The Scout War and the Sudden Promotion
“Since things have turned out this way, the Baek-San Group will... no, we will be taking Hyunwoo-kun with us.”
“Wh...”
“What did you say?!”
Serapel-ssi had dropped a scout proposal out of nowhere.
She had been busy bragging about herself just a moment ago, so when she suddenly brought up scouting, I was stunned, and Shin Yura-ssi, standing next to me, had her jaw hanging wide open.
“Does that mean... you want to bring me into the Baek-San Group?!”
“That’s right, Hyunwoo-kun. You came all the way to our headquarters last week hoping for exactly this, didn’t you?”
“W-well, that’s true, but...”
The Baek-San Group.
It was one of the four major hero groups in South Korea, famous for ignoring academic backgrounds or origins and hiring solely based on talent.
Because of that, it was considered the ultimate goal for many heroes—a place where the true elites gathered, a destination they dreamed of reaching one day.
I had tried applying once myself, only to be rejected immediately, but I didn't hold any grudges. If anything, I thought it had been a good experience.
But this... this was just too sudden.
It didn't make my heart race with joy; it made me feel dizzy, as if I couldn't grasp what was happening. Besides, I already had a small but certain 'affiliation' of my own.
“I-if we’re talking about that, Hyunwoo-ssi could also be taken by our Cheong-Ryong Group!”
“...Huh? The Cheong-Ryong Group wants me? For your information, I’m only a high school graduate.”
“T-that! We could just work around it with a special admission for foreigners! Or something like that! Hyunwoo-ssi!”
...Wait a minute.
The Cheong-Ryong Group, known as the ‘aristocrats of the Korean hero industry’—they were saying that?
The same Cheong-Ryong where you had to have a silver spoon from birth, a prestigious degree, and a family tree a mile long just to barely scrape into an entry-level position?
And I wasn't even sure if Shin Yura-ssi, who hadn't even been with the company for three years, had the authority to make that decision on her own.
And what was this ‘special admission for foreigners’ nonsense?
Since when was I treated like an imported human from overseas?
I knew male sidekicks were rare, but I didn't think I’d be stripped of my nationality over it.
“...Why should we let you do that?”
“?!”
“H-huh?”
That was when it happened.
Baek Seungha, my mentor, who had been listening quietly, let out a sharp scoff.
She pinned both women with a single glare and spoke a single sentence.
“You two seem to be under a misunderstanding... Hyunwoo is *my* sidekick. If you want to take him, you obviously need to get my permission first.”
As soon as those words fell, the atmosphere turned icy.
Both Serapel and Yura shut their mouths, looking as if they’d just realized they’d made a huge mistake.
How should I put it... I hadn't even heard her yell, but I felt like I’d been scolded on their behalf.
“Do you two even know that Hyunwoo is a rookie sidekick who debuted just this week?”
“Ah...”
“T-that is...”
“Coming up to a kid like that and trying to lure him away... your intentions are way too obvious, you know?”
...She was right.
It didn't look like they wanted me because I was talented; it looked like a purely selfish desire, the kind where you just think, ‘I want to own him.’
And just in time, right as she was flipping the table on them...
“Oh? Hey, your pants are wet.”
“T-that’s impossible?! I emptied them out while crying my eyes out yesterday!”
“Yeah. I was just teasing you.”
“......”
Serapel-ssi actually reached into her underwear with a look of genuine panic, and Baek Seungha-seonsaengnim didn't miss the chance to naturally slide in right next to me.
The arm of mine that Yura-ssi had been holding was flicked away lightly by my mentor’s hand.
“Shall we go home now?”
“Ah, yes!”
Linking her arm with mine, she led me away without a moment’s hesitation, and the two left behind could only follow, looking completely dumbfounded.
And finally, right before we turned the corner.
My mentor glanced back at them over her shoulder, smiling lazily as she drove the final nail into the coffin.
“If you want to take him, at least try rolling around in bed with him a few times first. If your faces are written with the greed of ‘I want to eat him up’ like they are now, there’s no way I’m going to let you.”
The day after we safely wrapped up the Masked Gang incident.
The morning was peaceful, making yesterday’s chaos feel like a distant memory.
As if everything that happened yesterday had been a dream.
Under normal circumstances, when there was nothing to do, I would spend my time training my body according to the routine Baek Seungha-seonsaengnim had set for me.
But first, I had to check on Ego.
She had been sleeping quietly in her weapon form the night before, but by morning, she had inevitably returned to her human form.
The problem was... her clothes.
She had no underwear on, and she was wearing nothing but a thin camisole on her upper body.
The soft contours of her chest were subtly visible through the fabric, and I found my eyes wandering before I could stop them.
“...Is she a weapon, so she doesn't feel shame?”
I muttered to myself, carefully pulling out a blanket to cover her.
Seeing her bury her face into the pillow and sleep soundly, I had to admit, she was cute.
I couldn't help the smile that leaked out.
I went outside and did 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, and was just about to start my squats when—
“Hyunwoooooooo!”
“H-Hayon-nuna?!”
A sudden sonic attack from the front.
With a sharp *whiz*, she came flying in, spinning through the air before landing gracefully.
Hayon-nuna, who had made her entrance by throwing her body at me, was wearing her full set of lewd nun’s robes again today.
Every time she lifted her arms, I caught glimpses of *that* place.
As she brushed past me in the wind, I... well, I tried to calm down and ask why she had run over here in such a hurry.
“Y-y-you! You’re on the news!!”
“...Excuse me?”
It had only been three days since I became a sidekick.
Normally, this was the period where I’d be treated like background noise in the hero world—or rather, the kind of person people would ask, “Who are you?” if I tried to talk to them.
Ignoring that, Hayon-nuna shoved her phone in my face and shouted.
“Here! It’s that bank you went to yesterday!”
“Oh? You’re right!”
A MeTube video was playing on the screen.
Along with the provocative title, 《The Male Sidekick Who Saved the Korean Bank?!》, a scene I didn't even know had been filmed was playing.
On the screen, I was walking out of the bank, escorted by police alongside Shin Yura-ssi, with the red sunset in the background.
But the subtitles were... a bit too risqué.
"Everyone! The Masked Gang that ruled the Gangseo-gu area of Seoul! They are currently being arrested by a single man! Look at that! A man with a height taller than most women and sturdy muscles! Doesn't he look absolutely delicious?!"
...It felt less like a news report and more like some erotic fan-fiction video.
"According to our reporting team, this sidekick is not a cross-dresser or a post-op futanari! He is a real man! There are even rumors that he is the hidden son of the prestigious Andong Hyun family!"
Is this even news?
It’s just a tabloid rag playing dress-up as a journalist.
"Most of all! It is highly likely that this male sidekick is the one who actually resolved this incident! The fact that the top floor of the bank collapsed from a single punch of his, and that the armed Masked Gang surrendered out of pure terror, is proof of that!"
Wait a minute. I didn't use my fist?
I fought with Ego, and it was Shin Yura-ssi and Jang Marin who fought that day and destroyed the top floor, and the Masked Gang surrendered because they felt remorse!
And above all... the Andong Hyun family? What even is that?
"Is this really the news? Nothing they said is true."
"Just ignore the beginning~. All these trashy reporters are like that these days. Their specialty is just baiting people and ending it there."
Hayon-nuna shrugged indifferently, looking at the reporter on the screen as if she were cleaning up trash.
Then, she suddenly pointed at the screen again, looking serious.
"Look! The important part starts here!"
"Yes! And the Hero Association has also officially announced that they recognize the achievements of this sidekick and that it was a truly excellent performance!"
"Huh?"
...The Hero Association?
I was enough to be on the Association’s news?
I had played a part, but I was strictly a sub-role.
Yura-ssi was the main act, and sidekicks were usually positions that weren't even mentioned until they became official heroes.
But...
"They say the results will be announced by tomorrow, and I’m so curious I’m practically soaking wet myself!"
...Keep your personal TMI to yourself, and with that, the broadcast cut off.
I had a mountain of questions, but it felt like all the important information had been conveniently left out.
‘Just how much recognition did I get?’
Suddenly, one thing popped into my head.
"Ah, come to think of it... I can just check the Hero Site, right?"
"The Hero Site?"
"Yeah. I’m still a sidekick so there are some restrictions, but if I have my hero license, I can check basic information."
The Hero Site, the collection of all information related to heroes.
It was translated into every language in the world, and most heroes used it to view their own or other heroes' information, reputation, and performance records.
Since I was now a member with that license...
Bang!
"Director! I’m borrowing your computer!"
"Whoa! Knock before you enter! What are you doing barging into an old man’s room like that!"
"Ugh, forget etiquette. I’m the one who cleans up all the hair you shed in your room anyway. If you don't like it, do it yourself!"
"*Gasp*?! H-Hayon... Hyunwoo is right there, don't say such embarrassing things..."
The orphanage director’s room, which had a high-performance computer.
We picked up the director, who had been drinking tea, like a stray cat, set him aside, and immediately logged into the Hero Site.
ID screen, license authentication.
Ding.
"What on earth is going on?"
"It's just that, Hyunwoo appeared on the news!"
"H-Hyunwoo did!? *Gasp*... Then all those horny ones are going to come swarming in again..."
"That’s what I’m saying. If they get too pushy, I’ll use the self-defense techniques for women I’m learning to shove a soju bottle between their legs and smash it with my fist."
"Hoho. That’s impressive."
...Behind the two people discussing such terrifying things as if they were chatting about the weather, my information finally appeared on the screen.
And at that moment.
[Hero Ranking : 40,948,130th → 99,999th]
[Congratulations! You have entered the top 1% of Hero Rankings!]
[This sidekick can now use E-rank hero privileges.]
[Hero Grade Change : F- → E]
“...Huh?”
“Hm?”
“Eh?”
We were all, quite literally, stunned.
Among heroes, an ‘E-rank’ wasn't just a simple grade.
It was the first gateway to officially being granted the title of ‘Pro’.
Even veteran sidekicks who had been active for over ten years often collapsed at this threshold.
There were countless cases where people who obtained their hero license never saw their rank rise, eventually dropping out naturally, or simply giving up and retiring because they felt they’d reached their limit.
The number of currently registered heroes was about 40 million.
Less than 2% of them had achieved E-rank or higher.
The government, corporations, and even the citizens recognized anyone E-rank or higher as a *true* hero.
That was how much it differed in terms of symbolism, authority, and social status.
And yet, I had achieved that E-rank just three days after debuting as a sidekick.
“...Is this, for real?”
Without realizing it, I gripped the mouse so hard my hand started to shake.
The intuition that something unbelievable had happened began to slowly catch up with reality.
But then.
"D-Director! We have a big problem!"
"*Sigh*... This is why I can't even watch adult videos in my own room..."
A nun came rushing into the director’s room, who was sighing as if he’d given up on life.
And then, she dropped a bombshell.
"The Chairman of the Cheong-Ryong Group has come in person, saying they want to adopt a young boy... no, a young man!"
"Eh?!"
"If it’s a young man... that’s only Hyunwoo, isn't it?"
Wait, adopt an adult man?
And the Chairman of one of the four major hero groups in person?
At those words, Hayon-nuna and I both opened our mouths and stared at each other, completely blank.