Lizardman (3): Pursuit and Burning Jealousy

Even Midas Girl, who had been through her fair share of battles, found her body freezing up helplessly as she witnessed Blank's fight up close.

It's barbaric.

There was a chilling brutality to the scene of him unhesitatingly jamming his fingers into Lizardman's eyeball and twisting them to gouge it out. The image of paralyzing Lizardman's body by targeting the eye, then plunging the jungle knife into its gut with all his might and bursting it apart with a shockwave—it still lingered vividly in her mind.

Splatter from Lizardman's blood hit Midas Girl's cheek, finally snapping her back to reality. While she hesitated, Blank swiftly mounted a nearby motorcycle and gunned the throttle.

"Catch you later, Midas Girl."

"W-Wait!! Stop right there!!"

Blank was dangerous. As a hero, she had to capture him. Driven by that sense of duty, she started to move, but her actions felt sluggish.

I'm scared.

Could she win against Blank?

Am I really...?

She felt utterly pathetic for hesitating like this.

Flash Seo Ha-yoon wouldn't have done that. If Blank appeared before her, she'd chase him relentlessly without a single stray thought, no matter what. If Midas Girl couldn't match that pure courage, she'd never surpass Seo Ha-yoon in her lifetime.

She didn't want that.

"Stop right there!!! Blank!!"

Shaking off her hesitation, Midas Girl chased after Blank with everything she had.

Vrooooom!!!

After leaping over a few barricades, I tore through the city streets on the motorcycle.

What a ride.

The speed was blistering, but it handled smoothly. The heavy frame and low center of gravity made cornering a breeze. It must have undergone countless tunings to achieve this level of comfort.

And it's tough, too.

The frame had built-in bulletproof plating. Wrapping steel plates around the exhaust and engine to cover weak points was just icing on the cake.

Screeech! Boom!!!

The cops had given up the chase long ago, but Midas Girl doggedly pursued me. She kept erecting alloy obstacles on the road to slow me down. Just moments ago, one had sprouted right in front of the speeding bike, forcing me into a sharp curve to dodge it.

"Impressive grit, Midas Girl."

It was on par with Seo Ha-yoon's tenacity.

"I can't let you get away!! That's what it means to be a hero!"

Midas Girl extended alloys like stepping stones, leaping across them to chase me through the air. She was giving it her all, but no human could keep up with a motorcycle's pace. She gradually fell behind.

"Stop... there... I said..."

Her words came in fragmented bursts as the distance grew.

Easier to shake than Flash.

No patterns like turning into a beam of light and pursuing. Ditching her was a walk in the park by comparison.

Not bad for Midas Girl.

As the bike headed toward the 23rd District slums, Midas Girl came to a complete halt, glaring at me resentfully.

Night drive. Not half bad.

I could get addicted to cruising on the bike in the night air. Once I had some downtime, I'd have to take it out more often. Lizardman, you had no idea what you were riding around on. A scrub villain like you didn't deserve this machine.

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I'll take good care of it for you.

After wrapping up the op, I headed straight to Linlang's place. Technically my neighbor's house, but since her room doubled as a workspace, I treated it like mission control. She didn't seem to mind.

"Blank sir!! You're back!!"

Linlang bounced out of her chair in front of the monitors and scampered over to me.

"That was an awesome performance.... The way you took down that Lizardman villain was so cool!"

She flailed her arms and legs excitedly as she explained. Lizard this, lizard that—her vocabulary was shot. Must be overwhelmed with excitement.

"L-Let's check the darknet reactions...!"

Like it was standard procedure, she pulled up the darknet feed.

Come on. Can't I just skim internet reactions on my phone? Why launch a full project workspace for this?

A few articles had popped up, surprisingly. But nothing like the Crusher buzz.

Lizardman wasn't popular, huh.

A mid-tier scrub villain offed by Blank probably didn't deliver the same dopamine hit as the Starfield terror.

Linlang uploaded the drone footage of my fight with Lizardman to the darknet and fan cafe right away. As soon as the video went live, reactions poured in.

Despite the gore with blood and flesh flying, everyone treated it like casual video content. This was definitely villain central. They're all insane.

"Hehe. Likes are climbing."

Linlang grinned ear to ear at the reactions. Were upvotes really that big a deal?

As she scrolled down, some bullshit post with a video screenshot had already appeared.

The villains were at it again, shipping me with heroes. These guys never tire.

Darknet browsing was getting stale. Time for business.

"Linlang. Not trying to pile on, but did you look into the C- and D-rank villains?"

I was curious how far she'd gotten on identifying villains suitable for Ida-in.

"Ah...! Yeah. I compiled it into a file. Wanna see?"

Linlang pulled up an Excel sheet for me. It listed miscellaneous D-rankers, up to low C-rank villains. But next to each was a weird metric.

"What's this number?"

"Oh. P stands for Paladin. Ida-in's hero name is Paladin, right? I rated their combat power assuming 1P is her strength. There's a simulation program for it."

Linlang happily explained her custom sim program. I only caught half of it. Impressive either way.

"So 0.6P means a villain with about 60% of Ida-in's power? For example."

"Yep. So... what're you gonna do with it?"

Linlang tilted her head.

Obviously, pit her against Ida-in. In a way only I could.

Today was one of the rare nights Seo Ha-yoon had off from night shifts. Days she usually enjoyed personally, but tonight she thought work would've been better.

Blank ran into Midas Girl, huh.

Apparently, he'd clashed with the villain Lizardman. Blank was elusive as ever, so his appearance wasn't surprising—but something else nagged at her.

"Catch you later, Midas Girl."

Those parting words as he fled soured her mood terribly.

Is that line he gives every hero he meets?

Just a rote "see you next time"?

He said it to me too.

She'd thought it was special recognition from her archnemesis. That's what she'd believed.

It's not just for me. He ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠says the same shit to that sow...

Didn't matter if human or pig—he regurgitated the same line. More like an animal grunt than language. Maybe Blank was some mystical creature that just barked "Catch you later, [name]" at everyone.

Did I stupidly read into it alone?

She felt like an idiot, which made her even more depressed. Getting down over one villain bruised her pride, doubling the gloom.

I'm the one who understands you best.

She'd been the first to see Blank wasn't your average villain. She'd assigned herself to him before he blew up. Seeing him tangle with other heroes now boiled her blood.

Ring ring ring.

Her phone buzzed. With near-obsessive habit, she snatched it up.

Of all times, it was Midas Girl calling.

Still, Seo Ha-yoon was a pro who separated work from personal. She asked businesslike, masking her emotions.

Oh. Slip of the tongue.

Hearing her request tanked Seo Ha-yoon's mood again.

That night, Midas Girl grew to hate Seo Ha-yoon even more. Likewise, Seo Ha-yoon despised Midas Girl more than ever.

All in all, an eventful night.