Chapter 45: What Jeung Ui-seok Left Behind

The members of the Dragon King Squadron could not refute my words.

“Isn’t that an obvious fact? Those three companies swore allegiance to me. In exchange, I promised to spare their lives. I am a villain. I keep my contracts. But the other two are just freeloaders. Why should I save them?”

“Even though you have power, you’re just standing by?”

Shin Yoo-kyung seemed to have eaten some “do-as-I-say” fruit somewhere.

“Silver Mirrod. Did you grow your power to save civilians?”

“Of course! I grew it to defeat evildoers like you and save the citizens!”

What a load of nonsense.

I knew very well that Shin Yoo-kyung’s obsession with the switch came from her inferiority complex from the ninja faction. She was always second place and had failed to become the faction’s heir.

She had been trained as an assassin from the start. She didn’t understand sympathy for others.

It seemed she had learned that being a hero was just an act.

The reason heroes save civilians is simple: so they can create a good public image through the media.

My reason was simple too.

It was because that was justice.

Now I understand.

This city isn’t worth saving.

It’s overflowing with evil.

• It’s rotten.

So I control it.

Evil is suppressed by evil.

Both the evil above and the evil below.

Once I control them all, that’s it.

“If you want to save them, you better move quickly.”

I gave the Dragon King Squadron some advice. The barrier was starting to break from the top. That’s when Shin Yoo-kyung, Ji Se-hwa, and Kang Ye-rin jumped down from the light path.

The villains were already busy at work. Each of them was reinforcing the buildings in the district with their powers. Some were adding extra steel skeletons, others were wrapping the buildings with ropes, and some were teleporting people out.

But the most reliable was Renada.

“‘Harden,’ ‘Tighten.’”

Renada reinforced the building’s structure in several layers. With this, it would withstand even an airstrike.

Crash

The collapse of the barrier accelerated. Finally, the tops of the buildings fell, and at the same time, the buildings started vibrating.

Boom!

The tops of the buildings also began to crumble, along with the barrier.

Naturally, only the two buildings collapsed.

The three buildings contracted with Vengeance were only shaking but were holding firm.

Boom!

Finally, the barrier collapsed completely.

Where the two fallen buildings were left in ruins, the three remaining buildings stood intact.

Now, where was the Dragon King Squadron?

Kang Ye-rin had been seen participating in the rescue operations, but it seemed like she had been buried under the rubble.

Shin Yoo-kyung and Ji Se-hwa were standing at a safe distance. It looked like they had escaped the scene earlier.

The light path seemed like it was about to vanish soon. I boarded the airship with Lua and Renada, and I emphasized to the press helicopter:

“Now you know. Heroes won’t save you. There’s only one way to survive: submit to villains.”

The airship doors closed. Optical camouflage was activated. We quickly left the scene.

“Phew. It’s over.”

Lua stretched.

“Somehow, it feels good to have done something for Vengeance. I like how we’ve raised the name of the Villain Alliance.”

“Well, we’ve also showcased the power of the Holy Water, so it’s fine, right? This is the first time we’ve been so flashy in public. Your level must have increased as well.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty satisfied. More than anything… Hehe. Zeo, that switch… How about handing it over to me?”

“No way.”

I firmly refused.

However, I explained my reason clearly.

“I told you. It’s an experience. It’s not just about the power; if you overuse it recklessly, your brain will break. Supernova is originally a level 14 skill. Once your stats are suitable, I’ll hand it over to you.”

“Are you worried about me, in a rude way? Then, I suppose I’ll have to be satisfied with this for now. ‘Switch, appear.’”

Renada muttered some strange incantation. A tiny switch, the size of a keychain, suddenly popped out of her hand.

“…What is that?”

“Hehe. You’ll find out soon, Zeo. It’s proof that you’re not lying.”

Renada, with an evil smile like a mischievous child who had just discovered the joy of tormenting others, handed me the small switch.

It was just an accessory with no actual function.

“You made it with an incantation?”

“Look at this. Isn’t this evolution of power?”

It seemed like she had gained plenty of experience from the recent battle.

[Ability: Incantation (Physical Power) (Creation) Lv.10]

Renada’s ability had reached level 10, unlocking a new skill.

Creation of matter, huh.

The ability itself seemed still weak, but it was quite threatening.

“Did you conquer Yeouido with today’s operation, and are you planning to expand the social infiltration this way?”

“Of course.”

“How far do you intend to go?”

It was such a silly question that I answered naturally.

“Everything.”

“What vehicle is leaving?”

At the Hero Association, a staff member controlled a massive container truck at the security checkpoint. The driver, wearing sunglasses and chewing gum loudly, didn’t look very trustworthy.

“Open the door.”

The security staff opened the opposite window, looked at the person, and saluted nervously. Green Nature, Choi Min-seo, was there.

“Ah, hello. I know it’s Green Nature, but this is a high-security base, so there are procedures for goods transportation…”

“Open it. It’s my authority.”

Seeing Choi Min-seo’s sharp expression, the staff was caught off guard. What could a low-level employee do? If ordered from above, they had to follow.

After checking the surroundings and glancing at his colleagues, he finally opened the multi-layered security door.

The 20-ton truck calmly exited the base.

“Weapon smuggling or something, huh? Hero, shouldn’t we be part of the deal?”

The driver asked while turning the large steering wheel. Choi Min-seo didn’t answer.

He was a punk she had hired.

“Considering you’re sneaking this out at the exact timing when the Dragon King Squadron is deployed, it must be some good stuff. We’ve got plenty of routes too.”

“Just focus on driving.”

“Ah, you’re so scary.”

The truck sped down the road. After switching trucks several times, Choi Min-seo arrived at her destination.

It was the abandoned factory where she had met Jeong Ui-seok.

“There’s no tracking. Our skills are top-notch.”

Four punks, including the driver, lazily walked in front of Choi Min-seo.

“Then, how about the transport fee? Just moving it here costs 1 billion, right? Cash or chips, as agreed.”

“That’s right. Here you go.”

Choi Min-seo replied while reaching into her bag. The punks laughed wickedly. The next moment.

Bang! Bang!!

Choi Min-seo swiftly drew her pistol and shot each punk in the head with perfect accuracy. She only used four bullets. The sound of the shell casings falling was faster than the sound of the bodies hitting the floor.

“These trashy guys are too greedy. They should know their place before trying to make a deal with someone like me.”

Choi Min-seo sneered at the fallen bodies, reloaded her gun, and tucked it into the thigh holster beneath her skirt.

“Leaving behind these annoying, filthy corpses.”

Choi Min-seo transformed into Green Nature and activated the power of Quetzalcoatl. She transformed the corpses into weeds and flowers.

“Much better!”

Choi Min-seo picked a flower and smelled it. She shook her head and discarded it on the floor.

After deactivating her transformation, Choi Min-seo sat on a nearby staircase and swayed her legs.

“I wonder when Oppa Ui-seok will arrive…”

Muttering to herself, Choi Min-seo took out a bottle filled with pink powder from her bag.

Meanwhile, Kang Ye-rin, who had been taking off her battle clothes in the changing room, couldn’t overcome the overwhelming fatigue and slumped down in a chair.

“…I couldn’t save them. I saved the others, but…”

Ji Se-hwa, who had finished changing, slammed the door shut angrily.

“Damn villain bastards. It wasn’t even a situation where we could save the hostages in the first place! The heroes here are all useless!”

Shin Yu-kyung nodded.

“It’s been proven that Jeong Ui-seok was involved with the villains, and now we know that Vengeance targeted us. But the public still sees us as the ones who will…”

Kang Ye-rin, hearing their words, stared at them in disbelief.

“What are you talking about..? Is that what matters right now? They’re dead. We’re weak, over a thousand of them.”

Shin Yu-kyung shrugged her shoulders.

“Weren’t those people the ones Cancer was going to kill anyway? They were just unlucky.”

It was then that Kang Ye-rin realized.

Jeong Ui-seok had been right.

Even though the forceful violence had been involved, it had been the villains, not them, who had saved more than half of those who were supposed to die.

“Yu-kyung, Se-hwa. Why did you two become heroes?” Kang Ye-rin asked, without a hint of hesitation.

They both answered without a second thought.

“I wanted to prove my strength.”

“I did it for the money.”

Kang Ye-rin didn’t say anything more to them.

No, she had nothing left to say.

She bit her lip as she walked. The reality of the Dragon King Squadron was that both their bodies and minds were weak.

Without Jeong Ui-seok or Han So-mi, problems began to spiral out of control.

They didn’t even meet the basic standards of heroes, and their abilities were inferior to the villains.

Even if the Galactic Empire hadn’t existed, they wouldn’t have been able to stop the terror.

“Still…”

There was a right direction, at least.

Shin Yu-kyung’s new switch was almost useless.

Her evolved abilities had no effect on the powerful villain, Zeorgius.

However, the new equipment worked.

If it hadn’t broken so quickly, they might have been able to fight Cancer.

The information about the U.S. military’s technology had been provided by Jeong Ui-seok earlier.

He seemed to know quite a lot in a subtle way.

Although he had said most of it should remain secret, saying it wasn’t the right time.

“Perhaps…”

There might be something useful in his information. Thinking this, Kang Ye-rin quickly started searching through the data on the PC Jeong Ui-seok had used.

Most of the data was encrypted.

After struggling for a while with unpacking, Kang Ye-rin discovered a few files.

“This file name is…?”