1. Luck
1. Luck
I was just unlucky.
Our date, which should have been peaceful, simple, and happy, was completely ruined by a villain's terrorist attack—clearly a stroke of terrible luck.
Warning. Warning. An A-rank villain, Mastermind, has appeared. Please immediately move to the nearest shelters——
Kwa-jik! Peo-eong—!!
Along with crackling noise, the vehicle equipped with the speaker that had been repeating the warning broadcast explodes in an instant and is smashed to pieces.
"Ha... Such chattering, so annoying."
Then, a dry, emotionless woman's voice follows.
It sounds pretty close to the debris of the building's outer wall where I've hidden myself.
Maybe the villain is looking for something; she keeps glancing around this area and wandering.
If I hold my breath and stay still like this, I might not get caught... but there's another problem.
"O, oppa...."
"Shh...! Don't say anything, Eunji...."
"M-my... leg, it's... too... too painful...."
"...Just endure a little longer, please...."
The thing is, my girlfriend has been pinned under the collapsed outer wall of the building from the explosion. Her condition... doesn't look very good. There's no time. But there's no way I can move here....
"What's this?"
"......."
A dry voice comes from right behind me.
My body goes stiff. This... is dangerous.
But if I stay still, we'll both die, won't we?
With trembling, shaking legs, I barely manage to stand and turn to face the villain.
A red-haired woman with an expressionless face is staring at me.
"P-please... spare me."
"Why should I?"
"...Not me. Just this person here... please, spare her."
I know it's a meaningless plea for life. But as an ordinary person with no abilities or strength, this is all I can do.
"Ah~ That kind of relationship? What a tear-jerkingly touching love."
"...Please."
The villain still mocks me with that blank expression.
It's scary. I'm terrified. That's how desperate I am.
"Well... fine. I seem to have come up empty anyway, so I'll spare you."
"R-really?"
"Of course, not for free. You have to pay for that woman's life."
Suddenly, the villain's hand reaches out toward me and grabs my head, as if covering it.
Despite her small, thin frame, her strength is... absolutely impossible to resist.
"Aren't you curious how long your pathetic little love game can last?"
"Ah... no, d-don't... oppa, oppa...!"
Ignoring Eunji's words, the villain's hand clutches my head even tighter.
Then suddenly, a pain beyond a mere headache, a pain like my head is being split open, erupts.
"Kugh, ugh... Argh...!"
"O-oppa...! Stop it!! Don't t-touch oppa!!"
"Oh my, how scary."
It's disgusting and nauseating. A feeling of my mind being flipped, of something being erased and rewritten arbitrarily.
It's as if an unfamiliar concept is being violently and roughly engraved into my mind and heart by force.
Kka-deuk, kka-deu-deuk— An eerie, foreign noise echoes inside my head.
A horrifying sensation so terrible it makes me want to vomit repeats endlessly.
Amidst that agony, the villain leans close to my ear and whispers, her voice crystal clear.
"It hurts, right? But... from now on, you'll want to be in pain."
"Ah... agh, ugh...."
"You definitely will regret begging to save that woman today."
Then, a cracking sound, jjeo-jeo-jeok, comes from the large concrete slab that had fallen on Eunji's body.
Eunji's eyes, brimming with tears while looking at me, suddenly flicker with a blue light, then—
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Kwaaaang—!!
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An explosion.
It was a flame of a slightly different color from the explosions the villain had caused when she had turned the area into chaos.
As the light purple flames explode, both I and the villain holding onto me are violently pushed away.
Without a moment to grasp the situation, my consciousness sinks deep, along with the lingering stinging pain that hasn't stopped in my head.
Deeply. Endlessly... deep.
"......."
I opened my eyes.
To say I opened my eyes is a bit off—my eyes just slowly opened.
Where is this? A hospital...?
An unfamiliar ceiling, an unfamiliar space, and beside the bed where I lay, an unfamiliar... woman?
"Oppa! A-are you awake?"
"...Eunji?"
The voice is definitely Eunji.
And her appearance definitely... resembles Eunji, but why are her eyes and hair...?
"Ah... it's because of my h-hair color? It changed suddenly, so I'm a little awkward about it too...."
"Changed suddenly?"
"Yeah. Well... I don't know if oppa remembers, but I suddenly awakened, right? I changed then."
Awakening... so Eunji awakened.
Even an ordinary citizen becomes a hero if they awaken their own unique trait, their latent potential.
That means, when I was caught by the villain, Eunji became a hero... and saved me.
What a relief. Both Eunji and I are safe....
"You saved me... Thank you, Eunji."
"A-ah, no! Oppa tried to save me first...."
Seeing her shy smile directed at me, I'm certain it's definitely Eunji.
It's a little unfamiliar, but the fact that the Eunji I know is still her reassures me somewhat.
Anyway, I'm getting a bit curious about what happened after I passed out....
Deu-reu-reuk—
The door slowly opens and a man enters.
And after looking around, he heads toward us...?
"Uh... uhh?"
Wait a minute. I-is this person...?
"Hello. I am Matthew Anderson, Seoul Branch Manager of the Hero Association."
A deep and dignified voice. Despite his foreign appearance, his Korean is fluent and natural.
This man is Matthew Anderson, one of the retired but still respected first-generation heroes.
"Due to the peculiarity of the situation, I have come to visit you in person. Please understand that I could not contact you in advance."
"No, uh, well... why...?"
I'm so bewildered that I can't get my words out properly.
It seems Eunji is the same.
With her wide eyes blinking, she just looks back and forth between me and Matthew-ssi.
"I understand that you're surprised. Before you ask, may I explain first?"
"Uh... yes."
"Very well. First, Lee Eunji-yang."
"Yes?"
"As a result of the examination, you have been determined to be an S-rank hero, an awakener of the unique trait Will-o'-the-wisp. Congratulations."
Eunji and I lock eyes.
And still, we are speechless and dumbfounded.
S-rank heroes are incredible beings—there aren't even 100 of them nationwide... or even if you widen the scope worldwide.
But Eunji is an S-rank hero?
This... isn't a dream, right?
"And next, Kim Seungyoon-ssi."
"Yes...?"
"Your case, Seungyoon-ssi, is a bit special."
Matthew-ssi takes out a sheet of paper from the bag he was carrying and hands it to me.
On the paper I've ended up holding, my name and many unfamiliar letters are written all over.
Among them, one sentence stands out in bold letters:
'Grade: F / Unique Trait: Delusion - Masochism'
"What does this mean?"
"You, Seungyoon-ssi, have been forcefully granted a unique trait by the A-rank villain Mastermind."
"What?"
"Although you have no abilities, since you possess a trait, you cannot be classified as an ordinary person. Therefore, we have temporarily assigned you an exceptional grade, F-rank."
The F-rank... honestly, it doesn't really hit home, and I'm not that worried about it.
But what's written next to it, Delusion... Masochism?
What is this?
"The villain Mastermind grants debuff-type traits to civilians with no traits and uses them.
It's usually in a way that makes them follow her orders, but a trait like this... has never been reported."
"...It's hard to understand."
"To summarize, at the moment, it is impossible to grasp the situation regarding your trait, Seungyoon-ssi.
Even how this trait operates is not clear."
This talk about traits and the villain's ability, which I didn't pay much attention to because I thought there was no reason for me to know...
Honestly, I still don't know what's what.
At that moment, Eunji, who was standing next to me, speaks.
"Um, excuse me... Branch Manager-nim...?"
"Go ahead, Eunji-yang."
"Oppa just regained consciousness, so he's probably very confused right now... C-could we talk a bit later?"
"Of course, that's fine. Then let me first tell you what I need to convey to you, Eunji-yang."
As expected, Eunji is... affectionate. A delicate and always caring, lovely girlfriend.
Although her appearance while listening to Matthew-ssi's explanation is still a bit unfamiliar, Eunji is still Eunji.
The fact that Eunji awakened as an S-rank hero makes me feel proud for no reason.
The villain ruined our date, but if it turned out this way, then rather, we were lucky—
Jji-rit—
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"Ugh, ugh...."
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While I was quietly watching Eunji nod along to Matthew-ssi's explanation, suddenly.
A stinging pain arose in my head, and I unintentionally squeezed my eyes shut tightly.
And when I opened my eyes again...
"...Huh?"
"......."
"......."
No sound can be heard around me.
And Matthew-ssi's hand, which just a moment ago was explaining something to Eunji with a stoic expression,
before I knew it... was on Eunji's chest, fingers spread wide, clutching a handful of soft flesh.
"U-uh... u-uh...?"
Even though it's clearly Matthew-ssi's hand groping her chest, Eunji, Eunji... doesn't resist.
With a slightly nervous expression, she meekly... gives her chest.
Watching that, a disgusting sense of unease creeps up my spine.
In the silence, my rough heartbeat, thump— thump—, sounds unfamiliar.
I feel like I have to say something, like 'What do you think you're doing?' but my mouth doesn't move.
Instead, my eyes are over there, on the firm fingers that are buried deep into her chest, wrinkling her clothes, squirming—
"...ppa! Oppa! A-are you okay?"
"Uhh?"
At the distant-sounding voice calling me, I barely snap out of it.
In front of me, Eunji is looking at me with worry, and behind her, Matthew-ssi is visible.
"J-just now...."
"Just now? Why? D-does your head hurt by any chance?"
"......."
One sentence surfaces in my mind.
'Trait: Delusion - Masochism'
I think I might know what that trait means...
Pushing the ominous thought to the back of my mind, I force a smile toward Eunji.
It's the day Eunji became an S-rank hero... I should smile.