Day 11: Tears for a McDonald's
„I caught a glimpse of it last time… but it really hasn't changed much, has it."
Having arrived in Seoul, Cheon Seo-ah surveyed her surroundings as she spoke.
She was right.
The Earth she remembered, and this Earth where ability users existed.
Despite becoming a world where countless people wielded superpowers, the scene spread out before her eyes was hardly different from the Seoul of her memories.
Perhaps because it was early morning, throngs of people were commuting to work — an ordinary sight you could find just about anywhere.
That said, it wasn't entirely the same.
BOOM!
KUAHAHAHA—!
An explosion thundered from somewhere, and then something revealed itself, laughing like a maniac.
A hulking brute of a man, easily four meters tall, all knotted muscle and raw bulk.
It called to mind one of those monsters that so often appeared in web novels — an ogre — except for its skin.
The giant's hide gleamed with a metallic sheen like polished steel, and it shrugged off every attack poured into it from every direction.
Its defense was so absurd that the expressions of the ability users attacking it twisted in frustration. Those people commonly known as „Heroes."
Heroes.
It was a relatively new profession, not unlike the police, meant to curb the crime rampant throughout society — except that, unlike the police, they dealt solely with ability-using criminals. In other words, Villains.
Three such Heroes kept hammering away at the steel-skinned giant.
„Damn it! Of all times for a Rank 7 Villain to pop out!"
„If you've got time to complain, throw another attack!"
„If we leave that bastard alone the damage will only get worse! We have to stop him somehow!"
„You maggots dare—! Don't get in my way!"
The Heroes shouted back and forth as they hammered the giant with their respective abilities. The giant bellowed at the Heroes buzzing around him like flies and swung a fist.
Whooosh—!
KRRAAASH!
With a heavy, crushing sound, the building the giant's fist struck burst apart. People nearby screamed and fled in every direction…
„Ahh…!"
Cheon Seo-ah watched it happen, then slumped down hard onto the ground with a low, desolate sigh.
Was it terror at the giant's overwhelming power — a single punch that could obliterate a building?
No.
The reason Cheon Seo-ah had collapsed and let out that soft, wretched sound was…
That hamburger place… I really wanted to go there again after so long…
She sniffled, muttering inwardly.
The building the Villain's fist had blown apart.
It had housed a branch of the world-famous hamburger chain, McDonald's.
Back when she had lived on Earth before, Seo-ah had enjoyed McDonald's quite a bit. Finding one again after so long had made her happy, and she had already decided she would treat herself to a hamburger — only for the Villain's single punch to reduce every last bit of that plan to nothing.
Beside her, the man who had been accompanying her cried out in alarm.
„M-Miss! Are you all right?"
The man's name was David.
He was the attendant the Proxy had assigned to support Seo-ah's outing. He possessed an ability of his own, but since he did not operate as a Villain, there was no problem with him appearing openly before Heroes.
And that same David was thrown into absolute panic by the sight of Cheon Seo-ah suddenly collapsing and shedding fat tears one after another.
Just why on earth was Lady Cheon Seo-ah crying all of a sudden?
No — the reason wasn't what mattered right now.
What mattered was stopping her tears, by any means necessary.
If he mishandled this even slightly…
I-I'm going to die. The Proxy will kill me!
No — even without the Proxy.
The day word got out that Cheon Seo-ah had shed tears, David would be reduced to a state where he couldn't even die cleanly at the hands of the nine Villains who reigned at the absolute pinnacle of the Illuminati.
Seized by a terror he could not possibly resist, David turned a murderous glare on the giant.
The steel-skinned giant was still trading blows with the three Heroes, reducing the surrounding area to chaos…
„That son of a bitch!"
David had seen it clearly.
The instant that damned bulk of a creature's fist blew the building apart, Cheon Seo-ah had sat down with a startled expression and started to cry.
So David concluded:
She must have felt fear and dread at the sight of a building exploding under that fist — and that was why she had collapsed in tears.
It was a misunderstanding only possible for someone who did not truly know who Cheon Seo-ah was, or what she was. And yet, in its own way, it was a remarkably accurate guess.
Which was why—
„You goddamn walking mountain of meat!"
CRACK!
David roared and transformed both his legs as he charged.
With every step he took, his legs twisted from ordinary human limbs into the grotesque, warped legs of a monster.
Body transformation.
It was a fairly common ability, as such things went — and David's rank with it was a full Rank 3.
It might not have been an especially high rank within the Illuminati, but a Rank 3 ability user was the kind of powerhouse who would be treated with deference no matter where he went.
Meanwhile, the giant — still swinging his massive fists to shake off the Heroes clinging to him like flies —
„W-what the—!"
—saw David charging at him on those grotesque legs and his face went pale with shock.
David was radiating such vicious killing intent that it made the skin crawl. He looked nothing like a Hero.
And yet the man before him was unmistakably charging straight at him.
Why? Why was a monster like that coming for him with murder in his eyes?
No — with killing intent that thick, the moment he was caught, he was as good as dead.
I-I have to run!
He had no idea why that monstrous man was after him, but the giant decided he needed to flee immediately.
So—
„Get the hell out of my way!"
KRRAAASH!
The giant slammed both fists into the ground. The pavement exploded, and the three Heroes clinging to him were flung backward for a moment.
„Uwaaaaah—!"
The giant fled, letting out a thoroughly undignified scream.
Without so much as a glance back, he ran, each step a thunderous thud, thud. Judging that his massive body would never let him hide properly, he even dismissed his ability.
His physical capabilities would drop somewhat, yes — but even so, his odds of escaping that monster were better as an ordinary man than as a four-meter giant.
But—
„Where do you think you're going!"
Flash—!
Blood-red light flared in David's eyes as he poured even more power into his legs and kicked off the ground.
BOOM!
The asphalt exploded under every step. In the blink of an eye, David was right in front of the Villain who had been a giant.
CRUNCH!
„Ghk!"
With lightning speed, David seized the Villain by the throat.
„I-I'm sorry! Please, just spare my life!"
The Villain, throat locked in David's grip, shouted in desperation.
Meanwhile, the Heroes who had been fighting him approached David's side.
„Thank you for the assistance. Would it be possible to know which organization you're affiliated with as a Hero…?"
Fwoosh—.
Among the three Heroes, the one who looked like the leader — flames still rising from both his hands — offered his thanks and started to speak. David didn't so much as glance at them.
He simply dragged the Villain, who kept screaming „Please spare me!", back to Cheon Seo-ah's side.
„I've captured the maggot who dared to frighten Lady Cheon Seo-ah. What would you have me do?"
Sniffle—.
Cheon Seo-ah sniffled and looked at the Villain held in David's hand.
„Why did you do that?"
„W-what do you mean…?"
Barely wriggling free of David's grip, the Villain sprawled on the ground and stared at Seo-ah's question with a thoroughly confused expression.
Just who was this girl, that a monster like this man would act so deferentially toward her?
The daughter of some famous Hero family?
The granddaughter of a major conglomerate's chairman?
A congressman's daughter?
But the Villain couldn't pursue the thought any further — because David was staring at him with killing intent for daring not to answer Cheon Seo-ah's question.
„I-I'm sorry! I've committed an unforgivable sin!"
The Villain dropped his head to the ground and shouted.
He did not want to die like this.
He didn't know about the girl — but the man who had grabbed him was nothing like those soft-hearted Heroes.
Heroes aimed for capture. They never killed Villains.
But that man would absolutely have killed him if not for the girl standing in front of him.
Which meant he was far closer to a Villain like himself than to any Hero.
And that made the Villain all the more terrified.
Of the ranks that ran from 1 to 10, he himself was a mere Rank 7 Villain.
The three Heroes who had come to catch him looked like Rank 9s or 10s at best.
But that man was Rank 4 at the absolute lowest — possibly even Rank 3.
At this rate, he was one hundred percent dead.
So the Villain tried desperately to buy time…
Damn it! Where the hell are those bastards when you actually need them!
He prayed and prayed for the Heroes he usually cursed to come running right this second.
Meanwhile, David said,
„Do you intend not to answer the young lady's question?"
Shiver—!
A bone-chilling killing intent brushed past him, and the Villain's whole body trembled as terror crawled up his spine.
„Fuck! What the hell did I even do wrong!"
No! It wasn't intentional at all!
…?
The Villain had mixed up the words he was supposed to say out loud with the ones in his head.
Cheon Seo-ah stared blankly at him. David lifted one leg, ready to kill the Villain at any moment.
The Villain, who had been sitting there dazed, realized his mistake a second too late, and the color drained from his face.
I-I'm screwed!
Fuck — of all the mistakes to make.
Did he really have to mess up right in front of the girl this monster served?
As the Villain sank into despair…
„To be honest, I could live with you blowing up the McDonald's. It's not as if that was the only McDonald's in the world."
Shiver—.
The Villain's eyes met Cheon Seo-ah's indifferent gaze, and his body shook violently.
Those black eyes, empty of any emotion, empty even of killing intent.
The moment he looked into that indifferent gaze, the Villain briefly saw a vision of a vast cosmos unfurling before him.
No — that was no ordinary cosmos.
What he had thought were beautiful stars scattered across the endless void were not stars at all. They were eyes.
Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of eyes — each one as vast as a star — were all looking at him at once.
As the Villain trembled from head to toe—
„But refusing to accept your own mistake, and turning that anger on me instead… that doesn't sit quite right. Don't you think so, David?"
„Indeed, Miss. So — what shall we do?"
„Hmm. Why don't we just kill him?"
In answer to David's question, Cheon Seo-ah smiled sweetly as she spoke.
For someone who had just said the word kill, her smile was far too pure and innocent.
And the moment her permission fell, David stretched out his leg to kill the Villain in front of him.
Shhhreeeek—!
With a sharp whistle of air, David's leg broke the sound barrier as it went to sever the Villain's neck.
Or rather — it was about to sever it.
The instant David's outstretched leg was about to cut through the Villain's throat—
BANG—!
„Even if he is a Villain, you can't just kill him on a whim."
A short, slight man dropped out of the sky and, with strength utterly mismatched to his scrawny frame, blocked David's leg as he spoke.