“Now you can take off the blindfold.”
“R-Really…?”
“Yeah.”
“I-I mean, when I take it off… is there, like… a gun barrel… right in front of me or something… like that…?”
“…Why do you keep trying to test my patience?”
“Hiiiek…!”
As soon as she heard my reply, Dream Caster quickly ripped off the blindfold.
“…Where are we?”
“I don’t know where this place is either.”
“Oh…”
“I just know it’s somewhere far enough for you to run away from us.”
She looked like she couldn’t believe she was actually free.
I tossed her a bag as she stood there, mouth wide open in disbelief.
“I couldn’t put much in there.”
“What is this…?”
“5.5 million won in cash.”
“…..!”
Dream Caster slowly picked up the bag with her face showing disbelief, as if she were asking if she was really allowed to have it.
“I added 500,000 more than I originally planned to give you.”
“Th-Thank you…?”
“Whether you choose to live a straight life or go back to being a villain, I won’t care anymore. Just don’t come at us if you ever see us again. If you do that, we won’t go out of our way to find you and kill you.”
To make it absolutely clear that she was truly free now—
“I… am I really… really free?”
“Sure. Go ahead and leak the Villain Hunter’s identity all over the place now.”
“I would never do something… like that..!”
I turned my back and started walking away.
“Thank you! I-I’ll repay this kindness… someday…!”
“Hah, sure. I’ll look forward to it. Someday.”
She had been robbed by me, had her place raided, lost her comrades, and was even forced to work for a few days.
It was a bit absurd to hear her talk about repaying a kindness instead of seeking revenge.
But since her words made me feel like the goodwill I had shown her hadn’t been in vain, I began walking away in a good mood.
***
“Freedom!!”
Freedom had come to me!
I had thought I’d be trapped under the Villain Hunter’s control for the rest of my life…
Yet even someone like me had found freedom!!
I’ll never mess with him again…!
I vowed never to get involved with anyone related to the Villain Hunter again,
And decided to try living just a bit more honestly…
“……”
But then I saw the figure of a hero gracefully descending from the sky, and I couldn’t move a muscle.
“Hello?”
“Ah… um, th-that is to say… uh…”
“I have a lot of questions I want to ask. But first, how about you put that blindfold back on?”
“Yes…!”
I had just been freed from the Villain Hunter… and now hero Mobia had appeared…
“Um, excuse me… am I being arrested now?”
“Depending on your behavior, I might release you later.”
“I’ll cooperate…! I’ll do my best…!”
Only after losing my freedom
Did I come to understand just how precious it really was.
At that moment, I resolved to do everything I could to cooperate with hero Mobia, in hopes of earning my freedom once more.
“I’d like to ask you a few questions about the Villain Hunter.”
“I’ll answer anything you want to know…!”
Just a minute ago, I had sworn never to get involved with the Villain Hunter again…
But when it came to survival, what choice did I have?
I had to spill everything I knew.
“Did the Villain Hunter live with you all?”
“Yes, that’s right…!”
“What about his relationships with women?”
“Ah, I don’t think he has any interest in that…!”
“Hmm? And why’s that?”
“Well, there’s this other pretty female villain living with us…! Even when she flirts with him every single day, he shuts her down without hesitation…!”
“Hmm~ Just stay still. I’ll move you with telekinesis.”
“Okay…!”
***
“Is that really your fetish?”
“No, it’s not.”
“Alright. Take off your pants.”
“???”
“You said you wanted to be hit, didn’t you?”
“Well… I did, but…”
“I’ll spank you. Come on, hurry up and take them off.”
“No, that’s not what I meant…”
“Okay, okay. So you want me to curse at you too, right?”
All I had meant to do was check whether I had stolen the reflection ability.
What on earth was happening?
“What, you’re into having someone else undress you? Got it~.”
“Let go of me…! Hey, let…. let go of this…! Hey…!”
She suddenly grabbed my pants and actually tried to pull them down.
“Uueegh, what’s your problem! You said you wanted me to do it!”
I held her by the head and pushed her far away.
Then walked over to Hye-won to ask her to hit me instead…
“I-I-I… I’m a… a minor…”
“Ah…”
Pyro Bomber had completely messed everything up.
“…Today, I fought a villain with the reflection ability. Right before I killed him, his power suddenly vanished, so I wanted to check if I had stolen it. That’s why I’m asking for your help.”
“Then why didn’t you just explain that from the start!”
“I tried to explain, but who was the one who wouldn’t listen and just tried to take off my pants??”
“Me!”
Look at her, so shameless… seriously, this girl…
Ugh…
“…Anyway, now you understand what we need to do, right?”
“Mhmm! Stick out your butt!”
“I’m counting on you, Hye-won.”
“Ughhh!! Fine! I get it! I really get it!”
Special abilities were originally meant to be used where and how the user wished.
So I thought to myself, “Let’s reflect Pyro Bomber’s attack.”
I simply stood there watching as her fist came flying toward me.
Hye-won who was curious as well stood nearby watching me.
And when Pyro Bomber’s punch landed squarely on my chest—
Thud—
“?”
“?”
Nothing happened to either of us.
Thud— Thud— Thud— Thud—
“Doesn’t look like you have reflection at all.”
“…Yeah, it seems that way.”
Even after taking four more punches,
since there was no sign of any reflection at all,
it was clear that I hadn’t acquired that overpowered ability.
“Ah… what a shame…”
From my experience actually fighting against the ability called Reflection… I knew there was no other power better suited to protecting me than this one.
To be honest, it was a pretty disappointing situation.
I need to figure out the conditions quickly.
With that thought, I decided to find out the conditions for stealing abilities as fast as possible.
“I’m going to step out for a bit.”
“Where are you going?”
“Going to make some money.”
“Sounds like something fun?”
“In a way, yeah.”
“Let me come too!”
“Sure, why not.”
To experiment on villains whose deaths wouldn’t cause any trouble,
I decided to head to an illegal loan company that was likely to have a lot of money.
…
“I got all the cash!”
“I’ve finished killing them too.”
“S-Spa… spare me…! Please!!”
I drove my fist into the face of a villain who was screaming and begging for his life.
“Phew…”
With that, I had hit five loan offices and killed seven ability users in various ways, but…
“…Another dud.”
“Hmm… what kind of condition do I need to meet to steal it?”
None of the villains’ abilities were coming into my hands.
“…I don’t think killing is the trigger.”
By now, it had become clear.
Stealing an ability wasn’t triggered by killing the ability user…
But still…
“…Then what is the real condition…?”
Since it wasn’t that, I had no idea what the actual condition could be.
“…I don’t know.”
Just as I was about to give up and return to the shelter where Hyewon was probably waiting…
“Ugh… tch.”
Tap… tumble…
I saw a small piece of concrete that had broken off from the cracked wall bounce off my head and fall to the ground.
“…Hmm?”
The moment I saw it, something began to feel off.
Because the piece of debris that had fallen toward my head hadn’t even touched me; it had bounced off somewhere else.
Almost like…
…A reflection?
As if the falling debris had reflected off of me.
“…Huh?”
“What’s wrong?”
“…It must be conditional.”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
Indeed, there were special abilities that only activated under certain “conditions”.
For example—
The summoning ability I had.
I could only summon materials that I had physically touched at least once.
And if the material weighed more than 10 kilograms, I couldn’t summon it.
Also, when summoning an object from another location, I had to say the word “summon” out loud for it to work.
“I have the reflection ability.”
“Huh? Seriously?”
“Yes, but it seems to activate conditionally. I don’t know if it’s triggered by a specific action or by saying a certain word, but one thing’s for sure…it requires a condition.”
This reflection ability was no different.
I had to fulfill some kind of “condition” for it to activate.
“Hmm… Just a moment ago, when I got up, I reached out and braced myself against the wall like this…”
Flick—
“?”
Suddenly, I heard the muffled sound of a gunshot behind me and turned around…
“…Oh my, babe. It looks like if you stretch out your hand, it reflects the bullets.”
“…It seems that way.”
Pyro Bomber who had just shot me… was now standing there with blood pouring out of her hand After the bullet had reflected from me.
“Wow… I seriously almost died just now, didn’t I?”
“…Why would you shoot in the first place?”
“Well, you’re wearing a villain suit, so even if it didn’t reflect, you’d be totally fine, right?”
This woman…
I really couldn’t tell if she had a brain or not…
“…Let’s go to the hospital.”
“I can’t. If you go to the hospital, your identity will be exposed instantly. Are you really willing to risk that?”
“…How touching, that you’re worried about me in a situation like this…”
It had come to the point where I didn’t even react anymore when Pyro Bomber ended up shooting her own teammates. I was starting to hate myself for it.
…
“I’m in pain, babe. Be gentle with me.”
“Anyone would think I’m the one who hurt you.”
For now, I was trying to stop the bleeding from Pyro Bomber’s hand with the cleanest cloth I could find nearby, giving her some basic first aid…
“Um…”
I saw someone push open the door and step into the office.
“I came to borrow some mo—…huh?”
As soon as the woman who had come to borrow money saw us wearing villain-hunter masks and identity-blocking masks…
She immediately raised her phone without hesitation.
She’s probably trying to report us.
Realizing she was about to contact the Hero Association, I quickly snatched the phone from her before she could do it…
Click—
“?”
Suddenly, the woman switched her phone to selfie mode and took a picture with herself and us in the frame.
Frozen by her unexpected action, we all stopped what we were doing and just stared blankly at her…
“You’re the villain hunter, right?”
“…huh?”
“I’m a huge fan! Could I maybe get an autograph? No, wait…! I’ll make a peace sign in the photo; could you take just one picture with me??”
No, wait…
…I am a villain, okay?
That thing lying at your feet right now? That’s a corpse.
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