The Monster Aspires to Be a Hero!

Three days had passed since I passed the hero ability certification exam.
I was finally able to receive the thing I had been eagerly awaiting.
“Ta-da!”
Upon opening the envelope, inside was the temporary hero license I had been anticipating.

Is that it?
“Yeah, this is it.”
I held the temporary hero license and laid back on the bed.
After completing the internship, I would be able to act as a proper hero.

TO BE HERO!
Greed also seemed quite excited, forming a mouth with its tentacles and laughing “Kuhuhuh.”
“Happy?”

Tsk tsk. You lack flair.
“About what?”

It means TO NOT BE A HERO.
“Writing the ‘non’ prefix to negate ‘hero’?”

Exacta!
Greed, whose intellect had only slightly surpassed a middle schooler’s level, could now engage in wordplay.
Buwonjaebyungwon Hospital, Eunsung Hospital, and even that monster that had impersonated a human.
Greed showed continuous growth by absorbing the powers of superhumans and monsters.

But there are still limits to this.
“So a core is still necessary, I take it?”

That’s right.
Greed had absorbed something from the bodies of those at the hospitals that prevented full superhuman abilities from manifesting.
Simultaneously, it was imitating and learning the abilities of those present.
But Greed’s current abilities only extended to physical enhancement, hardening, and metamorphosis.
Greed had originally possessed the metamorphosis ability as a monster.
So it could easily mimic the enhancement and hardening abilities that utilized physical transformations.
But fully mastering other abilities seemed to require a core.

Do you have a plan in mind?
“Well…”
To put it bluntly, I simply cannot operate a core within my body.
Monster detectors are designed to detect monster cores and remains.
The principle behind monster detectors is sensing the unique wavelengths emitted from monsters’ internal cores through resonance with the cores and remains contained within the detectors.
So I just need to avoid emitting those unique wavelengths.

Black technology…
Exactly, that’s it.
Monster detectors cannot detect suits and weapons utilizing monster cores and remains.
Researchers who awakened abilities like Jieun have developed technology to harness cores and remains as pure energy sources.
For people capable of creating seemingly science-fiction devices, that much is easily achievable.
We simply need to first manifest a core, then extract it and utilize it in suits or weapons.

Quite a complicated endeavor.
Yeah, it’s complicated.
Weapons and suits utilizing monster cores or remains are expensive.
Moreover, without a proven track record, one cannot even commission such suits.
Of course, this is separate from having substantial wealth, reliable sponsors, or preparing everything independently.

Practically impossible, in other words.
Pretty much.

The life of a dirt spoon is ill-suited for heroism.
You can say that again…
“Anyway, let’s visit the mountains without monster detectors this weekend.”

Hmm!
Synthesize a core in an area without monster detectors, then extract it.
Use that core like an auxiliary battery to draw out Greed’s power.
Then we can check whether it triggers the monster detectors or not.
That was our current objective.

Next will be the hero name, hero suit, and internship location.
Greed was even so diligent as to list my upcoming tasks in a notebook.
Hero name and hero suit, huh…
Come to think of it, Jieun had said to contact her if I needed any assistance in that area.

Is there something?
Jieun’s abilities were quite special, after all.
After some contemplation, I began searching for potential hero suit designs.
“Hmm…”

Hmm…
From past to present, heroes have appeared in countless media, with equally diverse suit designs.

How about a standard form?
“Body suit type?”

Yeah.
“Not a bad option.”
Most heroes in American comics wear body suits for combat.
Iconic examples like Superman and Batman.

Rider suits are decent too.
“Can’t dismiss those either.”
Rider suits, also known as motorcycle suits.
The costumes worn by characters in Japan’s Kamen Rider series follow this style.

Casual outfits have become a trend too these days.
“For modern heroes, eye-catching appeal is also important.”
From heroes wearing coats to those fighting in miniskirts.
More exposure leads to more deployment opportunities and better earnings.
The hero industry is quite the red ocean market, it seems.

No dreams, no hopes.
You can say that again.
“So what do you think would be better?”
“Hmm?”
Jieun intently observed Jinwoo, who was agonizing over hero suit designs.
Jinwoo normally projected a mature, gentle demeanor, but whenever heroism came up, he became childishly excited and passionate.
With his large build yet endearing behavior, Jieun was reminded of the younger siblings at home.
“Don’t you think a rider suit would be better?”
“Is that so?”
“I feel a rider suit suits you more.”
“Hmm…”
Jinwoo furrowed his brow and stroked his chin.
That was his trademark gesture when faced with indecisiveness.
Jieun simply stared at Jinwoo in that state.
‘Wow… amazing.’
Thinking she had never expected to fall for someone, Jieun gazed intently at Jinwoo, lost in thought.
Her mind drifted back to the moment they first met.
Jieun had disliked men.
As she progressed into middle school and her features became more feminine, the gazes of men terrified her.
So she enrolled in an all-girls high school to avoid men’s eyes.
Her parents, aware of her concerns, readily agreed.
Though relieved by the absence of men’s gazes, that reprieve was fleeting.
Physically striking individuals fell into two categories:
Those who embraced their appearance, and those tormented by it.
Unfortunately, Jieun belonged to the latter.
Her feminine figure and introverted demeanor made her an ideal punching bag for stressed adolescent students.
It wasn’t overt harassment, as they understood basic decency at that age.
But for that very reason, Jieun could never request help, suffering in silence for prolonged periods.
She hid her face behind large glasses and hunched over.
Though the “shrimp” and “rounded shoulder” insults subsided, the real torment stemmed from her unique abilities.
Jieun possessed a special ability dubbed “Black Technology,” named after a novel.
Once she read a book, no matter how complex the theories and principles, she could logically comprehend them.
To her, who innately grasped unlearned knowledge, university-level curricula were on par with elementary school.
No matter how diligently she studied, the heights remained unfathomably distant for this prodigy.
With an unremarkable appearance, lacking aggression or social graces, her very existence faced ostracization everywhere.
Eventually, Jieun dropped out of high school and secluded herself at home.
As brilliant as a child prodigy television stars paled in comparison to.
Understanding their daughter’s reasons, her parents accepted her self-imposed isolation.
Unexpectedly, she didn’t feel particularly lonely.
She had younger siblings with considerable age gaps to keep her company.
After emotionally recovering through family time, Jieun resolved to step outside once more.
She took the qualification exams and proudly entered Y University as a freshman.
Though her parents had hoped she’d attend somewhere closer, Jieun wanted a fresh start.
And so began her life as a boarding student.
Initially daunting, her burdens gradually lightened.
As her heart felt lighter, she raised her previously bowed head to find herself standing amidst the crowd.
For the first time, Jieun felt like a lost child.
“Are you alright?”
Swept up in an indescribable emotion, he appeared before her.
A tall, refreshingly handsome man was staring intently at Jieun.
“Eek!”
Jieun felt terror from that gaze.
But to her surprise, he handed her a bottle of water with a concerned expression.
“This is still sealed, so drink it and calm down.”
He rather forcefully placed the bottle in her hands.
Just an ordinary bottle of water costing 500 won at any convenience store.
Yet that simple water thoroughly soothed her being.
Later, Jieun learned his name was Jinwoo, a senior student.
He said he was the vice-president of a volunteer club called ‘WithYou’.
‘A volunteer club…’
For the first time, Jieun showed interest in someone else.
When she visited the volunteer club, he naturally recognized her, which delighted her to an unexpected degree – her first smile at university.
For some reason, just being around him recharged her spirit.
So after careful deliberation, she even attended the club MT.
For Jieun, who had never joined her high school’s graduation trips, an MT was an unknown entity.
What particularly flustered her was the alcohol.
As if possessed by alcohol-craving ghosts from past lives, they incessantly drank.
Taking her first sips of alcohol, despite only having beer thanks to Jinwoo’s consideration, Jieun quickly became intoxicated.
So she stepped outside for some fresh air, where Jinwoo soon appeared.
“Having a hard time?”
Jinwoo addressed her with the same gentle demeanor as their first meeting.
Was it the alcohol? Or perhaps the starry night sky that had intoxicated her?
Jieun opened her heavy lips and poured out her worries.
“Actually… I…”
She had a special ability.
Perhaps due to that, or her personality, she had become isolated at school with no friends.
She had thought university life would be different, but it felt disturbingly familiar.
Could she truly adapt to university life?
Such were her lamentations.
Jinwoo gazed up at the night sky with a wistful expression.
“The stars in the night sky illuminate the past, they say.”
The stars visible in the night sky were far more distant than we imagined.
A star 10,000 light-years away would need to travel that span before its light reached Earth.
So the starlight we saw was always from the past.
“But in Seoul, no stars appear in the night sky. Why is that?”
“It’s because the city lights are too bright, isn’t it?”
“No, it’s because the people of Seoul are too busy to look back on the past.”
He said that while gazing upwards.
“Since you’re a Seoulite now too, you won’t have time to reminisce about the past either, right?”
Jinwoo spoke those words before chuckling and scratching his face.
He claimed it was drunken nonsense to be forgotten.
“I don’t want to.”
“You’re really something.”
Jinwoo then said this would be a secret between them before staggering away.
Jieun stood there, blankly looking up at the night sky.
Not too far from Seoul, yet the night sky was filled with beautiful stars.
That was when it began.
Her efforts to learn more about Jinwoo, even if just a little.
She visited hospitals and exercised to straighten her hunched back and shoulders.
She got a perm for her slightly curly hair and started wearing makeup, which she hadn’t before.
“Oh, your hair looks nice. The new look suits you.”
It didn’t feel too arduous.
Whenever Jieun made even minor changes to her appearance, Jinwoo would notice and compliment her.
As Jieun’s looks improved, people’s gazes turned toward her again.
But she no longer felt bothered by them.
Jinwoo calling her pretty was far more rewarding than anyone else’s attention.
“Can’t I just go casual?”
“No… to put it simply, you’re aiming to become a dashing gentleman, so being too casual won’t do.”
“Then… since there’s still some time left, don’t rush too much.”
“I suppose you’re right?”
When his juniors showed interest in Jinwoo, she spread gossip about him.
When a fellow student inquired about Jinwoo, she spun plausible tales she couldn’t actually know unless dating him.
And now… she had created another opportunity to converse with him under the pretext of hero suits.
Jinwoo aspired to become a hero.
A hero was the embodiment of justice, aligned with everyone.
But love meant favoring someone over others.
So even if Jinwoo vaguely sensed Jieun’s affections, he feigned ignorance.
She disliked that.
Even if Jinwoo became a hero who loved everyone, she wanted to be someone he loved a bit more.
She wished he would favor her, even slightly.
“Yeah. There’s still some time left, so…”
Afflicted by indecisiveness once more, Jinwoo ultimately deferred his choice this time too.
Jieun smiled softly, thinking another conversation opportunity with Jinwoo had arisen.
If he tried fleeing without realizing it, she would have to prevent his escape.
Behind that gentle smile lurked such ruthless thoughts.