The next day.
I received an identification card from Regalia.
“Here, this is yours,” she said.
“What’s this…?”
“It’s a ans to prove your identity in this city.”
The ID she handed bore a picture of — one I had no idea when it was taken — with the na “Eight” written on it. Naturally, that wasn’t my na.
“Eight…? Who’s that? And when was this photo taken—”
“Who do you think? It’s your na. From now on, you’re Eight. The na you ntioned, Kim… sothing or other, was just too exotic, don’t you think? No matter what, I can’t create a fake ID with a na that stands out like that.”
“…Understood.”
Eight.
For so reason, that na seed closely related to the eighth thing ntioned yesterday… but what could I do? If my employer calls “Eight,” then I am Eight, just as if she called anything else. I’ll just have to roll with it.
As I stared blankly at the ID, Regalia snapped her fingers to grab my attention.
“What’s wrong? We need to get moving.”
“Where are we going, exactly?”
“Didn’t you hear? Today, we’re going to see the mbers of the organization, right? ”
“Ah… I had indeed forgotten that. So, this isn’t the place?”
I said this while looking around the mansion. She called it a villain organization, but wasn’t it just a rich girl’s hobby? I an, it seed just like a child’s play, really.
This mansion was just the right size for such gas. It was unnecessarily large, with not just empty rooms but entire unused buildings. It was the perfect place for villain gas without being discovered by others.
However, Regalia frowned as if I was saying sothing really stupid.
“This is the lady’s house. Who would be foolish enough to create a villain organization in their own ho?”
“Is that so…?”
I wouldn’t know since I’ve never tried.
Following the incredulous Regalia, I stepped out of the mansion.
The limousine we had co in last night sped out of the mansion and quickly headed toward the city.
As I watched the nurous buildings pass by outside, it felt as if I could return ho at any mont. However, it wasn’t true. This wasn’t the world I lived in, and the country I knew didn’t exist in this world.
‘So, this ans I have to survive in this world…’
After a mont of staring out the window, the limousine ca to a halt.
The driver quickly got out and opened the back door, and Regalia smoothly exited the vehicle.
“We’ve arrived. Let’s go.”
“Ah, yes.”
I got out of the limousine behind Regalia and paused in awe at the grand building before . I had unconsciously assud that a villain organization would be using so dark, out-of-sight underground lair, so the imposing building in front of was truly shocking.
What lay before was a building far larger and more impressive than any I had seen around, the kind where respectable people would presumably be heading to work.
“Chairwoman, you’ve arrived!”
“Hmm.”
“Here’s a report summarizing the events from yesterday and today.”
“I’ll read it on the way up.”
As Regalia entered the building, guards and suit-clad employees rushed to her, bowing deeply. The sight of these adults bowing to soone who looked no older than an elentary school student was incredibly surreal.
Yet, neither Regalia nor the bowing employees seed bothered by it. Everyone treated it as if it were perfectly normal, indicating it had been this way for a long ti.
“─Eight? Co here.”
“Yup.”
Suddenly, I felt a newfound admiration for Regalia. Ah, long live Regalia.
As I followed her into the elevator, my body was lifted as if defying gravity. It felt montarily like teleportation.
The instant the doors opened, I realized imdiately that this was indeed a villain organization. The scene that greeted my eyes could only be explained as such.
“─All hail Regalia! All hail Evilus!”
“Louder!”
“All hail Regalia—!”
Ugh—!
Combatants clad in skintight suits yelled bizarre slogans.
Huff—!
A bipedal tiger, covered in scars, lifted a weight that no human should ever be able to manage with ease.
Hehehehe— Just wait…
A girl was creepily giggling in front of photos of magical girls dressed up.
It was absurd to say that this place wasn’t a villainous organization. I froze, taken aback by the sudden influx of information.
As I stood there, stunned, one of the mbers from the organization noticed us and shouted in shock.
“B-Boss! All hail Evilus!”
“Hmm. All hail Evilus.”
“The Boss is here?”
“How’s the body, Galm?”
“Sa as always.”
“B-Boss, it’s been a while…”
“It has indeed. Ayle. Still looking at magical girl pictures?”
Hehe— It’s my only hobby…
After exchanging greetings with the weightlifting tiger and the picture-obsessed girl, Regalia pulled forward and spoke.
“This is our eighth executive. His na is Eight.”
“Oh— Is he strong?”
“No. Eight is our scientist. He’s a powerless, useless person, so don’t bother trying to pick a fight with him.”
Tch— How boring.
As soon as Galm realized I was powerless, he clicked his tongue, clearly losing interest. However, the picture-loving Ayle gave an oddly warm smile.
“Hey, hey— Eight, is it? You’re powerless too? I’m also a powerless person… Let’s get along as powerless friends.”
“Ah, sure. Nice to et you.”
As I extended my hand for a handshake, Ayle flinched and hurriedly wiped her hand on her clothes before extending it to . Our handshake was incredibly brief.
But even that short encounter made it easy to grasp the personalities of the other two executives.
One’s a musclebrain, and the other’s a voyeur…
They perfectly fit the bill of people who matched yet didn’t belong to a villain organization at all. After all, what’s most important in a villain organization? The power to fight against heroes.
Galm looked like he could easily take down a scrawny guy like with his bulky muscles — but who knows? It’s not like I would expect his strength to surpass that of a hero, especially when hunting beasts isn’t difficult with a single firearm.
The sa went for Ayle. A powerless person? Having learned firsthand what it ant to be treated as powerless in this world for just one night, I could only marvel at how she hadn’t taken her own life yet. I couldn’t expect much more from her.
So that’s how it is.
I beca convinced that this villain organization was simply a pasti for Regalia. A childish ga disguised with the na of a villain organization.
So I didn’t really need to do anything aningful for the organization either. As long as my boss hadn’t lost interest in this little play, I could goof around and collect my salary while living off the fat of the land.
That expectation vanished before even a minute had passed.
“Well then, Eight. I’m assigning you your first task.”
“Uh? What do you an…?”
“Create sothing useful for these two! Oh, and if you need anything, just say so. I’ll get you whatever you need.”
This is bad.
In a panic, I glanced at Regalia.
“Uh, when is this due…?”
“Hmm. A week should be fine, right?”
“A week…?”
That was barely enough ti to finish a university assignnt. And now, I had to create sothing useful for the executives of a villain organization? All within a week?
Although I was told I could use any budget I wanted, the ti constraint was far too tight. I hadn’t yet figured out how science in this world differed from what I knew.
“Boss? I don’t think I can manage both….”
“Really? Then it’s fine if you focus on just one. What’s important is that you show everyone what kind of person you are.”
“But I really am nothing….”
Upon hearing that, Regalia looked at as if I was saying sothing completely absurd.
“What nonsense… You’re the scientist whom I trust. Don’t say such things.”
“No, I genuinely lack confidence….”
“Don’t doubt yourself. Trust in the you who trusts .”
With that, Regalia tapped her chest with her fist and grinned before heading to the elevator alone, murmuring sothing about having a lot of work to do.
Left alone on this floor, I turned to look at Galm, who was intensely focused on working out. Chatting with a tiger several tis larger than I was and covered in scars was intimidating.
“Uh… Mr. Galm?”
“—What?”
“Uh, do you need anything?”
“No.”
“No, I an, anything at all would be fine…”
If I can’t make sothing, I might get booted from the house.
Seeing the intent in my eyes, Galm let out a big sigh and replied.
“Well, I sotis wish I were a little stronger when it cos to fighting.”
“Ah… You an sothing like steroids?”
“No drug can make my body stronger.”
“…Then you want to make sothing like a fatigue recoverer or an energy drink?”
“Do as you wish.”
Galm exhaled stubbornly, as if he didn’t want to say any more, and resud his workout. I cautiously withdrew, not wanting to risk getting my head squished by a dumbbell.
As I stood awkwardly in the corridor, a mber of the organization soon approached and introduced to my research lab.
“You can do your research here. If you need anything, feel free to reach out.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
“You don’t have to be so formal. As an executive, you’re our boss.”
“I just find this more comfortable.”
With a wry smile, I watched the staff mber leave and sighed while looking around the empty lab. Normally, these projects would require multiple PhD-level scientists working together for extensive periods, going through trial and error…
Yet here I was, expected to produce results by myself in just a week without any support. Honestly, getting tangible results in such a short period was impossible.
In that case, I had no choice but to resort to a bit of trickery.
“Imitation has always been the mother of creation…”
If creating sothing entirely new wasn’t possible, I could just copy what I rembered from Earth. Fortunately, I had morized the nutritional compositions of so market products for a project.
Among those was the energy booster Galm desired.
“It was sothing like guanidine acetate and creatine monohydrate… What else was there?”
Creating sothing from scratch would be out of the question, but if I knew the outco, reproducing it wouldn’t take too long. So I plunged headfirst into my first task as a scientist in a villain organization.
*
A week later.
Staying true to his villainous nature, Galm raided the city and started attacking people.
The citizens, having beco accustod to seeing villain organization mbers in skintight suits, began to flee as if it were routine.
While regular combatants vented their stress by smashing cars and buildings lying in the streets, Galm anxiously awaited the arrival of a hero.
“─That’s as far as you go!”
“Ah, you’re here?”
Before long, a hero appeared. His quick response ti was faster than a five-minute standby. There was no way he could have been here without waiting nearby, yet Galm looked at him as if it were perfectly normal.
A rookie hero, perfect for facing soone like him. Galm sighed at the sight. He longed for those thrilling fights he once had, but it was even more disheartening to realize that he was struggling to take down soone of this level.
“You villain scum! I will never forgive you─!”
“Can we make this quick? I have things to do.”
“…I cannot concede! I am Hero Sugar Mask! There can be no compromise with villains!”
Was this rookie still caught up in the allure of heroism? Galm sighed again at the hero’s strange poses and clichéd lines. With a simple wave of his hand, regular combatants, who had been waiting for his signal, quickly charged at the hero.
Seeing the combatants rushing towards him, Sugar Mask swung his arms around lightly and defeated them easily. The defeated combatants fell dramatically, as if choreographed.
Having dealt with the combatants in a flash, Sugar Mask directly lunged at Galm. As he rushed towards , Galm pulled out a vial from his pocket. It was the item handed to him by a new executive a while back.
─Here’s the finished product. Please test it.
‘…What a pointless thing.’
Honestly, I didn’t expect it to work.
His body, worn and rusted beyond its limits, was just a shadow of what it once was, and regardless of what he tried, there’d be no way to return it to its original state. No drug or ability could cure him.
It was impossible for a potion created in just a week to enhance him. That’s what Galm thought as he gulped down the potion.
And at that mont.
Galm felt a surge of power coursing through his entire being.
“Take this—!”
Sugar Mask threw a punch at Galm just as he was drinking the potion. He already knew enough about Sugar Mask. A retired soldier who had been forced to retire due to injuries. While he had excellent physique thanks to his beast heritage, he was nowhere near being an esper.
He was the perfect villain for a rookie hero looking to make a na for himself.
As it usually went, he would exchange a few blows before hitting the ground. Then he would follow his usual escape plan. However, strangely enough, it didn’t go that way today.
“Ha, haha—!”
“…?”
“Ahahaha! Sorry, kid—!”
Galm seized the punch aid at his abdon and let out a loud roar of laughter.
“You can’t stop —! Bring soone stronger! Soone who can make my heart race!”
For an instant, he regained the strength of his youth.
Galm, the Beast King, roared.
That day, contrary to the plan, Galm ended up collapsing five buildings, and an ergency response team of A-rank heroes barely managed to force him into retreat.
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