[Message]
[Power: Hypnosis proficiency has increased.]
[Skill: Puppetry proficiency has increased.]
[S-rank Villain: You have successfully eliminated The Doctor!]
The Doctor lay sprawled in a grotesque posture, utterly motionless.
Only intermittent fountains of blood erupted from his neck.
It was then that a semblance of rationality returned to me.
With a slightly chilled mind, I surveyed the scene before me.
I had slain one of the future’s great evils.
It was done with such ease that I almost wondered if it was permissible.
[Event Calendar]
[September 22nd, ‘The Doctor’s’ secret laboratory discovered → deleted]
[Warning]
[Thirst 65% (-30%)]
[Warning level reached]
[Body Collapse Rate 13% (+1%)]
[Follow-up actions recommended]
A cacophony of loud notifications followed one after another.
The detailed contents could be checked later.
I paid no mind to The Doctor’s corpse.
That monstrosity, I intended to leave it as it was.
Let whoever discovered it first—villain, hero, or police—deal with it as they saw fit.
Just in case, I decided to search among the unknown drugs and dried specimens.
I spotted something unusually out of place and picked it up.
“…A bracelet?”
[Night Crow-01]
[A masterpiece from Glitter Inc.]
[Optimal arrangement of polymer fibers refined with nanotechnology]
[A suit exclusively for superhumans, offering supreme stealth and defense]
No matter how I looked at it, it didn’t resemble a suit.
After a moment of hesitation, I slipped the bracelet onto my wrist.
With a soft whirring sound, the bracelet clung tightly to my wrist.
As I gently twisted along its grooves, an outer layer, seemingly a robe, extended and swiftly enveloped my body.
-Shhhk
It felt light and natural, as if I were wearing regular clothes rather than a suit.
It clearly exuded the aura of a high-end product.
However, the imposing black silhouette reflected in the operating table mirror was unmistakably that of a villain.
With my entire face concealed by the mask, the sense of intimidation only intensified.
I forced a bitter smile and retracted the suit back into the bracelet.
The Doctor was not a man particularly interested in such things.
Perhaps a visitor had left it behind as payment.
“…Useful.”
Not a bad haul; no, this was quite a good one.
I had, in fact, been in need of equipment to conceal my identity.
Yet, acquiring a superhuman-exclusive suit as a powerless individual was akin to plucking a star from the sky.
Well, setting aside the complex purchasing procedures, I didn’t have the money for it to begin with.
I turned on my heel.
The surgery had been successful, and I had acquired a rather decent suit, so there was nothing left for me here.
Then, I abruptly halted my movements.
‘-If you need something to satisfy your desires, just say so. There are plenty of suitable things inside…’
The deceased Doctor’s whisper lingered in my ears like a ghost.
‘Suitable things,’ he said.
The nuance felt somewhat unnatural for merely referring to objects.
After a moment of deliberation, I ultimately turned back.
This was, after all, The Doctor’s secret laboratory, unknown to anyone.
Spending a little more time wouldn’t pose a significant problem.
‘Just check and leave,’ I told myself.
****
I advanced down a long corridor, where cheap fluorescent lights hummed and flickered.
Large tanks contained grotesque hybrids, seemingly synthesized from humans and animals, floating listlessly.
Behind the iron doors on either side, occasional glimpses of dried bloodstains and mutilated corpses assailed both my sight and smell.
Had it not been for my experiences before the regression, I would have long since vomited and fled this sight.
It truly underscored, once again, the extent of the Hero Management Bureau’s corruption.
‘They turn a blind eye to places like this,’ I thought.
And then, a woman’s withered voice reached me faintly.
I focused my attention.
The sound emanated from the iron door at the very end of the corridor.
“H-huh, please, please save me… I won’t tell anyone, I promise…”
As I drew closer, the voice pleaded even more distinctly.
‘She must be the sole survivor here,’ I mused.
To call her lucky would be to overlook her excessive misfortune, yet to call her unlucky would be to ignore her rather decent streak of good fortune.
Naturally, I had no intention of harming her.
Even for a complete stranger, leading her outside wouldn’t be a particularly difficult task.
“Don’t worry. I’ll get you out of here soon.”
I donned the suit once more, then approached the iron door and spoke.
Beyond the bars, two frightened eyes trembled violently.
“W-who…? Are you a hero…!? B-but outside, there was that…”
“The Doctor is dead. More importantly, do you know where the key is?”
“Ah…! In the room on the left side of the c-corridor…!”
I casually brushed aside the woman’s question about my identity.
The startled woman simply let out an exclamation of joy, devoid of any hint of suspicion.
‘She hasn’t completely abandoned hope for life yet,’ I observed.
I, too, once harbored such hope.
Anticipating only the day I would be freed from Marionette’s puppetry.
Regrettably, my hope had crumbled into dust, but fortunately, this woman would not have to endure such a fate.
Yet, her voice somehow seemed familiar… I must have misheard, right?
Thump.
I quickly found the key and turned the lock.
Soon, the heavy iron door swung open, revealing the scene within.
“H-huh, thank you… truly…”
Amidst dried filth and all manner of squalor, a half-naked woman was sobbing uncontrollably.
Her face had delicate lines, and her features were sculpted with beauty.
At a glance, she was clearly a beautiful woman.
Though her eyes were brimming with tears, it was evident that they stemmed from joy.
And I froze.
[Important Character Notification]
[???]
[Experiment Subject]
[Real Name: ???]
“…”
A resurrected nightmare swiftly encroached upon reality.
I blinked.
In the corner of the solitary cell, Yuha’s severed head seemed to smile at me.
‘Marionette.’
The hateful woman who had severed Yuha’s neck before my very eyes was now looking at me as if I were her savior.
****
“H-huh, I r-really thought I was going to die… Some crazy lunatic caught me… and when I came to…”
The possibility of mistaking her appearance had already been dismissed.
For years, I had replayed it, over and over, right beside me.
Though she lacked the deranged makeup and insane laughter, there was no doubt in my mind that the woman before me was Marionette.
“Hmph, hehe… Thank you. Oh, did you say you were a hero earlier? Then, perhaps your hero name is… H-huh?!”
I immediately shoved the woman against the wall and choked her.
A superhuman’s strength is formidable.
Even a slight miscalculation in control could easily snap a normal person’s neck.
I didn’t care about that either.
In fact, I would have welcomed it.
“Gasp, choke…!”
“What’s your game, you b*tch…!”
“W-why are you suddenly doing this… Cough, choke…!”
“Shut your mouth! Don’t try to deceive me with your pathetic act!!”
“N-no…! I-I’m not a villain, truly… Cough, gasp…!”
Her faint pleas gradually grew weaker.
With just one more step, I could achieve the revenge I so desperately craved, yet I found myself hesitating.
I knew the reason myself.
It was because I could feel that her words were genuine.
“Save, save me… Please, please… Hmph…”
The woman before me was indeed Marionette.
It was a publicly known fact even before the regression that she had undergone The Doctor’s surgery to become an artificial superhuman.
She would, in the near future, undergo the same artificial superhuman augmentation surgery from The Doctor that I had received.
And, defying extremely slim odds, she would survive and finally wield her power.
However, due to the side effects of the surgery, she would turn into the crazy b*tch with a screw loose in her head.
That woman was the Marionette I knew.
Thus, the person before me was not yet that being.
-Squeeze…
“Choke, gasp… Please…”
A perilous impulse surged through my mind like a storm.
I had already taken Marionette’s power, Hypnosis.
And one of the lesser-known laws of powers was this:
That no two identical powers could exist under the heavens.
The Marionette I knew no longer existed.
If the woman before me died, even the slightest possibility would vanish.
The fact that she was now an easy prey, like a defenseless herbivore, further fueled my impulse.
Then, my reflection appeared in the solitary cell’s mirror.
I was tangled with her, pinning her down as if to overpower her.
The overwhelming and irrational violence inflicted by a superhuman.
There was no way for a powerless individual to resist it.
Just as Marionette had done to me.
Suddenly realizing this truth, I reluctantly withdrew my hands.
“Hmph, cough, gasp, choke…”
The woman, drenched in tears, burst into a violent fit of coughing.
Without looking at her, I gritted my teeth and spoke.
“Get out.”
“Cough… What…?”
“Didn’t you hear? Before I change my mind… get out, now.”
“Hmph.”
My modulated voice, amplified by the mask, resonated with an oppressive authority.
A sharp intake of breath followed, and then her presence began to recede.
Only when her footsteps had completely faded did I turn around.
“Why are you pretending to be a victim?”
The Doctor’s laboratory was silent.
As if I had been the only one there from the very beginning.
“Why weren’t you the wicked villain you were supposed to be?”
Still, there was no answer.
I was gripped by an indescribable sensation.
Today was supposed to be a joyous day.
I had successfully become a superhuman for my goal, and I had eliminated not one, but two of the future’s great evils.
Naturally, the probability of Yuha suffering such a fate had decreased proportionally.
Yes. Let’s be honest.
I was simply enraged for the trivial reason that I had lost the target for my pent-up resentment.
In this life, if I faced Marionette, I wanted to return all the ridicule and pain I had inflicted upon The Doctor.
Wishing for her to experience, even a little, what Yuha and I had endured.
Yet, alas, what appeared before me was not the future’s great evil, but merely an innocent, pitiable girl.
****
Time flowed on.
A week had passed since the day I killed The Doctor.
And today was the entrance ceremony for the Cradle Academy.
“Remember that you, too, are members of this proud, prestigious academy, and you must uphold its responsibilities and dignity…”
I let the boring admonitory speech go in one ear and out the other.
To be precise, it was the entrance ceremony for the General Studies Department.
The Heroics Department’s entrance ceremony had already been held separately a few days prior.
A quick glance around showed only ordinary-looking individuals.
I heard that during the Heroics Department’s entrance ceremony, the ceiling was destroyed because two freshmen got into a fight.
Ah, there’s still a trace of it over there.
In any case, as I told Yuha, I enrolled in the General Studies Department.
Even so, there was a slight difference in the subjects taught compared to a regular school.
If the Heroics Department directly trained prospective heroes, the vanguards of social stability, then the General Studies Department aimed to cultivate auxiliary personnel who would support those heroes in every way possible.
This included managing hero schedules, equipment maintenance, contracts with sponsors and advertising agencies, media appearances, legal affairs, and so on.
In short, it was specialized training for hero secretaries.
For even a superhuman is not necessarily adept at all such miscellaneous tasks.
Thanks to the open-ended nature of the profession, the General Studies Department also had its share of fierce admission competition, but I managed to secure admission comfortably among the top ranks.
Although I had failed the practical exam for the Heroics Department, I had easily scored high on the written exam, so it wasn’t a difficult feat.
Once I let go, it felt rather comfortable.
So much so that my stubborn insistence on becoming a hero before the regression seemed incredibly foolish.
My goal was to live out my school days unnoticed, like an earthworm or an ant.
Underneath the surface, I would handle the tasks that needed doing, and it would be even better if what I learned here could help Yuha.
“But…”
The entrance ceremony showed no signs of ending.
‘Too much pride in one’s alma mater can be a problem,’ I mused.
Unable to bear the boredom, I subtly turned on my smartphone and checked the Hero Management Gallery (TL Note: ‘Himagael,’ a Korean online community forum similar to Reddit or 4chan, dedicated to heroes and superhumans).
[Heard The Doctor committed suicide, friend in forensic dept told me][4]
[All the bastards who got surgery from The Doctor are screwed lolㅋㅋㅋㅋ][8]
[Isn’t he just faking his death?][3]
[The Doctor<<<Honestly, upvote if you're sad he died…][5]
[Ah, f*ck, another sh*tpost below][1]
[The Bureau announced the real culprit who killed The Doctor][11]
[Among the Heroics Dept freshmen, Psyche is the prettiest ㅇㅇ][4]
[Asking for the 5000th time, did the Saintess appear at the entrance ceremony?][1]
[Upvote if you think the Bureau is totally incompetent][14]
Even a week after the incident, gossip surrounding The Doctor continued unabated.
The trending posts on the Hero Management Gallery spanned several pages, all discussing The Doctor.
Various legacy media outlets were also running special features 24/7.
It turned out that this was the first time in several years that the death of an S-rank villain had been officially announced.
And since the full details of his death hadn't been properly revealed, conspiracy theories were naturally ablaze.
Nevertheless, killing The Doctor was a significant achievement.
Setting aside his cruel and illegal human experiments, the powerful artificial superhumans he created had also greatly contributed to the world's chaos.
The villains already created would no longer receive drugs from The Doctor, so they would likely die within the year at most.
Naturally, the burden Yuha had to bear would also decrease proportionally.
My identity would also remain hidden.
Before the regression, when I let go of Marionette… I had been wearing the suit and mask even then.
Perhaps the news of The Doctor's death spread surprisingly quickly because she, after escaping, reported it to the Bureau.
The unexpected ripple effect was startling, but for now, it was still well within an acceptable range.
I still couldn't find a clear answer regarding my choice to let her live.
I could only hope that choice wouldn't hinder future events.
"Now, this concludes the entrance ceremony. Once again, we welcome all our new students, and we look forward to…"
Finally, the voice announcing the end of the entrance ceremony stirred me from my thoughts.
Students, grouped in twos and threes, slowly began to exit the auditorium.
I intended to quietly blend into their midst.
The entrance ceremony was over, but today held a more important schedule for me.
"Woojin!"
And then, a resonating voice clearly announced its owner's presence.
Yuha, who had abruptly appeared in the middle of the aisle, waved her hand wildly in my direction.
Then, with hopping steps, she began to rush toward me.
Though they belonged to the same academy, there was a distinct yet subtle distance between the Heroics Department and the General Studies Department.
This was even more true for Yuha, who was clearly standing out among the new students.
Gazes mixed with half jealousy and half envy immediately poured down on me from all directions.
I sighed.
