Transformation! That's Not How You Do It (1)
The moment Yumir pounced on me, I began to sense mana rampaging in the distance. What was a rampage? It was easiest to think of it as a middle schooler's chuunibyou exploding in all its glory. The problem was that it wasn't some black flame dragon thrashing inside her—it was the demon within her imagination going berserk. And compounding that, her superpower was amplifying through the power of a real demon.
Just like how Red Scarf, who had been A-rank, suddenly gained near S-rank power in the past, that girl over there in the hood was now craving strength and spiraling into rampage.
"Kyahaha!"
The girl who burst through the wall by smashing it started swinging her arms wildly. Black mana bullets erupted from her hands, bombarding the restaurant interior, but the patrons didn't scramble to flee in panic. Instead—
"She's rampaging! Block it!"
—they each unleashed their own superpowers to defend themselves. This was Sejong Island. The customers, the part-timers, even the chefs in a place like this could all be superpowered individuals.
"What the hell is she?! Who is that?!"
"High school gym uniform! Damn it, a high schooler with chuunibyou?!"
"Isn't that more like second-year syndrome?!"
"Not the time for jokes! That thing's insanely strong!"
Rampages were somewhat common among superpowered folk, so everyone reacted swiftly, but the issue was how potent this girl's mana was.
"You weaklings dare...!"
Boom!
The restaurant shook as the girl stomped lightly. "Teacher, are you okay?!"
"I'm fine, but you, Miss Yumir...?"
"I'm good."
Yumir was still sprawled on top of me, vigilantly surveying the chaos. "Can you stand? Escaping through the entrance looks impossible right now."
She quickly scanned escape routes with her eyes, analyzed the enemy girl's powers, and helped me up. "If that doesn't work, we'll have to fight..."
"Fight? That's dangerous. I don't have a precise sense for superpowers or mana, but..."
"Haaah!"
A boy in high school uniform wrapped his fist in green flames and charged at the girl. "Fire Punch!"
"Begone!"
Kaboom!
The girl swatted him away like a fly. For a split second, a massive serpent tail flickered behind her.
"W-what was that just now? I didn't imagine it, right?"
"...Looks like those rumored rampages."
"Rumors?"
"Yeah. That suspicious rumor spreading around Korea lately... Oh. You might not know since you're Korean, Teacher. Korea's got tight info control. Sorry, forget I said that."
"M-more importantly."
I pointed to the boy embedded in the far wall. "That's 'Mint Fire.' B-rank with a bright future ahead. And she just brushed off a B-rank like that..."
"Rampagers are hard to gauge at full power. But most... spike to A or even S-rank. At the cost of their lifespan."
"Life...span?"
How does she know that?
"What do you mean?"
"Sorry. Talking more could put you in danger. Um... one favor?"
Yumir winked subtly at me. "Keep what happens next a secret?"
"A secret?"
"Yeah. I don't really want people knowing yet."
I nodded without thinking. It wasn't just because she was a superpowered girl; her words felt strangely familiar, like something I'd heard before.
"I'll protect you, Teacher. And... watch me."
Yumir pulled something from her pocket. A belt?
"Transform."
Transform
She fastened the belt around her waist. Her body shimmered gold, then vanished in a burst of light.
"What the...?"
As my hand instinctively went to my face amid the sudden turn, "Kyahaha! You nobodies acting all high and mighty!"
The rampaging girl roared in madness. "Kyahaha, die, die!"
Her eyes turned demonic—black sclera, white irises inverted—like a true demon's. She began bombarding the restaurant with black orbs conjured around her.
"Gahk!"
A man who looked like a regular got his gut smashed by one orb. It was just a fist-sized sphere, yet it sent him flying like a truck hit, tumbling across the floor.
"Dad!"
The girl with him screamed and rushed to help, but he was already limp, blood pooling from the back of his head.
"Th-this...!"
Probably. High chance. Dead.
This world was full of death wherever superpowers were involved. The girl was way past juvenile offender age, but the number killed by delinquent superpowered kids far outstripped those dying of liver cancer.
"Dad, open your eyes! Dad!"
"Kyahaha. Always ignoring me... Serves you right!"
"What did my dad ever do to you?!"
The girl thrust her hands forward, guarding the fallen man. "You monster! You're not even human!"
"Right! I'm not human! I've got power beyond you pathetic superpowered worms! I'm... a demon! Ahaha!"
She'd become a madwoman proclaiming herself a demon.
"I am the dark manifestation that will raze this land, Darkness Nebrutias Lilith!"
This is insane. Screaming an epithet like it's hers.
"Behold my power!"
The problem was her voice now overlapping—like a beast's, an old man's, a savage warrior's.
'The demon comes.'
A demon born from human malice, murder, hatred, rage, slowly manifesting into reality through the girl's 'imagination.' Crimson-black wings unfurled behind her, her form shifting into a classic demoness—succubus archetype.
"Kyahaha! I am—"
A distorted woman's voice, speaking crisp, clear Korean. Golden light exploded from outside the restaurant.
"That's..."
"What are you?!"
Beyond the girl stood a golden figure straight out of a tokusatsu show.
Like it was themed after an 'imperial dragon.'
What the hell? Some new hero suit? Or a medieval knight slathered in gold? Has this world finally gone mad with heroes and manifested a legendary golden warrior?
Before I could dwell, "......!"
That was mana. It looked like a powered suit from some cutting-edge lab, letting an ordinary human battle a superpowered foe. But from head to toe, every piece was pure 'mana.'
In other words...
'Nailed the shield gimmick!'
Whoever it was, the mana barrier cloaking their body was structured like real powered suit components. And that belt—same one I just saw.
"Ah."
Got it. Yumir.
'That design is so weird.'
A superpowered user with insane mana control to skin a powered suit over their barrier, and they go with that concept?
'It's so tacky!'
Design-wise, yeah. But also...
'What kind of girl looks like that?! It's just full-plate gold!'
Not bad. Just doesn't fit 2025 vibes. Well, it doesn't feel outdated even now—
"Sss."
Doesn't it feel more villain than hero?
'Transforming heroes don't look like that...!'
I scanned the situation and slipped away from prying eyes.
"......Haa. Sss."
The chaos raged on. Fortunately, thanks to that 'Lilith' demon girl, the CCTV was smashed.
"......."
I slowly rubbed my face and crept toward the bathroom, avoiding people.
"......After transforming, the clothes... Haa. Screw it. Might as well go for the finisher."
No one noticed me.
"One thing's for sure—a girl doesn't rock the 'kaijin' concept."
Plus, no one knew I was here. Or would be.
No one would 'perceive' it.
So, zero chance of exposure. Unless the Total Leader was around, I'd stay hidden.
Click.
I donned the mask.
"Attacked before I could even unpack."
Baek Seolhui clutched her throbbing head as she raced to the scene.
Correction: using her superpower, she rode an ice path like a snowboard in high heels.
"Do incidents like this happen so often?"
"Even with casualties?"
Baek Seolhui arrived swiftly. From a hilltop overlooking the site, though a bit distant.
"Kyahaha! What’s with that ridiculous getup?"
In front of the ruined restaurant, two faced off in the parking lot. One was an obvious chuunibyou explosion of a girl. The other...
"......!"
Baek Seolhui saw it—the true nature of the golden powered suit, like a dragon draped over the wearer.
"Impossible."
Mana control more refined than hers. Releasing internal mana to forge armor—not just any armor, but that intricate design?
"F-first, the people—"
As she gripped the railing to leap from the hill, a black shadow landed in the parking lot.
"......!!"
Impossible. The golden armor could pass as 'plausible,' but that man here?
"How is Dokkaebi...!"
Dokkaebi. In a black suit, golden gleam in his eyes, landed between the golden dragon suit and the demon.
As the golden dragon suit faltered,
"Kyahaha! So you're the infamous Dokkaebi! Then witness! How mighty I, Lilith, truly am!!"
Dokkaebi lightly brushed his mask, and a suspicious belt appeared on his gloved hand.
"What's that...?!"
Transform