A Hero's Growth
“That guy.......”
Ohu muttered, watching the taillights of Triple Crown’s car fade into the distance.
“He’s a much stranger person than I thought. I only ever saw him as a mindless brute who just smashed everything to pieces.”
Ayeong agreed, her voice a mix of bitterness and relief.
“Still, the Association is going to have their hands full. Retiring so suddenly... even with all the rumors, he’s still an A-class hero.”
The rain, which had briefly let up, suddenly began to pour in thick, heavy sheets, lashing against the breakwater and the shoulders of the people nearby.
A biting sea breeze cut through the air.
“Ack, it’s cold! It’s raining again, nyang!”
“It’s freezing. Let’s get inside, Mister!”
Ohu nodded and turned around.
“Everyone, get in the car and take cover. You’ll catch a cold.”
The group hurried to hide inside Ayeong’s pickup truck to escape the downpour.
Ohu and Ayeong, having roughly shaken the water from their hair, exchanged a subtle glance through the rearview mirror.
It was time to get to the point.
Just as Ohu was about to open his mouth to deliver the recruitment pitch he’d prepared to bring Triple Power into Unmarked, she beat him to it.
“Alright! I’ll join your crew!”
Her booming voice echoed through the cramped truck.
Triple Power beamed at Ohu and Ayeong, who were both frozen with their mouths slightly agape.
‘This woman... she really is a hero who only moves according to her own whims.’
Ohu let out a hollow breath, feeling absurd at how easily and anticlimactically his meticulous planning had been rendered useless.
Ayeong couldn't hide her bewilderment, either, blinking rapidly.
“Let me introduce myself properly again! A-class hero Triple Power! Formerly of Triple A, and now a member of Unmarked! My real name is Yeo Sami! Looking forward to working with you all!”
Triple Power finished her introduction with gusto.
Yeo Sami.
Only after hearing that confident name did Ohu, Ayeong, and Miyang in the back seat simultaneously have an “aha” moment.
The way Triple Crown had been calling her “Yeoksami” earlier wasn’t some grand code name.
It was just a derogatory nickname, mashing her real name, Yeo Sami, together.
“Welcome, Yeo Sami.”
Though his prepared speech had gone out the window, a satisfied smile spread across Ohu’s face at the ultimate success of recruiting Triple Power.
Miyang, sitting in the back, had sparkling eyes as she reached out toward Sami.
“Nice to meet you, Sami unni! I’m Miyang! Na Miyang! Please take care of me, nyang!”
“Yeah, Miyang! Looking forward to it, too.”
Miyang shook Sami’s hand enthusiastically before nudging Eunbyeol, who was sitting next to her.
“And you, kid! You were pretty cool when you dropped down earlier, nyang. Honestly, even I was scared, but you were pretty useful today. I’ll give you that!”
At Miyang’s unexpected praise, Eunbyeol’s face turned bright red as she waved her hands in denial.
“N-no! I just... I only managed it because Mister and you all trusted me.......”
“Hey, good is good! Keep doing that from now on, nyang!”
As a warm atmosphere filled the car, Miyang, the most outgoing of the group, grabbed Sami’s arm and purred.
“By the way, Sami unni! I heard you’re a total genius at mechanical engineering? I’m an electric-type, but I lose so much energy when I discharge it into the air! Can you make me some custom gear with great conductivity? Please?! I’m counting on you, nyang!”
It hadn’t even been a minute since they’d officially met, yet Sami let out a laugh, both flustered and amused by Miyang’s brazenness in asking for equipment right away.
“Haha, you’ve got some nerve, don’t you? Alright, alright. I’ll analyze your ability properly and draw up some designs, so stop pestering me.”
“Yes! Sami unni is the best, nyang!”
Listening to the boisterous conversation blooming in the back seat, Ohu sat in the passenger seat, chin in hand, lost in thought.
‘A genius at mechanical engineering and equipment design, huh.......’
Ohu’s gaze naturally drifted to his pants pocket, where his smartphone—loaded with the Hypnosis App—was kept.
‘If her technical skills are that good... couldn’t she upgrade the Hypnosis App? For example, increasing the flash intensity of the camera for area-of-effect hypnosis, or modifying the microphone to inject commands from a distance.......’
Of course, it would be dangerous if the existence of the app itself were discovered, but if he framed it as a simple device modification, it was entirely possible.
Besides, he had no expertise in such devices, so even if he wanted to explore the app further, it was impossible to do alone.
‘I’ll have to sound her out about it later.’
If he got nervous, he could just hypnotize her.
Ayeong, having wiped off her wet glasses, gripped the steering wheel smoothly.
“Then, to celebrate the official formation of Unmarked and for some well-deserved rest... I’ll take us to the Infire Resort in Yeongjongdo, as discussed.”
Vroom!
Ayeong’s pickup truck pulled out of the abandoned yacht stadium and began to speed down the road.
And just as they entered the four-lane coastal highway.
Whoosh!
Screech!
Dozens of black vans and sedans were seen racing past in the opposite lane.
It was a swarm of vehicles from other major crews who had finally tracked Triple Power’s location and were rushing over from the airport.
Watching their futile efforts through the rearview mirror, Ohu let out a scoff.
The situation was already over, and he had snatched up the best A-class mentor right from under the noses of his fierce competitors.
The truck, carrying the now-complete Unmarked crew, glided through the night streets toward the sweet rest that would mark the end of an intense day.
Then, Ayeong, who was driving, suddenly remembered something and asked Sami in the back seat through the mirror.
“By the way, Triple Power, what about the suit that sank into the sea earlier? Is it alright to leave it? Other crews or the Association might recover it and analyze the technology.”
At that question, Sami laughed heartily and rummaged through her pocket.
“Oh, that? Don’t worry about it, Manager.”
Sami pulled a small remote-like device from her pocket and pressed the red button without a second thought.
“Preventing technology leaks is the number one virtue of a mechanical engineer and developer.”
No sooner had she finished speaking than—
BOOM!!
A faint explosion from the distant sea off Yeongjongdo reached inside the truck.
“......Eek!”
Seeing the power of the self-destruct system firsthand, Miyang and Eunbyeol’s faces turned pale in an instant.
As if they had planned it, both of them grabbed Sami’s arms and begged desperately.
“U-unni! Please, I’m begging you, when you make my gear later, never put a self-destruct function in it! I don’t want to be blown to bits! Nyang!”
“M-me too! Please, just leave that feature out......!”
“Hahaha! Don’t worry, we’ll see!”
Sami burst into laughter at the sight of her two terrified younger companions.
Tap, tap.
Thick raindrops pelted the front windshield, covered in reinforced glass, and slid down.
Whoosh-.
Raindrops lashed against the wrecked sports car.
“Man, the windshield is completely smashed. Don’t even need wipers anymore.”
Triple Crown stared into the darkness outside the window while driving the rattling, dented car.
“Pure rescue, huh.......”
A bitter smile hovered on Triple Crown’s lips.
The memories of that day—the day he had to smash buildings to pieces while being branded with the infamy of the Triple Crown of excessive force, and the day he began to loathe himself for the job of being a hero—poured down like the rain.
The days before he was called Triple Crown.
The days when he couldn’t even harbor such expectations.
The days when he was called by the name Ahn Hyun-soo.
The days when he was just an ordinary, small 12-year-old boy.
The boy, who loved baseball and didn’t even know he was an Awakened with supernatural powers, had gone to the Jamsil Baseball Stadium holding his parents’ hands tightly on both sides.
“Mom! Dad! Someone hit a home run over there!”
A peaceful weekend at the stadium, filled with the smell of chicken and the cheers of the crowd.
But that dazzling peace was shattered in front of a disaster that tore through the sky without warning.
KRAAAASH-!!!
The sudden appearance of the super-giant S-class mutant-type villain, Saurus Tyrano, in the middle of Seoul.
A monster dozens of meters tall, looking like a mix between a dinosaur and a demon, crashed into the center of the stadium, indiscriminately destroying and trampling the stands and the surrounding area.
“AAAAAAH!!”
“Help me!! AAAAAAAH!”
The cheers turned into screams and wails, and the festival grounds instantly transformed into a slaughterhouse where blood and entrails were splattered everywhere.
“Son!! No!!”
A rain of collapsing steel structures and debris.
The boy’s parents threw their own fragile bodies to shield their son from the falling concrete, hugging him tightly.
‘I want to live...... I want to save Mom and Dad!’
Feeling the warmth of his parents, who were bleeding while shielding him, the 12-year-old boy’s mind was filled only with a desperate craving for overwhelming power and a massive body.
And that extreme threat to his life and desperation forcibly awakened the supernatural power that had been sleeping in the boy’s DNA.
Crack!
Crunch-!
“......?!”
The boy’s body began to grow.
His clothes burst, and his bones grew at a terrifying speed.
The 12-year-old boy mutated into a giant the size of Saurus Tyrano and stood tall in the middle of Jamsil Baseball Stadium.
“ROOOOAR!!”
“AAAAAAH!!”
Driven by the single thought of having to protect his parents and the people, the boy lunged at the S-class villain, Saurus Tyrano.
As the desperate hand-to-hand combat between the giant and the monster continued, buildings collapsed and the ground was pulverized.
Even as his whole body was covered in blood and his bones were breaking, the boy held onto the S-class villain’s ankles and held out until the official heroes arrived at the scene.
Thanks to the boy’s massive body acting as a shield, thousands of citizens on the outskirts of the stadium were able to evacuate safely.
However.......
The time for the miracle was too short.
In the end, the 12-year-old boy’s stamina and immature ability could not withstand the overwhelming power of an S-class villain specialized in combat.
THWACK-!!!
Saurus Tyrano’s massive tail ruthlessly whipped the boy’s abdomen.
“Gah......!”
The boy’s body floated into the air.
And then, the one mistake of a misstep.
THUD-!!!!
The boy’s back bounced and crashed helplessly into the first-base stands, where hundreds of people had gathered, waiting for evacuation instructions.
Crunch.
Squelch.
The sound of hundreds of people’s bones and flesh bursting under the boy’s back echoed.
“.......”
After time passed and the situation was all over.
Triple Crown, having returned to his original small 12-year-old form after the giantification wore off, opened his eyes on the ruins of the stands.
And when the boy looked back.
“Mom....? Dad...?”
A pile of corpses of countless people, flattened and unrecognizable, matted with blood and flesh, came into view.
And among those gruesome, blood-red crushed bodies.......
The bodies of his parents, who had thrown their bodies to save him—the people he had wanted to save the most—were also crushed and mixed in.
In trying to save people, he had used his own body and back to crush hundreds of lives, including his own parents.
“.......”
Since that day, the boy had been taken in by Triple Axel and trained to work as an A-class hero.
Through Triple Axel’s training, he had learned how to use his power precisely even in his giant form.
But the boy never grew up.
The fact that his ability trampled and hurt others never changed.
Every single day, he wanted to quit the burden of being a hero.
He was afraid he wouldn’t be able to control himself.
He had just closed his eyes and followed the path Triple Axel laid out for him without a second thought.
But now, the guide who held his leash was gone.
He had no regrets.
Triple Crown leaned against the steering wheel and gave a faint smile.
His first hero activity had been a tragedy where he crushed his loved ones to death with his back.
But today.
This final activity, where he safely cradled precious lives in his palms and launched them to safety.
It was something only he could have done, and until the very end, no one was hurt.
“Whew.......”
His heart felt much lighter.
Triple Crown looked up at the sky, where the rain clouds were clearing and the moonlight was seeping through.
Even though he had the largest body, he hadn’t grown a single inch from the time of that 12-year-old boy who had lost his parents.
“Mom, Dad.”
But tonight.
“Have I...... grown up a bit now?”
His head touched the ceiling of the car, which had been lowered due to the dented body.
The dented sports car, making a loud engine noise, disappeared into the dark tunnel of Yeongjongdo.
She is a friend who will become a major character, but the illustration is late...
I’m sorry.
I’ve hit a slump.
I’ve hit a wall because I just can’t come up with a design I’m satisfied with.
It’s hard enough to write a chapter, so it’s been difficult to spend time on illustrations, which is why there haven’t been any for a long time.
In the setting, she wears a suit, but she usually wears an outfit close to a bikini.
