As I half-heartedly got up and tried to calm her down, I could tell she was quite shaken up. Naturally, seeing me lying there like a corpse for three days must have worried her quite a bit.
Yet, seeing Seoeun in tears over my awakening, I felt somewhat moved. The time we spent living together wasn’t in vain, after all; she even shed tears for me. It seems our time playing games and hanging out together had its effects!
So, with tears still in her eyes, she told me to take better care of myself in the future. I promised her with a weary smile that I’d be more careful, though I couldn’t guarantee that something like this wouldn’t happen again.
After calming Seoeun down and expressing my gratitude to Subin, who had taken care of me, my immediate task was to check public opinion.
What were people saying about me?
And what about Stardust?
The outcome, it seemed, was that my popularity was at its peak. There were many articles suggesting that people thought of me as a hero rather than a villain.
Hmm… just like that, huh.
The fact that I killed someone out of sheer irritation seemed to have endeared me to them even more. Refreshing, isn’t it?
Shockingly, it turned out that Crocodile Man was still alive. You mean he survived the poison gas? Of course, I had used a weaker dosage just in case… but I didn’t expect him to withstand it. After all, he was a tough one to handle even in the original work.
Now, having reverted from his crocodile state to a normal man, he was said to have been incarcerated in the East Supernatural Power Detention Facility after his treatment.
Well, things seem to be following the original storyline.
The East Supernatural Power Detention Facility, also known as East Carcerees. As the name suggests, it’s a place where villains with supernatural powers are detained.
Similar to the Hero Association, there are places known as ‘Carcerees’ in various countries. Carcerees, meaning ‘prison’ in Latin, has been used as the name for superhero-specific detention centers ever since ‘America Carcerees’ was established in the US. Following that, every superpower-oriented prison established in other countries adopted the name Carcerees.
These are maximum-security facilities unique to each country, loaded with all sorts of devices designed to dampen the powers of individual detainees. Located on a deserted island in the East Sea, it’s said to have such tight security that once you’re in, there’s no getting out. Of course, in the original story, Seoeun just hacked her way in and broke it open.
Anyway, now that he’s alive and locked up there, there might come a time when he could be useful to me. Since he’s a bit dim-witted, he should be easy to manipulate. Though, I’m still not sure if that’s only when he’s in his crocodile form or as a human as well.
In any case, I’ve spent the next few days lounging and taking it easy.
After all, I’m just a regular citizen. Working hard like this, I’ve got to prevent burnout by taking a break.
…I must say, though, Seoeun seems to be sticking around me more than before. What’s gotten into her?
Of course, I haven’t spent every day just rolling around in bed. Every so often, I educate Seoeun and Subin about the hero society of South Korea. It seems they’ve spent too much time cooped up in their rooms working on computer technology to be up-to-date on current affairs.
“Let’s delve into the reality of heroes in South Korea today. Subin, what do you think public perception of heroes might be?”
“Hmm… It must be positive, right? I mean, they’re the ones saving people.”
“No, that’s not the case in South Korea. Let me give you an example. Imagine a family being attacked by a villain. So, they promptly call a hero. But before the hero arrives, the villain has already killed and escaped. Who do you think people would blame?”
“Naturally, they’d resent the villain, wouldn’t they?”
“Yes, they do blame the villain. But they resent the hero just as much as the villain.”
✧˚·̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥·̩̩̥͙✧·̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥˚·̩̩̥͙✧ 𝑔𝓇𝒶𝓋𝒾𝓉𝓎𝓃𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁𝓈 ✧˚·̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥·̩̩̥͙✧·̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥˚·̩̩̥͙✧
