Part 1, Chapter 1 (9)

“Wow. How can there be no bus to Seoul?”

I picked up a newspaper that was lying around on the terminal’s rooftop and scanned it. The newspaper was filled with all sorts of news, especially information about ‘monsters’ and ‘Heroes’.

‘I need to get a smartphone quickly.’

In an information society, nothing makes you fall behind the times more than being disconnected from the electronic world. Isn’t it true that in 21st-century modern society, the world can change overnight in just a short year?

“But here…”

I scanned my surroundings. It was typically a developed modern city, but there were traces of destruction from battles scattered throughout.

The city was dying.

If a metropolitan city right next to Seoul was in this state, it was easy to guess what other cities would be like without even needing to say it.

‘Since there are even places where monsters nest in city halls.’

At least in Incheon, the Association’s Heroes were stationed at the city hall as their base, so the situation was good. Of course, by the time the original story begins, Incheon wouldn’t be able to hold out any longer and would become monster territory.

‘Is there 5 years left?’

The newspaper’s publication date was April 3, 2020.

Assuming this was today’s newspaper, there were about 5 years left until the start of the original story.

‘It’s tighter than I thought.’

It wasn’t the worst-case scenario-where the original story had already begun-but five years wasn’t as long as one might think.

The original story definitely begins in the spring of 2025. Unless something unusual happens, it will certainly start then.

‘I need to recover all the fragments, and I also need to find a way to survive.’

It’s truly astonishing, once again, how extraordinary the protagonist is. During the year the original story progresses-effectively about 10 months-the protagonist gained wealth, power, and love, and saved the world along the way.

‘As much as I’d like to just let the original story flow as it is…’

No matter how much of a protagonist they are, the foundation of this world is a dating sim. It’s a world where the correct ‘choices’ exist, and you can only reach the true ending by following the correct route.

In the game, I played as the protagonist, but now I’m not the protagonist; I’m just Evil Executive A, who sacrifices for the protagonist.

‘If things go wrong, I might have to raise the protagonist myself.’

I’ll become a Princess-no, a Hero Maker. I carefully folded the newspaper and stood up from the chair.

“……?”

Suddenly, a shadow falls over my head.

“Student. You said you were looking for a bus to New Seoul?”

Suddenly, a slender, blonde young man flashed a friendly smile. His skin was slightly tanned, as if he’d been sunbathing at the beach somewhere.

‘What the hell is this bastard?’

I was about to ignore him and walk past, but I changed my mind and responded to the man.

“Yes. I have business in New Seoul, but…”

“Did you get a ticket number? Let’s see. Ugh. In the 5000s? No way. It’ll take at least 3 months, even if you’re early.”

“Oh, really?”

When I asked back as if I didn’t know, even though I already did, the man patted my shoulder and smiled brightly.

Should I cut it off?

“Exactly! Thousands of people say they want to go down to New Seoul every day. You saw it too, student, didn’t you? That older lady who was forced off the bus earlier, crying and making a fuss.”

The man lowered his voice.

“So, you see. For those unfortunate people, we provide transportation to New Seoul…”

“Isn’t that illegal?”

When I cut off the man’s words and asked, his eyebrows furrowed slightly. But he shrugged.

“If the country decided that, then it would be illegal, wouldn’t it? But seriously, would they really shoot people who came down due to monster damage? Especially among the same Korean people.”

That was true. They wouldn’t shoot. Not with guns.

“If you, student, are a good child of a new nation who upholds the law, I won’t press you further. But student. Among the guys running vehicles to New Seoul in this neighborhood, I can give you the cheapest price, okay?”

His fresh smile, with his thumb and forefinger pressed together, was so ridiculous that I snickered inwardly. Of course, on the outside, I acted as if I was full of caution.

“…You’re really going to New Seoul, right?”

“Of course! If you just have a little bit of money. In that sense, student, how much do you have right now?”

I pulled out the banknotes I had stuffed into my pocket. Two bills with King Sejong-nim, given to me by Old Man Park for travel expenses.

“Only this…”

“Ah. That’s a problem. It’s nowhere near enough.”

The young man subtly scanned my body up and down. I thought about gouging out his eyes, then was startled by my own cruelty and composed myself.

Just the thought of him daring to look at my lovely angel bluebird with lecherous eyes.

“Is there, is there no other way?”

“It’s not that there’s no way, student. Do you have parents? Or a guardian?”

“…I have a cousin unnie in New Seoul. My parents aren’t around.”

When I spoke with a tearful voice, the man made a pitiful expression. But his sunken eyes were full of lust.

The man scratched his head as if troubled, then grabbed my wrist and pulled me.

“Can’t be helped. Let’s go for now. I’ll try to plead and ask for a favor-“

“But.”

I smiled, grabbing the hand that tightly held my wrist in return.

“Who said it was okay to lay a hand on my body?”

“What?”

The man’s eyebrows furrowed into a momentarily dumbfounded expression.

I just smiled gently, and then

Peok!

I released the hand that held my wrist, lifted my leg, and kicked.

Kwajik

” “

With the sound of something precious being crushed, the man collapsed to the floor without even being able to scream.

“Seokpil-ah!!”

“This crazy bitch?!”

The men who had been hiding behind the door appeared one by one, frothing at the mouth, and helped up the collapsed blonde young man.

‘When did they notice?!’

‘From the beginning.’

‘How! The plan was perfect?!’

It was obvious that this kind of conversation would follow.

I sighed deeply inwardly and just looked at the blonde young man with pitiful eyes.

‘Blonde hair and tanned skin, 100% Hitomi material.’

Let me be clear, the fundamental nature of this world is not an open-world RPG or a post-apocalyptic setting, but a 19+ dating sim.

And it’s not a pure 100% pure love genre, but a world rampant with all sorts of 19+ tags. You can’t survive unless you furiously roll your eyes.

“Rather than following people who might do anything to a high school girl with no money, I’d rather wait. I’m going to call the police.”

Alright. Then, towards these ruffians who dared to covet Phoenix-nim’s sacred body, the flame of justice (public authority)-

“Hey, you crazy bitch! If you don’t have money, you can just ask your cousin unnie to send it!”

“Huh?”

In the eyes of the colleague supporting the unconscious blonde young man, there was a hint of injustice.

“Um… what happened?”

A woman appeared from below the stairs, carrying a bundle. She was the one who had been forcibly removed from the bus a little while ago.

“Sis, sis-nim. Just a moment. Seokpil-i is…”

“Huk?! Snap out of it!”

In the terminal corridor, a man lay on a chair, screaming silently. I could only stand awkwardly beside them, saying nothing.

“Th-this isn’t how it was supposed to go…”

I fiddled with my fingers and averted my gaze to the sky.

The sky was clear and sunny, without a single cloud.

* * *

“Nice to meet you, student. My name is Kim Sang-ah.”

The middle-aged woman, who introduced herself as Kim Sang-ah, habitually took a business card from her wallet and handed it to me.

The business card, beautifully embossed with gold foil, had the phrase ‘Lawyer Kim Sang-ah, Raon Law Firm’ elegantly printed on it.

“You were a lawyer? But…”

At my surprised question, Kim Sang-ah smiled bitterly.

“I showed you something you shouldn’t have seen, didn’t I? I’m sorry. This is really precious to me.”

Kim Sang-ah took out an album from her bundle.

“It’s my ex-husband and daughter. After we divorced, my husband went down to his hometown, Busan. My daughter is with her dad now.”

“Are you perhaps trying to go to New Seoul because…”

Kim Sang-ah nodded.

“Yes. Before Pyongyang blew up, my daughter’s dad took her to see Busan for a bit. She’s been staying in Busan ever since.”

Kim Sang-ah’s hand, as she stroked the photo, was full of calluses, making it hard to believe it belonged to a lawyer.

“…Then, I decided to go down because I felt Incheon was no longer livable. It’s shameless of me towards my daughter’s dad, but.”

“I see.”

If it were New Seoul, perhaps, but in a neighborhood where monsters rampage day and night, it would be difficult for a lawyer to earn money as before.

Judging by her shabby clothes, she probably hadn’t been working as a lawyer for the past year, but doing odd jobs. And now that her money had almost run out, she was going to rely on her ex-husband.

“Um… student, why are you going to New Seoul? Is it also to evacuate?”

At Kim Sang-ah’s words, I recounted the background story I had prepared.

“My cousin unnie works in New Seoul.”

“Your parents?”

“…….”

“…I’m sorry. I misspoke.”

It was convenient that if I just acted like I had a story, they would misunderstand on their own. Was this the power of the school uniform?

“But your hair color is quite unique. Are you perhaps a Hero?”

Kim Sang-ah smiled brightly and tried to continue the conversation.

Well, that’s understandable. She was alone in a shabby office that looked straight out of a gangster movie, so she must have been anxious. Perhaps she was trying to alleviate that anxiety by chatting like this, especially since I was there.

“It’s dyed.”

“Ah, I see. Your eyebrows are the same color, so I thought you had awakened as a Hero. Seolhwa Princess-nim’s hair is also the color of white snow, isn’t it?”

“That’s true.”

It’s a common story for Heroes who awaken their powers to have their body hair change color due to the influence of their abilities. Thanks to that, my blue hair stands out a bit, but it’s not to the point of being unusual.

“Hero awakening, huh.”

Old Man Park mistook me for a Hero. The thought of just registering as a Hero and operating as one briefly crossed my mind.

“Ah. Do you also want to become a Hero, student?”

“…It’s definitely better to have power. In this crazy world.”

Kim Sang-ah took a sip of green tea and nodded.

“That’s right. It’s no longer a world where everything can be solved with money, like before. Korea might be in this state, but do you know how Heroes are treated in America or Europe?”

“Human butchers managed by the state?”

I recited the exact same answer that the protagonist chose in the original story. Kim Sang-ah wagged her index finger with a condescending look.

“Idols. Superstars. Icons. They transcend all of that; they are literally humanity’s ‘Heroes’. Student, it seems you need to cultivate a bit more sensibility.”

I was about to retort, wondering what kind of quarrel this was with someone I’d just met, but I held back.

“Right. Sensibility, huh.”

“That’s right. The more desolate this world becomes, the more we should share humanity among people and…”

“Excuse me. I have a question.”

I deliberately cut off Kim Sang-ah’s words. Kim Sang-ah had a quite displeased expression, but I paid no mind and asked my question.

“In a desolate world like this, how should one live as a human being?”

“……That’s a really sudden question.”

As Kim Sang-ah fell into thought, I elaborated on the situation a bit more.

“For example, it’s like this: when all I have is my body, and the world is too hard to live in. Lawyer-nim, how do you want to survive in this crazy world?”

“Well… it seems to align with my situation somehow.”

Kim Sang-ah hugged her bundle, self-deprecatingly.

“If it were me, I wouldn’t care about the means or methods. I would go to Busan, where my daughter is, by any means necessary, even if it means passing through New Seoul.”

“……Hmm.”

“Ah. Just in case you misunderstand, I’m clearly stating that this is all within legal boundaries. Would I ever violate the law? I’m a legal professional, after all.”

“I see.”

I turned my head to the window and closed my mouth. Kim Sang-ah seemed anxious and tried to speak to me, but I ignored her cues and kept my gaze fixed on the window.

‘Regardless of means or methods.’

Does that include committing inhumane crimes? I wanted to ask that directly but decided against it.

‘I’ll find out soon enough anyway.’

Kim Sang-ah and I silently waited for them in the office the young men had led us to. Whether they were truly a group of brokers heading to New Seoul, or if they would be the first example of this rotten world’s dark side.

‘Either way, it doesn’t matter.’

“Because if they piss me off, I can just kill them all.”

“Huh?”

“Oh, it’s just me talking to myself. Don’t mind it.”

I waved my hand to reassure the startled Kim Sang-ah. Kim Sang-ah was subtly shifting her butt on the sofa, putting distance between herself and me.

“Th-then, student, you’re an ability user after all…?”

Beolkkeok.

The office door opened. I subtly glanced at Kim Sang-ah, then smiled gently at the young men entering through the door.

“I’ve been waiting.”

Truly.