1 – Kidnapped by Unknown Men
When I was young, I wanted to become a hero.
In the modern society known as the “Age of Superpowers,” it was a world of heroes and villains.
The villains, armed with various superpowers bestowed upon the chosen few, engaged in mischief.
And the heroes, who couldn’t simply rely on law enforcement, brought them to justice in the name of righteousness.
There was no one of my generation who didn’t dream the same dream as me, watching the magnificent heroes on TV.
However, most of my friends, who didn’t possess any superpowers and weren’t chosen, quickly realized the invisible wall and gave up on their dreams.
But I was different.
I was chosen.
I had possessed a special ability, just like the heroes, from a young age.
My ability was the extraordinary power of nullifying all other abilities, with an evaluation rank of SSS.
Just having such an ability allowed me to be admitted to the National Hero Training Academy on a scholarship.
However, my grand and shining dream soon shattered into pieces at the academy.
Clearly, my ability was nothing more than a scam.
Yet, the limitations became painfully evident.
Limitation 1: My ability could only be activated when I touched someone.
In other words, if I couldn’t lay a finger on my opponent, I couldn’t activate my ability.
Limitation 2: The duration of my ability didn’t exceed 3 minutes.
No matter how I managed to activate my ability on someone, if I couldn’t touch them again within 3 minutes, the nullification would wear off.
With the help of the renowned professors at the academy…
And despite all my efforts, my limitations never seemed to widen.
In the end, I, who had been expected to become a promising hero and had been admitted to the academy, could only watch from a distance as my peers who had passed the hero recruitment exam on graduation day received their licenses on the stage.
Instead, should I call it a replacement? Or should I call it lingering attachment?
I became a civil servant under the Ministry of Public Safety and Security, responsible for managing the nationally certified heroes, due to my status as an academy graduate. It was a piece of cake to become a civil servant in that field.
Of course, compared to being a hero, it was a truly insignificant job, but I was satisfied with being able to deal with them up close.
It was during those somewhat busy days as a civil servant that I was spending my time.
* * *
It was on my way home from the Hero Bureau office, my workplace.
“………….”
I abruptly stopped my steps toward home.
I looked up and glanced at the shadow that had spread across the front.
The street was unusually deserted today.
There were only men in formal attire standing in front of me, their silhouettes against the setting sun.
It was clear that all of them had robust physiques, and the atmosphere was far from casual.
“Mr. Jo Sung-hoon, please accompany us.”
A man wearing thick sunglasses, making it impossible to see his eyes, said.
Setting aside the fact that he knew my name for the time being.
I have to suddenly leave everything behind and go.
What is this all about?
I was just a humble public servant who had done nothing wrong and worked diligently.
But the current situation made it seem like I was being dragged away for something I had done wrong.
“Mr. Jo Sung-hoon. This is not a request or a suggestion. It’s an execution.”
As I hesitated, the man in a suit spoke to me again, emotionless like a wooden puppet.
I broke into a cold sweat and finally managed to speak.
“Ex… execution. I haven’t done anything wrong… Who are you people, anyway?”
“I can’t tell you that here.”
A curt response.
I swallowed hard in my parched throat.
But my pounding heart did not calm down.
This situation looked like the prelude to a kidnapping to anyone.
The advice from my mother not to follow bad guys when I was young kept echoing in my head.
Should I run away at full speed now?
But I quickly dismissed that thought.
No matter how much I had trained in the academy, I was only slightly better than an ordinary person.
Should I call for a hero loudly then?
The safest and fastest way to protect myself in this age of surveillance.
Since kindergarten, I was taught to shout loudly for help in dangerous situations. The belief was that by doing so, a champion of justice would appear from somewhere and rescue me from danger.
Yes. Let’s do that.
After quickly making up my mind,
I was about to forcefully let out a cry, clenching my mouth shut and trying to make a loud sound from my throat.
A man who had been talking to me quietly slipped his hand into the pocket of his suit jacket.
“We are just here to pay our respects to Mr. Jo Sung-hoon. Please refrain from making any actions that could escalate the situation.”
Click!
Slowly, the man’s hand led a glimpse of a black holster out of his jacket.
The dull sound of the gun’s slide being pulled back echoed loudly in my ears.
I didn’t even have time to make a sound; I held my breath for a moment.
Since when did this country allow people to carry guns around like wallets?
But more importantly, is that real?
No, in a situation as absurd as this, it can’t be real.
“……Ah, okay, okay. I-I’ll go. I’ll follow you.”
With both hands surreptitiously raised, I ultimately succumbed to the polymer’s violence.
Right after my declaration of cooperation,
One of the men in suits approached and placed a thick blindfold over my eyes.
With my vision blocked, my breath involuntarily quickened.
Back when I was a curious elementary school student.
I have translated the novel excerpt for you. Here it is:
It was a sudden recollection of watching a real foreign abduction video without realizing it.
“Don’t worry. I will explain everything once you get in the vehicle.”
“The vehicle…?”
A firm hand gently guided my back.
I cautiously followed the invisible attraction, moving my feet.
Before long, I heard the metallic sound coming from the front, like a sliding door of a van opening.
I safely sat inside the unseen interior of the vehicle, guided by the cool touch of the hands.
Thump!
As the sound of the closing door reached my ears, the blindfold that covered my eyes was removed.
As expected, I found myself inside the interior of a van.
The windows were covered with thick blackout curtains, making it quite dark.
Without any jolts, the vehicle smoothly moved forward.
While anxiously clasping my hands in vague fear,
the man sitting opposite me took off his sunglasses.
“I apologize for the previous high-handedness. I am Lee Tae-seok, the team leader of the National Intelligence Service’s Crisis Response Team.”
A man with sharp features that could be considered better off wearing sunglasses.
The man who introduced himself as Lee Tae-seok politely bowed his head.
“The National Intelligence Service…”
Hearing his affiliation, it became quite understandable why a gun suddenly appeared.
By the way, the Strategic Crisis Response Team.
I never did anything that could be considered a crisis, and the word “strategy” was even more irrelevant to me.
I was sure of it.
“Um, Team Leader Lee? What on earth am I involved in right now?”
“First, I apologize for not being able to disclose this as it’s a top-secret matter. I will explain it to you now.”
I just asked out of curiosity, but I ended up hearing the word “top-secret,” which seemed incredibly important.
In addition to the chilling feeling at the back of my neck, a shiver ran down my spine.
I was just living a normal civil servant life, so what on earth was this about…
If it weren’t for the stern National Intelligence Service agents in front of me, I would have wanted to burst into tears right away.
Whether I liked it or not.
Team Leader Lee took out a small tablet and placed it on his lap.
Soon, his thick fingers gently touched the play button on the black screen.
In the noisy and pixelated video, a slender metal tube-like structure suspended vertically in the air was visible.
And inside it, a woman with black hair was only showing her head to the outside.
[Villain Registration Number 02-1. Evaluation Grade SSS Rank. Investigation of Luvina.]
The low, gravelly voice of Team Leader Lee in the video that was barely audible.
But the two words that caught my attention at the moment couldn’t just be heard and ignored.
“SSS Rank villain… Luvina…?”
Not to mention that I work in hero-related matters.
It was the name of a famous villain known not only in the country, but around the world, that resonated in the video.
I looked at Team Leader Lee Tae-seok, pointing at the tablet.
“I-Is this for real? This woman is the one they call Louina?”
“………….”
Team Leader Lee Tae-seok seemed to gesture with his chin to keep watching the video and said nothing.
I clenched my lips in considerable frustration and leaned forward toward the screen.
Villain Louina.
Despite being labeled as SSS rank, that villain was a walking disaster in and of itself.
With superior physical abilities, her power was absolute destruction.
The ability to shatter anything, no matter how strong or solid, in an instant with just a touch.
With Louina’s appearance, it was no small matter for an entire city to be reduced to rubble.
Apart from that, there was no other information to be found about the villain.
The name Louina, which means “destruction” in Latin, was not her real name, but a code name given by the National Hero Committee.
On top of that, she always wore a loose-fitting hooded coat that concealed her physique, along with a simple mask with only eye holes, making it impossible to even determine her gender.
Yet, in the video, Team Leader Lee Tae-seok clearly referred to the woman in the jar as Louina.
About a week ago, Louina suddenly disappeared without a trace, leaving us wondering what had happened…
The significance of his words about being a top-secret matter began to sink in.
[This is quite the event. Not only have you willingly surrendered to us, but now you’re asking for a conversation.]
[hehehe. I have a favor to ask if you’re willing to listen~]
Following Team Leader Lee Tae-seok’s polite sarcasm, a melodious female voice I had never heard before.
This is a top-secret… The voice of an SSS-level villain…
For someone who is considered the strongest and most wicked villain that no one dares approach, it was a surprisingly ordinary and adorable voice.
[I may not be able to comply with your request.]
[Ahahahaha. It’s not even a grand request.]
[Tell me what it is.]
[Is there something? I want to experience love.]
…Gulp.
The sound of dry saliva sliding down my throat.
The same sound was also coming from Director Lee Itaeseok in the video, not just from my throat.
The danger level of an SSS-level villain. What Louis asked for…
“Love…?”