Chapter 15
Chapter 15
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: Hero
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“GRRRRROOOAAAR!”
A house-sized bear let out a deafening roar.
The bear was as massive as it looked—fucking enormous.
Every time it swung its front paw, team members went flying through the air.
Park Chang-ju.
We hadn’t known each other long, but I’d heard his ambitions.
[After graduating from the Academy, I’m gonna return to my orphanage in glory and make the director eat his words with my donations!]
He ended up getting his face torn off and dying.
‘Why am I so damn unlucky?’
When I was little, the guy who was supposed to be my dad ran off with the family fortune.
Mom barely kept me fed by working in a restaurant kitchen.
Then one day, awakening hit me out of nowhere.
At first, I thought maybe things were finally looking up.
But my ability? The most common body enhancement out there.
I bombed the first Academy entrance exam.
I swallowed the shame of being unfilial and took a second shot at it.
I felt bad for Mom, but if I could just become a hero, we could turn our lives around.
I’d make sure she never had to lift a finger again.
I threw everything into preparing for round two.
I got in.
Mom and I hugged and cried in our tiny one-room apartment.
The grade I got came with zero support—Bronze.
Tuition was law school-level expensive.
Mom had no choice but to take out loans.
To cover my fees.
But she bragged about it to everyone, and her face seemed a little brighter.
That alone made me happy.
But then.
But...
First day at the Academy.
Things went south during a light dungeon hunting orientation.
A house-sized bear popped up out of nowhere and started slaughtering our group.
‘Am I really dying like this?’
What the hell have I been living for...?
The bear lumbered toward me.
Bigger than a semi-truck.
Up close, it looked even huger.
Overwhelming terror.
Fight a monster like this as a human?
‘Don’t make me laugh.’
Impossible.
No human strength could overcome that massive violence.
The bear raised its front paw.
The razor-sharp claws at the end gleamed.
This is it, huh.
‘Sorry, Mom.’
You took out loans to pay for my school.
I wanted to become a hero and treat you right...
Right as I thought it was truly the end.
Golden sparks crackled above my head.
At the same moment, a female student dropped from the sky onto the bear’s head.
Her pink hair stood out.
She thrust her spear into the bear’s eye.
The bear thrashed in agony.
“GRRRRROOOAAAR!”
The girl lost her grip on the spear amid the wild flailing and tumbled to the ground.
She turned her head, looked at me, and yelled.
“Run!”
“W-what about you?!”
“I can hold it off. Run!”
In an instant, the bear swatted her away with its paw.
She flew far off and crashed into a tree.
Struggling, she dragged herself back to her feet.
Even without her weapon, she didn’t back down from the giant bear.
Dodging its paws.
Occasionally getting smacked and sent flying.
Her whole body drenched in blood, but she didn’t yield.
Insane willpower.
I realized.
‘That’s what it takes to be a hero.’
I felt ashamed of myself—just chasing money to become one.
That’s when the bear’s paw came slamming down on the girl’s head.
She vanished completely under its sole.
Horrified, I covered my face with both hands and wailed.
Suddenly, golden lightning raced up the bear’s paw.
The bear convulsed from the electrocution and collapsed.
“Lightning skill! Did she take it down...!”
The bear rose again like nothing happened.
“W-what?”
I couldn’t believe it.
The girl, injured from the earlier stomp, couldn’t get up easily.
Soon the bear clamped its jaws around her.
It shook her like a ragdoll.
Its huge fangs pierced her pale stomach, spraying red everywhere.
I wanted to help, but my body wouldn’t move.
My legs trembled uncontrollably.
My flesh was rejecting combat outright.
An opponent we couldn’t possibly beat.
Like an S-rank monster or something.
‘Damn it. Making excuses again.’
Crushing self-loathing crushed me.
‘Coward... I’m a coward.’
Our eyes met for a second, but I looked away.
I couldn’t face her resentful expression.
She was about to die.
The girl who tried to save me... was dying.
That’s when black mist rippled near the bear’s scruff.
And Shin Noda appeared, spear in hand.
The D-rank guy who passed because his test device glitched.
He grabbed the bear’s fur and muttered.
“What the hell. Why’s Park Ha-yeon losing? I beat it in the game.”
Nonsense.
Too late for the girl, but I had to keep this guy from getting dragged in.
Standing by would just rack up more casualties.
I waved my arms frantically, shouting a warning.
“Stop! That’s way beyond your level!”
My voice barely came out.
Ignoring my warning, he made a reckless move.
Shin Noda’s spear pierced the bear’s throat.
“GRRRAAAR!”
The black bear dropped the girl and let out a pitiful cry.
The guy yanked out the spear, then jammed it into the bear’s skull.
‘No way.’
No need to test it—we all knew its skull was insanely tough.
Yet he punched right through in one go.
Shin Noda twisted the spear around, turning the bear’s brain to mush.
Thud.
The massive furball hit the ground.
He’d taken it down in under a minute.
‘A D-rank did that...?’
I hit a wall.
***
Hero office.
MX Management had provided a dedicated lounge with a gym and all sorts of amenities.
“Office Lady” sat at a computer, clicking the mouse.
She looked more like a proper office worker than a hero.
She was searching communities for “Dark Knight.”
A fellow hero from the same agency, “Metal Man,” teased her.
“Dark Knight again? All day Dark Knight. You a fan or something? Always looking him up. Heh heh.”
“Shut it, would you? That’s why girls don’t like you. Your fan sign line was all dudes.”
“Ahem. Those are my brothers, charmed by my masculinity. I don’t need girls, I’m f—”
“Yeah, right. I heard you hit on ‘Magical Girl’ and got chewed out by the boss.”
“Ugh.”
Metal Man slunk off to the gym after picking the wrong fight.
A post on her monitor.
[Just integrate Dark Knight as a hero already. Has he ever hurt a civilian? He just beats up villains. No reward for that, but they keep raising his villain bounty?]
Office Lady gave a wry smile.
She’d badmouthed Dark Knight on TV, but she knew irredeemable villains existed.
Sometimes she envied his no-holds-barred approach.
‘Dark Knight must’ve lost a lot to villains... Wonder how much pain it took to turn him into that.’
She recalled that day.
Dark Knight’s voice.
[Could you say that in front of the victims?]
That rusty-scraping horror of a voice seemed to embody his inner torment.
Office Lady had seen plenty of villain victims’ families in agony.
Maybe Dark Knight was one of them.
Another monster born from villains.
[Afraid?]
Maybe that was his true face.
She thought.
Then the emergency bell rang.
Dispatch signal.
Location: Suwon City, K Electronics HQ.
Target: Necromancer “K Pharma Villain,” who’d boldly terrorized a national institution head-on.
Office Lady grabbed her gear and left the office.
K Electronics under attack by K Pharma Villain.
Former hunter security guards held the building entrance, but they were outnumbered.
Zombies, zombie dogs, and K Pharma Villain himself.
He’d brought thousands of zombies.
Ma Bo-seong, in his pig-nosed mask, yelled excitedly.
“Your deaths are brought to you by K Pharma!”
“This is all on orders from the K Group chairman!”
Ranting nonsense.
Incoherent ramblings from Ma Bo-seong.
Complete with his signature recording.
[K Group, Korea’s leading company, forever pursuing progress.]
♪♫♪.
He’d gotten cocky lately thanks to an anonymous sponsor.
A book sent his way with interest in his activities: the Necronomicon.
Perfect item for Ma Bo-seong, with his necromancy skills.
Heroes sent to stop him weren’t much of a threat anymore.
Zombies up front, curses from the Necronomicon—he didn’t let them lay a finger on him.
Ma Bo-seong laughed loudly.
“I’m invincible now!”
Necromancy grew faster the more living beings he pushed into death.
He was getting stronger by the day.
But there’s a reason necromancers get classified as combat-incompatible awakeners.
Those empowered by necromancy gradually lose their minds.
Ma Bo-seong, already a bit off(?), had gone completely insane.