The Interview Begins... And Ends!
There is only one way to become a hero.
That is to receive official certification from the Hero Association.
However, that path is brutally treacherous and, above all, unfair.
The content of the exam is strictly confidential.
There are no official guidelines.
It is a daily occurrence for applicants to walk in and be carried out on stretchers.
Some have their bodies shattered, others have their minds broken, and it is not uncommon for some to lose their very ability to manifest powers.
Yet, countless people flock to the Association’s exams every year.
The reason is simple: it is the only path to becoming a hero.
But what about a 'man'?
To begin with, they don't even accept applications.
Rules and regulations aside, it ends with a single sentence: "We do not accept men, 'period'."
Because in this world, men are beings that must be protected.
Exercise? No.
Walking home alone? No.
If a man even gets a bruise on his body, the military—not the police—descends upon his school.
In such a world, a man knocking on the doors of the Association to become a hero?
That is not merely a 'challenge'; it is an 'act of treason' that shatters social taboos.
So, I chose a different way.
A 'shortcut'.
The 'other path' that people have been using for a very long time.
In our Republic of Korea, there exist the '4 Major Hero Corporations', though they vary slightly across the globe.
They discover and train candidates according to their own independent standards, and by submitting letters of recommendation to the Association, they can induce hero certification without the need for an exam.
Among them, the place I chose was the Baeksan Group.
It has been exactly 50 years since its founding.
They possess special authority to cooperate with the military during national disaster situations.
They hold the number one spot in the nation for producing active-duty heroes.
They have 17 active A-rank heroes and over 200 total affiliated heroes.
While other companies obsess over lineage, ability, and educational background, Baeksan, like a true powerhouse, asks nothing of the sort.
Background, gender, academic pedigree... none of it matters. They only look at whether you can endure.
Therefore, this place could be called a 'land of opportunity' for me.
"Participant number 32, please enter."
The interview room.
Beyond the front wall hung the emblem of the Baeksan Group headquarters, and beneath it, five heroes sat in a row, their backs to the sky.
The direction of the light and the sheer presence were all on their side.
It was a structure closer to an interrogation than a simple interview.
They were silently flipping through documents, but every single gaze was filled with a tension that usually only surfaces during battle.
The qualification to sit in this seat.
It wasn't just about career or the intensity of one's power; it was the weight carried only by those who have repeatedly survived.
All of them were active-duty, and naturally, all were women.
The first to catch the eye was the woman with short red hair and tattoos running down to her forearms: Yoon Harim.
A former special forces operative.
Currently a B-rank hero affiliated with Baeksan Group.
Among the strength-based types, her 'pure firepower' is considered unrivaled.
Next to her was the strategist sending a cold gaze from behind her glasses: Baek Doyeon.
Rather than fighting directly, she designs the board.
Tactics over combat; she is the designer and supervisor of Baeksan's internal simulation training system.
The third was Ryu Ayoung, wrapped in full-body protective gear.
A mechanical combat hero.
With a single customized power suit, she has a track record of successfully completing large-scale solo operations in the past.
Next to her was Seo Ian, with bright blonde hair and a slender physique.
A healing-type hero.
She holds the phenomenal record of '100% team survival rate' during combat.
She is the core planner of Baeksan's 'using one enemy to defeat another' strategic operations.
And finally.
The 'seat of honor'.
A woman with an aura distinctly different from the others was sitting there.
Her name is Seraphel.
An A-rank hero personally recruited by Baeksan Group from the United States.
Both her real name and background are classified.
All that is known is that she was once a candidate for the youngest S-rank in the North American Hero Union.
Even after joining Baeksan, she has successfully defended the city solo three times.
Ability evaluation criteria: 'S-rank determination'.
The Association's official comment even stated this:
"The only survival-type combatant in the country capable of maintaining an operational zone on an individual level."
In the country, she is called by various nicknames like 'Angel of the Battlefield' and 'Spear of Frost', and the perception that she is the public face of Baeksan Group and someone who must never be provoked is firmly established.
She was the one who had now set down her documents, mouth shut, eyes fixed.
No one spoke. But everyone felt it.
That Seraphel had stopped.
And it wasn't just her.
All five active heroes sitting in that room.
At this very moment, they were all frozen, staring at a single man.
Frozen by none other than 'fear'.
Murmur, murmur.
"Why, why-why is a man in front of us right now?"
"I, I don't know either... Is this a hidden camera? Yeah, it must be that, right?!"
One side of the interview room.
Yoon Harim, the strength-type hero who had always fought more fiercely than anyone on the front lines.
She was trembling like a terrified mouse, biting her lip hard.
She looked less like an interviewer and more like an old maid whose heart had melted after meeting a man on a blind date whose specs were far beyond her own.
"No, those thighs... they aren't man-thighs... even if I combined my last two boyfriends, they couldn't beat that, right?"
Next to her was the cold strategist, Baek Doyeon.
Even she, who usually never showed a single emotion, was now flipping through documents with her mouth agape and a dazed expression.
"But... is it real? Does a physique like that actually exist?"
Doyeon must have been trying to view Lee Hyunwoo as a subject for tactical analysis.
But with a physique that looked like it belonged in an R-rated manga sitting right in front of her, her brain had simply overloaded.
"Hey, did you see that waistline? Does that make sense? Honestly, forget tactics or whatever, I just want to lay him down!"
The moment a nosebleed dripped from the tip of her nose, someone who had been watching silently raised a hand.
"Applicant number 32... you said your name is Lee Hyunwoo, right?"
Ryu Ayoung, the mechanical hero who always manages herself with cutting-edge suits.
She was famous even within Baeksan for her strict emotional control.
While everyone else was having a mental breakdown, she tried to continue the interview with a calm smile, not a hair out of place.
However.
"Yes, that's correct! I am applicant number 32, Lee Hyunwoo!"
The moment Lee Hyunwoo's voice rang out.
"...?! Even his voice is too tough...! Is a man allowed to have a voice like that? I... did I just get powered up from somewhere?!"
"Ayoung?"
"Ung-gi-it?!"
A warning sound suddenly rang out from her suit.
[Beep-beep-beep... Overload detected. Emotional stabilization protocol failed.]
The heart rate monitor was already piercing through the red line, and an unidentified low-frequency vibration sound spread from inside the suit.
And Ryu Ayoung, eyes rolled back, slammed her face onto the desk without even being able to let out a single word.
Thud!
"......"
"......"
"......"
The interview room was engulfed in silence.
For a while, no one could speak.
Because no one knew how to handle this situation.
And just then, one person quietly stood up.
The healing-type hero, Seo Ian.
"I'm sorry, applicant Lee Hyunwoo. Even though she's like this... she's a virgin who hasn't even held a man's hand once. Last time, she didn't wash her hand all day just because she touched a man's hand once."
"...Ah, I see."
She, who softened the atmosphere with a gentle smile, was closer to a counselor than an interviewer.
That smile contained a strange energy that calmed people down.
Like a blessing spell cast in the middle of a battlefield.
Ian continued the interview on their behalf.
"Then, let's get straight to the point. First question. Why did you apply to our Baeksan Group?"
"Yes. Well, because this is a promising place that leads you on if you have the persistence to not give up..."
"Wait, wait, stop!"
"...?"
But the interview, which had been flowing well, was suddenly cut off.
Ian's voice trembled slightly.
And her expression as she looked at Lee Hyunwoo had changed from an interviewer to a 'woman' in an instant.
Her pupils wavered behind her golden hair.
Unlike a hero, her eyes were shimmering with the heart-shaped pupils characteristic of a villain.
"Not that. Is there, perhaps, a hero you especially respect... or someone you want to become a sidekick for? Isn't there a reason like that? For example, a blonde, healing-type hero who wears heels and is about 172cm tall?"
"...I don't think I have one."
"Why?! Do you really not? A blonde hero whose nickname is Saint and whose name starts with Seo... for example, someone like that?!"
Having already lost her identity as an interviewer, she leaned forward, spitting out words closer to a confession than a question.
"Hey, hey Seo Ian, drool is falling from your mouth!"
That was when it happened.
"Enough."
Crash!
A single punch flew like lightning.
The interview desk was split in two in an instant.
Silence.
No one could breathe.
The only A-rank hero in the room who had been sparing her words until now.
Seraphel.
She looked Lee Hyunwoo straight in the eye with a gaze as hard as steel and said.
"This is not a playground for men to play house."
"...!"
"This is a battlefield where lives are on the line. Do not take the name of hero lightly."
It was a resolute and perfect line.
...It should have been.
However.
"Th... th-th... th-th-th..."
"...?"
Her mouth stopped.
No, it was buffering.
Her steel-like gaze was already slightly moist, and her resolute face was overheating to a reddish hue.
A hero in the top 1% of the world?
Not right now.
At this very moment, she was just a female who had become thoroughly drenched from top to bottom.
'Let's hold the wedding at the Baeksan Association banquet hall... The dress should be pure white... No, would that suit me? I'll handle the invitations myself... No, should I propose first? ...What should I do about the rings? Before that, I just want to... ta-taste him...'
In the end, the only question Lee Hyunwoo received during the 30-minute interview was one.
"Your name is Lee Hyunwoo, right?"
The result was, naturally, a rejection.
Watching his back as he quietly left the interview room, Hyunwoo just muttered.
"...Why?"
I didn't even get to show them what I prepared yet?