The students gathered around Yang Min-seo were muttering as they looked at me.
“Who’s that guy?”
One student pretended to know.
“I know! He’s the one who got through the entrance exam by luck when the testing device broke down.”
“You mean that incident when the monster suddenly disappeared?”
“Why would Yang Min-seo pick someone like that…?”
The applicants to Yang Min-seo Corporation seemed quite dissatisfied.
“I can hear you, you know.”
Was the test equipment that glass box during the entrance exam?
Apparently, what others saw as a malfunction was actually the compression of a troll into a bead.
With reactions like this, it’s a bit difficult to take the bait.
“There seem to be plenty of other people willing to do it besides me?”
Yang Min-seo leaned over, whispering into my ear.
The subtle scent of her perfume pleased my nose.
“I already know. You’re not D-Rank, are you? I don’t know why you’re hiding your strength, but let’s be friends.”
“…”
I sighed and nodded.
Since she’s making such an effort, and I’m no Zhuge Liang, it’s not easy to keep refusing.
I hinted my approval.
“Alright. I’ll join your team.”
“Thank you.”
Yang Min-seo wrote my name on her sheet.
Then she turned around and spoke.
“Anyone who believes they can perform at B-Rank or higher, please raise your hand.”
Not many could.
B-Rank was the level where you could genuinely fight with superpowers.
It was a rare level for students.
Just two exceptions.
The crimson-haired girl with emerald-green eyes, a beautiful girl who had an overwhelming bust compared to others. She was Haena Oh, the main character.
And the seemingly non-existent black-haired black-eyed girl who also raised her hand, Soyeon Ji, who was beautiful as well, if not on Haena’s level.
Yang Min-seo nodded as if to emphasize.
Haena Oh stepped forward first.
“My name is Oh Haena, and I can manipulate air. Like this.”
Her body floated slightly in the air.
Wind rushed from beneath her feet.
The onlookers were slightly impressed.
I already knew, so it wasn’t as surprising.
‘Not bad abilities. And against humans…’
“Wouldn’t it be a little disappointing if it ended there? I also possess ideal hero abilities. Would someone like to help me demonstrate?”
No one stepped up.
Of course not.
They were all Yang Min-seo Corporation applicants.
Haena frowned and reached out to a male student nearby.
“Thanks, buddy. Will you help me?”
“No, I— uh… gahhh…”
Suddenly, the boy clutched his throat in agony, unable to breathe as his face turned crimson.
“What, what is this?”
The other students distanced themselves from the suffering boy, observing what was happening.
The boy was almost at death’s door.
“Mercy, mercy! I can’t breathe…”
“Shall I stop here?”
As she withdrew her power, the boy could finally breathe again.
She looked proud.
“How about that, Miss Yang Min-seo? That’s enough, right?”
Haena seemed slightly offended by Yang Min-seo’s condescending attitude, addressing her sarcastically as “Miss.”
“Hmm. Yes, you’re qualified.”
Haena proved to be a useful character in human battles, though her abilities were ineffective against monsters later on.
Next was Ji Soyeon’s turn.
Only I noticed she had already begun displaying her abilities.
Yang Min-seo looked around, searching for her.
“There was someone else a moment ago, where did she go?”
“Over here…”
Soyeon’s voice came near Yang Min-seo’s ear.
Her ability was invisibility.
While Haena was choking the innocent student, Soyeon had gone to the corner of the classroom and taken off her school uniform. Since clothes can’t become invisible.
I focused my gaze, hoping to catch a glance, but the instant she took it off, she turned invisible, leaving nothing to see.
Hugging Yang Min-seo from behind, Soyeon revealed only her hands.
“If there had been a sword, Miss Yang Min-seo would be dead…”
Yang Min-seo, though slightly annoyed by Soyeon’s timid manner, soon smiled with satisfaction.
“Ho ho. Interesting. You’re also joining our team. With that, we have four members, so the recruitment for our group is closed. Those who weren’t chosen will have another chance next semester.”
That’s how the group was formed.
Me, Yang Min-seo, Ji Soyeon, and Oh Haena.
For some reason, it seems I’m the only guy.
Teacher Song Si-yeol said in a relaxed tone,
“If your group is complete, head outside. Be at the main field by 10:30.”
Everyone rushed out.
I calmly got up.
“Anyway, we have time.”
As I left the classroom and walked through the hallway, someone shoved me into the wall.
It was one of the followers who had been clinging to Yang Min-seo earlier. The one who had explosive abilities and whose father was a businessman.
He glared at me.
“You! I heard your skill is Telekinesis and that your intelligence is low. And that you only passed because a device malfunctioned. A guy like you doesn’t fit in Yang Min-seo’s team, so leave.”
He’s shorter than me by a head.
I pushed his shoulder and asked,
“What if I don’t?”
“Huh. Fine. I won’t directly ask you to leave. Three million won.”
“What?”
“Three million won. Tell Yang Min-seo that due to circumstances, you want to leave the team.”
“I refuse.”
His punch grazed my cheek and hit the wall.
There was a small explosion.
This bastard’s using his powers against a fellow student.
‘I thought Haena was bad enough, but this guy too… These so-called hero hopefuls.’
I decided there would be no mercy.
Trash deserves the method of trash.
“What’s your name?”
“Park Sang-jin. So are we talking now? But forget the three million won. Since I used force, our negotiation has changed, right?”
Park Sang-jin… Park Sang-jin.
I remember now.
He used to torment Yongcheonhwa in Class A.
A rich kid who solved legal issues with money, so extra to the point I forgot about him.
“Ugh.”
I grabbed a handful of his hair.
“Park Sang-jin. You little scumbag. Do you want a beatdown?”
Whack.
I slapped him.
“Use your powers.”
Whack.
I slapped him again.
He grabbed my chest, trying to do something, biting his lips in concentration.
“Do it, you little shit.”
It won’t work.
Laura is dispelling it in real-time.
Park Sang-jin struggled to escape, but there’s no way.
My pure strength is B-Rank.
Even the B-Rank boss monster, the Nameless One, couldn’t escape.
A mere C-Rank student like him stands no chance against me.
I slapped him again.
By now Park Sang-jin’s face was red, his lips bleeding.
I let go of his hair and he collapsed, sprawling on the hallway floor.
I stepped on his neck.
I stomped it.
It’s not enough.
I kneed him in the head.
“Ugh. Khah. St, stop.”
A red crystal appeared on Park Sang-jin’s chest.
I instinctively reached for it but snapped out of it.
‘Was I… originally this violent?’
I merely intended to hit him a few times, but as I kept hitting him, I got excited somehow…
‘Damn.’
What if hearing “villain” so often made me act like a villain?
I reprimanded myself to get a grip.
Continuously killing people seemed to have affected my mind.
I took a potion from my pocket and sprayed it on him.
His wounds started healing.
“Next time I see you, you’re dead.”
Leaving with mixed feelings, I headed to the main field.
*
Seoul Special Court.
A group of oddly dressed people appeared.
They had masks on their faces.
Underneath were uniforms with the K Group logo.
The masks they wore were K Group’s mascot, K-Dolli.
Due to their cute image, K-Dolli was popular enough to be used as messenger app emojis.
But this K-Dolli mask had melted grotesquely, revealing a terrifying sight, with half of it torn to expose the wearer’s mouth.
A crude speaker hung around the thug’s neck.
[The leading South Korean company that endlessly pursues progress, K Group.]
🎵🎶🎵
Cheerful music and the mechanical voice recorded.
This was the on-hold music customers would hear when they called K Group’s customer service.
The gang entered the court.
A guard stepped forward to stop them.
“Stop where you are! Why are you here?”
[The leading South Korean company endlessly pursuing progress. A world coexisting with human society, built by K Group.]
🎵🎶🎵
The thugs let out a “Uuuuwhh” sound as they lunged at the guard, baring their teeth.
The guard’s neck was bitten off, killing him instantly.
He soon joined the thugs, his head dangling.
“Call the police, no, a hero!”
The other guards resisted using stun guns or batons, but it was futile.
They all followed their colleague’s fate.
Judge Kim Yong-seok was in his office, dealing with paperwork.
Recently, due to numerous trials, work was piling up.
This was all because of those reckless villains.
BOOM!
At that moment, his office door burst open and the thugs appeared, their lips smeared with blood.
[A world coexisting with human society, built by K Group. Hello! At K Group, we are creating a safe place free from industrial accidents.]
🎵🎶🎵
The cheap speaker’s low-quality mechanical voice was eerie.
“What are you? How did you get here!”
The thugs swarmed the judge immediately.
Then a man wearing the K-Dolli mask entered the office.
Unlike the thugs, he walked in a human-like manner.
“Long time no see, Your Honor! Do you remember me?”
“Wh, who are you?”
“You don’t remember the case ‘2024가단441’? The one where K Pharmaceuticals stole a small company’s product? It seemed like nothing to you, didn’t it? But look what happened to me.”
“A, Ah, yes, I remember. Remember. But why are you doing this…?”
The man removed his mask.
A monstrous face, barely different from the mask, appeared.
He grinned, revealing sharp teeth.
“I was the CEO of that small company. You took bribes from K Pharmaceuticals and condemned me, didn’t you?”
“What nonsense. That was a case any judge would rule against.”
“Speak up. Did you take bribes from K Pharmaceuticals and ruin Ma Bo-sung’s life?”
He thrust a recorder at the judge.
The judge instantly realized.
‘Even if I say what he wants, he’s not going to let me live.’
“There’s no way I can do that. Leave.”
He decided to protect his honor.
[Safe drugs for a safer world, brought to you by K Pharmaceuticals. Thank you for your patience. All operators are busy at the moment, please hold.]
🎵🎶🎵
The repeating recorded voice and the lively background music.
That was the last sound Judge Kim Yong-sek heard in this world.
When the hour hand on the office wall clock had turned around by about 30 degrees,
The unprecedented state agency attack left the government stunned, leading them to deploy heroes and the military to retake the courthouse.
But it was too late.
The thugs who attacked the court were nowhere to be seen.
The only things left were zombies with various parts of their bodies torn off and left behind.
Judge Kim Yong-sek’s body was severely mutilated, preventing him from even becoming a zombie.
C-Rank hero “Constructor” looked around the blood-soaked interior of the building and sighed in despair.
“What is this world coming to…?”
