Episode 1 — Unique Magic, Reversal
It was Reversal, the unique magic I awakened after falling into this novel.
To explain what kind of magic it was: it could literally reverse the properties of matter.
For example, I could reverse the direction of a bullet flying toward me, swap positions with my opponent, or flip the results of a gacha pull.
Reversal
What I held in my hand was my smartphone. I was in the middle of playing a typical mobile gacha collection game.
I'd just done a 10-pull, and hating the results, I used my magic. Suddenly, the gacha screen—packed with trash—had reversed.
The worst outcome—nine N-ranks and one SR—had flipped to nine SSRs and one N-rank.
It was such a cheat-level magic that I wondered if this was even allowed.
I was grinning ear-to-ear at my smartphone when I sensed someone beside me.
"Hero Mirror. Already slacking off on day one?"
A seductive woman's voice tickled my ear.
Turning my head, I saw a woman in a pitch-black gothic dress like the night sky, her crimson hair cascading to her waist, neatly arranged, a faint smile on her lips.
"Excellent attitude. Sloth is a virtue every great hero should cultivate."
Absurd words. But they cut right to the heart of this world.
Heroes who seized the reins of power through superpowers wielded authority beyond medieval nobles.
"Thank you... Lady Elizaveta."
"No need to thank me. Oh, want a candy?"
Elizaveta held out a red candy. The bold red ginseng graphic made me hesitate.
"I'll gladly have one."
Still, I took it. She was a vampire from Jesus's era—a monster over 2,000 years old. Better not to upset her whims.
Crunch, crunch.
As I noisily crunched the candy, a hand patted my head like I was cute.
She probably saw it as a grandma doting on her grandkid.
But I felt like I'd shoved my head into a tiger's jaws.
She looked like an innocent grandma who loved red ginseng candies now, but inside lurked a psycho who'd explode a person's head just for not greeting her properly. She did it to a blind man once—after gouging out his eyes herself...
"Oh my. You didn't use magic this time?"
"...Hehe, no reason to when the candy's this tasty...?"
"Good change. Even Mirror's come to appreciate the coolness of red ginseng candy?"
"Y-Yes...?"
The first day I met Elizaveta, I'd secretly swapped the candy in my mouth for gum from my pocket.
She caught me using mana and nearly sent me to the Jordan River.
I'd tried to endure, but blood-flavored red ginseng candy was impossible to swallow.
"Here's another one."
"Th-Thank you...?"
Crunch.
The shattered candy swapped with a flavorless water candy from my pants pocket.
All that desperate practice hiding my mana had paid off—she didn't notice my sleight of hand.
"Oh, right. Someone I want to introduce."
Clap, clap. Elizaveta applauded, and the door opened. A girl crawled in on all fours.
"My new arch-enemy."
"Woof!"
I knew that face.
S-rank villain Leviathan. A superpowered being who could turn Eurasia into Atlantis with a flick of her finger.
Right now, she was rolling on her back in front of me, panting happily.
"Doesn't Mirror have an arch-enemy yet?"
"...No."
"You should get one. It bumps your dispatch priority and makes things convenient."
I just laughed at the joke of assigning homework to an S-rank villain.
"Want me to hook you up with one?"
"No, I'm good. Really."
"Got someone in mind already?"
Elizaveta's eyes sharpened, sizing me up, so I pulled my cutest face to avoid offending her.
"Nah, wouldn't dream of it. Just don't wanna trouble you, Lady Elizaveta."
"Oh my. How thoughtful. Then how about Levi?"
Her vampire nonchalance—treating an S-rank villain like a hamster pup for sale—was staggering.
"Grrr...!"
I averted my eyes from the growling Leviathan and shook my head.
"Nah, not my type."
"Pity."
Elizaveta licked her lips and placed a hand on my shoulder.
"Shall we go then?"
"Huh? Where?"
"To gymnastics."
Hero Association Incheon HQ, fourth floor. This housed a fitness center for young heroes. Every Wednesday at 3 p.m., gymnastics class under Elizaveta's watchful eye.
"Stretch both arms straight to the sky!"
"Stretch!!"
Girls from elementary to middle school age followed the instructor, arms reaching up.
"Stretch...!"
I was right there among them.
"Stretch your sides to the side!"
"Stretch!!!"
"Tall~ hee hee, hee hee hee, big~ buh buh, buh buh buh, grow tall! Grow tall! Grow tall!"
"Grow tall!! Grow tall!! Grow tall!!"
Why the hell was I doing this stretchy nonsense?
"Hehe, so cute."
Why? The vampire granny, of course.
As payment for the title "Sole Survivor Who Spat Out Red Ginseng Candy," I'd earned Elizaveta's punishment: join gymnastics.
She'd seen my papers saying I was 20, but shoving me in with the kids was pure twisted hobby.
Still, even with the one adult (me, sans instructor) in the mix, the class picture didn't shatter—which was infuriating.
"Stretch!!"
Forced to chant under the 2,000-year-old psycho vampire's gaze, my eyes met the instructor's.
"St-Stretch!"
She knew my real age, like Elizaveta, and awkwardly looked away.
I wanted to drop my arms, cover my face, but I powered through.
I was just bowing to external pressure—not truly believing this crap would make me taller.
I always gave my all, no exceptions.
"Stretch!!"
I seriously didn't believe it.
"Friends! See you next week!"
"Good work!!"
"Good work!"
The hour-long ordeal ended.
"...Miss Mirror?"
"Oops."
I'd mindlessly bowed navel-level like the kids, and the instructor eyed me dubiously.
"Y-You faked your papers—"
"No, that's not it. My eyes are accurate. I swear, Hero Mirror is twenty."
"Ah, a-ah... right."
...This was straight-up bullying, right?
"Don't be shy, Mirror. Holding onto your innocence at twenty is something to be proud of."
Couldn't even snap back at her status. I swallowed my rage, thinking of the red ginseng shards in my pocket.
Beep!
Villain sighted near the bank at the city hall entrance intersection. Dispatch requested.
A villain nearby.
"Ah, Lady Elizaveta. I'll head out now."
Trying to bail on villain duty, but her face soured.
"Do you have to? Why not skip and do more gymnastics with me?"
An hour of humiliation, then gymnastics with a monster? Kill me instead...
"Kidding. Kidding. Don't make that face—I might get hurt?"
"Ehehe, th-then I'll go and come back...?"
"Promise? I'll wait."
Fuck.
"Dealing with villains threatening civilians" like this was grunt work for heroes without an arch-enemy, like me.
That's why Elizaveta kept pushing me to get one. More free time for her to toy with me.
But I already had my pick: Marian, the protagonist of the novel I entered.
I'd left the arch-enemy slot open for her debut.
Arch-enemies only release after capture—which means death.
No resources wasted on superpowered threats to the hero-enforced order, not even a grain of rice.
But I had reasons for killing time on phone games and stretch class instead of hunting Marian.
No worry other heroes would snatch her first.
Marian was a born attention whore, and heroes hated that.
Even these slacker heroes couldn't ignore a villain terrorizing on live broadcast.
Me taking her out quietly? They'd thank me.
"Tch, already?"
At the bank, clowns armed with guns.
"Don't move! Move and the hostages die!"
Guns already made them third-rate. No big deal.
Daylight bank heist had me thinking S-rank, but false alarm.
I relaxed my grim face and cracked my knuckles.
"You teachers trusting puny guns to rob a bank?"
"D-Don't come closer!! I'll shoot!"
A clown pressed his gun to a hostage's temple. The balding middle-aged man wept.
"Hero! Save me, please!"
"Hear that? Kneel and hands up, now!"
This punk, treating me like a kid. And that lame command.
Couldn't hold back my twitching brow.
"—Reverse."
Snap.
The clowns' guns turned to grenades.
"—Reverse."
Snap.
The hostages became stones.
"—Reverse."
Snap.
My location flipped outside the bank.
The "hostages" beside me blinked in confusion.
——BOOM!!
An explosion rocked the bank interior. Flames and black smoke billowed from shattered windows amid screams.
I pulled out my phone.
Click! Pretty proof-shot sent.
Now my paycheck got an extra 50,000 won bonus.
Minus repairs, it'd be negative—but legally guaranteed minimum dispatch fees meant no paying for damage.
Blowing the bank sky-high felt refreshing.
"Ugh... urgh..."
I pulled the groaning clowns from the wreckage.
My grenades were "non-lethal." Harmful to buildings, harmless to bodies.
Didn't know the principle. Elizaveta gave them. Too scared of the answer to ask.
"I-I'll help too!"
"Me too!"
Citizens pitched in on rescues. Rare sight—more endangered than a "rescue-focused hero."
Warm scene as we wrapped with zero fatalities.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
...Finally. It was time.
To meet my arch-enemy.