Ch.11. Betrayed (1)

“Dragons do not shed tears.”

“They only soar.”

With those final words, I forcefully pressed the switch on my left arm. As I rotated the upper part, a voice flowed out.

[EXCALIBUR!]

[RHONGOMYNIAD!]

[CLARENT!]

[—Include! REVELATION!]

A red light enveloped my entire body. Every muscle and bone in my body screamed in agony. My boiling blood felt like it would evaporate.

But I endured it. One more push forward. Both that monster and I were equally tattered and on the verge of collapse.

‘Dark Arthur.’ The leader of the evil organization ‘Dark Kingdom Apocamellot.’ A monstrous figure in terrifying black armor that exuded overwhelming terror.

“Uoooooooh!!”

I leaped into the sky and delivered my final kick toward him. The Red Dragon of Apocalypse dwelling within me materialized and wrapped around my body.

Dark Arthur swung his great sword toward me. Black aura. A powerful sword energy that would annihilate anything it touched. Finally, the two forces collided.

KABOOOOM!!

Having poured out all my strength, smoke billowed from my entire body. Behind me, I heard the sound of armor crumbling.

“Ooh, ooooh…”

Dark Arthur disintegrated into ashes.

It was over.

The year-long battle against the evil organization had reached its finale.

“Ha, haha.”

A laugh of relief escaped me. With the tension gone, I collapsed on the spot.

“Red!”

“Red, big brother…”

I could see the faces of my comrades.

Blue, Yellow, Green, Silver.

The members of the S-Sentai who had fought alongside me to bring down the evil organization.

“We won. It’s finally over.”

I felt relieved.

Though my body had no strength left, with them here, we could safely return from this spaceship.

I wanted to go back to Earth and rest.

Let’s enjoy this peace for a while.

“Can you help me up? I’m drained. Haha…”

I awkwardly smiled at them.

But for some reason, my comrades weren’t rushing to my side and seemed hesitant.

What’s going on? Are there still enemies left?

“What’s wrong? Come and…”

The next moment.

SLASH!!

“Huh?”

I couldn’t believe my eyes.

My left arm with the transformation device.

It had been severed at the elbow.

“Uh… ugh, uuugh, aaaah?!”

“Kekeke. Got it! Grab the transformation device!”

Blood gushed from my arm. At the cut was a blue blade. Blue’s sword.

Blue kicked my arm, which had become like a large chunk of ham. Silver caught it.

“Urgh, what are you doing?!”

“Shut up, you vermin.”

Blue’s foot struck my face. The taste of metal spread in my mouth.

My transformation had been undone. Taking that attack in my bare body was excruciating.

Silver, Yellow, Green—none of them came to help me.

That’s when I realized.

I had been betrayed.

◈ ◈ ◈

Unlimited Heroes.

That’s the name of the game I was possessing.

Justice, Friendship, Victory!

Obsessed with hero stories, I became completely infatuated with this dream collaboration game featuring heroes from all genres. Before I knew it, I had spent several months’ worth of salary.

It was a typical pay-to-win RPG where you could enjoy live scenarios that updated in real-time.

There was an interesting system. While each hero had different characteristics and personalities, players who wanted could form a sentai team.

Of course, it was a cash-grab content where sentai teams competed for rankings.

The #1 ranked sentai team could earn the title of Superior Sentai, commonly known as S-Sentai.

The moment I finally reached the peak and acquired the title of Red of the S-Sentai, I was possessed.

The character had a handsome appearance, but his level, stats, everything was reset. However, I still had all the cash items and achievement rewards.

Fortunately, there was quite some time before the scenario started.

Excited to have fallen into a world I loved and burning with a sense of justice, I quickly rose to become an S-class hero by defeating villains and growing stronger.

Then the scenario began.

The first scenario was based on the mainstream content from one of many original works.

It was the year-long battle against the evil organization ‘Dark Kingdom Apocamellot.’

Unlike the game, the difficulty was much higher since I was the only ‘player’ in this world.

I recruited individuals from this world to form a sentai team, and as the Superior Sentai, commonly known as S-Sentai, we had been taking down Apocamellot.

My sentai team’s name was ‘Dragon King Sentai Draodger.’

A sentai of warriors possessing the powers of mythical dragons.

For the peace and justice of this world alone.

We fought, and fought, and fought some more.

◈ ◈ ◈

And it was repaid in the worst possible way.

“Uuugh! Why, why Blue Saber… no, Ji Se-hwa! Why are you doing this?!”

Ji Se-hwa elegantly twirled the Leviathan Saber to shake off my blood. She rested the saber on her shoulder, crouched down, and looked at me.

“Why, you ask? You should know better, you piece of trash! A bastard who abandoned the duty of a leader because of greed!”

“What nonsense is this?! I fought for justice every moment!”

“Justice, justice, every time you open your mouth. Do you know how disgusting it was to hear that? Hey, you money-obsessed bastard. You always took down the monsters yourself, so we never got a penny. You know that?”

“Money? We’re saving the world. What does money matter?!”

“The Hero Association only gives rewards to the one who lands the final blow, and you know that better than anyone. Always taking the final blow yourself?”

“I always told you. The executive-level monsters who feel the threat of death and go berserk are too dangerous for you to handle. You could have lost your lives!”

They’ve never seen an executive-level monster being defeated. I was always the one who took on the danger alone.

I received rewards for that, but there’s not a penny in my account now. I used it all to buy preparations for the enemies in the next scenario.

“Red, you’re not the only S-class hero. We’re also S-class heroes certified by the Association.”

Silver Mirrored, Shin Yukyong, interjected. Dressed in ninja attire, she looked down at me expressionlessly with her arms crossed.

“If you were worried about our abilities, you could have distributed the switches.”

“What switches? You all have the dragon switches.”

“I’m talking about the switches obtained from Apocamellot’s executives. Red, you hoarded them all. Excalibur, Rhongomyniad, Clarent. You took them all.”

Silver showed me the transformation device from my arm as she spoke.

“What? You cut off my arm just for those switches? You inhuman bastards!!”

I screamed until my vocal cords felt damaged.

These bastards. After all I’ve done for them.

Blue, Ji Se-hwa, I was the one who bought you soup when you were a street thug.

Silver, Shin Yukyong, I was the one who saved you when your ninja clan was massacred.

Yellow, Kang Yerin, I was the one who saved you when your entire family was about to be assassinated due to political intrigue.

Green, Choi Minseo, I was the one who helped you when you were bullied at the academy, scouted and trained you.

Money? Power?

You betrayed me for such things?

“Just those switches? We’ve done justice. Isn’t that right, Green?”

Shin Yukyong gave Choi Minseo a look.

“…I didn’t want to believe it either. When the Association Chairman said that Red was a drug addict.”

“Drug addict? What nonsense is this?”

“I, I saw it. The mountain of Pestam piled up in the basement of Red’s residence…”

“You saw that? Why were you sneaking into someone else’s house…!”

“I was caught by Emma right away and chased out, but it was definitely…”

“We don’t need to hear more. That’s why you were so desperately saving money, to buy drugs! You trash!”

Ji Se-hwa chimed in.

Pestam. It’s not a drug by itself. It can be processed into a drug.

I was indeed collecting it. But that was for the scenario that would start next.

Evil organizations aren’t just one, of course.

The next evil organization to invade, the Galaxy Empire, has a weakness to weapons made from Pestam.

“It’s not a drug. It’s a weapon. A secret means to defeat the evil organization!”

“The evil organization was just defeated. What nonsense are you talking about?”

Shin Yukyong shook her head. They don’t know about the next evil organization.

Of course, I couldn’t talk about such things. How could I explain the crazy notion that you are NPCs in a game and I know the future?

“Seems like you’re already hallucinating? Keke.”

“The Association Chairman said so. If Red, who’s a drug addict, has exclusive access to the switches and gains immense power, he could become an SSS-class villain if he has a breakdown.”

Choi Minseo clenched her fist.

“I’ve been fighting quietly at the rear of the sentai without any popularity. It was always Red who hogged the spotlight and honor. Not taking responsibility for that position, and doing such things.”

“No. This is a false accusation by the Association Chairman. I swear I never used it as a drug!”

“But you were moaning every night. If that’s not a side effect, what is it?”

“What…”

I didn’t know they thought that.

It was because of the switches.

The enemy switches I additionally installed in my transformation device after defeating the monster executives.

They were powers necessary according to the strategy to defeat Dark Arthur, the leader of the evil organization, but they were also too rebellious for a human to use.

What was just a health demerit in the game was accompanied by tremendous pain in reality.

That was also why I hoarded the switches.

I couldn’t burden my comrades with such pain.

I had been fighting all this time, forcibly enduring the pain.

One comrade who first learned this fact had suffered from guilt towards me for a long time.

That’s why I had kept it a secret from them.

I never thought they would think like this.

Given the situation, I need to clear up the misunderstanding now.

“It’s because of the switches. It was the pain of the backlash from using Apocamellot’s switches. I shouldered it because I couldn’t give that pain to you all.”

“Ha… you expect us to believe that?”

Ji Se-hwa looked at me with contemptuous eyes.

“We’ll share these switches. Red… Jung Ui-seok’s can only be used by him anyway. I’ll take Excalibur.”

“Rhongomyniad is mine, keke.”

“Ah, then I’ll take Clarent…”

“Hey, Kang Yerin, what about you?”

Yellow Cloaker, Kang Yerin, shook her head as if uninterested.

“I’ll pass.”

“There are just three, so that works out well.”

I clenched my remaining right hand into a fist.

“It’s a misunderstanding. It’s all a misunderstanding. The Association Chairman deceived you all. Trust me over someone like her. Trust me. I did it for justice, for the world.”

THUD!

A dull sound accompanied by pain that battered my brain through the synapses. Blue had kicked me in the stomach.

“Shut your mouth, you money-grubbing drug addict. Try saying the word ‘justice’ one more time. I’ll send you to Pink’s side.”

In that moment.

Hearing those words, everything before my eyes turned blood red.

“Don’t say that name.”

“What will you do if I do? I’ll send you to Han Somi’s side. To that pathetic woman who died because of you. Huh?”

“Shut your mouth!!”

Blood rushed to my head. Hearing that name, I couldn’t maintain my sanity.

Absolutely not.

The one I loved, who loved me.

Hearing that name.