102) Chapter 16. I’m Glad (4)
“It’s really exhausting, isn’t it?”
Maybe she saw my expression, because Chae‑yi quickly changed her own expression and asked.
“Ah, um.”
“Ugh, yeah. Who can we even blame? It’s because our Rua is so nice. I just thought—if you think even a little, there’s no way a person could lift a mountain, right? And being told to secretly come somewhere like this is a classic voice‑phishing scam tactic, and no matter what, how could you trust anything that woman said…”
“Uh, um.”
“Eh, whatever, what’s the point of talking about this here, right~?”
Scary.
She’s smiling, but her expression is terrifying.
“Ow!”
I heard a sound and turned my head. The girl who had fallen to the ground was awkwardly getting up, rubbing her backside.
She must have had a lot of friends too, because the kids immediately rushed over, asking if she was okay.
Her eyes briefly flicked toward me, but she quickly turned her head and shouted:
“What are you all doing? Just going to stand there and watch!?”
That became a kind of signal.
If you tell someone to face a villain alone, unless they’re a hero who fights villains all the time and is numb to this kind of thing, no one would easily step forward.
Kids even more so. How much exposure to violence would they have had in their lives?
No—living without being exposed to such things is what’s normal.
But even if it’s their first time in a situation like this, things change when many move at once. What one person can’t do alone, a group might feel like they can.
“Haa, seriously, all of you.”
Seo Arin muttered.
Then she seemed to try to focus on something—
“Ah!?”
She flinched and jumped back in fright.
“…”
Unlike her usual self, Soi was just glaring at Seo Arin with burning eyes.
No—what was burning wasn’t just her gaze. Soi’s body was too.
Her gym uniform looked ordinary, but it was made of special material to withstand the kids’ superhuman abilities. Flames didn’t burst out of it, but heat shimmered visibly around her sleeves.
It wasn’t bright red flames, but hot enough that anything brought near would probably ignite.
But… how did these kids even get here?
I flew using telekinesis, but…
“Ha. Seriously.”
Seo Arin ran a hand through her hair as if this was absurd.
“My daughter is so popular, I can’t help it. Maybe because she takes after me?”
Soi didn’t even consider that worth responding to and shot forward.
Something flew toward her—a bench. The kind you see in parks, long enough for several people.
But Soi didn’t dodge.
The bench flying toward her suddenly twisted mid‑air and fell in a strange direction.
“…Earlier I couldn’t do anything.”
Chae‑yi said.
“But when you’re standing right in front of me like this, it’s a different story.”
“…”
A wrinkle formed between Seo Arin’s brows.
“So that’s how you want to do this?”
She said—
“Kyaa!?”
She lifted the girl who had been crying on the ground.
“I told you it’s useless—”
Chae‑yi shouted as she stepped forward.
But before her ability could reach, the girl’s body shot straight up into the sky.
It was… a bit unreal.
It felt like something out of a cartoon. Not a serious scene, but one of those gag comics where everything is exaggerated for laughs.
“If I can hold them, even for a short time, that’s enough. You kids can’t even see my ability anyway.”
And then—
“Kyaa!?”
Another kid shot into the sky.
No.
I ran.
My body still had no strength, but for a moment, as if my mind had snapped, I managed to run.
What do I do?
How do I catch someone thrown that high? How do I catch them safely?
Catching them from below is meaningless. The impact of the fall would injure them anyway.
Then I—
“Aagh!?”
A sharp pain shot through my leg and I fell forward. I barely managed to stretch out my hand, but falling face‑first onto asphalt was never going to be painless.
My leg hurt. So much it felt like the sensation might disappear.
My body was dragged. I forced my eyes downward and saw a hand gripping my leg.
A shovel‑like hand.
“Ah.”
Chae‑yi had gone pale when she saw a kid being thrown upward and had rushed at Seo Arin. Soi was looking the other way, trying to catch the two who had been launched.
I saw ice rising toward the sky. Hyeonji was using it as footholds, leaping upward.
I almost called out to them, but shut my mouth.
If I spoke, Chae‑yi and Soi would look at me first. They wouldn’t be able to focus on the kids.
Other kids were running everywhere, trying to help however they could—
And in that moment, Seo Arin moved her hand. Unlike me, she moved as if she wanted to show off how relaxed she was, striking a pose even though no one was watching.
“…!”
A sharp pain shot through my leg, and I looked down.
A man’s face emerged through the shattered asphalt.
He was covered in wounds. Just like that animal‑moving woman who had been launched earlier, he was bruised and battered everywhere.
His eyes were staring straight at me.
Ah. Right.
This man had come for revenge in the original story too.
So he acted the same way in this world.
Except this time, it wasn’t revenge against the hero who imprisoned him—it was revenge against the woman who had turned him into this.
He must have pretended to cooperate. But in the end, what he wanted was—
My twisted ankle was gripped tightly in his hand, the pain unbearable. It felt like my teeth might shatter.
Is this the end?
Will it just end like this? Maybe if another kid got hurt, something could be done, but I don’t want that.
Maybe… maybe ending it here wouldn’t be so bad.
A small voice whispered inside my head.
If you live, you’ll keep seeing this.
Not just you—everyone around you keeps getting dragged in. Wouldn’t it be easier if it all just ended?
The pain, the exhaustion, the stress—my mind kept going blank.
Oddly, losing sensation in my leg felt comforting. Even the cold I’d felt earlier was fading, leaving only trembling.
Like this—
“—What!?”
But it didn’t end.
The man suddenly looked to the side in shock.
Standing there was a boy—his shoulders narrower than other boys’, his build smaller.
He wore the same gym uniform as me.
His face was delicate enough that you might wonder if he was cross‑dressing.
No—that’s just how she looks because I’m thinking like this. When I first met her, I didn’t even consider that possibility.
Her hand was on the villain’s hand that held my leg.
“…”
Jinwoo’s eyes met mine.
“J‑just wait a second.”
She said.
The villain must have sensed something was wrong, because he hurriedly let go of my leg and tried to sink back into the ground—
“Guh!?”
But his body suddenly floated upward.
Jinwoo’s other hand was touching my leg.
Ah, right.
My ability doesn’t require me to swing my hand.
Earth‑digging and soil‑manipulating ability. And “the ability to move invisible hands.”
If you have both, then of course—
…Superhumans usually only have one type of ability. Even children born from parents with different abilities usually have a single ability that’s a vague fusion of the two, not both separately.
The reason the original Nam Jinwoo was considered “strong” was because of this.
She could use both abilities at once, and even store some of that power in her body and release it.
She wasn’t storing power in her body right now, but—
Smack!
—she could use both abilities.
A heavy, solid sound rang out as something dropped onto the villain’s head, and his body went limp.
“Haa…”
Jinwoo let out a trembling breath.
“A‑are you okay?”
“…Yeah.”
I answered blankly, and she grabbed my hand and helped me up.
My leg felt… how should I put it…
Loose.
It was almost a relief that I couldn’t feel anything. I turned my eyes away because I felt like it would hurt just to look.
“…Ah!”
The kids!?
What about the person Seo Arin threw!?
I whipped my head around—
“…Ah.”
Up in the sky, someone was there.
Standing in the air, holding a kid under each arm—
The principal.
Former hero Seol Heewon.
I could only see her back from here, so I couldn’t see her expression.
But judging from how pale the kids who could see her face were, she must have been wearing a terrifying expression.
Gulp.
She wasn’t even looking in my direction.
But somehow, I knew that once this was over, things would not be let go easily.
I swallowed without meaning to.