Copycat Crime
Even several days after the bomb-terrorism scare had ended, Eun Seol kept treating me with a chill far sharper than before.
Strictly speaking, nothing particular had happened between us, so there was no real reason for the single-minded justice-obsessed Valkyrie to suddenly turn warm and fuzzy. On top of that, Kim Sejin kept sticking to my side and gushing praise for Kid G at every opportunity, which only kept the already Kid-G-hating Valkyrie in a permanent foul mood.
The decisive blow, though, was that I had gone out on two more vigilante runs in the week after the terrorism incident and run into Valkyrie again each time. Failing to catch me on the scene had soured her temper even further.
The culprit was right in front of her eyes, yet she had no hard evidence to pin him down, and she kept losing him at the scene—her pride must have been taking one hell of a beating.
It wasn’t as if Valkyrie was incompetent; every other villain she responded to got thoroughly beaten. That only made her burn even hotter with the determination to lock me up no matter what, and the worse her mood grew every time she let me slip away.
So the nights were spent in endless chase and escape, the days in awkward cohabitation at university… until, after a few days of that, the incident arrived without warning, and at a moment I truly hadn’t expected.
One afternoon, after finishing lunch, I was sitting in the campus café with Eun Seol and Kim Sejin, nursing a cup of coffee.
Eun Seol, who had clearly not wanted to hang out with me and had essentially been dragged along by Sejin and me, was watching the TV news with a sour expression, only sipping her coffee. Her constant lifting and setting-down of the cup stopped the moment a certain report came on.
Eun Seol set her coffee down hard and shot to her feet.
"I have somewhere to go for a bit. Just tell the professor you don’t know where I am."
She shot me a look that could kill, then hurried out.
Both Sejin and I knew perfectly well where she was headed, but Sejin didn’t realize I knew, so she kept glancing nervously between the two of us. Afraid I might start asking questions, she struck first.
"B-books! She must’ve left her major textbooks at home, right? I’ve known her forever, so I know—she totally forgets stuff like that all the time~ Don’t worry about it, let’s just finish our coffee and head to class. She’ll handle her own attendance… ha… haha…"
Even after trolling Valkyrie so thoroughly in the original story, she was still covering for her so the third parties wouldn’t learn her identity. It was almost admirable. Her values might be a little off, but at heart she was a good kid.
Still, I couldn’t just sit here sipping coffee. More than anything, my ability made long-distance travel a weak point unless I’d prepared in advance—and this was an utterly sudden crisis.
Damn it, no time.
There was no room for long deliberation. I set my own cup down and stood.
"Hey, Kim Sejin. Just remembered—today’s the last day of the event for the game I’ve been playing. Gotta claim the rewards. Heading to the PC bang, so I’m skipping afternoon classes?"
"What? What kind of nonsense is that?"
"I’m leaving right now. Sorry, but could you take my coffee cup back for me? I’m out!"
"Wha—? Hey, Lee Yechan!"
I abandoned Sejin in the café and bolted outside. Already, far off beyond the skyline, I could see Valkyrie soaring away.
At Valkyrie’s gliding speed she would cover the distance from Gwanak to Myeongdong in ten minutes…
I flagged down a street taxi, slid into the back seat, and barked,
"Mister, Myeongdong Station. As fast as you can!"
"What? Myeongdong? There’s a terror incident there right now—too dangerous. Can’t go, no way."
I pulled four 50,000-won bills from my pocket and dropped them onto the gearshift. What little remained after fencing stolen goods and distributing relief money to various victims.
"Please get me there as fast as possible. If there’s a restricted zone, just drop me right in front of it."
"Hold on tight, passenger!"
In one second the driver’s attitude flipped. He snatched the money and floored the accelerator toward Myeongdong.
In under twenty minutes the taxi reached the farthest accessible perimeter. I got out, found a deserted spot, clipped on a Recognition Deterrent Chip, and pulled on the mask I always carried in my bag.
Bang—! Kwaaang—!
Myeongdong Shopping District was still a few minutes’ walk away, yet the sounds of something breaking and exploding already echoed from deeper inside—fighting had clearly begun.
"Clones… tch. No choice but to bring both out."
I had no idea what the situation was inside or what might happen next, so I had to deploy the maximum I could manage: two clones. That would triple the drain and leave me flat on my back for half a day once the fight was over, but there was no other option.
I created the two clones, sent one a safe distance away as insurance, and had the other enter slightly apart from me, covering the blind spots of my vision.
As I drew near, I spotted a Hero Union security team standing two-man watch over the perimeter. I pressed a hand to the ground, opened a door, and tunneled behind them while sending the clone straight ahead to draw their eyes.
"The shopping district is sealed off because of the terrorists. Please turn back."
"I know. Excuse me a second."
"Ughk?!"
While their attention locked on the clone, I opened the ground, rose behind them, and jammed a stun gun into the backs of their necks. Never imagining anyone would come from behind, they went limp and collapsed, drooling. I stole the two pistols they carried and slipped inside.
I opened a wall of a building, climbed to the roof, and looked down. Valkyrie stood facing off against dozens of people. Their conversation reached me easily.
"I don’t know what you think you’re doing in a place this crowded in broad daylight, but once you’ve committed terrorism you’d better be ready for the consequences."
"Heh heh heh. You think just because Valkyrie showed up we’d be scared?"
"We’re the ones who took direct action after Kid G-nim’s example—do you really think we’d fear you? Take this!"
The terrorists aimed their guns at Valkyrie. The moment they pulled the triggers, the rounds streaked forward, then burst open mid-flight and wrapped around her wings.
"Ugh…?!"
It didn’t do real damage, but the nets fouled her wing movement and shut down her aerial mobility. Valkyrie snarled and tore at the mesh, only for even more net rounds to fire.
"You bastards… You think this is going to make me weaker or something?!"
With too many nets tangled, she gave up flying and simply charged on foot to subdue them. As an ability user with enhanced physical stats, Valkyrie could still cover a hundred meters in seven or eight seconds even without her wings—blindingly fast.
The terrorists scattered smoke grenades to buy a moment, then all sprinted toward a nearby building. Watching them flee into a large cosmetics store on the first floor, I vaulted across rooftops, opened the roof of that building, and dropped down inside.
The terrorists, unable to escape, had shoved the trapped store clerks and customers out in front of them and were circling the building. Spotting the hostages, Valkyrie charged like an enraged bull—then slammed to a dead stop.
"You damn bastards…"
"Kihihihit! Scared the hostages’ll get hurt? Scared the building’ll collapse? Can’t throw those fancy punches of yours so freely now, huh? If you’re so confident, come on—run at us and throw a punch!"
"Hiiieeek… P-please save us, please, I’m begging you…"
"Shit…"
As the innocent hostages broke down crying in terror, Valkyrie could only stand locked in a standoff, unable to move rashly.
Watching that, I felt a strong sense of wrongness.
Not every hero prioritizes citizen safety and facility preservation above all else. Plenty of heroes care only about completing the mission—killing the villain—regardless of whether hostages die or the city gets leveled. It depends on the individual hero’s disposition, so you can’t casually predict it.
Yet these guys were acting as if they already knew that Valkyrie—someone they had never even met—placed extreme importance on citizen safety and preserving infrastructure. They moved like trained soldiers who had memorized a manual for fighting Valkyrie. The net rounds they fired were also a highly effective tool against winged ability users like her.
Almost as if they had known Valkyrie would come.
And they kept going out of their way to advertise themselves as my followers at every turn…
Thinking back over various situations from the original story, I could reach only one conclusion. Still just a theory, but—
"Come on, let’s continue Kid G-nim’s will and do our job, guys! Empty your cash, and you—yeah, you! Hand over every phone and wallet you’ve got!"
"U-uwaaah! Please spare us!"
The terrorists seized hostages by the hair and threatened them; the captives sobbed and begged for their lives.
Having finished my rough deduction, I moved.
"Come on, let’s wipe this place clean just like Kid G-nim! Leave the cards too while you’re at it!"
"Did I ever take hostages of random pedestrians and rob stores?"
"?!"
Bang—!
Before the terrorists could even react to the voice behind them, I put a round into the back of the one holding a hostage. He toppled forward, spraying blood.
"Everyone, close your eyes!"
I kept firing in sequence at the ones closest to the hostages. While the terrorists reeled in shock, five of them were down and dead in an instant.
"K-K-Kid G?!"
"H-how…"
"Look at these guys. Claiming to be my followers, yet the first thing you do when you see me is panic instead of cheer? Was my appearance outside your expectations?"
The terrorists scrambled for their weapons in open panic. I stayed put, a pistol in each hand, and faced them down.
"Whoever put you up to this little circus, you’d better spill it before you all die."