Chapter 50
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 9
Chapter Title: Efficient Resource Management
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America. In the conference room on the upper floors of a massive skyscraper.
"All of them have returned? The situation is much better than I thought."
The old man laughed, his voice thick with emotion.
"Well... I'm not sure if this is really such good news."
Diana shook her head with a bitter expression.
"In the end, not a single person has gotten close to Shield Boy. It might not be easy to pull him into our fold."
Lee Seong-ha's real name wasn't public knowledge. But it was an open secret that Nafre cherished one man above all others, and that Humanity's Shield as a whole would move at his whim.
Outsiders called him Shield Boy. It was a straightforward, easy-to-remember nickname.
"This is America's problem. We don't need to drag Humanity's Shield into it. We have to handle it ourselves. With our own guns."
As the old man spoke, the others nodded one by one.
"At last, we've secured a superhuman force that answers to no one else."
This was quite significant.
Considering America's scale, a few dozen superhumans weren't all that impressive. There were far stronger heroes and more threatening forces scattered everywhere.
The ones who had become Lee Seong-ha's slaves this time were limited to the beautiful, young virgins among the villains captured in America.
They could aim for power boosts by imprinting lewd penalties, sure. But the help they could provide had its limits. It wasn't enough to warrant the attention of the politicians, executives, and prominent figures from various fields gathered here.
"Now, let's put the plan into action."
The old man smiled.
"We'll attack Clearbrand headquarters."
Still, among forces that could move without 'anyone's influence,' they were as good as the strongest.
Of course, America's heroes were free agents. Unlike in Korea, they didn't have to affiliate with any organization to operate as heroes.
But since they were American, monitoring them wasn't all that hard.
People naturally used cell phones. They messaged each other, called family.
If there was a legitimate company that could illegally access all that data, you couldn't strike that company through America's heroes.
Just gathering people for an attack would leak the info.
But prisoners didn't have phones. Their movements could stay secret until the very last moment before the operation began.
It was an op that normal heroes would never touch. An utterly illogical assault on a legitimate corporation's building—and they could deploy these women for it.
"Are we tracking their movements?"
Diana nodded at the old man's question.
"Yes. Clearbrand doesn't seem to suspect a thing. With Humanity's Shield helping us out—unwittingly, of course—it's only natural."
Clearbrand must know that villains had escaped from prison. But nothing beyond that. Humanity's Shield was tightly controlling all related info to keep Lee Seong-ha's existence under wraps.
From the observers' perspective, beautiful virgin villains vanishing from prison could only mean they'd been moved for sexual services. And that wasn't a wrong assumption.
In truth, the missing villains had been relocated for exactly that purpose.
But no one knew when that 'service' started or ended—or what the villains did afterward.
A dagger had been forged beneath the cloak.
"Finally, we can fulfill our long-cherished wish. Whenever I think of what they've done..."
Clearbrand Corp. Public opinion in America was pretty favorable toward them.
Regardless of ethical issues, a thriving American company naturally had plenty of defenders. After all, so many people held its stock.
Such companies never faced punishment, no matter what they did.
Ignoring workers dying on the job and covering up the bodies wasn't anything special.
Exploiting awakened beings with fraudulent contracts to deny them fair pay was a minor issue that could be smoothed over with some cash to the media.
Even if a rival got hit by villains, met a gruesome end, collapsed—and tech presumed lost in the chaos suddenly appeared in Clearbrand's new products—it was just coincidence.
Even if a foreign company with suspiciously deep ties to Clearbrand ran a PMC, intervened in civil wars, killed people, and got shut down—it was just another country's problem.
With countless workers' retirement funds tied up in that company's stock like a pension, it became untouchable.
"...Let's move immediately. If the others find out, we'll fail again."
That was why politics and the law couldn't punish them.
Clearbrand's products were cheap. Competitive. It wasn't just hoarding profits from murder, exploitation, and theft—they shared with customers.
By simply holding the company's stock or buying its products, customers could partake in the fruits of that brutal exploitation.
No one would refuse that.
Politicians who declared they'd punish their crimes soon had some trivial scandal dug up, making headlines until they resigned.
Cops and journalists who stepped up to investigate them died. Horrific, sure—but incidents the media and society ignored faded away.
That was why righteous heroes couldn't resolve this.
"Yes."
Diana gave a wry smile.
"Our villain friends will infiltrate, secure the evidence of their crimes. There will be sacrifices, of course."
The others nodded.
Clearbrand's security systems and personnel were no joke. If they were an illegal villain group, it would've warranted deploying Lee Ha-seon.
"Then heroes will move in afterward to take custody of the villains. We'll recover them, secure the evidence, and expose Clearbrand's true nature to the world."
Diana had made her choice.
She was prepared to accept sacrifices for the goal.
"I didn't think we'd be handed something this ordinary... but damn, they went big right from the start. Straight into Clearbrand, huh."
The women in the back of the truck giggled as they chatted.
"How long do we have to stay here? I'm bored to death."
"Still better than the ones digging tunnels or infiltrating via the rooftop. Those are gonna suck."
"Yeah, people need to drive in, after all."
They laughed, but beneath it lurked nervous tension they were trying to hide.
This was overkill.
When they first heard the story, their focus was on 'becoming Lee Seong-ha's slaves and offering our bodies.'
The part about 'becoming villain-hunting villains to fight for justice' was just a bonus. They figured it'd be against villains on their level.
No one had expected a reckless assault on a megacorp's HQ like Clearbrand.
"How many of us will survive?"
"Wouldn't it be better if we all bit it? That's probably what the bosses think."
"Fuck, you think? Man, if I'd known, I would've rubbed up on that guy properly when I met him."
"Diana would've blocked you. Nothing changes."
"That's what pisses me off... That bastard impotent or what? Fuck. He pulls out when we're offering ourselves."
"Probably didn't wanna whip it out in front of trash like us."
"Hurts my pride... Heh."
Carlea, sitting in the corner, quietly spoke to the girl beside her.
"You okay, Jenny? You didn't end up here for doing something stupid like the rest of us."
"Doesn't matter. If anything, I'm glad."
"Really?"
Jenny steeled her resolve.
"The bastards who did filthy shit to me work for Clearbrand."
She closed her eyes briefly, recalling her conversation with Diana.
-Did you plan this on purpose?
Diana had chuckled lightly.
-If you're asking if it was my plan, then to some extent, yes. But if you're asking if it was specially prepared just for you, no.
-...
-You're not the only one who's suffered like this. Plenty of people see your pain as their own.
It was now a distant, faded memory. Jenny had been living the trash life in a back alley.
The hood overflowed with immigrants, people of color, poor criminals, and gang members.
Jenny was born the daughter of a whore—or so she'd heard. She'd never seen her birth parents' faces.
Luckily, she'd awakened before growing into a body she had to sell. She could live without bowing her pride to others.
She dealt with gangbangers threatening her with guns. When the lady at her regular laundromat got robbed, she tracked down the perp and handled him.
In the best light, she was a local hero—one of those a dime a dozen in America. In the worst, a small-time villain using her powers to beat and intimidate people. The line between them was meaningless, especially where the law offered no protection.
Then something strange happened.
Drugs were nothing new in the district. But this new one was different.
People tied to drugs are still people. Not every smoker or drinker spirals into addiction that ruins their life. Not everyone turns into street zombies.
But this new drug was different.
It showed up mixed into burgers at regular joints. In orange juice at parties. Even those who avoided hard stuff or stuck to weed got hooked before they knew it.
A faint strawberry scent. Users gained freakish strength for normals and an unparalleled high.
Addicts—alcohol or otherwise, usually 5-10%—exploded in numbers on the streets. They ignored heroin or fentanyl, wandering off in search of this new fix.
Jenny found where they all ended up.
Girls she used to hang with on the streets clung naked to one man, begging for the drug. The room reeked of sticky filth.
She killed the ringleader. Figured nothing would come of it.
Until the media branded her 'Villain Freakhood' as a cruel monster, and cops and heroes swarmed to capture her—all because the man she'd killed worked for Clearbrand.
She resisted. Got caught. Even then, she clutched the evidence she'd painstakingly gathered.
She sent it to media, lawyers, police. It vanished. People said the drugged-up Villain Freakhood was hallucinating nonsense.
She clenched her fists tight.
"I don't care if I die. As long as I can kill those scum."
Carlea shrugged.
"What kinda talk is that? You look at least five years younger than me."
"Only five?"
"This bitch wanna die?!"
Carlea raised a fist playfully. Jenny grinned at it.
She no longer feared death.
At least, not right now.