Chapter 76 : Human Pride (5)

I wanted to be a hero.

I wanted to be a hero who protects people.

A dream job that anyone born in Hero City has dreamed of at least once.

For Song Hana, being a hero was not just a childhood dream.

Even if it meant dying, it didn’t matter.

To her, being a hero was the very definition of an ideal.

But a child’s dream is bound to shatter eventually.

“…I failed.”

It was an obvious result.

Being a hero is a job that requires one to risk their life, so for those taking the test, staking their life on becoming a hero was a given mindset.

Among the millions of test-takers gathered, only the truly exceptional could become heroes.

That was the reality of Hero City’s heroes.

And while Song Hana had admirable determination, she lacked the abilities to support it.

Superpowers?

None.

Exceptional swordsmanship or sharpshooting skills?

She was average in close combat and had some skill in shooting, but not enough to be called a hero.

More than anything, her body couldn’t handle even the slightest use of magic-infused firearms, often collapsing whenever she tried.

In short, she was just “a little special”—but never enough to become a hero.

She was unqualified.

In a city-state of one billion people, only about ten thousand could become heroes.

For Song Hana, she was merely an ordinary citizen with strong determination.

So, the next best option she chose was to become a soldier.

A second-rate profession, often filled with those who failed to become heroes.

But maybe, if she worked hard enough there, she could challenge the hero test again.

So she studied, trained, and pushed herself to the limit.

Because she desperately wanted to become the hero she admired.

However, as time passed, Song Hana had no choice but to face a harsh reality.

No matter how much she tried, hero aspirants were also working just as hard.

Even her comrades—whether seniors, juniors, or those who shared her barracks—would spend extra hours studying to become heroes.

Even those who were already heroes were striving for higher ranks.

In a race where everyone was running at full speed, how could a one-legged runner ever hope to come in first place?

And yet, she couldn’t let go of her foolish hope.

Bang! Bang!

“Hey, you monster! What are you doing to the hero?!”

Boom!

An S-rank hero lay sprawled on the ground, unable to get up.

As soon as she saw this, Song Hana, honking from a distance, rammed her vehicle straight into the cockroach-like monster without hesitation.

“Ugh…!”

She had put down Jang Hoon beforehand, making the attack possible.

But even then, it was her vehicle that crumpled and was sent flying from the impact.

This was the wall she could never overcome.

An insurmountable gap of strength that separated ordinary people from monsters.

“D-Did a freaking armored vehicle just charge in?”

“That’s not the problem! If they’re in an armored vehicle, that means they’re just a soldier!”

“They’re not a hero! Just run away!!”

No one at the scene welcomed Song Hana’s intervention.

Because she was nothing more than an extra—just another nameless “Soldier A.”

Useless whether present or absent, just another expendable meat shield.

That was how Song Hana was perceived as she stood before a monster that had even taken down an S-rank hero.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

No one expected anything from her.

No one cheered for her.

No one even watched to see how she would fight.

Ignoring all that, she struggled to crawl out of her wrecked armored vehicle, wiping the blood dripping down her forehead, and pulled the trigger.

Due to the crash, all her firearms were broken, leaving only the handgun she always carried.

She kept firing.

Anything to save the fallen hero.

“…Why?”

Ignoring the despair in the hero’s eyes, she rushed forward with clenched fists once her bullets ran out.

“This is illogical…”

“Raaaah!”

Crack.

“Agh!”

“There’s no way she can win…”

“Ghh…!”

“Her own fist broke from the impact… So why doesn’t she run?”

“Huff… Huff…!”

“Based on my calculations, Song Hana, your chances of victory are 0%. Not even the slightest possibility.”

The moment her fist met the monster’s abdomen—

It felt as if she had punched a blade, the pain searing through her bones.

An absurd gap in physical ability, where the attacker took more damage than the attacked.

And yet, no matter what the AI assistant, Zero, said, Song Hana never stopped.

Even knowing it was useless, she used every ounce of her strength to buy time—

Time for people to escape.

“I know! I know I can’t win!”

“Then why? Why throw your life away? Isn’t survival the instinct of all living beings?”

“Shut up! I want to live too!”

If she could, she would have run away with the refugees.

But she couldn’t.

Because she was a soldier.

And a soldier’s duty was not so different from that of a hero.

She only ended up in the second tier because she lacked special talent, but soldiers, too, existed to protect people.

More than anything…

“I’ve always admired them! I don’t want to run away in front of an S-rank hero!”

“…!”

The very dream she had never once forgotten.

She didn’t want to turn her back on an S-rank hero, the embodiment of her aspirations.

If she did, even if she survived today, she would die in another way.

“Zero, you said it yourself. That I’m useless in battle.”

“Song Hana…”

“You’re right. I’m worthless… Not even the refugees will remember my name.”

But still.

Even if tears mixed with blood streamed down her face, she wanted to prove it.

To the S-rank hero she admired.

That even an insignificant soldier could be of help.

That even someone like her could save people.

She clenched her fists.

“Zero… run away!”

“Uh, why? Why are you going this far for me…?”

“Because! You are an S-rank hero, the hope of humanity!”

As if annoyed, the cockroach-like monster snapped its fingers, and Song Hana momentarily lost consciousness from the pain that felt like all the bones in her body were being crushed.

But she quickly got back up and clung tightly to the back of the monster that was about to leave her behind and head toward Zero.

She pressed her body against its massive frame as much as she could and held on with all her strength.

Because to her, this was what being a hero truly meant.

“I… I do not understand. Your current actions are something completely unlearned.”

“Ughhhh…!”

“U-Unable to comprehend. Must quickly retrieve data from the computer… No data?! This is merely a pointless death? But then, what is this? Why am I feeling this? This is simply an act of throwing away one’s life, isn’t it?”

She will soon die.

And it’s because of none other than her, whom she just met today.

Zero could not understand.

Just as a computer that could only “describe” things without emotions,
just as when he saw the mother of a dead child in the lifeless heart of a homunculus—
A strange, unidentifiable pain throbbed within her.

Hmph.

But there was no time to dwell on it.

“Hurry!! Run!!!!”

“!?”

Run away.

Get up, even with a broken leg.

You can still move.

From the moment Zero was created as a homunculus, her body had been injected with nanomachines that granted “regeneration,” making it nearly impossible for her to die.

Because of that, she barely managed to stand up and, for the first time, turned her back on the monster she was supposed to eliminate.

Was it because she wanted to survive?

…No.

She didn’t understand why, but it just felt like the right thing to do.

Rather than following her programmed actions, her body—no, her heart—moved on its own because it felt like this was what “she” would have wanted more.

“R-Running away? Run… away? Instead of… fighting? R-Run?”

Turn back now and fight.

You were created for this purpose.

The reason you exist is to serve as humanity’s shield, not to be protected by humans…

“Don’t look back! Just keep going!!!”

“!!”

She didn’t understand why.

Warm liquid was flowing down from under her eyes.

What was this?

Why wasn’t she following her programming?

She had never had any attachment to life.

Even now, if the higher-ups commanded it, she could take her own life without hesitation.

But the reason Zero was running away at Song Hana’s words wasn’t about death or survival.

It was something far more noble—

She had come to understand, firsthand, the “value of sacrifice.”

She had witnessed the true “beauty” of someone risking their life for others, and as a fellow living being, she had experienced a bug in her system.

Yes, this was the first bug in her life.

So, after running for only a few steps—

Drip. Drip.

Though her body had matured, Zero, with only about 20 months of life experience, had just encountered too many emotions at once.

She suddenly stopped running and turned back to look at the soon-to-die Song Hana.

And she thought.

Why had Princess Okami Hoshino refused to recognize her as an S-rank hero that day?

The answer was now clear.

Because she had never possessed what was now right in front of her eyes.

The “noble spirit” of a true hero.

“Song… Hana!”

You may have seen light in me, but I see it differently.

I think I saw in you the very light that you thought you saw in me.

If only one person can survive here, then it must be Song Hana.

That was the decision made by Zero, who had stopped calculating due to her system bug.

“Ah… Ahhh, AAAAAHHHHH!!”

And so, for the first time in her life, she reached out with her own will, wanting to save another.

Step. Step.

“…!?”

A blonde figure in a horned mask walked silently past the collapsed Zero.

“Y-You…!”

It was a monster.

Yes, it was undoubtedly a monster.

But strangely enough, the moment Zero met its eyes, she felt relieved, and her legs gave out beneath her.

She didn’t know why, but—For something that showed no interest in humans, it seemed too noble to be called a monster.

And so, without anyone’s encouragement,
The horned mask stopped in front of Song Hana, who was still clinging to the cockroach monster.

…Tap.

“Ah…”

A monster, of all things—Raised a thumbs-up, as if to say, “Well done,” becoming the first audience to witness the masterpiece that was Song Hana.

And at the same time, as the price for witnessing that masterpiece—

“KRARAAAAAHHHH!!”

Boom!

With a single, all-powerful punch, it obliterated the revived cockroach monster without leaving a trace.