episode_0021

“Another clone?!”

“Hahaha.”

I rushed forward and grabbed hold of him, but the captured subject annoyingly laughed.

Truly a cunning little fox that can make your teeth grind.

Ranked 1st in S-class, ‘Do-sa.’

Recently, he’s been more focused on following this guy rather than hero activities.

I have some information I want to extract from his main body, but I keep coming up empty-handed, which is frustrating.

The clone of ‘Do-sa’ that I have by the scruff of the neck revealed his white teeth, irritating me.

“Why do colleagues like us have to do this? Shouldn’t heroes cooperate to catch monsters instead of fighting each other?”

“Colleagues my foot. I just stomp on monsters whenever I feel stressed.”

“Haha, with that aggressive attitude, it’s no wonder you’re underrated in the association compared to your skills.”

“Shut up!”

I don’t care what others think.

In fact, I never wanted to become a hero.

Just saving someone in danger with a kind heart, don’t make me laugh.

I don’t want to hear pathetic complaints like being late when asking for help, the house collapsing, or demanding compensation.

I ended up here because I couldn’t resist Ji-woo’s persistent persuasion.

If it weren’t for Ji-woo, I wouldn’t be dealing with this annoying situation.

But,

“Hey, stop babbling and tell me right here, right now. Why did Ji-woo retire as a hero?”

Ji-woo’s sudden retirement news.

When I left on a mission, Ji-woo had already quit his beloved hero activities.

He suddenly opened a café, then a barbecue restaurant, starting a business without explaining the reason.

Just repeating that he wanted to start a business.

When I pressed further, S-class 1st place ‘Do-sa’ sighed as if he was tired of it.

“You’re persistent, Byuk-lin. ‘That secret’ will be revealed when the time comes, right?

Forcing out others’ secrets won’t do you any good.”

“Why should I wait for that ‘someday’ to come?

I’m so frustrated I could die, so spill it now. Or else, if your real body is caught, I’ll turn you into rice cakes.”

“Oh, that’s really scary. Even I wouldn’t be able to handle you, Byuk-lin.”

“If you keep babbling meaninglessly, I’ll really crush your face.”

He then pretended to listen willingly, turned expressionless, raised only the corners of his mouth, diverting the conversation instead of giving the desired answer.

“Byuk-lin, instead of wasting time chasing me, what do you think Ji-woo is up to?”

“What?”

“‘Hero-exclusive Healing Center.’ It sounds wholesome at first, but when you look inside, it’s not so wholesome. Heroes touching each other in a small space, how far do you think they go with the massages?”

“…”

“Moreover, Ji-woo is quite cute.

With his appearance and gentle personality, he must be popular with women. If I were a woman, I’d want to entrust my body to that puppy-like person for healing.”

Crack!

As I put all my strength into my body, cracks appeared on the ground.

I know.

Just the thought of such a dirty imagination makes me want to cleanse my stomach.

The worst thought of Ji-woo caressing another woman with his hands.

But no matter how much I press him, he refuses to give me a reason.

And that Healing Center or whatever it is, a shop he opened with almost no money.

Tsuzuzuzuzu…!

Even so, the steam rises on my forehead as I can’t help but dislike Ju’s new business.

As the red heat rises uncontrollably, the martial artist pats my shoulder, telling me to calm down.

“Come on, calm down.”

“What have you been wanting to say since earlier…!”

“Well, rather than wasting time chasing my tail, wouldn’t it be better to prioritize internal surveillance?”

“So, after I get that answer from you─”

“Hmm~ Let’s see, looking at the other incarnations of Xia, it seems that they are still receiving guests today.

Oh my! Climbing up to the top of the telephone pole, I see two waiting guests… Oh? Have the waiting guests dressed more boldly? Did Jiwoo develop a new business method?”

…!

My head spins.

The worst of the worst delusions involuntarily circulate in my mind.

As the completed black heart swirls, I can’t hold back anymore.

The martial artist seems to have successfully given me a taste of my own medicine and smirks again.

He pushes my unlucky face even further.

“Byeoklin, can I give you some advice?”

“What?!”

Getting angry, he leans in as if whispering a secret,

“If you go too far, Jiwoo will hate you.”

As soon as I heard that, I tried to kick him in the stomach.

But the incarnation vanished in a puff of smoke.

Disappearing so that I couldn’t even relieve my stress by venting.

“Aaaargh!”

Thump!

I hit the concrete floor in anger.

Who might see, I lower my face and cover my reddened cheek.

That damn fox, extending my anger but calmly organizing my thoughts before muttering.

“Just forget about it already…!”

***

With the emergence of monsters, a unique mutant ability manifested, the hero.

The mutant population was reported to be around 0.09% worldwide.

This statistic represents the estimated numbers provided by the association, including not only the monsters who have become grotesque due to excessive power obsession but also the criminals causing social unrest known as ‘villains.’

However, among these mutants, the awakened individuals are even fewer.

To be considered a true hero, one must awaken their abilities, and the awakened abilities of these heroes are as diverse as can be.

Some simply have enhanced regeneration abilities, healing wounds in minutes.

Or they can communicate with insects or have hair that grows at an incredible speed. While some have ambiguous abilities,

Others can summon giant dragons out of thin air.

Moreover, someone might crush their opponents with high-output flame energy, summon thunder from the sky, create dimensional rifts to open portals for attacks.

To elaborate further, they can manipulate air pressure to create storms, or even cause meteors to fall and destroy entire cities.

It’s like having both a winning lottery ticket and a toy lottery ticket in front of a stationery store.

Nevertheless, ‘awakening’ is considered an additional ability by the association.

Even if the awakened ability is mediocre, there are cases where a well-trained body can still overpower others.

While a good awakened ability naturally leads to a higher rank, it’s not always the case, right?

As for my awakened ability,

“Lin?!”

“…!”

Someone opens the door to the shop at an incredible speed, entering. Their name is Byeoklin.

It seems like they ran here from somewhere.

Their entire body is flushed red, as if they’re burning with anger, wearing a white shirt with a cool red dragon drawn on it.

Today, Jinbang’s hair was tangled in an awkwardly unbalanced way, and the fluttering hair was twisted and tangled as it fell down.

As soon as I entered the store, I turned my head around and found something.

For some reason, I stared at the two customers waiting in the store, touching their phones, and then they turned their fangs towards me.

“Eunjiwoo, I have something to tell you!”

“W-what do you want to tell me?”

“I want to talk to you alone. Come to the room!”

“Uh…”

I wondered what to do.

The pressure coming from a firm expression was no joke, but no matter how small and shabby this store was, there were rules.

“Lin, even if you have urgent business, you should follow the order of entry…”

Gulp!

After making a mistake, I swallowed my saliva.

Daring to make such a common-sense point to Lin made me feel ridiculous.

“Order~?!”

As expected, Lin was furious.

Wrapped in a strong red aura, glaring with his eyes, but,

“…………………………………………..I got it.”

‘Huh?’

After a long silence, the aura gradually faded, and Lin walked slowly to the sofa with his arms crossed.

Seating himself on the sofa, looking as if he couldn’t stand it any longer.

At that moment, the waiting customers who were distracted by their phones noticed Lin.

“Wow?! Are you S-rank Wallin? I’m a huge fan!”

“Wow! Wallin is here too?! Can I take a picture with you?”

“…..”

Today, Lin was unusually quiet.

Surrounded by two fans who liked him, he patiently waited his turn.

Trembling legs as if there was an earthquake, trying to endure this atmosphere, but he managed to hold it in.

‘Am I holding back because it’s my store?’

I was surprised.

I learned that Lin was patient.

Whether it was a strange change in his feelings today, or finally starting to care about others’ opinions, I don’t know.

Anyway, looking at my grown-up childhood friend, a warm smile naturally spread across my face.

‘Well, I should give a lot of service today.’

Despite appearing to be carefree every day, Lin had a hidden consideration.

In addition to the strength he showed outwardly, I could feel the warm heart of my childhood friend who was growing strong internally.

*

“Argh! I can’t take it anymore! When will this end!”

However, the patience I had mustered up like sesame oil was not enough.