episode_0028

Friend (1)

“Hey, I’m going crazy.”

Arthur muttered as he lay sprawled on his own sofa.

“What should I do?”

“I have to go out.”

“Really? The opponent is an A-class villain, a genuine A-class villain. A veteran villain who became A-class with skill alone.”

“Then should I not go out?”

“Really? The opponent is an A-class villain. A villain with the ability to act recklessly without planning, just like you.”

“What can I do about it?”

“Just saying, whether you go out or not, it becomes a problem.”

“I know that too.”

Arthur said, burying his face in the sofa.

“What should I do?”

“That balloon helmet.”

Jim said, tapping his head.

“Is it bulletproof?”

“Why?”

“I’m curious if it can withstand a sniper shot.”

“It’s bulletproof. And high-performance at that.”

Hector replied after rummaging through his phone.

“Too bad.”

“Hypnosis won’t work on me, and I don’t think bullets will either.”

“…Hmm, one idea did come to mind.”

“Same thought as mine.”

Arthur turned his head to look at Hector’s face and said.

“Let’s get ready.”

“Your taste is peculiar.”

Inside a certain abandoned factory, Mr. Balloon looked around and spoke.

(Profit!)

Black smoke billowed from the ceiling, covering the space like a curtain.

“…”

(Swish, whoosh!)

As Mr. Balloon gestured, a strong wind blew, dispersing the smoke.

“Nice to meet you, Mad Hatter.”

As the smoke cleared, Arthur appeared and greeted Mr. Balloon.

“Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Balloon.”

Arthur also politely greeted him.

“Why did you summon me? Oh, more importantly…”

(Thud! Thud! Thud!)

A table and two chairs fell from the ceiling.

(Swish)

Arthur set up a chair and sat down, producing a teapot and teacup from somewhere.

“Would you like a cup of tea?”

(Pouring)

Arthur poured tea and asked Mr. Balloon.

“With a face like this, forget the tea, but the place isn’t suitable.”

Mr. Balloon declined the tea and sat down.

“Is that a helmet? Or is it real?”

“Does that matter?”

“Not really, but I’m genuinely curious.”

“I’ll tell you when we get a little closer.”

“So, what’s the matter?”

“There’s a social gathering.”

“?”

“A gathering of villains, the Villain Union.”

“…”

“There’s someone who invited you there.”

“Hmm…”

Who? Me? Why?

“But there’s a condition.”

“?”

It’s a kind of entrance exam.

…

He roughly guessed what the test was about.

“You have to survive from the villain who raised objections.”

“Do you have any ill feelings towards me?”

“Just out of curiosity, survive from me for an hour.”

“Give you 5 minutes, whether you run, hide, or resist, it’s up to you.”

…

(Swish)

Arthur took out his pocket watch and checked the time.

(Tick! Tock! Tick! Tock!)

Time passed, and suddenly four minutes had gone by.

“Haha! Seems like you’re quite confident!”

As the time was nearly up and Arthur didn’t move, Mr. Villain laughed as if he was enjoying himself.

“Stronger than I thought?”

“…I just make good use of the situation.”

(Thud)

Putting away the pocket watch, Arthur said,

(Swish)

Then he stood up and distanced himself from Mr. Villain.

“…”

Mr. Villain thought Arthur was preparing to fight him, so he prepared himself as well.

“36 Tactics: Smoke Screen!”

(Bang!!)

Until Arthur set off a smoke bomb.

“…”

(Swish)

Mr. Villain looked bewildered, but then immediately created a gust of wind to make the smoke disappear.

“?”

On the spot where Arthur stood, a business card lay on the ground.

(Swish)

[Mad Hatter]

“Hmm”

Mr. Villain put the card in his pocket.

(Crash!!)

At that moment, the ceiling collapsed, and a woman landed inside the abandoned factory.

“…Snow Flower.”

The person who broke through the ceiling and entered the factory was the hero Snow Flower.

“Hahaha! Well, this is also a way!”

Mr. Villain laughed and said.

“Mr. Villain! You are under arrest!”

Snow Flower suddenly lowered the temperature around her and shouted with breath coming out of her mouth.

(Woosh!!)

With the low temperature and Mr. Villain’s ability, a fierce wind began to blow, creating a kind of blizzard.

…

…

…

(Crash! Bang! Rumble!!)

“Phew”

Walking down the street, Arthur, who was taking off Mad Hatter’s attire, heard a tremendous battle noise coming from the abandoned factory he had just exited and walked even faster.

(Woosh)

“Hey! Wait!”

Seohyun drove in a sports car, lifting her sunglasses and shouting at Arthur, “Is this from a hundred years ago?”

(Thud)

Arthur got into Seohyun’s car.

“Hey, you’re the first guy to ride in this car.”

“When did you buy this?”

“…Three months ago?”

“You’re probably the first person to ride other than you.”

“Tsk.”

(Bang!!)

“Step on it.”

“Hold tight.”

(Vroom!!!)

“Whoa! Wait! Wait!”

(Vroom!!)

Despite Arthur’s shout, the car sped through the wind.

“Hey! Hey! Red light! Red light! Speed bump!!”

After the hellish drive, Arthur staggered out of the vehicle.

“Pant, pant, pant.”

Being a villain was more exhausting with Seohyun’s brief drive than his activities.

“Phew! Thankfully, I didn’t lose my cool.”

“You crazy brat!! What were you thinking slamming the brakes right before the camera?!”

Regaining composure, Arthur ran towards Seohyun, shouting.

“Grr!”

Then he covered his mouth and rushed into the house.

“…”

Seohyun scratched her head at Arthur’s reaction.

(Thud! Thud! Thud!)

“Unfortunately, Mr. Villain seems to have fled after the skirmish with Snow Flower.”

“Will he come back to this area?”

“Don’t worry. He… no, Snow Flower will stop him.”

“Haha, we should thank Snow Flower.”

In the morning, Arthur and Seolha were jogging and chatting.

“It must have been difficult for you to tell me. You made a good decision. Most people can’t report threats from villains.”

“That’s because I trust you, Seolha.”

“Hmm.”

“Ah, these days, exercising with Seolha seems more effective than doing it alone.”

“Yes, I prefer running with the boss rather than alone.”

(Swish)

“Oh.”

He had brought the water bottle but forgot to fill it. It felt too light. It seemed someone had drunk from it in the evening.

“…”

“I’m thirsty.”

“Oh, drink mine.”

Seolha handed her water bottle to Arthur.

“Thank you.”

“Indeed a hero, helping others.”

Arthur thought as he drank Seolha’s water.

“Do you have time tomorrow?”

“Time?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a meal with the boss. We’re neighbors and friends now.”

“Um… I go to work every day, but since I’m the boss, it should be okay for me to take a half-day off, right?”

“If the boss works so hard, it’s tough on the subordinates.”

“Haha, then let’s take tomorrow off.”

“Okay.”

So, the next day, with little time left until the appointment,

“Sir, there’s a problem…”

“Don’t tell me it’s the villain?”

“No, it’s not that. Some people from another faction have barged into our distillery.”

…”

Asa pressed his temples with his hand, as if his head hurt.

“Where are they from?”

“They’re from the Merida Cartel.”

“…Aren’t they involved in drugs?”

“Due to recent crackdowns on heroes, it seems they are also extending their reach into the alcohol side.”

“So they’ve dared to touch us because of that.”

The Merida Cartel is one of the major organizations in the Union City and at the same time, it tightly controls the drug business in the Union City.

Union City, created in the area where the Korean Peninsula was located, has very strong drug enforcement. However, Union City is a city where immigrants, or more precisely survivors, from all over the world have gathered, so naturally various races and ethnicities have come here, along with the characteristics of criminal organizations from various countries around the world.

Thus, drug organizations began to emerge in Union City, and among them, the Merida Cartel became the largest organization involved in the drug business.

“Oh, by the way, the number of villains and heroes in the F district has been increasing recently. It’s a continuing trend.”

“…Is it because of Snow Flower?”

“It’s not because of her. More precisely, it’s because other heroes followed her into the F district when she came.”

A-class heroes are not just strong heroes. They are the top few hundred out of 100,000 super-powered individuals, and each of their activities has a significant impact on Union City.

In other words, just by her activity in the F district, which used to be a hero-avoiding area, the number of heroes started to increase. If heroes increased, it was natural for the number of villains to increase as well, so the number of villains also increased.

“So, what’s the situation?”

“Six out of seven workshops have been raided.”

(Groan!)

“And one is currently under attack,” Hashimoto said after checking his messages.

“Sigh.”

Arthur stood up and walked backward.

(Beep beep)

Then, he recognized his fingerprint on the pad hanging on the wall.

(Click!)

At that moment, hidden closets and various weapons revealed themselves.

“Contact Jim.”

…

…

…

(Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!)

“Damn it!”

Bullets rained down on the street, as Arthur’s subordinates in formal attire took cover to avoid the gunfire.

“So! When is the boss coming?”

“The boss? What’s going to happen when the boss comes?”

“…”

“…”

Upon one member’s words, others looked at him.

“?”

“You’re new?”

“Yeah, I joined recently.”

“Oh, then you probably wouldn’t know.”

“?”

“You’ll find out soon enough.”

“??”

Leaving the member who didn’t understand, other members loaded their weapons while taking cover from the bullets.

(Bang!! Bang!! Thud! Thud!)

With a different, heavy gunshot, enemy organization members began to fall.

“He’s here.”

(Click!)

From the opposite rooftop, Jim, the headhunter, pulled the trigger of his sniper rifle.

(Ziiing!)

Simultaneously, black smoke rose from the middle of the road.

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

Along with the smoke, everyone looked at the spot without firing, knowing who was there.

(Whoosh)

As the smoke dissipated, the villain Mad Hatter revealed himself.

“Fire!”

(Pew! Pew!)

As Arthur emerged, enemy organization members aimed their guns at him.

(Bang!! Bang!! Bang!!)

But before they could pull the triggers, they were taken down by the headhunter’s sniper shot.

“Hah.”

(Swish)

Arthur sighed and took out a pocket watch.

“Do you have an appointment?”

After checking the time, Arthur put the pocket watch away and simultaneously drew a machine pistol.

“Let’s finish this quickly.”

(Ratatatat!)