Chapter 6 – Hero Landing is from above

My movement speed increased, leaving steel footprints upon the asphalt, but I wasn’t overly concerned.

Not only was I already quite a distance from the shopping mall, but the Worker Bugs were following behind me, removing those traces as much as possible and performing diversionary tactics.

More importantly, the priority right now was to approach the destination quickly.

Tat-tat-tat-tat—

* * *

Meanwhile, the gangsters were stepping over a completely destroyed front gate, boasting to the woman inside.

“See, wouldn’t it have been better if you just opened the door when we told you to, huh?”

“Why are you really doing this?”

“Boys, search the place.”

“Yes, Hyung.”

Seo Gwangjin’s goal was to find me.

He had likely intuited that he couldn’t find me through simple patrols, so he was attempting to smoke me out by searching the remaining houses in the area one by one.

Since I had looted a general store, a hardware store, two convenience stores, and a furniture store, he must have assumed I possessed an amount of stolen goods that would be impossible to hide.

However, my main base, which was literally the size of a shopping mall, had more than enough room to store all those items. There was no way a single speck of dust from my loot would be found in an ordinary person’s home.

Seo Gwangjin must have felt a certain unnaturalness, but from his perspective, this was also a way to display his violence to his subordinates as an example.

On the other hand, the subordinates weren’t unaware of his intentions.

The subordinates, being “people of the industry,” knew better than anyone that Seo Gwangjin was trying to recover his wounded pride and diminished standing after forcing them through fruitless patrols for the past few days.

Because of this, a few subordinates gave the woman’s house a cursory glance and quickly returned to report to Seo Gwangjin.

“Hyung… it doesn’t seem to be here.”

Seo Gwangjin’s expression twisted viciously.

“You brat, do you think I’m a joke?”

“N-no, sir…”

Having witnessed the explosion ability that had just ripped the steel entrance gate to shreds, Seo Gwangjin’s subordinates were following his orders far more obediently than usual.

“And how long has it even been since we arrived that you’re already saying it’s not here?”

Just as Seo Gwangjin decided to use this opportunity to educate his subordinates and began to speak—

“Hey, don’t step there!”

Someone shouted toward Seo Gwangjin. Everyone turned their heads to see a man inside the house, trembling with wide eyes.

“I’m telling you, you’re killing all the potatoes!”

Was he around sixty years old?

His finger was pointing at the small garden plot beneath Seo Gwangjin’s feet.

Given the situation, Seo Gwangjin found such interference incredibly irritating; the area under his eyes twitched strangely.

“Hey, Grandpa, how about you read the room?”

“Wh-what, Grandpa? I haven’t even seen a grandchild, who the hell are you calling Grandpa! And I’m only sixty!”

“Father! P-please stop!”

The daughter standing beside him was trying to stop her father, clearly terrified of the gang. She was a Water Ability User who looked barely twenty; he must have been a late-in-life child.

“Oh, my daughter. Even so, this is too much!”

“I’m sorry. My father lived in the countryside for a long time. He only came up to the city recently after my mother passed away.”

It was a strange situation, but the daughter began to explain as if she were used to it.

It seemed this wasn’t the first or second time such a thing had happened.

“No, Sua, you just stay still!”

But he refused to back down.

“I said don’t step on the potatoes!”

As he continued to wave his hand, signaling Seo Gwangjin to step away, Seo Gwangjin’s expression began to distort even more menacingly.

In a moment where he needed to establish authority over his subordinates, some clueless old man was stepping in and interfering. Suppressing his trembling emotions, he began to order his subordinates.

“Boys. That grandpa doesn’t seem to be in his right mind. Someone go give him some medicine.”

“I’m sorry, Hyung, but what medicine?”

To the puzzled subordinates, Seo Gwangjin said:

“What medicine do you give a mad dog?”

It was the moment everyone’s expression turned to horror.

“No, Hyung, even so, there’s no need to go that far with an elder—”

“You brat, are you talking back again? You still haven’t learned your lesson.”

“I-I’m sorry.”

“You, come here.”

As if he had found a perfect target, Seo Gwangjin gestured to the subordinate. Once both of them were standing on the garden plot, Seo Gwangjin tilted his head.

“Kneel.”

“Uh, Hyung, right here?”

At the confused subordinate’s words, Seo Gwangjin’s eyebrow twitched.

“Don’t make me say it twice.”

“Yes, Hyung.”

Just as the subordinate knelt in the garden with a deeply frowned face, Seo Gwangjin placed his right hand on the subordinate’s forehead and began to speak.

“Hey, it seems you lot still haven’t woken up.”

“What?”

“The world has already changed. Look at this power.”

Piiing—

The bright light that had blown away the steel door began to leak out from between his right hand and the subordinate’s forehead.

Everyone was horrified.

Since it was an explosion that had blown away a steel door, it was easy to imagine someone’s head being blown off.

“No, Hyung!”

“Hyung, please! You don’t have to do this—”

“Gwangjin Hyung!”

Everyone stepped forward to stop Seo Gwangjin.

Meanwhile, perhaps, they might have been thinking this deep down:

That Seo Gwangjin would never actually do such a thing.

What he was threatening was blatant murder.

Although monsters had begun to appear in the world and everyone had become Ability Users, it was still a world where humanity remained.

Everyone thought it was merely a bluff.

BOOOOM—!

That is, until a loud explosion roared once more.

* * *

Meanwhile, my eyebrow twitched as I watched the entire situation.

‘Seo Gwangjin… he’s more dangerous than I thought.’

I upgraded his danger level.

I could understand him starting the looting earlier than others. I had viewed him as just a shrewd guy who understood the situation a bit faster.

But this was different. He had now committed murder, and for the purpose of dominating his own subordinates.

While such things became common later after society collapsed, Seo Gwangjin was showing those seeds of behavior very early.

‘He might actually be a Villain.’

My eyes narrowed.

Explosion Ability Users were relatively rare.

However, the ability Seo Gwangjin was displaying was suspicious.

While it was a generally useful ability, at this point in time when there was no information about Mana Stones, it was hard to explain how he could trigger such powerful explosions several times in a short period.

Furthermore, if that were the case, his unnaturally early onset of violence would also be explained.

‘Either way, I should settle this decisively this time.’

I steeled my resolve.

* * *

Meanwhile, Seo Gwangjin stood atop the completely ruined garden, looking around with a triumphant expression.

His subordinates were paralyzed with fear, and the father and daughter looked dazed and shocked. He smacked his lips with satisfaction.

‘Kuu… this is it.’

He had felt fear when he first made a contract with the Mutants, but now he was starting to get drunk on that power.

“What are you all doing?”

“Y-yes?!”

“Please speak, sir!”

“I told you to give that old man some medicine!”

“Yes! W-we’ll do it right away!”

The gang members, all with terrified expressions, began to approach their sacrificial lamb. The abilities of the father and daughter were of little help in combat at this stage.

They were utterly helpless.

* * *

The sound of horrific violence echoed.

Thwack!

“Ugh!”

Thwack!

“Gah!”

Fortunately, the man was much heartier than the gangsters expected. He said he had only recently moved from the countryside, but he must have led a very active life.

“Huff, huff.”

The gangsters seemed exhausted as well, with beads of sweat forming on their foreheads.

Their breathing had become ragged.

However, due to the sustained violence, his condition did not look good.

“Cough, cough.”

One could tell just by the blood mixed in his cough.

If they kept beating him like this, he might die soon.

Seeing him like that, the gangsters’ eyes trembled with anxiety.

Although they had been forced into this by Seo Gwangjin’s tyranny, they were still ordinary people, and they hesitated at the thought of murder.

“Uh, Gwangjin Hyung?”

“Isn’t this enough?”

“Anyway, this isn’t the house we’re looking for, so now just—”

“Shut up and keep hitting him.”

“Yes, yes? Ah, no, yes, I understand.”

The gang was now visibly trembling with fear.

But since one of their comrades had already died by his ability, the option to refuse no longer existed for them.

Meanwhile, the daughter, who had been quietly watching the situation, could no longer stand by and watch her father be abused.

“Stop it now!”

“Who are you?”

“We were wrong. We’re sorry.”

Of course, she knew she had done nothing wrong. But she couldn’t just stand there and watch.

Seo Gwangjin saw through her heart and sneered.

“Then do you want to take the hits instead?”

“Ugh.”

The woman’s expression froze for a moment. Anyone would be scared. But she seemed unwilling to yield easily.

“Fine. Hit me instead.”

“Hahahahaha. Sure, let’s see how long you last!”

“Cough, no, not our Sua, not her!”

“Boys, what are you doing! The daughter wants to receive the medicine instead!”

“Uh, Hyung, are you serious?!”

It was the moment everyone froze.

Tut-tut-tut-tut—

A strange sound began to be heard from afar.

“Huh? What’s that sound?”

The sound grew louder, and metallic clanking was added to it.

Tut— clank, tut— clank—

“H-Hyung, something is coming!”

The gang was thrown into panic once again.

Twang— CLANG!

A loud sound rang out once.

Whoosh—

Something flew toward Seo Gwangjin.

K-BOOOOM—

And then, like the sound of an impact, the ground shook.

Rumble—

As the dust cleared and the obscured vision opened up, everyone doubted their eyes.

A knight, looking as if he had come straight out of a fairy tale book, was standing on top of Seo Gwangjin’s body, whose waist was bent in a strange direction.

“What, I’m not too late, right?”

And the man muttered as if it were nothing.

* * *

The gang and the father and daughter looked at me, standing atop Seo Gwangjin’s body, with confused expressions.

Looking at the gang, I spoke as if it were obvious.

“What are you doing? Put down your weapons.”

A brief silence followed.

But it was truly only for a moment. Seo Gwangjin, who had suppressed them with fear, had fallen helplessly before me. Even a moment’s thought revealed who now controlled this place.

Clang— thud— twang—

As if that thought had reached them, the gang began to throw their steel pipes and wooden planks onto the ground without hesitation.

It was then that Seo Gwangjin began to speak.

“You… what are you doing.”

“?!”

“Wh-Hyung, you’re still alive?”

It was natural for everyone to be shocked. Since his spine had been bent at a strange angle, they naturally assumed he was dead.

“Wh-who the hell is this guy!”

But Seo Gwangjin was struggling beneath my feet.

Looking at him, I thought:

‘He really is a Villain.’

Seeing this tenacious vitality, which couldn’t be considered human, there was no longer any doubt. I decided to bring out his true nature.

“What? Are you even human?”

With those words, I stomped hard on his head once more.

CRACK!

Seo Gwangjin’s skull crushed beneath my steel foot.

“!”

“Uh, ah!”

Everyone was flustered by my violent act, but it was too early.

Because something even more surprising was about to happen.

Wriggle— wriggle-wriggle—

His head, which had been crushed once by my kick, began to regenerate rapidly!

“T-this is impossible!”

“H-Hyung?!”

“A-a monster, he’s a monster!”

Meanwhile, I was calmly scanning his body.

‘Not the head, then.’

Villains undergo Mutantification.

And like all Mutants, they have the ability to regenerate their bodies unless their core is removed.

Since the core is a part that must be carefully protected, most Mutants keep their core in the head where their sensory organs are gathered, but it seemed this guy was different.

‘Well, I’ll just keep stepping on him until I find it.’

Just as I reached that simple conclusion and lifted my foot—

Piiiiiing—

A light, far more powerful than before, began to emanate from Seo Gwangjin’s body. It was the precursor to his explosion ability.

I gauged the amount of light.

‘This size is still dangerous.’

“Damn it!”

I quickly put distance between myself and the guy.

The further the distance, the weaker the force of the explosion would be.

But there was one more thing I had to do.

‘The people around will be caught in it!’

Judging by the amount of light, his explosion was enough to swallow this small house, including the gang that followed him and the father and daughter.

‘I have to save at least those two!’

I made a quick choice.

The gang were just guys who followed Seo Gwangjin anyway. However, based on my observations with the Observation Probe, they seemed to still have some humanity left, so I was considering keeping them alive to hand over to the police.

Unlike last time, this time they would be charged with numerous serious crimes, so the police wouldn’t just let them go.

In other words, they probably wouldn’t become a future problem.

But still, criminals are criminals.

Even if they hadn’t committed a capital crime, they couldn’t be compared to the two people who were simply caught up in this without any involvement.

Especially since one of them was a Water Ability User.

“Get over here!”

I gestured to the woman and carefully lifted her blood-covered father, who was lying on the ground, shielding him with my body. At the same time, I used my entire armor to block the two of them from Seo Gwangjin.

The gang, who had been watching my actions in shock, finally came to their senses and began to shout toward Seo Gwangjin.

“H-Hyung!”

“Please stop!”

Of course, it was useless.

K-BOOOOM—

Once again, a powerful explosion roared.

* * *

Seo Gwangjin stood in the middle of the devastated house.

“Ha, hahahahaha!”

And he laughed boisterously.

Maximum firepower, drawing out all of his mana.

No one would be able to withstand this. As proof, those who had been his subordinates were all rolling on the ground.

“Well, it worked out. They were just trash who didn’t listen well anyway.”

It would be a hassle to get more subordinates, but that was all. Just a hassle.

Thanks to that, he no longer needed to educate his subordinates; now, Seo Gwangjin thought he just had to find the bastard who snitched on him.

“Then, shall I look around other houses to find that bastard?”

It was just as he was talking to himself and turning around.

Rustle—

Something moved.

“…?”

Rustle— thud—

And as a pile of concrete was lifted, a figure emerged from within. Though his back was blackened and scorched, it was a man wearing armor that looked perfectly fine.

“T-this is impossible…”

Seo Gwangjin was bewildered. But what bewildered him even more were the words that next came out of my mouth.

“That bastard? You mean… the person who reported you and looted the general store?”

“H-how do you know that?”

“Because that’s me.”

A tone that seemed to hide a sneer within the armor, as if it were all a joke.

Seo Gwangjin’s emotion quickly shifted from bewilderment to rage.

Grit.

Of course, it was exactly as I intended.

‘Let’s wrap this up quickly.’

There is no opponent easier than an emotional one.