105) Chapter 16. I’m Glad (7)

In this situation, what can I do?

What can I do?

“Ugh!?”

“Rua!?”

When I screamed, Soi turned toward me with a worried expression.

My leg hurt. Of course it did. It was broken so badly that it would be strange not to hurt. The pain that had been dulled by numbness was slowly returning.

It hurt so much I could barely take another step.

But right now, it wasn’t just my leg that hurt.

I blocked falling stones above the kids’ heads. I blocked falling metal shards.

I didn’t know how much it actually helped. The kids were dodging everything with their own abilities anyway.

But I felt like I had to do something.

Wasn’t all of this happening because I was here?

Everything different from the original story was happening because of me.

So I wanted to help, even a little.

And the pain in my hands wasn’t real. Even if something heavy crushed them or something sharp pierced them, it wasn’t my real hands being torn. So it was fine.

“Rua?”

While I clenched my teeth and swung my invisible hands wildly, Jinwoo—still holding my hand tightly—called out to me.

“You—”

But I couldn’t answer.

My whole body was still weak, and the pain in my leg was overwhelming, but I focused with everything I had. I forced my eyes open wide and stared at the sky, focusing on the pain.

Shards rained down—far too many for just two hands to handle.

The kids seemed to realize who was clearing the debris. They looked at me with surprised expressions.

Clang.

A long, sharp metal shard—maybe from a park bench, maybe from a car part—stopped in midair. One, two, three, four… too many to count.

If I couldn’t grab them with my hands, I blocked them with my arms. If shards embedded into my arms, the ones behind them would be safe.

I shook the shards off and looked up again.

To handle that many things with just two hands, I had to move faster—much faster.

“Rua!”

“…Huh?”

I barely turned my head at Jinwoo’s shout.

One side of my vision was blurry. Not from tears—just blurry.

Jinwoo’s face wasn’t fine either. The blood vessels in one of her eyes had burst, turning part of the white red.

And yet she still held my hand tightly. Why?

“O‑oh.”

Something like mucus dripped from my nose. But then I realized it smelled faintly of iron.

A nosebleed.

Is this how abilities work?

It felt unfair. Seo Arin could move so many hands and still be fine.

The shards raining down, the slapping sounds of hands hitting the ground, the countless fists pounding the principal—

And me? I was only moving—only—

Two hands?

“Huh?”

Was that true?

At some point, I wasn’t sure anymore. I was moving too fast to tell.

Right. My original two hands were exhausted. I had used them to their limit running up the mountain.

But even after that, I kept swinging them, and at some point—

Boom!

Before I could think further, the ground shook.

“Ah…!”

Chae‑yi, who had somehow ended up beside me, shouted.

The ground trembled.

The whole mountain wouldn’t collapse completely. One person’s power shouldn’t be able to do that.

But if someone had spent days, weeks, or months tearing up the ground beneath… and if that power was a superhuman ability…

Well, in movies, one person can collapse and rebuild a skyscraper.

At the very least, the foundations of these buildings could definitely be destroyed.

“Rua, we have to move!”

Boom!

The ground shook again. Asphalt and concrete were breaking apart.

Boom, boom.

It was like a giant fist was pounding the earth repeatedly.

“Ah, enough already!”

A woman’s voice shouted.

Her nose was bleeding, her lips were split, one eye was swollen and bruised, her neatly arranged hair was a wild mess covered in dirt—yet she gritted her teeth and screamed.

“I didn’t come here for this anyway! I came because I had something to do!”

No. That woman would never do something for someone else.

Whether she contacted some organization or not, she wasn’t someone who would devote herself to a group.

She was selfish. Someone who lived only for her own greatness.

Someone who believed she could do anything with her own power.

Her real goal was probably me.

Her gaze locked onto me.

Another red beam shot toward her, and a human silhouette rushed in. A sharp impact—shoulder, stomach, or both—cut her words off as she crashed to the ground.

But she was still a superhuman. Or maybe she wrapped her body in those invisible hands to protect herself.

She sprang up and ran.

Toward me. Her eyes were fixed on me.

Was she at her limit?

No strength left to mock or belittle anyone—only enough to reach for what she wanted.

“…No.”

That, at least, I could say clearly.

I barely knew how to do anything. I had lived my whole life relying on others.

But there was one thing I could say.

I’m not going with you.

I clenched my teeth.

And swung.

I didn’t know how many.

The moment I swung, a pain like being struck in the head with a hammer crushed my mind.

Arms that had suddenly multiplied—scolding me for not noticing them sooner.

The sensation of countless arms breaking all at once.

“—Aaaagh!?”

A scream burst from Seo Arin’s mouth.

I heard something hit my hand. My mind went white from the pain.

But I knew one thing for sure.

For the first time, I had hit Seo Arin.

I forced my eyes open and looked up at her.

For a brief moment, our eyes met.

Seo Arin looked shocked.

Not betrayed because I didn’t trust her.

But shocked because she hadn’t gotten what she wanted.

Did she make that face back then too?

When Auntie Yujin beat her at the middle school—did she run away with that same expression?

It was ridiculous.

To be so broken and still think she was the best.

Not pride, not confidence—just delusion.

Maybe that’s why I could smile at her.

…Or maybe it was just desperation.

“———.”

Seo Arin’s expression twisted.

Into something demonic.

The principal moved to intercept her again—

Boom!

Countless fists slammed into the ground.

Some were blocked by Soi’s power, by the girl who had been tortured earlier, and by teachers who had joined at some point.

But the ground where no kids stood could not be saved.

Cracked asphalt shattered completely, and water burst upward from broken pipes. Or maybe… maybe they had been broken long ago.

If she had prepared beforehand, damaging the underground would have been easy.

“Kids, this way!”

The teachers shouted, as if they knew exactly what would happen next.

They had to evacuate the children before everything collapsed.

This facility was on a mountaintop. Simply running outside the building wasn’t enough. They had to get as far away as possible.

There were several classes’ worth of kids here. They were superhumans, so if the teachers divided roles properly, they could manage.

But that meant—

Someone landed beside me.

Then gently slid one arm under my knees and the other behind my back.

“…Principal.”

“Shh.”

The principal said.

She was a mess.

She could fly, punch with incredible force, shoot beams from her eyes—but she wasn’t invincible like the character she resembled.

She was bruised and scratched everywhere, bleeding in places. Her eyes were bloodshot. Even her own beams seemed to have left marks on her.

“Let’s go.”

Whether to chase the remaining villains—

Or save even one more child—

For her, the choice wasn’t even a choice.

Because she was a teacher.

I turned my head and saw Seo Arin—now tiny in the distance.

Running desperately, slipping past collapsing buildings.

*

The reason the principal, the other teachers, and the instructors arrived late was because they were evacuating the kids scattered across the mountain.

There were more villains than just the one with shovel‑like hands.

Most were captured, but some bodies were never found.

Seo Arin, and the woman who controlled animals.

Whether Seo Arin took her, or they fled separately, or they were buried in the ruins before the search even began—

No one knew.

“……”

The hospital room.

I was hospitalized immediately.

In this world, a broken leg is easy to fix, but I still needed tests.

Injuries from superhuman ability overload were a separate issue.

“……”

And of course—

I ended up surrounded by kids staring at me.

No one said anything.

I couldn’t say anything either, so the room was filled with silence.

……

Still, every single one of them was here.

So, um…

If I said “I’m glad”… would they get mad…?


A word from the author (A/N):

Thank you for reading today!

I said I’d upload two chapters a day for seven days, but today I only managed one. I’m really sorry ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

It’s not much of a consolation, but starting next week, from Monday to Saturday, I’ll upload two chapters each day…

Sorry for making you wait ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

I’ll proofread as quickly as I can…!

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Pub: 06 May 2026 10:25 UTC

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