Chapter 85: How To Capture A Hero (6)
“When I was young, the first ability I stole was the special power of a friend who grew up with me in a church.”
[Church?]
“Yes. Church. The parents who gave birth to me were killed by an ability user. I was just a five-year-old. I didn’t have any relatives, so I was left in a church and grew up there.”
[…….]
Yumir calmly started to unravel her past as if she were talking about someone else’s story.
“But one thing I want to clarify is that I didn’t just steal abilities. If I was stealing from anyone, I would have been on the path of a Villain already.”
[That makes sense. If you had the ability to seize, there would have been those who tried to use you regardless of your will.]
“Yes. I happened to be born near a country that likes that kind of stuff, and if my ability was revealed, they would have tried to use it. Over there, in America.”
[They’re probably carrying out such a project. Most likely.]
Most likely, it was not an assumption.
Even in Korea, there are people researching the seed of the devil underground in Sejong Island. How much more would there be in America?
[Secure an ability that collects abilities from one person and an ability to distribute those abilities to others. With that, you can control all the abilities in the world, and practically, you could conquer the world.]
“That’s why I’m trying my best to stay out of the hands of bad people.”
There were differences in degree, but researching ability users was an act that was taking place around the world, either in the light or in the darkness.
[Fortunately, you didn’t get caught.]
“Yes. Do you know why? Because the existence that can be seized is limited. Would you like to guess?”
[Is it a devil?]
“Wow!”
Yumir clapped her hands, very surprised.
“How do you know so much about me? Have you been investigating? Are you a stalker?”
[Researching and studying about the recruitment target is fundamental. In order to bring the opponent into our organization, we should know what the opponent likes and prefers.]
“There would have been very little information about me.”
[I kept thinking and thinking. Your words, actions, will, goals, and everything you did against Ermina. It’s the result of my pondering.]
And the fact that he had thought about the protagonist for half a year was added silently.
[When you came out as Solar Platina, I thought you were just an annoying existence. So, when I followed you when you were naked-]
“Transformation release.”
[… When the transformation was released, I thought you were a very pitiful person. Why do you want to be a secret hero so much.]
This was a case of shared misery. Though I was a villain in this scenario.
[So, I looked into you after that. There’s almost no record of your activities until you became an adult, but you worked incredibly hard to enter the Sejong Island Academy once you did. You studied Korean and made every effort to get into the academy college.]
“Correct. I thought I could find something here. The reason why I gained this superpower.”
Yumir stretched out her hand.
Then she twisted it lightly to the right, and a faint explosion occurred from the sea.
“Explosion. It’s one of the abilities I’ve plundered. By making this gesture, I rapidly channel my power to a place in my sight, causing a minor explosion. Do you know where this ability was discovered?”
[…New York’s Bomb Man? But as far as I know, he was a villain?]
“Yes. A Bomb Man, and at the same time, a being that became a demon. What was known was that he was a villain. When I faced him, he had already become a demon, and I….”
Thump.
Yumir clenched her fist.
“I plundered his ability. I didn’t kill him. But in another sense, it was completely over. Do you know what state Bomb Man is in now?”
[I couldn’t investigate that far. I heard he was confined to a mental hospital in New York.]
“He’s in a vegetative state.”
[…….]
Without knowing it, I crossed my legs.
Yumir chuckled at that, and I felt embarrassed for no reason.
“Seeing your immediate reaction to such words, you seem to be very robust. You won’t have to worry about children in the future?”
[I don’t need to worry about that. I’m healthy.]
“Hehe. That’s something you won’t know until you check. So, my friend who first helped me realize my superpower, Bomb Man, Erimina. When they become demons and get their abilities plundered by me, they all end up like that. Their brains turn completely white, and also….”
[They have problems with their reproductive functions?]
“Yes.”
Yumir looked ahead with an uncomfortable face.
“One of the basic duties of animals, the function of reproduction, is taken away. When a human becomes a demon, everything that is born after that is a demon. Somewhere, a demon might have given birth to a demon.”
[I’ve never seen such a case yet.]
“Right? But who knows, there might be some growing well somewhere. People who suppress their demonic instincts, raise their demon children, and live in darkness.”
This was something I had no knowledge of.
“There are about 10 officially known cases of total mana loss, but those are all cases where I failed to clean up and got caught. Or when a total mana loss person goes crazy because they lost their superpower, gets subdued, investigated, and their identity is revealed.”
[Unofficially, there must be many.]
“It’s true. I freed people from being devils, but…many were profoundly shocked at losing their abilities and fertility. I tried to find ways to help them afterward, but I fell short.”
Yumir drew a circle with her finger.
“In the end, I managed to free them from being devils, but that was my limit. Even though I could make them not devils, I realized I needed greater power to take responsibility for what came after. Not the power of ability, but another kind of power to help those freed from being devils.”
[Whether it’s wealth, power, whatever, this is the place where it can be most securely obtained.]
“Yes. If I didn’t have it, it seemed right to ask for help from someone who could solve it. Those who are ability users and also possess considerable power. I’m talking about turning those people to my side and asking them to care for those who became devils.”
Now I understood it.
So, that was why the protagonist embraced Ermina Sternfert.
To save those who had become devils, she wanted to utilize Stern, a renowned German company.
And after that, it was the same with other heroines.
Even if we put aside personal selfishness for a moment, it wasn’t a coincidence that the protagonist surrounded himself with powerful and wealthy people.
‘Then you should have revealed it as a plot point, you incompetent writer.’
He was probably aiming for part two but did not get enough views, so he abruptly ended it with a meteor ending, but as someone who didn’t know about that plot point, Yumir suddenly became a pitiful character.
“I also thought a bit about that. Turning into a man and captivating women, or as a woman playing multiple men. Considering the sentiment of this country, I thought about whether I should be a man and have women with me.”
[Then why didn’t you transform into a man?]
“If I do that, I have to live as a man for the rest of my life. I didn’t really want to do that.”
[Why is that?]
“Um… it’s a bit embarrassing to say.”
Yumir fiddled with her hand on my thigh and smiled faintly.
“I saw a video of you and Snow White confronting each other. Snow White blocking you, and you trying to kill the villain who killed people.”
[Me?]
“Yes. Watching the Goblin, I thought I wanted to get cooperation from the Goblin.”
[What does that have to do with being a man?]
“I thought I couldn’t get cooperation if I approached the Goblin as a man…?”
[……]
So, the protagonist being a man was because Yumir had transformed into a man?
[Ha.]
“Why?”
[No. Just that a problem I’ve been worrying about every night for about six months has been neatly resolved.]
“……?”
[My personal situation has nothing to do with your story. Simply, I’ve come to the firm conclusion that I must kill a certain individual.]
Once I returned to Earth.
I would undoubtedly kill the author.
‘This bastard must’ve been aiming for a GL drift.’
A nationalistic harem light novel suddenly had the protagonist saying, ‘Ta-da, I was a woman!’?
My 5,700 words of criticism were a justifiable act.
If it had been so, another person who had been with me, reading all the way to the meteor ending, would have also committed 5,700 words.
[I seem to find peace of mind when I talk to you. Thank you.]
“I feel the same. It’s nice to have someone I can talk heart-to-heart with. It’s so relaxing to be able to talk like this now that my true identity is revealed.”
I had to investigate, but Yumir might have gone through much more than I did during my six months here.
[You’ve worked hard.]
“…..”
[Why that surprised look? I merely complimented your effort.]
“It’s the first time someone has praised me for this.”
Yumir gently bowed her head to me.
“Can you pat my head?”
I reached over Yumir’s shoulder and gently stroked her head, comforting her.
[You took away their powers and their chance to reproduce, but you didn’t take their lives, right?]
“That’s right. So far, I haven’t killed a single person. Just…after taking away their powers, I have seen a few villains receiving their karmic retribution.”
[That’s not your fault.]
“Right. I think so, too. If I did something wrong, it’s that their powers were transferred to me.”
Yumir leaned more towards me and sighed.
“Hey. If I, by any chance, become a villain, will you kill me?”
[Of course.]
I killed villains.
No entity was an exception.
[Let me ask in reverse. If I became a devil, would you kill me?]
“I won’t kill you. I’ll just take your powers. As an ability user, the Goblin might die, but the man behind the mask will survive, even if crippled…”
Yumir reached out her pinky finger to me.
“Let’s make a promise. That’s why I wanted to meet like this today.”
[What promise?]
“Well, obviously.”
Yumir pulled my hand closer and clasped it.
“If I become a villain, please kill me. As a sentence for being a villain.”
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