Leona's Secret Hobby # 5
Leona's Secret Hobby # 5
—Weeeeeeeeee-wooooooooo!
The emergency siren wailed.
________________________
[Main Quest: Omen 2]
[The gate that has appeared once again may be an omen of something. Defeat the monster boss.]
[Reward: 2,500 Coin]
_________________________
I quickly scanned the quest details. It was nerve-wracking, but nothing to worry about. Because standing here was me, Kim Geun-cheol—and not just any Kim Geun-cheol, but the transcendent Kim Geun-cheol with Lee Si-hoo and Leona as my backup.
The mission itself was identical to last time. Clear this and I could raise my stats. Stay calm. Work with my friends and take down the monsters.
Right as I made that decision—
"Oh dear! What in the world! Quickly! Everyone, get inside!"
A wail burst from the kitchen. The restaurant owner. From his perspective, this must be a bolt from the blue.
"Sir!!!"
Leona shouted at the top of her lungs.
"Huh? Yes?"
"Please pack this up right away! We'll come back for it later!"
"There's a packing fee, but that's fine!"
"Then wrap up all the side dishes too! Quickly! Everyone, snap out of it! Let's get outside! Ah, ah! Don't close the shutter! We're heading out!"
Leona started directing us with practiced ease! As expected of class president Leona! She's handling this completely naturally!
"Right! We're going out to act!"
"Exactly! As hero cadets, we can't just sit still when a gate appears!"
"That's right! We have to go, Geun-cheol!"
"Truly heroic!"
—Fwip!
Leona paid in a flash, and we immediately hit the street. Outside was quiet. The moment the siren had sounded, everyone had evacuated and shut their shutters.
I'd heard civilians undergo regular drills, which explained such rapid evacuation.
"Good. This is urgent, but that's exactly when we need to stay calm. Listen. As cadets, we don't have to jump into the fight."
"Wait! Leona! We can't just do nothing!"
Si-hoo, with her righteous personality, shouted. Of course, Leona isn't the type to back out here.
"Calm down, Lee Si-hoo. I plan to fulfill a cadet's duty."
"Good. Don't worry. Since we're here, we'll do something. Does Angel Leona look like she'd run away?"
"Y-yeah. Right. That's right."
"All right, then."
Leona summed up the situation.
"First, this is a bit strange. When a gate appears nearby, you're supposed to feel something. Lee Si-hoo? Kim Geun-cheol? Did either of you sense anything?"
"No. I felt nothing at all. Just like last week... Something's off."
"Yeah. I didn't feel a damn thing either."
Maybe not me, but Si-hoo or Leona should have sensed something. They're strong. This is clearly abnormal.
Then again, since it's a main quest, of course it's abnormal. If it's a main quest, isn't weirdness basically a given? Not that I can say that out loud.
"Right. This is definitely strange. But it's not something we can judge right now. And since the situation is so unusual..."
Leona's expression turned serious.
"There may be civilians who haven't evacuated yet. The siren went off, but we should check. Let's carefully reconnoiter first. We'll only act until the Subjugation Squad arrives. Civilian protection is the top priority. Any objections?"
As if there could be!
"None! Class president!"
"Yeah. No objections."
"Heh heh, good."
At our energetic replies, Leona smiled, pleased.
"Heh heh heh, wow. This Angel Leona. She immediately talks about rescuing civilians. Still an angel, huh? Huh?"
"Well, isn't this just an extension of volunteer work? An Awakened ought to help people. Then let's move out!"
"Yeah!"
"First, we'll secure a vantage point—up to that building's rooftop!"
—Fwip!
The moment Leona spoke, Si-hoo sprang up by leaping off the sign in front of her—no, hold on!
I can't do that!
"Kim Geun-cheol! You couldn't scale the building, could you!"
"N-no! That's right!"
"No helping it, then!"
And in that instant!
—Whoosh!
Leona scooped me into a princess carry!
"What the hell is this!"
"A Pietà! You know the Pietà, Kim Geun-cheol!"
Leona shouted, excited. She clearly thinks she just dropped an amazing reference!
"If you're gonna do a Pietà, tell me to sit!"
"I can't do that! Now, here we go!"
—Fwip!
Leona jumped straight to the rooftop, still holding me! Such a smooth landing! Once on the roof, she set me down.
"Kim Geun-cheol! Train hard so you can at least climb a building on your own!"
"Ugh... Yeah. I'll do that! Anyway, Leona! You're in charge, so give the orders!"
"First, look over there."
"Huh? Ah."
—Crackle-crick!
A gate was hanging open in midair.
—Rumble!
F-rank Antazora monsters were pouring out of it. The same bastards I'd slaughtered endlessly at the training ground. Two-legged sea-anemone-looking things.
But one glance told me the numbers were insane.
What the hell is that?
Looks like over a hundred?
"A tremendous number. Because of our nature, us melee-type Heroes struggle against large quantities of low-rank monsters."
"Yeah. I know that."
Trash-mob slaughter is the specialty of soldiers or area-of-effect mages. Leona, Si-hoo, and I are all melee DPS—specialized in taking down a single high-level monster.
Against a tsunami of numbers like this, we're at a disadvantage.
"Leona. This is definitely not normal. Way more F-rank monsters are coming out than I ever imagined."
"You're right. The situation is clearly abnormal. I should probably report this to my family..."
Was it that abnormal?
"Why? Fewer should come out normally?"
"Yes. Fewer. I can see over three hundred already, and that's obviously irregular."
Irregular.
Gotta remember that.
"Actually, nationwide, around a hundred gates appear per day. A gate appearing isn't especially strange. But it's almost unheard of for this many monsters to pour out. And even when it does happen, there should be warning signs beforehand."
Meaning gates with this many monsters are rare, and even when they occur, Awakened can usually sense them in advance.
"But that 'common sense' isn't applying at all. We'll have to give up on figuring it out. Since we don't know what might emerge and the situation is abnormal, I think it's better to just circle the area and search for civilians. Don't you agree?"
"Yes. I think the same."
Si-hoo agreed.
Then we'll do exactly that.
"What are we waiting for?! Let's move! C'mon, you guys!"
"Then follow closely! Kim Geun-cheol, you!"
"Yeah!"
—Fwip!
We dashed across the rooftops just like that.
While scanning the streets below, we searched for civilians.
"By the way, Kim Geun-cheol? You said this happened last week too, right?"
"Yeah."
"Hmm... If something like this happened twice, there should've been some kind of report. Could you check real quick? On the internet."
"Uh, sure."
I searched while running lightly.
Typed in some rough keywords.
"Ah. There is one article. Abnormal phenomenon occurring? Looking at the location... this is the place I went to with Si-hoo. Seems like people think it's suspicious."
"Very fishy, as expected."
But talking about that place...
"That little shit Kitty."
The thought of Kitty suddenly popped up.
—Beep-beep-beep.
Since I was already holding my phone, I dialed.
I'd just gotten her number anyway.
—Brrrr.
It rang.
"Yo."
—Ah, Geun-cheol? You called right away? More importantly, the alarm went off—are you okay?
"Yeah. Don't worry about me. What about you?"
—I'm outside.
"What the hell, you little?!"
Is she insane?!
—Heh heh. Just kidding. Relax. I bolted the second the alarm went off. I don't go strolling around danger zones anymore. I don't wanna get yelled at by you, Geun-cheol.
"Yeah, good! Well done! Seriously, well done! That's actually why I called! You stay hidden there!"
—Okay. I will.
I hung up the instant I got the answer.
"Kim Geun-cheol? Was that her?"
"Yeah. She said she got away safely."
"Then I'm relieved. Anyway, let's keep searching!"
"Right!"
—Fwip!
We resumed dashing across the rooftops, continuing the search. I glanced at the gate over there... it definitely looked dangerous. It wasn't spewing more monsters, but the mere fact that that purple dimensional rift was hanging there was deeply ominous.
And right then.
—Aaaaahhh!
A sudden scream!
"Leona! Geun-cheol! A scream! Quickly! This way!"
"Yeah, got it!"
—Fwip-fwip-fwip!
We immediately dashed toward the sound!
And looking down from the building's edge—
"Hyaaaaahh! Save meee!"
Some elementary school kid was being chased by monsters! Every instinct screamed to go rescue him, but shockingly, the kid was already completely surrounded!
Monsters closing in from three directions! And more charging straight at him from the front!
—Swarm, swarm!
And on top of that, there were a fuckload of monsters!
They were practically rolling in like a tidal wave...! They're only F-rank, but the number was over a hundred. If we charged in recklessly, we'd get obliterated. But if things stayed like this, the kid was gonna die.
"Hey! Leona! What do we do in this situation!"
"Too many monsters...! There's no good answer!"
Couldn't we just glide down, snatch the kid, and bail? Of course, Leona, who knows far more than me, said it's impossible. So it must be tough.
We aren't a crowd-control type.
If only we had a mage specialized in AoE... But the kid's about to die! The moment he tires out, he's dead for sure!
"Si-hoo!"
"Tch!"
Si-hoo's expression was grim too!
"Is there nothing you can do either?!"
"There are too many monsters...! If we go down to rescue him, we'll be the ones in danger!"
Even Si-hoo, who's strong, said the same thing. So are we supposed to just stand here and watch this poor kid's final moments?
Like hell I want that!
Can the three of us combined really not pull this off?!
But right then!
"Still, we can't just stand by and watch a child die! Leona! I'm going down! Draw their attention somehow!"
"What?! Lee Si-hoo! Wait! Even if they're F-rank, with those numbers—!"
—Fwip!
Si-hoo jumped straight off!
"You crazy—! Si-hoo! Fuck it, we don't have a choice! Leona! We have to do something!"
"Tch...! No helping it, then! Kim Geun-cheol!"
"Yeah! Whatever the plan is!"
"Try drawing some aggro!"
Draw aggro?
"How the hell do I do that?"
"You're good at screaming!"
"Hey! Come on! That only works as a joke—there's no way that'll draw aggro—!"
"Don't you know monsters react to human screams?! Just scream, damn it! It's our last resort!"
—Boom!
In that instant, Leona kicked off the ground and charged at me!
"Wha—?!"
And then, as if wielding an RPG launcher—like some magic wand—she hoisted me up and aimed me at the monsters!
"Kim Geun-cheol!!! Fire a scream straight ahead!!! As loud as you possibly can!!!"
"There's no way this'll actually—!"
"Shut up and do it!"
A-alright!
If that's the case, I'll do it!
—Huff!
I sucked in a breath!
"Kk—."
And then, I let it rip!
「KIIII-YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !」
And then—
"Kyiiiiik?!"
"Kyuruk?! Kyurururuk!"
"Kurrrrrrrrk!"
The monsters that had been lunging at Si-hoo—who had just scooped up the kid—
"Kyiiiiii!"
"Kyurururuk!"
—All of them snapped their gaze toward me at once.
—Fwap-fwap-fwap!
—Fwap-fwap-fwap!
—Fwap-fwap-fwap!
And then they immediately started scaling the building walls!!!
"Kim Geun-cheol, nice!!! The aggro is insane, you screaming bastard, Geun-cheol!!! Yahooo!!! Our last resort actually worked!!!"
"More importantly, put me down!"
"Put you down, my ass! We need to run now! Shut up and hold on tight!"
And so, clutched by Leona like some kind of human rocket launcher, I got a free ride.
"..."
This isn't what I imagined a hero would be.
