Boom!
A car exploded with a tremendous boom and came crashing down toward the sidewalk.
A little girl who looked like she had just gotten out of school was standing there, and without hesitation, I instinctively threw myself forward.
Thud—
It would’ve been better to just grab the girl and run from the spot.
But back then, I had just awakened my “supernatural strength” and controlling it was incredibly difficult.
The girl looked at least six or seven years younger than me, and I was worried she might get hurt by my strength instead. So I ended up catching the falling car directly.
“Ah…”
The shock of catching the falling car jolted me awake from my dream.
An old memory, easily over ten years old, had just unfolded again in my dreams…
“What time is it now…”
I realized that I had dozed off without realizing it, so I habitually picked up my phone and logged into the Villain Forum.
—
[Ranking the Villains for You]
1. Pyro Bomber.
2. Pyro Bomber.
3. Pyro Bomber.
No objections accepted.
(Photo)
[Comments]
– : You just think Pyro Bomber’s hot, and since her flamethrower burns up her clothes, you like that she walks around half-naked.
ㄴ (OP) : Not wrong, though?
ㄴ : LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
– : Pyro Bomber noona. The hope of us all.
– : Can’t believe there are still people out here simping for a damn terrorist. Disgusting.
ㄴ (OP) : Don’t be so harsh on Pyro noona! She’s got her own reasons for being a villain!
ㄴ : Whoa… “a noona with reasons” huh.
ㄴ : With fans like this dude above, no wonder she turned into a villain.
[How Much Do Heroes Get Paid?]
I’m taking the hero exam soon. If I pass, how much can I expect to get paid?
– : What’s your ability?
ㄴ (OP) : Secret
– : Depends on the ability, and how well you can use it. Hero work is strictly performance-based.
– : Honestly jealous of people who awakened abilities…
ㄴ : For real. Out of 50 million people, only about 500 are confirmed awakened? And even counting the ones hiding it, it’s still only around 2,000. Unreal…
—
“Haa…”
With a deep sigh, I lowered my phone.
Despite causing that much chaos yesterday, all the news coverage I got was a single headline.
People seemed far more interested in a villain who walks around naked than in me…
“What’s the point of all this…”
There was no such thing as a villain without a story.
I hadn’t become a villain without a reason either.
Just as I was about to recall why I had turned to villainy in the first place—
“Wait, hold on. What time is it now?”
I suddenly realized that if I didn’t leave immediately, I’d be late for my part-time job.
I scrambled out of my place and ran toward the pub.
…
“Welcome.”
Luckily, since I wore a mask during my villain activities, no one recognized me.
“Another 500cc of beer.”
“Sure.”
Even villains had to eat, after all.
I had spent all the money I saved building a secret base in the mountains.
So now, to afford food, I had to make money like this.
Might as well hit a bank next time.
No, that wouldn’t do.
The more I thought about it, the more pathetic I felt.
So I resolved to hit a bank during my next act of terrorism, and while I was serving a glass of beer—
Ding-ling~
“Hello.”
As always, the regular customer who came to our pub every night at 10 showed up once again.
“Half a fried chicken and a 500cc beer, please.”
Half a fried chicken and a 500cc draft beer.
That was the regular menu of the customer who came every day.
I didn’t know why she visited our place so consistently, but every time she came, the way she stared holes through me felt a bit uncomfortable.
Well…
Does she know I’m a villain?
There was this unease. I always wondered if that college-age girl had somehow figured out my identity.
She’s not waiting for my bounty to go up, is she?
She was a regular who always stirred up a mess of thoughts in my head, but I couldn’t exactly show how I felt on the outside.
So, keeping a perfectly calm face, I brought over her half chicken and draft beer.
“Here’s your half chicken and 500cc beer.”
“Th-Thank you…”
Just as I finished serving and was about to fry some chicken for a delivery order—
Boom!
There was a deafening explosion from the shop across the street from our pub.
“!”
It had happened in an instant, and our place couldn’t avoid the damage from the blast either.
Shards and debris from the explosion shattered our windows and came flying inside.
Damn it.
Most of the tables were tucked behind the sofas inside, so the customers further in likely wouldn’t be hit by the glass shards.
But the regular customer who always sat at the seat closest to the entrance, just so she could stare straight at my face…
That’s dangerous.
She was sitting in a spot that offered almost no protection from the flying debris.
So I raised my serving tray to shield my face, and with my other arm, I lifted the table she was sitting at and used it to block the incoming shards from hitting her.
Crash—!
“Kyahhh!”
“It’s a terrorist attack!!”
“Call the police, hurry!!”
Screams from the people inside the shop echoed in my ears.
At the same time, I caught sight of the customers making a run for it straight out the back door.
Unbelievable… You guys should at least pay before you leave!
I stared blankly at the back door where everyone had escaped until I felt a sharp sting and looked down at my arm.
“Ah… I didn’t even get terrorism insurance.”
Seeing a few shards of glass embedded in my arm, I realized that, without terrorism insurance, my hospital bills were going to be astronomical.
In the end.
I’ll just have to get compensation for this myself.
Without hesitation, I started walking straight toward the shop across the street, the one that had exploded.
“I’ll pay, okay?! Calm down, Ji-hwan…! Please, calm down…!”
“You bastard! If you were gonna pay, you should’ve done it earlier!!”
“I’m sorry…! I-I really didn’t have any money…!”
When I finally arrived at the shop across the street, I saw a guy who looked like a villain threatening the owner.
There he is.
Villains…or rather anyone other than me anyway had always been loaded.
After all, it took a lot of money to get your hands on something like a bomb in Korea.
Villains were so rich they could walk around carrying multiple bombs. So, in order to cover my hospital bills, I was planning to take down this villain and grab some cash from his wallet…
“You say you’re broke, huh?! I waited four damn months! You should at least pay the back wages you owe me!”
“I-I was going to! I swear I was!”
“You took advantage of me because you knew I couldn’t report you to the Labor Office, didn’t you? Huh?? You knew and still used me, you piece of shit.”
“No, no..! You’ve got it all wrong, Ji-hwan…!”
Hmm.
So he hadn’t paid him for four whole months.
Just like there’s no villain without a story, I figured this guy probably had a pretty valid reason for blowing up the shop.
Ding—
While I was busy opening the register and stuffing all of today’s earnings from the shop next door into my pockets—
“Who’s there?”
The villain snapped his head around to look at me, and I could see flames starting to wrap around his body.
“Don’t mind me. Just go on with whatever you were doing. I’m just a petty thief here to steal something while things are in chaos.”
I waved my hand at the villain as if to tell him to carry on, emptied the cash register completely, and tried to make my way out of the shop right away.
“Planning to go outside and call the cops?”
“No, I’m planning to run since I just stole some money.”
“You really think I’m going to fall for that?”
“You have to lie to fool someone…”
It seemed that Ji-hwan-ssi over there wasn’t exactly thinking straight in his rage.
“You’re not leaving that easily.”
Just as the villain, unable to think clearly, grabbed a can of butane gas and lit his hand on fire—
Crack—
“?”
“Huh?”
Ji-hwan’s finger suddenly bent the wrong way. In a direction it definitely shouldn’t have.
“If you move any more from there, next time it won’t be your finger. It’ll be your neck that snaps.”
“……!!”
“Aaaargh!!”
A Hero had arrived.
It usually takes them at least ten minutes to get here…!
Heroes, who normally took no less than ten minutes to arrive at a scene…
Maybe one had just happened to be nearby because they’d shown up only a minute after the attack began.
Thank god I didn’t use my power…
Feeling incredibly lucky that I hadn’t used my ability while dealing with that villain, I carefully tried to slip away from the scene while watching for the right moment—
“…Are you okay?”
The telekinetic Hero Mobia who had been floating in mid-air slowly descended.
Then she began to look at the shards of glass embedded in my arm with worried eyes.
“Ah, I’m fine.”
“…Why would you block the debris with your body like that…”
“Because a regular customer was …Hm?”
Wait a second.
“How did you know that, Hero?”
“I happened to be watching from the shop next door.”
“Ah.”
Phew…
For a moment there,
I almost misunderstood and thought the customer eating chicken earlier was actually a Hero.
But really, if that customer had been a Hero,
I would have already been arrested long ago. No doubt about it.
“An ambulance is on its way right now, so let’s get you to the hospital.”
“Thank you.”
Fortunately, since Hero Mobia was in the middle of arresting a villain, it didn’t seem like she was all that interested in me anymore.
So after leaving her with a word of thanks and quickly getting away from the scene of the explosion—
“…I should be the one saying that.”
I heard Mobia mutter something very quietly.
I didn’t catch exactly what she said, but I didn’t really feel curious enough to want to know either.
After all, I was a petty thief who had stolen money from the scene of an explosion to survive.
I was in no position to stick around and risk getting caught doing something bad.
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