ALL NOVEL Chapter 52
Chapter 52
“Ag…gent? What’s wrong with you?!”
“Uh… Aaaaaah!!!”
The hero union agent thrown in front of Magical Seraphina,
turned into a human bomb by Firecracker’s ability ‘Bombification’, was trembling in fear,
sensing something wrong with his body.
“Pl… please save me…! Hero… please save me…!”
– Boooooooomー!!!!!!
“Aaaaaah!!!”
Despite the desperate plea for help from the union agent, Magical Seraphina couldn’t do anything,
and she was caught directly in the explosion.
“Seraphina?!”
Thrown hard against the wall by the door to the rooftop by the massive blast,
She seemed unable to get up easily due to the shock.
“Phew… It’s been a while since I turned someone into a bomb.”
Where the explosion occurred, there was nothing left but traces of the building’s destruction,
not even a fragment of the exploded agent’s flesh remained.
Just a single wisp of smoke rose, as if marking the soul’s departure.
“Making corpse bombs is always so taxing on concentration.
If you get it wrong, only parts explode and blood and flesh just splatter everywhere.”
Firecracker, without a hint of guilt for sacrificing an innocent person,
was instead leaving his evaluation and impression of the explosion.
“Seraphina! Are you okay?”
Magical Aquamarine, who had been in combat with Executioner, rushed to Seraphina,
supporting her body that was bleeding from various injuries.
“A… the agent… there… not even a trace left…!”
The injuries from the blast were problematic, but more severe seemed to be her mental state after witnessing the agent’s explosion.
“Are you okay? Can you stand?”
“Th… that… the ag… agent…!”
Like Firecracker before he took off his gloves, she stuttered,
unable to open her eyes properly, her face contorted in tears as she bowed her head.
“What? You’re like this just because one person exploded?”
Firecracker, seemingly baffled by Magical Seraphina’s weak response,
shook his head side to side while waving his arms.
“Any more unnecessary combat is a waste of time.
Since Crazy Chain seems to have moved… we should disperse too.”
Executioner, retracting his blades into his arms, tapped Firecracker on the shoulder.
At his cue, Firecracker pulled out the gloves he had tucked into his cheongsam sleeve,
and slipped them back onto his hands.
“Ah…! Ah…! Y-yes, we should! Yes, yes!”
Then, as if he had become a different person, he returned to his previous manner of speaking and behavior,
responding timidly to Executioner.
“Meet at B City airport within a week if we don’t find them. Then.”
“Y-yes…! To the airport!”
If they failed to find both ‘Trickster’ Chaeryeong and the Kaiser leader,
they set the next meeting place and disappeared leisurely.
“Grr…!”
Magical Aquamarine, with both her body and mind shocked, held onto Seraphina,
only able to watch as the villains she should have captured strolled away.
“If only I was a stronger hero…”
She realized all too vividly that the villains she had faced so far were mere fakes.
True, she had managed to inflict damage on them,
and even blocked attacks too fast to see.
The same went for Magical Seraphina.
But their sudden one-sided defeat was certainly because of something emanating from Firecracker and Executioner.
To overcome that something, to become a stronger and braver hero,
she thought she must defeat those villains.
“Let’s head back, Seraphina.”
—
The next morning, after a clash between several villains and heroes in front of a shopping district in S City,
Chaeryeong, Ji-woo, and Si-yoon, excluding Do-hwa,
were standing on a street near their hideout, waiting for something.
“Wow, this is really cool.”
While waiting, Ji-woo and Si-yoon were passing time by watching
Chaeryeong uses her ability ‘Doppelganger’ to create a clone.
“Like this… meow!”
Her red eyes closed gently,
and after a brief focus, a faint smoke began to emerge from her body.
– Swoosh…
The smoke emerging from Chaeryeong’s body gathered and swirled,
slowly taking the shape of what resembled a human-shaped cloud.
And as the cloud-like mass became more detailed,
it burst into a clone of Chaeryeong with a pop sound.
“I can make up to three of them! Pretty amazing, right?”
With the expectation of a child awaiting praise filled in both Chaeryeong’s faces.
Seeing this, Si-yoon pondered for a moment which one was real,
then simply laughed and scratched under both of their chins.
“Meow…♥”
Two jet-black female cats rubbed their faces against his chest.
“M-me too, I want to cuddle with the master!”
Ji-woo, also marveling at the identical expressions and movements of the clone,
tried to cling to Si-yoon as the two Chaeryeongs did.
“You guys are just too cute.”
– Vroomー!
Just as he was smiling contentedly with two black cats and a maid in his arms,
a large van pulled up in front of them.
A van spacious enough even for six sturdy men, clean and roomy.
“Alright, everyone get in!”
Do-hwa, who had a driver’s license, had rented the van and brought it near the hideout.
“Okay, let’s all get in!”
With the clone dispelled, Chaeryeong and Ji-woo, back in a hoodie instead of her maid outfit, climbed into the backseat,
while Si-yoon took the passenger seat next to Do-hwa.
“We’ll take the highway to the beach near Y City. Is that what you said?”
“Meow! That’s right! Do-hwa.”
Chaeryeong fiddled with the spare phone Si-yoon had given her,
quickly searched for an address, and showed it to him.
“Set the navigation to… Okay. We can start now.
The Kaiser leader… we’ll finally see what he even looks like.”
The address Chaeryeong captured was directing them to the temporary base of the Dark Knights,
where the Kaiser leader was temporarily taking refuge.
“It’ll take at least an hour to get there. Should we stop at a rest area on the way?”
To get to the beach near Y City where the temporary base was located,
It would take at least over an hour.
“I think so. Everyone must be hungry since they haven’t had breakfast.”
“Looks like there’s one coming up on the navigation route… We can stop there.”
“Rest area! We’re going to a rest area?”
When the mention of a rest area came up,
Ji-woo asked Si-yoon with an excited voice.
“Yeah. Why? Is there something you want to do there?”
“Well, it’s because they say there are lots of tasty snacks at rest areas… Hehe.”
Rest areas are originally places for those tired from long drives and rides to rest.
In recent years, they’ve also become popular for their variety of delicious foods and snacks.
Ji-woo, who isn’t usually big on regular meals but has a keen interest in snacks, reacted to the mention of a rest area.
“We can eat whatever we find there. Maybe walnut cakes or something like sweet rice cakes?”
“Ji-woo doesn’t eat much rice, but she goes crazy for snacks.
Even at the Hero Union dorm, she was always buying snacks and often got scolded by me.”
“Well, that was… because the dorm food wasn’t to my taste…”
Since becoming a maid at the hideout, her meal portions had somewhat increased,
but her preference for snacks like chips or sausages remained unchanged.
Her daily intake of soda was about two 1.5L bottles, which was enough to worry Si-yoon about her health.
“But lately, she’s been eating regular meals well and trying to cut down on snacks, right?
She didn’t touch any of the drinks or bread in the fridge yesterday.”
“Hehe! To be a diligent maid, health management is essential!”
Ji-woo had clearly recognized her dietary habits as an issue for some time now.
Before, in her reversed day-night lifestyle where she occasionally did hero work and played games all day,
She didn’t think about changing her habits.
However, since becoming a maid tasked with managing the hideout and serving her master,
She thought she needed to be healthier to be a better maid.
“Hmm… Meow…”
While Ji-woo and Do-hwa were bickering,
Chaeryeong had already fallen asleep, resting her head on Ji-woo’s lap.
“She’s already asleep?”
Ji-woo was startled by the weight on her lap but calmed down upon seeing Chaeryeong’s cute sleeping face.
“She’s just like a real cat… So cute.”
Of course, they had removed the cat ears and tail when going outside,
but watching Chaeryeong act just like a cat, Ji-woo gently stroked her head affectionately.
“Meow? Ji-woo?”
“Ah?!”
When Chaeryeong, who had dozed off, felt Ji-woo’s touch and woke up,
Ji-woo was surprised and lifted her hands up.
“It’s okay to keep petting me. Ji-woo’s hands are soft and nice!”
“Then… Hehe…♥”
So, the four of them passed the time,
getting closer to where the Kaiser leader was staying.