[Price: Cadet Ivy Lane's ■■.]

Ding. A message arrived on my phone.

It seemed like the response had finally come to my earlier request to look into the facility that had raised Ivy.

…Already gone under?

Moon Sa-hae. A current B-rank hero who was in charge of me when I was on the front lines.

Her ability is Galileo Ho.

A simple power: walking on liquids.

Yet the reason she was rated an active B-rank hero lay in her overwhelming versatility.

Expansion of the ability's target.

Like the teacher Gun-seok had shown in today's sparring match, abilities where the user defines the criteria for the target are tricky to deal with, and her criteria were particularly bizarre.

It was either something she'd gained after endlessly self-hypnotizing herself into near-madness, or an ambiguous power from the start.

One or the other.

'Real crazies usually get filtered out at the basic facilities, so it's mostly the latter.'

There aren't many who can expand the targets of their abilities like that.

Liquids. All liquids, literally—which includes the blood inside monsters' bodies.

She'd succeeded in classifying the blood inside monsters, invisible to the eye, as a target for her ability.

She could fix her two feet to the monster's body.

Even upside down, as long as her feet were in contact with the monster's body, she could walk on it like flat ground.

'Limited to monsters with fluids inside their bodies, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠though…'

Even formless creatures like slimes would take on a fixed shape the moment she planted her feet.

Because for her to walk on liquid, the surface in contact with her feet had to solidify.

In short, her ability could be summed up as…

'Hardening the liquid around her feet.'

In truth, I could have asked other heroes.

I had a few active heroes I'd built up favors with, even if we weren't that close.

'But no one else but her.'

Entering a facility that's already been shut down is straight-up illegal.

The area around it is under strict surveillance.

Among active heroes, she's the only one who'd break the law for my sake.

That's what I'd judged.

In reality, it had taken ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a long time for her to accept my request.

Even so, I wanted to know about the girl named Ivy Lane.

I kept pushing.

I was curious what kind of experiences at that age could forge eyes like hers, judgment like hers.

No, not curious.

I… like Ivy Lane. Or I might like her.

Hoo. I took a deep breath to steady myself.

Before I knew it, I was even picking up her little habits.

My speech and thoughts felt a bit like hers too.

To make hero your profession, you have to be innately righteous.

If you're not, you can't endure it.

I frowned.

I didn't want to reveal my weakness to others.

…Weakness?

'Have I been thinking of Ivy as my weakness?'

I covered my eyes with my palms for a moment. It was dark.

I pictured Ivy's face.

A face I'd spent a whole month with, always right by my side.

I felt my cheeks heat up.

Sure enough, I had no talent for acting or lying.

I might like her? Wrong.

I already did.

I wasn't sure when it started.

But now I had to admit it.

Moon Sa-hae didn't reply for a long while.

I turned off my phone.

I'd gotten the location, and the photos and patrol routes had come via email.

All that was left was to go there myself.

I activated my ability.

…Both options show a price.

The prices that appeared in the choices were the penalties of my ability.

It let me know in advance what I'd lose by picking a certain ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠option.

Strong penalties meant strong performance.

That was the unspoken rule of this ability.

'…Why is the text glitched?'

Never before had a price been obscured like this.

It was weird.

If I sneaked in, I'd learn Ivy's past as the price.

And that would act as a penalty for me.

If I didn't sneak in, something negative or positive would happen to Ivy as the price.

That too would be a penalty for me.

'A word that could be a problem just by me knowing it…?'

A word or situation that could greatly impact Ivy's future—or mine…

No, it's fine.

Even if knowing Ivy's past works against me, I have to know.

I decided that.

I said I'd save everyone I could reach!

If I can't even save the one right in front of me that I like, who can I save?

I immediately moved my finger to select Sneak In.

No turning back now.

My body began to receive corrections.

…

The time was 4 a.m. I was hiding in the bushes around the shuttered facility.

Facilities that train ability users see a lot of accidents and are one of the public facilities civilians hate most.

It was paradoxical.

They trained ability users to protect civilians, yet had to be built in the mountains because of all the accidents.

I got it.

I'd seen firsthand on the front lines what rogue ability users could do.

I hadn't started aspiring to be a hero expecting gratitude.

I just had a wide streak of meddling, wanting to save others.

Well, at first it was for the money.

Seeing this rundown place buried in the mountains brought back memories of my own past.

The facility I'd stayed in felt just like this.

I'd already memorized the guards' patrol routes.

The choices observed, interpreted my mental info on their own, then corrected my body.

My body moved toward the optimal undetected route, 100% success probability.

'The sensation of my body being controlled by someone else isn't one I wanna feel often…'

Corrections basically overlaid something on my will.

If I willed a fist, the correction adjusted some finger joints to the optimal angle.

The direction and intent of my walk matched my will, but the movements of my legs and feet didn't.

That's why it felt so unpleasant.

'Not many feel discomfort or mismatch with their abilities like I do.'

Guess I'd have to get over it.

For later.

'There it is.'

The facility came into view.

A three-story building of red brick, with solar panels slanted on the roof.

Untended for so long, dust made them look gray.

There was a path of sorts, but weeds grew wild and unkempt.

Still, I stepped forward.

The rustling of the grass felt louder today.

Creeeak. The facility door opened.

The interior that revealed itself looked less like a facility and more like a lab.

White marble floors, transparent lights. My first thought was a mental hospital.

'…Artificial.'

That was my initial impression.

Assume this shuttered facility was actually some kind of lab researching ability users.

That would explain the interior.

But what research lab leaves documents un-shredded and abandoned?

This was… set up expecting someone to visit later, to convey some fact to the visitor…

'Then who exactly?'

Only one suspect came to mind.