Huh? You Are...?
S University, Department of Business Administration, a third-year lecture hall.
Baek Seoha took a sip of her morning coffee and fixed her attention on the professor's voice. She swept back the neat black hair that fell to her shoulders, pushed up her slipping glasses, and kept taking meticulous notes.
"...And so, stagflation refers to a phenomenon in which economic recession and rising prices occur at the same time. In a situation like that, what strategy should a company adopt?"
The professor sketched an economic curve across the whiteboard as he spoke.
"While cutting costs and simultaneously maintaining price competitiveness..."
But Baek Seoha's focus was slipping, bit by bit. Frequent early dismissals and two years of leave from school had come due — she could no longer keep up with the lectures.
"Haa..."
A sigh escaped on its own.
That was when her smartphone vibrated.
A Code: Yellow has been issued in Gwanak District, Seoul.
Nearby C-Class through D-Class heroes, deploy immediately.
Baek Seoha flinched.
Gwanak District. That was exactly where this university stood.
It's only a Yellow Code, so... I don't really need to go... right?
That was Baek Seoha's other face. It didn't suit her model-student image in the slightest, but she was a hero who wore a B-Class badge. Her alias was Baekho.
Ugh... if I skip class again this time, I'm actually going to fail.
So unless it was an emergency deployment, she absolutely would not move. Protecting her own everyday life was a hero's duty too, after all.
Even so, it kept nagging at her. She snuck a glance down at her phone and checked the information the Association had provided.
Huh... a beast-type Main.
In the video, a bipedal rhinoceros was smashing storefronts apart with a wooden club. A werewolf was raiding a butcher shop, and a harpy dove from the sky to snatch people off the street.
Civilian safety comes first! What on earth are the C-Class heroes doing?!
She clenched her fist in frustration —
"Student Baek Seoha."
...
"Baek Seoha."
"Y-Yes!"
Baek Seoha shot to her feet. The chair scraped backward with a screech.
"Is there something pressing? You've been staring a hole through your phone..."
"Th-that's..."
Her face went scarlet. She pushed her glasses up with a finger and stammered.
"There was a term I didn't understand, so I looked it up. I'm sorry."
The professor smiled with satisfaction and nodded.
"No, no. That kind of attitude is excellent. But if there's something you don't understand, it would be faster to just ask me, wouldn't it? Please focus on the lecture."
"Yes..."
Baek Seoha sat back down, deflated.
And then —
BEEEEEP! BEEEEEP!
Warning tones blared from every smartphone in the lecture hall. Baek Seoha checked hers at once.
The alert for Gwanak District, Seoul Special Metropolitan City has been elevated to CODE: RED.
Citizens, proceed to shelters immediately.
"Huh...?"
A bewildered sound slipped out of her. A catastrophe-level alert that had skipped straight over Code: Orange — the threshold that called for A-Class and B-Class heroes to deploy.
Code: Red.
Why all of a sudden...?
An additional message arrived on her phone moments later.
Issued under Code: Red.
All heroes in Seoul Special Metropolitan City — including S-Class — are ordered to assemble.
Deploy immediately and respond on-site.
"Everyone! Evacuate, quickly! Grab your bags and get to the underground shelter!"
The professor shouted in a panic. Students scrambled for their bags, faces pale.
Baek Seoha, however, ran to the window instead.
"What is that...?"
Dark clouds were rolling in across what had been a brilliantly clear sky. Lightning flickered through the thunderheads, looking thoroughly ominous. They halted after drowning an entire neighborhood of Gwanak District in shadow.
And then something enormous punched down through the ashen storm clouds.
Shaaaaaaaaah!
Woooooooooom!!
A mechanical drone rolled across the whole of Seoul.
"That's... a tower...?"
That was Baek Seoha's first impression. From the dark clouds, a cylindrical building sheathed in iron armor descended. The tower's outer walls were clad in gleaming metal plating, veins of blue energy circuitry pulsing with light here and there. It was a colossal mechanical fortress, as if it had arrived from the future.
"That's impossible... how can a dungeon be in the skies over Seoul...?"
A hangar along the tower's flank irised open, and hundreds — no, thousands — of mechanical soldiers poured out. A legion of humanoid cyborgs. Their entire bodies sheathed in metal, they touched down throughout the city.
THUD!
THUD THUD THUD!!
Baek Seoha's heart hammered. Her breath went short, and cold sweat ran down her back.
Calm down, Baek Seoha. You're a hero.
She collected herself, snatched up her bag, and bolted for the bathroom. Hiding in a stall, she pulled a tight, pure-white suit from her bag and pulled it on. A faint white-tiger pattern was etched subtly across the fabric, and the chest, knees, and elbows were reinforced with specially strengthened material.
She flung the stall door open and shouted.
"Gift. Release!"
In that instant, Baek Seoha's hair bleached snow-white, like a flurry of snowflakes. A soft light kindled in her emerald eyes.
"I'm the closest one here."
She burst out of the bathroom and sprinted down the hallway, muttering under her breath. Those Mains, tormenting innocent civilians.
"In the name of justice, I will not forgive you!"
I sat with my legs crossed in the plush chair of the central control room.
"Lululu. Hum-hum-hmm."
I hummed a little tune as I looked at the front screen.
The human body is frail. A Main could punch your ticket to the afterlife with nothing more than a snap of the fingers. That was why I had prepared. A fortress tower built with cutting-edge technology — Orbis. My life was precious, after all.
"Kishishishi. Things are going quite smoothly from the start."
The tin-can legion of scrap metal was gone. The Mecha Legion, clad in full-metal bodies, was dropping into the streets of Gwanak District. Their metal chassis flashed as they caught the light.
I'd had no choice but to build them mechanical bodies under the pressure of those maniacs screaming for evolution... I just hoped they wouldn't get wiped out by the heroes like this.
"Let me emphasize this once more. You must absolutely not kill the heroes."
I stood up from my seat, threw both arms wide, and shouted with theatrical hysteria.
"This world is Massat's grand experimental ground! You must never waste this body's precious test subjects on something so meaningless! Kihhihihihit!"
That was when Mechaman's face filled the screen in close-up. A gleaming chrome visage, a blazing red sensor array standing in for eyes. Missile pods rode his shoulders, and his forearms could transform into plasma cannons.
I'd modified him myself, but he really had turned out well.
Damn it...
Master's orders confirmed. I will neutralize the heroes with non-lethal weapons.
I secretly let out a sigh of relief and sat back down. I couldn't exactly wipe out the heroes who were supposed to come rescue me. Besides, after causing a spectacle this flashy, a B-Class or higher hero was bound to show up. Now all I had to do was wait for a hero on a white steed to punch through every last Main and come find me.
"Kishishishi."
I spun the chair in a full circle and hit the Enter key.
"It's boring waiting around, so shall we commence the real experiment?"
On the screen, a hangar door peeled open. A muscular giant approaching three meters tall. A man whose entire body was a map of scars, a massive bolt driven through his temple. The one who had once been Ultimate.
"Now go, Frankenmate! Sate that ravenous hunger of yours to your heart's content!!"
He jumped without a shred of hesitation, even from nearly thirty stories up. The werewolf seemed startled by the sudden appearance of the giant.
"You... what are you? A hero...? No, a Main?"
Frankenmate didn't answer. He just charged.
"Uoooorgh! Bab!!"
The werewolf slipped aside easily and drove its sharp claws into his abdomen.
CRUNCH!
"Stupid human! We beastmen will never be caught by the sluggish attacks of your kind!!"
But Frankenmate didn't fall. Instead, he seized both of the werewolf's shoulders and hoisted it into the air.
"What?! Graaaaaagh!!"
SLASH!
Frankenmate tore the Main clean in half. Then he began to devour the werewolf's corpse on the spot.
"Bab! Munch, munch!!"
The beastmen backed away at the sight of him.
"Wh-what is that thing?"
"It's... eating a Main...?"
The abdomen that had been run through closed over in a matter of seconds.
"Kishishishi!"
The Mecha Legion had already subdued the heroes so that Frankenmate could enjoy his meal in peace. I smiled with satisfaction.
"Now then! Enjoy the banquet to your heart's content! Franken!! Kihhihit!"
Then I clapped my hands.
Clap!
"Alpha. So, how is Frankenmate's energy wave? Report the analysis results."
A graph bloomed across one side of the screen.
No fluctuation detected in Frankenmate's energy wave.
Level-up factors also unconfirmed at this time.
I shot to my feet in shock.
"What?! That's impossible!!"
I snatched up the microphone and shouted.
"Frankenmate! More! Slaughter more Mains! Show me that fraudulent growth rate of yours!!"
Frankenmate charged the Mains on my command.
"Uoooorgh!!"
"You bastard!!"
The rhino Main swung its wooden club to block him — and a single punch exploded the club and all.
BANG!
Not even the rhino's shape remained.
No fluctuation detected in Frankenmate's energy wave.
Level-up factors also unconfirmed at this time.
The same answer.
I dropped to my knees.
Don't tell me... he came back to life, but his Gift wasn't restored?
This can't be happening! Ultimate is supposed to save the world!!
That was when a white-haired female hero appeared on the screen.
"Hyaaaaaah!!"
The woman came charging in and caught Frankenmate from behind with a flying kick. That single blow launched him into the air; he went sailing off and smashed through the outer wall of a building.
"Uooh!!"
KABOOOOOM!
I stared at the screen, my eyes going wide.
"Huh? You are...?"