A Soccer Kick to the Protagonist's Pride

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I was genuinely caught off guard. Even thinking back to the early parts of the novel, there was never any mention of Baek Seowu visiting a terror scene. Besides, this novel is written in first-person perspective. That means I should naturally know about any major events the protagonist experiences. Of course, even if a story is told from the protagonist's viewpoint, it doesn't reveal every single thing he does. The novel doesn't describe his every little movement, after all. But an event of this scale should definitely have been mentioned. Ha, that damn author... I'm suddenly dying for a soccer kick today.

Though I was flustered, I could roughly guess why Baek Seowu had shown up here. I know how these people operate. Our Special Task Force has decent combat power, sure. But the higher-ups giving the orders are third-rate at best, and the desk jockeys working at the Superhuman Bureau aren't even third-rate—they're practically subhuman. It means ridiculously inefficient things happen all the time.

Based on my ten years of experience, if I calculate how the Superhuman Bureau would handle this terror incident, it would go something like this: First, control the media. Then, while they're bickering over whether to release the Scorpion, either all the hostages die or they have no choice but to deploy us. Only then do they reluctantly send in the Special Task Force, crying the whole way. And in the post-incident briefing, they'd subtly shift the blame for any operational failures onto the field agents. I've been on the receiving end of that crap before. No way the active-duty Special Task Force wouldn't know about it either. So they must have come up with their own contingency plan.

They'd send in Heracles—a guy who only recently retired—to the scene to assess the exact situation. The fact that the enemy is the Scorpion gives them a perfect excuse. After all, it was Heracles who captured the Scorpion in the first place. That way, if they could at least rescue the hostages, great. And even in the worst case, having accurate information about the incident would make the political maneuvering much easier. The current captain of the anti-terror unit is a direct junior of Heracles, so they probably got connected through him.

Yeah, I get why this guy is here now. But it's become a bit of a problem. This man was incredibly difficult to deal with. A twelve-year veteran of the Special Task Force. Codename: Heracles. Even though he'd retired, he wasn't someone you could take lightly. Just the fact that he'd survived that hellscape for over a decade meant he deserved respect.

On top of that, this guy had the protagonist's special perk—the ability to see other people's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ability stats. If he ever read my stats, it could come back to bite me later. Because he and I were going to be running into each other pretty often in music show waiting rooms from now on. If he ran into an idol with the exact same stats as Rabbit Vader in the waiting room, it would be weirder if he didn't suspect it was me.

Of course, there were limits to the protagonist's ability scan. First, what he could see with his eyes was only the size of someone's talent. He needed physical contact to check detailed stats. So if I got into a scuffle with him here and we had prolonged physical contact, the chances of my stats being exposed would skyrocket.

But that tension only lasted a moment. The guy suddenly blurted out something so ridiculous that all the energy drained right out of me.

What the hell is this crazy bastard saying? Soliciting talent in the middle of a situation like this?

While he was spouting nonsense, I saw my opening. I immediately charged in and delivered a perfect soccer kick straight to his pride.

"Guh!!!"

Heracles's superpower was Gold and Steel Body. It was the pinnacle of defensive abilities—a truly broken power. But no matter how invincible it made him, it didn't reduce damage to zero. Getting hit there would still deliver a shock. In fact, that was the only vital point where a single strike could incapacitate him. I got lucky. If I'd dragged things out, it might have gotten really annoying.

An evacuation message that Yu Hana must have set up was blaring everywhere. The protagonist wasn't an idiot. Once the shock wore off, he'd evacuate immediately. See you later, Heracles. Let's not meet for a while. This is going to be exhausting.

Leaving the guy clutching himself and rolling on the ground behind me, I hurried toward the rooftop.

"You're here?"

"You're late, YeriYeri~"

"Hurry up and stand in the middle."

When I reached the rooftop, all the members were gathered and waiting for me. The moment I appeared, they swarmed over, dragged me to the center, and lined up on either side ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of me. Right next to me were the tall members, Tasha and Seong Jiyeong. Beside them stood the shorter ones, Ji Seoeun and Yu Hana.

What caught my eye most of all was the massive flag Tasha was holding. A deep red background with a white rabbit on it. And it wasn't even a cute rabbit. It was a terrifying, muscular body that made you gasp just looking at it, complete with sunglasses. It even had a cross-shaped scar on its face. On top of that, whoever drew it was insanely talented. How the hell did they pull off illustration quality like this in a single day? Whose sense of style even was this? Just looking at it made my head spin.

"There it is!"

Right on cue, a broadcast helicopter approached from that direction. It was the public network MBS. The members began moving into position toward the helicopter. They formed their lines with crisp, practiced movements. It looked exactly like an ending pose from an idol stage performance.

"Good. Next."

After holding the pose for a moment, they realigned into a single file. Then they all fired finger guns at the helicopter in unison. After that, they quickly bunched together again and teleported away in an instant. And with that, our anti-terror operation came to a close.

Someone was watching our exit from below. It was Baek Seowu, who had barely managed to escape the building after getting kicked in the 'there' by me. And right after that, a massive explosion rang out as the building began to collapse.

We rushed back to the company and were immediately dragged ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠into the CEO's office. What followed was a three-hour-long lecture from CEO Cha. It began with the topics "27 Mindsets of a Successful Idol" and "36 Things an Idol Should Never Do." Only after every member had been thoroughly worn down did we finally make it back to the dorm.

"The CEO... sure has a lot of anger, doesn't she?"

"Right? Maybe she's going through menopause?"

"I really thought I was going to die."

"So tired."

But not a single member showed any signs of remorse. Well, today's events were pretty much force majeure, so I guess it couldn't be helped.

"Anyway, good work everyone. I prepared something, so take it with you when you go in."

"Oh, is it food? This is the perfect time—I'm starving~"

"Food, excellent. I used up so much energy that I feel like I'm about to drop dead."

"Sense. Good."

As soon as we arrived at the dorm, Seong Jiyeong said she'd prepared something for the exhausted members. I was hungry too, so I watched with eager eyes as she brought it out. I wonder what it is?

What Seong Jiyeong had prepared for us was gujeolpan.

"Oh... isn't this gujeolpan?"

"Yes, that's right. We didn't know when you'd be back, so I couldn't prepare anything hot."

"Wow, this is... pretty special."

It was a proper gujeolpan, complete with various vegetables, wheat crepes, and mustard sauce. Gujeolpan, where you can enjoy fresh vegetables and herbs in a light way, was actually one of my favorite dishes. But it wasn't something I could eat often just because I liked it. It required a lot of preparation, so making it yourself wasn't easy. And the fact that Seong Jiyeong had prepared it? All those vegetables and herbs were definitely going to be organic and wild-grown. It looked like I was finally going to get to enjoy a proper gujeolpan after so long.

But the other members' reactions weren't exactly positive. To be fair, gujeolpan wasn't really the kind of food that young people tended to love.

"Wait, isn't this... all just grass? Isn't there any meat?"

"Vegetables are better for your body at night."

"Ha, on a day like today, we should be eating meat. Plus, the seasoning is way too bland."

Tasha's objection was the strongest. Well, I suppose a tough female warrior from a big northern country wouldn't exactly welcome a pile of greens. Offering a pile of grass to a bear might be considered lucky if you only get swatted away instead of mauled.

But Seong Jiyeong wasn't the type to back down here. She had an oddly strong sense of pride when it came to things like this.

"Ha, your tastes are really strange. Are all Russians like this?"

"What? Is this racial discrimination?"

"I'm just asking out of curiosity. I was wondering if people from your country usually have tastes like this."

Not everyone in the world lives an organic lifestyle like Seong Jiyeong. So it's only right to understand other people's tastes. Still, it was pretty funny hearing Tasha talk about racial discrimination. She's part of the least discriminated-against race in the world. A beautiful white woman. If you didn't know better, you'd think she'd suffered a lifetime of discrimination.

Looking at them, they really did bicker a lot. It seemed their teamwork only activated when they were screwing me over or when they were villain-ing villains. If I left them like this, they'd just ruin the mood, so I needed to step in and moderate.

It wasn't that hard. I just had to give each of them what they wanted.

"Then I'll eat this gujeolpan. Seong Jiyeong, don't bother trying to force the people who don't want it. Just eat with me. Tasha, order yourself a chicken."

"Oh, chicken?"

"Hmph, fine. I have no interest in forcing my precious food on people who don't want it. So Tasha, you can wait and eat chicken."

"...Me too. Chicken."

"...You too, Ji Seoeun?"

Seong Jiyeong looked utterly disappointed as Ji Seoeun immediately joined the chicken faction. It looked like the gujeolpan that Seong Jiyeong had put so much effort into was going to be all mine. Wow, how long has it been since I had this?

"Oh... this is really clean and refreshing."

"Of course. My mother made it herself."

"Really? She has great skills. Does she make kimchi too?"

"Yes, she makes it herself."

That's impressive. Both kimchi and gujeolpan require a lot of work and are hard to get the flavor just right, yet she makes them so cleanly. Seong Jiyeong must have grown up eating only food like this from a mother like that. I'm a little jealous. Of course, I loved Director Mom like my own mother, but it's true that there were many things lacking. Still, I was a bit curious how someone like Seong Jiyeong could have been born to a mother with such great hands in the kitchen.

That girl causes accidents the moment she steps into the kitchen. There's a seventy percent chance she'll mix up sugar and salt. And that's even when they're clearly labeled. She's the type who reads the instruction "550ml of water for ramen" and still boils at least 700ml. It seems like she has some strange condition where her IQ drops by ninety percent the moment she enters the kitchen.

"Oooooh~ It's up, it's up~"

While Seong Jiyeong and Tasha were having a diss battle over the gujeolpan, our squinty-eyed villain was busy searching the internet. And then she found something. She started jumping around excitedly, gathering all the members. Whenever she acts like this, my heart sinks because I know something bad is coming.

"...This is."

And once again, my bad premonition was spot on. The video Yu Hana brought to us was none other than the one I cursed with every fiber of my being—Psyker Mad.