The Hero's Path, The Villain's Path -2-
The chaotic court defense had finally ended. The next day, Jinhyun—sentenced to probation—visited Hero Corporation to receive his hero rank, just as Eniac had ordered.
“Check here and here, then write your name in this box and sign, please.”
“Ah… yes.”
Before obtaining his rank, there was a mandatory step to becoming a citizen: creating an ID card. Jinhyun, unused to paperwork, enlisted the help of Han Yujin and Han Cheolho to fill in his two-character name and date of birth.
Name… what should I use?
Huh? Can’t you just keep using the one you’ve been using?
Is that really okay?
It is. Picking a new name will just mean wasting time getting used to it.
Even if it was a forged fake identity, once someone called him by it, that would become his name. That was the thought behind his decision.
Once the forms were complete, a man approached Jinhyun where he waited in the guest lounge. Dressed sharply in a red suit and sunglasses, it was Handsome—the founder of Hero Corporation, which held an official contract with Noah Group.
“So you’re Jinhyun?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Oh, I’ve heard plenty about you from Cheolho. Eniac gave you special permission to operate as a hero without nanomachines this time.”
Handsome dropped heavily onto the large sofa and crossed his long legs at a stylish angle.
“Allow Me to introduce Myself. Me is the CEO of Hero Corporation. They call Me Handsome.”
“I’m Jinhyun.”
“Ooh, such a short answer it leaves Me speechless… But that’s fine. Why? Because Me isn’t Angry like the Toxic citizens of Minos.”
“…Pardon?”
Jinhyun, thrown off by Handsome’s peculiar speech pattern, asked again.
“What I mean is, unlike the poison-filled citizens of Minos, I do not get angry easily. It would be beneath My dignity.”
“Ah… I see. Of course.”
At that moment, the secretary standing beside Handsome steered the conversation back on track.
“We saw the footage.”
“What?”
Handsome glared at his secretary from behind his sunglasses. How dare a mere secretary interrupt the boss’s conversation? But the secretary shot back a sharp look of her own, refusing to back down.
“Your schedule is already backed up. Please stop fooling around.”
“Ooh…”
Handsome flinched like a frightened mouse, let out a short sigh, and picked up the topic the secretary had thrown him.
“She’s right. That speed the cameras couldn’t even catch—it was the hottest topic on the internet.”
“I hadn’t realized. I looked it up later and saw what they were saying.”
“Is that speed a feature of your suit, or a special ability unique to you?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Didn’t you feel anything at all?”
“No. I’ve been doing it naturally ever since I was in the lab.”
“Hmm… fascinating.”
Handsome pulled an electronic cigarette from his pocket and placed it between his lips.
“Then would you mind snatching this e-cigarette from right in front of My eyes?”
“Right now?”
“Yes. After using an ability there are usually residual symptoms. If Your speed is ability-based, then…”
“Here it is.”
“There should be clear aftereffects… What?”
At some point, the e-cigarette that had been in Handsome’s mouth had ended up in Jinhyun’s hand. Handsome hadn’t felt even a flicker of motion when it was taken.
He lifted his sunglasses as if to hide his surprise and studied Jinhyun carefully.
No residual symptoms…
That meant this wasn’t some special ability, but purely the result of the suit’s performance class.
“One question. If you can move that fast, why do you usually move so slowly?”
“Because I can only maintain acceleration for a short time.”
“How many seconds is ‘a short time’?”
“Roughly five seconds.”
“While you’re accelerated, does anything feel different? Any change in sensation?”
“If I had to describe it… the whole world seems to stop.”
“Hoh… Pilots wearing mobility suits often say the same thing. There may be a connection.”
Handsome continued asking Jinhyun various questions, recording the results on an aptitude test sheet. Whenever something didn’t make sense, he asked Jinhyun to demonstrate with direct physical force. Each time, Handsome had to gulp down coffee to soothe his burning throat.
“Okay. This should be enough to produce some results.”
“Aren’t you going to ask about my ability?”
“Ah, you mean that golden aura that rose from your body?”
“Yes.”
“No need. You don’t properly understand your own ability anyway, correct?”
“………”
When Jinhyun fell silent, Handsome burst into hearty laughter as if he had expected it.
“They say an Enhanced Human’s ability manifests according to the last belief they held while still human.”
Slurp.
“It’s hardly a Scientific explanation, but there are quite a few things in this world that science can’t explain, aren’t there? I happen to like that story very much.”
Slurp.
Handsome drained the remaining coffee in his cup and continued.
“That aside, what are your thoughts on heroes, Jinhyun?”
“Heroes, you mean?”
“People often question why My company is named Hero Corporation. We only received official activity permits from Noah Group, and the work we do is no different from mercenaries who get paid to run errands. So what exactly makes us heroes?”
At Handsome’s words, the first thing that came to Jinhyun’s mind was the detective agency ‘Haedream’ run by Han Cheolho and Han Yujin.
“What just crossed your mind?”
“…”
“Shall I guess? You thought of the detective agency Cheolho runs, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Correct. That is exactly the image of a hero that the citizens of Minos have. Armed thugs at your front door? I’ll clear them out. A monster appeared in the city? I’ll take care of it. Lost your beloved pet? I’ll find it. Of course, as long as you pay.”
Handsome rubbed his thumb and index finger together in the universal gesture for money.
“There is no nobility to it. In the end, it’s all about money. That is how the world turns.”
“……”
“You look like you don’t like that answer?”
“…I don’t.”
“Then why don’t you tell me what you think?”
At Handsome’s prompting, Jinhyun closed his eyes. What he imagined was the moment in his life when he had needed help the most—the memory of the laboratory explosion.
“Whenever I close my eyes, I always hear hallucinations.”
“What kind of hallucinations?”
“Screams begging to be saved, massive explosions, crisscrossing gunfire, the sound of tearing air, blades clashing, the crackle of flames, a child’s crying…”
“……”
“And all of them are always asking for the same thing.”
Salvation.
“If there are a hundred people in the world, ninety-nine of them might not wish for salvation. But if even one remaining person cries out for it, I believe a hero is someone who listens to that voice.”
A golden aura blazed behind Jinhyun like sacred fire. It appeared regardless of his will—a sign of his power activating only when he felt intense emotion.
“There is already a warm light dwelling in Your heart.”
Handsome, momentarily stunned by the sight, barely regained his composure and held out a contract.
“Ah, right.”
He had almost forgotten the most important thing.
“What is it?”
“When you work as a hero, do you have a Nickname you’d like to use?”
“Hmm…”
“Don’t feel pressured. Speak freely.”
“There’s only one that comes to mind right now.”
Jinhyun took out a pen and wrote on a nearby piece of paper.
Last.
Handsome asked about the origin of the name. Jinhyun answered with an awkward laugh.
“To be the very last one standing anywhere, anytime, and save people… something like that.”
After hearing Jinhyun’s answer, Handsome removed his sunglasses and set them on the desk.
“I think I finally have a clearer picture of what kind of person you are.”
With a satisfied smile, Handsome stamped his seal on Jinhyun’s contract.
There are two kinds of people in the world: the good and the evil. If you dig into the details, there are exceptions—people who were once good but turned evil, or those who overcame an evil nature through tremendous effort. But did humanity really hold enough value to warrant examining every last exception? Wouldn’t it be simpler if there were only two types? Life would be much easier that way.
“Crunch, crunch…”
A quiet night street. Deserted and silent. Piles of construction materials that had never become buildings and bare skeletal frames lined the area. This was one of the many failed surface elevator development zones destroyed by monster attacks.
“Come out. I know you’re there.”
I spoke to the stalker who had been following me for some time.
“Why do you keep trailing after me? Do you have something to say?”
“……”
“Aish, stop wasting time and just come out already. I’m a busy person.”
At my urging, the mysterious stalker finally revealed their form from the shadowed space.
The stalker’s identity was the ham-fisted aunt from the department store kidnapping incident—the one I had briefly stayed with.
“Hands up.”
“Yessir.”
I immediately thrust both hands above my head in a surrender pose. She was holding a pistol. It seemed she had learned from our last encounter that her fists couldn’t even wring a chicken’s neck properly. Remarkable self-awareness.
“You… tell me the truth.”
The aunt pointed the gun at me with a trembling voice.
“This… it was all your doing, wasn’t it…?”
“Pardon?”
“Don’t play innocent!! Do you have any idea how hard my life has become because of you!?”
Bang!
The bullet that left the barrel flew at high speed and punched a hole in the ground.
“Messages come in every single day without fail!! Death threats, terror warnings, character assassination, curses—dozens, hundreds of them!! And that’s not all! When I walk down the street I hear people who I’ve never even spoken to in my life whispering about me! It’s gotten so bad that if someone bumps into me or pushes past, I start feeling paranoid for no reason!!”
“Oh… and?”
“What…?”
I shrugged as if I had no idea what the problem was. If you removed the terror warnings, it was exactly—down to the last syllable—what Enhanced Humans went through on a daily basis.
“Is that it? You’re whining over something so minor?”
“You… you little—!!”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Enraged by my words, the aunt fired continuously without giving the barrel time to cool. Soon the empty magazine clicked against the firing pin, echoing hollowly.
“Huff… huff…”
Her ragged breathing could be heard through the thick gun smoke. Then the smoke cleared.
“All done?”
“Hiiik…!!”
The aunt and I experienced a touching reunion.
“Wh-what the…!? Why aren’t you dead…!?”
“Maybe because you’re a terrible shot?”
I brushed off the spots where the bullets had only left scratches and walked toward her.
“Enhanced Human…? You were an Enhanced Human!?”
“Auntie.”
“D-don’t come any closer…!! Actually, this is perfect. What can you do to me anyway? You’re an Enhanced Human!! If you go back to the city, you’re finished! I recorded this whole scene!!”
“Auntie?”
“What, what do you want, you bitch!!”
“I like people like you, Auntie. Compared to you, I can really feel how good I am.”
“Wh-what the hell does that… mmph…!! Mmph!!”
I used psychokinesis to clamp her mouth shut. Since she kept trying to run, I also locked down her entire body so she couldn’t move.
“Up we go.”
I sat on a suitable block nearby. In my hand was the instant noodle packet I’d been eating earlier.
Crunch, crunch…
“So, Auntie, what exactly gave you the confidence to stalk me? You even brought a revolver loaded with seven bullets.”
“…Pwah!! Obviously because I knew you were the mastermind and came after you!!”
“No, I mean what was your evidence?”
“What? That’s… well…”
“Shall we be honest with each other? You just needed someone to blame, didn’t you, Auntie?”
“……”
“Your face was already plastered all over the internet from the CCTV footage, so you couldn’t show it in public. Then I appeared in court as a witness, played the video, and humiliated you twice. That must have really pissed you off, right?”
“…So what!! Does that mean you’re not the one who orchestrated all this!?”
“Actually, I am.”
When I answered confidently, the aunt’s face flooded with confusion.
“You are…?”
“Yes. But you didn’t shoot because you were certain I was the culprit, did you?”
“What does that matter? You just admitted it…”
“What if I had been a normal civilian?”
I ignored her and lifted her sturdy body into the air. Slowly, I planned to raise her until I reached the limit of my psychokinesis range—100 meters.
“Kyaaaaaack!!”
The aunt flailed wildly like a freshly caught fish. The more she struggled, the faster and higher she rose.
“Put me down… put me down…!! The ground is getting farther away!!”
“Unlike you, I have justification to hurt you, Auntie. I took seven bullets full of your killing intent. Do you know how much that hurt?”
“Put me down right now!!”
“If your reasoning had been wrong and I had been an ordinary citizen, I would have died here from gunshot wounds. So why should you get to live?”
“Stop threatening me!! The nanomachines in your head are screaming, aren’t they? Put me down immediately!!”
“What? Sigh… Auntie.”
I called her in a voice that had grown completely calm.
“You still don’t understand?”
“Understand what!! What!! You can’t kill me anyway!!”
“There are no nanomachines in my head.”
The aunt, who had been shrieking, suddenly went quiet.
“Huh…?”
“Do you understand what that means now?”
Silence fell over the abandoned factory. At this point, even an idiot would have realized. And soon after—
“S-save… save me…”
The aunt’s struggling grew far more desperate than before.
“Save me… s-save…!! Please save me…!!”
“Look at that. All your venom’s gone. You were acting so confident earlier because you thought you’d survive, huh?”
“Save me…!! I said save me, you crazy bitch!!”
“No can do.”
I spread my palm open. By the time all these fingers closed, she would reach the range limit of 100 meters.
“Because only when you die here will justice be served.”
Starting with the thumb, they folded one by one.
“Ah…. Aah….”
Next came the index, ring, middle, and pinky fingers.
“Aaaaaah…..!!”
And finally, at 100 meters.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!”
After a long scream, a sound like an explosion rang through the abandoned factory.
[You have committed an evil act!]
[Murder]
[Villain Points increased by 100]
[Current Villain Points: 200/100000]
[Achievement Unlocked!]
[Something You Must Get Used To]
[Additional 400 Villain Points acquired]
[Current Villain Points: 600/100000]
[Sub Mission Unlocked]
[Checking...]
“Hey, hey. Not this again.”
I hurriedly pressed the X button firmly. This damn status window always tried to shove weird things at me when I was trying to savor the moment. I glanced at the achievement section displayed on the window.
[Something You Must Get Used To]
The condescending tone annoyed me greatly. Then the name of the achievement on screen changed.
[First Kill]
“……”
I closed the status window and went to find where the aunt’s corpse had fallen. I needed to retrieve the recorder.