Ch.15Episode 4. Shadows Moving in the Night (3)

“I’ve informed the other heroes for support, so they’ll be moving soon. I’d appreciate your quick response to minimize casualties.”

“Understood.”

“…Instructor?”

“Huh, what?”

Startled by the sudden voice, I hastily ended the call with a shudder.

I turned around. There was Yu Ari, tilting her head and looking at me with confusion.

“Ah, yes. What is it?”

“…I came to tell you that I’ve fi-finished cleaning up. Is something wrong?”

“No, no. Nothing at all.”

I mumbled while putting my phone in my pocket.

“If it’s urgent, you can g-go.”

“…Yeah. Sorry. I wanted to help with your training.”

I decided to accept her kindness.

“It’s okay. I can do it by my-myself.”

“Alright. See you tomorrow then.”

“That…!”

As I was about to turn around after waving goodbye, she spoke up.

“Be-be careful.”

“Huh…?”

I stared blankly at her back as she hurriedly entered the training hall building.

Be careful? About what?

Did she perhaps overhear my phone conversation?

I wanted to ask Yu Ari, but due to time constraints, I decided to ask her next time when I had the chance.

I surveyed my surroundings.

After confirming there was no one around, I fully activated my powers and sprinted toward the dormitory.

As soon as I arrived at the dormitory, I changed clothes and put on a mask. It might be a cheap plastic mask, but now I felt incomplete without it.

“Alright. Let’s go.”

* * *

“Aaaagh!”

“Kyaaaah!”

I moved quickly toward the source of the screams, leaping over buildings. Below, citizens were frantically evacuating.

Other heroes were gathering too, fighting villains in the streets.

But there didn’t seem to be many villains. Even for a hideout, it didn’t appear to be very large.

BOOM!

A building in front of me collapsed, spewing smoke. Seeing dust scatter in all directions, I couldn’t help but sigh.

These villain bastards were always a disaster whenever they showed up.

It would be better if they just kidnapped one or two people like Gongsang did. At least then, you’d just need to subdue the villain and be done with it.

But when heroes and villains clash in the middle of the city like this, casualties inevitably multiply exponentially. Property damage was just a bonus.

“Is this the place?”

I looked down at the scene from the rooftop of a building adjacent to the source.

I could see several silhouettes below. Some were slumped against buildings.

“Urghh!”

“You think you can kill me with that level of skill? You pathetic hero? Do you know who I am? I’m not a member of Akcheon for nothing!”

He was holding someone by the neck, shouting loudly. I jumped down from the rooftop and landed silently.

“I’ll rip out all your organs and scatter them as punishment for underestimating me.”

“Wow, that sounds brutal even just hearing about it.”

“Huh? Who are you!”

I grabbed the arm of the guy who hastily turned around at my words.

“‘Who are you’ is informal speech, you punk.”

CRACK!

I applied pressure with my grip, and his forearm snapped as easily as a Pepero stick.

“Aaaah—”

WHAM!

I punched him in the cheekbone. I looked unimpressively at the guy who was twitching after creating a crater in the building wall.

“Shut up, man. What a nuisance at night.”

The person who had been grabbed by the neck was sprawled on the ground. He didn’t seem dead.

“Who are you?”

The guys who had been beating the fallen hero all turned to look at me. There were five of them.

“Hmm. Who am I?”

“Are you playing word games?!”

The bodies of the two guys in front began to grow.

It seemed to be a size-increasing ability, but the level wasn’t very high as they only grew slightly taller.

Then objects around us began to float one by one.

There seemed to be a telekinetic user too, but they could only lift small objects, probably unable to handle heavier ones.

“Well, whatever. I don’t have time, so come at me all at once.”

PING—!

I tilted my head back to avoid a sword aiming for the side of my neck. Seems like there’s someone with the ability to penetrate objects too.

Before things get annoying, I should crush them all.

I grabbed the blade and shattered it, then dodged all the flying objects.

While I was avoiding the objects, the enlarged guys approached and threw punches.

“You’re too slow.”

THUD!

I precisely countered the swinging fist.

The moment our fists collided, there was a creaking sound from the enlarged guy’s forearm as he was thrown back.

His joints—wrist, elbow, shoulder—seemed dislocated, causing his arm to go limp.

“ARGH!”

“Shut up.”

After driving a knee kick into the face of the guy screaming while holding his arm, I dodged the punch of the other enlarged guy and moved in close.

I struck his side precisely, and as he hunched over, I uppercut his chin.

He rose slightly and then fell onto a pile of garbage bags.

Just as I was about to attack the next one, objects flew at me from all directions while countless blades protruded from the wall.

SLASH!

I approached them while reading the trajectories of all the flying objects and the directions the blades were moving.

“Spark! That’s it! You’re the Lightning G—”

THWACK!

“Don’t call me that.”

After striking the telekinetic in the abdomen, I kicked the face of the guy who had his hand on the wall.

A blade that rose from a blind spot stopped just before reaching my neck.

That was because his hand detached from the wall as his head was thrown back.

“You’re all being such a nuisance.”

I looked at the villain who was still standing.

“Aren’t you coming? Not going to fight?”

“……”

“If you’re not coming, should I come to you?”

Just as I was extending my fist toward the pitch-black guy who was staring blankly at me…

BANG!

My fist was deflected with a sensation like the flow of air had changed. A defensive villain?

I approached again to properly check his ability.

But a shockwave poured down on me with a sound like air being sliced.

BOOM!

I hurriedly raised my hands to block, but the tremendous impact forced me to crash into the wall.

“Ugh!”

Zzzzt.

My forearm throbbed with pain.

“That really hurts…”

A force that penetrated even through my full activation.

As far as I knew, there was only one villain who could use “Air Wave,” an ability that gathered air to create powerful impacts.

“Frustrating, isn’t it?”

The guy who had been standing still earlier was now stepping on the shadow on the wall connected to my shadow.

“Your shadow is caught now. Even if you try to move forcibly, you won’t be able to.”

I tapped the shadow with my foot.

Indeed, I felt something constricting my entire body.

This guy is also someone I know.

Although his appearance is completely black and I can’t see his features, I can tell from his ability to use “Shadow Binding.”

However, with this level, I could easily break free with “Nullify” skill and move sufficiently.

“…What do you want?”

Nevertheless, I chose to speak rather than move.

The fact that they initiated conversation means they have a purpose with me.

If so, there’s no reason for me not to engage in dialogue.

Currently, I know most of the information about Akcheon, but I don’t know the variables created by the character Yujin not joining Akcheon.

I wanted to know what Akcheon was thinking.

“You and I have nothing to talk about. The person who wants to talk to you is behind you.”

“…?”

When I turned around, I saw three silhouettes on the wall.

One had elegant curves, while another had bumpy muscles.

The remaining one seemed to be wearing a suit, with shoulders having a distinctive shape.

But strangely, I couldn’t see their appearances at all.

It was probably one of the skills of the guy holding me, “Shadow Veil.”

“It’s better not to struggle. A shockwave ready to tear your body apart is prepared at any time.”

One of the silhouettes in a suit came down from the wall and walked toward me while speaking.

What’s this? Does he want to get hit?

“So?”

I spoke calmly while looking at the approaching figure.

“So…? Don’t you understand your position right now?”

“I really appreciate you considering my position, but could you get to the point quickly?”

I’m getting impatient and want to break free.

I intentionally sparked electricity as a warning to the approaching man.

“As long as the shadow is holding you, you can’t touch us, can you?”

Despite being wary of the spark, he mocks me with a sneer. The moment he struck the ground with the cane he was holding, the spark vanished.

“A man should act like a gentleman.”

“Hmm…”

An ability-nullifying effect?

Now I could be certain of their identity.

These guys are from Yaeyoung.

Yaeyoung was a direct unit under Wolgwang, one of Akcheon’s executives.

“Don’t you think we deliberately revealed ourselves to lure you?”

“Wasn’t this area your hideout?”

“Do you think we would reveal our hideout? Your thinking ability seems quite lacking.”

Look at how he’s subtly provoking me.

Don’t expect mercy from me.

“You’ve been persistently targeting Akcheon and even rejected our scout offer. You must have thought this might happen?”

I didn’t think about it.

But listening to these guys talk, they’re quite arrogant.

Because I’m being docile, they think they’re superior. And they’re speaking informally too.

They shouldn’t speak informally to someone they’ve just met, even if I’m older!

…But didn’t I speak informally to the special class students when I first met them?

Well, the relationship between me and the special class students is clearly that of teacher and students… so it’s okay, right?

As I was rationalizing, the man wearing a fedora addressed me.

“…Why did you reject the scout offer?”

“Scout offer? Oh, that? Are you using the money well?”

“I told you to act like a gentleman!!”

He slammed his cane down in rage, causing the ground to collapse. The impact cracked the ground, and nearby buildings tilted slightly.

See? Look at this. Acting all high and mighty just because he got some recognition from an executive.

“So, does your boss ‘Wolgwang’ act like a gentleman too?”

“What?”

“Y-you! How do you know that?”

“Nullify.”

I break free from both the shadow holding my entire body and the “Restriction” skill sealing my abilities.

Feeling my body lighten, I confirmed the spark returning.

“Come to think of it.”

“What?”

“I don’t know why I tried to talk with you guys. You’re villains after all.”

I dusted off my hands while looking directly at the gentleman.

“Villains should be treated like villains, right?”

Between heroes and villains, the only dialogue is with fists.

Verbal conversations happen only when one of them is half-dead.

“Grit your teeth, Mr. Gentleman.”

Since I couldn’t get anything from Gongsang, let’s ask this guy instead.