Did You Do This?
Seo Eunha.
Official A-Rank hero of the Association. Codename: Valkyrie.
The protagonist of Midnight City, the game I'd transmigrated into.
Her trademark taciturnity, stats that were impressive even accounting for the fact that this was still the early game, and a healthy dose of justice — blend those together and you got the quintessential protagonist, the archetype itself.
Back when I actually played the game, I'd been quite fond of her.
While every other hero ran around making a complete mess of things, she was different. Visually, mechanically, whatever lens you looked through — she was not the type to betray a player's expectations.
Of course, from where I stood now, the situation was far less agreeable.
For one thing, being the protagonist made her a genuinely difficult opponent.
The one sliver of good news was... the negotiation was more or less finished.
So what could I show this manager right now?
Proof.
Proof that even if an A-Rank hero showed up, it wouldn't change a thing for us.
An A-Rank rating was never something to sneeze at.
There was S-Rank above it, but there were only four of those in the entire country, and those four were... at this point in time, nothing short of monsters that had left human common sense behind entirely.
Which meant A-Rank was, for all practical purposes, the ceiling of human capability.
"Shifty."
[Here.]
"Buy me some time. I'll head out as soon as I'm done here."
Shifty gave no particular reaction, only a short nod.
"Just keep her from getting in. No need to release your limiters or anything."
[Don't worry. I know the meaning of "moderation" as well.]
"......"
Please actually be moderate about it. If you take your limiters off, the story ends right here.
The words had swelled up to my throat when—
A light hiss of displaced air.
Her equipped gear deployed, and the exoskeleton quietly expanded. The leg joints locked into place with a mechanical whir, and a pair of wing-shaped thruster units detached from her back.
And then Shifty smashed straight through the window and took off.
Is there really a person alive who could watch that and not be scared?
I certainly wasn't one of them.
The first time I faced her, I was terrified out of my mind.
I mean, come on — she's out here shooting her own mecha spinoff in the middle of a hero story. Who wouldn't be scared?
Granted, once I learned what was actually inside the suit, all such impressions rather evaporated.
I watched the trajectory where Shifty had vanished into the sky for a moment, then turned my gaze back to the conference room.
The man still there.
The manager of this distribution center.
Face drained to a gray pallor, he remained glued to his monitors like they'd been bolted to his chair.
"Ah, don't mind me — finish what you were doing. It's not like one more of them showing up changes anything."
I cut it off cleanly. Not a threat, not a comfort — just a single fact, delivered as such.
The manager nodded mutely. Then, carefully, he began typing again.
Good. A man who can read the room.
If handing over a few pieces of information is what keeps you alive, that's obviously the safest bet. What exactly would you be holding out for, here of all places?
At this level of activity, the odds of the Association actually taking responsibility for this man were hovering somewhere around zero.
"Keep up the appearance of loyalty to the Association — just enough polish to make it look right. Reports go out on schedule, deliveries happen, everything looks clean from the outside. But you restructure the pipeline so the newest supplies get routed to us instead."
I added, tapping lightly on the desk:
"Part of what gets skimmed flows into the market, and the rest we collect. The margin generated in between is yours. All we need is the supply line kept open. Skim whatever you want, however much you want — we won't ask. Does that make sense?"
Needless to say, one-sided pressure alone wouldn't produce the ideal outcome.
Even if you extracted cooperation, all you'd cultivate was resentment.
However small the influence, it was better to stake some personal gain on the table alongside the fear.
"Ah, and one more offer."
"And what is it this time?"
"If a hero came here, this place would obviously face an Association investigation. You know exactly what the Association's administrative process looks like."
"....."
"That administrative audit — we'll make sure we're nowhere to be found when it happens."
"Is that... even possible?"
"Of course."
Not something I could do for the protagonist, admittedly... but this much, I had to.
If I could have pursued my ideals while nobly standing alone, I would have. Reality just doesn't work that way.
"The hero provoked unnecessary combat, and in the process, internal assets were destroyed. You responded according to Association protocol, but the official record gets framed as the hero's excessive intervention."
"...You're asking me to falsify a report?"
"No. I'm asking you to convey only the plain, verifiable facts. All you have to do is go and say one thing: during a peaceful negotiation, the hero intervened excessively and internal assets were destroyed. See? Simple."
I smiled faintly and added the last piece.
"You'll need to trust us completely. Compared to the Association, we're considerably more flexible, aren't we? And besides — you've got to take your cut too."
Valkyrie eyed the enemy before her.
Strong.
They'd traded blows a handful of times, but... she already knew for certain. This was no ordinary armed criminal. There was no waste in the movements at all.
An A-Rank villain... no, depending on the case, possibly something beyond even that.
[Turn back now, and no one gets hurt.]
At the low, mechanical voice, Valkyrie narrowed her eyes.
"Is that a warning?"
[It is a warning. You still have a choice.]
"...Then, I choose."
In an instant, Valkyrie's shadow vanished.
The moment her fist tore toward Shifty's flank, Shifty's suit gave a short, sharp vibration. The mechanical joints spun at high speed to minimize inertial response, and simultaneously the exoskeletal wings snapped open on reflex.
KWAAANG!!
The collision rang out, and Valkyrie skidded backward across the floor, dropping low again in one fluid motion — coiled for an instant re-charge.
Catching that movement, Shifty raised her head. The suit's optical array flared red as internal protocols executed in rapid succession.
[Purge initiated. Target locked. Execution protocol authorized.]
With the voice, both arm gauntlets transformed once more, revealing high-output equipment purpose-built for close-quarters combat.
And that was the moment.
Click.
The door opened.
The moment I opened the door, what greeted me was Shifty with an arsenal of close-range weaponry fully deployed — and Valkyrie, one step back, wound up and ready to charge.
Yikes... if I'd come out any later, this entire building would've been vaporized.
[Finished?] At Shifty's words I gave a light nod and looked ahead.
Pale gold hair, blue eyes, the cool composure of a striking beauty.
No doubt about it.
That was her, unmistakably...
"The A-Rank hero... Valkyrie."
Her eyebrows rose, just barely.
After a beat of silence, a resolute, low voice came back at me.
"I take it you know who I am?"
I smirked.
Know you? How could I not?
You're the protagonist of this game, after all.
"Impossible not to. You're quite famous."
I took a slow step forward. Deliberately slow — as if to emphasize that I meant no threat.
She reflexively squared her stance. Weight lowered, breath drawn in, eyes tracking my hands and feet.
Well-trained, as expected.
A graduate of the same superpower development institute as me — and on top of that, the elite track. If you went strictly by her in-game stat sheet, she'd supposedly ranked within the top five percent.
I raised my hand.
"Relax. I'm not here to fight. As long as you don't do anything rash."
"And if I do?"
"Well, then..."
I lifted a single switch into view.
"We blow this place. There are at least seventeen people still inside this building, civilians included. Surely someone calling herself a hero wouldn't want to manufacture unnecessary casualties?"
"....."
Valkyrie's expression hardened in an instant. The old habit of biting the inside of her lip surfaced, and her hands curled slowly, slowly closed.
...Got her.
She'd definitely mentioned having a bad memory tied to hostage situations, hadn't she?
Trauma really doesn't wash out easily. In the game it had amounted to a single line of dialogue, but actually living through it would be another matter entirely.
"You... Closer, was it?"
"That's what they call me. Though I do have a real name, of course."
"You're not in the Association's database. Your sudden debut, your opaque background — your record doesn't add up."
"I just prefer working quietly, that's all. Though every now and then, things do blow up like this."
Is she fishing for information, figuring she can't attack with hostages in play?
Pretty good instincts, honestly.
Far better than the heroes who ignore the hostages entirely and start throwing punches first.
Of course, I had no intention of handing anything over that easily.
I know you. You don't know me.
That gap is worth quite a lot.
"Are you Nightfall?"
"You knew already."
"It would be stranger if I didn't. You've left quite a few traces lately."
So she hadn't expected me to stay hidden — apparently the Association wasn't entirely blind after all.
Or maybe she'd simply sniffed it out with that famous intuition of hers.
They don't call it protagonist privilege for nothing.
I shrugged and spoke again.
"Anyway, unfortunate timing on your part. You've knocked on the wrong door today. One more hero showing up wasn't going to change anything."
I fiddled with the switch in my hand as I went on.
"I was finished with my business here anyway."
At those words, Valkyrie's eyes narrowed.
"What business, exactly?"
"Negotiation. That happens around here all the time, doesn't it?"
"You're holding hostages and you have the gall to say that?"
"We need our insurance too, you know. A hero might barge in without warning."
I turned my eyes to her, slowly.
"Like right now."
That was the moment.
Her figure vanished from my sight.
"...!"
A split-second opening.
The switch disappeared from my hand — and the next instant, it was clutched in Valkyrie's grip.
Yeah, her speed really is no joke.
Still, accelerating like that in a single burst had to put a serious strain on her body.
Valkyrie caught her breath for a moment, then turned her gaze back to us.
She took the switch, so now it's her turn — is that it?
I snickered and pulled another switch from my pocket.
"Did you really think I wouldn't have a spare?"
Valkyrie's eyes wavered.
Well, too bad about that. It's already too late.
"Wait... wait, let's just calm down...! We can talk about this—"
"I told you, didn't I? As long as you don't do anything rash, nothing happens. So then..."
I toyed with the switch in my hand, and then—
"Did you do this?"
"DON'T!!"
"Tough luck."
I pressed the switch down.
And at the same moment—
KWAAAAAAANG!
A roar split the air.