Despair and Rampage (1)
The upper-floor offices inside the Hero Alliance Headquarters, where senior staff and executives worked.
Because most hero duties were carried out in the field, the majority of heroes rarely had reason to visit this place.
Yet even among heroes, there existed a select few who acted as special agents, carrying out direct orders from the upper echelons.
One such hero, the A-rank Ice Queen Rumi, currently stood alone in the office, waiting for the superior who had summoned her.
How much longer do I have to wait…? She definitely told me to come by 2 PM.
The clock on the wall read 3:07 PM—well past the scheduled time.
Rumi had arrived at 1:30, a full thirty minutes early, yet nearly two hours had passed without any sign of the person who called her.
—Creak—
The office door opened, and its owner stepped inside.
It was the same superior who had once hurled a bundle of papers filled with negative articles about the Hero Alliance at her and showered her with abuse.
Without the slightest hint of remorse for making her wait so long, he pulled a cigarette from his breast pocket, lit it, and sank into the sofa.
"What? Why are you here?"
He spoke as though he had completely forgotten summoning her.
"You left a message ordering me to report to the office by 2 PM."
"Ah! Right, that was today. I had something to pass on."
He flicked his lighter, took several long drags, and exhaled thick clouds of smoke directly toward where Rumi stood.
"You won't be coming to this office anymore."
"What… do you mean by that?"
"What do you think it means? From now on, the Alliance won't be assigning you any important missions."
The superior chuckled as he explained the reason to the visibly shaken Rumi.
"During the operation to capture the high-ranking executives of the Dark Knights… the task I gave you ended in near-total failure, didn't it? The Tricker incident… the Firecracker incident too. The higher-ups seem to have lost all trust in you and your abilities."
"That… that's…!"
"It wasn't my decision. Though I won't deny that my opinion played a part."
The very first mission she had been entrusted with—the Tricker case—had failed due to insufficient information about the Doppelgänger ability.
The Firecracker case, uncovered through interrogating the Executioner, had also collapsed because Si-yoon had already made her disappear from the airport without Rumi's knowledge.
While she had successfully subdued the Executioner, the rest stop facility had suffered massive damage, forcing the Alliance to pay out enormous compensation.
Moreover, the information obtained from interrogating the Executioner proved entirely useless, and the Alliance ultimately judged that the losses far outweighed any gains.
Rumi had expected some form of reprimand for the string of unusual operational failures, but being stripped of all missions entirely was tantamount to dismissal.
"Then… what about the matter you promised to help me with…?"
"That, of course… never happened. The condition for fulfilling the promise was successfully completing the missions assigned to you, wasn't it?"
The reason Rumi had joined the Hero Alliance in the first place—more precisely, the reason she had volunteered for these grueling, high-stakes assignments—was to find her older sister, who had suddenly vanished one day and disappeared from her ordinary life.
"Then… what about everything I've done until now?"
The crushing despair of realizing that all her efforts to find her sister had been for nothing.
Rumi's usually expressionless face crumbled in an instant, as though she might burst into tears at any moment.
"Didn't I just say it? You failed to keep your end of the bargain… so the promise never existed. Don't make me repeat myself."
Even as he watched Rumi's devastated expression, the man continued puffing on his cigarette, his tone almost relieved that things had turned out this way.
From his perspective, he had always resented having a junior far stronger than he had been in his prime, but since she obeyed orders without question thanks to a single promise he never intended to keep, he had simply used her until she became inconvenient—then discarded her.
How… how could he do this…? I worked so hard for years… and just because a few missions failed, everything ends like this…?
Tosa Gupaeng.
The idiom about hunting a rabbit too swift for human hands by using a dog, then boiling and eating the dog once the hunt was over.
It perfectly captured the reason for the overwhelming despair Rumi felt now—being cast aside the moment she was deemed useless.
This can't be real. This can't be happening. It can't…
Though she normally never showed emotion to others—earning her the hero name "Ice Queen"—the sheer weight of despair and betrayal made her fists tremble violently.
So I was just thrown away…? After forcing me through countless brutal, exhausting tasks… after making me capture hundreds of villains whose faces I didn't even know… now they're discarding me…?
"Still, you made a lot of money over those five years, didn't you? They even assigned you dozens of agents. Most girls never get that kind of treatment."
Now that he had used her to his satisfaction, the man spoke as though he found it refreshing, even claiming she had received more than enough respect as a hero.
"Get out already! I won't have to see your face anymore, so I'm feeling pretty good about it."
He waved his hand dismissively, as if shooing away a bird, ordering her to leave at once. Rumi walked toward the door on shaking legs, her fists trembling just as he had said.
—Click—
"What? What was that sound?"
Instead of opening the door and leaving, Rumi locked it and walked back toward the man.
—Tap… tap…—
The sound of her heels echoed through the office, each step carrying a quiet, seething rage.
"Tell me right now. What happened to my sister?"
Her expression was no longer tearful. It was cold, resolute, and filled with tightly suppressed fury and despair.
"What? Are you rebelling against me now, you insolent bitch?"
—CRACKKKKKK—!!!
A razor-sharp ice spike erupted from Rumi's outstretched fingertips and pressed firmly against the vital point between the man's neck and jaw.
"W-what the hell are you doing?!"
"I told you to answer me. Now."
The superior was stunned by Rumi's defiance—she who had never once talked back despite all his abuse.
As a veteran hero with years of service and now an executive, he was no weakling. Yet after more than a decade focused solely on administrative work, his combat skills had dulled considerably. Facing an active A-rank powerhouse like Rumi in close quarters would be difficult.
Realizing this, he dropped the cigarette from his mouth in panic but remained perfectly still to avoid having his throat pierced.
"This won't change anything. The fact that you failed your missions is still true. If word gets out that you defied a superior, the punishment will be even harsher."
But Rumi could no longer hear his words.
For years, she had endured extreme stress from every direction, sustained only by the Alliance's promise to help her find her sister.
Recently, she had been forced to carry out missions with almost no information, obey incomprehensible orders, and now—on top of being reprimanded—she was told the promise itself had never existed.
Everything that had been festering inside her finally erupted.
"I said… answer me… right now…!!!"
Her voice, filled with rage the likes of which no one had ever heard from her, pressed the ice spike harder against the throat of the now-terrified man.
"Ghh…! I told you… nothing will change…! Are you threatening me…?!"
Even with his life on the line, the superior refused to yield, warning her that touching him would bring consequences.
His words only made the spike dig deeper.
—Shunk…!
The sharp ice pierced his neck, and hot blood began to trickle out.
"Aaaaargh!! Ghh…!!"
Now truly desperate, the man thrashed to escape, but there was nothing in the office he could use as a weapon or shield.
Every office on this floor had been soundproofed for security reasons—screaming would do him no good.
His only hope was the phone, but reaching for it would invite an immediate attack from the enraged Rumi.
Staying still wouldn't save him either. With no good options left, he chose the one that might keep him alive.
"I-I'll talk! About your sister! So… just… take this thing off…!"
"My sister…?"
Rumi's eyes wavered at the mention of her sister, but she did not withdraw the spike.
"Your sister… Seol Luna… she died seven years ago… She was already dead before you even became a hero…!!!"