What Jung Eui-seok Left Behind
"Ugh..." The Dragon King Squadron couldn't refute my words.
"Isn't it an obvious fact? Those three companies swore allegiance to me. In exchange, I promised to protect their lives. I am a Villain. I keep my contracts. But the other two? They're freeloaders. Why would I have any reason to save them?"
"You'd stand by and watch even when you have the power to help?"
It seems Shin Yu-kyung must have picked up some 'hypocrisy' fruit somewhere. "SilverMirrored. Have you been honing your power just to save citizens?"
"Of course! To eradicate scum like you and save the citizens!"
Good grief. Delusion is a disease at this point. I know all too well that Shin Yu-kyung's obsession with the Switch stems from her inferiority complex within the Ninja school. She was a perpetual runner-up who got dropped from being the successor. She was raised as an assassin from the start. It seems she doesn't even understand the concept of sympathy for others. She must have been taught that being a hero is just an acting job. A hero's reason for saving citizens is simple: it’s the only way to build a good image in the media. My reason was simple, too. Because that was justice.
I know now. This city isn't worth saving to that extent. It’s overflowing with malice. It’s rotten to the core. So, I control it. I suppress evil with evil. The evil above my head, the evil beneath my feet. I just need to take it all into my hands.
"If you want to save them, you'd better move fast," I advised the Dragon King Squadron. The barrier was starting to shatter from the top down. Only then did they come to their senses, and Shin Yu-kyung, Ji Se-hwa, and Kang Ye-rin jumped down from the Path of Light.
The villains were already moving busily. They were reinforcing the three buildings with their respective abilities. One was generating steel frames to bolster the exterior, another was wrapping them tight with thread, and one was teleporting people out. But, as expected, the most reliable one was Lena.
"'Be hardened', 'Tighten up'."
Lena was reinforcing the building's structure in multiple layers. With that, it wouldn't budge even if a bombardment hit it.
Cr-r-rack—!
The collapse of the barrier accelerated. Finally, it crumbled past the tops of the buildings. At the same time, the buildings vibrated. Boom! The tops of the buildings also began to crumble into pieces along with the barrier. Naturally, that only applied to the two buildings. The three buildings that had contracted with Vengeance were just shaking, holding their ground.
KWA-KWA-KWANG!
Finally, the barrier collapsed completely. And there, the debris of the two collapsed buildings and the three intact buildings remained. Let's see, where is the Dragon King Squadron? Kang Ye-rin is nowhere to be seen—perhaps she got buried while performing rescue activities. Shin Yu-kyung and Ji Se-hwa are standing safely on the outskirts. It seems they fled the scene early on. The Path of Light looks like it's about to vanish, too.
I boarded the airship with Lua and Lena and emphasized to the media helicopter, "You know now. Heroes cannot save you. There is only one way to survive. Submit to the villains."
The airship door closed. I activated the optical camouflage. We slipped away from the scene.
"Phew. It's over," Lua said, stretching.
"Somehow, I feel like we only did Vengeance a favor, Zeo. I like that we raised the name of the Villain Alliance, though."
"Isn't it fine since we also showed off the power of the Divine Tree? It's the first time we've stepped out so flamboyantly, right? Your level must have gone up, too."
"Well, I liked it quite a bit, so it's fine. Above all... hehe. Zeo, that Switch. Won't you hand it over to me?"
"No." I refused firmly. But I explained the reason precisely. "I told you. It's an experiment. The power is one thing, but if you abuse it, your brain will fry. Supernova is originally a Level 14 skill. I'll hand it over once you have the stats suitable for it."
"Are you worrying about me, you insolent thing? Then I suppose I'll have to be satisfied with this for now. 'Switch, come forth'."
Lena chanted a strange incantation. Then, a small, keychain-sized Switch popped out of her hand.
"...What is that?"
"Hehe. Be grateful, Zeo. It's proof that you aren't a liar."
Lena handed the small Switch to my hand with a wicked smile like a child who had just discovered the joy of tormenting others. It was an accessory with no performance whatsoever.
"You made it with an incantation?"
"Look at this. Isn't it possible that my ability is evolving?"
It seems she gained plenty of experience from the battle just now.
Ability: Incantation (Physical Force)(Creation) Lv.10
Lena's ability had reached Level 10, and a new skill had been unlocked. Good grief. Material creation, of all things. The ability itself still seems weak, but it's quite threatening.
"Are you planning to increase our secret agents in society like this, having conquered Yeouido with today's operation?"
"Of course."
"How much do you intend to get your hands on?"
It was a ridiculous question, so I answered naturally.
"Everything."
"What kind of vehicle is leaving?"
At the Hero Association's security gate, an employee controlled a massive container truck. The driver, wearing sunglasses and chewing gum loudly, didn't look reliable at all.
"Open the gate."
The security guard looked at the face that appeared after opening the opposite window and stiffened, saluting. It was because GreenNature, Choi Min-seo, was there.
"Ah, hello. I... I know you are GreenNature, but this is a high-security level base, so there are procedures for transporting goods..."
"Open it. It's my authority."
Seeing Choi Min-seo's sharp expression, the employee was troubled. What could a low-level employee do? If the higher-ups say jump, you jump. Watching his fellow employees, he eventually opened the multi-layered security gate.
The 20-ton truck exited the base leisurely.
"Is this arms trafficking or what, huh? Hero, shouldn't we get in on the deal?" the driver asked while turning the large steering wheel. Choi Min-seo didn't answer. He was a punk she had hired.
"Seeing as you specifically aimed for the timing when the Dragon King Squadron was dispatched to smuggle it out, it must be a decent item. We have quite a few routes, you know."
"Just drive."
"Oh, how scary."
The truck sped down the street. After switching trucks several times, Choi Min-seo arrived at her destination. It was the abandoned factory where she had met Jung Eui-seok.
"No tracking. Our skills are solid."
Four punks, including the driver, walked out toward Choi Min-seo, slouching.
"So, about the transport fee. 1 billion for the job of moving it here, right? All in cash, in chips."
"That's right. I'll give it to you here."
Choi Min-seo replied, putting her hand into her bag. The punks giggled. The next moment—
Bang! Bang!!
Choi Min-seo drew her pistol in an instant and accurately struck the crowns of the punks' heads. She used only four bullets. The sound of the shell casings hitting the floor was faster than the sound of the bodies falling.
"Trash are so greedy. You should know your place; who are you trying to trade with?"
Choi Min-seo sneered at the corpses lying on the floor, reloaded her gun, and tucked it into the thigh holster under her skirt. "How annoying, leaving behind dirty corpses."
Choi Min-seo transformed into GreenNature. She exerted the power of Quetzalcoatl. She converted the corpses into weeds and flowers.
"Much better to look at!"
Choi Min-seo picked a flower and smelled it. She shook her head and threw it on the floor. De-transforming, Choi Min-seo sat on a nearby landing and swung her legs.
"I wonder when Eui-seok oppa will come."
Muttering that, Choi Min-seo took a bottle containing pink powder out of her bag.
Kang Ye-rin, who was taking off her innerwear for the sortie in the locker room, couldn't overcome the surging fatigue and slumped into a chair.
"...I couldn't save them. I saved them, but..."
Ji Se-hwa, who had finished changing, also slammed the door shut violently. "Damn villain bastards. It wasn't even a situation where we could save the hostages in the first place! The heroes here were all useless!"
Shin Yu-kyung nodded. "With this, it's proven that Jung Eui-seok is connected to the villains, and we've learned the purpose of Vengeance targeting us. The public will still take our side."
Hearing their words, Kang Ye-rin looked at the two in disbelief. "What are you talking about...? Is that what's important right now? They died. Because we were weak, over a thousand people."
Shin Yu-kyung shrugged. "Weren't they people Cancer would have killed anyway? They were just unlucky."
Only then did Kang Ye-rin realize. That Jung Eui-seok was right. Even though it involved coercive violence, the ones who saved more than half of those people who were going to die weren't them, but the villains.
"Yu-kyung-ssi, Se-hwa-ssi. Why did you two become heroes?"
At Kang Ye-rin's question, the two answered without a moment's hesitation.
"Because I wanted to prove my power."
"I did it for the money, so why."
Kang Ye-rin didn't say anything more to them. No, she had nothing to say. Walking down the hallway, Kang Ye-rin bit her lip. Physically weak, mentally weak. That was the reality of the Dragon King Squadron right now. With neither Jung Eui-seok nor Han So-mi, problems were starting to erupt uncontrollably. Not only did they lack the minimum standards as heroes, but their abilities were inferior even to the villains. Even without the Galactic Empire, they wouldn't have been able to stop the terror.
'Still.'
There was a correct direction. Shin Yu-kyung's new Switch was practically useless. Her own evolved ability had no effect on that powerful villain, Georgius. But the new equipment worked. If it hadn't broken so quickly, she might have been able to fight Cancer. The information about the US military's technology was something Jung Eui-seok had told her before. He secretly knew so much. Although he told her to keep most of it secret, saying it wasn't the time yet.
"Perhaps."
There might be something useful in his information. Thinking that, Kang Ye-rin quickly began to dig through the data on the PC Jung Eui-seok used. Most of the data was encrypted. After struggling with unpacking for a long time, Kang Ye-rin discovered a few things.
"This filename is...?"