The lower half of the perverted monster's body was blasted backward like a kite with its string snapped, tracing a sharp arc through the air before crashing heavily onto the lawn more than ten ters away. Its thick legs gave two weak twitches, then went completely still.
[You have slain the Tiger-level monster "Perverted Underwear Wolf." Origin Points 48!]
Fast! Too fast! Everything had happened in the blink of an eye, beyond what any ordinary human could perceive.
The bystanders who had been startled during their morning exercise struggled to comprehend what had just happened. Even King, who stood closest, only registered a blur in front of his eyes and a deafening bang in his ears. Then… nothing.
Hansen calmly shook out his hand, faint smoke rising from the friction with the air, as though he had done nothing more than swat away a troubleso insect.
The ponytailed girl who had been jogging felt a violent gust sweep past her ear. The impact she had braced herself for never arrived. She widened her eyes in disbelief, then caught sight of the mangled corpse not far ahead. Only half of the creature's body remained, its death both miserable and absolute.
"I… I'm safe…?"
Still trembling, she pressed her hand against her heaving chest. Her athletic top clung tightly as her body rose and fell with each panicked breath.
She looked around in confusion for her savior, then her eyes brightened. Overjoyed, she ran with light, eager steps toward a bench in the park.
Hansen smiled gently, his voice warm with reassurance. "It's over now. There's no need to thank—"
He froze.
The girl, eyes glittering with excitent, sprinted right past him and stopped before King, who stood blankly holding a drink. She bent forward into a deep ninety-degree bow.
"Thank you for saving , King!!"
She wasn't the only one. Several joggers who had recognized him rushed over with thrilled expressions.
"I heard it! The sound of the Emperor Engine, like war drums! There's no mistake, it has to be him!!" A middle-aged man adjusted his glasses with trembling fingers.
"That's right! Those three scars from his battle with a Dragon-level monster! It's King, the S-Class hero King!" a woman declared with admiration.
"Wow! King is incredible! He crushed that monster in an instant!" a pair of young girls said with starry eyes.
"As expected of the strongest man on the surface. So dependable!"
The crowd gathered tightly around King, their voices full of praise. Hansen, the one truly responsible, was ignored as if invisible.
Hansen was left speechless. 'Forget it. I'm already used to this.'
King, on the other hand, nearly froze on the spot.
Staring at the sudden deep cleavage directly in front of him, his lips twitched. He had no mood to appreciate this unexpected "reward." The admiring gazes of the crowd were already unbearable, but when they mingled with Hansen's half-smiling, knowing eyes, a chill raced down his spine.
The sweat that already clung to his exercise-dampened shirt was joined by a fresh layer of cold sweat.
'Hansen, you have to believe … I didn't ask for this!'
The sky was already bright, the morning sun climbing higher. But for King, this was only the beginning of another day in hell.
All morning, his so-called innate "monster-attracting physique" seed to be activated at maximum strength. He had beco a walking spawn point. From roadside bushes, manholes, and even behind billboards, wild monsters kept leaping out one after another.
Most were Wolf-level, but several Tiger-level threats appeared as well, and even one unfortunate Demon-level monster crossed their path.
By the end of the morning, the harvest from Hansen's real body alone had nearly overtaken the combined earnings of his entire clone army working worldwide during the sa period.
Clones scattered across the world grumbled: Do we even get to keep our dignity?
Hansen muttered to himself, Tell Psykos I don't want to go back… and make sure Gyoro Gyoro doesn't find either. I'm terrified King will get the wrong idea!
Still, not everything was going smoothly for Hansen.
Since he had never officially registered as a hero, to the eyes of ordinary people, he was nothing more than a handso stranger with good looks and a well-built body. Whenever victims and bystanders managed to collect themselves after the chaos, what they always saw was King, pale and stiff, trying to stand tall while the so-called King Engine thundered from his chest.
Beside him lay the corpses of monsters, sotis one, sotis several, each destroyed in an instant. Naturally, all the praise, gratitude, bouquets, and even the phone numbers slyly slipped over by pretty girls went straight into King's hands.
Even when the occasional sharp-eyed onlooker caught a glimpse of Hansen's movent, they had seen it too vaguely, or their fear muddled their judgnt. Inevitably, they convinced themselves it had been the S-Class hero King who had obliterated the monsters.
After all, wasn't it perfectly natural for an S-Class hero to strike so swiftly that ordinary people couldn't even follow it with their eyes?
This scenario had repeated itself again and again along the way.
At first, King felt very embarrassed. But when he saw that Hansen appeared completely unbothered, he secretly let out a sigh of relief. After all... it wasn't like he wanted things to turn out this way either.
…
anwhile, in City A, at Hero Association Headquarters.
Inside the Disaster Counterasures Division, a middle-aged officer with thinning hair had just poured himself a strong cup of coffee and was settling in for another long day when he received the latest encrypted intelligence summary from the City M branch.
"Hm? Lord King's activity report? And it's not even eight yet? They've already submitted it? That's unusually fast."
Adjusting his black-rimd glasses with curiosity, he opened the file labeled Special Report: S-Class Hero King.
The contents were short but staggering:
"At 6:10 a.m., S-Class Hero King encountered the Wolf-level monster 'Panty Pervert' harassing female joggers in Wooden Man Park. King instantly defeated him."
"At 6:40 a.m., near the park's central lake, King was ambushed by the Tiger-level monster 'Leftover Skeleton Fish.' King obliterated it in a single strike, leaving no remains."
"At 6:50 a.m., on his return route, King encountered the Tiger-level monster 'Filthy Sludge Fiend' crawling from the sewers. King immobilized it with sheer aura before easily disposing of it."
"At 7:20 a.m., on a city street, King defeated the Tiger-level monster 'Mutant Giant Mosquito Swarm,' protecting dozens of students on their way to school."
"At 7:50 a.m., in the comrcial district, King subdued the rampaging monster-vehicle 'Insane Ice Cream Truck,' preventing a major traffic disaster."
"…"
One dazzling achievent after another filled the list.
The balding officer straightened in his chair, overwheld with awe.
"So many…?"
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