1. Possessed in a Hero World
1. Possessed in a Hero World
Imagine Comics is a comic book company that has dominated the global market for decades since its first publication in the US in 1927.
It enjoyed an overwhelming golden age in the 2000s with a string of successful live-action films, but in the 2010s, it walked the path of ruin due to excessive political correctness, an obsession with the multiverse, and the suspicious exits of popular characters under the guise of generational shifts. It then regained popularity after a massive universe integration and reboot.
The sales figures, which had been crawling on the floor for a while, finally returned to their peak levels in 2027—the 100th anniversary of the universe's establishment. To reward fans worldwide, Imagine Comics held various events.
The highlight was a quiz show to determine the greatest fan.
The prize was extraordinary: the winner would be named the world's greatest fan, receive free access to all Imagine Comics for life, and have a special issue published to commemorate them. Over 7 million people participated in the quiz show.
Only three people, selected through online preliminaries and offline regional finals, advanced to the finals held at the Imagine Comics headquarters in New York.
One of them was me.
"Fanboys and fangirls around the world, thank you for waiting! The 100th-anniversary quiz show to determine the greatest fan of Imagine Comics, the finals, starts... now!"
Bright lights poured down onto the stage.
The host—Robert Downey Jr., the great actor who played both the greatest hero and the worst villain in the Imagine Cinematic Universe—greeted the audience with humorous gestures, and I couldn't relax until he returned to the host's podium with a natural gait.
'Phew, stay calm, stay calm...'
It was understandable, as it was my first time on a broadcast.
I was even more nervous knowing that at least a million people were watching.
My two competitors sitting across from me seemed just as nervous, biting their lips hard.
Sensing the participants' tension, Robert Downey Jr. continued the proceedings, speaking to us with his signature mischievous smile.
"Before we start the finals, let's hear the participants' self-introductions. Starting with the person on the far left! Name?"
The fat white man sitting on the far left finished his self-introduction in a stuttering voice.
"I, I, I am Billy Epstein from Detroit... If an issue featuring me as the protagonist comes out, I want to appear as a villain and, and, and beat up the female superheroes-"
Robert cut him off the moment he said that.
"Yeah- interesting. Next person, please introduce yourself."
The woman sitting next to him, who looked like a dark toad with fluorescent hair, lifted her double chin and began her self-introduction.
"We are Karen, a social activist from California."
'...We?'
Even though it's a country where you have the freedom to choose your first-person pronoun, I was speechless at the audacity of calling herself "we."
"We are a proud homoromantic asexual androgyne and a proud social activist. In an issue featuring a character that symbolizes us, we want to beat up the villains of Imagine Comics who do not embrace diversity and advocate for white supremacy."
Robert nodded with a blank expression.
He was definitely a pro among pros, considering he could manage his facial expression.
"...Yeah, interesting. Next person, please introduce yourself!"
Next was my turn.
"Now, our last finalist - not an American, I see! Would you like to introduce yourself?"
"I am Kang Jin-woo from Korea. You can call me Jin for short. I'm a fashion designer, and if I win and can create an issue with me as the protagonist, I'd like to create an issue where I welcome villains and heroes as customers and design costumes for them."
"That would be a very unique issue! The other fans chose to become villains or heroes. Can you explain why?"
"As you all know, most superhumans, whether they're villains or heroes, wear iconic outfits, right? I love most of the costumes, but sometimes I feel like they don't quite fit. I want to try designing them the way I want."
"Interesting. If you do, please make sure to create new costumes for Steelers and Doctor Doomsday. Will you do it?"
Both characters are roles played by Robert Downey Jr. in the live-action film series.
The founding contributor who opened the golden age of Imagine Comics, and the savior who revived the failing universe.
Both are interesting characters, and since I had doodled costumes for both characters hundreds of times, I readily accepted Robert's request.
"Of course. They are my favorite characters, after all. Rather than Doctor Doomsday wearing that green rag every time, I wanted to dress him in something that symbolizes him but looks cooler."
"Good, very good! I'm looking forward to it... Of course, you'll have to win for us to see that, Jin. Now, let's start the quiz show!"
The quiz show questions were really difficult.
Questions like which year a character first appeared in which issue were standard, and there were also questions about which character had never dated a specific hero.
"Original universe, that is, Earth-161, list all the names of heroes or villains who have been involved in a romantic or marriage relationship with Scarlet Widow!"
"Correct! There are Cold Soldier, Major America, Snapshot, Mama Butcherer, Captain Russia, Red Dynamo, Steelers, Dare-Demon, Gamma Monster, and Hercules. Among civilians, she has been married to a person named Michael Cornen."
"Correct. 10 points to Billy!"
'Is this a local bus or something? Why is her love life so complicated?'
Questions about naming all the founding members of the Canadian hero team, which is famous for being boring and was quickly cancelled, and questions from minor issues like <Wakanada Rising>, famous as a bible for African American readers, popped out everywhere.
I accumulated points steadily by getting quite a few of them right, and some questions even came from places that only Korean fans would know well.
"This is a quiz about the hero 'Gumiho' who uses the abilities of a nine-tailed fox. She is also a character who recently appeared as a new hero in the FPS game <Imagine Rivals>. Where did this character first appear? Here's a hint: she first appeared outside of Imagine Comics!"
"Correct! She first appeared in episode 1 of <Revengers: Infinite Rain>, which was serialized on a Korean webtoon platform."
"Correct! Kang is in the lead with 190 points!"
It was effective that I had been digging into Imagine Comics whenever I had time since I was about five years old.
I studied English to read comics, and I started exercising to read them proudly at school.
Once I beat up the kids who teased me for being an otaku reading comics and tried to take my books, no one picked on me anymore.
Just in time, the Imagine Cinematic Universe became a huge hit in Korea, so later, many kids even started asking to borrow my books.
When I was deciding on my career path, I was able to go into fashion design thanks to the hero costumes I had fantasized about and drawn in my notebooks countless times.
"Correct! She is an original character from the spin-off game <Imagine Future Wars>, and she was re-imported into the comics in <Contest of Heroes #313>."
"Correct! With this - the winner has been decided! The Imagine Comics 100th Anniversary Quiz Show, the honor of the world's greatest fan goes to-! Kang Jin-woo-gun from Korea! Congratulations!"
Receiving congratulations from Robert Downey Jr., I became the winner of the quiz show.
"Congratulations on your win, kid!"
"...Stan! It's an honor to meet you!"
The legend of the comic book industry, Stan Lee Revere, handed me the trophy himself, and I jumped up and down, holding his wrinkled hands.
After staying in the US for a while and enjoying various events and interviews, I returned home in a good mood, and three months later, the Imagine Comics headquarters sent me a package as promised.
"Wow...!"
The cover depicted a character modeled after me, designing the costume of my favorite hero, Blaze.
Unable to contain my joy, I opened the comic issue right there and-
"Huh?"
I was possessed into the hero comic just like that.