Intercepting Venom Breath
As a transmigrator, the key piece of knowledge I had was that Venom Breath would carry out a gas terror attack at the Royal Shine hotel in New Seoul's 15th district.
I didn't know the exact date. Since the original was a manhwa, the info was limited. There's no way a comic progressing in panels could cram in every tiny detail. I had to roughly infer from the backgrounds and situations shown in the manhwa.
Thanks to racking my brain all day yesterday, I remembered a few things. On the day of Venom Breath's Royal Shine terror, a massive airship passes right outside the hotel window. It was a pretty well-drawn background panel, so that stuck with me for sure.
The airship was the "Peaceful Spirit," which cruised through New Seoul. It was a new symbol of the city, funded by the Hero Association. Built after a massive terror attack in the past, it symbolized New Seoul's resilience amid all the various attacks—we ain't going down.
The Peaceful Spirit followed a fixed route, patrolling from District 1 to 23 like clockwork. By tracking its patrol schedule, I could roughly pinpoint when it reached the 15th district where Royal Shine was located.
I checked the Peaceful Spirit's schedule on my phone. April 12th, 13th, and 14th. It would be stationary in the 15th district for those three days. The terror had to happen on one of them.
Narrowing it down to three days was a huge win. Odds of guessing right: one in three. Now it was just a matter of effort.
As a smart transmigrator, my plan to prevent the terror was simple: camp out on the rooftop of the building next door with a clear view of Royal Shine for all three days—April 12th through 14th—and keep watch for Venom Breath's crew.
Human CCTV, basically. I tried using my slum connections to track down Venom Breath and his organization, but no dice. They hid their tracks well. Snake's boast that you needed info networks on her level to find them was spot on.
In the end, I went with this straightforward, brute-force method. But honestly, it wasn't a bad call.
'Venom Breath attacks in broad daylight.'
He parks a bongo van during the day, storms straight into the hotel, and preps the terror. First, one of his hackers—who knows computers—slips in to hack the hotel's security system, seal it off, release the gas to kill civilians, and loot the place.
I'd never crossed paths with Venom Breath before, and I hadn't influenced his plans in any big way, so he'd probably stick to the original script.
All I had to watch for: broad daylight and a bongo van. Those two keywords.
It meant staking out in the outdoor air for up to three days straight, but us modern folks had our phones. I browsed the dark web and regular internet for info not in the original manhwa.
April 12th: nada. 13th: same. By the afternoon of the 14th, anxiety was creeping in.
Then, finally, the bongo van rolled up. An absurdly spacious cargo van heading slowly toward the hotel parking lot.
Time to move. I shook off my stiff body and fired a shockwave, soaring straight to the hotel lobby in one go.
Five thugs piled out of the bongo van. Three armed with guns burst through the lobby doors, while a hooded figure—womanly build—darted around to the back entrance.
Last, a gas-masked thug strolled casually toward the lobby. That was Venom Breath.
Hoodie's the hacker messing with security. The rest are muscle. With just one body, I couldn't neutralize both sides.
Block the hacker or the muscle? Simple choice: take out the three gunmen and Venom Breath first.
In the original, the gun trio storms the lobby and mows down everyone inside. Venom Breath, obviously, gasses over a hundred to death.
Stop them first to save lives. I unleashed another shockwave mid-air, hurtling toward Venom Breath and his four goons.
"…?!"
One thug finally spotted something plummeting at insane speed from above—too late. Our eyes met.
Boom—!!!!
I swung my baseball bat with everything I had at the ground where the trio and Venom Breath stood.
Crack.
Cracks spiderwebbed through the air again. The two goons who couldn't dodge turned into unrecognizable mush, splattered everywhere.
I landed on their remains like a carpet and blocked the hotel lobby entrance.
"Fuck…!! Fuck!!!!"
The least mangled survivor snapped to, aiming his gun at me and the lobby behind.
Rat-tat-tat-tat!
His hands shook so bad the barrel dipped, most bullets slamming harmlessly into the ground.
I swung the bat, sending the last shooter flying. Now it was just me and Venom Breath at the lobby entrance.
"…Blank. Why."
I could feel his panicked gaze through the gas mask.
"Hotel terror op's a bust, Venom Breath."
Finally met the guy.
Weeeoooowooo!!!
An alarm blared from inside the hotel. Through the glass, curtain-like firewalls descended, sealing the place shut.
The clueless hacker had triggered security lockdown. Their real plan: get inside, seal it, then Venom Breath gases everyone while they crack the safe undisturbed.
But he was stuck outside with me, staring contest over fresh air. Plan ruined.
Thanks to the hacker's firewall, the civilians inside were safe now. Crude method, but it worked.
Weeeoooowooo.
Police drones buzzed in from afar, lenses zooming on my face. Nailed the attention-grab too.
I waved lightly at the cameras. Villain Blank had arrived. Heroes and cops inbound any second.
"Blank. Don't do this here—join me. This hotel's loaded with cash. Confirmed via our skilled hacker. Team up and…"
Venom Breath tried talking me into it. My answer was set.
I gripped the bat tighter and charged.
Kaaaang!!!
The swing cratered the ground where he'd stood. He turned part of his body to gas, dodging the direct hit.
Quick bastard.
"No choice, then."
Evading my attack, he converted more of himself to gas, dispersing it into the air.
"…Psycho."
Plan's toast? Fine, gas the whole street, kill everyone in sight, and bail. Pure madness in his eyes.
Reason he was a villain. Sounds rich coming from me, but even villains get to hate other villains, right?
Murmurs rose. Too many civilians crowding around our villain standoff—right in Venom Breath's gas range.
Outdoors dulled the lethality, but this density and distance? Still deadly. Everyone too busy filming with phones.
'Carefree idiots.'
Shove a phone cam in a hero or villain's face, and they turn into clowns. To norms, we're deadly beasts—but that power trip blinds them to danger.
Sad. Had to scare these fools off.
I dialed back the shockwave output and slammed the bat into the pavement right in front of the gawking crowd.
Cracks shattered the ground at their feet. They finally screamed and bolted.
"Get lost! Unless you wanna die!!"
"Gaaah!!"
"Aaaahhh!!!
Now they got it—they could die. Dimwits.
Just me and Venom Breath in the open space now.
"Protecting civilians? Hero syndrome hit hard. Think you're one now? To them, you're just another rotten villain."
He concentrated mist-like gas in his arm, stepping lightly.
"Yeah. I'm no hero."
The real ones are over there, right?
Shiiiieeeee—!!!!
A meteor-streak of light beams rained from the sky, targeting Venom Breath's back.
He converted over half his body to gas to evade—but there were too many.
Pfsh! Pfft!
Some pierced right through him.
"Kuhk…."
Caught off-guard, he staggered back.
"The heroes are here."
At the hotel lobby entrance where we fought stood Flash Seo Hayun, arms crossed imperiously.
She showed up, as expected. My hero.
"Blank. We meet again. And you, B-Rank villain Venom Breath."
Seo Hayun eyed us coldly.
"See you so often, you know my line by now. Temporary alliance again."
Third time's the charm, right? Zzap.
She glared daggers, fierce as ever. For a teammate we were about to fight with, that stare was ice-cold.
Thought we'd bonded a bit. Shame.