I tumbled down, crashing against the cliff countless times.
Maybe it was because I had jumped from quite a high point, but I couldn’t stop rolling downward for about two to three minutes.
“Phew…”
Fortunately, the villain suit had absorbed most of the impact.
I was able to get up right away without any problem.
“That was a long fall.”
After brushing off the dirt on my body, I lifted my head and looked up toward the top of the cliff.
Seeing the dozens of Hero Association vehicles trailing behind the cargo truck I had been riding…
It looked like all the Hero Association personnel who had been lying in wait at the subway were returning together.
I’m glad it didn’t turn into an all-out fight.
Feeling relieved that I hadn’t had to face them head-on, I started moving my body aimlessly, trying to get away from the scene.
“Get heavier.”
“..…?”
All of a sudden, I felt my feet grow incredibly heavy.
“Damn…”
As my entire body grew heavy, a man slowly walked toward me.
“How could a production-type ability user have escaped from there?”
V.
“If you’re curious, why don’t you come closer and find out?”
“You think I’m crazy enough to do that?”
V was a hero who seemed to possess a gravity-manipulating ability.
Gravity control was one of the overwhelmingly powerful abilities.
But no matter how strong gravity was, if I used my brute strength to move my legs—
Step… step…
“…You’re actually moving in that?”
Since I was still able to move my legs just fine,
“Phew… huph!”
I suddenly gathered all my strength, kicked off the ground, and hurled myself toward Hero V.
“Kneel.”
The moment I heard V’s voice in my ear again—
Thud—
“……!”
I found myself kneeling on the ground before I even realized it.
…So he wasn’t a gravity manipulator.
That had been my mistake.
I had assumed without question that his ability was gravity control and carelessly revealed my own power.
“Hmm… you’re kind of strange, aren’t you?”
“….…”
“Did you just break through my speech technique?”
“….…”
“You’re not a production-type ability user, are you?”
Craack—
I pushed off the ground with all my strength and slowly got to my feet.
My knees felt like they were ready to buckle again at any moment, but I forced that urge down and stood tall.
Smirk—
With a creepy smile, he started speaking to me again.
“Fall down.”
“Stand up.”
“Kneel.”
“Fall forward.”
“Roll to the side.”
“Stand up again.”
“Damn it…!”
Thud—thud—crash—
A speech-type ability user.
His words were law. Hero V was a kind of hypnotist who manipulated others with the power in his voice.
“Raise your hands and wrap them around your neck.”
“Hup…!”
“Tighten your grip.”
“Ggkghhh…!”
My hands began choking my own neck.
I was suffocating, and intense pain surged through my throat.
“You’re the villain hunter, aren’t you?”
Because I had demonstrated supernatural strength, he had immediately succeeded in uncovering my identity.
“Keep choking yourself…and die.”
As if to prove that the Hero Association truly intended to kill me, he ordered my death without the slightest hesitation.
Squeeze—
“……!”
Gradually, strength tightened in my hands.
At this rate, it was certain my own supernatural strength would shatter my neck bones.
I desperately racked my brain to come up with a way out, but nothing even remotely plausible came to mind.
Bang!
“?”
In moments like this, brute force was the only answer.
Without delay, I lifted my knee like I was going for a knee kick and slammed a fierce shock directly into my own head.
“Huaa…!”
Shaking off the intense pain surging through my skull,
My hands, thanks to that brief jolt, managed to break free from the speech’s grip.
“You’re seriously crazy… Not that it changes anything.”
Seeing that, Hero V clearly had no intention of granting me freedom.
“Kneel.”
He immediately tried to control me again with his speech.
Bang!
“!”
I raised both palms and struck hard against both of my ears.
Buzzzzzzzz—
I felt the thick blood trickling from both ears.
The only sound I could hear was the dizzying ring of tinnitus.
“■■■! ■■■■■!”
Hero V’s voice no longer reached me.
“■■! ■■■!!”
Facing the man, who now wore a panicked expression, I slowly rose to my feet.
“■■■■!!!”
And then…
I walked straight toward V, unable to hear whatever nonsense he was shouting.
Crunch—
I grabbed his mouth with both hands.
Stretch—
And ripped his lips apart to both sides, just like that.
Buzzzzzzzz—
…It’s coming back.
Perhaps my torn eardrums had begun to regenerate—
The ringing in my ears gradually started to fade.
Just before his voice that was filled with that cursed speech reached my ears again—
“GAAAAAAAH!!!”
“You… I’ll give you a life worse than death. Summon.”
Using the Summon ability, I pulled out the white powder I’d carefully stashed in my base
and shoved it straight into the bastard’s gaping mouth.
…
“Haah… Hah… Haaaah…”
Catching my breath in ragged gasps, I slumped down in the empty alleyway to take a brief rest.
“…Should’ve just killed him.”
The rage of having been toyed with overwhelmed me—
A wave of regret crashed in for sparing the hero I should’ve torn apart and killed right then and there.
“Haah…”
I still had to keep running, so it was too soon to regret what had already happened.
Once I felt I had rested enough, I stepped out of the alley and started moving again.
“…I should regroup and head to Seo-yoon’s place.”
What I needed to do was clear.
I had to return to my base as soon as possible, regroup quickly, and then head over to Seo-yoon’s apartment.
I don’t have a car… and no money, either.
It was just that…
Right now, I had neither a car nor any money.
“What the hell?”
Wanting to return to my base as quickly as I could,
I decided to borrow a motorcycle from those students who were huddled together smoking in their school uniforms over in the empty lot.
“…Someone’s coming this way?”
“Those motorcycles belong to you students, right?”
“…Yeah, they do.”
Without hesitation, I walked over to them and asked if the motorcycles were theirs.
“……”
“Hey, hey, hold on a second.”
“What? Uh… who are you?”
Those students, whom I had assumed were just hanging around smoking,
had actually left a girl collapsed in the corner and were about to do something…only to hesitate once they noticed me.
“……”
“……”
A moment of tense silence passed between us.
“Would you mind handing over the keys to the motorcycle?”
Since I was currently being hunted by the Hero Association,
Causing a scene just to save someone would’ve been a foolish move.
“O-Of course! Right away…!”
No matter how delinquent those students were,
A blood-covered man boldly demanding a motorcycle made them hand over the keys without a word of protest.
I took the keys and, despite only having ridden a motorcycle once before, got on with the intent of heading straight home.
“Please… help me…”
A sad woman’s voice reached my ears.
“….…”
I realized, like a fool, that I wouldn’t be able to walk away from that sorrowful voice.
And so…
“…Do you know who I am?”
Leaving the nervous students behind me,
I turned my head and asked the girl lying on the ground.
“I… I don’t know…”
She should have been terrified by how I looked,
And yet I could see hope in her eyes.
“If I save you, what can you give me in return?”
“M-Money… I can give you money…”
Haah…
Right.
I needed to act within my limits.
I didn’t even know how to ride properly. What was I thinking with that motorcycle?
Crack—
“Hhngh…!”
Without hesitation, I reached out and grabbed the boy, who was lying on the ground and clutching the girl’s skirt, by the neck and lifted him up.
And at the same time…
“Summon.”
I summoned a dagger without hesitation.
Thud—
“Aaaaaagh!!”
I drove the dagger straight into his thigh.
“Kyaaaaah!!”
I threw the screaming man toward a couple of the other female students.
“I’m taking her. No objections, right?”
“N-No…!”
“Oh, right. Hand over your phone.”
“H-Here it is…!”
“Your wallet, too.”
“Y-Yes…!”
The group of delinquent students realized that I could actually hurt them,
They obediently handed over their belongings without any resistance.
“Is this your bag?”
“Y-Yes… i-it’s mine…”
I stuffed about a dozen phones and bags into the bag of the girl who had just barely managed to stand up.
“Follow me.”
And just like that, I was able to leave the scene with her.
***
Using the principle behind the lie detector,
I used telekinesis at the exact moments Oppa lied,
This caused the machine to give false readings.
As a result, the report submitted to the Hero Association was filled with lies disguised as truth.
“…Villain Hunter? It says here he’s not the one.”
The Vice President, who had read the report, trusted the lie detector’s results completely.
“This guy isn’t the Villain Hunter.”
Even though V said that Min-hyuk oppa seemed to be the villain hunter right before he collapsed,
The Vice President didn’t believe it at all.
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