Crazy Bitch in Sunglasses at Night
Ohoo collapsed to the floor with a thud, his body refusing to move another inch. His legs, which he needed to press forward, wouldn't obey. But...
'Fuck, why is my hand...'
Ohoo's right hand kept clawing at the ground, desperately trying to crawl toward that red coat. The temptation of her ability pierced his brain like a needle, attempting to seize control of his flesh. Just like his hypnosis app.
"Damn it."
Ohoo immediately squeezed his eyes shut. Only after the glaring red lining vanished from his sight did the crawling hand finally stop. In the darkness behind his closed eyelids, he focused every nerve on his hearing, forced to piece together the horror unfolding before him through sound alone.
"Heh heh heh... Ahh..."
Deogi staggered forward in a dazed stupor, right up to the woman's widely spread coat. Without a hint of resistance, he thrust his body into the red lining.
Sluuuurp—.
Deogi's upper body began vanishing into the empty space inside the thin trench coat of this ordinary-sized woman, sucked in silently like a waterlogged sponge. Then Deogi took one more step. His head disappeared, swallowed whole, followed by his broad shoulders. His thick chest melted tracelessly into the red void.
Soon, half his body was gone, leaving only his furry lower half dangling in the air—specifically, around the thick thighs where his genitals hung.
"..."
The woman indifferently moved her hands, closing the widely open trench coat flaps like shutting a door. Click—.
"...?!"
The suction from inside the coat cut off abruptly. Thud. Plop.
With the sound of heavy meat being sliced, Deogi's legs—severed cleanly above the thighs—tumbled limply from the coat to the floor.
Squish! Splat.
From the smooth, cross-sectioned thighs, thick femoral arteries and shattered bone ends erupted in a geyser of blood. Spiiiish—!
"...!"
Ohoo cracked his eyes open at the noise. The grotesque sight of those hairy legs spurting blood and rolling across the floor burned into his vision. The monstrous villain Deogi's life ended pathetically, without even a proper scream.
"..."
The woman paid no mind to the fountain of blood surging before her. Immaculate, without a single drop on her clothes, she casually brushed the dust from the hem of her black trench coat—the very one that had just devoured Deogi whole. She straightened the collar over her shoulders, then slowly turned her head toward Ohoo, who sat slumped on the floor gasping ragged breaths, and fixed him with a blank stare.
"...What the hell are you?"
Ohoo clutched his broken legs, sweat beading coldly as he asked.
"You closed your eyes? Not as dumb as you look. I figured that body made you an idiot."
He fiddled with the hypnosis app on his left hand, the one he'd tried to use on Deogi earlier. Anytime now, use it on her...
"Hero? What ability?"
There wasn't a trace of hostility in her voice. But that very detachment choked the air from his lungs. The moment she spread that coat, he'd end up like Deogi, devoured without a bone left.
Stay calm. There's still a chance.
Ohoo steadied his breathing and slowly slipped his left hand into his pants pocket.
"My ability? My ability is..."
Pretending to answer obediently, he adjusted his grip on the smartphone inside. He waited for the split second when her eyes flicked to his lips and hand.
Bzzz. Bzzz—.
As if mocking his plan, a vibration buzzed from the woman's pocket.
"..."
Without even hearing his answer, she turned her head toward the sound. As she half-turned to take the call, Ohoo's perfect timing slipped away.
"Ah."
She pulled out her phone, checked the caller, and muttered indifferently to herself, nodding slightly. "Right."
"Can't let the other side see my face straight on. And no letting them hear the call."
Can't let them see her face? Hear the call?
Shff.
She drew pitch-black sunglasses from her coat's inner pocket and slipped them on. In the dead of night. Sunglasses.
"Sunglasses at night make me look like a crazy bitch."
She spat the self-mockery casually. Then, just as she spun around—
Whish—!
"...!"
Her body rotated like a top, her long, slender leg whipping toward Ohoo.
'Crazy bitch...!'
Before Ohoo could react, her toe smashed into his right ear and temple. Crack—!!
"Guhak...!!"
His body lifted off the ground, then slammed back down. Riiiiing—!!! Even with the pain-blocking hypnosis, the impact ruptured his eardrum, unleashing tinnitus from deep inside. The world spun wildly. His cochlea shattered, collapsing his sense of balance entirely.
Ohoo convulsed on the floor, nearly vomiting as he struggled to hold himself together.
Seizing that brief gap, the woman impassively pressed the call button on her phone.
"Yes. Can't talk long."
Staring down at Ohoo, who gasped amid the ear-splitting ring, she snapped coldly at whoever was on the line. "Test subject retrieved. You can confirm it all from your end anyway. Don't call me on-site for nothing. Hanging up."
Click.
The call ended in a curt five seconds.
"Haa... Haa..."
Ohoo lifted his head, blood trickling from his ear. 'She's a real crazy bitch... And now sunglasses...'
With those dark shades hiding her eyes, the hypnosis app—which required eye contact to activate—was useless. He gripped his phone tightly, then resignedly slipped it back into his pocket. Pulling it out now would just make her dodge or smash it. No cards left.
"..."
The woman checked the time on her phone screen and muttered softly. "Got about two minutes."
She pocketed the phone and slowly approached Ohoo, sprawled and bleeding.
"Let me ask again, heeeee..."
She started to question him, then shook her head. "Nah. No need to ask."
The corner of her mouth twitched upward, intrigued. "You're a hero. You didn't run, fought that monster Yang Taeyang to save people."
Recalling Ohoo's explosive mobility that didn't match his bulk, she continued. "So, what's your ability? You were ridiculously fast for your size."
Her gaze pierced him through the sunglasses. "Don't tell me... Shooting Star's Acceleration? We've been looking for that."
"...!"
'Shooting Star?' She knew his mother's hero name, retired twenty years ago. And she was desperately hunting her unique ability, Acceleration?
'Who the hell is this bitch...'
Admitting he was Shooting Star's son or an Acceleration user here would mean getting devoured alive by that red lining. To buy time, Ohoo grimaced, feigning severe tinnitus as he rolled on the floor.
"Urk... Aaaagh! My ears... I can't hear...!"
Pretending agony despite the pain block. Just two minutes until backup arrived. Hold on for two minutes.
But.
"Stop acting."
Her icy voice sliced through his performance. "Your legs are shattered, bones poking out. Three fingers on your right hand are broken. And you're thrashing over some ear ringing? Either pain-nullification ability or drugged."
She sneered, analyzing him. "Well, we'll know once I gut you. Ability or durability, it'll make a fine specimen either way."
Her hands gripped the flaps of her trench coat. "More samples, the better."
Shhh—.
The coat spread wide, the red lining that had just chomped Deogi's upper body casting a thick shadow over Ohoo's head.
'Fuck...'
Right before it engulfed him, Ohoo squeezed his eyes shut. His best act of defiance. Looking at the lining would ensnare him.
But with shattered legs and ruined senses, he couldn't flee or fight. The moment the coat covered him, he'd be sucked in.
"Mister—!!!"
A desperate voice echoed.
"...?"
The woman's motion halted. She turned her head.
Han Eunbyeol came rushing down the stairs at the entrance to the blood-and-flesh-splattered underground mall, panting hard.
Thinking Ohoo had sacrificed himself to save civilians and charged into danger, she couldn't just hide safely outside directing evacuations. Once that was mostly done, she'd left the rest to Miyang and Park Ayoung and rushed back on a hunch to rescue him.
The woman eyed Han Eunbyeol charging toward her. The dim underground lights obscured her, so she pushed her sunglasses down her nose bridge and took a bare-eyed look at Han Eunbyeol's face.
Dye faded to show black roots, but hair glowing red caught her eye.
"...Shooting Star?"
Emotion crept into her dry voice for the first time. "Shooting Star's alive?"
Her target shifted instantly from Ohoo to Han Eunbyeol.
Abandoning Ohoo, she turned and approached Han Eunbyeol on the stairs.
"S-Stay back! Don't come closer!"
Han Eunbyeol retreated, but the woman advanced, spreading her coat wide. Shhh—.
The lining gaped like a carnivorous plant's maw, filling Han Eunbyeol's vision.
"...!"
The instant she faced the coat's interior, Han Eunbyeol's eyes dulled just like Deogi's. Captivated like a bull by a matador's cape. Her terror-shaking legs stilled, and with a entranced, hazy expression, she extended both arms toward the red coat and took a step forward.
The woman whispered sweetly. "Come here, Shooting Star."
"No...!!"
Ohoo, leg broken and sprawled on the floor, shouted. "Eunbyeol, run awaaay—!!!"
But his voice didn't reach her ears. Instead, Han Eunbyeol's fingertips began to touch the red coat.
"Finally, Shootiiiing..."
BOOOOM—!!!
The underground mall's ceiling exploded as if hit by a missile, crumbling in a deafening roar.
"...?!"
The woman retracted her coat and leaped back. She flapped the lining toward the pouring debris, shielding herself as rubble poured into the red void.
Thick dust clouds billowed between Han Eunbyeol and the woman. And in the heart of that dust storm...
"Hahaha!"
A boisterous laugh tore through the cloud, booming across the underground mall. "From Triple A, A-rank Hero Triple Axel has arrived!"
Upon entry, the man roughly yanked his right arm free from where it was embedded in the floor. "A hero's gotta arrive at least a minute before the danger peaks—that's the flavor! Expected in 40 minutes, but here in a whopping 39! I'm pretty fast, you see!"
His arm encased in special gauntlets. Goggles on, grinning with brimming confidence. Korea's A-rank hero, Triple Axel, had heeded the emergency summons first, crashing through Bupyeong Station's roof in descent.