A Tearful Welcome
A welcome so fervent it could bring a man to tears.
Super-science Dungeon, Sublevel B3. Weapons Production Sector. Live-Fire Testing Chamber.
Argh! If I kept staring at that flashing plasma any longer, my eyeballs were going to melt right out of my skull.
"Alpha! Drop the brightness to level three!!"
The gas mask's goggles dimmed at once. Not that darkness was much of a concern—a pair of coil springs jutting from my back kept dumping surplus electricity in every direction, and a lightning storm was already tearing through the chamber.
CRACKLE-SNAP-CRACKLE!!
All right. Time to get this experiment started.
"Kishishishishishit!"
I leveled the crystal-orbed staff at the wrecked car in front of me. Alpha painted a targeting reticle across the inside of my gas mask.
Adjusting output level to 23%.
Nano-Core Injection — protocol initializing.
Plasma core compression rate: 97%.
Ready to fire.
A violent magnetic field and a crackle of static sent my hair standing on end in every direction.
"Suuuper Genius, Ma—sat Injection!!"
My lab coat flared as I threw my head back and laughed like a complete lunatic.
"Hiyohohhohohot! A single shot of this body's love, and anyone—anyone at all—evolves into a new humanity!!"
The two targeting reticles on my goggles slid together and locked.
"Even if that 'anyone' happens to be a pile of scrap metal!! Kihhihihihihihihit!!"
In the space of a single blink, the plasma flashed.
CRACK!
Okay! Direct hit on the wrecked car.
Nano-Core swarm engaging target.
The Nano-Cores that had burrowed into the wrecked car began breaking the scrap down and spinning it into nanomachines. The metal twisted, melted, and reassembled itself, and then—
WHIIIRRR—
CLUNK!
It had become a five-legged turret robot.
Holy shit. It actually worked. Long-range Nano-Core injection. For real.
"As expected of this body! Another perfect day!! Hiyohhohot!!"
I jabbed a finger at the robot and looked over at Hongryeon.
"Hongryeon! Behold that magnificent, beautiful gun barrel! Ohhh! Is it not simply intoxicating?! Oh! Jesus Christ! Holy moly!!"
Hongryeon regarded the robot in silence.
"……."
The lenses of her eyes zoomed in and out several times before she finally opened her mouth.
"…This maiden begs your pardon. It would seem her meager insight is insufficient to follow Masat-nim's great thoughts. She shall strive all the harder."
Well. I hadn't exactly been looking for a round of applause. And she really didn't need to strive any harder. That wasn't the point at all!
I threw my head back, wriggled my fingers, and cackled.
"Kihhihihihihihihihihit!!"
Then I snapped my chin down and stared straight through her.
"No! Hongryeon! Nooooo!! You must never put off today's work until Tomorrow!!"
"…As this maiden is dull-witted, should you but specify the task clearly, she shall carry it out with all haste."
Hmmm. She still didn't seem to get it. I could not, under any circumstances, let her see what I was really after. The only way through this was to overwhelm her with sheer momentum.
I flung my lab coat wide and threw both arms out as far as they would go.
"Strive! Press onward! Keep going! Evolution must never pause, not even for a second! Go. Go! Go!! Right this instant! Right now! Evolution!!"
Hongryeon flinched and took a step back.
What? Why the sudden retreat? The atmosphere had gone very, very strange.
Don't tell me…
She figured out what I'm trying to do?!
Ghk! This is exactly why I can't stand sharp-eyed maidens.
Just like that wrecked car a moment ago. A brand-new technique for delivering Nano-Cores into a target via plasma. And the truly astonishing part? It worked on living tissue too.
Heh heh heh. Starting to see where this is going?
That's right! The goal was to bring Hongryeon—my designated watchdog—completely under my control. I just needed to get her out of the way! Elise would never find me in a mirrorless solitary room!
"Hongryeon, there's no need to be so frightened! It only stings at first!"
I staggered toward her.
"The moment this Masat's love is injected, you too will find yourself unable to escape this rapture! Kishishishishishit!!"
Cartridge replaced.
Nano-Core Injection — ready to fire.
Hongryeon's neatly folded hands fidgeted against each other.
Heh heh heh. Even if she'd figured it out, it was already too late! Plasma travels at the speed of light. Evasion was a physical impossibility!
"Nano…!"
At the very peak of the moment, the ceiling lights flickered.
Tick—
Tap-tap—
Huh? What now?
Plasma spat and danced inside Protocol Kane's crystal orb, then fizzled out.
Energy output deviation rising: 0.83% → 3.12%
Unidentifiable frequency interference waveform detected.
Even the graphs on my gas-mask goggles were flickering. The whole situation had gone completely insane. I swallowed hard and looked straight ahead.
Oh, fuck.
In the blacked-out dark, the only things still glowing were a pair of faintly luminous crimson eyes.
"Masat-nim……."
I blinked—and the glow vanished.
Huh? Where did she go?!
I didn't need to look. Hongryeon's soft voice whispered directly into my ear.
"…This maiden begs your pardon, but might you grant her time to compose herself?"
The lights stuttered back on. Power had returned to the live-fire testing chamber. I turned my head, very slowly.
When had she even moved…?
Hongryeon was standing directly behind me, her head tilted, watching me with quiet intensity. Her face was maybe four inches from mine.
Eep!
The natural predator of the scientific world, as expected. I crushed the scream that tried to claw its way out of my throat.
"Hiyohhohohohohohohohohot! R-right you are!! Hongryeon is already perfect as she is—no need to rush!!"
I'm sorry!! I got way too carried away in front of a virgin ghost!!
Hongryeon stepped back and quietly averted her gaze.
"This maiden is grateful for your generous understanding."
She had begun to bow—then suddenly stopped. She tipped her face toward the ceiling and adjusted the lenses of her eyes.
WHIIIR—
Now what? What did I do this time?!
At the same instant, a CCTV feed bloomed across my gas-mask goggles.
Huh? This is…
On the surface, heroes were advancing through the junkyard in formation.
Oooooooh!
How long had I been waiting for this day? They were finally here! My saviors!
Right. So what if controlling Hongryeon had failed? This had been the plan all along. No reason to despair!
"Good. Very, very good! My mouth is watering!! Slurp!"
I bent at the waist in a gentlemanly bow toward the CCTV feed. I zoomed in on Baekho, in particular…
O heroes who have come to save me.
I welcome you so fervently it could bring a man to tears.
"Kishishishishishishishishit!!"
A sea wind swept across the surface of the Super-science Dungeon. Crushed wrecks of cars had been stacked into walls, piled high and dense. Desolate. Alien. Chaotic. Paths tangled together like a maze.
Just like that lunatic scientist's head. Tch…
Baek Seoha stepped into the dungeon and swept her gaze across the surroundings. Forty-eight heroes had come with her. Three of them were A-Class, no less.
She approached the A-Class hero Twinblade, who was walking at the head of the column, and dipped her head lightly.
"Thank you so much for joining the suppression force. And coming all the way from Busan, at that……."
Twinblade's gold necklace clinked as he turned.
"Ah, cut that out. What's there to thank me for? This is just what we do."
He surveyed the dungeon, then chopped the air with the edge of his hand. The hand transformed, astonishingly, into a blade of cold blue steel.
"Mains give me the creeps, that's all. I didn't come 'cause your speech moved me, you hear?"
Beside him, the A-Class hero Shadow Assassin pulled down her mask.
"That's rich. Who was it that went and bawled his eyes out in the bathroom after the meeting, going, 'That girl's the very model of a hero! I'm moved, I tell ya!'?"
Twinblade glared at her.
"The hell?! That was the men's room! You some kinda peeping tom, girl?!"
"Hmph. Look who's talking. A hero hears wailing from a bathroom, she responds. That's the job."
While the two of them bickered, a strikingly handsome young man approached. He brushed a side-parted lock of hair back with one hand and smiled.
"A pleasure. Baekho. I'm……."
"A-Class hero Adonis, yes?"
"Oh! You know me? I'm flattered."
"Well, I've seen you in plenty of magazines. You're the leader of Full Bloom, after all. Hehe."
Adonis stroked his square jaw and smiled with his eyes.
"Then we can skip the introductions. The truth is, I joined this suppression force because I want to recruit you into Full Bloom."
Baek Seoha's shoulders gave a tiny jolt.
"Pardon…? Me?"
Adonis brushed his fingers along Baekho's cheek.
"Of course. That spirit you showed in the Grand Assembly Hall. You're more than qualified. And you've got looks to match. I believe the word for that is 'renaissance woman'? Huhu."
Baek Seoha shifted uncomfortably, at a loss.
Ugh… I'm grateful for the offer, but what do I do?
Adonis was a high-ranking hero slated for promotion to S-Class any day now. Joining Full Bloom would mean far better support, that much was certain.
But if I join a team, my daily life…
Hero teams were relentlessly busy. City defense was only half of it—they had to work as promotional models too. The refuge of an ordinary routine might vanish entirely. And yet cutting Adonis's offer off cold felt just as awkward.
That was when Twinblade chopped the air between them with his hand-blade.
"Hey now. Keep the flirting inside your own team. Don't go muddying the water, you hear?"
Adonis shot Twinblade a sharp look, then composed his face just as quickly. He smiled and held a business card out to Baek Seoha.
"I'm not asking for an answer right this second. Our team's already part of the suppression force, after all. Shadow us for a while. Think it over."
Baek Seoha let her gaze slip past his shoulder. The heroes of Full Bloom were waving. Five B-Class, eleven C-Class. They made up a full third of the suppression force.
And more than that…
Thank goodness Adonis is with us. He's practically S-Class already.
Facing Hongryeon and Ultimate would take an S-Class hero. That much was non-negotiable. But if she could just get past the bodyguards, a mad scientist who was all brains and no brawn…
I can handle him myself!
Baek Seoha clenched her fist and strode forward.
"Let's continue this conversation after we've suppressed Masat and rescued the civilians."
"…Fair enough."
Adonis shrugged. Twinblade, however, scratched his head as he took in the three-way fork ahead of them.
"So, uh… which way we supposed to go?"
Walls of scrap metal towered on every side.
I could just jump them, but…
Baek Seoha bit her lip and glanced back. With Baekho's Gift, clearing those walls would have been a simple hop. But plenty of the heroes behind her couldn't do the same.
They stood there, stymied—until Shadow Assassin pointed down the left-hand path.
"Over there… is that a sign?"
"……What?"
Baek Seoha snapped her head around.
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