The Real Hero
Humans… are never truly strong.
No, now it’s more accurate to say they’re weak.
After the monsters appeared, just forty years have passed.
In that short time, humanity handed over half the Earth’s territory.
The gray zones on the maps are no longer cities—they’re hunting grounds alive with monsters.
Of course, humans fought back.
They mobilized every bit of science and technology: cannons, missiles, fighters.
But there were monsters that none of those weapons could touch.
Bullets bounced off. Shells melted. Even lasers from satellites were swallowed whole.
Before such creatures, humans were nothing more than… prey measured by how long they could endure.
Yet.
Even in that desperate world, some people still said, “It’s okay.”
Those were the two people Kim Pung most admired.
His parents.
“Someone has to be chased by monsters, and others have to run away.
“That’s the ‘best battle’ we can fight, Pung-ah.”
His parents stood at the very front lines of humanity.
They served in the Decoy Unit.
They didn’t intercept monsters—they diverted the monsters’ attention away from civilians.
In other words, the unit that lured monsters straight to itself.
No heavy weapons. No armor.
Just their bodies, sprinting in front of monsters and shouting, “This way!”
All they did was run.
That was the Decoy Unit’s mission.
But to Kim Pung, it was the bravest form of running humanity could show.
People who bet their entire lives to save hundreds, thousands, millions of others with one single run.
The parents he remembered were exactly those people.
People who smiled even at the end of humanity.
People who never took even one step back while running.
They were heroes, even if the title didn’t quite fit.
So he believed.
True heroes never run even when death is right in front of them.
And his parents proved that belief to the end.
They died gloriously in the line of duty as members of the Decoy Unit.
“Your parents were truly magnificent people.”
“Hold your chest up high. You’re the child of a hero.”
The funeral was grand enough to match the word “fallen.”
Generals with medals removed their black hats.
Citizens saved by monsters lined up to pay respects.
Endless flowers, and even more words of praise.
“I’ll never forget.”
“The nation will bear responsibility until the end.”
“You are the legacy of a hero.”
Those words sounded like comfort, but to young Kim Pung they felt like chains.
If you’re the child of a hero, you have to live up to that name.
Under those gazes, Kim Pung grew.
And in the end, he didn’t betray their expectations.
Whether it was marksmanship, martial arts, tactics, or stamina—he ranked first in every subject.
His instructors whispered that he was “monstrous.”
And that word, strangely enough, felt like the highest praise.
He became the promising successor to his parents’ names.
Even when punching bags exploded and his lungs burned with every breath, he never stopped.
Every time blood dripped from his fingers, he felt a strange relief.
“This is enough… to be the son of a hero.”
That was his belief.
He endured with nothing but that belief.
But as time passed, it started to feel less like faith and more like a lie.
Truth was, he had never wanted to be the son of a hero.
It would have been better if he had just been ordinary.
He would have been happy to be a normal kid who eats dinner and gets scolded by his parents—without any monster-fighting legacy.
If only he had lived, and his parents had simply been right there beside him.
That would have been enough.
Because no matter how strong he became, humans were still just humans.
The limits of his species were clear.
Even if he could shatter a sandbag or shoot a perfect bullet, it wouldn’t matter against a monster.
Even if he trained like an ant, a single human footstep would crush him.
In the end, it was all meaningless.
Kim Pung hadn’t trained to fight.
He had simply beaten his own body to death so he wouldn’t have to think.
So he ran like a madman.
Even against the weakest Erosion Class monsters, without tanks or anti-aircraft guns, an entire platoon could be wiped out.
So what he was doing now was just performative training.
A fool’s errand.
If his parents were still alive, would they have praised him for this meaningless training like “As expected of the son of a hero”?
No.
They would have scolded him.
After all, they were ex-members of the Decoy Unit—they would have known instantly.
This wasn’t training.
This was a suicide rehearsal.
Honestly, he should have quit long ago.
In a world that might end at any moment, simply living normally might have been the truest service to his dead parents.
So he had tried to quit many times.
But somehow, his body always moved faster than his head.
“Run! This way!”
Even after promising himself he’d quit, the moment the monster siren blared, his feet carried him toward the people.
Like a crazy fool who wanted to die alongside his parents.
And when he snapped back to his senses, he was already dragging the survivors along as he ran.
That day was no different.
Seoul downtown.
For the first time in nearly thirty years, a Disaster Class monster appeared.
Gigantic wings spread across the sky, and the monster bird snatched and devoured fighter jets.
“Ah… this time it really is the end.”
For the first time, he understood.
Humans could never reach that sky.
If a monster flew there, it was itself a sign of the end of the world.
But on that day, he saw it.
Among humans who only knew how to run and shoot, one man actually faced the monster.
BOOM!
“It… killed a monster?”
A beam of light tore through the sky.
A man punched straight through a monster bird that no anti-aircraft gun could touch, with nothing but his bare hands.
On that day, Kim Pung first saw.
The true form of a hero—the one he had only ever known through stories.
***
“The Goddess of the Dash, Captain Ha Min-ah… so the rumors weren’t exaggerated.”
After class, as the sunset painted the walking path, Kim Pung muttered to himself.
His fist clenched on its own.
It wasn’t anger.
His heart was racing too fast.
Captain Ha Min-ah.
She had served in the same Decoy Unit as his parents, then stepped into her squad leader role right before their sacrifice.
Now she was the true “hero among heroes” that the Republic of Korea was proud to showcase.
When he first heard her name, he honestly hadn’t believed it.
“The hero who continues his parents’ legacy? No way—it’s just another government PR stunt.”
That was his suspicion, so today he deliberately provoked her.
The moment class ended, he waited in the middle of the classroom to see how she would react.
To confirm whether she was truly the “real” thing, like his parents.
And the result exceeded his imagination.
She didn’t get angry at his cheeky words.
Instead, she smiled and hit back with a smile one step higher.
At that moment, Kim Pung was certain.
She was a hero too.
“By the way… Captain Ha Min-ah must be a fan of the Bone Mask as well.”
On the way home.
A single phone played in his hand—the video.
The man who had once pierced a giant monster bird “Berial Bird” with a single leap.
The light on the screen reflected in his eyes.
The cold gaze finally wavered into something warm.
Since that day, only one scene had remained in Kim Pung’s mind.
The man falling through the sky, tearing it apart.
His heart thundered.
Even in this world, humans who still harbored something “strange”…
It wasn’t mere curiosity.
It was longing.
He wanted to meet him.
To stand beneath the same sky as him.
And if possible, someday to stand shoulder to shoulder with him.
That thought swallowed everything—throughout his school days and right now.
At that moment.
WEIIIIIIING—!
“…! Monster siren.”
The ear-splitting alarm cut through the air like a blade.
The sunset path instantly fell into silence.
[Monster appearance! Monster appearance! Disaster-class ‘Erosion’! Military units are deploying—citizens, evacuate immediately!]
The voice echoed from the speakers, and every person’s face hardened.
Panicked footsteps, slamming doors, screaming car brakes.
Peace always ended with that sound.
Kim Pung took a quick breath and looked up at the sky.
“Here we go again.”
While the crowd headed to the shelters, his footsteps went the opposite way.
The instructors’ warning at SHAS echoed in his head.
“You’re students first—then minors. You can walk around after adulthood, but don’t do anything stupid!”
But his body already knew.
Every time that siren sounded, his legs had always run the other way.
And this time was no different.
“Hic… huuuh…”
Familiar sobs.
With just that sound, the situation flashed in his mind.
Usually the ones who disappeared during moments like this were the elderly or children.
Most of the people he had saved so far had been that way.
So he ran without hesitation.
“Hic… help… me…”
At the end of the alley, streetlights flickered.
And underneath them—
“…Damn it.”
A little boy hung suspended in the air.
His tiny legs kicked helplessly.
The hand gripping his head wasn’t human.
A foul stench sliced through the air.
Rotten fish, blood, and sewer combined into something nauseating.
The monster’s head was as rigid as a giant fish skull.
Slime oozed between bulging scales, and its eyes floated like glass.
A long tongue slowly licked the boy’s cheek from its gaping mouth.
Sticky saliva dripped with a plop.
Kim Pung’s eyes flashed.
The creature stood on two legs, but its toes were already not human.
Between long split toes grew black claws.
Thin fins spread across each sole.
“A fish-headed bastard.”