CH 27

“Hey… Should I hold it for you?

“No! I won it. So I have to hold it. I can do it.”

Shin Haru looked nervously at her friend who was holding the dangerous 10-layer ice cream.

It looks like it’s going to fall down.

And her prediction wasn’t wrong.

The ice cream certainly lost its balance and fell down.

“Uh-oh… No!”

Along with Chaehyun’s scream, the ice cream was about to fall onto the man next to her.

She wondered if the man next to her would have ice cream all over him.

But something unexpected happened.

“Hi-yah!”

As soon as the ice cream fell, the man rolled away. 

It was an exaggerated reflex. She doesn’t understand why he had to roll away…

“Oppa!”

“Da-in!”

The two girls standing next to the man rushed up to him.

So his name was Da-in.

Even though he was covered in dust, he still dusted off his clothes with a calm expression and stood up as if nothing had happened.

“Oh, it’s alright. It’s alright.”

Of course, only his expression was okay, but his clothes didn’t look okay at all.

His whole body was dusty.

“Oh, gosh… Are you okay? I’m sorry. I-I’m pretty clumsy so…”

Chaehyun approached him with tears in her eyes. Since she’s her friend, Shin Haru was embarrassed, but she also approach him.

As they approached, the man was overly chatty and just laughed.

“It’s fine. Everyone makes mistakes. I made a big fuss. Haha, I could have just avoided it slightly.”

“But, still.”

“It’s alright. It’s alright.”

It looked even weirder as the man was trying to calm her as she began to cry. Shin Haru also felt sorry for no reason. This wouldn’t have happened if she had come forward and caught it.

And she thought that they were lucky that he was a nice guy. Even if it was other normal person, that person would have spitted fire angrily, but that guy just let it off naturally.

…Well, he’s the only one who seems to act natural. The two girls next to him looked very uncomfortable. And that’s actually normal. That guy is unusual to let it slide like that.

“Now, Seo-eun. Shall we go now?”

The man tried to leave with his friends as if he didn’t need any compensation. Somehow, he seemed to be in a hurry.

But Chaehyun is not the type to let it go easily like that. At the moment she was about to reach out to tell him to take some compensation.

Thump-.

There was a big roar.

Thump-

There was a roar.

“KYAAAAAAAA!’

People were screaming everywhere.

She’s Shin Haru, an ordinary college student, but at the same time, she’s also Stardus, the hero.

So her judgement of the situation was quick.

It’s a terrorist attack.

With a high possibility, it’s a villain’s terrorist attack.

Thump-. Thump-.

The sound of the ground shaking.

Her first priority now is to keep Chaehyun safe.

“Chaehyun, follow me!”

“Huh? Okay…”

Holding her friend’s hand, who is currently half out of her mind because of the sudden attack, they ran to the opposite direction of the sound.

At the moment, she has been warming up the power of Stardus, so unlike others, she was able to run away from the scene at a fast speed.

Chaehyun, who was dragged with her, is terrified.

“Aaaaaaaaah!”

They joined in the midst of the people who all ran to the other side.

And the sound that can be heard from afar.

Even though it was quite a distance, the roar was tremendous that could be heard up to here.

“Stardus!!!!!! Stardus, come on out!!!!!!”

For a moment, her body slightly stiffened while she was running.

Shin Haru’s body was stiffened in such a short time that Kim Chaehyun couldn’t feel it at all as her eyes were half opened as her hand was grabbed.

Of course, after a brief pause, she started running again immediately, but she was chaotic inside.

Why? Why does he call her out all of sudden?

But for now, she decided to put everything else aside and take Chaehyun somewhere safe first.

“Huff… Huff…”

Before they knew it, the two of them arrived far from the scene.

Around them, people who ran away together like them gathered to catch their breath.

It was quite far from the festival site, so this distance is safe enough.

“Oh, my. What’s going on?”

Kim Chaehyun hardly kept her eyes open and drooled a little from her mouth. She stood still and spoke up after coming to her sense.

“Haru, you’re really fast. H-Haru…?

However, Chaehyun couldn’t finish her sentence. 

Haru’s face was shockingly stiff.

“…….”

She’s staring at where they have been running away from with her mouth shut.

Her mind was already bursting with confusion.

Hero had an unwritten rule.

‘Never go to the scene without the derecognition device.’

The current situation is the same as in the past when they didn’t have the derecognition technology.

Never, never take off your mask.

Before heroes can go out with their bare faces like now, the heroes in the past. Well, all of the ‘protectors’ always had their masks on.

The moment the identity is revealed, the terrible life begins.

One principle commonly adapted by all of the Hero Associations around the world.

No matter what terrible terrorism happens, don’t step up if your face is exposed.

Heroes are very rare.

Especially, the powerful heroes.

The ability suddenly developed by a few people decades ago.

It’s called ‘Power’. In other words, ‘Superpower’.

There have been numerous debates about why these capabilities suddenly appeared in mankind, but nothing has been properly revealed yet.

There is a hypothesis is that it was already in the genes, but only in certain special people. There is also a hypothesis that it was caused by space magnetic fields, or it was given by God…

People who are born with or awakened with abilities as they grow up are largely divided into three categories.

First, the type lives a normal life. Honestly, this is the case for the majority of people. Because there are many people who prefer to be normal citizens, and in the first place, the powers of the majority of those who have abilities are pretty useless.

For example, the ability to reverse plant growth. There’s nothing you can do other than to put tree planting out of business. Sturdy camouflage. You can blend in anything, so what? Even people with this ability prefer eating chicken over stones.

In other words, the majority of them just blend in and live normally in society.

For them, superpowers are useless except to show them at some events where people gather and say, ‘Hey, you have this ability?’

And honestly, even people with strong abilities choose to live a normal life. Do you think that they have to be a hero just because they are strong and have great powers? The country doesn’t enforce this in particular. Even if they have superpowers, they may want to become an artist, photographers, office workers, or designers. They just live a normal life.

But those who are more powerful and have a sense of justice choose to become a hero. They can go to the Hero Association, take a competency test, and sign up.

But there aren’t many heroes. Those who have big dreams don’t accept the fact they are graded as class B or class C after taking the test. Even if they quibble over how a villain with the same ability as them is class A but they are class B, the only theoretical answer is that the hero rating system is stricter than how they grade the villains.

The standard itself is designed to be received only by those with the rarest dual abilities or those with the most powerful abilities. Class S should be at the level that is similar to stopping time. Even if they’re strong but in an uncertain way, they will be graded as class B at best.

On top of that, most of them give up in the middle because of the harsh work when being a hero,  as they practically fight every time like soldiers. No matter how much money they can earn.

On top of that, the public is very strict about the moral integrity of heroes, and if there are any flaws, the ratio of heroes in other countries who get malicious comments is much lower than in Korea.

Although there are only a few heroes, there are countless villains.

The reason is simple. Because those who have strong abilities usually choose the villain path.

Honestly, the number of villains who cause terrorism against the public is rare. That’s why Egostic became the hot topic.

Many villains quietly hide in the shadows and take their own advantage.

And they are not normally known to the public, because they live in secret behind everyone’s back.

But if the hero’s personal information is exposed?

They will immediately get rid of that hero. As a hero is their potential threat, they want to get it done quickly.

So, heroes should never expose their faces. That’s common sense.

That’s common sense, but…

Does that mean she has to leave these suffering citizens by themselves now?

“Stardus!!!!!”

Thump-. Thump-.

The sound of a building collapsing.

People were screaming.

Does she have to ignore the situation behind her?

It takes too much time to get to the Hero Association and get the derecognition device. Perhaps by the time she returns, there will be a high chance that the situation would already be over.

Did she choose to be a hero herself to run away from this situation?

“Haru…?”

She stomped her feet with a firm expression.

Okay, there’s no other choice.

Rather than for their own safety, it’s for the citizens.

As soon as she was about to kick her seat, the man looking at the smartphone next to her shouted.

“It’s Egostic!! Egostic is here!!!”