Pearls Before Swine (4)
Listening to the ranting of the madman standing right before him—someone who belonged locked away in a psychiatric ward this very instant—Frost’s entire body had turned to stone. In a single moment he had lost everything he had built while saving people, and now found himself just as powerless as the innocent civilians behind him who were crying out for help.
Unable even to turn his head, he remained hyper-alert against the villain who might do anything to those citizens. He struggled desperately to move his unresponsive body and force his ability into action.
Khh…! My body won’t obey me at all. To freeze this many people for so long without the slightest warning, and for the caster to feel no burden whatsoever…? Is that even possible…?
Of course, the villain’s words might have been a lie. Believing anything a villain said at face value was foolish to begin with.
…Yet the reality unfolding around him was far too absurd to dismiss. Long ago he had felt a similar awe watching Justice’s golden power, but this… this was different. It truly felt like the ability of a “god” looking down upon humanity from the heavens above…
…No. There is no such thing as an ability without a flaw in this world. If I refuse to give up and keep fighting to the end, an opportunity will come!
He was a hero, after all. And that title was given only to those who resolved to protect the lives of the innocent no matter what adversity or hardship stood in their way.
If I break here, if I lose my will and collapse, who are the civilians behind me supposed to trust?! I have to hold this bastard off until reinforcements arrive!
…The enemy had claimed that even if military drones immune to his power were sent, he would notice and escape without fail. That could easily be pure bluffing. Moreover, every word the villain had spoken had already been relayed to the emergency response headquarters of the Ability Management Department. Even if some of it was mixed with lies, the situation was still better than when they had known nothing at all.
There, people like Director Choi Na-yul—who had devised countless methods to capture villains with the most bizarre abilities—were hard at work. And even without pro heroes, plenty of excellent agents specialized in long-range support were available. If Frost could just buy a little more time, they would map out the effective range of the villain’s power and send proper rescue support for the civilians.
…Still, with this many citizens held hostage, a reckless approach from headquarters is impossible. Until a complete countermeasure is ready, I have to keep him pinned somehow!
Yes. Even if this lunatic who casually devoured his own brother’s corpse was hiding yet another ability—or even if, in the most despairing scenario, he had absorbed the very power of the Justice he had slain—Frost himself must never abandon resistance.
No matter how solid a fortress gate, there was always a gap. Forcing that gap open and creating an escape route for the people was the duty of someone who had been granted the name of hero.
Besides, we still have the greatest fighting strength among all heroes—the one this bastard wants so badly. At the very least, I cannot even imagine Smile falling to him.
Even if every outrageous claim about the ability and its “restrictions” proved true, the thought that it could freeze the body of Smile—the most righteous hero Frost knew—simply would not form. If this villain’s power was like the gift of some evil god looking down on humans as insects from the clouds, then that man’s pure conviction, free of even the tiniest speck of human selfishness, was like the brilliant sun itself, driving the darkness from the earth after rising free of every worldly stain.
…And just as Frost clung to that thought, straining with everything he had to move his body even a fraction—
“Kyahahahahaha—! So tremble in fear! Watch me ‘judge’ Smile! Watch how easily your empty justice crumbles! Stay right there and witness it all clearly! Until Smile arrives, I’ll kill ten of you every minute!”
The villain who had stopped time itself now treated them the way a child might loosen its grip just a little on a dragonfly’s wings—granting the tiniest freedom. To Frost, to Rabi, and to every civilian present, he temporarily restored only the freedom to speak.
“Uweeeek—!! Wh-what the hell was that pain just now?! A-and what is that bastard even saying?! Justice is dead?! That guy was the strongest hero in America!”
“Cough, cough! What the hell is going on?! Why is everything still the same even though Frost is here?! It has to be a lie… right? And why hasn’t Smile shown up yet…? Whenever a villain appeared in Seoul, he always arrived first!”
“Urgh, w-wait…! What if those rumors are actually true? Lately there was talk that Smile overused his ability too much and finally wrecked his body, that he’d gotten weaker… M-maybe that’s why he can’t come…?”
“…What?! D-don’t say something so ridiculous! Anyone else, maybe, but Smile would never—!”
Chaos, confusion, terror, distrust.
Inside the frozen time, after the villain’s long monologue, the place was completely overrun by those negative emotions. No one could think straight.
Even the civilians who had managed not to faint and could still speak—young and sturdy enough to cling to consciousness through that horrific pain—were still ordinary people who had never once been exposed to such agony. Their faces twisted with fear, they were easily swayed by the absurd rumors the villains had spread not long ago, and they let go of the thread of hope far too readily.
…This is bad. On top of everything, wild doubts are spreading and the citizens’ fear is ballooning out of control. Even if we get freed from this paralysis, proper evacuation will be impossible like this.
Listening to the despairing screams of the civilians, Frost spoke to Rabi beside him—who was just as frozen, barely able to move her mouth.
“…Rabi. From everything he’s shown so far, this villain thinks like a child. Thankfully we can move our mouths now, so I’ll buy time by provoking him in a way he can’t resist falling for.”
“I don’t know why support is this late, but if I can just hold out a little longer, Smile’s backup will definitely come. And if what that villain said is true, I’m certain Smile will never fall to his ability.”
He placed absolute trust in the single hero who stood above him in this country.
“…So if, during the provocation, I happen to get killed by him… please tell my daughter who just entered the Hero Academy this year that she can absolutely become a great hero. She always used to say she wanted to be a hero just like Rabi.”
“No… Smile can’t come…. All those rumors people are talking about are real. No—actually, his condition is far worse than the rumors….”
To the hero who had rushed here without hesitation even though it wasn’t her jurisdiction, to a father placing such a heavy request on her, Rabi could no longer hide the truth. With the phone that had connected her to the Management Department agents now shattered, she parted her trembling lips and whispered the unbelievable words just loud enough for Frost beside her to hear.
“Right now… Smile is hospitalized…. He’s unconscious, lying in the ICU. When I carried him to the hospital, he could barely even breathe.”
***
…It was unbelievable. It was impossible.
The idea that Smile had collapsed was something Frost simply could not imagine.
Yet for a pro hero who moved with a sense of duty like Rabi to tell a lie in this situation was even more unthinkable.
…Is it really true? Has he truly fallen? Lying in a hospital bed where even his life can’t be guaranteed…?
At that, Frost felt anger rise unbidden.
Back when he had been young—far less skilled than he was now—he had watched a boy even shorter than himself, with a baby face, always using mature speech and stepping into the most dangerous places without hesitation for everyone’s sake. That boy had saved his life countless times on the field. Looking at the cruel world that forced a child to become a hero, Frost had sworn that even if it was impossible now, one day he would become a hero strong enough to defeat any villain… so that someday such a young boy would no longer have to carry such a heavy burden in a brighter age.
Grit—!
So what the hell have I been doing all this time?! Even I, without realizing it, kept leaning on Smile, still hiding behind that young boy just like in those pathetic days! I haven’t grown even a little…!!
That boy had long since grown into a young man and been called the very “symbol” of heroes for years—yet even after rising to S-class Rank 2, even after being called a hero who never lost… Frost still had not properly shared that crushing weight. In the end he had driven even a hero of Smile’s caliber to the point of collapse.
Even after climbing this high, he still could not completely cast off the weakness of unconsciously relying on him. As an adult, as a hero, as a senior—he was a complete failure.
Twitch, twitch, twitch…!
“Grrraaagh!! Move! Move! Move!”
“Kyahahaha—! What, what the hell are you doing? You think that’ll actually let you move?”
“Grit… I am Hero Frost! Do you think I would leave this many civilians behind me and fail to take down a single villain right in front of me?!”
Twitch, twitch!
Frost bit down hard on his own tongue, desperately sending any stimulus he could to a brain under the thrall of the ability.
“Kyahaha! How stupid. My judgment is absolute. No living human can escape it. Heh heh… and now that one minute has passed, I’ll start with you and kill ten people.”
Whoosh—!
The villain hurled the long nail in his hand like a spear straight at Frost’s forehead.
Crunch.
…In that miraculous instant, while staring the massive nail dead-on, Frost—who had been granted only the freedom to open his mouth—created a tiny frost around himself that not even he fully understood.
Boom!
Like divine salvation, a single ray of hope’s light fell from the sky.
Crack—!
The long nail flying toward Frost was caught in a palm and casually crushed.
“This is Hero Smile. The list of charges is far too long to recite one by one, but in accordance with the official request just received from the U.S. government…”
.
.
“From this moment, I am arresting you as the murderer of America’s No. 1 Hero, Justice.”
Through the dust and haze raised by the landing, now that the hero of the American continent had fallen—
the single most famous hero on Earth made his appearance.