Lee Seo-yoon.
I was a 20-year-old freshman in college this year.
And to the public, I was better known by the name “Mobia”.
“Heading straight home again today?”
“Mhmm, see you tomorrow.”
Among heroes, there were those who worked openly while revealing their identities.
“Seo-yoon’s busy every single day…”
“Sorry. You know I can’t help it.”
But there had been plenty of incidents where villains held a grudge against heroes and targeted their families.
Because of that, most heroes, including myself, worked while hiding their identities.
“Who could’ve stolen our Seo-yoon’s heart… That damn thief…”
“Hehe… It’s nothing like that. See you tomorrow.”
Today had been peaceful, just like any other day.
Even though this was a world where villains existed, that didn’t mean acts of terrorism happened every single day.
Until a support request text came from the Association, I simply lived the life of an ordinary person.
He’s here again today.
After turning down friends who wanted to hang out with me, I found myself heading to a pub near my house.
“Hello.”
“Welcome.”
Every night at exactly 10 p.m., that male part-timer was always there, and that’s why I came to this pub.
It wasn’t that I particularly liked drinking, nor was I even hungry.
Because I wanted to see his face, I ordered half a fried chicken and a glass of draft beer, and stared at him every day like I was trying to burn a hole through him.
Looks like he didn’t shower before coming today. Hehe… Even his messy hair looks cute.
I didn’t know his age nor his name.
I didn’t have any information about that man.
All I knew about him was…
That he was the hero who had saved me when I was twelve years old.
When is he planning to register as a hero?
There was a scene I could still vividly remember whenever I closed my eyes.
The image of his back as he blocked a flying car with his whole body during an explosion.
I was so young back then, and the situation had terrified me enough to make me burst into tears. And because he had blocked the car with both of his arms, blood had dripped down from them…. that sight had scared me even more and made me cry louder and harder.
Should I really try talking to him today? Ah, but what should I even say? Ughhh…
I was scared.
Scared that he might remember me.
Scared that he might remember me as the unlucky kid who cried even after he had saved me.
What good was it being a hero?
What good was it being one of only two telekinetics in the entire world?
“Half a fried chicken and 500cc draft beer, here you go.”
“Th-Thank you…”
I just stuttered…! Ughhh…! He won’t think I’m weird, right?
Mobia the hero was a brave warrior who didn’t fear villains…
But what could I do when Lee Seo-yoon the person was just a weak human being who couldn’t even manage to say a single sentence properly…
While I was turning over in my head more than a hundred times how to start a conversation with the part-timer awkwardly serving tables—
Boom!
A huge explosion rang out from the building across from the pub.
“……!”
The moment the explosion happened, I immediately tried to use telekinesis to shield both myself and the part-timer.
Even if the explosion had happened at the store across the street, it was obvious that the shockwave would reach us here.
I hurried to protect the man…
…Huh?
Originally… when an explosion like this happened, an ordinary person would have either panicked and run away or dropped to the ground in fear…
But this man covered his face with the serving tray and effortlessly lifted a table with one hand to protect me. This was something no ordinary human could ever do.
Back then, and even now… you’ve always saved me.
***
Other than the fact that I was hiding the truth that I was a villain, there was nothing about me that was any different from an ordinary person.
No… I didn’t even have any reputation as a villain, so in a way, I might as well have been just an ordinary person.
Even if I retired from being a villain and lived peacefully from now on, it was obvious that the public wouldn’t even know I’d ever existed.
“I’ll try to pull off one last big job, and if that doesn’t work, I’ll have to figure something else out.”
If I couldn’t draw people’s attention even with this terrorist attack…
Then I decided I’d just forget about terrorism or whatever and go straight to the house of the murderer who killed my sister while drunk driving and kill him with my own hands.
I need money.
Because to pull off a terrorist attack, I needed money.
And I decided to go to the place best suited for getting cash quickly.
— Same-day loans! Interest only 1%!
“Hello? I’m calling because I need money.”
…
When I arrived at the place the loan shark company had told me about, I could see that there was already someone sitting inside the office. This was probably another customer who arrived before me.
“If you don’t bring the required documents, it’s difficult for us to process the loan, customer-nim~.”
I already knew about the required documents.
I remembered being told over the phone that I’d need two copies of my seal certificate and a certificate of family relations.
But I hadn’t bothered to bring any of those documents.
Because I hadn’t come here to borrow money. I was a villain who’d come to steal from the loan shark company.
When it was almost my turn, I took out the villain mask from the bag I had brought, planning to knock out everyone in that room.
“I know.”
“…Didn’t we already kindly explain all this over the phone?”
“I said I know, didn’t I?”
“…What do you think you’re doing?”
Huh?
The man who had come before me to borrow money suddenly started acting out.
And at the same time—
“I didn’t come here to borrow money.”
“Then why are you here?”
“I came to take it.”
Crack—
“!”
He slammed his fist down on the employee’s head.
So he was the one who came in first.
The moment I saw that scene, I realized it right away.
That man was just like me. A villain who had come to steal from the loan shark company.
“Boss!”
“You son of a—!”
The loan shark company staff each grabbed a weapon and rushed toward the villain.
One swung a bat, another tried to stab him with a sharp knife—
But their attacks did nothing to harm the villain.
The sashimi knife couldn’t pierce the man’s abdomen.
The metal bat bounced right off the spot it had struck.
Watching that scene, I realized that the villain was an ability user of the enhancement type. He was someone who could freely enhance their own body.
Crack—
The villain skillfully took care of the men who had tried to kill him.
Then, he started slamming his fist against the office safe.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Damn, this thing really won’t open.”
When the safe didn’t open as easily as he’d expected, the villain looked around quickly….and his eyes met mine.
“Are you an employee here too?”
“No.”
“Right? I figured since you’re not wearing a suit, but I asked just in case.”
“Thanks for noticing.”
“Came to borrow money? That sucks. Try somewhere else.”
“Hmm…”
For a moment, I hesitated at the villain’s suggestion to look elsewhere.
Maybe I really should try to get money from another place.
Yeah, there’s no reason to fight.
I mean, there was no real need to start a fight with another ability user here—
“Did you really think I’d fall for that?”
Thud!
“Ow…!”
I had honestly been about to leave.
But suddenly, the villain rushed over to where I was sitting and smashed the chair I’d been in.
“You think I wouldn’t recognize you just because you’re wearing that shitty mask?”
I never even tried to trick him, but somehow I’m always the one who gets blamed.
Calling my mask shitty… That kind of stung a little.
I mean, I made this mask myself, you know…
As the villain once again slammed his attack down on the spot where I had been standing, I casually leaned my body back to dodge it.
“Oh, what are you? Some villain bodyguard hired by the loan sharks?”
There were about a hundred things I wanted to say back.
But in this situation where I knew his ability, and he didn’t know mine —
“Apologize.”
“For what?”
—that alone gave me a huge advantage in this fight.
“This mask here, I handcrafted it myself.”
“What the hell is this crazy bastard talking about—”
After luring him into letting his guard down with conversation,
I immediately grabbed both of his wrists and held them tight.
“Hah!”
The villain scoffed like I was pathetic and began to reinforce his arms like steel.
But—
Crack—
“Aaaargh!”
My ability was supernatural strength.
And something like steel was no harder for me to crush than folding paper.
As I tightened my grip around his hardened wrists with all my strength,
Snap—
Along with a sound that definitely shouldn’t have come from a wrist, I could see both of the villain’s wrists shatter.
“Fu*k!”
The moment his wrists broke, the villain cursed and tried to kick me, but I simply shoved him away and hurled him far into the distance.
Thud—
“Ugh…! You… bastard…!”
As soon as he hit the wall, he helpfully revealed his location with his voice, to which I silently thanked him.
Then, without hesitation, I rushed straight at the villain embedded in the wall.
Crunch— Crack!
“Aaaaaargh!! Y-You… son of a… bit*h!!!”
I went ahead and shattered both of his ankle bones as well, making sure he would never be able to get back up again.
“You got it wrong. What you should’ve said was, ‘I’m sorry’.”
“Why the hell should I apologize, you crazy bastard!”
Still refusing to apologize for insulting my precious handmade mask, I drove my fist into his face with all my strength.
“Hii… sh*t…”
For an ordinary person, that blow would have been instantly fatal. But thanks to his ability to enhance his body, he somehow managed to survive the impact.
“I’m only letting you off this time because I’m busy.”
There was no reason to waste any more time here.
I immediately headed into the loan shark’s room and ripped the door off the safe. It was a door that even an enhancement-type ability user hadn’t been able to break.
I should grab everything quickly and get out of here.
As expected of a loan shark company, they were holding onto a large stash of cash.
While I was stuffing bundles of 50,000-won bills into my bag—
Knock, knock, knock.
I suddenly heard a knock from behind me. When I quickly turned around…
“Looks like you’re pretty busy, huh~?”
There floated Hero Mobia. She was hovering in mid-air and looking down at me.
“…Mobia.”
“Yes, that’s right. I’m Mobia. Want me to give you an autograph or something, villain-nim?”
She was a hero who used telekinesis. And right now, she was right in front of me.
Since she floated through the air, there hadn’t been any sound of footsteps. I hadn’t even realized she had made it all the way here.
On top of that… I would have never imagined, not even in my dreams, that the loan shark’s men had called a Hero.
So he was still alive…
When I subtly turned my head to look at the loan shark employee who had collapsed on the ground, I saw that he was still alive…. even after taking a hit from a villain with body-enhancement abilities.
“Would you mind taking your hands off that bag?”
“….…”
At Mobia’s command, I slowly took my hands off the bag full of money.
There was no way I could beat her with my strength. I decided to quietly pretend to surrender and look for a chance to escape from here.
“Did you take care of that villain over there yourself?”
“…Yeah.”
“Why don’t you speak politely to me? You were using honorifics just fine with the other villain.”
“Is that what you want me to do?”
“No, honestly, I don’t really care.”
When she turned her head to look at the body-enhancement-type villain embedded in the wall—
I quietly moved into a corner out of her line of sight, then immediately broke through the wall.
And from there, I jumped out of the third-floor building—
“Guhk…!”
“Wow, I almost lost you just now.”
While I had managed to hide my body, it seemed my right arm had still been within her line of sight.
Right then and there, my right arm was caught and pinned in place by Mobia’s telekinesis.
Crack… Crack…
“Hhup…!”
My arm twisted in a direction it definitely wasn’t supposed to.
Swoosh…
“Let’s see now… I wonder how much your arm can endure.”
When the sleeve that had been hanging down to my wrist slid up to my shoulder, the wound on my arm I got two days ago from a shard of glass was fully exposed.
“…Huh?”
At the same time, I heard Mobia’s confused voice for reasons I couldn’t quite understand. And then I felt the force of her telekinesis weaken.
Swish!
Without hesitation, I grabbed the nearest object within reach and hurled it straight at Mobia’s face.
When the object flew toward her face, her vision was momentarily blocked.
Taking advantage of Mobia’s weakness, the fact that she couldn’t use her telekinesis on things outside of her line of sight, I broke free from the grip on my arm the moment her view was obstructed and immediately leaped out through the building wall.
Of course.
Nice! Got it!
I didn’t manage to grab everything—
But I had succeeded in jumping out with a bag containing a decent amount of cash.
Run…! Just run for it now!
From this point on, all I had to do was run like my life depended on it.
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