Tsukino Chise

-Unnie~ Do you have to come home this winter?

“I said I will, Yui. How many times do I have to say it?”

-It’s because you keep breaking your promises, noona.

“Ahem, Ren..”

On the way back to the Association headquarters.

Chise was on the phone with her siblings while riding her summoned griffin.

-You must come this time! You haven’t come even once since Ren and I were discharged from the hospital and when we got our house!

-Uncle Kato and Suzuki unnie keep saying they miss you too~

“R-Really..?”

-That’s what I’m saying!

Chise scratched her cheek in embarrassment at the constant chirping of her two younger siblings.

‘It’s true that it’s been a while since I met them..?’

Precisely since her siblings recovered, Chise’s visits to see them had drastically decreased.

It wasn’t that she became negligent in caring for them because they had recovered.

‘There’s been a lot of work recently..’

Last year, there was a large-scale terrorist attack centered on B District, and a few months ago, there was the commotion Alpha caused in A District.

B District still hasn’t fully recovered from the damage caused by the previous terrorist attack.

Not only are various villain organizations secretly vying for rights in the area, but people trying to secretly sell illegal goods in the chaotic place are also emerging, delaying the recovery.

‘Because of Alpha’s incident, many people were injured and hospitalized..’

As a result, the missions assigned to individuals increased exponentially, nearly causing several heroes to kick the bucket.

On top of that, there was the “colleague murder” by A-class hero Spark, who was caught by Ice Queen..

‘It was a situation where I couldn’t find any spare time.’

Of course, now the injured heroes are gradually returning, and the Association’s atmosphere has improved a lot, so there’s enough leeway to go to the cafe like before.

Anyway, now that she’s getting some free time, Chise thought it wouldn’t be bad to go to Japan soon.

..Soon.

“……”

-Unnie~ Are you listening?

“..Ah, yes. I’m listening.”

-Noona, why are you spacing out like that? Is working in Korea hard?

“Huh? No, it’s not hard at all for me.”

Although some stress was building up, she thought she was doing well without any major problems, as far as she could tell.

‘It’s all thanks to Sajangnim. Although he might not know it himself, he even joins me in cursing that annoying idiot Maker..’

As Chise thought of Kang Yian, thoughts of Maker naturally came to mind as well.

Maker.

‘A total bad guy, a fool who grins stupidly, inconsistent, and hiding his true intentions maliciously! An idiot who’s been acting incomprehensibly from the first time we met until now! Dummy! Bastard!! Pervert!!’

This was Chise’s subjective assessment, who was quite good at judging people.

Chise disliked Maker.

A man who put a leash on her using hostages as leverage.

A man who, when she asked for help, instead of comforting her, only angered her more.

Unlike how he treated her..

‘I, as your villain, dare to declare that you are a foolishly kind person.’

A man who whispered all sorts of sweet words to other women, not her.

Chise hated him.

‘How do you do, Hero? Nice to meet you.’

‘I’m the villain, Maker.’

But.

‘Thank you for the kind guidance.’

‘Do you understand now?’

‘How wrong this country is?’

‘I look forward to catching you next time.’

‘Once you’ve become my pet, you’re mine now.’

‘Phantom Luna?’

‘Hmm.. It’s been a while. Haha.’

But..

-Noona?

“..Ah, yes! I’m listening, Yui.”

-..I’m Ren, noona.

-Yui is here!

“Oh.”

Yui and Ren, realizing their sister’s mistake, started to become suspicious.

Something was off.

No matter how scatterbrained she was, she had never confused her siblings’ names and voices before.

-..Unnie is really strange.

-..Noona is really strange.

“Ah, th-that’s..”

Meanwhile, Chise felt a strange embarrassment at her siblings’ remarks.

It seemed she had focused more on Maker than her precious siblings.

So what Chise did was..

“Th-that..!! I’ll hang up first!!! I’ll definitely come home this winter! Until then, listen well to Kato-san and Suzuki-san!! Don’t get sick!! Stay healthy!! Don’t lie down right after eating because you’re full! Brush your teeth well!! Got it?!!”

-Unnie, wait-

-Noona, what are you, a rapper-

Click-

“Ugh..”

She hung up the call with a flushed face.

Chise hung her head low.

“Well.. I don’t know why I’m acting like this either.”

Maker was clearly a bad guy.

A very bad guy who tormented and threatened her..

Even though she had Sajangnim..

“Why does he keep not looking like a bad guy..”

And why..

‘Chise-ssi.’

When she thinks of Maker, does Sajangnim come to mind?

“It’s annoying..”

The two people look like one person.

And she’s interested in both the kind Kang Yian and the bad Maker.

Woong..

It’s strange, but they really look like the same person.

But when she thinks that can’t be possible, it becomes rather painful.

“It’s really annoying..”

As if she’s some kind of weird woman.

As if she’s saying nonsensical logic to justify it.

“..I really hate it.”

Woong..

Chise hugged her knees on the griffin’s back, not even realizing that the mana inside her body was moving on its own.

---

“Ah, Phantom Luna-ssi.”

“..Ah.”

Inside the Association.

Phantom Luna ran into Ice Queen as soon as she returned to the Association.

“……”

“..Straighten your face.”

Phantom Luna’s face crumpled and then straightened again.

“My, I couldn’t help but dislike it.”

“I can understand because I dislike Phantom Luna-ssi just the same.”

“……”

“……”

‘This woman is really..!’

‘She’s just so unlikable..’

Team Hound, which had gathered to catch Alpha, dispersed after Alpha was officially declared dead.

However, while everyone else returned to their original positions, only Ice Queen and Phantom Luna remained unseparated and continued to fight over every little thing.

“Still haven’t given up on Maker~? For an awakened person, you’re very petty~”

“I might be petty, but don’t you lack self-awareness? If it were me, I could catch Maker more easily than you.”

The reason was the position of Maker’s designated hero, which had been undecided for several years.

Previously, due to Optimus, both of them were temporarily in the position of designated hero.

In principle, there was only one designated hero position, and this method was the best to put both of them in the designated hero position.

But they weren’t satisfied with that.

‘The designated hero position..!’

‘Is originally just one.’

Even if other people casually thought of both of them as designated heroes, this was already a battle of pride for them.

But they still hadn’t been able to decide on a single designated hero.

There were various factors overlapping for this.

Work had become very busy due to the terrorist attacks and assaults in the meantime.

The Hound work they were going to proceed with as a bet had also been disbanded,

And above all, Optimus, who had been certifying their competition, suddenly disappeared.

The fight for Maker’s designated hero seemed to fizzle out, but they still hadn’t given up on that position.

‘In a way, it’s like a legal(not) date(not), right? Like wearing clothes and going around here and there, like a school uniform date.(Definitely not.)’

‘If I meet Maker more often, he might acknowledge me more!(Well…)’

Self-interest vs. self-interest.

This was the reality of the two heroes who had shown quite admirable performances in the B District terrorist attack and Alpha’s incident.

The executives were uncomfortable with them clinging so much to just an A-class villain, but the two didn’t care at all.

Although it was very different from when they had resolved before, they needed Maker for their purpose(impure) and wanted to meet him often.

“”……””

After a long staring contest between the two.

“”…Hah.””

Finally realizing that this was getting them nowhere, the two tacitly decided to change the subject.

“..What were you doing?”

“I was just checking on a prisoner in the underground prison.”

“By prisoner, you mean that person? The one who used electricity.”

“Spark, he was my senior… no, just a mold that came before me.”

“I see..”

The topic that came up was Spark.

I had roughly heard that Ice Queen had caught him herself for murder.

“Still, he was an A-class hero, so it must have been tough catching him!”

“As Phantom Luna-ssi is also A-class, you should know that it’s a different dimension from an awakened S-class ability user.”

“……”

Phantom Luna calmly thought about her words.

That’s right, she was the one who had become an A-class hero after taking the test through steady growth since the B District terrorist attack.

What was the reason for mentioning ranks and saying it was easy to someone like her?

“..Because I’m also A-class like that person. Are you saying I’m no match for Ice Queen-ssi?”

“……”

Ice Queen didn’t say anything.

Neither denial nor affirmation.

Smirk.

She just slightly raised the corner of her mouth in a sneer, maintaining her expressionless state.

‘Hah..?’

For some reason.

It was a truly irritating expression.

---

“Phew..”

After the commotion with Phantom Luna had passed.

Ice Queen let out a sigh of relief.

‘Somehow managed to change the subject.’

Ice Queen’s sudden provocation of Phantom Luna during the conversation about Spark wasn’t just to pick a fight with her.

‘Of course, that doesn’t mean I wasn’t planning to pick a fight.’

The most important thing was that a gag order had been issued from above regarding Spark’s current condition.

Ice Queen headed to the Association’s temporary prison again.

“Urgh..”

In a corner prison located among various types of villains individually confined.

Only that one place was emitting a strange smell and had a curtain drawn.

Swish.

Ice Queen slowly pulled back the curtain.

Slosh- Slosh-

“Urrrgh..”

“Senior, you look terrible.”

“Ice… Queen…]

An uneven tone and a writhing, amorphous body.

It was somehow strange to call it a human body anymore.

Something that spreads its body weakly in all directions, as if all the bones in its body had melted, wobbling like liquid while simultaneously having viscosity.

The peculiar point was that its entire body was black.

It looked like a slime, or a liquefied tentacle.

‘If it weren’t for the eyes and mouth hanging there now, and the fact that this is where Spark was, I wouldn’t have known it was human.’

Ice Queen felt a strange displeasure and nausea at the amorphous monster that seemed to be imitating a human.

‘I can’t easily let others know about this.’

Ice Queen drew the curtain back and slowly walked out.

That day, her face was serious, instinctively sensing that an unknown threat was occurring.