I'm Not a Hero, Though (8)
Attraction Force and Repulsion Force.
The power to push and pull.
A very simple force, but incredibly powerful.
Its simplicity grants it exceptional versatility.
I could yank an enemy in close with attraction for a killing blow, or shove them back with repulsion to shut down their approach.
Even on its own, that makes my ability one of the strongest in this world.
Though compared to the real Quaker, it's just kid stuff.
So—
"Interesting. I see exactly why you're bold enough to strut around like this."
Salmu-sa eyed me with intrigued curiosity.
Instead of answering, I clicked my tongue at the hulking brute gripping my arm.
"So you can hide it, huh?"
"Isn't that obvious? You've gotta have at least one hidden dagger if you want to survive."
The recoil from when I'd pushed him away had been unnaturally heavy, so probably some weight-increasing or -decreasing ability... right?
In other words, he wasn't getting flung back by my repulsion.
And that wasn't great news for me.
It meant my power wasn't working on him, whatever the reason.
"Rattlesnake wasn't much for direct fights, so you could take him down with some trickery. But these guys? Different story."
"What's different?"
"Hm. Kang-seok-ah. Rip off one of his arms. Time to teach some manners."
"Got it."
"Did you search the office, by the way?"
Did they really think grabbing my arm and shrugging off my repulsion meant I was neutralized?
If that's what they believed, I was genuinely disappointed.
"Keep bluffing all you want—"
"Bluffing my ass."
I grabbed the wrist of the bastard holding my wrist.
Kang-seok's eyes twitched at my move.
Yeah, he'd be confused.
Why bother if your power doesn't work?
But listen.
You're not a body reinforcement type.
And—now that you're touching me, you should realize you're in my power's range too.
I unleashed attraction force.
Full power.
Target: the brute's body.
The attraction radiating from his frame started yanking everything in the room toward him.
And this office? It was packed with pullable junk.
Tools, furniture, you name it.
The full-throttle attraction began smashing it all into him.
"Fuck, what the—"
Guess he's not body reinforcement after all.
I rubbed my freed wrist and flicked away the hand of Salmu-sa's underling lunging for my nape with repulsion.
Then I unleashed powerful attraction centered on myself.
The goons closing in got dragged right to me.
And once again—
"Interesting."
Body transformation ability user, huh. So he doesn't get pulled in by something like this.
I shot Salmu-sa—a man unmoving on the sofa—a quick glare, then repelled his minions away.
They screamed and tumbled across the floor in a pathetic heap.
"Urgh..."
"Guess I'll have to bill you for the window repair too."
"Wasn't it you who broke it?"
"If you assholes hadn't barged in, it wouldn't have gotten broken in the first place."
I'm not some psycho who smashes windows for fun.
Only then did Salmu-sa straighten his clothes and rise from his seat.
"If you're gonna fight, why not come at me yourself? Don't send these small fries. Don't you know about leading by example?"
All of them together might barely match half the Guard Captain.
How long was he planning to just posture?
"Aren't you getting a bit too cocky?"
"Who, me? Sounds like you're projecting."
I deliberately scraped at his nerves, watching his reaction.
His expression barely changed, but his eyes sharpened.
Guess openly needling him got under his skin.
"More ill-mannered than I thought."
"I don't do courtesy with enemies."
We traded barbs, eyes locked.
Weapons.
To fight this guy, I needed something decent.
His skills—honed over decades of body transformation in the underworld—were leagues beyond these minions.
At least stronger than the Guard Captain... this bastard was the real deal.
Power, experience, all of it.
So...
"Salmu-sa. Fled Seoul, and now you wanna get chased out of here too?"
"What?"
Opening!
I seized his lapse and conjured a repulsion field dead ahead.
His body rocketed straight into the wall.
I bolted for the window, grabbed the upper frame, and launched myself upward.
Up.
Stuck to the wall with attraction, I spread my palm and generated more—aimed at the glass shards.
The fragments scattered below the shattered window began clumping together above my hand.
A high-difficulty maneuver: repulsion and attraction from the same hand.
But I'd drilled this obsessively the past few days.
The gathered glass formed a transparent sea urchin shape.
Time to feed this to that bastard.
Simple plan, tough execution.
Landing a sucker punch on a lapsed foe like now? Easy.
But making it count? Tricky.
Shove this down right, and even a body transformer takes a fatal wound.
But... that's the hard part.
"You goddamn punk!"
Salmu-sa burst through the window frame, a bone knife protruding from his palm.
Bones popping out like that—do all body transformers do this?
I admired his power while staring him down, feet glued to the wall.
"How's the surprise party?"
"You... I'll make you spill exactly where you learned that."
"Think you can make me?"
I ran along the wall.
Attraction on my feet made it possible.
No normal human could keep up.
Humans aren't built for 3D pillar navigation.
But...
"You think you can escape me with parlor tricks like that?"
"Nah."
He cut off my path in a single leap.
The physical gap was bigger than expected.
At this rate, I might not even react before getting mulched.
And with his transformation tricks, unpredictable strikes made it even worse.
If I were a regular ability user, odds would be slim.
But I'd come outside because I figured I had a shot.
"I get you're pissed, but how much you got left?"
"You little shit... how the hell do you know that?"
"No way an ability like yours runs free."
Even superpowers obey reality's rules.
No zero-cost abilities exist.
So he had to pay to play, same as anyone.
"How about hide-and-seek, then?"
I repelled myself backward.
Distance yawned open in an instant.
Salmu-sa hurtled at me like a truck.
But that alone couldn't match my burst acceleration.
So...
"I'll make you regret being born."
His arm stretched—inhumanly long—slashing a razor arc at my head.
One hit, and my face is gone.
No intention of taking it lying down.
I shifted the repulsion pushing me back to the right.
My trajectory twisted, barely dodging his hand.
"Slippery rat."
"More like you're just missing."
"...You enjoy getting under people's skin, huh?"
"Can't ignore such a juicy reaction. Rude not to."
Wall-crunching sounds echoed nonstop. His limbs were smashing through concrete as he moved.
Time to stop fighting on the building.
I cut the attraction from my feet and dropped to the ground.
Sudden dive.
His now-targetless arm sliced empty air.
I repelled again, widening the gap.
Under five meters a second ago—now twenty.
I spun the glass clump in my right hand, calmly assessing.
He glared, teeth grinding.
Situation wasn't bad.
Moving the battlefield outside expanded my options.
For him, even if I just ran, he'd be in deep shit.
My office might be on the outskirts, but it's Alligator Gang turf. Touch that and fail to finish me? No good press.
His voice in Viper factions would shrink.
Well, better than dying here, I guess.
"Waiting for Alligator Gang backup?"
"Nope."
No reinforcements.
Too remote; it'd take time.
So I had to kill him using the junk around here.
Glass clump hovering over my hand, a head-crushing brick in my peripheral, a few steel balls.
Can I win?
Yeah. I can.
"Let's get serious, then."
Until his mouth's crammed full of glass shards!
I kicked off the ground and charged.