The New Five Heroes filed into the conference room one by one.
The first to open the door was a tall, striking woman.
A chaleonic sheen flowed over the black leather suit clinging to her body, and a short cape attached to her shoulders fluttered like a flying squirrel’s gliding mbrane whenever she moved.
A leather eyepatch, made of the sa material as her suit, covered her left eye, peeking out from beneath long hair that fell to her waist.
Strapped to her back was a massive anti-materiel rifle.
As Jae-hee stared in awe, Mu-gung leaned over to explain. “That’s Miss Never, the greatest sniper in Korea.”
The next to enter wasn’t a person, but a large, bipedal robot. It had a humanoid, armored shape, but it was far larger and bulkier, standing well over three ters tall. Two long horns protruded from the helt-like headpiece.
“Huh? A robot…?”
Clank, clank—
As the robot entered with a slow, chanical whir, Jae-hee’s confusion grew.
Mu-gung explained again. “The person piloting that robot is Captain Nerd, Korea’s greatest chanic.”
“Ah, so it’s not the robot itself, but a pilot sowhere else.”
“Yes. So say he’s inside; others say he’s controlling it remotely. In any case, the master of that robot is the S-Rank Awakened, Captain Nerd.”
Miss Never strode in as if the whole affair was a monuntal pain, dropped into a chair, and promptly flopped face-first onto the table.
Captain Nerd, on the other hand—or rather, the robot he controlled—stopped in front of Jae-hee.
The red optical sensors in its helt scanned him for a long mont.
«…Hmph.»
It then turned and slowly made its way to the conference table.
Frozen solid, Jae-hee finally let out a sigh of relief as the robot moved away.
“S-So intimidating…”
“D-despite appearances, he’s a good person… I think…”
After them ca Death-dic, and finally, Rain Man.
Death-dic was dressed in her notoriously difficult-to-pull-off fashion: a white suit, white stockings, and white shoes. Rain Man wore his usual gray suit, the hood of his raincoat pulled low.
“Everyone is here.”
The Heroes were all seated: Death-dic, Chosen One, Miss Never, and Captain Nerd.
Rain Man confird that Jae-hee and Mu-gung were waiting in the corner, then took his seat at the round table and spoke.
“Let the eting begin.”
***
Most of the agenda items were tedious, difficult political matters that Jae-hee could barely comprehend.
Next to him, Sergeant Mu-gung’s sharp eyes glittered as she diligently took notes, but Jae-hee just kept snacking on the provided refreshnts until he started nodding off.
“And now for today’s final item…”
After a considerable amount of ti had passed, the eting was finally drawing to a close.
Rain Man read the last item on the agenda.
“The motion to accept the new S-Rank Awakened, callsign ‘Boy,’ into the New Five Heroes.”
Jae-hee snapped awake. All five of the Heroes at the table were now looking at him.
Chosen One stroked his chin. “I heard he Awakened, but isn’t he a bit too young? How old is he?”
“Eighteen,” Rain Man answered for him.
Death-dic covered her mouth and giggled. “Eee, he’s totally a baby! An absolute baby, right? Does this make him the youngest S-Rank Awakened on record?”
“He is the youngest currently, but not the youngest at the ti of Awakening,” Rain Man said, glancing to the side. “Captain Nerd was thirteen when he Awakened ten years ago.”
«…»
An irritated click echoed from the robot’s speakers. The robot stood at attention beside the table—it was too tall and heavy to sit in a chair—and swiveled its head to look directly at Jae-hee.
«Are we certain he’s truly Awakened? I scanned him a mont ago, and his Gate particle count seed rather low.»
“His use of a Domain Break is confird.”
Rain Man distributed a file to the other Heroes. It was the investigation report on the Cheongnyangni Gate incident.
“It was Boy’s Domain Break that subdued the recently manifested Demon Lord, Deyana Ludens.”
Strictly speaking, he’d only managed to subdue it temporarily; he hadn’t killed it. The creature was only banished from Earth because Iron Knight had sealed himself away with it.
Still, Jae-hee had managed to suppress the resurrected Demon Lord with his power alone.
Just then, Chosen One grumbled, “You know, I’ve had a complaint about this for so ti…”
“…?”
“That Demon Lord appeared on Joseon soil, so why was it given an English na? Shouldn’t we take this opportunity to rena it with a beautiful Korean word?”
This bizarre tangent seed to fluster even the unflappable Rain Man, who was montarily distracted.
“…It was the first Demon Lord to appear thirty years ago, so the United States, which was in command of the Allied Forces at the ti, nad it as such—wait, that’s not what’s important right now.”
“What could be more important than this! As King Sejong himself said, ‘Our nation’s speech is different from that of China, and so our writing systems do not align—’”
Ignoring Chosen One as he began to recite the entire preamble to the Hunminjeongeum, the eyepatch-wearing sniper spoke up for the first ti.
Miss Never asked, “But he’s a forr convict, isn’t he?”
“He was pardoned.”
“Hmm.”
A faint smile played on Miss Never’s lips as her uncovered right eye lingered on him.
“Now I’m interested.”
“Ugh, here she goes again with that bad habit of hers.” Death-dic made a retching sound and waved a hand at Jae-hee. “Be careful, Boy. This one’s hopeless when it cos to romance and has a terrible habit of falling for bad boys.”
A cold sweat trickled down Jae-hee’s back. “Uh… then shouldn’t I be safe?”
“Hm? Why?”
“As you can probably tell, I’m the good-guy type…?”
“Ooh,” Miss Never cooed, a full smile spreading across her face. “This one’s got potential…”
“How does that even make sense?!” Jae-hee floundered.
Death-dic cackled, advising, “Just ignore her. She can hit any target with a bullet, but she misses every shot when it cos to love. She’s the proud owner of a cursed eye that’s absolute trash at reading people.”
Captain Nerd cut through the trivial chatter.
«In any case, even if he has the ability, we haven’t verified it with our own eyes. Accepting him imdiately is out of the question.»
Captain Nerd made a proposal.
«Let’s test him.»
“A test?”
«He’ll join us on a few missions to prove his skills and character in the field.»
Death-dic pouted, her lips shimring with lip gloss. “As for character… everyone here is pretty much a garbage person anyway. Do we really need to vet him for that?”
“No, Captain Nerd is right.” Rain Man, however, nodded in agreent. “We are this nation’s final guardians. The New Five Heroes. To beco one of us, a minimum level of verification is necessary.”
Becoming a mber of the New Five Heroes ca with imnse benefits and financial rewards, but it also carried an equal—if not greater—weight of responsibility and duty.
No matter how powerful an S-Rank Awakened was, other factors had to be considered.
Rain Man turned to Jae-hee. “Boy.”
Jae-hee straightened his posture instantly. “Sir!”
“You will serve as an ‘intern’ Hero and deploy with us on missions for the next three weeks. After this trial period, we will make a final decision on your mbership.”
Rain Man addressed the other Heroes. “Is this thod acceptable to everyone?”
One by one, they raised their hands.
“Yay, I approve!”
“I’m in favor, too.”
“I shall approve.”
«…No objections.»
While Jae-hee’s mbership was debatable, the test itself was unanimously approved.
“Then it’s decided, Boy.” Rain Man nodded at Jae-hee. “Starting tomorrow, you will join us on missions… as an intern.”
Jae-hee swallowed hard and nodded back.
Beside him, Mu-gung clenched her fist in a gesture of support. “You can do it!”
“Yes, ma’am! I’ll do my best!”
And so began the new life of ‘Boy’ Jae-hee Han, Hero Intern!
***
At that sa mont, a prisoner transport vehicle rumbled out of Seoul toward the outskirts of Gyeonggi Province.
Inside the rattling vehicle, shuddering over the poorly maintained road, a single prisoner sat behind iron bars: the young man with the cross-shaped scar, the Hunter known as Chevalier.
Eyes closed and hands bound in Awakening Inhibitor Cuffs, even his limbs were further secured with chains and rope. He was being transported sowhere.
After so ti, the vehicle lurched to a stop. Chevalier slowly opened his eyes.
Clank—
The rear door of the vehicle swung open, and two heavily ard guards entered. They grabbed Chevalier by either arm and dragged him outside.
Chevalier squinted against the bright sunlight and slowly surveyed his surroundings.
It was a wasteland.
A barren plain on the outskirts of Gyeonggi Province. Thirty years ago, it had been fertile farmland; now, it was desolate. Construction on a landfill had been halted midway.
He was forced to his knees before a freshly dug pit.
“Vice-Commander of the Hunter Guild ‘The Knights,’ Hunter na Chevalier.”
One of the guards standing behind him read the sentence in a monotone voice.
“For the cri of high treason, you are hereby sentenced to summary execution.”
“…Is that so.”
The other veteran soldiers of The Knights had been sent to Paradise Lost.
But the higher-ups deed it too risky to imprison their potential leader, Chevalier, with them. His abilities were too exceptional for any other prison, and the governnt couldn’t afford the cost of managing him alone.
This was their conclusion.
A clean, safe, unofficial execution.
“A smart choice. If you’d kept alive…” Chevalier snarled through dry lips, “I would have used any ans necessary to destroy this world.”
“…”
The other guard slowly drew a gun from his holster.
“Carry out the sentence.”
Click—
As if this were routine, he disengaged the safety without hesitation and aid at Chevalier’s head.
The guard who had read the sentence turned away and lit a cigarette.
Flick—
He took a long drag, but when he heard no gunshot, he grew puzzled. “What are you doing? Just get it over with so we can head…”
The guard turned back, and the cigarette fell from his lips.
Standing there, as if from nowhere, was a woman in black martial arts robes, wearing the traditional mask known as an Imae.
Shk-thunk!
As the woman in the Imae Mask—Iljimae—sheathed her short sword, the other guard let out a choked gasp.
“Ugh… ghk…”
A stream of blood gushed from the gash in his neck. He staggered, clutching his throat, then collapsed and tumbled down the slope into the pit.
“Son of a bitch.”
The remaining guard scrambled to draw his own pistol.
But a man in a Choraengi mask appeared beside him in a flash and snatched the gun from his hand.
“Huh?”
Before the bewildered guard could react, the man—Jeon Woo-chi—calmly released the safety and, just as calmly, fired.
Bang!
He shot the guard through the temple.
Jeon Woo-chi moved like a flash of light. As the guard collapsed in a spray of blood, he pressed the gun back into his hand and kicked him hard, sending him tumbling into the pit.
Watching this unfold in a daze, Chevalier turned his head at the sound of new footsteps.
A woman in a Bride’s Mask approached with a graceful, deliberate gait, the hem of her elegant hanbok billowing in the wasteland wind.
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