Monster era.
In this world, it's generally assud that anyone awakened with supernatural abilities should naturally beco a hero who hunts monsters...
But reality isn’t that simple.
The abilities awakened by espers vary wildly.
So awaken powers perfectly suited for monster combat—others can barely produce a flicker of fla from their fingertip.
Those with weak abilities often live lives no different from ordinary people,
while those with powers unrelated to combat—healing, regeneration, detection—find their place behind the frontlines.
Then there are those espers who don’t care to live as normal humans, and feel no sense of duty to protect humanity.
Those who use their abilities for personal gain and engage in cri—the world calls them villains.
Zone 9 was basically a villain hideout nestled in W-City.
At the sa ti, it was also the city's biggest red-light district.
The most infamous place in the zone was Guryong Fortress—a repurposed, sealed-off apartnt complex turned into a fortress-like structure.
A self-proclaid “Comprehensive Pleasure Center,” it had everything.
In the underground parking lot: clubs and casinos.
At the center of the apartnt block: a tournant arena, where clients could watch the fights from their rooms while sleeping with prostitutes.
And if you paid soone in a suit marked with Guryong's unique crest, you could buy drugs anyti you wanted.
Places like this—villains themselves were tumors in the city, and Guryong Fortress was the largest cancer in W-City.
And yet, it had survived all this ti.
Ironically, because villains had proven to be useful to W-City.
Villains took it upon themselves to hunt the monsters that popped up in Zone 9, almost like a self-governing district.
The power that got freed up by this was redirected to deal with monsters in other zones.
As long as villains didn’t grow too dominant, the city chose to turn a blind eye to so of their cris,
because the net benefit was undeniable.
“Still, at this point, do we really need to keep letting them be?”
Yu Anna placed a tablet down in front of the deputy commissioner of the W-City Police Departnt.
“Rember when I brought up cleaning out the villains properly?
You told that since I’m the only S-Class hero in W-City, even borrowing the help of villains is better than nothing.”
“Yeah... I did say that.”
“Then we don’t need them anymore, do we?”
The tablet screen showed a still from surveillance footage—Black Cat.
Beside it, a graph quantifying the reduction in monster-related damages thanks to him.
Yu Anna’s argunt was simple: the Black Cat Hypothesis.
If villains were the filthy but effective tool we were forced to use, then now that Black Cat had taken their place, they could be discarded.
“Khhm... that’s... not so simple...”
“Why not? The villains are only covering Zone 9. Black Cat covers all of W-City.”
“I understand that Black Cat, ironically, is helping W-City right now. But in the end, he’s still a monster, isn’t he? We don’t know when he’ll turn on us. The villains, on the other hand... even if they’re scum, they’re still human—we can reason with them.”
“You call that reasoning? That’s ridiculous. And if you’re talking about reasoning...”
Yu Anna bit her tongue before finishing.
Only she knew the truth: Black Cat could understand and respond to human speech.
That information couldn’t be leaked lightly.
“...Then I’d say Black Cat’s easier to talk to. You smack him around a few tis and he runs off, all scared.”
“That’s not listening, that’s being afraid of you.”
“Whatever it is, there’s no longer any reason to keep supporting villain organizations.
If we don’t dismantle them now, we may never get another chance.”
The existence of villains makes newly awakened espers forget what it ans to be a hero.
Heroes risk their lives to fight monsters.
Villains exploit people to survive.
Unless you cut out cancer early, it’ll grow and grow—until it eats into the number of heroes who could have protected the citizens.
“Already, more espers are turning to cri than applying to beco heroes in W-City.
Especially young ones—they fall into superiority complexes easily.
And if you don’t deal with their cris decisively, they grow into untouchable monsters.”
“Aren’t those just the weak espers? Ones you could easily take care of yourself.”
“Take care of—? Wait, are you saying we shouldn’t even try to guide them?”
“Guide them! Yes, exactly.
Even if they beco villains, we can still guide them, can’t we?”
“Huh? Are you seriously listening to yourself right now?”
“What I’m saying is—we don’t have to waste ti rounding up villains.
The ones ant to be heroes will beco heroes. The ones who beco villains were always going to.
Instead of wasting ti chasing villains, go hunt monsters. That’ll help the birthrate.
And if the birthrate goes up, then the number of heroes will go up naturally, too.”
“...Deputy Commissioner, you went to Guryong Fortress, didn’t you?”
“What are you talking about? I’ve never—”
Yu Anna didn’t buy it for a second.
For a man like the deputy commissioner to be making argunts like this?
She could only conclude one thing: he’d definitely slept with soone in Guryong Fortress.
He calmly denied it, but he couldn’t fool her superhuman instincts.
Trembling pupils. Accelerated heartbeat.
Yu Anna was sure there was a connection between him and Guryong Fortress.
She picked the tablet back up.
“Forget it. I’ll go see the Commissioner instead.
You should be ashad.”
“You think the Commissioner will say sothing different?”
“...So she’s been to Guryong Fortress too, huh?”
“What nonsense is this? The Commissioner is a woman—why would she go to a place like Guryong?”
“You think I haven’t read the reports? There are n for sale in there too, you know.”
“Khhm...”
Yu Anna turned around with a heavy heart, realizing villain influence had already seeped far too deep.
The deputy commissioner cleared his throat.
Yu Anna, about to leave with a glare full of disgust, was stopped again.
“Starlight, listen. You don’t get it... Guryong Fortress is a mber of the Villain Association.
Unlike A-City, here in W-City, you’re the only S-Class hero we’ve got.”
“So?”
“When W-City legislators need to travel to other cities, the strongest escort we can provide is an A-Class.
If you cause a scene, and other villains in the Association retaliate... what then?”
“So you’re saying we should just let civilians suffer so you can protect your own skin.
Fine. I’ll handle it myself. Punish or not—do whatever you want.”
“Starlight... you go through with this, you think your family will be safe?”
“Deputy Commissioner Kim Jacheol... was that a threat?”
Unconsciously, Yu Anna’s power surged.
The luxurious carpet—out of place in the age of monsters—began to char under her ability, and the temperature in the deputy commissioner’s office spiked instantly.
Even so, he remained composed.
“It’s not a threat. I’m just stating facts.
Not just your family—mine too. If we poke the wrong hornet’s nest, we could all be in danger.
That’s why I’m telling you not to do this, Starlight.
You’re right. It’s too late to purge the villains from W-City.”
“...Hah.”
Hearing the defeated tone in his voice, Yu Anna pulled her flas back.
Only then did sweat start pouring down his face.
He wiped his brow with a handkerchief.
“And hey... haven’t you heard the rumors?
Guseoryong, the lord of Guryong Fortress—he’s already A-Class, top-tier.
Might break into S-Class any day now.
You sure you can beat him?
You do know this, right?
Villains specialize in close combat.
You’re still just specialized for hunting monsters, aren’t you?”
“Which is exactly why we have to take him out now, before he gets any stronger.”
“Let’s be optimistic.
If we leave him alone, maybe W-City will have another S-Class esper soon, right?”
The deputy commissioner sipped from his already-cold tea as he continued defending the villains.
“Gu Seoryong has unified the villains and keeps them contained within Zone 9.
If we just hand over that zone, we get a villain boss who’s willing to negotiate.
Zone 9 becos a safety zone.
Doesn’t sound like a bad deal, does it?”
“Deputy Commissioner, would you say that to a room full of reporters?”
“I could, but the reporters wouldn’t be able to handle it.”
He wasn’t wrong.
Reporters were too afraid of retaliation to freely cover stories involving villains.
Only A-City still had the balls to publish them—largely [N O V E L I G H T] thanks to Cage, that pride-fueled lunatic.
Cage made a habit of physically beating down villains, calling them things like
“failed espers who abandoned the dignity of the superhuman and chose to crawl into the mud.”
Thanks to him, A-City was probably the cleanest city when it ca to villain control.
Every ti this ca up, Yu Anna found herself thinking—maybe Cage’s way was the right way.
Esper Supremacy—that those with great power and will should lead the powerless.
But at the sa ti, Yu Anna believed that was a line that should never be crossed.
Espers were still people.
No matter how strong their powers, they should be equal to ordinary humans.
Humans must be equal—so they cannot dominate each other.
They cannot judge one another at will.
But ideals like that...
aren’t enough to erase villains.
Not when you’re facing monsters wearing human masks.
****
“Hey! Who the hell are you?!”
Following the scent of the necklace, I arrived in Zone 9 and approached an old apartnt building tucked away in a quiet corner.
But before I could enter, a couple of guys stationed at the entrance stopped .
Big guys.
They were easily shoulder-height with , and they approached with aggressive eyes—until those eyes started to widen.
Now standing right in front of , both n looked up at with nervous tension.
“Uh... what brings you here, sir?”
“I ca because sothing I’m looking for is inside.”
“W-what...? Oh, a custor? Damn, thought you were so kinda brute-force esper...”
They let out a sigh of relief and gave a once-over.
“...You co straight from a construction site or sothing?”
“Yes.”
“Then you’re definitely a custor...
We don’t know who sent you or what you’re here for, but hey—Guryong Fortress has everything.
Still, we’re not open right now.
Co back at night.”
“Hmm... I’ll do that.”
No need to rush.
I’d already confird that both my necklace and that loan shark were inside this apartnt.
So I decided to wait until nightfall—
and since sunset wasn’t far off, I didn’t have to wait long.
As darkness fell, more and more cars started lining up in front of the apartnt.
People began gathering too, hovering around, waiting for entry.
“Still closed?! The sun’s already down! Open up, damn it!”
“Not yet.”
“I need a good spot, man! If I don’t get that seat, I’m screwed!”
“Anyone here for the casino, please line up to this side.”
“Open the doors! OPEN THEM!”
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