The Operation Must Be Mine
I briefly recalled the events from the first timeline. I remembered that something noisy had happened around this time.
“Is it the five-story building at Seou Industries?”
“Yeah, how did you know?”
“Just a hunch.”
It was the incident where a villain’s terror attack completely collapsed a five-story building, wiping out not only the hostages but the villains themselves in one fell swoop. Villain terrorism wasn’t exactly rare, but a building being completely destroyed was unusual enough that it had stuck vaguely in my memory. So this was that event. Unfortunately, I had no idea how it had unfolded or what had caused it. The news articles back then hadn’t even revealed who the perpetrators were. The Superhuman Administration had probably covered it up. If the public found out that remnants of the Scorpion they’d missed were behind the terror attack, it would have been a massive headache for them too.
I didn’t know the exact details, but if the building had ended up getting blown to pieces, it probably meant the Seochok faction’s plan had succeeded.
“So if we want to save those people, we have to step in ourselves.”
I couldn’t be sure whether Seong Jiyeong had gotten involved in this incident during the first timeline, but it seemed she had failed to save the hostages. She might have barely escaped with her life after the sudden bombing. With her information network, she probably hadn’t anticipated that a bomb plot was hidden behind this event.
Either way, this had suddenly become a bit of a pain.
“There are two main options. We either prevent the incident in advance, or we resolve it on the day itself at the scene. We could also just sit back and watch, but I doubt most of you would agree to that.”
“If we didn’t know, maybe. But knowing and doing nothing feels wrong, doesn’t it?”
“If I just let something like this slide, I’d have nightmares.”
“Yeah, that’s true.”
I completely agreed with Tasha’s comment about nightmares. I’d had similar experiences before. With events I truly couldn’t do anything about, I could rationalize it somehow. But this kind of thing was harder to brush off. My sleep quality had only just started improving—I wasn’t about to ruin that with nightmares. And besides, it wasn’t like this was an impossible problem to solve. It would be a bit tiring, but manageable.
“Would preventing it in advance even be meaningful~?”
“It would be. Even if we could pull it off, we’d still be carrying around a potential threat, wouldn’t we?”
“We got lucky this time and discovered their plan ahead of schedule, but if they go back to China, it’ll be hard to predict what kind of trouble they’ll cause later.”
“That’s true.”
Preventing this in advance might be possible. We were nothing more than phantoms, but Yu Hana had gathered quite a bit of evidence. Still, even if we reported it with that evidence, it was questionable whether the Superhuman Administration could perfectly apprehend the terrorists. No, knowing how they operated, they’d probably try to prevent the group from entering the country at all. For them, the best outcome was for the incident never to happen.
But that would be the same as leaving a bomb that could explode at any time just sitting there. The remnants of Scorpion weren’t going to quietly live out their lives in China if they missed this opportunity. Scorpion would carry out terror attacks to free their poison scorpion no matter what, and the Seochok faction would try to use them to their advantage. In that case, it was far better to wipe them all out during this incident, where we already understood the full context.
“What about intercepting them after they enter the country but before they reach their target?”
“That won’t work. Among the escaped Scorpion remnants, there’s a camouflage superhuman.”
“Plus, even if we knew, it would be a problem. If we fight them in the middle of the city, civilians could get caught in the crossfire.”
“You’re right. It would be safer to eliminate them at the target location.”
Among the Scorpion remnants capable of disabling CCTV, there was one with camouflage abilities. That meant figuring out their route in advance would be extremely difficult. And even if it were possible, I had doubts about whether it was right to intercept them beforehand. As Seong Jiyeong had pointed out, herding them to the target site and hunting them there would minimize civilian casualties.
“Then in the end, we have no choice but to resolve it at the scene.”
After eliminating a few options through process of elimination, the answer became clear. We would break in on the day of the incident and clean them up. It was the most tiring choice among all the options, but right now, it was the best one.
“Then we’ll need a plan on our side too. Anyone have any ideas?”
“This is my first time working with others, so…”
“I’d like to pass. To be honest, I do have experience with rescue operations. But back then I was on the frontal assault team, and I know nothing about operations like this.”
“Really? Then what about you, Yu Hana?”
“Hmm~? I’m not really involved in rescue stuff~, so I have no idea what we should do~.”
“...I see.”
“Yep yep. But I’ll work hard if you tell me what to do.”
“As for Ji Seoeun… there’s no point even asking.”
The phantom who had operated alone for three years. The golden role who was the only one among us with actual rescue operation experience, but whose mission had been to charge in from the front like a hot-blooded idiot. The squinty-eyed villain who was just smiling quietly. And finally, the space battleship villain who was currently muttering about plasma and completely out of it.
Wait… did this mean I had to come up with the plan too?
I wasn’t the type to use my head like Tasha either. But I did have experience. My foundation was on a completely different level from Tasha, who had only been active for about two years. So if I had to come up with an operation, I could probably do it. The problem was that I already felt incredibly tired just thinking about it from the start.
Still, what choice did I have? I had to do it. If it was just cleaning up villains, I could’ve left it to them. But this involved people’s lives. The lives of ordinary people who weren’t villains were precious. Whether it was the Special Task Force or whatever, it was only proper to do our best out of basic morality.
“Ugh, fine. I’ll come up with the operation. Can you all trust me and follow my plan? If anyone has complaints, speak up now.”
“...Alright. I don’t have any sense of what I should do anyway. Since you’re stepping up with confidence, I’ll trust you this once.”
“Good. Draw up the board as you see fit.”
“Heh~ Yeri’s doing it~? That’s unexpected. Well, okay.”
“....”
The member most likely to complain was probably Seong Jiyeong. She had already built up nationwide fame over three years of activity as a phantom. Yet even she had promised to faithfully follow my plan. I didn’t show it, but I was quite surprised. I had expected at least some friction, but there was none at all.
Seeing how well she understood her own limits and abilities, it seemed her three years rolling around in this underworld hadn’t been a coincidence. Perhaps that kind of self-objectivity was the most important virtue for a phantom. After all, if you got caught up in heroism and overdid it, a phantom would inevitably fail.
After receiving everyone’s approval, we started the briefing again. It wasn’t like I was some amazing strategist with a brilliant plan. But it was better than rushing in without any direction. In operations like this, you had to set clear priorities—what to discard and what to keep—so there was no waste.
“In the end, the most important things are the hostages’ location and whether bombs have been planted. And the exact timing of the terror attack.”
“The timing is roughly three days from now.”
“It’ll be difficult to remove the bombs in advance, right?”
“Since we don’t know when or where they’ll be installed. Hana, do you have any information on the bombs?”
“Not yet on that front. They were probably secretly installed in the equipment Scorpion is bringing.”
“Then we’ll have to wait and see on that. First, we should figure out the exact timing of the terror attack. Hana, I’d like you to confirm this for sure. Can you do it?”
“I’ll do my best~ I can’t make any promises though.”
“Whether this information comes out or not will change the level of danger. Once we break into the scene, it’ll become a race against time.”
Our goals were the safety of the hostages, the complete elimination of the Scorpion remnants, and if possible, the incineration of the lab’s data. But we couldn’t ignore our own safety either, so the first thing we had to do was remove the bombs.
If Scorpion took over Seou Industries, they would first secure the data and take the employees hostage to negotiate with the Superhuman Administration. If they handed the data over to the Seochok faction, the situation could turn into one where the bombs could detonate at any moment. Therefore, we needed to eliminate the bombs after they entered Seou Industries but before they handed over the data. That would give us room to safely clean up Scorpion.
To minimize wasted time, knowing the enemy’s exact operational timing was also important. If they occupied Seou Industries while we were in the middle of practice, it would be incredibly inconvenient for us as idol trainees. What excuse could we possibly give for all rushing out together during practice?
“And then there’s the problem of the hostages’ location…”
“I have a rough idea of where the hostages will be.”
“Really?”
“Yes. There’s an obvious spot that screams ‘hostage holding area.’ The second floor. It’s the executive lounge, and they’ve installed entire walls of anti-superhuman reinforced glass.”
“Anti-superhuman reinforced glass… that makes sense. A solid glass wall would make it easy to monitor external approaches, and it would provide some defense against superhuman intrusion.”
As research on superpowers progressed, materials designed to minimize destruction caused by them had been developed. One of them was anti-superhuman reinforced glass. Along with anti-superhuman concrete, it was one of the most efficient materials for defending against superpower effects. Once installed, it became quite difficult to destroy with superpowers. However, since it only absorbed direct superpower impacts, many criticized its efficiency relative to its high cost.
Still, covering an entire floor’s walls with the stuff? The leadership of Seou Industries must have had quite a few things to feel guilty about.
“Even I think they’d herd all the hostages in there.”
“Then can’t we just break through and rescue them? Anti-superhuman reinforced glass isn’t invincible.”
“That’s true, but it’s impossible with my ability.”
“I can do it. I can just rip it apart with raw strength.”
“If you go in like that, can you protect the hostages? If it’s Scorpion, they’ll obviously use the hostages to threaten you.”
“Hmm… that’s true. Honestly, I can’t protect the hostages with my abilities.”
“Then, Na Yeri, can you protect the hostages?”
“At my current level… maybe against rifles?”
It had already been several months since my regression. My superpower level was recovering day by day. The biggest factor was probably teaching Fa Jin to Seong Jiyeong and Tasha recently. When I had rushed into Yeongdeungpo to save Tasha and gotten surrounded by the security forces, I hadn’t been at this level yet.
Anyway, at my current level, I could protect the hostages from rifles for a short time. The real question was whether I could penetrate the anti-superhuman reinforced glass and infiltrate without any issues. I wasn’t a monster of brute strength like Tasha, and neither attraction nor repulsion could break through anti-superhuman reinforced glass.
“Anti-superhuman reinforced glass. Destruction from the outside is possible.”
“How?”
“I have equipment.”
If the hostages were on the second floor, infiltrating from the outside would be the most efficient. While I was wondering if there was a way, Ji Seoeun—who had been lost in her own world—suddenly raised her hand. She said she had a way to destroy the reinforced glass from the outside.
“...This is…”
Ji Seoeun skipped lightly into her room and came back with a strange piece of equipment that looked like a gun but had an odd sphere attached to the muzzle. It looked bizarre, yet strangely familiar. It bore a strong resemblance to that magic wand commonly used in Islamic countries far away.
“Seoeun’s Magic Wand.”
“...You’re serious?”
Its official name was Seoeun’s Magic Wand. I could only be stunned at the thought that this crazy villain girl had made something like this at some point.