How many hours had passed?
I was still answering the police’s questions in this and that way.
…This is exhausting.
Just as I felt like even something this trivial was wearing down both my body and mind—
Squeeze…
“……?”
I felt warmth in both of my hands and realized that Pyro Bomber and Seo-yoon were each holding one.
Yeah… they must be having a hard time too.
Realizing that there were still women who stayed by my side even in a situation like this, I decided to try pushing myself just a little bit more.
It’s just that…
Using telekinesis for that long must be hard too.
Seo-yoon’s telekinesis was also a power that drained physical energy.
I just didn’t want her to suffer because of me.
“That’ll be all for today.”
After a long round of questioning, the investigator finally informed me that “for today” things were over and that I’d be questioned again tomorrow before leaving the room.
“Phew…”
Letting out a long sigh, I was about to relax for a moment when—
“I’ve come to escort you.”
The woman known as the “Association’s Sword” who would take me back to the detention center, entered once again, approaching to push my wheelchair.
…Why is she being so kind to me?
Watching how gentle her attitude was, I couldn’t help but feel a little confused.
I mean… wasn’t it obvious?
I was the one who brought down Choi Won-il, whom the Association President had personally appointed as Vice President of the Hero Association.
From their perspective, it was only natural that they’d dislike someone like the Villain Hunter…
“…….”
Honestly, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t feeling uneasy.
No matter how closely Seo-yoon and Pyro Bomber were watching over me…
If I, in my weakened state, couldn’t react in time, then a pointless death would be inevitable.
Even if I was going to die, I wanted to at least choose the place where I died. And so, I kept glancing at the woman, reading her expressions.
“Be careful.”
“…Huh?”
The Association’s Sword suddenly spoke a warning—
“?”
—and then began walking ahead of me, who was seated in the wheelchair.
It was as if… she was trying to block my view of something.
She quietly stood in front of me, as though shielding me.
Fwoosh—
In an instant, the interior of the police station was swallowed in complete darkness, to the point where I couldn’t even see an inch ahead.
…What is this now?
In that dark void, the only thing I could still see was the Association’s Sword standing before me.
Step… step… step…
Footsteps echoed in the silence and someone was approaching within the engulfing darkness.
Did they gather every ridiculously powerful ability user just to kill me?
Even now, I couldn’t help but feel envious.
To wield a power that turned the entire space into your own domain… a Domain Expansion-type ability.
What a stylish, desirable power that was.
The only regret was that I could no longer steal abilities from others.
And then, at that moment—
“O being who has defied causality.”
“……!”
A grotesque voice, chilling to hear, crawled into my ears.
“Obey the rules of the world.”
A voice called out to me. A voice that was a blend of countless others: a young boy, an old man, a middle-aged woman, and more all speaking at once.
The Association’s Sword who had been silently standing there fully drew the katana she had been carrying for the first time and unleashed a horizontal slash with all her strength.
Rustle…
As the impenetrable darkness collapsed—
“…What is this?”
It was as if nothing had changed.
All I could see was the back of the Association’s Sword, holding her katana exactly as she had looked before being swallowed by the darkness.
“Did you see that?”
“You were standing in the way, so… I couldn’t see anything.”
“That’s a relief.”
“……?”
…
Unsolved cases.
Meaning, cases where the full truth has yet to be revealed.
The Hero Association was determined not to let such cases remain, even offering massive rewards to heroes who solved them.
Despite those efforts, there were still a few unsolved cases left within the Hero Association…
“…Are you saying that most of those unsolved cases were caused by cults?”
“That is correct.”
Apparently, most of those unsolved cases were indeed caused by cults.
What kind of absurd explanation was that?
“…You understand that I’m having a hard time believing that, right?”
“I understand completely. I couldn’t believe it myself until I saw it with my own eyes.”
“Hah…”
According to the Association’s Sword, her eyes could see things that others couldn’t.
That’s why she could easily see people like Seo-yoon and Pyro Bomber hidden within telekinesis barriers…
And that dark Domain Expansion I had witnessed earlier was also a kind of “unseeable thing”.
She said it was thanks to the Association President that she had gained the ability to see those things.
And that the President had chosen me as the one to take down the cults.
Apparently, in order to see those “unseeable things”, a person with abilities must be brought to the brink of death…
Am I the only one who has no idea what any of this means?
“…So, is that why you’re protecting me?”
“That is correct.”
“…It’s a strange feeling.”
What kind of story is this? Something out of a fantasy world?
It’s not like I was summoned as a hero or anything. I was just born one day and suddenly told I was the hero who was supposed to save the world.
And for someone meant to save the world, I’ve done a lot of awful things…
The Association President—well, our Saint—has apparently chosen me to be the hero.
“In two years, the illusion created by the cults will no longer remain just an illusion.”
“…So what happens then?”
“Even I couldn’t see past that point. All I know is that the end of the world arrives.”
I turned my head and looked around.
It felt like this was the moment someone was supposed to jump out and say, “You’re on a hidden camera show!”
“……”
But as if to prove no one else was really here…
Only a heavy silence continued to hang in the air.
“Haah… So, what you’re saying is… that dark place I went into was something like a false god created by the cult’s misguided beliefs?”
“That’s right.”
There was a fundamental problem in our conversation.
And that was…
“…Why do I have to be the one to destroy it?”
I had absolutely no intention of fighting some cult.
I couldn’t even believe the world was actually ending.
Even if what she said was true…
Why did I have to fight that so-called false god, when there were plenty of people out there much stronger than me?
And yet…
The only answer the woman gave to my question was simply—
“You won’t be able to avoid it.”
As if it were my destiny to fight that false god.
…What the hell is going on here.
If it were something visible and concrete, maybe I could’ve at least understood.
Like a mysterious tower suddenly appearing in Korea, and we had to climb it.
Or otherworldly gods showing up and slaughtering humans, and someone had to stop them to save humanity…
If there was a visible threat like that, maybe I could at least acknowledge the seriousness of the situation.
But me? I’d just been living with the goal of “bringing down Choi Won-il”.
So I didn’t feel any sense of responsibility to deal with this.
I didn’t even feel the slightest urgency about the world being in danger.
“…Well, I’m sure everything will work out when the time comes… once I’ve recovered, that is.”
I decided to dump the whole mess on my future self and just focus on getting some rest for now.
***
“Sister Yu Hana… has passed away and returned to the embrace of the Ancient God.”
“Oh no… How could something so tragic happen…”
The Heavenly Will Cult.
The name means “those who have received the will of the heavens”.
In public, people call them the supremacists of supernatural power.
To them… “supernatural power” was a gift from the Ancient God.
They were religious fanatics who believed that those without supernatural powers had no reason to live in this world.
“The news says it was her husband who personally killed Sister Yu Hana… but there’s no doubt that the villain hunter was behind it.”
However, the Sacred Scripture, the holy text of the Heavenly Will Cult, does offer one way for ordinary people without supernatural powers to survive.
That method was to confess their sins each week to the Ancient God and cleanse those sins through “offerings.”
“Tsk… This world has no value unless one is chosen by the Ancient God. How could such a vile man defy the will of the primordial?”
And to the Heavenly Will Cult, Yu Hana—Choi Won-il’s wife—was one of the “devout” believers who sought to cleanse the sins of herself and her family through massive offerings.
“Today calls for a special prayer.”
They had decided to carry out a “special prayer” against the villain hunter who had defied the will of the Ancient God.
“Do you have any information regarding the villain hunter?”
“Yes. We’ve identified the location of the urn where his family’s remains are kept.”
“It seems the time has come for the Ancient God to take on a new body.”
To the average person who knows of the Heavenly Will Cult, they’re nothing more than a cult.
As is commonly known, religion brings in massive amounts of money.
So most people simply dismiss the Heavenly Will Cult as just another money-hungry pseudo-religion…
But the followers of the Cult—
They knew that the “god” they worshipped truly existed.
Having witnessed a real “god” and not some illusion or supernatural ability,
They were left with no choice but to hold a faith far more extreme than that of religious believers from eras before the rise of science.
Leave a Reply