The Only Hero Everyone Is Obsessed With
Bone Mask was... starving.
I never expected two Disaster Class monsters to spawn at the same time.
While I was away from the protection zone for just a moment, the quest window flashed a number that made my stomach drop—-191.
Almost the entire teacher and student body had been wiped out.
That's when I realized the truth the older brothers in the gallery had warned about for so long.
It really wasn't just some game quirk—they'd been right: without all the NPC Resurrection Mode cheats turned on, you'd never even reach the ending.
Transmigrated into this world barely a week ago.
And it had already thrown me a difficulty curve I didn't see coming.
But I'd prepared for it anyway.
Just one cheat: NPC Resurrection Mode.
Revive every single one of those dead-or-dying NPCs once and for all.
Thanks to that, this quest had worked out.
No, more than that—I'd actually saved the entire world again.
And now the job was done.
After I finished off the monsters and said my farewells to SHAS, I headed back to the Underground Secret Base.
“...Huh? Smells like... food?”
The scent that brushed my nose wasn't dust or scorched battlefield air.
It was real home-cooked food.
Seasoned meat with soy sauce, slightly stir-fried kimchi in peanut oil, and fresh rice still steaming hot from the pot.
In the underground base that had been silent except for the hum of computer fans, this aroma shouldn't have existed—
“Welcome home, Master.”
“...M-Master?”
Where the hell...
The kitchen.
That place no one had ever turned on the lights for in all the time I'd been there suddenly had someone standing in it.
On the table, a full meal had been laid out.
Boiling hot doenjang jjigae bubbling over.
Shiny soy sauce egg, perfectly browned rolled egg, and neatly arranged side dishes.
At the tip of the chopsticks, a faint sheen of oil glistened.
Just smelling it made my mouth water.
And beside it, the woman who stood straight and bowed slightly.
“I am Sora, your new supporter, maid, combat assistant, mood-boosting conversation AI android, appointed to serve Master Lee Seunghwan from today onward.”
“AI android?”
My mind instantly shattered the stiff, metallic robot I had imagined.
She looked far too... human.
No, more human than any human I had ever seen.
Her blue bobbed hair brushed softly against her shoulders, and her eyes caught the light with a subtle shine.
Her skin, though artificial, held a warm, almost living glow.
Over her white maid uniform, navy garter belts and delicate lace trimmed the hem, and with every step her skirt fluttered like a whisper of air.
And right above her head—cat ears.
Behind her waist, a sleek, smooth tail.
It flicked slightly from side to side.
“...A cat?”
“Cat-type emotional feedback module, Master.”
She smiled.
The corners of her lips lifted just a touch, and her ears gave a tiny rhythmic twitch.
For a second my brain went white.
Shit... she's adorable.
Under her skin, a faint metallic skeleton showed through in places, but the half-hidden, half-visible boundary only made it more provocative.
Every angle was calculated.
The height of her chest, the sweep of her gaze, even the rhythm of her breathing felt programmed into pure seduction.
She cooked, she conversed, and now she was this beautiful?
This... was really the quest reward?
“You really nailed the main quest, Master.”
As a hero, I had a duty to save the world.
But as a man, if I'd screwed that up, I'd be regretting it for the rest of my life in a whole different way.
I'd taken down two Disaster Class monsters.
And instead of the usual scent of oil and blood, the evening that greeted me was the smell of rice.
My stomach, pressed flat against my back from skipping lunch, was about to open the delivery app again—
And instead, there was this super-powered maid android right in front of me.
I ate in silence, respecting the technology and aesthetics of humanity.
***
People say good food tastes better when you eat it with good company.
They were right.
Sora's cooking skills were beyond imagination.
The rice had come out glossy and perfect, and the kimchi jjigae warmed my throat the moment I took a bite.
Behind the faint spiciness, a rich meaty aroma lingered.
Anyone looking at it would swear it was real home cooking.
How many years had it been since I had a proper meal like this?
My stomach that had survived on cup noodles and convenience-store lunch boxes actually teared up for a second.
Right then, Sora spoke up.
“Master, now that you’re going to live in this world for the rest of your life, may I ask how you feel about that?”
“Huh?!”
Wait, is she really that cat-type android?
No hesitation at all when teasing the master.
Sora tilted her shoulder slightly and gave a cute smile.
Her eyes sparkled with mischief, but her tone stayed perfectly polite.
“Does that mean... even after clearing the game, I can't go back to the original world?”
“Correct. Your body has already been rebuilt in this Chaos Beast world.”
“And even after defeating all the monsters, there's no way back?”
“True. There's no way to return to the original world.”
I set my water glass down.
Honestly, it didn't surprise me that much.
After all, the original world had just been me grinding game quests for money—sleeping during the day, hunting at night, living disconnected from reality with nothing but the glow of the monitor.
Reasons to return? None.
Still, hearing it out loud made my head spin a little.
Then Sora asked again.
“Master, here's the next question. What kind of life do you think you'll live one year from now?”
“One year from now?”
A short silence fell.
One year... that was fast.
“What, still fighting monsters and cleaning up the world like now, right?”
The words came out naturally.
One year was quick.
Probably I'd still be fighting monsters, keeping the world from collapsing like the game, living my routine of eat, sleep, fight.
So I said it casually.
“Wrong!”
Sora formed cute X's with both hands.
She shook her head like a machine, smiling cleanly.
But her expression didn't match her next words.
“If things stay like this, one year from now Master’s life will be extremely miserable.”
“...What?”
I stopped chopping.
“You’re saying I’ll die to a monster?”
“No.”
Sora kept smiling.
“Based on your current combat power and the average Disaster Class monster threat level here in Korea, your survival rate if you stay only on the Korean peninsula forever is 98.72%.”
“...Doesn't that just mean I'm basically immortal?”
“But.”
Her smile wavered just a fraction.
The air in the room suddenly felt colder.
“If things stay like this, Master will end up hurting people who are afraid of their own strength—the strength to casually kill monsters—rather than the monsters themselves.”
Her tone was light, but it hit hard.
It didn't suit her cute appearance at all, as if she had already determined the future.
“Simulation results show that if current trends continue, at D+62 days Master will be classified as a C-0 level threat entity—on par with monsters.”
“But I'm the hero who saves people from monsters!”
Even though I said it proudly, Sora's gaze didn't flicker.
“Master, that logic only works when it's emotional gratitude.”
“What?”
“Emotional thanks and systemic recognition are two different things.”
She lifted her head.
The smile disappeared, and her voice turned perfectly mechanical.
“Think about it. If someone unknown to them wields power equal to monsters, ordinary citizens won't care, but what about the people in power?”
Her tone was ice-cold now.
“A super-powered entity outside government control has always been classified as a threat in human history.”
“Whether you saved someone or killed a few monsters doesn't matter.”
“...!”
My words stuck in my throat.
Her logic was too flawless, which made it even scarier.
Sora bowed her head again.
Her quiet follow-up sounded less like a warning and more like a report.
“They will label the order you created as heresy.”
“They'll spread doubt through edited videos and manipulated news reports.”
“Use expert interviews and comment armies to spread fear.”
“And when public opinion boils over, they'll use law and justification to isolate you.”
My heart sank strangely.
The scene she described felt crystal clear, like I'd already seen the future.
“Then... what do I do? Take off the mask and keep living like that?”
Sora shook her head.
“No. The moment you reveal your identity, an even worse route opens up.”
“...What route?”
“The control route.”
“The government will try to control your power.”
“If that fails, they'll go for elimination.”
“During the process, you'll kill humans instead of monsters—the paradox probability is extremely high.”
A metallic smell hung in the air.
No matter how gently she put it, it was still a prophecy and a warning.
“Then... is there no way out?”
Whether I reveal myself or hide, it all ends up the same.
Big power comes with big responsibility, but I hadn't felt any of it because it was just cheat-mode strength with no system window to show it.
Then I grinned.
“Simple.”
My expression was as if I'd erased the word “crisis” from the dictionary.
Sora smiled brightly and wagged her tail.
“Master, do you remember how politicians suddenly go to the market to eat kalguksu during election season?”
“Yeah...?”
“Like those who normally drink wine suddenly doing a humble act and saying ‘I eat this kind of rice too~’”
Ah, that one.
I'd seen it on the news.
The guy slicing pizza with a fork in front of the camera, the one not even touching his kalguksu.
It was obvious they were acting for the first time and got roasted for it.
At the time I thought, ‘Why even bother with the show?’
Now I understood.
That was framing.
“Exactly.”
Sora clapped her hands once.
“Same humble act, but with real sincerity.”
“Real...?”
“Yes. Make the citizens think you're on their side.”
“Then the government's framing won't work!”
That was the plan the next day.
Wehng-wehng-wehng!
“Mom! Look at that oppa...!”
“Oh my, is he cosplaying?”
“Hey, that guy isn't Bone Mask? The hero from that stream!”
As my first step to avoid becoming humanity's enemy, I was chowing down on roasted pork rice at a street-food stall right in the middle of Seoul.
Not for monster hunting.
Not for disaster response.
Only for image management.
With Bone Mask on, I was living the line ‘I am just like you, ordinary people~’ with my own body.