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Bzzt bzzt bzzt…
The annoying ringtone kept blaring right by his ear. After finally managing to grab a few hours of afternoon sleep, Ethan was being tortured awake by the noise. He tried to ignore it, but the damn thing wouldn't stop ringing. With a groggy groan, he fumbled around and grabbed the phone.
"Hello? Seriously, do you people not know how rude it is to interrupt someone's nap?" he muttered, eyes half-shut and voice dripping with irritation.
"Ah—sorry! But, uh, it's already eleven thirty in the morning. I thought you'd be up by now," said the apologetic voice on the other end.
"Mm. Fine, I'll forgive you this time. So—who are you, and why are you calling me?"
"This is the Hero Association Headquarters. We have an important notice for you."
"The Association, huh? What's up? Another meeting or something?" Ethan asked, yawning lazily.
"There have been several incidents recently. Criminals are attacking heroes—mostly C-class and B-class. We just wanted to warn you to be careful."
"Attacking heroes, huh? Got it, got it. Anything else? If not, I'm going back to sleep. Didn't get enough last night."
"…No, that's all. Sorry for disturbing your rest."
Click.
Ethan tossed the phone aside and flopped back onto his bed without a care.Criminals attacking heroes? Please. If they were only targeting C and B ranks, that just meant they weren't strong enough to matter. He was an S-class hero—no, beyond S-class, really. There was nothing to worry about.
BOOM!
The moment he lay down again, the wall exploded with a deafening crash.Something that looked suspiciously like an elephant's trunk burst through the debris, wrapped around him, and yanked him straight out of the room.
"Hey! Come on! Can't I get one decent nap in this lifetime? Don't you people know I was gaming until four in the morning?" Ethan complained, voice lazy and drowsy, like he could fall asleep mid-sentence.
"Eat you! Eat you! If I eat you, I'll get stronger—much stronger!" roared the monster holding him.It had a huge elephant trunk, but the rest of its body was just… a ball. A weird, drooling, round ball glaring at Ethan like he was the world's tastiest snack.
"Hey, you nose-face freak, how about you put me down and I'll pretend this never happened?" Ethan mumbled, still half asleep.
"Eat you! Eat you! Eat you!"The creature clearly wasn't too bright—it just kept repeating the same words over and over. Definitely one of those low-IQ monsters. (And no, I'm not padding the word count. That's just how dumb it was.)
Its trunk tightened and lifted him toward its gaping mouth. Ethan still looked half-asleep, dangling there like a bored cat toy.
But as his face got closer to the monster's mouth, he suddenly froze.A vile, stomach-turning stench hit him full force.
"Holy—! Damn it! When's the last time you brushed your teeth, huh?! Trying to kill me with your breath?!" Ethan yelled, kicking off hard. He twisted free from the trunk and shot backward in a blur, putting as much distance as he could between himself and that horrible smell.
"Eat you! Eat you! Eat you…"The monster kept chanting like some broken monk's curse. Ethan rubbed his temple.
"Okay, my bad. You don't have teeth. I take it back," he sighed.Now that he looked closer, yeah—no teeth. Just gums.
"But come on, man. No teeth and you still wanna be a monster? That's just unprofessional! Now get lost!"
Ethan reached out, grabbed the creature's long trunk, and gave it a sharp twist.Then, with a flick of his wrist, he swung the thing around like a flail.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Three craters appeared in the ground, and when he finally let go, only a shredded piece of trunk remained in his hand. The rest of the monster was… let's just say it wasn't in one piece anymore.
Yawning, Ethan wandered back home and crawled into bed again.When he eventually woke up, he noticed half his wall was gone. Guess it was repair time.
He picked up his phone and dialed a familiar number.
"Yo, it's Ethan."
"Oh! Mr. Ethan! Need another repair already?"
"Yeah, sorry about that. The wall's trashed again. Could you send someone over to fix it?"
"Of course! Same price as always—we'll have it good as new in no time!"
"Great. Thanks. I'll head out for a bit then."
He hung up, stretched, and left the house.Experience had taught him that if he stayed home during repairs, his "troublesome aura" would just attract another monster and cause more damage. Easier to leave them to work in peace.
And to be fair, in this weird world, construction crews were insanely efficient.Buildings went up in hours, not days. For a simple repair job like his, half a day was plenty.
After all, to be a successful construction worker in this world, speed was everything.When monsters could pop out of nowhere and start wrecking cities, if you built slower than they destroyed, there'd be nothing left standing.
That's why Ethan often spent half a day—or even a full day—away from home while the repair crew handled things. It was just… easier that way.
"..."
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