Her Resolve
Her Resolve
"Chae-hyun, should I carry it instead?"
"No! I got it myself, so I should carry it. I can handle this."
Shin Ha-ru watched Chae-hyun precariously holding the enormous three-scoop ice cream cone.
That thing's definitely going to fall.
And sure enough, her prediction proved correct.
The ice cream cone finally lost its balance and began to topple.
"Ahh... no, no, no!"
With Chae-hyun's shriek, the collapsing tower of ice cream pitched toward the man beside her.
It looked like the ice cream was inevitably about to smear all over him.
Then something unexpected happened.
"Huuh!"
The instant the ice cream began to fall, the man dodged with incredible speed.
His reflexes were astonishing—enough to surprise even her.
"Big bro!"
"Dain!"
The two women standing next to him rushed over.
So the man's name was Dain.
Even though he'd ended up covered in dust, he calmly got up, brushing off his clothes as if nothing had happened.
"Ah, I'm okay. I'm fine."
His expression was calm, but his clothes certainly weren't.
His whole outfit was coated in dust.
"Oh dear... Are you all right? I'm so sorry. I was... I was so clumsy..."
Chae-hyun approached him with tears welling up in her eyes. Since Shin Ha-ru was part of her group, she was flustered too, but she also walked over to him.
As they approached, the man laughed it off with a casual wave.
"No, I'm fine. Anyone can make a mistake. I may have overreacted a little. Haha, I should have only moved a bit."
"Hic, b-but still."
"It's totally fine. Really."
A strange scene unfolded in which the man ended up comforting Chae-hyun as she began to cry. Shin Ha-ru felt guilty as well. If she'd stepped in and caught the cone, none of this would have happened.
And she thought they were really lucky the guy was so nice. Most ordinary people would have gotten furious in this situation, yet here was someone brushing it off so casually.
...Well, only the man seemed unbothered. The two women beside him looked thoroughly displeased. Their reaction was the normal one; the man who brushed everything off so affably was the unusual one.
"Alright, Seo-eun. Shall we get going...?"
As if refusing any form of compensation, he gathered his party and tried to leave. In a way, he even seemed to be in a hurry...
But Chae-hyun was not the type to let the matter end there. The moment she reached out to offer him some form of compensation—
BOOM—
A deafening roar echoed out.
"Aaaah!"
Screams burst from every direction.
She was just an ordinary college student, Shin Ha-ru, but she was also the hero Stardus.
And so, her assessment was immediate.
A terrorist attack.
In all likelihood, a villain attack.
BOOM— BOOM—
An earth-shaking roar echoed through the area.
Her judgment was swift, and so were her actions.
First, the priority was getting Chae-hyun to safety.
"Chae-hyun, follow me!"
"Huh? Wh-what...?"
Grabbing the hand of the half-dazed Chae-hyun, caught in the series of sudden events, she sprinted in the opposite direction of the noise.
Since she was currently operating with a partial release of her Stardus power, she could escape the scene far faster than anyone else.
Of course, Chae-hyun felt as though she were dying as she was dragged along by the hand at that speed.
"Aaaah!"
They ran together amidst the crowd of people fleeing in the same direction.
And from way off in the distance, a voice rang out.
The tremendous roar reached her despite the considerable distance.
"Stardus!!! Come out, Stardus!!!"
In that instant, her body stiffened slightly mid-stride.
It was the briefest of halts, so slight that Kim Chae-hyun never noticed in her half-unconscious state, being dragged along by the hand.
Of course, after hesitating for just a split second, Shin Ha-ru began running again right away, but internally, she was in pure turmoil.
What was going on? Why was he suddenly calling her out?
Yet, for now, she pushed everything else aside and resolved to first get Chae-hyun to a safe place.
"Huff... huff..."
Eventually, the two of them reached a spot a considerable distance away from the scene.
Around them, other evacuees were gathering, trying to catch their breath.
They were far enough from the festival grounds that this distance could be deemed safe enough.
"Goodness... what in the world is happening..."
Kim Chae-hyun stood there with unfocused eyes and drool running from her mouth. Only after she had calmed down did she finally manage to speak.
"Ha-ru, you're seriously fast. Ha-ru... Ha-ru?"
But Chae-hyun couldn't finish her sentence.
Ha-ru's expression had gone shockingly stiff.
"..."
With her mouth tightly shut, she glared at the direction they'd fled from.
Her thoughts were already tangled into a mess that felt ready to burst.
There was an unwritten rule among heroes.
'Never enter the field without Perception Inhibition.'
This was the same rule that applied back in the days before the technology existed.
Never, ever remove your mask.
Before modern heroes began appearing in public with their faces exposed, the heroes of the past all wore masks.
The moment your identity is revealed, a terrible life begins.
It was a single principle adopted uniformly by every Hero Association across the globe.
No matter what horrific terrorist attack occurs, do not intervene if your face is exposed.
Heroes are incredibly rare.
Especially powerful ones.
The abilities that suddenly appeared in a few people decades ago.
They were called superpowers, or in official terminology, Supernatural Abilities.
There had been countless debates over why these powers had suddenly appeared in humanity, but no definitive answer had ever been found.
Some claimed the trait had always existed in human genes and merely manifested in certain people. Others blamed something like cosmic magnetic fields, while still others believed the powers had been granted by a god...
People born with abilities, or who develop them later in life, can be broadly divided into three categories.
First, the type who just live a relatively ordinary life.
Most people fell into this category. Many simply had modest, everyday ambitions, and the majority of superpowered individuals possessed abilities with little practical use.
For example, there was an ability that reversed plant growth. Aside from putting a botanical garden out of business, it had little use. Or an exceptionally strong stomach: the ability to digest anything. But so what? Its owner would still prefer fried chicken to eating rocks.
In other words, the majority simply blend into society and live their lives.
To them, a superpower was little more than a party trick they could show off by saying, 'Hey, want to see my ability?'
Truth be told, even some people with strong abilities just live ordinary lives. You have superhuman strength. Just because you're strong, do you have to become a hero? The government doesn't exactly force you. Someone with superhuman strength might want to be an artist, a photographer, an office worker, a designer. These people also just live ordinary lives.
People with reasonably powerful abilities and a sense of justice could choose to become heroes. All they had to do was visit the Hero Association, undergo an ability test, and register.
But heroes are extremely few in number. People who take the ability test with big dreams can't accept the fact that they're merely B or C-rank. Even when they protest, asking why a villain with the same power is A-rank while they're B-rank, they only get the basic reply that the hero ranking criteria are stricter than the villain ranking system.
The grading criteria themselves are designed so that A-rank is reserved only for dual-ability users, the rarest of the rare, or those with overwhelmingly powerful abilities. You basically have to be able to stop time to reach S-rank. Even if you're moderately strong, B-rank is the ceiling.
Moreover, despite the title, being a hero was as brutal as serving as a soldier and meant constantly risking life and limb. Most people eventually quit, no matter how well they were paid.
On top of that, the public is extremely stringent about the moral perfection of heroes, and even the slightest flaw will draw malicious comments. The proportion of heroes in South Korea is much lower than in other countries.
And yet, despite the lack of heroes, villains are innumerable.
The reason was simple. People with powerful abilities often chose the path of a villain instead.
In truth, the proportion of villains who commit terrorist attacks against the general public is quite low. That's actually one of the reasons Egostic became such a hot topic.
Many villains quietly lurk in the shadows and pursue their own gains.
And normally, they remain unknown to the public. They operate behind the scenes, living their lives while hiding their true identities.
But when a hero's personal information gets exposed?
They immediately came into the open to eliminate the hero. Heroes were potential threats, and villains wanted them removed quickly.
Therefore, a hero must never expose their face. That's common sense.
It is common sense.
But still, does that mean she should just abandon these suffering civilians right now?
"Stardus!!!"
BOOM— BOOM—
The sound of buildings collapsing.
The sound of people screaming.
Is she supposed to abandon all of this?
Going to the Hero Association for Perception Inhibition would take too long. By the time she returned, the situation would probably already be over.
Had she chosen to become a hero so that she could run away in a situation like this?
"Ha-ru...?"
Her expression hardened as she planted her foot. There was no other choice.
She would put the citizens before her own safety.
Just as she was about to dash out, a man next to her who had been staring at his smartphone yelled out.
"It's Egostic!! Egostic showed up!!!"
She nearly slipped in that moment.
Wait, why the hell is that bastard showing up here all of a sudden?