A massive explosion erupted at the spot where Pyro Bomber had been standing.
She had said she had only prepared fake bombs…
“……!”
It wasn’t just one or two bombs that went off. At least eight to ten of them exploded.
It was a truly villainous decision, showing no concern for human casualties.
As the large-scale explosions went off, Mobia’s line of sight, which couldn’t be obscured even by smoke grenades, was naturally blocked.
Beep— Beep—
Boom! Boom!
Without hesitation, Pyro Bomber set off a couple more bombs, applying silent pressure on Mobia to go rescue the hostages.
However…
“You’re full of tricks.”
Mobia was no longer a hero.
She had no reason to care about saving hostages.
Whoosh—
Seo-yoon emerged straight from the hallway thick with black smoke and immediately tried to kill Pyro Bomber.
“That’s not it…!”
I dashed straight at Seo-yoon, grabbed her, and descended through the hole in the corridor to the lower floor with her in tow.
“Get out of here, quickly!”
The escape plan we had originally thought of was no longer viable.
But even without relying on my supernatural strength, there was still a way for the two of them to escape this place.
“And you…! We need to talk…!”
As Seo-yoon tried to rise into the air, ignoring me holding her back, I covered both her eyes with my hands.
Just as I was trying to quickly calm her down—
“Protect Mobia!!”
“Get them!! Hurry!!”
At the sight of countless heroes rushing toward this place,
I realized that my only option was to knock Seo-yoon unconscious.
You know WWE, right?
Believing that Seo-yoon would surely understand the situation as well, I gently reached for the back of her neck to knock her out…
“…You’ve been brainwashed?”
“No, I haven’t…!”
“I’ll break the control right away, so just wait a little.”
“That’s not it…!”
Because Seo-yoon was protecting the back of her neck with telekinesis,
Even the option of knocking her out had become impossible.
At that moment—
Boom!!
Fortunately, I spotted Pyro Bomber and Hye-won flying toward the original escape location using a bomb blast.
Crackle—
To prevent Mobia from catching them, I immediately tore the clothes I was wearing and blocked her line of sight.
Thanks to that—
It worked…!
I was able to confirm that the two of them had completely escaped the heroes’ field of vision.
“It’s the Villain Hunter!”
“It’s the Villain Hunter!! Don’t get close. Attack from a distance!”
Now, all I had to do was distract the heroes here so they couldn’t focus on Pyro Bomber and Hye-won.
I’m sorry, Seo-yoon… This is the only way…!
Thud—
I hurled Mobia straight toward the school building,
then confidently raised one hand in front of the heroes aiming various weapons at me.
As a result—
Whoosh, whoosh—
Spears, axes, iron balls, and more—
Countless thrown weapons came flying at high speed toward me, now left all alone.
The moment those weapons struck me, each one was instantly deflected back in the direction it had come from.
“Ghhk…!”
“What, what the hell…?”
“The weapons bounced off!”
“It’s a reflection ability! Stop using ranged weapons!”
Reflection, huh. Not bad. I wonder if it works on telekinesis too.
In an instant, the dozens of heroes were thrown into chaos and came to a halt.
They had no idea that I possessed a reflection ability, and now they were completely confused.
Engaging in close combat here would be suicide.
Facing off against a large number of heroes without knowing what kind of abilities they had was no different from throwing my life away.
“Summon.”
Without hesitation, I summoned a bomb and hurled it toward the heroes who were trying to close in on me, right as it was about to explode.
Then, I leapt straight toward the second-floor hallway of White High School.
At that very moment…
Pak—
“Ghk…!”
I felt a sharp shock as something incredibly pointed pierced through my calf.
When I turned my head slightly to see what it was—
Shit…!
I saw an arrow flying straight at me, aimed precisely at the center of my forehead.
On instinct, I raised one hand and activated my reflection ability again.
Pop—
The arrow deflected off and slammed into the wall.
…Was that telekinesis?
Judging from the way the arrow had moved so freely, it seemed as though it was being controlled by telekinesis.
But Mobia had already vanished, having hidden her presence using telekinesis.
I don’t see why Seo-yoon would be trying to kill me…!
Thinking there might be another telekinetic at play, I first crawled into the empty faculty office.
“Hoo…”
Thankfully, my leg healed quickly, and I was able to stand upright again.
“Just trust me, oppa.”
“?”
Seo-yoon suddenly appeared out of thin air…
“……!”
…then froze me in place with telekinesis, preventing me from moving.
“Mm!! Mmmph!!”
I could even feel my mouth being sealed shut, unable to make a sound.
What is this…!
I had no idea what was going on.
But it was clear Seo-yoon believed I had been brainwashed.
Just as I was about to try and tell her I hadn’t been—
Clatter—
Two heroes burst into the faculty office, and I thought this might be my chance to escape the situation.
“Mobia?”
“What’s wrong?”
“Didn’t the villain hunter crawl in here?”
“You must be confusing this place with somewhere else.”
“Thank you!”
“?”
Seeing the heroes pass by without even noticing me, despite being right in front of them, I realized—
Seo-yoon had suppressed my presence to the extreme, just like she’d done with her own.
…Telekinesis is the best.
It was frustrating, but what choice did I have?
I didn’t know what misunderstanding Seo-yoon was under…
But it was clear she had no intention of harming me.
So I decided to use the Mobia card which was currently the safest way out of this situation.
I didn’t know escape could be this easy.
And just like that, I ended up floating in midair, being escorted—well, sort of escorted—by Seo-yoon as she safely pulled me away from the scene.
Of course—
…She’s not letting me go?
I said I got away from the scene.
But that didn’t mean I’d escaped from Mobia’s telekinetic prison…
“Mm… Mmmph?”
I was still being dragged somewhere by Seo-yoon’s power.
“Are you heading out right away?”
“Sounds like you haven’t heard. I’ve quit being a hero.”
“…What?”
“Mobia, you… you’ve quit being a hero?”
“There’s someone I know personally at this high school. I only came to save that kid, nothing more.”
“Ah…”
That aside—
…Seo-yoon. Where are we going?
I’m starting to get a little scared, Seo-yoon.
Can’t you let me go somewhere quiet and at least listen to me when I say I wasn’t brainwashed?
***
While tracking oppa’s location via GPS,
The news began reporting on the terrorist attack at White High School.
“Huh?”
At the same time, I confirmed that oppa was also at White High School.
So I immediately flew off in hero mode as Mobia straight there.
He must’ve gone to catch villains.
As always.
Because oppa had a tendency to act for the sake of others,
I thought it was the same this time too, and planned to secretly support him from behind using telekinesis…
But the scene I witnessed the moment I arrived—
“Here.”
—was oppa calmly accepting a bomb handed to him by Pyro Bomber.
Boom!
He was about to self-destruct without even wearing a villain suit.
Without a villain suit?
At that moment, I instantly realized oppa had been brainwashed.
…
“You’ve been brainwashed.”
“No, I haven’t…!”
“I’ll break the control right away, so just wait a little.”
“That’s not it…!”
Fighting for the villain who had even attacked him, who tried to kill him?
That alone was one of the signs that oppa had been brainwashed.
Thud—
Even knowing that I was Hero Mobia,
He tried to knock me unconscious—
and even threw me toward the school building.
That was undeniable proof he had been brainwashed.
Don’t make that face. I’m okay.
And on top of that… just before he threw me—
I saw it. The pained expression on oppa’s face.
No matter how deep the brainwashing went…
It must have been so painful for him to attack someone he loved—
That was the only reason he could’ve made such an expression.
Seeing oppa struggling against his instincts even while brainwashed,
It made my heart ache.
I’ll save you soon.
In the past, the Association used enhanced EMPs to release brainwashed ability users from their mental control.
I didn’t know exactly how it worked, but I was certain—
If I could sneak into the Association again and use that enhanced EMP, I’d be able to break oppa free too.
Just hang in there.
I began transporting oppa to the Hero Association using my telekinesis.
Once you wake up, everything will be okay.
When I arrived in front of the Hero Association,
I decided to knock him out first, just in case something went wrong.
“I’m sorry, oppa..! I’ll wake you up right away. Just sleep for a little while..!”
I gently pressed on his neck, cutting off his oxygen and blood flow,
Just enough to make him pass out for a short while.
Thud…
Oppa immediately went limp, clearly unconscious.
So I headed inside the Hero Association, just like that…
Wait a second. Oppa’s unconscious now, right?
Uh… hold on a bit.
Right now… no matter what I do, he won’t know, right?
“Ahem…”
Oppa was floating in the air, and since his clothes were torn,
He must’ve been feeling really cold.
This meant that, inevitably, I had no choice but to hug oppa tightly to keep his body temperature up.
There was clearly no other way around it…
“This is all… for oppa’s health, so I really… had no choice..!”
When I got close enough to gently pull the unconscious Min-hyuk oppa into a hug—
Whoosh—
“……!”
Was he just pretending to be unconscious?
He immediately reached out and blocked my view with his hand, then naturally moved his body behind me…
Riiiip—
At the same time that I tried to push that hand away with telekinesis, a ripping sound came from somewhere,
And suddenly, a piece of fabric covered my face… Wait a minute, did he… rip his pants?
“……!!”
“Seo-yoon..! Seo-yoon..! Can you hear my voice now?”
“Y-Ye… yes… I can hear you…”
“I won’t attack you, okay?! Just calm down for a second..! Let’s talk, please… alright?”
“O-Okay… but oppa, from my nose… there’s, um…”
“Let me finish what I have to say… Please. I’ll let you breathe after that.”
“O-Okay… Huuuuu…”
When I caught the deep scent of oppa’s skin,
It felt like all the strength drained from my entire body.
It was something I realized for the first time today…
That I too apparently had a clear weakness…
“Huuuh… huuuhuh…”
“Seo-yoon. Listen carefully. I wasn’t brainwashed. The things you saw….if you think about them, I can understand how they might’ve looked misleading—”
“Hhng…”
“???”
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