Hero
Hero
A train hurtled forward at high speed.
What would happen if a person took a direct hit from it?
Well, most people would imagine the same thing.
They would be torn to pieces.
That was common sense.
So what would you think if you saw someone running straight toward an oncoming train?
Probably nothing beyond, “People really find all kinds of ways to kill themselves these days.”
That was exactly the scene before me.
A slender woman running head-on toward an oncoming train.
But I had faith.
Faith that she would not be torn to pieces.
Still, this was not the moment to say so.
This was the moment to overreact.
I watched and let the theatrics fly.
"No!!! Can she do that?! At this rate, she'll be smashed to pieces!!!"
*
[Did Stardus finally lose it???]
[No but even if she's A-rank can she really take that?]
[No, I do not think Stardus is strong enough. I saw the data on the Hero Association site, and the maximum physical force she can withstand is lower than the impact from that train.]
[So what then?]
[She was supposed to choose between one death and five, but I guess we are getting six deaths instead]
*
"No! Stardus! Why are you running to your death?! Stop!!!"
I shouted myself hoarse from the cliff, but there was no way Stardus could hear me.
All I could do was watch helplessly as she charged toward the train.
The chat lit up in response.
*
[Why is this guy panicking the moment he runs into real madness lol]
[He set up a dilemma and she just chose suicide hahahahaha]
[Mangostic why did you suddenly freeze up]
[He turned into Ice Mango lolololol]
[Might have to promote Egostic to S-rank villain]
[fr he did nothing and still eliminated an A-rank hero lol]
[You lunatics, if Stardus dies we're screwed too! This is not the time to laugh!!]
[Is Stardus not responsible for Seoul? I do not live there, so I do not care lol]
[fr as long as it's not me lolololol]
*
"This is... not what I intended..."
I muttered bitterly.
More precisely, I pretended to mutter bitterly.
Like hell I had not intended this. Of course I had.
Given Stardus's righteous nature, there was no way she would tolerate sacrificing someone else.
She'd sacrifice herself first, if anything.
Stardus. Shin Ha-ru.
In the Original Work, Shin Ha-ru suffered through countless ordeals.
All kinds of bizarre villains did everything they could, in every conceivable way, to drag Stardus into the abyss.
Through it all, Shin Ha-ru was torn apart in body and mind. Though more righteous than anyone, she suffered without end.
On the first day I realized I had been pulled into this strange world, I made myself a promise.
I would ease Stardus—Shin Ha-ru's suffering, even if only a little.
But that created a small problem.
Like any superhero-story protagonist, Shin Ha-ru grew stronger the more she suffered.
The more battered her spirit became, the stronger her powers grew. The more her body was pushed, the stronger her powers became.
She was the kind of character who endured adversity and sprang back stronger, like a weed.
The problem was that once I decided to eliminate the villains in her place, those hardships began disappearing.
She needed to struggle, yet because of me, she was not struggling at all.
Without hardship, she would not grow stronger.
And if she did not grow stronger, we had serious problems.
As I had mentioned before, the original manhwa that formed this world suffered increasingly severe power inflation as it went on.
South Korea began with reasonably powerful heroes and villains, but over time it became a story about villains growing absurdly strong and Stardus becoming just as absurdly powerful to keep pace.
Then there was America. In this setting, America was a complete disaster waiting to happen: it had more S-rank heroes than any other country, while South Korea had none, and it also had the most S-rank villains. Every day brought one catastrophe after another.
Later in the story, divine beings appeared, the end of the world approached, and everything descended into chaos. The person who stopped an apocalypse that even all the S-ranks in America could not prevent was none other than our Stardus.
That explanation had gotten long, but the conclusion was simple: Stardus had to face hardship and grow stronger if she was going to prevent the end of the world.
And now I was the one who had to give her that hardship.
Instead of leaving her to suffer random civilian casualties, property destruction, and unpredictable villains, would it not be better for me to serve as her dedicated handler and put her through a carefully structured adversity curriculum? Anyway, it had to be better.
And the first item in my hardship gift set was stopping an oncoming train.
Yes, it might be hard. But our Ha-ru could handle it. Go, Stardus!!
And in that instant, Stardus collided with the train.
BOOM—an enormous roar carried all the way to the cliff.
[AAAAAAAH!!!]
...And then came Soo-bin's scream.
Sorry, Soo-bin. Please hang in there a little longer...
I stared at the scene with my mouth hanging open.
Thick clouds of dust billowed upward. Through them, the train kept moving.
But it was definitely slowing down.
Someone must have been holding it back from the front.
With a grinding shriek, the train lost speed and finally stopped just short of the five people tied to the tracks. It worked! It stopped! Phew. I secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Wait, Stardus was all right, was she not? I clenched my fist and stared. She had held on, right? She must have. There was no way my Stardus would be taken down by something like this. Of course she had held on.
I swallowed audibly without realizing it. This was unprecedented. The dust slowly began to clear.
Anxiety crept back in. What if she had died? No, that could not happen.
A moment of terror.
At last, the dust cloud cleared completely.
There stood Stardus, still firmly on her feet.
I unclenched my fist and shouted without thinking.
"YES!!! ...I mean—oh! Oh... Oh! She held on. She held on. Wow, she actually held on. Yes. This isn't exactly what I planned... but she solved the dilemma in her own way. Hm. Yes."
*
[What was that “YES” shout lol]
[He looked happier than anyone when he saw Stardus was okay though?]
[I knew it ever since Mangostic killed a villain and wrote Stardus's name beside the body. Turns out he likes Stardus more than anyone lolololol]
[“I mean—” look at this clown hahahahaha]
[Egostic is adorable as hell]
[Whoa, Stardus actually withstood that? How did she do it?]
[fr was that not going about 140? How does a person stop that?]
[She's not a person. She's a hero.]
[Stardus! Stardus! Stardus! Stardus! Stardus! Stardus! Stardus! Stardus! Stardus! Stardus! Stardus! Stardus!]
[Mom, when I grow up I want to be Stardus! Mom, when I grow up I want to be Stardus! Mom, when I grow up I want to be Stardus!]
[These people were trashing Stardus a minute ago and now look at them switch sides lol]
[fr lol she probably would have been roasted whether she pulled the lever or not, and she broke through it like this hahahahaha]
[Everyone who talked trash about Stardus, come out right now!]
[How did Egostic finish yet another attack with zero casualties? He seriously is a legend...]
[I'm petitioning the Association to appoint Egostic an A-rank hero right now]
*
The chat reaction was excellent as well.
Yes, this was it! This was how Stardus deserved to be treated!
I felt the knot in my chest finally loosen. Good, good. This zero-casualty streak would probably win me even more admirers, but for Stardus, I could endure that much sacrifice.
Just as I was basking in emotion by myself, I saw Stardus collapse in the distance. Huh.
I immediately moved to her side.
Stardus lay collapsed on the ground.
Covered in dust, she was breathing hard and could barely keep her eyes open. She looked ready to lose consciousness at any moment.
"You... bastard..."
Stardus called out to me in a faint, fading voice.
Seeing her on the verge of passing out, I felt pretty guilty. I had put her through this because she needed hardship, but seeing her so exhausted still made me feel sorry.
Before she blacked out, I should at least say this much.
I knelt on one knee beside her and spoke.
"Yes, Stardus. You did well. In a way I never could have imagined. I honestly never expected you to save everyone like that. This is your victory. I'll be going now, so get some rest. The other heroes will be here soon."
After speaking to her in a whisper, I reached out and closed her eyes.
She tried to resist for a moment, but once her eyes closed, the last of her strength left her and she drifted off, breathing softly. She must have been exhausted.
I stood again, brushed off my knee, and turned to the camera to say goodbye.
"Well. That concludes my terrorist attack. Thank you all for watching."
Now I had to retrieve Soo-bin from the engine room—she had gone quiet and had probably fainted—and head home.
After delivering my closing line, I turned off the camera.
The moment the broadcast ended, the chat closed as well.
*
[What is with the mood between those two?]
*
That was the final message.
And that night, dating rumors about Egostic and Stardus broke.
Is this... Korea?
