<Police Officer Murdered by 'Dark Knight,' Can't Rule Out Copycat Possibilities...>
<K Telecom President Yang Joon-goo Found Dead in Residence, Suicide Note Discovered on PC Notepad>
<Fake 'Dark Knight' Definitely Exists?>
I sat at the desk, browsing internet articles.
With a cigarette in my mouth, I lit it.
Sip.
Haa.
The tone of recent news articles has slightly changed.
Whereas before they were busy labeling me an unintelligent villain, they were gradually trending towards acknowledging the existence of a fake ‘Dark Knight.’
It somewhat relieved me.
Though I don’t chase villains for fame, I still didn’t like being cursed for things I didn’t do, and it made me feel unwell all day.
“Status window.”
————<Status Window>————
◈ Name
n̶̡̡̛̟̠͈͎̟̍͜͝͡͠ु̢̰̭̲̋͒̓͊̀̒́͘͡l̴̳͙͓̞̻̝͇̥͆̋͂̉̕͡͠͠l̨̛̫̖̝͓̮̳͓͆̃̈̈́̈́͆̈̕
◈ Stats
[Strength 087 A]
[Agility 724 B]
[Intelligence 111 C]
[Luck 187 F]
[Overall C]
◈ Skills
[Succession 897 A]
[Dragon Heart — A]
[Telekinesis 682 C]
[Magic Inscription — B]
———————————–
Thanks to hunting several villains, including ‘Medusa,’ my stats have improved quite a bit.
The ‘Succession’ skill deserves attention.
It’s almost reaching S-rank.
I’m very excited to see how the skill will improve.
The room filled with cigarette smoke.
I opened the window to ventilate.
Knock knock.
Park Hayeon knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
She walked in, covering her nose.
“Ugh. What’s this smell?”
I apologized, tapping out the cigarette into the ashtray.
“Sorry. Did it spread to the living room?”
“Do you smoke?”
“Ah, occasionally.”
“…It’s harmful to your body.”
Park Hayeon picked up my pack of cigarettes on the desk.
“I’m confiscating this!”
“Hey, that’s unfair!”
I reached out to grab it back, and she dodged.
We ended up facing each other with our arms flailing.
Oof.
While jostling, we both lost balance and fell.
I ended up landing on top of her.
“Kyaaaa!”
The soft feeling in my hands—realizing too late, I had accidentally grabbed her chest while falling.
‘Uh, why is my hand here…’
I quickly pulled away, apologizing.
“Sorry, sorry.”
The room fell to an awkward silence.
Haa.
Haa.
Our rapid breathing filled the room as we stared at each other.
If I stayed like this, it would get worse. So I stood up before things progressed further.
“Sorry, it was unintentional.”
“H-Hey, don’t worry about it! That smell… No, it’s fine! It was an accident!”
With an embarrassed expression, Park Hayeon rushed out of the room.
Alone, I muttered.
“Haa, this… why did we fall like that?”
It became awkward to go out to the living room.
I sat again and returned to browsing the internet.
Meanwhile, a sudden urgent announcement appeared.
<Major hostage situation at Seongsan Bridge! The suspect claims to be a copycat of 'Dark Knight,' and the demands are: "Prepare 100 billion won within 3 hours and have 'Dark Knight' personally deliver it to me.”
I instantly realized.
That person... wants me.
"Fine, I'll play along."
What a nuisance.
Impersonating me to commit crimes... Regardless of what they're after, it won't end in their favor once I show up.
There was no 'Dark Knight' in the original story, nor was there a copycat. Hence, I couldn't figure out where this person came from or what they intended.
Still, I wasn't worried. I was a quasi-A-rank Awakened One and had support from Laura, who now possessed a physical body. There's no way I could lose.
I packed my things and left the house. Outside the door stood Laura wearing only a T-shirt.
Her horns, wings, and tail had disappeared.
She took a robe from my bag and I asked,
"Where are your wings and tail?"
"I can hide them if I want. Though it's a bit uncomfortable."
"I see. Then, let's go to Seongsan Bridge."
"It'll be interesting."
*
Seongsan Bridge.
Heavy traffic congestion had the road packed.
A figure dressed in black robes appeared on top of a bus—it was 'Darkness Jumper.'
In one hand, she held a selfie stick. Attached to the top was a live-streaming camera.
With her voice distorted, Yoon Mi-so declared,
"Hello everyone. I'm Dark Knight."
She turned on the Black Streaming service and titled the live stream: <live Broadcast of Seoul Terrorist Attack ☆>.“I’m planning to hold Seongsan Bridge hostage.”
As soon as she finished her sentence, an explosion echoed—pfft. Large explosions occurred at both ends of the bridge.
The parts connecting the bridge to the mainland were blown away, isolating it above the river.
‘Darkness Jumper’ released her gang. They were all Non-Awakened or Awakened people unsuited for combat, recruited using money as bait. Armed with K2 rifles, black-robed figures swept through.
All the citizens trapped on the bridge were pulled out of their vehicles and gathered together.
Although there was little space due to the dense cars, tossing a few vehicles into the river cleared it up. This was made possible by an A-rank Awakened member with the ‘Weight Adjustment’ skill.
At least a hundred people had been rounded up.
Yoon Mi-so captured their terrified faces with the camera.
“I’ve installed bombs all over the bridge. If things don’t go as planned, I’ll blow it up. First request: The Black Streaming platform must not interrupt this broadcast. If it does, everyone dies.”
The hostages murmured in panic upon hearing the threat.
“Be quiet!”
Yoon Mi-so’s gang suppressed the chaos by aiming their guns at the hostages.
The stream’s audience was multiplying exponentially. The Black Streaming site serviced the entire world, and foreigners quickly tuned in, driving the viewer count to 5.3k in no time.
The top trending live broadcast.
Fortunately, Black Streaming did not block her stream. In their eyes, it was a marketing opportunity with near-zero risk.
The chat spammed with non-stop criticism.
<What is this trash?;>
<Fake Dark Knight lol lol lol>
<Shortie wanna-be lmao, Dark Knight would never look like that tho?>
<Go die in a hole>
Yoon Mi-so tilted her head slightly.
‘This quickly being outed huh? I thought the Association would pin this on Dark Knight, but they don’t seem to… They’re more righteous than I thought.’
Then there’s no point in wearing this suffocating robe. She shrugged it off.
“Of course, I’m not Dark Knight! I’m Darkness Jumper! Man, tiring to pull off this X-like concept, but glad this happened.”
<Oh, so a villain after all huh?>
<Gothic fetish girl vibe going strong here>
<Dark Knight fake, finally confirmed as fake lol>
<Robe != Dark Knight apparently lol>
<Silly fools shutting up now lmao>
<B-rank villain Darkness Jumper, infamously a hedonistic serial killer>
“Today, we’ll play a game, okay? I’ll put up an account number. Oh, and to government officials, ensure the transaction limit is set to maximum and don’t freeze the account. Otherwise, it’d be no fun, and I’ll kill everyone and leave.”
“Yeeeek!”
The hostages shivered.
‘Darkness Jumper’ calmed them down and continued speaking.
“Alright, collect a total of 1 billion won in this account. If all of you contribute, that’s fine. Then withdraw all the money as cash and bring it here.”
She held up her finger.
“However!”
A twisted smile.
Exhilaration crossed her face as she emphasized,
“That money must be delivered by Mr. Dark Knight!”
Darkness Jumper pulled out a pistol from her coat and mimed shooting.
“I’ll give you three hours. Be late or disobey my orders, and all hostages will die~!”
A significant number of people in the chat remained skeptical.
<How will you actually collect 1 billion won though?>
<I'm not depositing lol>
<Still, 100 billion won, if 1 million people send 10,000 won each, it's possible>
<Our country has 50 million people, surely 1 million will pitch in right?>
Yoon Mi-so didn’t actually have any intention of collecting the 100 billion won. What she wanted was ‘Dark Knight.’
She had escalated the situation to make him come looking for her.
‘Will you still ignore me after all this?’
If ‘Dark Knight’ truly arrived, she planned to trigger the bombs and destroy Seongsan Bridge upon receiving the money. Naturally, as a teleporter and an A-grade Awakened person, neither of them would die.
What she wanted was to see his face as he witnessed more than a hundred innocents vanish in front of him.
She’d enjoy the sight thoroughly, then vanish through her teleportation ability.
That was her grand plan.
