Chapter 65

A villain suddenly appeared with an explosion.

“Why! Why only me!! Why are you doing this to me!!”

He was yelling at the top of his lungs, venting his anger at the people.

“I also!! I also wanted to meet, you damn bastards!!”

‘Yeah, sure you wanted to meet, huh.’

Seeing him roll his eyes and scream like that, I couldn’t help but feel disgusted.

Boom! Crash!

To make matters worse, something must have been triggered, and the shops started exploding.

“…What should we do, Sajan-nim?”

Chise, looking like she was about to jump out any second, twitched and then looked at me.

‘Honestly, I feel like just killing him…’

The villain, who had lost his mind and was rampaging.

He was blowing up buildings, but seeing him tremble every time it happened, it didn’t seem like he intended it.

‘Plus, judging by the fact that he caused this unintentionally, he has no combat experience.’

I don’t know about his abilities, but if I wanted to kill him right now, I could easily do it.

But… do I really need to?

“Let’s run away quickly!”

I grabbed Chise’s hand with a slightly nervous expression.

‘I don’t need to catch that guy.’

It’s more trouble than it’s worth to take him out over something so trivial.

Even if Chise steps up, it’s a problem.

If our location gets exposed and our identities are revealed, that would be troublesome too.

‘In the end, that guy is just useless trash.’

There’s no need for me and Chise to step in for someone like that.

“Please step aside! I’m a hero!! Follow the villain response manual!”

This is a place where heroes are supposed to patrol.

“Let’s leave the villain to the heroes and run away quickly. In this situation, Gayeon might be in danger too.”

“Ah… yes!! Got it!”

At my words, Chise nodded and followed as I led.

‘There’s quite a distance, so if we run now, we can escape.’

And find Gayeon, who suddenly disappeared.

Honestly, I’m not that worried.

If she wants, she can escape at any moment, and since she’s been trained consistently, she could hold her own against an A-rank hero for a while.

‘When Gayeon was measured by the Association, she was a B-rank villain, right?’

Due to her small stature and the image of being my subordinate, she was rated lower than I thought in the villain ranking, which values influence over pure strength.

But if you just look at her strength, she could easily be in the upper B+ range or even barely reach A-rank.

‘It’s weird to be worried about someone like that.’

Maybe she’s taking a break somewhere?

Or maybe she’s caught someone and is tormenting them.

Anyway, let’s leave that guy to the heroes and quickly get out of here to find Gayeon.

“Uh… Sajan-nim?”

“I’m sorry, Tsukino-san. A villain suddenly appearing like this…”

“Huh? No, no! It’s not your fault that a villain suddenly appeared!”

“Thank you for saying that. Let’s get out of here and find Gayeon quickly. It might be dangerous.”

“Uh… about that…”

Chise tightened her grip on my hand and stopped me.

“What’s wrong?”

I looked at Chise with an expression that said, ‘It’s urgent, why are you stopping me?’

Then, awkwardly, she pointed in one direction with her finger.

“…Over there.”

In the direction she pointed, there was Gayeon.

“Useless old man, that’s a ten-fold explosion.”

“Ah, ahh!! Please, just go away!!!”

And there she was, picking a fight with the villain.

“……”

Why is she over there?

***

“I heard somewhere. If you’re too greedy, you’ll go bald.”

“Go away!!”

“Are you bald because you’re too greedy, old man? Is wanting a girlfriend too much greed for you?”

“No!! I’m not greedy! And it’s not my fault I can’t get a girlfriend, it’s those women’s fault!!”

“Those women?”

“Yeah!! If it weren’t for those gold-digging, shallow women, I would’ve been in a relationship by now!!!”

Gayeon looked the villain up and down as he vented.

“…Who would like a bald guy?”

“……”

At her sincere words, the villain fell silent, lost for words.

‘…Gayeon.’

I swallowed the sigh that almost escaped and observed the situation.

Why, just why?

“Why on earth is she doing that in front of a villain…”

I pressed my temples, feeling a headache coming on.

‘…This is getting annoying.’

Dealing with the villain isn’t the problem.

If I wanted to, I could just snipe him in the head right now.

‘The real problem is… the civilians.’

“Everyone, please step back!!”

“This is a real situation! Please follow the villain response manual!”

Perhaps because nothing else happened after the initial chain of explosions, even though a villain appeared, the civilians were filming him with their phones.

Right now, the situation was being recorded in real-time and uploaded to the internet.

An unnecessary amount of attention.

With Gayeon there, we can’t just run away.

No matter what role I take, the moment I step into that gap, I’ll definitely get attention.

‘If Narin were here, she could’ve at least disabled all the phones and CCTV.’

But she’s at Eclipse headquarters right now, so that’s impossible.

Going around to all these people’s phones, deleting the data, and even the videos being uploaded in real-time?

I’d rather just die crying.

“What should we do?”

What the hell do we do?

I got dragged into something annoying.

“…Should I go talk to the heroes?”

“Tsukino-san?”

Chise came here for the exchange meeting, but she’s a solid B+ rank hero.

As a high-ranking hero, she has the authority to command other heroes in emergencies.

“Do you think the heroes will listen to us civilians…?”

“…Don’t worry, Sajan-nim! Heroes are always on the side of the citizens! I’ll go talk to them!”

Pretending not to know Chise’s identity, she confidently spoke to me after twitching for a moment.

I don’t know what Chise is planning to do, but honestly, I don’t trust them…

“Sigh… where did that kid come from…”

“Hehe, bonus points. Bonus points…”

“So how are we supposed to catch her?”

“Is this for real?”

Since this team was hastily formed for this patrol, the role distribution wasn’t properly done.

At the beginning, the evacuation of civilians and the suppression of the villain didn’t go smoothly, and as a result, the villain ended up with a hostage (being tormented by her), making it impossible to intervene recklessly.

“So, to sum it up, you’re saying you have no greed, no hair, and no people around you.”

“……”

“Old man, can’t you just wear a hat? Your shiny head is blinding.”

“Ugh…”

…Wait, if I think about it, I can just go in and subdue him now!

Can’t you see he’s crying?!!

“What can we low-rank heroes do?”

“We’re useless. Just bring some popcorn, buddy.”

Those useless bastards…

In this completely messed up situation, I’m at a loss for words.

“Then, I’ll go convince the heroes!!”

“No, I don’t think that’s necessary…”

“We need to hurry and save Gayeon! She must be so scared right now!”

Seeing her slightly smiling, it looks like she’s enjoying it.

“It’s okay! The heroes won’t ignore the citizens’ difficulties!”

Didn’t you hear the guy asking for popcorn earlier?

“Just trust me, Sajan-nim!”

Hey!!! Kkangbbong!! Only trust noona!! I’ll solve it!!!

Something about her confident demeanor overlapped with something else.

“……”

Before I could stop her, Chise slipped into the crowd.

A villain who committed terrorism is being tormented by a hostage, and the heroes are just watching.

And the civilians aren’t running away, staying until the end to film the situation.

Am I being mentally attacked?

I pinched my cheek, but I still felt the pain.

‘…Is this reality?’

This mess feels like my mind is drifting away.

“……”

I don’t even know anymore.

Whoosh-

‘…I’ll just do whatever I feel like.’

I put on a hat and mask made with my abilities, preparing to step out as a new character.

***

“So! I’m the B+ rank hero, Phantom Luna!”

“Without any proof, what nonsense are you spouting?”

“I’m on vacation today, so I didn’t bring it!!”

“Then bring proof that you’re a hero!”

“I don’t have it!”

“Then get out!!”

Chise and a hero were yelling at each other, raising their voices.

Chise confidently straightened her back and pointed at the man.

“You! If you’re a hero, you should save the citizens in danger!”

“I will! But it might be dangerous, so let’s be careful…”

“Being careful twice will get people killed.”

In the midst of their bickering, a voice came through.

Using some kind of voice modulation, the voice with a bit of noise naturally drew their attention.

In their line of sight was a man wearing a mask shaped like a monster’s mouth and a black and red jumper.

“Who are you…?”

“Think of me as a ghost.”

The man slung a long stick over his shoulder and walked leisurely.

“Stop! Please stop!!”

“Denying reality won’t help. You already have no friends or girlfriend.”

“Ahh!! Stop it!!!”

Perhaps because of his sudden appearance.

No one stopped the man from moving, and he eventually reached the front of the villain.

“…? Oppa?”

And the man raised his stick, taking a stance.

“…Wait! Hey! Stop him!!”

Whack!!

Without a moment of hesitation, he swung the stick upward, hitting the villain’s head.

“Ugh…!”

“I don’t understand why you didn’t do something so simple.”

Finally, I feel a bit relieved.

The man, Gang Ian, smiled satisfactorily and adjusted his grip on the stick.

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