episode_0152

**

“The contents of this contract include patrolling and combating areas where villains are believed to be lurking. Rescue of a missing hero. Is it accurate?”

“Ugh…Ugh…”

Regardless of whether the other person looked at him with a puzzled look or not, the ‘hero’ who was reconfirming the work details did not stutter or stop.

The space where the beam projector shows places where villain organizations may be hiding on the pure white wall and ID photos of heroes who went missing while carrying out requests is the Hero Association’s strategy conference room. It’s a conference room.

It was an ordinary hero association that was common in Sky City. It was a popular hero association with people flocking to join it even today, as Sky City halved the number of associations due to a series of incidents.

It’s strange that the Megacorp Hero Association, where all staff units wear the same equipment, is not accepting new registrations. In a situation where everyone from academy graduates to adventurers from the fantasy world could be selected, it was natural to leave the door wide open.

Sky City remained the same regardless of whether the association that converted heroes into cyborgs exploded or not.

When the identity of the Megacorp Hero Association was found out, instead of submitting a nomination request, the magistrates quietly handled it, so it was a natural result.

Unlike the Megacorp incident, which was treated as the head of the Hero Association and subsided without a word. The Association of Forced Cyborgized Heroes was in the news.

It was impossible for even Sky City to hide the nuclear reactor explosion, which was so massive that it blew away both the server computer that controlled the modified heroes and the original bodies of the heroes that were in frozen capsules like hostages.

Thanks to that, it was on the news. It was not a story about a brainwashing villain organization whose identity was revealed.

It only resulted in a nuclear explosion accident due to poor management.

Heroes who were described as being involved in an accident were just about to lose their functions as their healthy bodies disappeared without a trace in an instant. Sky City remained the same.

“Please answer clearly. Rescue of combat and missing heroes. Is it accurate?”

“…Yes…that’s right…that’s right…”

Sky City remains the same. It was the same as saying that the Hero Association, whether small or large, must always maintain the minimum conditions set by Sky City.

The situation in which three missing hero teams had already appeared in response to a single request to deal with a villain organization was such a serious problem that it was impossible to make excuses even if Sky City decided to close the business instead of requesting nominations in the next quarter.

Number of heroes belonging, hero level. It had nothing to do with the type of equipment the association had.

The hero associations, which see each other as competitors, put pressure on the heroes to prevent them from receiving rescue requests, to the point where they would be ordered to close down if left unattended.

That was why Megacorp Security’s combat unit stood at attention in the small hero association’s operations conference room.

The combat unit sent from Megacorp Security to solve the problem was checking the contract details one by one, leaving no room for further interpretation.

“Confirmed.”

“…”

The heroes sitting in the conference room all just looked at the combat unit, which was reconfirming the contents of the contract, with complicated expressions.

“From now on, we will carry out the terms of the contract under the direction of A001. If there is anything you need to know, we will report it.”

Although it was playing a different role than Megacorp’s combat units that were waiting at attention in the hallway without even coming in. That wasn’t the whole reason.

“Operation status will be uploaded to the server in real time. When a rescue call signal comes in, we will change our priority to move to the scene immediately. Well then, that’s it”

“Now…wait, Ermi?!”

When one of Sky City’s heroes finished confirming the contract and notifying the details of the work, he bowed his head without hesitation and then caught the combat unit that was trying to leave.

There was only one person who took action. Since everyone had the same question in their minds, there was only one question that came out.

“Wait a minute. wait for a sec! What on earth happened to you at Megacorp?!”

The person who was asked the question did not even answer, but the atmosphere in the conference room was already divided in half.

Since a hero friend I knew was dispatched to Megacorp’s combat unit, I was half skeptical that this could be the case.

“What are you doing? Do you really have to express it that way? You know it’s being delivered in real time, right?”

I understand it’s embarrassing, but half of the heroes thought that the Megacorp Hero Association wouldn’t do something like that.

Sky City allowed heroes whose associations literally collapsed to join other associations.

Although it was dressed in a shiny bodysuit and covered with a visor, it was used to clean up the Megacorp like a staff unit. They were cyborg heroes who received repairs as promised and continued their activities.

“You all remember when we explained how to recharge your energy, right?”

At Megacorp, they were released without holding the leash of maintenance and energy recharge.

Instead of remodeling it into a body that can only be received from the Megacorp Hero Association, they kindly repaired it into a body compatible with Humanoid and capsule ports for Android.

I did not think that such a hero association would control heroes and use them as combat units like a brainwashing villain organization.

If he had really intended to do so, it was clear that the president of the association would have presented an unfair contract in a situation where he was about to cease functioning.

Instead of resetting the setting authority for the hero whose door handle is broken every day due to difficulty in controlling the output, he should have obtained a pledge to renounce his human rights without a time limit.

“I am a combat cyborg unit managed by Megacorp Security. Identification designation D014. This is Ermi.”

There was one thing that felt uncomfortable.

“I am truly sorry, but I do not belong to the Megacorp Security Hero Association.”

“What really happened? Ermi…”

“Conversations unrelated to mission performance are not specified in the contract.”

If there is a difference between the cyborg heroes and D014, who is still registered as Ermi on Sky City’s hero list. The only thing that happened was that I rejected Megacorp’s offer.

The equipment of Megacorp Security, who were just standing still in the hallway with the unknown identification names E007 and E012 engraved on their chests, were all heroes who made the same choice as Ermi.

It was as if he had rejected the first offer and accepted the second offer, which he could not tell others about.

“…not even allowed.”

wee. The Megacorp’s equipment, with the identification name D014, hesitated, but to no avail.

“D014. Returning to duty.”

In order to rescue the missing hero, he left the association with a combat unit that had been sent together to eliminate the villain organization.

There was no one who could stop D014 from lifting his legs high up to his thighs to join the pure white fox beastman designated as A001 in the contract.

The barcode engraved on Ermi’s inner thigh was Megacorp’s warning not to tamper with his belongings.

Even before D014 took off his visor, his friend, who had been calling him by the previous name Ermi, was unable to catch him this time.

As he was a D-class hero, he couldn’t stop it with his strength, but he already understood that blocking it would be useless.

“What happened? It was still normal last time, right?!”

An annoyed voice echoed throughout the conference room. He was Ermi’s friend.

Although it seems like a very low grade thanks to the expression D grade, it wasn’t necessarily so.

Although there was a higher level, it was possible to permanently rent a three-bedroom apartment without any maintenance fees.

Even if you think about what letters were engraved on the chest of Megacorp’s combat unit that confirmed the contract as a representative, the position of a D-class hero was not common.

However, even if such a D-class hero raised a question, the person responsible for answering it had long since left the position.

Although it is not in the contract of D014. The expression that it wasn’t even allowed ended up causing my friend’s nervousness, which had risen to the point where it was dangerous, to explode.

In the end, Ermi, who was about to stop functioning, visited Megacorp again.

The repaired Ermi was also normal at first.

There was no problem enough to resume hero activities in this small hero association instead of the disappeared hero association.

The conditions I received were a bit unusual.

Since there was a confidentiality clause prohibiting disclosure, Ermi did not make a fuss first, but it was too obvious.

About twice a week. It was quite predictable as he was seen walking around wearing a bodysuit with the Megacorp Security emblem instead of a recognizable uniform as a hero.

Among the cyborgs of Megacorp Security patrolling at night, Ermi was walking trembling with a bright red expression.

He was very drunk and even revealed the answer, saying to himself that he should have accepted the Megacorp Association president’s suggestion instead of rejecting it from the beginning.

The contract clearly stipulated that a certain percentage of people would work for Megacorp Security instead of engaging in hero activities.

Ermi’s condition was… fine at first.

I couldn’t imagine everyone wearing body suits or standing still like mannequins, but I could tell that Ermi hated having less time to do hero activities.

The problem began with the second experience, a week after Megacorp’s contract began.

As time passed, the frequency of complaining definitely decreased.

Since the fox beastman named A001 told me to patrol autonomously, I could no longer see him lying in the hero association lounge like this.

Rather, the time allowed as a hero was increasingly used for Megacorp Security work.

Ermi, whose expression of opinion began to decrease to a minimum, gradually became colder and more businesslike.

Even when I show up at the association for the first time in a long time, there are many cases where I leave immediately after receiving orders from Megacorp Security.

D014 in the form of Ermi appeared. It was the day that Ermi, who had changed so much, never came back.