A Desperate Struggle to Survive.
With the monsters and villains all hunted down and exterminated, the age of heroes had arrived.
No one remained who could stand against them, and the more heroes a nation commanded, the greater the power it wielded. Villains had become little more than a story of the past—or disposable props in works of fiction.
And yet, even there, remnants they had never discovered still lingered.
Within the Hero Association itself—the very heart of their dominion.
“Whew… So it's finally finished.”
[Research Institute Director, Ahn Seol-ho]
A mother-of-pearl nameplate resting on the desk of his private laboratory made it plainly clear who the room belonged to.
Director of the Hero Research Institute, and a Mental-type C-Rank Hero.
Or so it appeared on the surface.
In truth, he was the last surviving villain.
A shabby villain with no alias or epithet to his name—but by reading the currents of the era and infiltrating the Hero Association early, he had managed to survive until the very end.
Seated in his chair and gazing at a research chart, he allowed a faint smile to cross his face… though the dark circles shadowing his eyes made it look more sinister than anything else.
The chart held the results of his personal research into his own ability.
For villains and heroes alike, once an ability first bloomed, there was no way to grow stronger beyond the vanishingly slim chance of a natural re-awakening.
Research into the problem had been underway for hundreds of years, ever since heroes and villains first appeared—but it had long since been officially declared impossible.
And yet, in a field that no longer drew even the slightest attention, I had done it.
A method to artificially strengthen an ability.
If anyone asked what use an illusion-casting ability could possibly be… well, back when villains were still active, I put it to good use with the female villains often enough.
I was certain life was about to get a great deal more comfortable than it was now.
Either way, all that matters is surviving.
The world had decreed that heroes were justice and villains were evil, but in my eyes, the two were identical.
The factions of the ability-wielders could never be cleanly divided into good and evil.
As with everything in this world, nothing was ever certain.
Rising from my seat, I left the laboratory straight away.
As I walked down the pristine white corridors, I exchanged light greetings with the researchers I passed from time to time.
Though the villains were gone, superpowers themselves had not vanished, and so the researchers were always busy.
Not that any of them labored under the grand mission of making the world a better, more livable place.
They simply moved to earn their keep without getting fired.
After a long walk down the corridor, I finally passed through the institute's main gate.
“Haah… It's a madhouse here, no matter when I come.”
The all-white interior was bad enough on its own, but with nearly every researcher draped in a white lab coat as well, it felt like stepping into a country made entirely of the color white.
I picked up my pace, intending to grab only what I needed and leave.
The moment I crossed the main gate and stepped into the corridor where the materials were stored—
“…….”
“…Negge.”
A pair of red eyes met mine from below.
What came next into view was a mane of snow-white hair, as if someone had dusted it with fresh snow.
Clutching a stack of documents against her chest in her research uniform, she was Negge Kariel, the Chief Researcher.
Who also happened, incidentally, to serve as my assistant researcher.
“As I recall, today's your day off.”
“…I just felt like coming in.”
Her tone carried a certain prickliness as she rolled her eyes slightly and heaved a deep sigh.
“Haah….”
“You look exhausted again today. Honestly, you'd be better off going home to rest.”
“…Please don't concern yourself with me. Besides, you're no better off than I am, Director.”
She blinked a few times, then smoothly shifted to the side and let me pass.
Click-clack, click-clack…
The sight of her walking away, heels clicking, as though every affair in the world were a tiresome bother—that, too, had long since become familiar.
No different from the very first day.
Aside from a quiet spell early on, she had always reacted this way.
That air of someone thoroughly fed up with the world kept everyone else at a distance.
…It's no different from any other day, so it's nothing for me to worry about.
There were far more important matters at hand, which meant the trivial things would have to wait.
“These materials were allocated to the institute anyway… I doubt anyone will raise a fuss over me putting them to use.”
Institute was a generous word for it—the heroes and the Association paid this place hardly any real attention.
Whenever a new technology emerged or a useful discovery appeared, they simply swooped in and devoured the whole lot.
After gathering the materials into my Subspace, I returned to the laboratory and began preparations at once.
The byproducts of monsters—creatures distinct from human villains—made more than sufficient materials, and thanks to them, the world had continued to advance.
To the heroes, monsters were nothing more than prey, whether they possessed intelligence or not.
This time, I'm the one reaping that benefit.
I felt no aversion to hunting monsters and using them as ingredients.
And even if I had, this was hardly the moment for weighing such scruples—not when my life hung in the balance.
One by one, I placed the various monster materials into the test tubes connected by a web of tubing.
I'll keep the aqueous solution's viscosity low for the Tail of the Nightmare King… and the Dreamcatcher goes in the center.
According to my research, artificial awakening was possible: gather five relic-grade materials or byproducts, use a medium to dissolve their power, and absorb it.
But the direction of the awakening shifted depending on which medium was used.
That was why I had scraped together my personal research funds, a portion of the institute's budget, and every last coin of my savings to purchase the Hwanmong—a medium shaped like a dreamcatcher.
There isn't a medium on the market better suited to illusion than this one.
I had done the very best that was in my power to do.
With every preparation complete, I sat down in the chair at the center of the laboratory.
Dozens of catheters linked to the test tubes stirred to life, automatically piercing veins throughout my body, finding every critical point.
All that remained was to inject the dissolved materials into my body, physically.
If this fails, I die… but honestly, one death is as good as another.
If I went on merely eking out my days like this, I'd likely drop dead of a heart attack from the anxiety alone.
Getting stronger by any means necessary, building up insurance for myself, and carving out a stable life—that was the first objective.
“Whew… Begin.”
Understood, Director.
Artemis—my personal learning AI—activated the machinery at her master's command.
She had been born by capturing a Machine Spirit—or whatever such a creature was called—and training a generative AI on its fragments, which made her strikingly human-like.
Her computational power had long since left humanity far behind.
In any case, as Artemis threw herself into full-scale computation, the various devices began to turn.
Vvvvvvvvvvmmmmm!!!
“Kgh…!”
The instant the solution flooded into my veins, a searing pain blazed through my body as if I had been set alight.
But that was only the beginning.
Starting with a burning heat, then electric shocks, stabbing agony, dull throbbing, pounding pulses—every pain a human body was capable of feeling erupted across me all at once.
“GaaAAAAAAH!!!”
Given that, it was only natural that a scream should tear its way up from somewhere deep inside me.
No—truthfully, the miracle was that I had endured this long.
And so I bore it. And bore it. And bore it again.
Blood trickled from my nose, black blood ran from my eyes—but even then, I held on to consciousness.
Because I was certain that if I passed out here, I would truly die.
“Hah…!”
Gritting my teeth and forcing deep breaths, I clung on with everything I had… and gradually, very gradually, I could feel the pain beginning to ebb.
At the same time, my mind grew impossibly clear, and with a sensation of something being forced open, a flood of information poured into me.
Abilities I had never once seen in my life, along with the methods for wielding them.
Exactly what changes had taken place in my body, etched into my brain step by careful step.
“Ugh….”
Thanks to that, my briefly lucid mind drowned in pain once more, and I could do nothing but clench my jaw.
Before long, the headache, too, faded away—and only then did I finally allow myself a breath of relief.
…So it worked. Did it actually work?
The experiment seemed to have concluded successfully, but I still felt dazed.
Even having grasped how to use this power and exactly what I was now capable of, actually accepting it was another matter entirely.
Slowly, I rose from the chair and drew up my strength, testing the ability.
Every superpower consumed a resource carried within the body—mana, internal energy… or mental strength.
Mine was mental strength, which was why I had trained it separately, stretching it as far as I could.
The dark circles that had taken up permanent residence beneath my eyes were likewise part of the plan: deliberately depriving myself of sleep to grow my mental strength.
Far too late to erase them now… but they had been more than worth the price.
Fall of Desire, Subjugation… hallucinations indistinguishable from reality… and beyond that, the materialization of hallucinations themselves. It's a laughably absurd ability.
If I could wield it in full, I might well be able to devour the Hero Association itself.
Beyond that, I had also gained a host of secondary abilities tied to nightmares.
Of course, possessing these powers did not make me invincible or some colossus of strength.
If I fought one of the Titled Heroes right now, I would be reduced to a mist of blood in the blink of an eye.
I'll just have to climb, one careful step at a time.
Being strong didn't mean excelling in every field.
I would begin somewhere the reach was easy.
The moment I stepped out of the laboratory, the machinery began cleaning itself automatically.
Meanwhile, I changed into fresh clothes and a clean research coat, tidied my appearance as though nothing had happened, and pressed the call button without a moment's delay.
“Negge. Come to the laboratory. Now.”
For the first demonstration of my new power… I chose the person closest at hand, and the sharpest of them all—her.