The Tough Guy Hides the Villainess - Chapter 150



150 – The Time of Heroes Has Come! # 1

150 – The Time of Heroes Has Come! # 1

It took a week for the creation of the world, but it only took one day for the world to fall.

Rifts in the earth appeared everywhere after the earthquake.

From those gaps, 「Great Dungeons」 extended their demonic claws onto the ground, and monsters encroached upon citizens’ daily lives.

「Title : Stuck on the 16th floor of my apartment, and I’m out of food ㅠㅠ」

「Content : At least the electricity and water are still working, so I’m somehow holding on ㅋㅋㅋ When are the military units going to show up ㅠㅠ」

└I’m a soldier, and right now all the units are busy defending their own bases.

└But there are Awakened ones running around, so just hang in there a little longer.

「Title : My crop farming that survived the black rain is utterly FUCKED」

「Content : Why did that Nam Bada b*stard have to mess with the Red King and bring this disaster on us」

└For real, if they’d just let Hanamjin inherit the Red King’s seat, none of this shit would’ve happened!!!

└That fucker tried to steal Hanamjin’s presidency and now he’s ruined the country, what a piece of garbage.

└How dare you insult Acting Authority Namba! You wanna get ‘censored’?

└If you got the troops to come get me, how about clearing the road to the city first?

The dark creatures swarming everywhere meant everyone was in survival mode, not living.

Going to work was out of the question, you couldn’t even get to the nearest market.

Thank god Wang Ja-hyun did her live broadcasts, constantly telling people “Build shelters or stock up on food that’ll keep!” before the black rain fell.

The lack of people on the streets minimized the initial damage, but a week after the quake, problems started festering like pus.

“I’m Namsun, living near the nuke plant, scared it’s gonna blow up ㅠㅠ”

“I’m totally out of food, man”

“Didn’t Adams say they’d take us Koreans to the moon? When the hell are we leaving?”

About a week.

Red alerts blared from hazardous sites left unmanaged.

Nuclear plants and dams, among others.

If this kept up, a major disaster was inevitable.

I made my base in Old Man Heogi’s shelter and decided to put out the small fires first.

Taking down the dark creatures roaming nearby, one by one.

After about two days of that, I finally managed to clear a path to C-Mart in D city.

C-Mart was a big supermarket, like L-Mart or N-Mart, so people nearby wouldn’t have to worry about supplies for a while.

“Citizens! The area around C-Mart is mostly secure, so you can go outside during daylight! But stay indoors at night, it’s dangerous!”

People peeked out from windows boarded up with planks, staring at me.

I waved at them, and they all seemed to relax, pouring out onto the streets.

“It’s Hanamjin!”

“It’s Hanamjin!”

“We’re saved! We were all out of drinking water!”

Seo Gaeul shouted towards them.

“I’ll open the ramen boxes, get in line and take them one by one! And bring all the bottle caps you have at home!”

“Bottle caps?”

“Why bottle caps, of all things?”

Changshik, with his “Transformation” power, could turn bottle caps into food like cookies or chocolate, or things like soap or Tylenol.

With the production factories halted and readily available goods becoming scarce, Changshik’s existence was now that of a VVIP, as crucial as a nuclear power plant itself.

“See, Changshik? I told you, there’s no one more important than you!”

“Dude, I feel like I’m gonna die having to use my powers non-stop…”

“Man! Hold on! You can do it!”

Nobody can live without food.

What power could be greater than creating food from things inedible?

“Hanamjin, you were right, the world really has gone to shit.”

Completely drained from relentlessly taking down monsters, Yu Yeoreum plopped down beside me, her complaints pouring out.

I handed her a chilled bottle of ice water, offering encouragement.

“This isn’t even that bad.”

This time, there was no “Giant Zombie” and no “Angel of Death” causing people to meet their ends in agonizing screams.

We dealt with Namsanho, who was destined to become a zombie and conqueror, quickly.

And the “Angel of Death” is right here, slurping ramen beside me.

“Ketchup ramen tastes even better when you’re tired and stressed.”

Like I said earlier, the situation was completely different from the last time the world went to hell.

Thanks to the quick resolution of the zombie outbreak, the army was still present in many places, and people who had gone through previous ordeals had stocked up on supplies at home, avoiding chaos.

And then there was Yu Yeoreum’s presence, which was also different from last time.

She wasn’t around during the last apocalypse, but she was here now.

The dark fiends were bursting like water balloons pricked with a needle, thanks to the firepower of ‘Light.’

Still, Yu Yeoreum expressed a slightly pessimistic view.

“I’ve been noticing it for a few days now, the days are getting shorter. The nights come earlier, and they’re longer. When night falls, the dark fiends get even more ferocious.”

What Yu Yeoreum said was right.

The time the sun was up was steadily decreasing.

*Shh-*

Seo Gaeul approached me.

He said,

“I heard rumors that the ‘Red King’ was defeated using the concept of ‘the sea.’ So why are dark fiends still appearing? And the shorter days, is that because of the ‘darkness’ of the Red King?”

“It’s simple. The ‘Red King’ wasn’t defeated.”

That’s how it was last time too.

We dropped a large number of strategic weapons to defeat the ‘Red King’ that had risen to the surface, but he quickly regenerated his body.

Even after a radical operation to drag him to a nuclear power plant and blow him up with the facility, he didn’t fall.

“If he could be eliminated with physical methods in the first place, the fairies would have taken down the ‘Red King’ first. Since that wasn’t possible, they just sealed him by constantly passing him on.”

The ‘Red King’ was probably still regenerating or reconstructing his body somewhere in this world.

At my explanation, Seo Ga-eul spoke as if she knew something.

“Come to think of it, I think the patrol squad guys said they saw something suspicious.”

“Patrol squad?”

# # #

Even in the dark night where the sun had lost its light, the stars shone.

‘Supernova’ was a term referring to heroes who shined like those stars.

“I’m Cheon Yu-ra, the captain of the ‘Patrol Squad’.”

The ‘D City Patrol Squad’ was like a self-governing body formed by students from Yeongsa High School, and recently they were said to have gained recognition for rescuing people attacked by dark creatures or those trapped in isolated buildings.

Cheon Yu-ra, the class president of the 3rd grade D class, was their leader.

Most of the other team members were also classmates from D class.

“Ha Nam-jin, you’re alive!”

“If Nam-jin’s here, we can speed up the work!”

My friends from D class recognized me and were glad to see me.

In this difficult world, a reliable awakened friend was like a tank that broke through the front lines—a reassuring presence.

Seeing my patrol squad friends, I felt similarly reassured.

No, in some ways, I was greatly impressed.

Even though I’m like this, these guys, who are still high schoolers, are doing this much.

Even in situations so difficult that they can’t even guarantee their own safety, people will risk their lives for the sake of justice and the greater good.

“Humans are amazing, after all.”

I felt like tears would gush out with admiration for humans!

Because I was witnessing the first steps of the heroes who were called ‘Supernova’ in the ruined era.

There’s no need to hide it.

I was a huge fan of those ‘Supernova’.

That was also why I liked Seo Ga-eul.

Touched like that, Cheon Yu-ra, the captain of the patrol squad, instead showered me with praise.

“After fighting monsters and rescuing people myself, I realized how difficult it is. You, Nam-jin, and the members of ‘No Leftovers Day’ have been going through this hardship since long ago. I think it’s amazing.”

“I am kind of amazing. So, you said you guys found something suspicious?”

“Right! It’s in the department store’s underground parking lot. But you won’t be able to go. Monsters keep pouring out of the parking garage.”

Cheon Yura and her friends said they saw the story about people trapped in the parking lot on social media and decided to rescue them.

While they were defeating the monsters and escaping with the people, they said something they found in the underground parking lot by chance was bothering them too much.

“It’s hard to explain, but it felt incredibly eerie. I thought I shouldn’t stay there long, so I got out of there, but it’s still bugging me.”

It could be the Crimson King’s cocoon.

And so, guided by Cheon Yura and the D-City Defense Force, I headed to the department store.

At the entrance of the department store, several soldiers and familiar faces had already established a base and were controlling people.

“Hanamjin. You’re alive?”

It was Captain Kang Cheolmin.

The D-Class teacher and company commander.

I was glad to see a familiar face, but Captain Kang Cheolmin was uncooperative with me.

“You’re going to the department store’s underground parking lot? No way. The department store is currently on lockdown. Monsters keep emerging from inside. Like this—.”

*Dudududu-*

Captain firing his gun at the dark monster forcing its way out of the department store.

“I’m your teacher. I have a duty to guide and protect students from dangerous places. Hanamjin, as my student, I can’t let you head to a dangerous place.”

It was an extremely reasonable statement.

“Besides, I’ve heard there are guys out there targeting awakeners like you. It’s admirable that you guys are doing what’s right, but there are too many variables in this world.”

“Targeting awakeners?”

“I think they are probably the members of Gu Sejun’s ‘Genesis Scripture.’ Those guys were terrorists who aimed to bring down the system from the start, weren’t they?”

That makes sense.

I had received help from Gu Sejun until recently, but right is right and wrong is wrong.

If they appear as my enemies, I will have no choice but to fight.

Does that mean I won’t be able to investigate the underground parking lot after all?

As I was thinking that, Seo Gaeul was gesturing to me from afar.

“Hey! Come over here!”

Wondering what was going on, I went over and saw Teacher Ko-Gae, who used to be the homeroom teacher for F-Class.

She suddenly started getting angry at me.

“Hanamjin! You were the one who kidnapped Gaeul and Yeoreum! How could you do such a thing? And you tricked us so completely, how shameless! I trusted you, Namjin!”

“That’s how it ended up, Teacher. I’m sorry for lying.”

I apologized like a man.

Then, it looked like Ms. Koga was trembling, before she went *huff* and snorted.

“Alright. I’ve decided I’m not going to care what Namjin does, or where he does it, anymore.”

To be disowned by a beauty, what a sorry state!

Is this my own doing?!

While I was seething, Ms. Koga casually added a line.

“Even if Namjin goes down to the underground parking lot through that ‘door’ I opened, and does something dangerous, I won’t know anything about it. Even if he gets hurt, it’s not my business!”

Indeed, it seemed Ms. Koga had opened a secret portal leading to the underground parking lot using her power, the ‘door.’

If I go through there, I can access the underground parking lot.

“Ms. Koga, you’re such a cool adult!”

*Chuwaaap-*

I planted a manly kiss on Ms. Koga’s cheek.

“Wha-wha-wha-what!”

Ms. Koga looked utterly flustered.

Soon after, Seo Gaeul, who had been watching this whole thing from the side, got angry as well.

“Ha Namjin, you crazy b*stard! Now you’re just kissing any woman you see!”