Before the event, I was feeling pretty spry, but now I was completely wiped out thanks to Bbaebba’s antics.
At this point, I had the urge to just ditch everything and take a quick shower. But I couldn’t just bolt out on a whim like that. I had to sort everything out with everyone gathered here.
“You fixed it, and they still do that?”
“Oh my….”
As I explained the whole situation, both Ah-Jin and Yulri’s eyes were filled with confusion. It tugged at my heart a bit, but what could I do? Their unpredictable nature was just too wild, and if I left it be, they’d definitely cause a bigger mess. So, after discussing it with Da-Young, we decided to take action. The root of it all was undoubtedly the Fan Cafe Incident.
“Still, it’s not entirely unreasonable. If someone made something like that with my voice and spread it online, I’d probably be mad too.”
Initially, Yulri worried that it might be too harsh, but she quickly shifted her stance after hearing about Bbaebba’s misdeeds.
That ridiculous audio file called Friede My Love Call. I never thought they’d twist my voice like that. We immediately initiated the closure of the cafe and wiped all the data. Thankfully, that call was only shared amongst the so-called Four Heavenly Kings—a truly embarrassingly grand title. It wasn’t spread out to just anyone at least, so that was a relief.
First, I made sure to tell them to delete and stop distributing the materials firmly. With a bit of the Hero’s Power embedded, they shouldn’t pull anything silly.
After handling things that way, I fainted Bbaebba to carry out the procedure. But then… problems arose. The procedure I applied to Bbaebba was a family format operation, which meant rolling back all their thoughts to a specific branching point. I initially thought of wiping their memory too, but I deemed that unnecessary since they were a member of the Hero party that fought the Demon King alongside Da-Young. It seemed too harsh.
The method of keeping their memories while resetting their values was already quite a challenging task for me as a Hero. The essence of life, especially that of sentient beings, is notoriously tricky and delicate… It had to be done with the utmost care.
Anyhow, the procedure was successful in terms of execution. I cleanly reset all the negative influences from the modern timeline off Bbaebba’s mind. In other words, Bbaebba had returned to the days when they were fighting the Demon King alongside Da-Young in this world. But… even after all that, their way of speaking hadn’t changed.
“The things you say with your eyes open are quite something.”
Da-Young lamented with a half-resigned, deadpan expression. Yeah, it was pretty absurd.
“Where is this? Hero Gay, huh?”
Despite the sparkling eyes, the words coming out were utterly bizarre.
“I really find it fascinating. Even though the great Vitcheseie fixed my mind, this way of speaking just won’t leave my tongue. It feels so nostalgic… sad, and there’s something desperately touching about it.”
Meanwhile, Bbaebba, who had been silently listening, was tearing up… But, well, I don’t think that’s the case. If it really was, then Bbaebba’s mind wouldn’t be so deeply etched as to make such a procedure ineffective at all.
“Well, at least I made a sure promise that they wouldn’t pull any weird stunts. I feel like this should be fine.”
“Right? Is it?”
In response to Da-Young’s questioning assurance, Bbaebba cheerfully exclaimed.
“That’s right! Hero Gay! I, Bbaebba, won’t act like a nationalist just like before. Nowadays, coins are for Homeland Heroes!”
“What are you talking about?”
If they wanted to demand something more than this, then it’d be easier to just wipe Bbaebba out and live among ourselves. As oddly as Bbaebba was, I definitely didn’t want to create such a situation, so I thought I had taken all possible measures.
No matter what their way of speaking might be, Bbaebba’s mindset now was no longer a hybrid monster drenched in ideology like before, making communication pretty smooth. Plus, while I had loosened them up to avoid any odd antics, I had still put some kind of restraints in place so… they wouldn’t pretend to be a spectator at the fan cafe or pull off some bizarre missions. Well, that’s the conclusion. Let’s brush this aside for now.
Heroes need to escape from hard work sometimes.
*
*
*
My decision for healing my mind shifted from showering and resting to drinking instead.
With nothing but rotting wine and drinks at home… I thought it’d be nice for everyone to gather and have a drink together.
Ah, Yulri is underage, so she’ll just have to stick to drinks.
“Ah, I have ingredients in the fridge, so just wait a moment. I’ll whip up some snacks.”
“You could just make do with snacks… You’ve had a tough time watching the house alone too.”
“Nope, I actually enjoy cooking these days… just leave it to me.”
With a pure, gentle smile, Yulri walked demurely towards the kitchen, leaving the rest of us gazing at her with adoration.
Myself, Da-Young, and Ah-Jin couldn’t help but have a peaceful appreciation for her, she truly exemplified the perfect wife. Whoever ended up with Yulri must be one lucky guy.
“These kids are too different nowadays.”
“When you say that, it really makes you look old.”
“Call it maturity.”
“Pfft~!”
Da-Young stuck her tongue out, teasing me. I should easily brush this off with a smile. Anyway, I decided to wrap up the Bbaebba business and change the topic.
“By the way, I saw you already posted a video. Are you feeling okay?”
“Yep, no problem. Being here gives me a bit of a boost thanks to your buff, so… I can hold on.”
“Your editing speed was ridiculously fast too. Got any tricks? If you do, let me know, I’d like to use them too…”
“Am I using tricks here?”
As Ah-Jin snapped her fingers, the figure of Ah-Jin Mk2 appeared behind her.
“If I work these clones day and night, we’ll nail it. I just need to confirm in between.”
Ah, right. I had forgotten because her presence was so low.
I’ve never learned video editing, so I’m not really sure, but I’ve heard it’s considered a high-difficulty task. Some people can even take days to finish one video. Isn’t that how it is for everyone? Anyone would be startled to see vlogs getting neatly edited and split into three videos in under 24 hours.
“Wow, that’s just toxic. Like a total ecosystem destroyer!”
“Ecosystem destroyer? That’s a bit much!”
“It is much. How many of these clones can you summon originally?”
“…Ugh!”
Ahn-Jin, who seemed taken aback, shrunk back for a moment, glancing around before muttering like a breeze.
“…Toxic.”
“How many?”
“I-I could summon at least a thousand!”
“Wow! Ahn-Gay, you’re really like a Hero! A complete one-man army!”
Listening to Bbaebba’s nonsense, I found myself nodding along unconsciously.
“Well, right now, I can hardly use any power, so this is all I’ve got, but anyway, I don’t need huge power for editing. Ever since I got here, I was just rushing through and slapped this together.”
Ah-Jin shyly admitted while twisting her fingers.
Anyway, it’s like a trade secret, and I can utilize the Hero’s Power in this way. If the Hero’s Power hadn’t been sealed away, or if I hadn’t received such wealth beforehand, I would have had the potential to live better than any returning Hero. Is this what they call peak theoretical power, or something?
“Seriously, aren’t you a psychic? Isn’t clone technique the domain of ninjas?”
“N-no, that’s a bias!”
Come to think of it, her specialty was psychic, wasn’t it? Do psychics use clones these days? Must be easy to recommend manipulations if you have a ton of computers.
Uh, wait a minute. Computers?
“Ahn-Jin, how many clones can you use here at the maximum? I mean for labor like editing or something.”
“Uh, um. The longer I stay in this house, the more I can summon, but right now, it’s up to 10.”
“Really?”
I was sketching various ideas in my mind.
Producing numerous videos through Ahn-Jin.
If I could breathe my power into all the many videos Ahn-Jin produced, like how I supported Da-Young’s streams before…
Wouldn’t it be easier for some other Hero somewhere in this world to catch wind of our existence?
What if I edited a massive pile of videos into one with not just my broadcast but various streamers and infused my power into them? If that’s the case, Ahn-Jin could definitely handle the volume.
‘Da-Young would obviously agree.’
I might even need to reach out to other streamers, perhaps even the STK Gaming Team…
At this point, I couldn’t just leave Ahn-Jin be. She could very well be the talent I needed most right now. So I made a concerted effort to conceal my urgency as I turned to Ahn-Jin and asked.
“While we’re at it, I’d like to wrap up Ahn-Jin’s work too. When do you plan on moving?”
“Uh, well, the sooner we’re here, the quicker the curse will lift, right?”
Exactly. The point is, I need to stay here for a while.
Nodding in affirmation, Ahn-Jin’s eyes sparkled as she replied eagerly.
“I’ll talk to my landlord and wrap things up quickly. There’s no deposit or anything, so I can move out right away.”
“Sounds good. Let me know once it’s scheduled. There’s not much to prepare, but I’ll have a small gift too.”
“Gift?”
Both Ahn-Jin and Da-Young tilted their heads in confusion.
Well, it’s definitely a surprise kind of gift.
‘I should probably get ten computers set up beforehand.’
Just then, a tantalizing aroma wafted from the kitchen, tickling my nose.
The clean scent of oil mixed with spiciness and the richness of shrimp…
“Gambas?”
“Huh? Now that you mention it, it does smell good.”
The scent was so heavenly it made me salivate. It struck me then that I hadn’t had a proper meal since before the event. All of us—myself, Da-Young, and Ahn-Jin—had been pushing ourselves hard.
“Thank you for waiting.”
Yulri peeked out from the kitchen with a big bowl of Gambas and some baguette on her hands.
Yeah, let’s satiate our fatigue with food first, and we’ll handle our worries afterward.
Though a day had passed already, what could we do? Finally, we could hold a belated congratulatory party for the event.
