Ho-cheol looked up toward the cliff where the rock had fallen.
Three gazes were felt.
No, two, perhaps.
Judging by how no more rocks were rolling down, it seemed they weren’t intent on killing right away but were instead blocking the path.
He muttered indifferently,
“The bigger problem is who they’re targeting.”
As he surveyed the surroundings and assessed the situation, So-hee called him softly.
“Um…”
Until just moments ago, she had been too flustered by the falling rocks, but now that things had calmed down a bit, she couldn’t ignore the discomfort any longer.
“Could you… let go of my hand?”
“My hand? Oh, right.”
Their hands had overlapped on the steering wheel, and even though he’d tried to discreetly pull away, his grip had been too firm.
Realizing this, Ho-cheol belatedly withdrew his hand.
So-hee rubbed the back of her hand and turned her head toward where Ho-cheol was looking.
But, as expected, unlike him, she couldn’t see anything.
Instead, she looked at the rock blocking the road and asked,
“Are you saying this isn’t just a natural rockfall?”
“It hasn’t rained recently. What kind of rockfall could this be? Someone’s clearly targeting us.”
His calm tone starkly contrasted with the alarming content of his words.
So-hee urgently pulled out her phone.
“Right. Then we should call the police first—or no, we should call a hero—”
“Don’t bother. Judging from the current situation, it looks like a simple rockfall. Requesting support from the Association would be better.”
Ho-cheol stepped out of the car and leaned against it with his arms crossed.
“Not that I think those guys will wait until support arrives.”
On top of the rock blocking the road stood two figures silhouetted against the sun.
Their masked faces practically screamed, ‘We’re villains!’
Judging by the gloves they wore, they were probably registered villains whose fingerprints were already on file.
Then again, it didn’t matter. Criminals were criminals.
The two villains stared at Ho-cheol.
The lips beneath their masks moved.
“Who’s that?”
“Not the target. Ignore him.”
It was a brief exchange, but it was a critical clue that Ho-cheol picked up on instantly—something no one in an organized group would casually reveal.
Surprisingly, their target wasn’t Ho-cheol but So-hee.
Back when he played the role of a villain, he was always the first target wherever he went.
But lately—whether at the academy or elsewhere—he seemed to be off people’s radar.
The mere fact that he wasn’t the target gave him half the advantage in this situation.
As So-hee stepped out of the car, the two villains’ eyes gleamed.
“What’s going on? This feels strange,” So-hee muttered uneasily, sensing their attention.
“Who are those people?”
“In a situation like this, it’d be stranger if they weren’t villains. They’re targeting you, by the way.”
“What? Why?”
“No idea.”
Ho-cheol ruffled his hair and turned to So-hee.
“If I handed you over, do you think they’d let me leave safely?”
So-hee gasped and grabbed his arm.
“You’re not seriously going to abandon me, right?”
“Why are you so serious? Can’t even joke with you.”
Amused by her intense reaction, Ho-cheol chuckled and turned toward the villains still standing on the rock.
“Yeah, no. I don’t think this pretty picture you’re hoping for is going to happen. Why don’t you just go back quietly? Clear the rocks, and I won’t chase you.”
“That’s not possible. She will be the sacrifice,” one villain declared, pointing at So-hee.
“All for the sake of a just society.”
Ho-cheol’s brows furrowed deeply.
He’d gone to great lengths to hide his identity, but their words instantly gave away their affiliation.
“Of all the people…”
He sighed and ran a hand down his face.
Though he didn’t know who they were specifically, their organization was obvious.
The maniacs.
There was no better way to describe them.
The Liberation Front of the Superhuman.
They were an old group of psychopaths that had been active even during Ho-cheol’s villain days.
Their ideology?
“Traits are the product of evolution and the choice of the divine. We are superior to ordinary humans. Thus, ruling the world is only natural.”
It was the kind of nonsense they genuinely believed.
No wonder they preferred terms like “superhumans” and “superpowers” over “traits” and “awakened.”
Ho-cheol’s group often clashed with them when their activity zones overlapped.
While most villains would retreat immediately upon encountering Ho-cheol’s organization, these guys would dive headfirst into a fight, their madness evident.
Even during his prime, they were considered a relic of the past, and yet they were still active.
Quite tenacious.
Ho-cheol was reminded of the saying: “It’s not the strong who live long, but the ones who live long who become strong.”
Though he couldn’t guess why they were here, it was clear why they were targeting So-hee.
“Still haven’t given up your habit of kidnapping people for profit, huh?”
The fact that they were after So-hee, an Association employee, meant they likely intended to use her as leverage for some kind of negotiation.
It was a tactic they’d frequently used a decade ago—though it had led to a bloody disaster when they’d tried it on Ho-cheol.
He reminisced briefly but wasn’t particularly curious or sentimental.
Ho-cheol silently massaged his neck and tapped the ground with his foot.
Then, in an instant, he vanished.
He reappeared between the two villains atop the rock, draping his arms around their shoulders.
With a slight tilt of his head, he remarked,
“Not even a reaction. Guess I shouldn’t have expected much.”
Since there were no students to teach or enemies worthy of gaining real battle experience, he decided to finish things quickly.
“What the—!”
One villain tried to shake off Ho-cheol’s arm and threw a punch.
Ho-cheol effortlessly deflected it with a flick of his wrist, grabbed the villain’s unbalanced arm, and swung it forcefully, causing the punch to land on the other villain’s shoulder.
“Guh!”
“Damn it!”
The other villain attempted a kick, but Ho-cheol tripped his supporting leg, causing him to fall.
Grabbing the falling villain by the neck, Ho-cheol slammed his knee into the villain’s temple with a sickening crunch.
Behind him, a burst of crimson flames surged.
‘Enhanced strength and a projection trait?’ Better balance than the last batch, at least.
Ho-cheol used the unconscious villain as a shield, the enhanced body absorbing the flames.
He shook the body to extinguish the fire and then threw it at the other villain.
The flaming villain, caught off guard, stumbled backward as the unconscious one collided with him.
The two villains who tumbled beneath the rock appeared to have passed out, their bodies limp and trembling intermittently.
“Ah.”
Looking down at the villains under the rock, Ho-cheol scratched the back of his head as if realizing something too late.
“I should’ve made them clear the rocks.”
Now it was going to take another entire day to deal with this.
***
The car rattled as it came to a stop in a corner of the parking lot.
Three times.
That was how many times villains and other thugs had attacked Ho-cheol and So-hee along the way.
Four attacks in a single day was a personal record for Ho-cheol.
It was truly absurd.
How were they so adept at finding the most deserted spots to ambush?
Even more strangely, each of the three attacks came from entirely different villain organizations or petty criminals.
They had ambushed them on detour routes, striking without warning, and no matter how skilled Ho-cheol was, he couldn’t avoid these situations until they were upon him.
As a result, what should have been a two-hour journey took more than four hours.
Stepping out of the car, Ho-cheol stretched, twisting his body in all directions.
His whole body ached.
Every time he tried to rest, they were attacked.
Every time he tried to get a little sleep, they were ambushed.
Though the villains were nothing more than petty criminals with average skills, meaning he wasn’t seriously injured, his stress and frustration had reached their peak.
The real problem lay elsewhere.
Ho-cheol shook his head as he stepped out of the car.
The car, which had been perfectly fine when they departed, could no longer be described as intact, even in jest.
The tires were shredded, the bumper was dented, the trunk had holes, and the headlights were shattered.
There wasn’t a single part of the car that was undamaged.
“It’s totaled. Might as well junk it.”
“Aaahhh!”
So-hee grabbed her hair and stomped her feet in frustration.
“This isn’t real life!”
Tears welled up in her eyes from sheer indignation.
“My poor Bungee!”
“You even gave it a name?”
“It was my first car! I haven’t even had it for a year!”
Crouching next to the car and inspecting the tires, So-hee mumbled in a voice dripping with despair.
“This is too strange. Even with the increase in villain activity, being attacked this often doesn’t make sense. And they were all targeting me!”
“And you’re just now realizing that?”
Ho-cheol pressed on the crumpled trunk with his fingers, trying to smooth it out.
With a ‘pop’, a hole appeared in the trunk.
Startled, Ho-cheol quickly removed his hand and used his body to hide the damage.
Maintaining his composure, he continued speaking.
“They were just setting you up.”
“Setting me up?”
“You mentioned earlier that the executive who called for you is from a faction opposed to the director, right? So, who exactly is he?”
So-hee stood up and fell into thought for a moment.
“Well, since he’s from a different department, I don’t know him very well. But he worked under another high-ranking executive for a long time, gained recognition, and eventually became an executive himself. There were rumors, though, that he was involved in illegal activities.”
“Then it’s obvious.”
Ho-cheol’s tone was filled with certainty.
“It’s deliberate provocation.”
“Provocation?”
“He’s handling all the dirty work, right? A guy like that is bound to have some connections with villains. If he wants to mess with someone, all he has to do is hire some intermediaries to put a target on their back.”
For a moment, So-hee blinked slowly, as if she didn’t understand.
“Since he’s in the opposite faction of the director, he probably wants to sabotage this project. But he can’t target me directly, so he targeted you. Whether the kidnapping succeeded, you got seriously injured or killed, or I lost my temper and killed someone—or even broke output limits—they’d win either way.”
Ho-cheol’s permission to leave was tied to sensitive and critical conditions.
Any violation of such rules would lead to immediate reincarceration without leniency.
“No matter how much I hold back 99 times, they only need me to lose it once to win.”
The unfairness of it all suddenly struck him.
“But their methods are too crude. The villains they sent were bottom-tier.”
While they had succeeded in provoking him, their blatant display of a mastermind pulling the strings made it clear who was behind it.
Ho-cheol couldn’t help but ask, just in case.
“The executive who called for you—does he know who I am?”
“No. Honestly, there are probably less than ten people in the Association who know your true identity. Even the executives don’t all know.”
Ho-cheol’s identity was one of the Association’s most tightly kept secrets.
The vast majority of members and executives didn’t even know of its existence, let alone have access to related confidential information.
Surprised, he asked again.
“But doesn’t the situation room monitor all my conversations?”
“Yes, but those conversations are first filtered through the Confidential Management Department, where they remove sensitive keywords. Only the rest of the dialogue is sent to headquarters.”
Even this conversation was undoubtedly being filtered by the Confidential Management Department.
“What a hassle.”
“It’s confidential, after all.”
Clicking his tongue, Ho-cheol shook his head.
If the Confidential Management Department filtered out his real identity and actions, it was no surprise that someone would attempt such a crude ploy.
In the end…
“Just another clueless extra stepping out of line.”
***
“That’s my take on it.”
Ho-cheol arrived at one of the offices on the top floor of the 27th-story Hero Association Legal Bureau building.
In the center of the room stood a man.
He had a slender frame and thick-rimmed glasses, giving off a fragile first impression.
However, the cross-shaped scar on his cheek and tattoos on his forearms were a clear sign he wasn’t an ordinary public servant.
Ho-cheol crossed his arms and gestured with his hand.
“So, what’s your esteemed executive opinion on this?”
“It’s an excessive leap. Early signs of delusion, one might say.”
The executive, seated behind a desk, responded immediately.
Reclined in his chair, he appeared utterly at ease despite being alone with Ho-cheol.
Though his tone firmly denied Ho-cheol’s accusations, his smirking expression seemed to boast that he had orchestrated everything.
“Is that so?”
Ho-cheol chuckled bitterly and nodded.
“Well, if that’s what you say, there’s nothing I can do.”
There was no evidence.
It was all just speculation based on circumstances and relationships.
If he kept denying it, there’d be no proof to pin on him.
“Then I’d like to hear the reason you called me here.”
“Hmm.”
The executive rubbed his chin with his index and middle fingers.
After a moment of thought, he twisted his lips into a smirk again.
“I forgot. I had a reason just a moment ago, but it slipped my mind.”
“Oh, I figured as much. Well, I’m sure you’ll call me again when you remember, right?”
“As many times as needed.”
The executive added with a serious tone,
“Once a week, once every four days, once every two days. If necessary, I can call you several times a day.”
“Power is such a great thing. Our dear Bungee’s owner should rise in the ranks someday.”
A sneeze echoed from outside the room.
Ho-cheol laughed along.
If the executive had been acting out of a fiery hero’s sense of duty, thinking something like, ‘How can a villain roam free without paying their dues?’, Ho-cheol would have been in serious trouble.
Though the methods were crude, at least the thoughts behind them weren’t entirely wrong, which made it tricky to outright kill such people.
Persuading such self-righteous types was always a dreadful task.
Thankfully, this one was trash, and that made things easier.
“Well, whatever.”
Ho-cheol unfolded his arms and slid his hands into his pockets.
“You’re playing in a much deeper and darker game than you think.”
He pulled out his phone.
“The joke’s gone too far. Making someone run around like a dog on a weekend? You’ve far surpassed the line of what could be considered playful.”
He continued speaking while fiddling with his phone.
“To be honest, I’m not that angry. The fact that you’re still alive is proof of that. But, you see…”
Having finished what he was doing, he put his phone back into his pocket.
“I can’t guarantee the two others who’ll be called into work this weekend will feel the same.”
“What kind of nonsense threat is that? Do you really think anyone would be scared by such empty words?”
“Who said it was a threat? This isn’t a threat or anything of the sort. It’s just a warning.
The real threats aren’t directed at you, but at others.”
The executive, perceiving Ho-cheol as nothing more than a C-rank villain, saw his words as desperate ramblings.
How laughable.
To Ho-cheol, it was genuinely pitiful.
“Well, considering your superiors haven’t reined you in, it seems they’re just letting you push your luck until they decide to discard you.”
He stepped toward the executive.
“Who can you blame? It’s your fault for not knowing your place.”
The wall behind the executive was made of glass, offering a clear view of the city below.
The expansive view, the sight of the tiny people moving like ants from this height, exuded an air of superiority.
“Imagine how long it took you to climb to this spot, the struggles you endured.”
Ho-cheol smirked and withdrew his hand from the window.
“And yet, you’re throwing it all away in one stroke. If you’re going to be a hunting dog, stick to your kennel and enjoy the occasional chicken scraps. Overreaching for the dining table in the master’s bedroom? This is what happens.”
The executive furrowed his brows.
“I thought I’d humor you and listen to your nonsense, but it seems you don’t know your place. Do you not realize I can call for you again tomorrow?”
“That might be difficult.”
Ring-ring.
The phone in the office began to ring as soon as Ho-cheol finished speaking.
The executive stared at Ho-cheol for a moment before reaching out to answer the call.
Click.
“Yes, suddenly—”
[Hey, you!]
A thunderous voice rang through the receiver, loud enough for Ho-cheol to hear clearly.
[You crazy, goddamn bastard!]
Though the sheer volume threatened to split the air, the voice was unmistakable.
Startled, the executive pulled the receiver slightly away from his ear and straightened his posture.
“Director, what is this sudden—?”
[Sudden? Sudden, you say?!]
What followed was an unrelenting barrage of profanities so colorful that even Ho-cheol was impressed.
If there had been a villain who cursed at this level, they wouldn’t have been just a B-rank with their mouth alone.
For over twenty minutes, the tirade continued, filled with scathing insults and invectives that barely formed coherent sentences.
[I’m coming there right now, so don’t even think about running! Stay right where you are!]
Without waiting for a response, the call ended abruptly.
The executive, stunned, held the receiver in his hand, alternating glances between Ho-cheol and the phone.
“What the hell…”
The reaction was too intense for a mere C-rank villain to have provoked.
The executive, bewildered, tried to gather his thoughts and glared at Ho-cheol.
What had he done?
As he was about to demand answers—
Bang.
The door swung open violently.
No, the hinges had been ripped off, and the door dangled precariously.
Seeing the door shattered and the figure stepping through, Ho-cheol smiled.
The executive, startled by the uninvited guest, prepared to yell.
But before he could—
“Wh-who are— Oh?”
“Well. It’s been ages since I’ve run like this. I even got a speeding ticket on the way here. And on a weekend, no less. There are limits to testing someone’s patience. This is too much.”
The dean strode in, alternating his gaze between the executive and Ho-cheol.
Ho-cheol shrugged when their eyes met.
The dean’s gaze settled on the executive.
“So, this bastard’s the one?”
“Excuse me, Dean. Isn’t this a bit inappropriate?”
“Inappropriate?”
The dean scoffed incredulously.
“I’ve spent so long planning to make use of him, and a mere public servant dares to ruin it all?
Are you so full of yourself that you’re about to burst?
No, you haven’t burst yet.
Let me fix that for you.”
“You’re going to use me as some experiment?”
The dean ignored Ho-cheol’s grumbling and walked up to the executive.
Reaching out, he grabbed the executive by the collar and lifted him clean off the ground.
“W-wait! Let’s talk this out!”
“Talk? Sure, let’s talk.”
Even as a retired S-rank hero with diminishing powers, his strength was far beyond that of an ordinary human.
“This place isn’t soundproof enough for a proper conversation.”
With that, the dean dragged the executive out of the office.
Watching the executive being dragged away, Ho-cheol chuckled and waved lightly.
It was unlikely they’d ever cross paths again.
The office grew quiet after the dean and executive disappeared.
So-hee peeked in cautiously from the doorway.
“…What on earth just happened here?”
“It’s a long story. But rest assured, I avenged Bungee thoroughly.”
He checked the time on his wristwatch.
“Since we’re already out, I’d like to visit someone before heading back. Is that okay?”
So-hee hesitated, her lips twitching in discomfort.
“Thank you for avenging Bungee, but… meeting an outsider would be against regulations.”
“Doesn’t the regulation apply only to people?”
Confused, So-hee tilted her head but nodded.
“Yes. But you said you wanted to see someone…”
Ho-cheol shrugged.
“It’s fine. They’re already dead.”
“What?”
Cliche Novel 