58 – The Living Suit (6)
The incident that happened in the middle of the night sparked a stir in the hero community once again.
First of all, not only me who fought the monster, but also the water used as a suit without knowing that the monster was alive had to undergo additional investigation.
It was a problem even after the circumstances were investigated.
The material of the hero suit is the corpse of a monster.
However, the existence that caused the controversy this time was a monster that was a hero suit.
In fact, aren’t all the suits worn by heroes potentially left with the ego of the monster?
This is because such a controversy has spread to all directions centering on the Internet community.
The hero suit is an item that has been judged to be safe after careful consideration by psychics with technological powers that humanity has not reached, called black technology.
If such things are insecure, it is impossible to get on an airplane, and you cannot ride a boat or a car.
To that extent, society’s awareness of black technology was strong.
Still, people started to feel anxious and suspicious.
If it’s something that’s never happened before, there’s no problem.
But if it happened once, it could happen twice.
So something must be done.
Such public opinion was formed.
Fortunately, public opinion did not arise to criticize psychics with black technology.
There is no one living in this society who has not benefited from that psychic power, so he must have that much common sense.
ㅡ Maybe the government agencies are cracking down.
Ah, maybe.
Because if a psychic with black technology is taken away, a controversy over the impeachment of the president may arise.
Anyway, if you turn the story back, the stable controversy about the hero suit has become a hot topic.
So all psychics needed to be tested for hero suits and other hero equipment.
If the ego of the monster remains, the same danger could be repeated.
ㅡ I’m glad though. It seems that the production of nuclear-powered suits will not be banned.
It’s a big deal if that’s banned.
We still lack a lot in the use of our abilities.
However, the difference in ability between nuclear and non-nuclear battles was vast.
First of all, the number of superpowers that can be used increases and the overall physical ability increases further.
I feel as if I have become as strong as a person who has been training for more than 10 years in physical strength training.
In addition, the five senses, including dynamic vision, are generally more sensitive than animals, so they can sense danger with a feeling that is almost like a sixth sense.
Even if it’s not as extreme as ours, the hero suit will be the same.
It was the moment when I realized with my own body that the price difference between a suit that uses the monster’s core and a suit that doesn’t is bound to be huge.
But if you use the suit in a limited way… Maybe it’s a bit risky for society as a whole.
Still, it was true that public opinion arose that suits using monster cores were dangerous.
ㅡ Is there no longer that damned investigation?
It won’t be for a while.
The ability response team and the police said they were looking for the monster who had escaped.
The accelerator who was caught by the monster was found unconscious, but it doesn’t seem to have any life-threatening consequences.
The case was not resolved.
Although it has brought a new controversy to society, it is not as big as the mimicking monster.
At least that’s what I was thinking.
Until the Internet Addict Grid called me.
***
“This is… What?”
ㅡ Human stupidity.
The Internet window opened by Grid was something full of malicious intent.
Recently, Snake announced his retirement and returned his hero license.
This is an expression of my intention to never touch the hero or the work related to it again.
Usually, even if you retire as a hero, you don’t even return the license.
People did not criticize Snake, thinking that Snake felt responsible for the situation and acted accordingly.
I think that’s fortunate.
Yongsu is different from before.
I made new friendships while attending college and became a person who can find my own path.
Yongsoo is a victim in a way, but I was a little worried about the thought that he might be criticized.
However, someone other than Yongsu was being criticized.
At first, the hero who appeared on the scene and made an excuse to run away under the control of the monster was the target of the criticism.
However, the accusations quickly faded as I also testified that a monster that had turned into liquid attacked from under my feet on a dark night.
It wasn’t a case of anyone doing anything wrong.
If you dare to find the cause, it must be the fault of the man and the monster who approached Yongsu.
However, people tend to perceive monsters as a natural disaster.
So, rather than blaming the monster, I found someone who could easily get angry.
Most of them were villains, but there were also a lot of people who blamed heroes for such minor problems.
But even those people usually act cautiously.
Heroes are kind of like idols, so the fandom can backfire.
Then what kind of person is the person who relieves the hero’s stress?
It’s a simple matter.
It’s a target that won’t hurt to attack.
The target this time is… It was Flash, the one with the acceleration ability.
He was the first to arrive at the scene after receiving an emergency call during the recent mimicking monster incident, and was a hero who had been hiding.
It was a problem that could be interpreted as being a person with acceleration ability, so he avoided a fight with a monster of the highest quality.
However, since being a hero is about living off the image, criticism could not be avoided.
The incident was gradually buried over time, but it came to the fore again.
The hero who appeared at the scene of the incident and provided an excuse for the monster to escape was the one with the acceleration ability.
The Hero Office that Snake belonged to was the Hero Office where Flash was active.
It was the result of combining those two elements.
As a senior, did you fail to confirm that Snake had a problem?
Aren’t accelerated abilities too limited compared to body enhancement abilities?
Why are my taxes being spent on such things?
On such a day, criticism continued.
ㅡ Humans seem to have a tendency to somehow find someone to blame, hate, and blame.
Grid ridiculed that this is different from the witch hunts that were popular in the Middle Ages, and that humans are stupid beings that do not change even after centuries.
ㅡ Guys worse than monsters.
From the mouth of the monster came a story criticizing humans.
But I couldn’t find anything to refute to Grid’s words.
Because even in my eyes, I felt that Flash was unfairly criticized.
Superpower is not omnipotent.
To borrow the expression of Grid, it is a power close to magic that escapes the laws of physics, but it has limitations.
Even if a person has the same body strengthening ability, a person with a large body and developed muscle strength through long-term exercise produces stronger power.
Even if it has the ability to harden its body, it will injure its internal organs if it receives a large impact.
So, no matter how strong a skill is, it must be used in the right place.
The acceleration ability is not a bad superpower in close combat.
However, most monsters have high durability, so it’s not a very good ability to catch them.
On the other hand, there is no superpower that is as efficient as acceleration when it comes to catching villains.
Because most villains tend to commit crimes and run away from the scene.
Flash arrived on the scene early, but he decided it was beyond his ability.
I did my job enough just by not running away pretending I didn’t see it and waiting there in case of an unexpected situation.
In the first place, Flash was a recently emerging hero.
A hero who jumped into the scene of a fire and saved those who could not escape.
Fire scenes are dangerous even for those with acceleration skills, and he was the one who rushed into such a place and saved people.
It was so distasteful to see such a hero being criticized, ridiculed, and made fun of.
I felt as if something sticky was painting over my emotions.
ㅡ Stop it.
Grid extinguished his spear and told him to calm down.
ㅡ It’s not even your job, but you’re too immersed.
It’s none of my business this time.
But I don’t know when this arrow will come back to me.
Someone’s ill-intentioned accusation breaks his heart.
The incident I went through was short, but it was so intense that it left me with a bit of trauma.
The party, Flash, is….
I could only sigh.
***
“f*ck!”
Flash hit the desk, spitting out an abusive word he hadn’t uttered in the three years he was a hero.
The monitor he turned on was full of writings criticizing him.
The contents were all similar.
It’s the Super Hero Flash!
From noble mtl dot com
Where are you?!
Ugh… Where are you going? The monster is over there Ancana?!
Kyakyakyakyakyakyakyakyakya!
‘These scumbags!’
In Internet communities, synthetic photos of flashes running away after seeing a monster were circulating like a trend.
Flash saw the picture and wrote a letter saying to do it in moderation, but his IP was blocked, saying it was redundant.
It’s because of that monster that Flash got into this situation.
The monster who mimicked that ridiculous hard and sharp human being.
If it wasn’t for that monster, none of this would have happened….
Because such a monster is the best for those with acceleration abilities, even if it appeared on the scene, the number of victims only increased by one.
He hid himself, but that was also to prepare for the event of a variable.
But it didn’t really matter to people.
Criticized, ridiculed, and laughed at him just because he was funny.
Flash couldn’t stand it and decided to go outside.
With the hat pulled down and the hero badge not worn, for fear that others will recognize it.
The place he headed to was a bar located in a quiet location he didn’t normally go to.
I don’t know when he entered this building, but he walked towards it without realizing it.
It was still only 3pm, but the bar was already dark.
The building was spacious and quiet, and the analog sensibility flowing from the record seemed to calm Flash’s burning heart.
Alcohol was a very unfamiliar place to him, who had only drank soju and beer in his life, but he felt strangely calm.
He cautiously approached the counter while hesitating.
Only the bartender cleaning the cups was standing at the counter.
“Welcome.”
The man who said that in a grave voice asked Flash what kind of drink he was going to drink.
However, since it was his first time in a place like this, Flash had no choice but to hesitate and ask for something.
The bartender seemed to be contemplating what kind of drink to serve such a man.
That was the moment.
“A glass of gin and tonic. I will do the math.”
Flash looked at the seat next to him with a little surprise.
Looks like no one was there until just now?
“Okay.”
The bartender who took the order prepared a drink with no unnecessary movements and set the glass down in front of Flash.
“Gin and tonic.”
Flash stared blankly at it and looked at the man next to him.
“Can I sit next to you?”
The man dressed in her suit politely asked, and Flash, who just wanted to lament her life, nodded her head.
Flash tried to drink a gin and tonic.
Then, the tightly worn hat was strangely disturbing.
Flash roughly took off his hat and drank a gin and tonic.
It has a fairly strong scent with the scent of lime, but it’s good to go down your throat.
Since carbonated acid and lime neutralized the strong scent of gin, I felt rather more attractive than the cheap Western liquor I used to drink from time to time.
“I thought a gin and tonic would suit a person visiting a bar for the first time… Does it fit your mouth?”
I nodded my head at the gentleman’s polite yet somehow dignified voice.
It tasted really good even for Flash, who doesn’t know much about alcohol.
“Oh… Are you a superhero Flash? The one who rescued people from the fire?”
“… Yes.”
“Oh! It’s an honor to have a drink with such an amazing person.”
Puck.
‘I know everything!’
You must be laughing inside.
Flash thought so.
But it didn’t take long for Flash to open up to the man.