Do You Want to Become Like That? (4)
Han Min-ha blinked in genuine confusion as she watched the aura slowly rising from Yoo Hee-won's body.
"Aura? Are you trying to go back?"
"No."
Yoo Hee-won kept scanning their surroundings, her guard still up. What the hell...?
Han Min-ha, now equally uneasy, shrank into herself and looked around as well. The dazzling neon signs, the laughing crowds passing by, the music spilling from shops—nothing else stood out. What is Hee-won looking for...?
"You felt it too?"
"Felt what?"
Just as Yoo Hee-won was about to scold her again, an odd movement caught her eye from a nearby alley. It was a truly bizarre sight. If someone had boiled black tar and flung it into the air, it might have looked something like this. A slippery, rapidly writhing black mass stretched out like an enraged centipede, twisting violently through the air.
Yet no one else on the bustling street seemed to notice it. The alley was dark compared to the bright nightlife, and everyone was too absorbed in their own entertainment to pay attention to such a secluded spot.
But Yoo Hee-won had definitely seen it.
Is that... a villain? But how could a villain appear right in the middle of Graford City, practically on the academy's doorstep? If an emergency were declared, the professors alone could fill an entire truck. What kind of insane villain would show up here...?
"Hic!"
Han Min-ha gasped in shock. The black liquid stretched upward in a long arc before plummeting into the heart of the busy street. Unfortunately, a passerby happened to be standing right there and was drenched from head to toe.
"Ugh?! Hee-hee-hee... Hee-won!"
The liquid began forming a membrane around the person, as if it were alive, and started wrapping around them.
"Shit... what the hell is that?!"
Yoo Hee-won could only curse, frozen by the grotesque scene. The surrounding people were no different. They stood motionless, unable to process what was happening right in front of them.
The person thrashing violently inside the membrane suddenly went still. The black liquid then fully adhered to their body, reshaping itself into a large human form.
The liquid human slowly looked around before opening its mouth with a squelching sound.
「Ggggrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaah—!!」
At the end of its long, drawn-out belch, the half-digested head of its victim popped out. The head, covered in pale digestive fluids and bloated, rolled across the ground before stopping, its empty eyes staring up at the sky.
"Kyaaaaah!"
With someone's scream, people began fleeing in every direction like mad. Startled by the noise, the black human whipped its head around and sprouted grotesque protrusions along its spine. Its unnaturally long arms morphed into sharp blades at the ends.
"Ow!"
Han Min-ha was knocked to the ground by the fleeing crowd. Yoo Hee-won had no time to scold her for being pathetic enough to fall after bumping shoulders with civilians, despite being a hero candidate.
"Everyone get down!!"
By the time Yoo Hee-won shouted, it was already half a beat too late. The black human swung its arm and shattered several shop signs, sending sparks flying and fragments scattering in all directions. People struck by the shrapnel collapsed helplessly. Seeing this, Yoo Hee-won explosively drew up all the aura in her body.
A brilliant golden aura surged upward as a golden glow flickered in her deep blue eyes.
"Hee-won, no! You can't fight a villain right now...!"
Before Han Min-ha could finish, Yoo Hee-won accelerated straight toward the black human. Academy freshmen weren't supposed to engage villains head-on. The proper procedure was to evacuate and report to the Management Bureau. But Yoo Hee-won had several reasons for taking this reckless gamble. First, to earn her father's approval. Second, confidence in her own abilities. Third, the attention of the public. If she succeeded, she could gain everything. The safety of civilians was none of her concern.
"Hraaaah!"
Yoo Hee-won let out a battle cry and charged the black human with her body. It was a lethal strike, like a comet streaking horizontally across the ground. But the black human simply scattered its body into five separate parts and dodged with ease. Yoo Hee-won flew past empty space and crashed into a shop building on the opposite side.
After all, an academy freshman who wasn't even a licensed hero couldn't possibly stand against a real villain. The torn black human pieces gathered again, reforming its shape while emitting a chilling, giggling sound.
"Hee-won... Hee-won!"
Han Min-ha tried to stand but her legs were shaking so badly she couldn't get up. The academy's top student's attack had failed, and the villain stood completely unharmed. There was nothing Han Min-ha, who couldn't even use aura, could do in this situation. Even as she watched the bleeding civilians, she could only tremble, frozen in place.
"That idiot..."
Yoo Hee-won crawled out of the half-collapsed shop, covered in dust, grinding her teeth. The moment she got close to the black human, she realized something. This wasn't a conscious villain with a purpose. It was an Unconscious Villain, acting purely on instinct and mutation. A being that couldn't even control its own body and couldn't communicate. A ticking time bomb that could explode at any moment. That was why it was rampaging in Graford City, right under the academy professors' noses.
For a hero, it would be an easy prey to crush with overwhelming power, but for the relatively weaker Yoo Hee-won, it was a troublesome opponent. Its ability to freely scatter and reform in all directions was particularly annoying, the exact opposite of her close-combat specialization. She would need at least two people attacking from both sides to create an opening. That way, someone could call for help and buy time until nearby heroes arrived.
Han Min-ha... had to step up.
"Are you just going to sit there like an idiot?!"
Yoo Hee-won spat blood as she shouted.
"Do you want to end up like that?!"
She pointed at the severed head of a victim rolling on the ground.
"Snap out of it and get up! Get up and use your aura!"
"B-but... we need to report to the Management Bureau..."
"The Management Bureau's phones are already on fire, so stop worrying and fight!"
Just as Yoo Hee-won said, citizens evacuating could be seen frantically calling the Management Bureau on their phones.
"Get up! If you're not going to fight, why did you even come to the academy?!"
"Ugh... but..."
The black human seemed uninterested in the muttering Han Min-ha and turned toward the other side—where multiple injured people lay. If the three-meter-tall giant passed through them after its earlier reformation, those injured civilians would surely be reduced to pulp.
"N-not that way!!"
Han Min-ha sprang to her feet and sprinted toward them. Stumbling several times, she reached the injured and stood firmly in front of the black human, planting both feet.
"You crazy bitch! Use your aura! If you just stand there, you'll die!!"
Yoo Hee-won screamed at the top of her lungs, but Han Min-ha still couldn't use aura. Even so, wearing the Graford gym uniform, she couldn't just sit there terrified like an ordinary civilian doing nothing.
"D-don't come any closer!"
Han Min-ha spread her arms wide and shouted at the black human.
"Agh! You stubborn idiot!"
Yoo Hee-won wrapped herself in aura and lunged forward. Without even turning, the black human swung its arm backward like a whip and struck her. Yoo Hee-won was sent flying far away, smashing through the pavement, leaving Han Min-ha completely exposed with no defense.
「Kekekeke...! Kiririririk!」
The black human's sharp blade extended toward Han Min-ha, who stood her ground with gritted teeth.
"Aaaah!"
Clangclangclangclangclang—!!
At the spine-chilling sound of metal scraping, Han Min-ha covered her ears and screamed. But no blade pierced her body or severed her limbs.
"Are you alright, Min-ha?"
"Huff... huff..."
Gasping for breath, she looked up to see Professor Kyo Suhyeon looking down at her.
"P-Professor...?"
"You don't seem injured. That's a relief."
Professor Kyo Suhyeon had one hand on Han Min-ha's shoulder while the other was extended toward the black human. Following his gaze, Han Min-ha saw the source of the scraping sound. The villain's blade was repeatedly striking a rectangular barrier that had formed between her and the villain.
"Did you come alone?"
"No. Hee-won is over there... Ah! Hee-won's in danger!!"
Han Min-ha pointed frantically toward where Yoo Hee-won had fallen.
"I see. So the two of you came to the nightlife district of Graford in your gym uniforms at this hour."
"I'm sorry..."
"No. This doesn't seem like the appropriate time for scolding or apologies."
Kyo Suhyeon lifted the hand from Han Min-ha's shoulder and lightly snapped his fingers. Barriers simultaneously appeared over the fallen, injured citizens as well. A combination of basic physical barriers and multi-target designation. Han Min-ha's eyes widened at witnessing two or more techniques combined—a sight she'd only read about in textbooks.
"Stay here. I'll deal with the villain first, then we can talk."
Kyo Suhyeon slowly rose and walked forward through the barrier. The villain, which had been scratching at the barrier, let out a grotesque laugh upon seeing him and swung its bladed arms. With simple finger movements, Kyo Suhyeon created temporary barriers the size of A4 paper along each blade's trajectory.
Clang—! Clang—!
The small barriers that kept appearing around Kyo Suhyeon's body deflected the blades with crisp sounds before shattering. As he steadily closed the distance while blocking every attack, the villain eventually abandoned its futile offense and chose to evade instead.
The moment the villain scattered its body into five parts and spread in all directions, it immediately encountered severe resistance. Kyo Suhyeon had anticipated their paths and erected barriers in advance to block them. The body fragments that fell to the ground like chunks of meat desperately tried to regroup, but Kyo Suhyeon was faster. He trapped each of the five centipede-like crawling pieces in high-grade composite barriers, caging them like birds.
Now immobilized, each fragment thrashed uselessly against the barriers. Standing beside the barrier containing the villain's head, Kyo Suhyeon spoke in his usual calm voice.
"Stay there for a moment. The Management Bureau will come to collect you soon. There isn't an air conditioning function, so it might get a bit warm."
It was a truly dry joke, but Han Min-ha couldn't laugh. The villain, which had appeared so destructively, had been defeated in an absurdly anticlimactic manner. Professor Kyo Suhyeon, who had split the villain apart without even brushing against his coat. Was that... how professionals fought? A real hero's...