

“Ah… Was that too strong?”

I thought I had controlled my strength, but it seemed I hadn’t.

The villain, who had been continuously retching while sprawled on the ground, glared at me with bloodshot eyes.

‘Oh…’

That’s a bit scary.

“Diiieee!!”

Even more tentacles than before shot towards me.

Naturally, I easily dodged them again and shattered them in an instant.

The man, looking down at the rock tentacles shattering and falling to the ground with a hollow expression, muttered.

“I-If you just take one hit… if you just take one hit, someone like you…”

“Oh, really?”

You just need to land one hit?

I thought for a moment and realized that at this rate, I could make him lose his will to fight without having to beat him up too badly.

‘Considering my current physical specs, it seems unlikely that a mere rock could pierce me.’

This body couldn’t even be pierced by a blade made of steel.

There was no way a blade made of mere stone could pierce it.

“Then try it. I’ll just stand still.”

“What…?”

“Attack as much as you want, however you want.”

At my declaration that I would do nothing but stand still, the villain made an incredulous expression.

“Are you serious…? Are you crazy enough to want to die?”

“Not really. I just want to show you the difference in our strength.”

“Hah… You lunatic.”

The villain smirked.

“Alright, I’ll do as you wish. I’ll pierce every inch of your body and display you in front of the heroes.”

The villain said that and then plunged both hands into the ground.

Then, even more sharp, rock-formed tentacles, now appearing to be hundreds, shot towards me.

“Die!!”

Finally, the moment the blades touched my body,

Thud! Crunch!

“…?”

A sound that couldn’t possibly come from something sharp was heard.

The tentacles that were meant to pierce me simply shattered.

“What… You said you’d do nothing and just stand still…”

“I didn’t do anything, though?”

“D-Don’t mess with me! Why are the tentacles I created with my power breaking when you’re not doing anything?!”

“Hah, this is annoying.”

I put both hands in my pockets.

“Alright, I’ll keep my hands in my pockets and stand still, so go ahead and try.”

“F-F**k!!”

The villain launched rock tentacles once more.

Naturally, there was no way the tentacles could pierce my body.

‘This feels kind of good.’

Perhaps he thought attacking only from the front wouldn’t work, so he attacked from behind as well, but whether from the front or back, they simply shattered upon hitting my body, unable to withstand the impact.

‘It feels like I’m getting a massage.’

It’s subtle, but it feels like a massage, so it’s quite pleasant.

Since I hadn’t really loosened up my body before, it felt even better.

“Ah, there… not there… could you hit a bit lower?”

“Ugh… Ugh… Die… F**king die… please…”

“Ah, that’s refreshing.”

“Uwaaaah!!”

“Huh? Oh, right!”

Now that I think about it, the things that attacked me were made of rock.

Since I took those hits with my body, it’s only natural that debris would cling to me.

I urgently looked down at my clothes.

They were dirty with debris.

Not only was it debris, but since the tentacles were pulled from underground to attack me, they were even dirtier.

What’s more, while my body was fine, my clothes were not, and they were torn with holes everywhere.

They had virtually turned into rags, making them unusable.

‘Hmm… that’s a bit of a waste.’

If I had known this would happen, I would have just finished it quickly.

I needlessly prolonged the fight just to avoid injuring him too much, and ended up ruining an outfit.

If I continue these activities in the future, I’ll have to account for dirt and debris getting on my clothes.

Of course, I’m not sure if I’ll continue, but if I do, I’ll probably need to get a separate outfit.

Wearing a different outfit for each activity isn’t feasible since I don’t have many clothes, and going out for activities would just ruin them, so this is something I need to seriously consider.

It’s the unavoidable plight of a poor college student.

“Ah… Ahh…”

The villain, who had tried to kill me just moments ago, was now looking up at me with a terrified expression.

Still, it seems the objective itself has been achieved.

Should I call this fortunate?

“Do you want to take more hits from me, or will you just surrender?”

“I-I’ll surrender… I will… No, please let me surrender…!!”

At my question, he bowed his head repeatedly, as if begging to surrender and be spared.

It seemed incredibly terrifying to him that his abilities had no effect whatsoever.

‘Wow…’

Honestly, I’m pretty surprised myself.

I briefly looked upwards.

Looking back now, I had jumped down from a height of almost several hundred meters, yet there wasn’t a single scratch on my body.

Not only were there no injuries, but my legs weren’t strained at all.

‘What exactly is my limit?’

If it’s a stat cheat, then all my stats are probably at the maximum in-game values…

At this level, I can only cautiously guess that I could probably contend with the pinnacle of physical superpowers.

Though there are no heroes of that caliber in Korea.

It was while I was muttering to myself like that.

‘Is that a hero?’

I felt someone approaching from afar.

If I stay here much longer, I’ll be discovered, so I should start leaving.

“A hero will be here soon, so I’m off. Since you’ve been chased all the way here, you won’t be able to escape now, so just surrender quietly.”

I said that and then leaped upwards from my spot.

As I expected, feeling like I could jump over buildings, I leaped tens of meters high.

Thanks to that, escaping was easy.

****

“…What an interesting young man.”

When I met him by chance, I didn’t think much of it.

I simply thought he was a young man who had gained physical enhancement superpowers and was diligently training them.

Even then, considering that most people go to a superpower training center to train themselves, the sight of a young man climbing a mountain was utterly bizarre.

Truly… until then, I hadn’t thought much of it.

The old man had come up this mountain in the first place because it was a mountain he frequently climbed.

It was a terrible coincidence.

“To think it would be this much…”

To think he was such a shining gem.

The courage and spirit to jump from a mountain hundreds of meters high, and the tough physique capable of actually doing it with ease.

Even if he has physical enhancement superpowers, to show this level of performance, his body must have been built up through grueling effort.

On top of that, he’s kind-hearted enough to carefully listen to the story of someone disguised as an ordinary old man.

He was an ideal candidate for a husband.

“My granddaughter would surely like that young man.”

The old man, who had been watching the young man deal with the villain,

chuckled contentedly and turned around.

Looking forward to the day they would meet again.