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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Vine
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“Stop!!”
As I walked towards where the villains were waiting, shouts came from behind.
“We will open fire if you move any further!!”
“Don’t do anything reckless!”
Glancing back, I saw armed soldiers running towards me, aiming their guns.
‘I’d be executed even if I stopped, so would you guys stop in my place?’
I scoffed internally and tried to quicken my pace, but soon encountered an obstacle.
Perhaps due to the impact of the building collapse, my restraints were loose enough for me to walk forward. However, dodging the bullets of the soldiers chasing me from behind in this state was impossible.
“Hey, when will this be over?”
So, I gave them a slightly troubled look, and the leader scratched his head before sending a radio message somewhere.
> Wait a minute.
“I made a grand entrance, but this is kind of anticlimactic.”
> It’s not like it’s done with the push of a button! Don’t you care about the field agent’s feelings? If you keep this up, I’m going on strike.
Almost simultaneously, a small girl perched on the rooftop of a distant building started rapidly typing on her laptop.
– *Beep…!*
In a matter of seconds, all the restraints binding me were released.
It seemed my restraints were released not because of the impact, but because of that girl’s hacking.
By the way, as far as I know, there’s only one person capable of this absurd feat.
The genius who hacks the Hero Association’s network like it’s nothing. However, all he does after hacking is upload all sorts of disgusting pictures and inflammatory posts, making him a pathetic guy.
“Could that be… Pandora?”
“He really hates that villain name, but let’s just say so for now.”
Since the leader didn’t deny it, it seemed I wasn’t mistaken.
Thinking about the number of times I had to work overtime because of that guy made me grind my teeth, but I guess I should let it slide since he saved me just now.
By the way, I thought he was a man in his 20s at the very least,
But to think he was such a sickly-looking girl.
There was a reason why she had never been caught in my investigation net.
“What are you doing!? Shoot!!”
Learning the lesson that prejudice is indeed a scary thing, I was scratching my head when I suddenly snapped back to reality at the shout coming from behind.
“B-but…”
“He’s a death row inmate anyway! Open fire immediately!!”
But something about the situation felt strange.
As the seemingly superior officer said, a barrage of bullets should have already rained down, so why were the idiots behind me only threatening me?
“W-wait! No!”
The answer to that question was soon provided by Lumia’s voice from behind.
“N-now that the connection between Senior Kang Haneul and Dominating Hands has been revealed… it would be better to capture him alive and extract information than to kill him…!”
The soldiers, who were only threatening me, were cautiously watching Lumia, who was shouting. Judging by that, it seemed that Lumia’s people were planted among Karma’s troops, whether they knew it or not.
Just how long has that bastard been preparing?
It gave me goosebumps.
Well, the good news was that this situation wasn’t a bad variable for me.
– *Click…!*
However, the muzzles of the remaining soldiers were now all pointed at me.
It seemed that even Lumia couldn’t turn all of Karma’s armed forces to his side.
“Tsk.”
Instinctively, I reached into my pocket, but naturally, it was empty.
Could it be that I’d end up riddled with holes after coming this far?
“Even if you’re in a hurry, ignoring me right in front of you?”
However, it seemed my worries were unfounded.
– *Bang, bang, bang…!*
“That slightly hurts my pride.”
The barrage of bullets fired by the armed soldiers was hopelessly deflected by the barrier of numerous cards summoned by the leader with a flick of her wrist.
“By the way, I haven’t introduced myself yet.”
As I blankly watched her feat of perfectly manipulating each card with a single gesture, the leader, who had jumped down into the room, spoke to me in a friendly manner.
“Welcome to Dominating Hands, Kang Haneul. That’s your name, right?”
“…Yes.”
“I’m Paradise, the leader. Call me Dice for short. Or just Paradise. Whatever you’re comfortable with.”
As she approached, her appearance, hidden by the darkness of the night sky, became clear.
Long, shiny blonde hair, a mystical face, and a somehow stereotypical white suit.
Putting everything else aside, her visuals alone made it clear that she was no ordinary person.
“By the way, there are a lot of nuisances here.”
As I scanned her, trying to understand her a little more, Dice slightly furrowed her brows and glanced behind me.
“Ugh…”
“Are the reinforcements… not here yet?”
“No, reinforcements alone won’t do! We need a top-ranking hero!”
I looked back and saw utter chaos unfolding.
Cards flying everywhere, troops retreating in panic, and villains weaving through the gaps, taking down their enemies one by one.
“Everyone… retreat.”
Just as victory seemed certain, even to my eyes, a sharp voice flew in from afar.
“If you’re looking for a top-ranking hero, I’m right here.”
Korea Rank 3, Overall Rank 11.
One of the most promising rising stars, even rumored to succeed Justitia in the future.
My older sister, Kang Maru.
She, after evacuating Lumia to the emergency exit and returning to the front lines, was approaching us with a menacing expression.
“…My sister’s ability is a bit troublesome.”
“That’s true. It’s a bit difficult even for me.”
To be honest, my sister was really strong.
So much so that most villains couldn’t even compare, and even the head of the Villain League expressed difficulty.
However,
“Could I borrow a smartphone?”
Every ability has a counter.
“It’s nothing, it’s just that the medium for my ability…”
“You’re going to use a hypnosis app?”
“Ah, right. That.”
Muttering so internally, I was about to try my sister’s counter strategy, which I had only been planning until now, for the first time.
“Wait, what?”
I questioned my ears at Dice’s words.
“I already prepared one. Pandora programmed it herself, though I’m not sure if it’ll suit you.”
“H-how… how do you know about my ability?”
Then, Dice walked right up to me, placed a smartphone in my hand, and whispered in a gentle voice.
“…It’s a secret.”
“Huh?”
“I might tell you when we get a little closer.”
At the same time, the mysterious smile she gave shone faintly in the moonlight.
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“…”
My sister, nimbly dodging Dice’s cards, took a deep breath and started closing the distance in an instant.
“My ability has a fatal weakness. You should know that well.”
Even while dodging the countless cards flying at her, her gaze was fixed on me.
“It seems you’re planning to exploit that weakness.”
There was no sibling affection in her eyes.
“That is your downfall.”
Only a vicious villain stood before my sister.
“Freeze.”
Having successfully approached right in front of Dice and me, breaking through the countless cards, my sister declared with menacing eyes.
– *Crackle…!*
Then, with a sound like sparking electricity, we instantly froze.
“Oh, bondage play.”
“Could you give orders to more than one person at a time?”
Trying to ignore Dice’s quiet mutter as her body stiffened, I stared at my sister and asked.
“You weren’t the only one hiding information about your ability.”
“…I see.”
As her hero name, ‘Great Order,’ suggested, the concept residing within my sister was ‘Command.’
Her publicly known ability was to give absolute commands to one person at a time.
However, judging by the current situation, it seemed my sister could give commands to everyone within her line of sight.
The reason she came to our side must have been to get all the villains behind the building, who were previously hidden by obstacles, within her view.
“It’s over, Kang Haneul.”
As I was analyzing the new information, my sister, who had pulled out a pistol from her pocket, pointed it at my head and spoke.
“I’ll at least grant you the mercy of dying by my hand.”
Saying so, my sister slightly tilted her head. It was a kind of routine she displayed only when she was certain of victory.
“I told you time and time again, Sister.”
However, it seemed my sister celebrated too early.
“You’re not omnipotent.”
It’s time to become the true villain she wanted.
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“…!?”
Realizing that Kang Haneul’s hand was quickly rising, Kang Maru flinched and took a defensive stance, but it was too late.
“Everyone, look this way.”
At his soft yet clear voice, most of the people present unconsciously looked up.
“No!”
“E-everyone, close your eyes!”
The confidants, who had been briefly informed about his ability by Lumia, gasped and hurriedly shouted, closing their eyes.
“Huh…? What’s that…?”
“S-suddenly sleepy…”
“What is that… It’s not child’s play…”
But many people had already seen the swirling vortex within the smartphone he held high in the air, or more precisely, on the smartphone’s monitor.
“That creepy bastard… As I thought, he didn’t reveal his ability to anyone.”
Kang Haneul muttered as if he’d expected this, looking at the instantly neutralized armed soldiers.
‘Calm down, even if they leave my line of sight, the commands I give are valid until a certain amount of time passes.’
Meanwhile, his sister, who had used superhuman senses to close her eyes before it was too late, gritted her teeth and muttered inwardly.
‘I don’t know how he broke free from the ability, but if I just subdue him again…’
With that thought, she began to put pressure on the trigger of the pistol she was holding.
“How are you going to shoot with your eyes closed?”
“Kuh!?”
A card flew like a bullet and struck her wrist, causing her to drop her pistol.
“You throw pretty well. Good thing I brought spare cards.”
“…Did you have to take it from there?”
“No, I have them in my pants pocket too.”
“…”
“But it’s the most convenient place, and it’s quick to take them out.”
Kang Haneul, slightly blushing, looked at Dice, who answered with an innocent expression while patting her chest, and then slowly started walking.
“What trickery did you use…”
Thus, the siblings faced each other, their positions reversed from earlier.
“I hypnotized myself as soon as I turned on the smartphone.”
“Hypnosis?”
“A single suggestion to not obey anyone’s commands was enough.”
At her younger brother’s cold voice, which she’d never heard before, Maru’s eyebrows twitched, and she silently bit her lip.
“With something so simple…”
“Your ability is situational manipulation. It can be easily interfered with by other abilities. Doesn’t the academy’s top student know that?”
“Ugh…”
Kang Haneul, watching the scene, lifted his smartphone, sensing the presence of several people with their eyes closed beyond his sister.
“If you move even a single step forward, this is what will happen…”
He trailed off, looking dumbfounded as he searched through the numerous options in the hypnosis app.
“…Why are all the functions so bizarre?”
Then, looking quite flustered, Haneul asked Dice a question.
“Don’t you like it? I made it while looking at reference materials with Pandora.”
“No, what did you even look at?”
“That’s how it usually is in manga…”
“S-shoot!! Aim as high as possible…!”
Seizing the opportunity, Lumia’s confidants, who had their eyes closed, attempted a last-ditch effort.
“Anyway, it’s time to go.”
As soon as the duration of the command wore off, Dice, who had swiftly dealt with them with a single card, announced that it was time to leave.
“Actually, numerous heroes have already arrived at the scene. Just four executives are blocking their entry.”
“They’re already here? Then we have to hurry… Ugh.”
Hearing the news, Kang Haneul, who was preparing to leave, began to stagger, his body battered from accumulated fatigue.
“Say, aren’t you going to take revenge?”
“Revenge?”
“You seem to have a lot of pent-up anger. I can make that much of a concession, even though we’re short on time.”
Then, Dice thoughtfully offered her shoulder. As if suddenly remembering something, she asked, and Kang Haneul, leaning on her shoulder, quietly raised his smartphone and asked,
“Can a newbie do that?”
“I don’t interfere with other people’s revenge. That’s my rule.”
After staring at her for a moment, still exuding an enigmatic aura, Kang Haneul shifted his gaze to ‘Great Order.’
“Then, could you help me up for a moment?”
At his request, Dice nodded with a satisfied smile.
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“Huh? Ah…”
“Is that all? Really?”
Dice glanced at ‘Great Order’ in the distance, her expression dazed from the aftereffects of the hypnosis, and asked me a question.
“That’s enough.”
Nodding my head, savoring the feeling of relief I hadn’t felt in a long time, I looked around and spoke.
“By the way, where’s Ira?”
“Ira?”
Ira has been out of sight for a while now. She definitely collapsed unconscious earlier. Where did she go?
‘Did she disappear on her own?’
There’s no way I wouldn’t have noticed if she was here. Maybe she disguised herself and blended in with the crowd? I wanted to escape with her, but if she escaped first, that’s a relief. I’m deeply worried about her future, but at least she’s alive. If I escape this place, I should look for her first.
“So, how do we get out of here now?”
“There’s always a way.”
When I asked after quietly finishing my thoughts, Dice smiled and spread her arms wide.
“Now, come into my arms.”
“What?”
“What are you waiting for? Come on.”
I blankly stared at her, not understanding what she meant, then looked up at the sky and realized her intentions.
“Is that your base?”
“It’s usually cloaked. Even for a top-ranking hero, tracking it down is like finding a needle in a haystack. It’s an invincible fortress.”
A long rope was hanging down from a massive fortress floating in the sky.
Quite a typical escape method.
Still, it was a method that definitely worked.
“Um…”
“Hehehe.”
As I cautiously wrapped my arms around her waist to escape, a soft sensation spread through my body.
“Hold on tighter.”
“…”
“Wrap your legs around me too.”
It wasn’t embarrassing.
It was just that our faces were too close.
“Ah, okay. Good. That’s it.”
> Guys, what are you really doing? I can hear everything through the mic. Please refrain, as it’s affecting my work efficiency.
A text message quickly flashed across the smartwatch Dice was wearing, but I turned my head away, pretending not to see it.
“Then, let’s go.”
After being nestled in Dice’s arms for a while, she grabbed the rope and gestured.
“No!!!”
It was at that very moment.
“Blondie, what the hell are you doing? Why are you showing up now?”
“…”
“Why are you suddenly showing up and ruining everything!!!”
Lumia’s cry of despair started echoing from below.
“This is wrong. Completely wrong.”
“Hmm?”
“Senior isn’t someone who should go with an extra like you!!!”
Seeing the desperate look on her face, one I’d never seen before from the one who had always been above me, I was speechless and simply stared blankly. Then,
“What’s wrong?”
I shifted my gaze to Dice, who had dramatically wrapped me in her cloak, at her chilling voice.
“You love taking things so much.”
“…!”
“But I guess you’re not used to being the one who’s taken from?”
Just how much did this girl know?
What would Lumia do from now on, and how would my fate unfold?
With all sorts of thoughts flooding my mind, I eventually couldn’t resist the weight of my heavy eyelids and slowly closed my eyes.
“…Serves you right.”
My last thought before losing consciousness was that Lumia’s shocked expression was quite pleasing to see.
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Thank God this isnt an r18 novel.