Today, It Really Begins

Beep-beep-beep. Click.

"Ughhh. Slept great."

I shut off the alarm, stretched until something in my back popped, and met the morning.

Ten days since I'd been dragged into the world of Path of the Transcendent. Three days since the day I first met Nova.

They say human beings are creatures of adaptation, and this world was no exception. I was completely settled in by now. You could even say the daily routine had locked into place.

Roughly speaking, the morning of Baek Woojin, man among men, went like this. I was up, so I washed. Then I shuffled out of the overnight room and headed for the pantry.

And so the drink came down. Lately I'd gotten hooked on shot-tea and was living on nothing else.

My Own Little Cafe, the custom coffee machine. The first piece of equipment I'd built after taking over this lab. There had been a coffee machine here already, but it was hopelessly outdated — you know the kind, that vending-machine brewer parked just inside the door of a barbecue joint. That was what used to sit in this room. Vending-machine coffee isn't bad, I'll grant you. But if you're going to drink it, you ought to drink it properly. So I'd put Superstar of the Machine to work and knocked a real one together.

Gulp.

"Ahh. That's the stuff."

Anyway, to continue. Sipping the shot-tea My Own Little Cafe had made for me, I headed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠into my office and dropped into the chair.

Thump. Whirrr—!

The chair was another custom piece, built with Superstar of the Machine. Sit down and it automatically set you into proper posture. Wonderful for the lower back, I'll have you know.

Slurp. Click.

Settled in the chair, nursing my drink, I powered on the computer, opened a browser, and went straight to the community.

A webpage in that familiar design rose up to greet me. Yes — that gallery. The one everyone knows. Even I had found it absurd the first time I saw it, back when I was playing Path of the Transcendent. Still, this was a modern-fantasy world. An internet community wasn't all that strange.

So I slipped into Hero Gallery — Hero Gal, for short — and settled in for a good long scroll, until a beep-beep announced that noon had arrived.

"No way. Already?"

I'd gotten up at eight, and it was already twelve. Nothing makes time vanish like lurking a gallery. The chair had been correcting my posture the whole time, so even after sitting that long my back didn't hurt. Anyway, once the scrolling had carried me all the way to noon—

Creeeak—

The office door opened.

"Uuuugh..."

"Oh, you're here?"

Chae Na-yeon came in with fatigue ground deep into her face, takeout containers in both hands.

"What's lunch today?"

"...Spicy pork over rice."

"Oh, spicy pork is the best there is. Thanks for the trouble. Sit, sit."

Setting out the food she'd brought and getting it on the table — that was the end of my morning routine.

Looked at this way, I really did seem like a hopeless, good-for-nothing bum.

"You worked hard again today."

"I did. Unlike a certain boss who spends the entire day in here scrolling the gallery."

To Chae Na-yeon, out there running herself ragged, I could probably pass for a bum as well.

"Now, now. Information gathering."

My gallery time was, strictly speaking, for gathering information.

"There are people inside that gallery, you know. Scrolling it is far more efficient than me walking around outside collecting intel myself."

"Then why have I been out on field duty for three days straight?"

"Because you're the one with the invisibility ability, Ms. Chae."

Three days had passed since I debuted as the villain Machina. For all three of them, on my orders, Chae Na-yeon had surveyed the whole of Northern Meteor City. More precisely, she had surveyed the underworld of Northern Meteor City.

"It's true the gallery yields a lot, but the underworld lives outside the monitor. If you want that information, somebody has no choice but to wear out their shoes."

I took the daylight intel, through the gallery and the wider web. Chae Na-yeon took the shadow intel, through her invisibility. People placed exactly where their abilities made them perfect. Wasn't that precisely the quality a leader ought to have?

"...So, Boss. Getting into a three-hundred-comment flame war on a post about who'd win in a fight between Hero Tyranno Girl and Villain Spino Guy — that's information gathering?"

"...Wait. You saw that? How?"

"I can read the gallery from outside, too. I memorized your fixed handle. HeroGalWhiz. That's you, right?"

God ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in heaven. A coworker — my own subordinate — knew my gallery handle. Something that belonged in a nightmare had just happened in real life.

Even so, my conscience was clear.

"Now, now. I'll have you know that was necessary, too."

Because that keyboard war really had been necessary.

"What are you even—"

"And from here on, you won't have quite so much reason to feel wronged about going out on your own."

Chae Na-yeon wore a look of pure, brain-fried disbelief. I turned to her, opened my mouth, and snapped my fingers.

Whirrr—

"This is..."

What the hologram threw into the empty air was an internet article.

An article reporting that Nova had been discharged from the hospital.

"Because starting today, I'll be heading out with you."

Nova was back. Which meant it was finally time to take the field.

On the day Machina Company was founded, Chae Na-yeon had asked me something. Wasn't operating as a villain dangerous? Was I really all right?

Worrying wasn't strange. No — worrying was the only sane response. She knew how dangerous the underworld was. Meteor City is not a place that goes easy on anyone. Show up with no one at your back, puffing out your chest and announcing that you are a rookie villain who debuted today, and you get taken apart on the spot. Villains already holding their turf. Heroes looking to beat villains down and pad their records. Stick your head out without thinking, and both sides dismantle you at once.

That was why she had asked, worried, whether I'd be all right. And to that question I had, of course, answered that I was fine. That I would be fine.

Because—

"It really did turn out exactly the way you said, Boss."

"Didn't it?"

I could see, clear as day, exactly how this world turned.

"I still can't believe they actually credited Nova with taking down Fat Guy..."

I had debuted that day, bold as anything, as the villain Machina, and yet the world still didn't know my name. Because, just as Chae Na-yeon said, the whole thing had been processed as Nova capturing Fat Guy. The location had been an abandoned factory at the port. Aside from Nova, the only witnesses were a punk or two. A perfect situation for burying the truth. And a thing like that ought to be hidden, if it can be hidden.

If I'd been with the Association, I'd have buried it on the spot.

Rookie heroes, a breath away from going down to a villain — and then, out of nowhere, a villain no one had ever heard of appears. That villain drops Fat Guy, a name with real weight in Northern Meteor City, in a single blow and kills him outright. Then he saves the wounded hero and vanishes without a trace. Let a story like that reach the world, and there'd be unrest, large or small, and the Hero Association's credibility would take a hit. From the Association's point of view, they had no choice but to hide that I existed.

Of course, hiding it from the public is a separate matter from my name going up on the Association's books.

What mattered was that the world didn't know my name. At least I didn't yet have to worry about getting lynched by other villains.

"But you aren't dissatisfied at all, Boss? They swiped the credit for taking down Fat Guy right out from under you."

Chae Na-yeon asked it outright. She seemed to find it absurd that the one known for catching Fat Guy was Nova, and not me. Fat Guy's name did carry real weight, that much was true — enough that the mere title of having caught him was worth the nickname Supernova. But that didn't mean I resented Nova for taking the credit. My goal from the very start had been to make her the greatest hero there was.

"I'm not particularly dissatisfied. If anything, I'm glad. Nova's name just went up."

"Boss, I've been wanting to ask for a while. What exactly is your relationship with this Nova, that you'd—"

"Ah, we're here. Ms. Chae. Let's finish that conversation later."

We'd been talking as we walked, and somewhere along the way we had reached the destination. The mouth of a back alley in downtown Northern Meteor City. Damp, gloomy, shadows pooled thick along the walls — exactly the look I knew.

"Thanks to you grinding for three straight days, Ms. Chae, we found it without getting lost. Thank you."

"So is there an incentive?"

"Hmm. An incentive..."

I stepped into the alley's shadow and turned the corner, heading in.

"Hey, who the hell are you, waltzing in here? And what's with the white coat? You playing doctor?"

"Toll! Pay the toll! You don't even know what kind of alley this is?!"

"Oh, and a pretty lady, too? I'll specially waive your toll, miss. Just a body search, and I'll let you through. Kihehehe!"

Right on cue, as if they'd been waiting, three mohawked thugs popped out. I didn't so much as flinch at mohawks appearing out of nowhere. This was a mohawk habitat to begin with. Not quite a villain organization — just a gang. The home turf of the Mohican Family. And the ones in front of me were its grunts. Bottom-feeder punks who shook people down for pocket change at the entrance. Trash whose mere existence made ordinary people anxious. So, as a civic-minded citizen, I had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠no choice but to take out the trash.

"Whatever money falls out of these kids' pockets — I'll give you all of it as your incentive."

"Score!"

Leaving Chae Na-yeon's small cheer behind me, I reached a hand toward the mohawks.

"Let's wrap this up. We're short on time."

In the same instant, mechanical tentacles shot from my sleeves.

From the entrance all the way in, the cleaning was perfect. Sweep out the mohawked trash, and the place got nice and tidy.

Anyway, the reason I'd come all the way out here and done this out of nowhere wasn't much of a reason at all. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Stay here, and she would come find me on her own.

"M-Machina!? How are you— how did you get here...?!"

Our protagonist.

"Ah, you've arrived. I've been waiting, Ms. Nova."

The Mohican Family was the gang Nova was meant to sweep up after the tutorial. Ordinary thugs, not an esper among them, so in the game she cleared them with ease. Yes. With ease.

That won't do. You don't learn a thing from a job you can handle easily.

What makes a hero strong is always a grueling trial. And the Mohican Family could never be a trial for Nova. That was why I had come here myself. To become a real trial, in place of a Mohican Family that was nothing but a waste of time.

"Well then. Shall we start by loosening up?"

The Machina Lesson.

Today, it really begins!