The Strongest People in the World Took My House
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Eight years ago, mysterious gates appeared across the entire world.
They split the sky and the earth with colossal rifts.
And from within them stepped monsters that transcended all human comprehension.
Kugugugugugu---!!!
Monsters poured endlessly through the gates.
In the face of this apocalypse, humanity mobilized every resource it possessed.
Armies from every nation marched to the front lines, while tanks, fighters, missiles, and every other modern weapon poured into battle.
Nations united their strength to halt the monsters' advance.
But it was not enough.
Monsters were simply too powerful to be stopped by human weaponry.
Cities crumbled, and countless lives were lost.
Humanity's vaunted civilization was destroyed one by one, driving the world to the brink of extinction.
Yet in the midst of this despair, one man appeared.
Acra Minus
His name was Acra Minus.
The world's first Awakened.
He began toppling monsters with overwhelming power.
Alone, he cut down beasts that even human armies could not repel, one by one restoring the collapsing front lines.
And from the moment Acra struck, another wave of change swept the globe.
Some of the humans driven to their limits suddenly awakened abilities they had never known existed.
They would later be known as the Awakened.
Acra fought alongside these new heroes, methodically clearing one gate after another.
Countless battles raged across the world.
Countless sacrifices were paid.
Yet humanity began to push back, bit by bit.
Finally, Acra located the source of all the gates and confronted the ultimate villain who had triggered this disaster.
The final battle for the fate of the world.
And so Acra stood on the last battlefield.
He poured every ounce of his strength into defeating the villain.
After the war ended, gates across the globe began to seal one by one.
Monsters no longer appeared.
The endless conflict finally came to an end.
Humanity had escaped extinction.
People praised the first Awakened who had saved them.
The hero in shining black armor who had stood at the forefront.
The Black Knight — Acra Minus.
His name was etched forever into history alongside the dawn of a new era.
Acra Minus, the Black Knight
After that day, the gates vanished completely.
Neither the threat of monsters nor the battlefield they had forced humanity to defend any longer existed.
The world had reclaimed peace, and people returned to their daily lives.
The real problem came afterward.
The moment the gates disappeared, the Awakened once hailed as humanity's only hope found themselves with nothing left to fight.
And so the result unfolded.
Heroes' New "Vacation" Mode Activated
".........."
A man pushed open the front door of his house and stepped inside.
The expression on his face was more exhausted than it had been on the eve of the world's extinction.
He silently gazed at the living room.
On the sofa, a woman lounged lazily, one leg draped over the armrest.
Her hair — silver with a hint of crimson — spilled across the cushions.
She wore a maid uniform that blended black and white, the classic frills and apron now slightly rumpled from a long day.
As though his arrival meant nothing to her, she buried herself deeper into the cushions and reached for a bag of potato chips.
Crunch.
Crunch.
He watched her in a daze for a long while.
The woman turned her head just enough to glance at him while crunching on her snack.
Potato Chip Snack Time
"Welcome home."
"........"
He gave no reply.
Only stared at her, then let out a long, weary sigh.
"When the gates disappear, most Awakened will lose their jobs."
It was a passing remark from a TV anchor.
At first he had thought it was a joke.
These people had been the heroes who once fought alongside the world's armies.
They had risked their lives against monsters and saved countless souls.
But now that the monsters were gone, everything had changed.
There was no one left to fight.
No gates left to breach.
And suddenly, no jobs required their powers either.
Eventually they all began looking for ordinary work, trying to blend back into normal society.
And some of them...
Crunch.
Didn't bother at all.
He sat staring at the woman sprawled on the sofa eating potato chips.
"...... What?"
The woman felt his gaze, hugged the empty chip bag to her chest, and grinned shamelessly.
"Why?"
"No reason."
He dropped onto the sofa across from her with a heavy thud.
"How long are you going to keep this up...?"
He pressed his thumb against his temple.
"It makes me wonder how you managed to survive all those years."
The woman pretended to think for a moment, then answered with perfect calm.
"I worked so hard, you know~!"
"............"
"You think I'd waste my life protecting weaklings like you?"
She popped another chip into her mouth and nodded proudly.
"So I guess it's okay if I live off your kindness, right?"
"Did you just say 'live off my kindness'?"
He scanned the living room.
Empty chip bags scattered everywhere.
Soda cans stacked neatly.
Cushions tossed in disarray.
And her, sprawled across the couch like she owned it.
The woman didn't even blink.
"Pay me back for saving your life, then~!"
"Who exactly is paying who back?"
"You, of course."
"..........."
He was at a loss for words.
After a moment, a hollow laugh escaped him.
A laugh that felt completely ridiculous.
"You little shit..."
The woman smiled at him with pure satisfaction.
Then she reached for another potato chip.
"Want one? I know you love these."
He stared at the chips for a second before reaching out.
"Don't the gates... ever open again?"
The new daily life of the Awakened who once saved the world was beginning exactly like this.
From hero to unemployed bum.
It was a surprisingly peaceful — and strangely pathetic — start to a new era.
