The Curtain Falls on the Concert Hall Terror
The final act of the concert hall terror ended with a sharp ping. An ice spear flew in a straight line toward the direction she had thrown it. ‘...Did she miss on purpose?’
I had deliberately provoked her by mentioning the civilians to snap her out of it. It was good that she came to her senses right away, but I never expected her to launch an attack at the citizens like that… ‘...Is she going to have a mental breakdown because she killed civilians with her own hands?’
Of course she would. The thought that this was completely fucked slammed into my head. As I was pondering what to do next—
“Scatter—!!”
The flying ice shards suddenly burst apart, and the fragments shot toward the prison-like cages inside the dome. Clap! When she clapped her hands, the pieces wriggled and connected organically, then clung to the iron bars of the cages and froze at an incredible speed.
“Shatter—!”
Crack… craaaack…!Crunch!
“Kyaa!”
“Kyaahhh!”
“I-it broke?”
Finally, she shouted and waved her hand. The solid iron bars crumbled into powder in an instant. I watched the scene with a hint of surprise.
‘Long-range form transformation?’
To think I was seeing a technique that usually only gets mastered after several episodes had passed. It meant she had grown in her own way.
‘Growth from getting excited… that sounds a bit weird, but whatever.’
Anyway, growth was a good thing.
“Huff… huff… huff…”
Probably from overusing her ability, Ice Queen stared at me in a completely exhausted state. Ah, but seeing her legs trembling like that, it clearly wasn’t just from mana depletion.
“You handled that magnificently.”
“Huff… it’s… my victory…”
“This is definitely worthy of being called a masterpiece, Ice Queen.”
It was a bit of a shame that she had been dazed from the tentacles, but in the end, the whole thing had started because she had no choice but to act under my threat. In a way, it could be seen as a noble sacrifice. And on top of that, she had achieved such splendid growth. This part really deserved a round of applause.
Beep—
“...Huh?”
But I pressed the detonator without hesitation.
KWAAAAANG!!
“W-why…”
“Even if you ask why…”
Didn’t you forget something? I shifted my gaze to the timer.
“There was still time left, yet you released the civilians, didn’t you?”
“That was—!”
“This is more than enough to consider a violation of the rules.”
“...You son of a—!”
“Do you really have time to be chatting with me right now?”
Rumble…!
“Kyaaaaah!!”
“W-what do we do!!!”
“Help us!!”
The vibrating rumble of the building grew louder and louder. The hostages, sensing the danger, began to scream.
“Wait! Stop right there, Maker! There… tch!”
I took that opening to turn around and head toward where Polia and 42 were waiting.
“You’ve arrived, Maker-nim.”
“Have the others all left?”
“Yes. They departed as ordered.”
“Good… But why are you in that position?”
“This uncle gave me a piggyback ride, oppa.”
Polia was sitting on 42’s shoulders like they were a chair. Looking at his head, his usually neat hair was now a complete mess.
“...You’ve been through a lot.”
“...It’s fine. I have many younger siblings at home, so this was a common occurrence.”
He looked incredibly tired for someone who said it was common… Well, if 42 said he was okay, then it must be fine.
Either way, escaping came first now.
“Polia-nim. Let’s escape now.”
“Got it.”
Polia grabbed my hand and 42’s. Vrrrr— She activated her ability, and we returned to the organization.
“Bye, chicken coop.”
“Kyaaah!! I told you not to teleport directly into my office!”
“Haha…”
There was a small mishap, but that was how my concert hall terror came to an end.
“...Anyway, this terror operation wrapped up nicely too.”
“Yes. I think I’m quite satisfied with it as well.”
At first I thought it might fail because of those weird weaklings from the Red Heroes, but Ice Queen showed up at the end and saved the day.
‘And as a bonus, I even helped Ice Queen grow.’
“......”
When I smiled in satisfaction, Astra made a strange face. The moment our eyes met, her face flushed red and she whipped her head away.
…? What’s with her?
“I… I watched the terror, you know…?”
While I was wondering, she carefully opened her mouth. The more she stammered, the redder her face became.
“The tentacles…”
“Yes. Is there a problem with the tentacles?”
“No… It’s just that it seemed a bit too rough on a young girl, that’s all.”
“I believe she’s well over twenty, so calling her a young girl is a bit…”
She was younger than Astra, but Ice Queen was clearly an adult. Treating someone who already looked so mature on the outside like a little girl was a bit…
“By the way, it’s rare for you to worry about a hero, Astra.”
“As a fellow woman, it’s only natural to feel bad for her.”
“Hmm.”
Well, it was true that her helpless moans and the way she was violated had been broadcast live. Of course, since the Association also had people with similar abilities to our organization members, it probably wouldn’t cause any further issues.
“The internet is probably going crazy right about now, isn’t it?”
“I suppose so.”
She wasn’t going to stop working as Ice Queen, and since she planned to continue, this was something she would have to endure for a while.
“I should check the internet reactions later.”
“......”
But that was something the heroes should take care of among themselves. It wasn’t my job to fix it. Unless she became incapacitated later, she should just get back up on her own for now.
“Oppa.”
As soon as I finished my report and stepped into the hallway, a girl came running toward me with quick, light steps.
“Lee Gayeon, were you waiting for me?”
“Yeah.”
I stroked her head.
“Aren’t you tired?”
“Nope. I’m strong.”
At my question, she rolled up her sleeve and flexed to show off her nonexistent biceps. I couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight.
‘Looks like the Elixir I went through all that trouble to get her really worked.’
It seemed the effort of hunting down those villains had paid off.
“It’s good that you’re so strong.”
“Yeah.”
Lee Gayeon proudly placed her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest.
“If you had been tired, I was debating whether we should take a nap together.”
“...Huh?”
“Then I’ll just leave you to play. I’m tired, so I’ll take a short nap…”
Grab.
The moment I turned to leave, she tightly clutched my sleeve.
“I’m sleepy too.”
“Pardon?”
“I suddenly feel tired. I want to take a nap with you, oppa.”
“But just a second ago you clearly said…”
“I want to sleep too.”
She puffed her cheeks out in an expressionless pout and looked up at me. It was so adorable that I wanted to tease her even more, but—
‘I’ll stop messing with her here.’
“Alright. Then let’s take a nap together.”
Barely suppressing the urge, I smiled with my eyes and took her hand.
“Koooo—”
“Sleep well.”
She had insisted she wasn’t tired, yet the moment we lay down together she fell asleep even faster than I did. Even after I woke up from a nap, she was still sleeping. She must have been more exhausted than she let on.
Swish…
“Mmm…”
I gently stroked her hair so as not to wake her, then properly tucked in the blanket and headed to the sofa.
‘Alright, time to check the reactions.’
After the previous terror, when I went out to hunt villains, I had only roughly checked the news reactions. But today, I planned to take a comprehensive look at how the citizens viewed me.
I picked up my smartphone and turned it on.
As expected, the news itself wasn’t very nutritious. Just the usual “I caused this much impact” and “this is how the aftermath was handled” level of reporting. I hit the back button and immediately accessed an internet community.
“Wow.”
The posts were overflowing with profanity and every kind of dark, lustful desire imaginable. The more extreme ones were being deleted by users with orange and blue badges, but new posts were appearing faster than they could be removed.
I first checked the top post.
‘They’re really tearing them apart.’
It seemed there had already been a lot of built-up resentment. The Red Heroes were being shredded to pieces. I offered them a brief moment of silence before hitting the back button. After all, they weren’t my problem.
Wondering what the next post would say, I clicked on another one with a pounding heart.