A More Dangerous One Has Appeared
A more dangerous one has appeared.
A sickening crunch — then a heavy thud.
Machine Doctor's torso crumpled, unable to withstand the crushing force of the tentacle. For a villain of his reputation, it was a pathetically hollow end. He died without even managing a proper last word.
...Holy shit. He actually finished Machine Doctor.
Chae Nayeon, her entire body rendered invisible, clamped a hand over her mouth in stunned horror. She was, in fact, an ability user — a transformation-type who could turn both herself and anything she touched invisible. That power was how she had stolen the prototype Spider Bomb. It was also how she could hide here now, watching everything unfold in secret.
I thought he was trouble from the moment I first saw him. I never imagined it would be this bad.
She studied Baek Woojin's profile. A slightly lean build, black hair, tall enough to clear six feet without question. Handsome enough that you'd glance back if you passed him on the street. But that was all. On the surface, he looked like nothing more than an ordinary civilian.
And yet that ordinary-looking man had just defeated the named villain Machine Doctor. Effortlessly. Without the slightest difficulty.
He beat Machine Doctor in a Control Takeover Battle? What the hell is this guy?
Machine Doctor had never lost a Control Takeover Battle. Anyone who operated in the underworld knew that story. And this man had just casually crushed the undisputed king of those battles — which meant the caliber of Baek Woojin's ability sat higher than Machine Doctor's.
Machine Doctor was already a headache. Now someone even more dangerous has shown up...!
Nayeon was not pleased by Baek Woojin's arrival. More precisely, she did not want a powerful villain appearing in this city. She was a thief who specialized exclusively in targeting the villains of this city's back alleys, after all.
He said it clearly earlier — he was going to take everything Machine Doctor had. And he actually seized control of those terrifying mechanical tentacles.
Baek Woojin had stated his purpose from the start: to strip Machine Doctor of every last possession. Then he had used those stolen tentacles to erase the man himself. Killed by his own invention. What a thoroughly vicious human being.
Ugh, what even is this. Why is any of this happening.
Her original plan had been to slip into the lab and quietly lift other inventions while Baek Woojin held Machine Doctor's attention. But Machine Doctor was dead, and everything had fallen into Baek Woojin's hands. She had barely been able to handle Machine Doctor. And now someone even worse had appeared.
Yeah. Time to get out. If I stay any longer and get caught, I'm dead.
Running was the smart play. Nayeon kept her hand over her mouth and began backing away, slow and careful. Thank god the laboratory door was still open. She was easing her way out when a mutter from Baek Woojin caught her by the ankle.
Nova. A hero name she knew. Her little sister had mentioned her — a classmate from the academy. A girl who sparkled like a star, she'd said. Ranked lower than her, but someone to watch. It had stuck with Nayeon, because her shy little sister almost never talked about her friends.
Does this Baek Woojin know Nova too...?
If he had just said the name Nova, she might have dismissed it. But he had attached Fat Guy's name to it as well. Nayeon was certain the Nova coming out of Baek Woojin's mouth was the same one she knew. In a week, the academy graduates would debut as heroes. Nova and her own sister had both been assigned to this city — Meteor City. And lurking in this city's darkness was the villain Fat Guy.
It lined up far too perfectly to be coincidence.
Fat Guy is targeting Nova? How does that monster even know who she is? Did academy information leak? Then did this Baek Woojin dig up Fat Guy's intel after the leak?
Nayeon's thoughts tangled into a knot. From the moment Machine Doctor had lost and died, nothing made sense anymore. It was all chaos. But even through the confusion, one fact crystallized.
This man, Baek Woojin — he's an enemy of villains.
Baek Woojin was hostile toward villains. You could tell just from the look he had given Machine Doctor. He despised them. She felt the same way, so she recognized it instantly. And then he had said he would protect Nova. That drove the nail in.
Maybe... he could become a real source of strength.
Nayeon had nearly died today. She had been caught on her way out after stealing the Spider Bomb, her invisibility running out. If not for Baek Woojin, Machine Doctor's followers would have grabbed her. They would have dragged her into this lab and subjected her to unspeakable experiments.
Today had driven it into her bones: there was a limit to working alone. She needed power. And with her sister about to start operating as a hero, she needed it more desperately than ever. Robbing villains to weaken them — that was how Chae Nayeon helped her sister.
Yeah. Life's always been high risk, high return. Let's roll the dice.
Nayeon made her decision. She would reveal herself to Baek Woojin. And she would ask him to become her ally.
Click.
I flipped the switch beside the door. Light flooded the laboratory, revealing the interior in full. I hadn't realized it when the lights were off, but the place was enormous.
"Whoa. They built a whole factory in here."
To construct a lab this vast beneath an abandoned building... The villains in the early-to-mid stretch of Path of the Superhuman always showed up packing Machine Doctor's gear. I had always wondered how they got their hands on that kind of equipment. Looking at the size of this lab, the question answered itself. Manufacturing and distributing villain equipment, plus researching and developing mechanical tentacles — you'd need a facility this size to handle all of that.
"Well then. Shall we take a proper look around?"
"Please be careful. There's an intruder-elimination system installed inside."
"Huh?"
I turned my head and saw a familiar head of brown hair. Chae Nayeon. What the hell? When did she get here? She had appeared without a single sound.
"Sorry. I startled you, appearing out of nowhere like that."
Chae Nayeon dipped her head in apology.
"The truth is, I'm an ability user. I can turn my body invisible."
And just like that, she announced she had an ability.
"I was watching everything you did just now, Mr. Baek. From right beside you."
The words that followed left my mind blank for a second. She had been watching me from right next to me? I hadn't noticed a thing.
A chill crawled down my spine. Chae Nayeon had been observing me from outside my awareness — which meant she could have killed me at any moment.
You've got to be kidding me.
This was the world of Path of the Superhuman, a place crawling with schemes and treachery. Let your guard down for a second and you'd lose your head. And this woman had the ability to do exactly that.
Someone I don't even know was watching me from right beside me.
I felt ashamed of how I'd swaggered around, calling myself a veteran of Path of the Superhuman. Right. This world was a living, breathing reality now. Everything I had seen before had been nothing but images on a monitor. The world contained in those images was far wider than what I had ever witnessed. The woman standing in front of me was living proof.
Just looking at Chae Nayeon made me swallow dry. She was an unknown — a presence I had no knowledge of. I couldn't predict what she might do. Had even her ordinary physical capabilities been an act? Why reveal her ability all of a sudden? Who the hell was this woman?
Humans fear the unknown. That was exactly what I was feeling right now. I was afraid of the unknown that was Chae Nayeon. And I knew how to erase the fear of the unknown.
...Should I just hit her first with a tentacle?
Apply physical force. Machine Doctor's mechanical tentacles were strong enough to work even on mid-tier heroes. If I launched one while she was off guard, it might land. Yeah. Let's do it. Just do it. In a situation like this, subduing her was fair game, right?
The moment I finished steeling myself—
"Mr. Baek Woojin. Would you like to work with me?"
Chae Nayeon proposed a partnership.
"...?"
I listened to Chae Nayeon's story for a while. Boiled down to three lines, it went like this: she was a thief who specialized in robbing villains. She had recently hit a hard wall working alone. She wanted to borrow my strength.
She'd been impressed by the ability that had defeated Machine Doctor, apparently. Honestly, that alone was suspicious as hell. But the words that followed melted my doubts like snow.
"My little sister is graduating from the hero academy and debuting as a full hero. She's been assigned to this city."
Chae Nayeon had her reasons.
"I started specializing in robbing villains to help her. If I steal their equipment, she'll have an easier time taking them down."
A hero for a little sister. And I knew exactly who that sister was.
Ray — the classmate hero of the protagonist Nova. The tragic hero who, upon learning her sister had been murdered by a villain, became an anti-hero consumed by revenge, crossed every line, and eventually stood against her former friend Nova.
So that sister had been Chae Nayeon. I had never seen the name in the game, so I hadn't seen it coming at all.
"Of course, I'm keeping it a secret from her."
Chae Nayeon was a detonator. One capable of setting off the enormous bomb that was Ray.
"The reason I told you something this personal is that I don't want to deceive you, Mr. Baek. I'm desperate. I'll do whatever it takes to be there for my sister. So please. I'm asking you."
Chae Nayeon bowed at a full ninety degrees.
In the original timeline, Chae Nayeon would have been captured by Machine Doctor's three followers and died in this laboratory. I had interfered, and she had survived. She was a weakling, no question — she just happened to have an invisibility ability.
If I refuse, she'll be dead before long. She nearly got killed by three guys today, after all.
And then Hero Ray would fall to the dark side, consumed by revenge. Nova would be shattered watching her friend cross every line — and then have to be the one to take that friend down. It would leave a wound that never healed.
In the end, I had no real choice. If I didn't accept the proposal, Nova would take a devastating blow to the heart.
Fine. Think of it as eliminating a future enemy by keeping Chae Nayeon alive. It's not that different from what I was already planning to do.
I decided to accept Chae Nayeon's proposal. But that didn't mean I intended to be led around.
"Working with you is fine, Ms. Chae. But I will make one thing perfectly clear."
"Pardon?"
"It is not that I become your ally. You become mine."
I knew just how savagely cruel this world could be.
"Chae Nayeon. Will you follow me?"
And so.
I would not hand the initiative to anyone.