145
Ch.145 Why Now of All Time
Upon receiving the news that Jung Ho-young had regained consciousness, Yoo Anna immediately headed to A-City with Iron Might.
“Huff… huff…”
Iron Might, whose entire body had been battered by the absurd contraption called the ‘Hero Cannon,’ collapsed from exhaustion the moment they arrived in A-City. Yoo Anna, seeing Nam Kyung waiting at the landing point, immediately asked about Jung Ho-young’s condition.
“You said Jung Ho-young regained consciousness? How is he? Ah, Electress too… where’s Electress?”
“She’s talking with Jung Ho-young right now.”
“They’re both in the same place? Iron Might, let’s go see your girlfriend. Pull yourself together and follow me.”
“Are you okay? It must be tough for an A-rank to handle this.”
“Just… just give me a second… Phew, have you been using this ridiculous thing to move around all this time?”
Leaving Iron Might to recover on his own, Yoo Anna walked ahead. Inside the temporary headquarters, which had been hastily repaired after the building’s collapse, she arrived at the treatment room where Jung Ho-young was. Just as she reached the door, Electress stepped out, having seemingly finished her conversation.
Electress’s eyes widened in surprise upon seeing Iron Might, but she quickly averted her gaze with a sullen expression.
“…What’s this?”
“Ms. Maria.”
“You didn’t come when I called, and now it’s too late. Hmph, it’s pointless to try and stop me now… Ah!”
“Let’s talk over there for a moment.”
“Let go! I said let go!”
Unable to properly use her abilities, Electress was dragged down the hallway by Iron Might, who firmly held her wrist. Yoo Anna gave Iron Might a look, signaling him to handle the conversation well, before entering the treatment room.
“Jung Ho-young?”
Seeing Jung Ho-young sitting up on the bed—unlike his usual unconscious state whenever he was in A-City—Yoo Anna felt an inexplicable unease. His gaunt face, emaciated body revealing the shape of his bones, and the faint, irregular heartbeat that seemed ready to stop at any moment contrasted sharply with his sharper-than-ever eyes, which glowed eerily in the dim room as they fixed on her. Unconsciously, Yoo Anna recalled the monstrous resonance that had emanated from his heart before he lost consciousness.
“As soon as I open my eyes, I’m bombarded with visitors.”
“You’re Jung Ho-young, right?”
“Hmm… Yeah, that’s right. That I am here isn’t a dream or an illusion.”
Jung Ho-young naturally reached out to the side, where his two secretaries handed him a small plate of sliced fruit and tea. Watching him silently accept and eat eased some of Yoo Anna’s anxiety.
“Seems like you’re fully conscious. How’s your body?”
“A wreck, as you can see.”
Jung Ho-young weakly emitted a pulse of his ability, as if to demonstrate. The wavelength was discordant, irregular, and on the verge of collapsing.
“At this level, even a D-rank would struggle.”
It was a mystery how he was even conscious with his heart—the core of his ability’s output—in such a state. Without the near-monstrous recovery of an S-rank superpower human, he would have died long ago.
“I’ve heard bits and pieces about what’s happened. I’ve reviewed the reports too. A safe zone created by Black Cat, who became an extinction-level monster? Sounds like a fairy tale. I always thought creating a perfect safe zone was impossible… Hmm, maybe we should’ve dragged Black Cat to A-City by any means necessary.”
Jung Ho-young picked up a tablet from the bedside table and showed her the screen. It displayed a brief report on the current state of W-City, likely compiled by his secretaries.
“I’ve also heard about the current situation. The manpower shortage due to A-City’s restoration and W-City’s refugee crisis seems severe. Especially with the lack of S-rank heroes…”
Jung Ho-young glanced toward the door.
“Earlier, Electress came by and told me. She’s pregnant, huh? I never thought I’d see the day Electress would take a leave of absence for pregnancy. Life’s full of surprises.”
“Tell me about it. And with Iron Might, of all people.”
“It’s a blessing, but holding A-City with just Baskerville is impossible. Electress knows that too—she even suggested terminating the pregnancy.”
“Don’t tell me you—”
It was a cruel reality, but female high-ranking heroes who became pregnant were often met with public backlash, as their absence created a huge gap in the city’s defense. Even if people congratulated them to their faces, most would criticize them behind their backs for being irresponsible. While heroes themselves celebrated each other’s pregnancies, this timing was particularly bad.
“Objectively, this isn’t the right time to have a child. But this is a precious child between a S-rank and A-rank superpower human. I persuaded her to keep it.”
“Sigh…”
“The awakening rate of children born between superpower humans is far higher than those of non-superpower human parents. Anyone can see that Electress and Iron Might’s child would be a thoroughbred.”
In fact, the number of awakened individuals increased with each generation for this very reason. Even beyond that, conceiving and bearing a child in this era of monsters was considered sacred, something no one dared to interfere with. The problem was that awakened individuals stood on fundamentally different ground from ordinary humans in many ways.
“With my body like this, I can’t fill Electress’s vacancy either. Without a proper S-rank superpower human, A-City will gradually lose its citizens.”
The withdrawal of a high-ranking superpower human like Electress from the battlefield would inevitably lead to increased civilian casualties. Raising these practical concerns, Jung Ho-young sighed and placed a hand on his chest.
“Sorry to disappoint, but there’s no S-rank hero named ‘Kage’ left to solve all these problems.”
What remained here was the dregs of what was once Kage—his heart in ruins. Seeing him blame himself, Yoo Anna scoffed.
“What are you talking about? Who said I came here expecting you to fix everything?”
“Hmm? Isn’t it obvious? You rushed here the moment I woke up, riding that absurd contraption.”
“I came because my colleague nearly died and came back to life.”
“Heh heh heh…”
Jung Ho-young laughed weakly, clutching his stomach.
“My apologies for the misunderstanding. In A-City, the only people who’d visit me the moment I woke up were those asking for favors.”
“It’d be a lie to say I don’t expect your help at all, but I don’t want to dump everything on a patient.”
“Hmm, I’ll take the sentiment. But resting isn’t an option right now.”
Jung Ho-young had his secretaries bring a chair for Yoo Anna to sit beside his bed.
“It’s impossible for the superpower human named Kage to solve everything now, but that doesn’t mean I can just sit back and do nothing. As a hero, I’m dead, but as a human, I’m still alive. Let’s think of a solution for the current situation together.”
“I appreciate that.”
“No need to apologize.”
Seeing Yoo Anna’s guilt over relying on a freshly awakened patient, Jung Ho-young manipulated the tablet and continued.
“You’ve always said that if you’re not good at something, you should leave it to those who are. Let’s work together, shall we?”
“I meant it’s good if people do it voluntarily, not that I’d force work on a patient.”
“I’m volunteering now. And… this was inevitable anyway.”
“What do you mean?”
“My methods don’t suit a safe city.”
Jung Ho-young calmly voiced a long-held thought.
“I can lead citizens, but I can’t earn their proper trust. My methods aren’t clean either. The same goes for those under me. Staying at the top would only breed corruption.”
He had known this all along but had no other choice.
“I planned to overthrow and purge the higher-ups before passing control to you… but things have changed too much. Black Cat, that monster, achieved my lifelong goal of creating a safe zone.”
“What? Wait, pass control to me?”
“You’re the right ruler for a safe city, not me. Hmm… It’s a shame I can’t be your second-in-command to handle the dirty work you can’t touch, but that’s life. From now on, I’ll advise you from the sidelines.”
Jung Ho-young had confirmed through statistics that Yoo Anna had been managing the city’s complaints, food supply, and crime rates to maintain stability. Since he lost consciousness, the casualties in A-City and W-ctiy had been fewer than ten.
“Seems like you’ve been doing pretty well. Better than I expected.”
“‘Well’? People died because we arrived too late.”
“That was due to Electress losing control of her abilities after what happened. Your standards are too high. Managing two cities with fewer than ten casualties—even I couldn’t do that.”
Compared to W-City, which had suffered no casualties, the losses in A-City were painful, but even its citizens and heroes considered it a miracle.
“But this is as far as it goes. Neither I nor Electress can fight for a while. If this continues, A-City’s citizens will slowly die off.”
After praising Yoo Anna’s efforts, Jung Ho-young bluntly stated the reality. However, there was no clear solution to the problem.
“What do you think is the best course of action?”
“…First, I’m thinking of asking Black Cat to stay in A-City for a while. Once you’ve fully recovered or Electress has given birth and regained her strength, we can hold out again.”
“Relying entirely on Black Cat and holding out until A-City can rebuild its fortress… Not bad. But it’s not a real solution.”
Yoo Anna nodded at Jung Ho-young’s words. No matter how trustworthy Black Cat was, relying on a monster wasn’t a true solution. If Black Cat ever left the city or even went for a walk, it would immediately trigger an emergency.
“No matter how much Black Cat helps, humans need the power to protect themselves. Black Cat is still a monster. We can use its help temporarily, but we must never take its existence for granted.”
“Agreed. The problem is there’s no other solution right now.”
“Then let’s summarize the issues we need to solve.”
Jung Ho-young looked around the room as he spoke. The safety of A-City, the shortage of heroes, W-City’s food shortage, and the influx of refugees.
“The easiest solution is still terminating Electress’s pregnancy, but let’s save that as a last resort.”
“Electress seemed very unstable. If we push her too far, she might turn villain.”
“Even if she doesn’t, forcing her into that would hardly make her a reliable asset. Earlier, she kept touching her stomach, saying she should give up.”
“There’s also the villain problem in W-City. We’re screening refugees, but the prisons are full, and we lack surveillance personnel. We’re just short-handed everywhere.”
“What about borrowing some of A-City’s soldiers and police? With the current restoration progress, the superpower humans alone could manage public order for a while.”
“No good. Right now, the military and police are needed to prevent illegal refugees, not just maintain order.”
“Hmm, fair point.”
“Um… isn’t the term ‘illegal refugees’ a bit odd? Refugees are just refugees. If anything, they’d be illegal residents.”
“Probably another term coined by those pigs who refuse to admit their incompetence. They’d rather label date people than properly manage them…”
As the discussion continued, time passed unnoticed. Everyone seemed a bit tired, and the conversation began to drift.
“Refugees… huh.”
Jung Ho-young fell silent, lost in thought. The manpower crisis in W-City, villain management, the hero shortage, A-City’s safety—if conventional solutions wouldn’t work, perhaps an unconventional one was needed. After a long pause, he spoke.
“Starlight, what do you think about relocating all of A-City to W-City?”
“What? That’s…”
Yoo Anna frowned at the absurd suggestion—until, like puzzle pieces falling into place, her eyes widened in realization. W-City’s food shortage would be solved if Maister moved there. A-City’s safety would be ensured if its citizens stayed with Starlight and Black Cat. And if A-City’s heroes and military relocated to W-City, the manpower shortage for managing villains and refugees would vanish.
“Abandon A-City?”
“It’s already a ruined fortress. The river resources are valuable, but if we expand W-City, we’ll eventually reach the upstream area. We’d lose nothing.”
What mattered wasn’t A-City itself but its citizens. Relocating them to W-City would solve most of their problems at once. There was just one issue: how to move that many people?
But everyone already knew the answer.
“If Black Cat helps just a little, it’s possible.”
The safe zone revolved around Black Cat.