Ch.85Chapter 4. How to Conquer a Hero (6)

“When I was young, the very first ability I stole was from a friend who grew up with me in the cathedral.”

[Cathedral?]

“Yes. Cathedral. My birth parents were killed by an ability user. A five-year-old. I had no relatives, so I was eventually left at the cathedral and grew up there.”

[…….]

Ymir began to unfold her past calmly, as if telling someone else’s story.

“But let me clarify one thing first: I don’t just steal from anyone. If I could steal from just anyone, I would have already walked the path of a villain.”

[That makes sense. If you had the power of theft, there would have been those who would try to use you regardless of your will.]

“Yes. I happened to be born near a country that likes that sort of thing, and if my ability had been discovered, they would have tried to use it. Over there, in America.”

[They’re probably running such projects right now. Most likely.]

It’s not just “most likely.”

Even in Korea, there are those researching demon seeds underground on Sejong Island, so America must be doing much worse.

[If they secure the ability to gather powers into one person, and then secure someone with the ability to distribute those powers to others… that would essentially allow them to control all abilities worldwide. In that case, they could practically conquer the world.]

“That’s why I’m being as careful as possible not to fall into the hands of bad people.”

To varying degrees, researching ability users is something happening all over the world, whether in the light or in darkness.

[Fortunately, you haven’t been caught.]

“Yes. Do you know why? Because the beings I can steal from are limited. Want to guess?”

[Demons?]

“Wow!”

Ymir clapped her hands in great surprise.

“How do you know so much about me? Did you investigate? Are you a stalker?”

[Researching and studying recruitment targets is the most basic thing. If I’m going to bring someone into our organization, shouldn’t I know what they like and prefer?]

“There shouldn’t have been much information about me.”

[I kept thinking and thinking. Your words, your actions, your will, your goals, and everything you did against Ermina. That’s the result of pondering and pondering again.]

Plus all the thinking I did about the protagonist for half a year.

[When you appeared as Solar Platina, I thought you were just an annoying existence. So when I followed you and saw you naked-]

“Transformation canceled.”

[…when your transformation was canceled, I thought you were quite a pitiful fellow. Why would someone go to such lengths to be a secret hero.]

I feel the same way.

Though I’m a villain.

[So after that, I looked into you. There was almost no record of your activities until you became an adult, and then you tried incredibly hard to enter Sejong Island Academy. Studying Korean, making every effort to get into the Academy college.]

“That’s right. I thought I could find something here. The reason why I have this ability.”

Ymir stretched her hand forward.

Then she lightly twisted her hand to the right, causing a small explosion out at sea.

“Explosion. One of the abilities I’ve stolen. With this gesture, I can quickly send magical power to a place in my sight to cause a small explosion. Do you know where such an ability was discovered?”

[…The Bomber of New York? But as far as I know, he was a villain?]

“Yes. He was the Bomber, and at the same time, a being who had become a demon. He was known as a villain. When I confronted him, he was already in a demonic state, and I…”

Crunch.

Ymir clenched her fist.

“I stole his ability. I didn’t kill him. But in another sense, he was completely finished. Do you know what state the Bomber is in now?”

[I didn’t investigate that far. I think I heard he was confined in a mental hospital in New York.]

“He became impotent.”

[…….]

I unconsciously crossed my legs.

Ymir giggled at that, and I felt embarrassed for no reason.

“Seeing you react like that, you must be quite virile. Don’t you worry about having children later?”

[You don’t need to worry about that. I’m healthy.]

“Hehe. Well, that’s something you can’t know until you check. So my friend who first made me realize my ability, the Bomber, and Ermina too. When they have their abilities stolen from me while in a demonic state, they all end up like that. Their hair turns completely white, and also…”

[They develop reproductive problems?]

“Yes.”

Ymir looked ahead with a troubled expression.

“I take away one of the basic duties of animals—the function of reproduction. When humans become demons, everything born after that is all demons. Somewhere, demons might be giving birth to demons.”

[I haven’t seen such cases yet.]

“Right? But somewhere, they might be growing well. People who suppress their demonic impulses while raising demonic children, living in darkness.”

This is something I know nothing about.

“Officially, there are about 10 known cases of Zenros, but those are just the cases where I failed to clean up afterward. Or cases where people who were Zenros-ed went crazy claiming they lost their abilities, got subdued, investigated, and their identities were revealed.”

[Unofficially, there must be many more.]

“Yes. I liberated people who had become demons from their demonic state… but many were shocked by losing their abilities and reproductive functions. I tried to find ways to care for them afterward, but it wasn’t enough.”

Ymir drew a circle with her finger.

“In the end, I could free them from being demons, but that was my limit. I made them not demons anymore, but I realized I needed greater power to take responsibility for what came after. Not ability, but another kind of power that could care for those liberated from demons.”

[Whether it’s wealth, power, or whatever, this is the most certain place to secure that.]

“Yes. I thought if I didn’t have it myself, I could ask for help from someone who could solve it. People who are ability users and also have considerable power. I would make them my allies and ask them to care for those who had become demons.”

Now I understand.

That’s why the protagonist took in Ermina Sternfeld.

To use Stern, a major German company, to save those who had become demons.

The same goes for the other heroines afterward.

Setting aside personal desires, it wasn’t just coincidence that only powerful authorities or wealthy people gathered around the protagonist.

‘Then you should have at least revealed that plot point, you incompetent writer.’

He was probably aiming for a second part but ended up rushing a meteor ending due to low view counts. Not knowing this plot point, I suddenly felt very sorry for Ymir.

“I also thought about things like transforming into a man to charm women. Flirting with multiple men as a woman doesn’t really fit this country’s sensibilities, so I thought about transforming into a man to be with women.”

[Then why didn’t you transform into a man?]

“Because then I’d have to live as a man for the rest of my life. I… didn’t really want to do that.”

[Why not?]

“Well… this is a bit embarrassing.”

Ymir fidgeted with her hand on my thigh and smiled faintly.

“I saw footage of you fighting Snow White. Snow White stopping you, and you trying to kill a villain who had killed people.”

[Me?]

“Yes. Watching the Goblin, I thought I wanted to gain cooperation from the Goblin.”

[What does that have to do with being a man?]

“I thought if I approached the Goblin as a man, I wouldn’t be able to gain cooperation…?”

[……]

So the protagonist being male was actually Ymir transforming into a man?

[Ha.]

“What is it?”

[Nothing. A problem I’ve been pondering night after night for about half a year has just been neatly solved.]

“……?”

[It’s my personal matter unrelated to your story. Just that I’ve become convinced I need to kill a certain someone.]

When I return to Earth.

I will definitely kill that writer.

‘This bastard was definitely aiming for a GL drift.’

A Korean harem light novel where the protagonist suddenly goes, “Surprise, I was a woman all along!”?

My 5,700 characters were justified.

If that had happened, not just me but also the other person who watched the live meteor ending with me would have written 5,700 characters too.

[Talking with you seems to give me peace of mind as well. Thank you.]

“It’s nothing. I’m also glad to have someone I can talk to openly like this. Now that my identity is revealed, I can talk comfortably like this.”

I’ll need to investigate, but it seems Ymir might have gone through much more than what I’ve experienced here in the past half year.

[You’ve been through a lot.]

“…….”

[Why such a surprised face? I was purely complimenting your efforts.]

“It’s the first time I’ve been praised for something like this.”

Ymir slightly bowed her head to me.

“Would you pat my head?”

I reached over Ymir’s shoulder and gently patted and stroked her head.

[You take abilities from ability users and take away their chance to reproduce, but you don’t take their lives. Is that right?]

“That’s right. Until now, I haven’t killed a single person. Just… after stealing their abilities, I’ve seen some who lived as villains receive retribution for their evil deeds a few times.”

[That’s not your fault.]

“Right. I think so too. If I’ve done anything wrong, it’s that their abilities have transferred to me.”

Ymir leaned closer to me and sighed.

“Hey. If I were to become a villain—hypothetically—would you kill me?”

[Of course.]

I kill villains.

There are no exceptions, no matter who they are.

[Let me ask you in return. If I were to become a demon, would you kill me?]

“I wouldn’t kill you. I would just steal your ability from the demon. The Goblin as an ability user would die, but the man behind this mask would continue living… even if disabled.”

Ymir extended her pinky finger to me.

“Let’s make a promise. I wanted to meet like this today to make this promise.”

[What promise?]

“Obviously.”

Ymir pulled my hand and held it in hers.

“If I become a villain, please kill me. As the villain executioner.”