I'm Not a Hero, Though (9)
The distance was twenty steps away.
Far enough, but for a superpower user, it was within arm's reach.
Just one second.
I boosted my speed with Repulsion Force.
A bit risky—but a surefire method.
A bone spike barely grazed past my eyes.
Even compared to the Guard Captain, this speed was markedly faster.
The fact that I could react at all was mostly because I knew how the bastard fought.
Pure reflexes alone wouldn't have let me dodge it.
I immediately swung my fist.
He easily evaded my punch and reached for my wrist.
But that was anticipated too.
I repelled my body with Repulsion Force, creating distance.
Glass shards. Time to use them?
I hesitated to hurl the cluster of glass shards hovering above my hand at his approach path, deciding to hold onto them for now.
There weren't many weapons I could use right away.
Iron balls probably wouldn't work on him, and unfortunately, the yard in front of our office was pathetically barren.
But... that didn't mean I'd stepped out without a plan.
"Rat bastard."
"Isn't that a third-rate villain line? Oh, right—you were a third-rate who got chased out of Seoul's underworld."
"You little shit..."
I relentlessly prodded at his trauma-like past.
He was stronger than me.
Experience, ability, technique—all of it.
So, no winning with ordinary methods.
Head-on brawling wasn't my specialty anyway, and in that kind of setup, he'd have the edge.
So—
I'd do what I could.
No holding back on means.
I didn't want to die.
I had... responsibilities to shoulder.
I leaned forward. My turn now.
I launched myself at the bastard glaring at me with gritted teeth.
Boosted by Repulsion Force pushing my back, I ramped up my speed and swung at him.
A somewhat clumsy punch, infused with Repulsion Force.
He scoffed and tilted his body to dodge it effortlessly.
Then he whipped his arm out to smash me.
Before his arm reached my face, I used Attraction Force to tilt my body backward.
His fist grazed my cheek by a hair's breadth.
My cheek stung.
But... in exchange, the distance between us shrank to near zero.
In that moment, I fired the glass shards at his face.
The compacted glass orb scattered like shotgun pellets upon impact, striking his face. Enough power to shred a normal human's visage.
But his face was relatively intact.
Aside from the shards stuck all over it.
"Gotta treat a guest right as the boss, yeah?"
"You fucking dog!"
No significant damage.
But with glass shards jammed into his face and eyes and mouth, he couldn't wildly morph his body for a while.
Deforming with foreign objects inside was dangerous.
One slip, and those shards could pierce his internals...
That's how he lost in the original story too.
I widened the gap with Repulsion Force and shook my hands clean.
Couldn't fight with glass cutting into my palms.
I scooped up some dirt from the ground while putting distance between us and the groaning bastard.
"Ever tasted dirt?"
I hurled the dirt clod at him.
Of course, he sidestepped it and slid toward me.
As the distance closed, an outstretched arm.
A long, sharp bone spike protruded from the center of his open palm.
Wherever it stabbed, it'd be lethal on contact.
I flung the dirt clod at his face and hurled my body sideways. Target: the abandoned building next to our office.
"Damn, you carry some vicious shit inside you, don'tcha, loser?"
Whoa, look at that flushed face.
I smirked at the bastard glaring at me, his face beet red from triggered trauma.
That oughta be enough provocation.
I vaulted through the window of the abandoned building and slipped inside.
The dark interior was silent and still, long neglected. I scanned for potential weapons, eyes darting.
Abandoned lumber... rotted.
Iron pipes wouldn't dent him.
I glanced at the corner.
A shovel.
Better than nothing.
I grabbed the rusty shovel and closed in on the bastard who'd just leaped inside, swinging it at him.
Aiming for his side.
He blocked my strike with a bone spike, as expected.
Simultaneously, the spike from his other hand thrust at my gut. At this rate, it'd punch a hole through my stomach.
In that instant, I used Attraction Force to yank him—and the shovel—toward me.
He'd prepped for my Repulsion Force pushes after I'd used it so many times, but what about pulling?
"Shit...!"
His stance crumbled.
His own momentum added to the pull, throwing off his balance.
Confirming the gut spike had missed, I applied Repulsion Force to my body, spinning myself—and the shovel—in the opposite direction.
Spinning like a top at terrifying speed, I whirled outward to exploit his opening.
A close-range, unexpected rotation.
A heavy thud transmitted through my hands.
"Would've been nicer if it'd hit your neck."
Shovel embedded in his shoulder.
He glared at me with murderous eyes and yanked it out.
That shoulder was basically crippled now.
He scowled at me, eyes rolling as he realized it was time to bail.
Not fatal, but a solid injury.
If I just kept him running and harassing, he'd have no choice but to retreat.
But I had no intention of letting him go.
He was far too dangerous to leave alive.
Killing him here was the only way Mina and Seolhwa could truly be safe.
After a brief silence, I spoke.
"What, gonna run? Like in Seoul?"
"...How the hell do you know that?!"
"If you're gonna hide your tail, do it properly. Oh, should I tell your underlings? That you're actually—"
"Shut up!"
With his enraged shout, the distance shrank.
A past he never wanted exposed.
The slum-born kid mocked and ignored in the crime syndicate.
He'd desperately honed his powers to prove himself... but his childhood strength was so pathetic, he couldn't prove shit.
After all that flailing, he was discarded with sneers.
A brutal brand on his back: You'll never rise.
His trauma-fueled ambition erupted at me unchecked.
"Who the hell are you?! How do you know my past?!"
"A possessor, ring any bells?"
"More crazy bullshit...!"
"Your head's hard as a rock, huh."
I dodged the attack.
A calm thrust would've been tough to evade, but rage-fueled swings were too straightforward.
I jerked my head aside.
A light Repulsion Force nudge pulled me off his path.
I evaded his assaults with every trick I had.
Until he tired himself out.
Until he exposed a fatal opening.
"Fucking asshole..."
"Scratch?"
His fury hit crystal clear.
I repelled his body, widening the gap to about five meters.
Short distance.
I positioned myself in front of a concrete pillar exposing rebar. A bent iron rod poked my back lightly.
This would do.
I addressed Salmu-sa one last time.
"Getting mad like that? Deep down, you admit it too. You're—"
Before I finished, he closed in.
A speed impossible to react to without prior warning.
The moment his silhouette neared, I shoved my body sideways.
And—
Thud.
"F...fuck..."
"Tetanus shot up to date?"
I brushed the dust off my clothes and eyed the bastard with his gut impaled on the rebar.
Undeniable fatal wound.
But... I knew better.
"I'll kill you... kill you..."
Body transformation powers were prone to rampage.
As his body began swelling grotesquely, I immediately launched myself outside.
No more fighting in tight spaces—it was too risky now.
At the same time, the sound of the building collapsing echoed.
Hope it doesn't reach the office.
Winning only to lose my nest would suck.
"...I'm... not weak..."
"Now you're a real monster."
Was the guy from the bunker another body-morphed ability user like this?
I clicked my tongue at the sight of him bursting through the wall.
No human features left.
Nearly five times swollen, bones piercing skin, bulging veins popping out.
Every bit horrific.
"Would've been better if you'd died human."
That thing wasn't human anymore.
So... now it was monster-hunting time.
Hide-and-seek, then?
I turned and bolted.