The Hero Next Door
It's been roughly a week since Astra and I entered into a sort of contractual relationship.
My daily life had remained astonishingly unchanged.
In fact, even though we'd formed the contract, I still hadn't served her any of my buff-enhanced dishes even once.
This was one of the rules we'd set when we properly established our agreement. We promised to space out the buff meals by at least a week.
I recalled the conversation we'd had at the time, when we decided to place those restrictions on ourselves.
"There could be unexpected side effects, and even if there aren't, growing too quickly might make people suspicious about the cause of your rapid improvement."
Astra, who had already eaten my buff dishes twice, told me she was increasing her Superhuman Power (Cho-in-ryeok) based on the direct experience of feeling a higher level of strength in her body.
Her growth rate was nearly ten times faster than before. Everyone who knew her normal pace had been quite shocked by how quickly she was progressing.
Fortunately, it was still within a believable range. It wasn't as if her power had suddenly skyrocketed overnight. She was steadily building her Superhuman Power based on that experience, and there were plenty of cases where heroes experienced explosive growth after certain incidents.
"The way my growth rate increases after eating your cooking looks a lot like the phenomenon that rampaging superhumans experience."
"Rampaging?"
That was what Astra had said after enjoying yet another surge in growth speed following her second taste of my cooking. I'd tilted my head at the unfamiliar term and asked what she meant by rampaging.
"Hmm... Siwoo, do you know how we superhumans increase our Superhuman Power?"
"Uh... training?"
"That's not entirely wrong. Superhuman Power is like a muscle. The more consistently you use it, the more it grows. That's the basic method most heroes rely on to strengthen their abilities."
She explained that by repeatedly pushing their powers to the limit in the training facilities prepared for superhumans and then recovering their Superhuman Power, their overall capacity would gradually increase.
But that wasn't the point she wanted to make.
"You've probably heard this before, Siwoo. Superhuman Power isn't just a force that affects the body. It also resonates with the human mind."
"I have heard that, yeah."
The superpowers that heroes awaken come in all shapes and sizes. The most common type is physical enhancement, of course, but there are also people like Astra who can wield elemental powers such as lightning. Some can even interfere directly with the human mind.
Among the heroes, there was Lady Sherlock, whose combat ability was weak but who possessed psychometry that let her investigate all kinds of crime scenes. And among the villains, a representative example was the A-class villain Regret, who specialized in mental attacks that triggered people's trauma.
It was widely accepted that Superhuman Power didn't just interact with matter and phenomena. It also had some degree of influence over each individual's psyche.
"It's not limited to those who awaken purely mental abilities. Fundamentally, Superhuman Power resonates according to the superhuman's mental state."
When someone felt good or was in peak condition, their power output would rise slightly above normal. Conversely, when they were sad or depressed, it would drop. The fact that a hero's Superhuman Power was affected by their mental state was already common knowledge.
"And it's not just ordinary stress. When a person's mind is pushed right to the brink of collapse, Superhuman Power reacts more extremely than at any other time."
It wasn't simply about being happy or sad. When someone was on the verge of death, or when they witnessed a loved one dying right before their eyes, their mind would be driven to its absolute limit. At that moment, Superhuman Power would resonate with that unstable mental state... and rampage.
"This is the second way Superhuman Power can grow. When a hero is pushed to the extreme and their emotions reach a fever pitch, their power goes into a rampage."
A rampaging hero could display strength incomparable to their usual level, and even after their emotions calmed, some of that power would remain. Either a portion of the strength from the rampage would stay with them permanently, or their growth rate would accelerate as if they were trying to regain that power.
"There's even a theory that the reason heroes steadily use their abilities to build Superhuman Power is actually a process of gradually removing their own mental limits."
"Interesting."
"But in reality, no one deliberately uses this method to grow their power."
The second case only occurred when a hero's mind was truly driven to its breaking point. It was difficult to create such situations artificially, and even if you did, there was no guarantee a rampage would occur. In fact, overwhelming despair could cause Superhuman Power to shrink instead, making abilities fail entirely.
Therefore, the second method was considered nearly impossible to trigger on purpose. It was generally accepted that the only real way for heroes to increase their Superhuman Power was through the first method: consistent, repeated training.
That was why strengthening Superhuman Power was considered so difficult.
"So you're saying the buff from my cooking seems similar to that rampage phenomenon?"
"Yes."
The sudden increase in ability, followed by the lingering acceleration of growth that remained in Astra's body afterward. Having experienced my cooking buff a second time, she had formed a hypothesis that it might be artificially recreating the rampage effect.
"Of course... it's not exactly the same. A hero's rampage is triggered by emotions pushed to the absolute limit, so it's extremely unstable and puts a heavy burden on the body..."
The buff from my cooking was remarkably stable. Even after the power faded, there were no lingering abnormalities in the body.
So while it looked very similar to a hero's rampage, it was also clearly different. Still...
"Even so, if it really is recreating the rampage phenomenon, I don't think it's good to experience it too frequently."
"I see..."
"And since this was the second time, I was able to confirm it properly. The accelerated growth rate lasts for about a week before it gradually fades."
After explaining the different ways Superhuman Power could grow, Astra had speculated that my cooking buff might be related to that rampage phenomenon. She added that since there could be negative effects on the body, she wanted to avoid receiving the buff too often if possible.
After discussing it and adjusting our opinions, and with Astra's observation that the lingering aftereffects from the previous two experiences took roughly a week to disappear completely, we settled on providing the cooking buff no more than once every seven days.
"And that day is tomorrow."
While clearing the table of a customer who had just finished eating and left, I recalled the schedule Astra had mentioned for her next visit.
Of course, even without the buff, Astra often stopped by my restaurant. If her patrol route overlapped with my area, she'd drop in to say hello. And even when it didn't, she seemed to genuinely enjoy my cooking and would come by for meals.
Still, I couldn't help looking forward to the day she would eat my buff dishes again.
"I wonder... if that will happen again?"
Both previous buffs had come with rather suggestive side effects. I found myself speculating whether something similar might occur next time.
The first two side effects had been Breast Expansion (Paeng-yu-hwa) and milk overflow. Since both affected her chest, would the next one be related to her breasts as well?
What would it be this time? Maybe the opposite, where her breasts shrank? Or perhaps they'd multiply into three... Ugh. I really hoped it wouldn't be anything like that.
Wait, why am I only thinking about perverted stuff?
Even setting the side effects aside, I had no idea what the release condition would be this time, yet my mind kept drifting to lewd thoughts. I knew Astra would despise me if she ever learned what was going through my head, but I couldn't seem to stop myself.
"Maybe I should decide what to cook instead."
Since I couldn't focus on anything else, I decided to think ahead about what dish I'd serve Astra tomorrow.
While I could technically infuse a buff into any meal, I wanted to put my heart and soul into it if possible.
I might be imagining it, but it feels like the more care I put into a dish, the stronger the buff becomes.
Of course, when I used the buff on myself the effects were always tiny, so I couldn't make a proper comparison. Still, that was the impression I had.
"Let's see. What do we have..."
I rummaged through the ingredients, but nothing jumped out at me as the perfect choice.
If the customer had been a man, I could have just made tonkatsu or spicy stir-fried pork. Damn it. I really should have dated more when I had the chance.
It wasn't as if Astra was my girlfriend, but if I'd had that kind of experience, at least I'd have some idea what kinds of dishes women liked.
Most of the customers who came to my restaurant were middle-aged men rather than young women...
My previous life's memories are useless too.
It wasn't as if I remembered everything from my past life, but it seemed the old me hadn't dated anyone either. What a useless guy. This was exactly the moment when I needed those memories to suddenly resurface with some brilliant idea.
"No helping it, I guess."
In the end, unable to settle on a specific menu, I decided on my schedule for tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow was Sunday, my regular day off, and Astra had said she'd come by in the evening after her work was finished anyway.
"I should visit the market."
It had been a while. I'd go check out the market and see if there were any especially good ingredients available.
Most of the ingredients I needed to run the restaurant came from large wholesale marts, but none of the bulk-ordered items seemed special enough for Astra. I'd have to go buy fresh ingredients myself.
"Right then."
Having decided what I'd do during the day tomorrow, I immediately opened my phone and accessed the Hero Association website.
Why was I looking at the Hero Association site after saying I was going to the market?
Obviously, to check whether there had been any signs of monster activity or villain sightings near my destination. In this world, it was common sense to assess potential dangers before going anywhere.
Doesn't look like anything's going on.
After carefully checking all the safety information and memorizing the locations of nearby shelters I could use in an emergency, I went a step further and looked up the hero responsible for the market area.
The area around my restaurant fell under Astra's jurisdiction, but the traditional market I planned to visit was in the neighboring district, so it was someone else's territory.
Let's see. The hero in charge of Miwol-dong, where the market was located...
"Snow White?"
I tilted my head as I looked at the photo of one of the registered heroes.
A beautiful woman with snow-white hair and a cool, composed expression.
And a name that sounded familiar.
"...Ah. It's that person."
I'd seen her once in an internet post titled Evidence That the Hero Association Names Heroes Sloppily.
Her real name was apparently Baek Seol. Since it was essentially identical to her hero name, Snow White, people had complained that it showed a total lack of effort.
That was why, despite being only C-class, she had relatively high public recognition.
So the neighborhood right next to mine was under her protection.
Well, it probably doesn't matter.
Unless some incident occurred, the most I'd see was her patrolling from a distance. There was no reason we'd actually run into each other.