Doctor Hetra (1)
Meanwhile, at that very hour, upon the bed of the cramped goshiwon room where Smile was staying—
while two bodies lay quietly folded together—
somewhere remote in the South China Sea—
in the lightless depths of the ocean, where a human’s fragile eyes could see nothing but absolute black—
inside a colossal nuclear submarine that had sunk alone into the abyss—
…to Smile, who had arrested him thirteen years ago, he had been nothing more than a nameless small-time villain, unworthy even of remembering, simply because he never appeared in the original game.
Yet he was the man who had nearly driven an entire nation to the brink of ruin by turning it into his personal laboratory, who had left countless victims scattered across the world in the name of every vile experiment imaginable.
Ask anyone other than Smile, and the mere sound of his name would make them freeze in terror.
China’s worst villain in history—Doctor Hetra—was speaking.
“…Hoh. Looking only at the test results, I could scarcely believe it. But seeing this pathetic state with my own eyes… it seems even this monster’s strength has finally run dry.”
He held in one hand the security-camera footage he had hacked from the hospital—Smile, oxygen mask strapped to his face, looking half-dead—and in the other, the paper recording Smile’s ability-test results, the very sheet Choi Na-yul had deleted the moment she saw it only days before.
Squelch. Squelch.
“Ahahaha! I had steeled myself to hide for decades more, yet who would have thought his claws would fall out so soon?”
He stroked the tentacle-like strands of hair that writhed like octopus limbs and laughed long and loud.
“Hmm. Judging by this, that little minnow who killed Justice went down without a fight, did he? Well, without that peculiar paralysis of his, the wretch was worthless on his own.”
Squelch. Squelch.
“…Still, that wretch’s ability was genuinely remarkable. I shall have to retrieve the corpse myself. Even a beast whose claws have been pulled needs careful hunting when it is that large.”
Then, amid the submarine’s interior crowded with the remains of dead “test subjects,” he neatly arranged strips of their skin tissue upon a plate and prepared today’s grand meal—another step in his own evolution.
It was a thoroughly repulsive, undignified method, far from his personal taste… yet if it brought him one step closer to the realm of the gods, he considered such acts beneath no concern at all.
He speared what had once been someone’s flesh with a fork and quietly placed it in his mouth.
.
.
.
“…And yet, to think so simple a method existed for growing one’s abilities. No matter how deeply one researches them, abilities remain truly unknowable. Is that how that old monster became so strong?”
Yes—it was a truly wondrous thing.
He had kidnapped countless ability users, injected their blood, grafted their skin, dissected their organs. He had even succeeded in the nearly impossible experiment of transplanting a brain—though the subject died within a week. All of it in relentless pursuit of the final destination of human evolution.
And yet a method far more efficient than every one of those techniques turned out to be nothing more than simply eating a corpse…?
If all one did was put a dead body into one’s mouth… should the flesh not simply be broken down by stomach acid and enzymes, the nutrients extracted, and the remainder expelled as ordinary waste?
Why, then, did such an irrational, primitive method display such high efficiency, as if mocking every principle of his research?
“Ahahaha! Well, no matter. A scientist who studies abilities must never be bound by common sense. Abilities are a blessing that descended from the heavens so that humanity might reach the domain of the gods!”
And so he was genuinely grateful.
Long ago—just before the monster called Smile began his career as a hero—when Hetra had briefly visited Korea in search of test subjects, he had by chance encountered Eternox.
Even though the man possessed such absurd, god-chosen power, Hetra had dismissed him as nothing more than a dull, repulsive creature driven solely by his own pleasure.
Yet that very man had, in the end, left behind so splendid a gift…
Though Eternox’s corpse had been disposed of too quickly for Hetra to claim it, the vast submarine still overflowed with ingredients enough to fuel his evolution.
And once today’s meal was finished, if within a few days he also consumed the body of that utterly worthless wretch whose only value was his ability—
then his evolution would approach near-perfection, and he would no longer need to fear the clawless beast.
…Moreover, near that beast lay a trap he had once cherished above all others.
Thirteen years ago, the radiant masterpiece who had stood so close to perfection that even meeting his eyes had been terrifying—who had been so thoroughly favored by the gods—would at last kneel before him and offer up that luscious fruit.
“Ahh… the day I escaped my homeland’s prison and lost everything. I was so afraid of you that I never even dared to dream of revenge.”
Squelch. Squelch.
“…I never feared even Justice, yet whenever I recalled that smiling face of yours, every cell in my body sang of death and screamed at me to get as far from you as possible.”
But now the great beast that had once made him tremble had been reduced to nothing more than prey waiting for the day it would die—prey that would open its wounded flank and offer up its delicious flesh.
Back then, witnessing that overwhelming power, he had been forced to feel reluctant awe. He had resolved to curl up as small as possible, to prolong his life day by day with the fruits of his research, and to hide until the beast finally grew old and died.
…Yet that radiant masterpiece who had seemed capable of crushing all humanity beneath his feet like insects and becoming master of the world—
to think he would collapse so quickly…?
“Ahh…! How truly pitiful, Smile. Therefore, before that wondrous body of yours completely falls apart, I shall use you as material for my evolution. Become one with me, and together we shall set foot in the true realm of the gods…! Ahahahahaha!”
Haaawn—
Ah, I’m so sleepy…. Ever since that night I can’t even look Ravi in the face properly, and the worry keeps me from sleeping well for days on end.
Several days had already passed since Ravi came to my room before dawn and cried like a little child. Once again I hadn’t slept properly; I yawned softly through the fatigue as I patrolled high above the city, so high that people looked like ants.
…My body was desperately tired, yet my mind was so unsettled that sleep simply wouldn’t come.
“Huu… I’m so exhausted that even flying feels harder than usual. And these days I already have to be extra careful every time I take off, so I’m constantly tense.”
Everyone else assumed I possessed a separate “flight” ability…
but the way I actually flew was nothing more sophisticated than kicking the air as hard as I could.
Lately, just to keep from shattering the ground, I had to move my feet with extreme care, which demanded a ridiculous amount of concentration.
Of course I had more or less gotten the hang of dialing my strength down, so the chance of a catastrophic city-destroying accident was honestly low…
…but when I was this tired, it wouldn’t be strange if I ended up crashing into the earth the same way I once did after accidentally over-suppressing my power.
Back then I had fallen somewhere deserted, so it was pure luck. If anyone ever saw me looking that pathetic, how hard would that damned status window squeeze my heart?
…It would no doubt flood my vision with those irritating blue boxes and start lecturing, “A hero does not do this or that.”
“Haaawn…! So today I’m really going to forget about Ravi for a while and get some proper sleep. At this rate I’ll actually die of insomnia just like she keeps misunderstanding.”
Right. No matter how much she looked like a little kid in my eyes, Ravi was still an S-class hero who protected this city.
Her heart was too soft, so of course I worried, but given a little time she would bounce back on her own.
…More importantly, contrary to all her fretting, I was never sickly or frail—just chronically tired. This very morning I had gone down to the first-floor buffet, rolled a steak and butter-grilled long vegetables into a kimbap-like roll, and eaten my fill.
If, while my successor grew up, I gradually became more skilled at controlling my power and actually looked stronger, even Ravi—no matter how many misunderstandings she piled up—would eventually notice something was off and think, Huh? What was I misunderstanding…? Why does he look so healthy?
“Huu… so I’ll just keep doing what I’ve always done: practice power control whenever I get a spare moment, and keep tossing villains into prison.”
With that decision, I scanned the sky for whatever bastards needed locking up today and flew swiftly across the familiar Seoul skyline.
.
.
…Ah, right. Na-yul said the reinforcement suit she was making for me was almost finished yesterday and asked me to drop by when I had time. I’m near the Ability Management Department anyway—might as well go now while I’m thinking of it.
Besides, Ravi had been telling me for years, every time she saw me, that I should at least wear a basic reinforcement suit, her face full of worry.
Since clearing up the “I’m sick” misunderstanding right this second seemed impossible, if she saw me walking around in a heavy suit that looked like it massively boosted my defenses… she might feel a little more at ease until the misunderstanding finally resolved itself.
“Mmm… originally I only planned to wear it once in a while for a change of mood because it looked cool… but maybe I should just keep it on for a while until Ravi calms down?”
And even though my case was special…
reinforcement suits were originally as natural for professional heroes as fireproof gear was for firefighters—basically work clothes. On top of that, using my movements as research data to improve other heroes’ suits made for a perfectly respectable excuse.
Just as Na-yul had said, if I suddenly started wearing a suit I never used to wear, the citizens probably wouldn’t find it strange.
Besides, she had said the thing cost several hundred billion won.
…It would feel a little rude to accept it and then only wear it once or twice.
Judging by her texts, she pulled several all-nighters making it. Wearing it often would make her happy. …She gave me a gift like that because, just like Ravi, she’s worried about my condition under some weird misunderstanding.
So I slowly descended toward the rooftop of Na-yul’s laboratory—the large dome-shaped building inside the Ability Management Department that had just come into view beneath my feet—ready to see the nearly finished suit.
I offered casual greetings to the department agents and research staff who hurried over the moment they spotted me, then headed inside the laboratory where Na-yul would be waiting.