That’s How They Became Villains

#12. The Path of a Hero, The Path of a Villain -2-

After the tumultuous legal defense trial ended, the next day Jin Hyun, who received a suspended sentence, was visiting the Hero Corporation to receive his hero rank as ENIAC had ordered.

“Check here and here, write your name here, and sign please.”

“Ah… yes.”

Before receiving a rank, the essential process of becoming a city resident: creating a citizen ID.

Jin Hyun, unfamiliar with paperwork, filled in his two-character name and date of birth on the form with the help of Han Yu-jin and Han Cheol-ho.

‘Name…what should I use?’

‘Huh? Can’t you just use what you’ve been using?’

‘Is that okay?’

‘It is. Using a different name will just take time to get used to.’

Even though it was a fake identity created with forgery, if someone calls you by it, isn’t that a name? That was the sentiment.

After completing the paperwork, a man came to see Jin Hyun who was waiting in the guest room.

Dressed impeccably in a red suit and sunglasses, he was Handsome, the founder of Hero Corporation who had officially contracted with Noah Group.

“Are you Jin Hyun?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Oh, I’ve heard a lot about you from Han Cheol-ho. I heard you received permission from ENIAC to conduct hero activities without a nanomachine.”

Handsome leaned back on a large sofa, crossing his long legs at an angle.

“Let Me introduce myself. Me is the CEO of Hero Corporation. My name is Handsome.”

“I’m Jin Hyun.”

“Oh, such a brief answer that leaves nothing to say…But, it’s okay. Why? Because Me isn’t Angry like the Toxic citizens of Minos.”

“…Pardon?”

Jin Hyun asked again, wondering if he had misheard Handsome’s strange manner of speaking.

“I mean, I don’t get angry easily like the toxic citizens of Minos. It lacks dignity.”

“Ah…yes. I see.”

At that moment, Handsome’s secretary beside him led the conversation.

“I saw the video.”

“What?”

Handsome glared at his secretary through his sunglasses. How dare a secretary interrupt the boss’ conversation?

But the secretary shot back with a sharp look, as if unwilling to back down.

“Your schedule is tight. Let’s keep the jokes to a minimum.”

“Ow…”

Handsome flinched like a frightened mouse, then sighed briefly before picking up the topic the secretary had thrown.

“She’s right. That speed that even cameras couldn’t capture, it was a hot topic on the internet.”

“I didn’t know about it, but when I looked it up later, it turned out that way.”

“Is that speed due to the body’s performance, or is it a special ability unique to you?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Don’t you feel anything when you use it?”

“No. I’ve been doing it naturally since I was at the lab.”

“Hmm…interesting.”

Handsome took out an e-cigarette from his pocket and put it in his mouth.

“Then would you try to take this e-cigarette from me right in front of my eyes?”

“Right now?”

“Yes. There are residual symptoms after using an ability. If Your speed is due to an ability…”

“Here it is.”

“There will surely be symptoms…What?”

Suddenly, Jin Hyun was holding the e-cigarette that had been in Handsome’s mouth.

Handsome didn’t feel the moment the cigarette was taken away, not even for a moment.

Handsome observed Jin Hyun, pushing up his sunglasses as if to hide his surprise.

‘No residual symptoms…’

If that’s the case, this isn’t a special ability but rather the pure performance of the vessel.

“Let me ask one question. If you can move that fast, why do you usually move so slowly?”

“Because I can only accelerate for a moment.”

“How long is a moment?”

“About 5 seconds.”

“Then while you’re accelerating, does anything feel different?”

“If I had to say, the whole world looks like it’s stopped.”

“Oh…Pilots wearing walking suits often say that. There might be some correlation.”

After that, Handsome continued to ask Jin Hyun many questions, recording an aptitude test for him.

Occasionally, when something wasn’t clear, he would ask Jin Hyun to demonstrate physical force, just like earlier. Each time, Handsome had to gulp down coffee to soothe his burning throat.

“Okay. That should be enough to get some results.”

“Aren’t you going to ask about my ability?”

“Ah, you mean that golden aura that rose from your body?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll pass on that. You don’t really know about your own ability either, right?”

“……”

When Jin Hyun fell silent, Handsome laughed heartily as if he’d expected it.

“They say that the abilities of enhanced humans manifest differently depending on the last conviction they held when they were human.”

Slurp.

“It’s a very un-Scientific story, but aren’t there many things in this world that can’t be explained by science? I quite like this story.”

Slurp.

Handsome drank all the remaining coffee in his cup and said.

“By the way, what do you think about heroes, Jin Hyun?”

“Heroes?”

“People often question why Me’s company is named Hero Corporation. We’ve only received official permission for activities from Noah Group, but what we do isn’t any different from mercenaries who run errands for money. They ask what makes us heroes.”

Hearing Handsome’s words, what came to Jin Hyun’s mind was Han Cheol-ho and Han Yu-jin’s errand agency ‘We’ll Do It.’

“What are you thinking of right now?”

“…”

“Let me guess? You’re thinking of the errand agency that Han Cheol-ho runs?”

“That’s right.”

“Correct. That’s the image of heroes that the citizens of Minos have. Got armed thugs in front of your house? I’ll clean them up. A monster appeared in the city? I’ll handle it. Lost a beloved pet? I’ll find it. Of course, only if you pay.”

Handsome made a gesture meaning money by rubbing his thumb and index finger together.

“There’s nothing noble about it. In the end, it’s all about money. That’s how the world flows.”

“……”

“You look like you don’t agree?”

“…Yes.”

“Then, would you share your thoughts at this point?”

At Handsome’s words, Jin Hyun closed his eyes.

What Jin Hyun imagined was the moment when he needed help the most in his life—the memory of the laboratory explosion.

“When I close my eyes, I always hear auditory hallucinations.”

“What kind of hallucinations do you hear?”

“Screams for help, massive explosion sounds, crossing gunfire, tearing sounds, blades clashing, embers crackling, a child crying…”

“……”

“And they all always want the same thing.”

Salvation.

“If there are 100 people in the world, 99 of them might not seek salvation. But if the remaining one person asks for salvation, I think a hero is someone who listens to that voice.”

Whoosh.

A golden aura appeared behind Jin Hyun as if a sacred flame had been lit.

This was a signal of ability manifestation that appeared only when he felt intense emotions, regardless of his will.

“There’s already a warm light dwelling in Your heart.”

Handsome, who had been entranced by the sight, finally came to his senses and handed Jin Hyun a contract.

“Oh, right.”

Or rather, he was about to hand it over but stopped.

“I almost forgot the most important thing.”

“What is it?”

“When you’re acting as a hero, is there a Nickname you’d like to use?”

“Umm…”

“Feel free to say it comfortably, don’t be burdened.”

“There’s only one thing that comes to mind right now.”

Jin Hyun took out a pen and wrote a word on a nearby piece of paper. Last.

Handsome asked Jin Hyun about the origin of that name.

Jin Hyun answered with an awkward laugh.

“Something like…I’ll be the last one standing to save people, no matter when or where.”

After hearing Jin Hyun’s answer, Handsome took off the sunglasses he was wearing and placed them on the desk.

“I think I’m finally getting a picture of what kind of person you are.”

Handsome stamped Jin Hyun’s contract with a satisfied smile.

There are two types of people in the world.

Good people and bad people.

If we get into details, there would be exceptions like people who were originally good but turned bad, or people who overcame their evil nature through great effort.

But I didn’t think human complexity was worth considering to that extent.

Can’t we just have two types?

It would make living in this world easier.

“Munch munch…”

On a quiet street at night, around are piles of materials that haven’t yet become buildings and stark skeletal frames.

This was one of the many ground elevator development areas that failed due to monster attacks.

“Hey, come out.”

I spoke to the stalker who had been following me for a while.

“Why do you keep following me? Do you have something to say?”

“……”

“Aish, stop wasting time and come out quickly. I’m a busy person.”

When I pressed, the mysterious stalker revealed herself from the shadow-covered space.

The stalker turned out to be the ham-fisted aunt I briefly encountered during the department store hostage incident.

“Hands up.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I immediately raised both hands above my head in surrender.

That’s because the aunt had a gun in her hand.

I guess she realized from last time’s lesson that she couldn’t even properly twist a chicken’s neck with her own fists, an impressive self-awareness.

“You…tell me honestly.”

The aunt pointed her gun at me and said in a trembling voice.

“This…it was all your doing, wasn’t it…?”

“What?”

“Don’t play dumb!! Do you know how hard my life has been because of you!?”

Bang!

A bullet escaped from the barrel, flying at high speed and piercing the ground.

“Messages come in every single day!! Death threats, terror warnings, personal insults, curses, tens, hundreds of them!! And that’s not all? When I walk down the street, I hear people I’ve never talked to in my life whispering about me!! After all that, even when I bump into someone or get pushed over, I feel some kind of paranoia!!”

“Oh…and so?”

“What…?”

I shrugged my shoulders with a tone suggesting I didn’t know what the problem was.

Because except for the terror warnings, it was exactly the same, down to the letter, as what enhanced humans experience daily.

“Is that it? You’re whining over just that?”

“You…you…!!”

Bang! Bang bang!

Enraged by my words, the aunt fired bullets in rapid succession without giving the gun barrel time to cool.

Soon, the empty magazine made a hollow sound as it hit the firing pin.

“Huff… huff…”

Through the hazy smoke from the barrel, I could hear the aunt’s breathing.

Eventually, the smoke cleared.

“Are you done shooting?”

“Eek…!!”

The aunt and I had a touching reunion.

“Wh-what…!? Why aren’t you dead…!?”

“Because you’re really bad at shooting, auntie?”

I brushed off the areas where the bullets had grazed me and approached the aunt.

“Enhanced human…? You were an enhanced human…!?”

“Auntie.”

“D-don’t come closer…!! Fine, this is actually better. Do you think you can harm me? You’re an enhanced human!! Once you get back to the city, you’re finished! I’ve been recording this whole scene!!”

“Auntie?”

“Wh-what, what you girl, what!!”

“I like people like you, auntie. Compared to you, I can feel that I’m a good person.”

“Wh…what does that even…mmph…!! Mmph!!”

I used telekinesis to cover the aunt’s mouth.

Since she kept trying to run away, this time I grabbed her whole body so she couldn’t move.

“Heave-ho.”

I sat down on a suitable block nearby.

In my hand, I still held the ramen bag I had been eating earlier.

Munch munch…

“So, auntie, on what grounds did you stalk me? With a gun loaded with seven bullets?”

“…Pfft!! Obviously because I knew you were behind it all, that’s why I followed you!!”

“No, but on what grounds?”

“What? That’s…well…”

“Let’s be honest, shall we? Auntie, you just needed someone to blame, right?”

“……”

“You already felt embarrassed walking around with your face because of the CCTV footage spread on the internet, and then I appeared as a witness in court, showed the video, and smeared your face twice, so you resented me, right?”

“…So what!! Are you saying you’re not the culprit behind all this!?”

“I am, though.”

When I answered boldly, the aunt’s face turned to confusion.

“You are…?”

“Yes. But, auntie, you weren’t certain I was the culprit when you shot the gun, were you?”

“What does that matter? You just admitted…”

“What if I had been a civilian?”

I ignored the aunt’s words and lifted her sturdy body into the air.

I planned to slowly lift her to 100m, the limit range of my telekinesis. “Kyaaaah!!”

The aunt, floating in the air, thrashed about vigorously like a freshly caught fish. The more she did so, the faster and higher she rose.

“Put me down… put me down…!! The ground is getting farther away!!”

“Unlike auntie, I have legitimate reasons to harm you. I took seven bullets filled with your killing intent in my body. Do you know how much that hurt?”

“I said put me down!!”

“If your deduction was wrong and I was an ordinary citizen, I would have died here from gunshot wounds. So why should you live?”

“Stop bluffing!! The nanomachine in your head is screaming, right? Telling you to put me down right now!!”

“What? Haah… auntie.”

I called out to the aunt in a deeply subdued voice.

“You still don’t understand?”

“What don’t I understand!! What!! You can’t kill me anyway!!”

“I don’t have a nanomachine in my head.”

At that, the aunt who had been squawking loudly went quiet.

“Huh…?”

“Do you understand what that means?”

Silence fell over the abandoned factory.

Even a fool would have understood by now.

And after a while.

“S-s-s-sa… save…”

The aunt’s struggles became more intense than before.

“Save… sa… save…!! Save me…!!”

“Look at that, your hostility has completely disappeared. Is it because you thought you would survive that you were so confident until now?”

“Save me…!! I said save me… you crazy bitch!!”

“No.”

I showed my open palm.

By the time all these fingers close, she will reach the limit range of 100m.

“After all, auntie has to die here for good to triumph over evil.”

Starting with the thumb, the fingers close one by one.

“Ah…. ahh….”

Next is the little finger, ring finger, middle finger, index finger in that order.

“Ahhh…..!!”

And finally 100m.

“AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!”

At the end of the long scream, a sound close to an explosion echoed through the abandoned factory.

[You have committed an evil act!]

[Murder]

[Evil points increased by 100]

[Current evil points: 200/100000]

[Achievement unlocked!] [Something to Get Used To]

[Additional 400 evil points acquired]

[Current evil points: 600/100000]

[Sub-mission has been unlocked] [Would you like to ch…]

“Hey now. You again.”

I hurriedly pressed the X button.

This damn status window always tries to push something strange when a person is immersed in the aftermath.

I directed my gaze to the achievement section displayed on the status window.

[Something to Get Used To]

The tone that seemed somewhat condescending was quite annoying.

Then the name of the achievement displayed on the screen changed.

[First Murder]

“……”

I closed the status window and went to look for where the aunt’s body would be.

It was to recover the voice recorder.