Chapter 3
Chapter 3
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: The Protagonist is a Girl? (1)
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3rd year, Class 2.
A classroom reduced to ashes.
The investigators who arrived late scratched their heads.
“Damn, this is brutal. Doesn’t look like ordinary resentment.”
“Seeing how they burned the body, it gives off a vibe. Probably one of ‘Fire Man’s’ arson victims.”
“Do you know how many victims that bastard has? Property damage is uncountable, and human casualties are in the triple digits.”
It was their job to investigate those guys.
The investigators sighed in unison, imagining the horrific future ahead.
“Detective Kang Hyunseong! Witness statements are all compiled.”
“Yeah. Good work.”
Detective Kang Hyunseong took the documents.
[The culprit wore a black robe, and nothing inside the robe was visible.]
[‘Fire Man’ was likely called by Shin Jong-gak to take out a student he had a grudge against.]
[The culprit said they would punish the ability criminal.]
[They fought with a kitchen knife when subduing, and burned the body at the end.]
[Shin Jong-gak tried to help ‘Fire Man’ by hitting the culprit with a chair.]
[The culprit’s voice was strange, like a modulated tone.]
He felt like he was onto something, but it was just out of reach.
“For now, it seems like a ‘Fire Man’ victim. They have fire powers but stabbed with a knife on purpose—to inflict pain.”
“Yeah.”
Cases like this were common.
Crime victims driven by grudges were usually killed in agonizing ways.
“We need to look among people who awakened recently or showed signs of it. Especially fire-types.”
“Sigh. At least if it’s among Awakeners, it’s manageable.”
***
From then on, I took down criminals one by one, growing stronger.
There were plenty stronger than me, but those reliant on abilities fell to Laura’s help, and the rest I sealed their powers and ambushed.
A year passed like that.
The long-awaited Academy entrance exam was coming up soon.
A famous brand cafe in the city center.
It was the one I always went to.
I sipped my coffee and muttered under my breath so only I could hear.
“Status Window.”
------------[Status Window]------------
◈ Name
Shin Noda
◈ Stats
[Strength 042 C]
[Agility 224 D]
[Intelligence 337 E]
[Luck 659 E]
[Overall D]
◈ Skills
[Inheritance 366 A]
[Dragon Heart --- A]
[Telekinesis 223 E]
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Growth achieved in just one year.
This was on par with constantly using ‘Orbs of Growth’ from dungeons.
Orbs of Growth were orbs dropped by dungeon monsters, and in ‘Hero Name: ZEUS,’ you fed them to characters to level them up.
‘Even this falls short of the protagonist’s starting specs at enrollment.’
Characters had different initial stats.
The protagonist and key characters started at Overall C, considered rookie level.
Awakeners like me with a bad start couldn’t catch up through normal means.
‘I’ve seen everything about the entrance exam. Time to surf the net.’
I fiddled with my pad and entered the community site.
Hero Korea.
The most popular hero discussion site in the country.
Right away, the top post caught my eye, and I choked.
“Cough, cough.”
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[Isn’t Dark Knight the real hero? All about Dark Knight - Araboza]
A lot of you might’ve first learned about Dark Knight from the recent videos, but I knew of him early on and cheered him from the start.
Here’s a list I compiled of villains Dark Knight has taken down so far.
Confirmed:
C-Rank Villain ‘Fire Man’ - Murder, Arson
D-Rank Villain ‘Ironclad Invincible’ - Murder
C-Rank Villain ‘Blood Sucker’ - Murder
D-Rank Villain ‘Incubus’ - Rape, Blackmail
C-Rank Villain ‘Grand Master’ - Forming a violent organization, Murder instigation, etc.
E-Rank Villain ‘Pet Hater’ - Animal abuse
B-Rank Villain ‘Psycho’ - Murder
Unconfirmed:
E-Rank Villain ‘Heroin Body’ - Drug trafficking
Yongsan pummeling gang (non-Awakeners) - Murder, Robbery
D-Rank Villain ‘Homicide’ - Murder, Illegal firearm possession
Dark Knight’s trademark is burning the criminal’s body and leaving a Post-it note at the end, but those three below didn’t have that. Still, witness accounts mention a black-robed figure, so unconfirmed for now.
What’s the point of heroes busting their asses catching villains when they break out every day, get reduced sentences for ‘reflection’ and ‘remorse,’ and go right back to crime?
These bastards never change. They need permanent isolation from society lololol
Upvote if you want all villains dead like Dark Knight does lololololol
Recommendations-14236 Dislikes-745
(Comments)-1148
[That Fire Man asshole burned down my apartment; 1.8 billion won house, now living in a monthly rental. Fucking pissed. Wanted to kill him multiple times a day, but this feels so good~]
[Seeing heroes preach non-lethal bullshit makes me wanna smack them lololol]
[Dark Knight is the real hero lol. Current heroes are just civil servants, right?]
[But Pet Hater was just a good cleaner killing stray dogs and thieving cats, wasn’t he? Killing for pest control is a bit much;;]
[He took down Grand Master? Insane. That organization had like 2000 members nationwide;;]
[Why not just execute all ability criminals on the spot?]
[Takes no money~ Slays the wicked~ Sob sob ㅠㅠ What battles are you fighting, Dark Knight bro ㅠㅠ]
[Dark Knight is Batman;;]
[Who is this guy anyway.. so he’s a girl?]
[Only caught small fry. What a joke lol]
[Stats Korea fact) Ability criminals reoffend at 82%.]
[Dark Knight my ass, he’s just a murderer. Are you all crazy;;]
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I was flustered.
I figured an anonymous internet community would rain hate on me.
I didn’t do it for people exactly, but seeing folks happy about it lifted my spirits.
I clicked the post right below: ‘Dark Knight Shocking True Identity.JPG.’
A single image loaded on the page.
“Ha….”
A fan art of ‘Dark Knight’ drawn by some SNS user.
It showed Dark Knight standing behind Silver Tail, gently biting his neck.
Silver Tail was a pretty-boy hero with a cute look, wolf ears, and tail, so he had tons of female fans.
Riding that popularity, he’d even started idol activities lately.
I scrolled down to the comments, and reactions were explosive.
Non-stop praise for the artist.
‘Hero Korea’ was a male-dominated community, so they had no resistance to art like this.
Me neither.
I stopped surfing and sipped my coffee, scanning the cafe interior.
I’d been coming here daily for the past month.
The reason? To connect with the protagonist.
In the story, the protagonist works part-time at this cafe.
He came to Seoul from a poor rural family, kinda like studying abroad, to enroll in the Academy.
Naturally, living expenses were tight, so he worked part-time to get by.
But he wasn’t showing up.
I’d been eyeing the part-timers for a whole month, but no luck.
‘No way….’
One bad possibility crossed my mind.
What if.
Just what if.
What if there’s no original protagonist, and I have to take that spot and defeat the Demon King?
That would be a disaster.
Catching the Demon King without ‘Guardian of the Species’—I didn’t even want to think about it.
Even maxing SSS-rank, I wasn’t sure.
“Sigh.”
Just sighs.
That’s when I spotted a female part-timer wiping a table with a rag.
Pink hair, youthful face.
Curvy figure.
A promising beauty.
‘Pink, huh.’
Even in this game world, flashy hair like that wasn’t common.
Extras got stuck with generic brown or black.
My hair was originally brown too.
Dyed blonde now, though.
Anyway, that part-timer seemed like a fairly important character.
‘No way it’s a character I don’t know. Impossible.’
I’d sunk nearly 6000 hours into fully clearing ‘Hero Name: ZEUS.’
I even vaguely remembered total no-name extras.
Intrigued, I approached her.
“Excuse me, when does your shift end? Wanna grab dinner?”
“Huh?”
She jumped in surprise.
Fidgeting, she glanced toward the counter.
The counter was busy with customers.
“Uh, um. I’m still a student…”
“How old? I’m a student too.”
“3rd year middle school…”
“Oh? Me too. Same age. Can I get your number? It’s fate, so dinner’s on me.”
I opened the number input screen on my smartphone and handed it to her. Reluctantly, she entered it.
I added the contact from my phone and asked.
“What’s your name?”
“Park Ha-yeon…”
“Ah, got it. I’m Shin Noda.”
Park Ha-yeon seemed new to giving out her number.
Well, middle schoolers don’t get hit on often.
“When does your shift end?”
“7 o’clock…”
“I’ll pick you up then. No pressure or anything, right?”
“Y-Yeah.”