I had let the fake Villain Hunter get away.
No—honestly, I had let him go on purpose.
How could I possibly arrest Min-hyuk oppa, who had come to catch the hidden camera creep for my sake, with my own hands?
Besides, I wasn’t acting as the hero Mobia on official duty at that moment. I was simply trying to take care of a personal matter.
That guy… he was a senior from college who just returned from a break.
I decided to focus only on catching the hidden camera creep.
Hurry up and run far away, oppa.
…
“…What?”
I couldn’t help but be shocked at the news I heard upon arriving at the Association.
Without my knowing, the Hero Association had attached a GPS tracker to Min-hyuk oppa and was pursuing him.
But still—
“Haah… both the real Villain Hunter and the villain pretending to be him… There’s just been so much to think about lately…”
Thankfully, I found out that oppa had managed to escape safely after blowing up the scene.
‘I’ll have to stick a GPS on him next time too.’
I made up my mind to secretly attach a GPS to him the next time.
Can I buy something like that on Telegraph? I should get one in a necklace form so it won’t stand out…
***
The staff members carrying the collapsed men headed toward the emergency stairs.
But…
= Authorized Personnel Only =
It seemed like that stairwell was restricted to Association staff only.
Creak—
Like a true villain, I confidently pushed open the emergency stairwell door and stepped inside.
“…What?”
“Who are you?”
Two Association staff members looked startled as they locked eyes with me and began asking questions.
“Oh, I was just worried about the people who collapsed.”
“Do you know these two by any chance?”
They had realized I had been following them.
So I decided to speak as naturally as possible, pretending to be someone who knew the two men.
“Yes, one of them is a friend of mine, so I was a bit worried. I’m sorry.”
Just as I was hoping to keep the conversation from going any deeper—
“Hmm…”
“Then, we’ll have to ask you to come with us.”
“Ah, right. That way you’ll be able to see your friend receiving treatment.”
“That’s what I mean.”
“…I see.”
When the Association staff members suddenly told me I needed to come with them, I could sense that something was off.
But…
If I refused and tried to leave now, it would be like admitting that I wasn’t just a concerned friend. That I was someone who had been tailing them.
“Yes.”
I forced a smile and began walking toward the two.
Click-clack-click-clack-click-clack—
Of course.
I immediately sent out a distress signal and waited for Pyro Bomber to stir up some chaos.
[30 seconds!]
Step… step…
[25 seconds!]
“May I ask you one question?”
“Go ahead.”
“Were you the ones who knocked these two out?”
[20 seconds!]
At my sharp question, the two staff members immediately pulled tasers from their pockets and aimed them at me.
“…It’d be best if you stayed still. If you make even the slightest threatening move, we’ll open fire immediately.”
[10 seconds!]
“A taser, huh? Bet that’s gonna hurt.”
[5 seconds! 4, 3, 2, 1!]
BOOOOOM!!!
Just as Pyro Bomber’s countdown hit zero, a massive explosion erupted, and the building we were standing in began to shake violently. Taking advantage of the moment when the startled men frantically looked around—
Thud—
I immediately rushed at the two association members and slammed their heads straight into the ground.
“.……”
I checked the pulses of the two unconscious men, who had seemed suspicious the entire time …
“…As I thought.”
Just as expected.
One of the men had no pulse at all. He was already dead.
The other one… his condition didn’t look very good either.
“I’ll be taking this.”
I rifled through the unconscious staff member’s pocket, pulled out his phone, then slung the one remaining whistleblower who at least had a chance of surviving over my shoulder, and began to flee the way I came.
“How the hell is this anything like a hero…”
How could anyone call them members of a hero association?
Trying to secretly murder a whistleblower… and doing it right here in South Korea, no less.
“What the hell is going on here…”
I didn’t know exactly what was going on inside the association.
But I did know this. Any organization, once it got old enough, would start to rot from the inside.
[Now’s your chance, babe! The heroes are all rushing to check out the garden I blew up!]
Click—
Using the distraction caused by the other bombing site, which had drawn the heroes’ attention,
I immediately began sprinting through the Hero Association building to make my escape.
Of course—
“Make way! Emergency patient coming through!”
If I ran out of the association building carrying an unconscious man over my shoulder,
Anyone who saw me would obviously think I was a villain kidnapping someone from the inside.
So I pretended to be an association staff member trying to rush a wounded person to emergency services—
I lifted the unconscious whistleblower in a bridal carry and stormed out of the association building.
And just like I expected—
“I’ll help you!”
The ever-righteous heroes were running up to assist me.
“There are more injured people deeper inside! You have to save them quickly…!”
“We’re on our way!”
I gave a vague nod to mislead them, pretending there were more victims further in.
Thanks to that, I was able to slip away from the place without anyone stopping me.
[Babe! Get in, now!]
“We need to get to the hospital immediately!”
I gave it my all until the very end and laid the whistleblower down in the backseat of the car.
Just like that, we safely made it out of the Hero Association.
…
“His color’s gradually coming back.”
Inside the Hero Association, the sudden collapse of the two whistleblowers…
It seemed to have been caused by the ability of an ability user we hadn’t identified.
As supporting evidence, we could see the color returning to the whistleblower’s face the farther we got from the Hero Association…
It became immediately clear that this was a far more serious issue than we had initially thought.
I mean…
“…The Association really was killing innocent people.”
This man was living proof that the Association had truly been killing people.
“Those lunatics.”
“Exactly.”
But we couldn’t just sit around and wait for this man to wake up.
“Here are the glasses.”
“Th-Th-Thanks… I’ll w-watch the footage… right away…”
I handed the glasses, which had recorded the inside of the Association, over to Hye-won.
To be safe, we cuffed the man’s wrists just in case, and then began analyzing the footage of the Hero Association with Hyewon.
For about two hours, we replayed the video.
“This pillar looks like a good spot.”
“That’s a key structural pillar. If we blow that up, we might be able to completely bring down Sector 3.”
In the midst of an intense discussion about how to most efficiently take down the Hero Association—
Thud—
“?”
We heard the sound of someone hitting the floor from deeper inside.
“Looks like he’s awake.”
I picked up the nearby villain hunter mask, placed it over my face, and slowly made my way over.
When I entered the bedroom… just as expected.
“……”
I saw the whistleblower, now awake, raise his cuffed hands and take up a combat stance.
“…Did the Association send you?”
“I did come from the Association.”
“Are you afraid we know the truth?”
“What truth are you talking about?”
“You…! Do you even know how many of our comrades you’ve killed?? You said you only kill hostages…! You said it was only hostages…! Then why us too…!”
They hadn’t just killed hostages, but even fellow Hero Association employees?
“Wow… With just you, I feel certain we could bring down the Hero Association completely.”
“What… what are you talking about?”
“Nice to meet you. I don’t know your name, and I won’t be giving you mine either. So feel free to just call me the Villain Hunter.”
The moment I heard the man speak, I immediately realized that his presence would be a crucial key in taking down the Hero Association.
“Villain… Hunter?”
“And the one who saved you while you were dying inside the Association. That was me.”
I was about to make sure this man would be firmly on our side—
“Aaagh!”
“Sleep.”
Thud…
The moment he realized I was a villain and came at me for a fight, Dream Caster quickly put him to sleep.
“…Thanks.”
“If I was able to help Sir Villain Hunter, then I’m satisfied!”
“Well then, I’ll talk to Pyro Bomber and see if we can get you some free time.”
“Thank you!”
Just how righteous did someone have to be to try to attack the very person who had saved their life the moment they realized he was a villain?
“This is how righteous you have to be to fight against the Hero Association, huh?”
Well… it did seem like only someone this righteous would be willing to risk their life to expose the Association’s corruption.
“Tie him up loosely. Once he wakes up, we’ll need to have a proper conversation.”
“Understood!”
Since it looked like the man would need a bit more time before waking up, I told Dream Caster to tie him up roughly and decided to head out for a bit.
“I’ll step out for a moment.”
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going to post something on the Villain Foum.”
“So you’re the type to promote terrorism through social media?”
“Well, it’s kind of fun in its own way.”
***
—
[To the Vice President of the Hero Association.]
(Video clip)
I clearly gave you a warning last time.
I told you to face punishment for your own crimes.
Unfortunately, you chose to ignore that warning—
Which is why I’ll be revealing a piece of information that will help bring you down.
I’ll give you three days.
Within that time, turn yourself in, reflect on your sins, and accept your punishment.
If not, I’ll make sure the contents of the documents shown in the video are seen by the entire nation.
Oh, and one more thing.
You’re missing a staff member from the Association, right?
Can’t find one of the whistleblowers?
I’ve got them.
Alive and well, in fact.
You people should know better than anyone what kind of information I can expose.
I suggest you tread carefully.
—
After finishing the post, I snapped the phone I had taken from the Association in half,
then casually tossed it into the nearby river.
I should head back and check the comments.
At first, it had just been something I did for fun.
But now, I had come to realize that the posts I made as “Villain Hunter” were attracting a lot of attention.
It seemed like this platform could be an effective way to pressure the Hero Association’s Vice President.
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