Chapter 55. Side Story 2: The End of a Certain Righteous Hero
Even wise sayings become nonsense and middle-school syndrome when spoken by someone like you.
– Someone
***
Thud.
His head was completely crushed by my Ultra Cap Song Justice Baton.
"Now you won't be able to do bad things ever again, right?"
By dirtying my own hands today as well, I purified the world. The redder my two hands became, the cleaner the world would be!!
'Ah! I haven't done that yet. If I don't do that, I'm not a hero, right? Isn't that so?'
I grabbed the stiffly standing collar of his school uniform. Then, I carried out the final ritual.
"In the name of justice, I have judged you. So don't resent me even in hell. Hmm... I guess I feel even more sorry for Yama, the king of hell. Sending one more piece of trash like you down there only dirtied filthy hell even further. You know. Khehehe."
Ah, this is awesome. Damn.
Although it's a parody of a line from the comic Justice Man, I added the latter part myself. At this point, doesn't that mean I own half the copyright?
And you know what. Compared to a gloomy guy like Justice Man, it fits a real-life hero like me way better. Don't you think?
I let out a low, righteous laugh, then carved the characters 'ㅈ' and 'J' onto the cheeks of that future villain with a knife, and left the scene just like that.
It's fun. Refreshing. Feels damn good.
It feels like I've achieved everything. This is really what being a hero is all about. Isn't it?
The satisfaction of having dealt with a piece of trash in the world who didn't even deserve to breathe made my steps lighter.
Lululala ~~
That evening.
I was eating the tasteless dinner my mom prepared while watching the news. As expected, the news was stylishly introducing my splendid achievements.
"For the sixth consecutive month, consumer prices..."
I skipped the anchor's idiotic, repetitive commentary. What I was looking at was the white text at the bottom of the TV screen.
[Today at 9 a.m. in Jungnang District... a middle schooler identified as Lee Mo-gun was found dead.]
Seeing that article, I shrugged my shoulders happily.
"Justice will always prevail. Hehehe."
Thud.
"Spouting that bullshit. Justice my ass. Oh dear spirits, uncles and aunties, please take this guy away and knock some sense into him."
"Why are you hitting me? Who do you think you are to hit my head? Huh?"
Thud.
My mom's fist came crashing down toward my head again like a missile. But no matter how lightning-fast her movements were, I could see them clearly. Still, I deliberately didn't dodge.
Doing this kind of bickering with my mom in everyday life, and not dodging punches I could easily avoid.
All of that was a kind of camouflage.
Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Iron Man... hmm, Iron Man doesn't really count. Let's exclude that one. Anyway, all of those guys are masters of disguise and concealment. Of course, the ultimate among them is Hentai Mask. Right?
Damn it, I'm jealous.
Suddenly, thinking about Hentai Mask purifying the world while wearing women's underwear over his head made my lower body feel tight.
'Ah, when you look at hero stories, there's always a drop-dead gorgeous heroine next to the hero! But what do I have? Damn it. All I have next to me is a demon-like mom.'
I felt unfairly treated. At that moment, my mom, who had been looking at my face, punched my head again.
Thud.
"Hey, you little shit. Tomorrow, go do some day labor and at least bring back a grain of rice. You're over thirty and you laze around at home every day, just eating up rice. If you come back empty-handed again tomorrow, I'll kill you or you'll kill me. Got it? Got it?"
This time as well, I didn't dodge my mom's punch and accepted it head-on. Ugh! As expected, my mom's fist was stronger than that of any villain in the world. Even if it was for the sake of deceiving family, if I allowed it any longer, my life would be in danger.
I immediately stopped the trivial act of eating and stood up to return to my justice hideout.
'As long as I live, justice in this world lives on. Peace.'
Thud.
"Finish your damn meal before going out to hunt daughters, you brat."
"...…"
To see through a hero's next move so easily.
As expected, my mom truly was a hero's mom...…
***
After enduring my mom's nagging and finishing my meal, I returned proudly to my hideout and placed four cabbage leaves and 3,50,000 won I'd acquired by punishing evil next to the computer. This should be enough to cover my activity funds for three or four days. With this, mom won't be able to stop my heroic activities for a while.
"Seriously, villains these days carry a shitload of money. It must all be extorted from other kids. Bastards. All of them should just die."
I was furious. An amount of money no normal middle schooler could possibly have was undeniable evidence of unavoidable evil.
'Damn, that's cool!'
The image of myself faintly reflected on the computer screen was incredible. I flashed a handsome, decisive smile at the computer and pressed the power button.
Beep –.
This Pentium 4 supercomputer was like an assistant to me, telling me where villains were. A reliable machine that always guided me to the hall of villains, you could say~
"So, where should I pick today's trash from?"
Trash usually live their lives wearing masks. But on the internet, they reveal their true nature without any filter.
My main job is to identify such trash and eliminate them. It's a tedious and difficult task, but it gives me immense satisfaction. And if not a hero like me, who else would do it?
National Assembly members? Cops? Prosecutors?
Don't make me laugh.
All of those guys are the hidden forces behind evil. Look at movies, dramas, comics, novels. Their true faces are clearly revealed there.
Although I don't have the leeway to punish them yet, someday I will definitely bring down the hammer of justice upon them!
I briefly clenched my fist and struck a stylish pose, then began my full-scale villain search.
Weekly Best, Monthly Humor, Funny Middle School, Meddit...
I skimmed through posts on sites where trash often run rampant. Ah, of course, not everyone on these sites is trash. Trash are only a very small minority, and I have the ability to filter them out.
Sometimes, I see crimson-red text with my eyes. That is the mark of a villain. I didn't realize it at first, but after noticing that posts appearing in red were always filled with profanity and consonant spam, I tracked down their authors and concluded that they were all villains.
I awakened this ability three months ago.
One night, after drinking and coming home, I turned on my computer as usual and was checking comments when it happened.
And then.
From that day on, I became a hero.
Over three months, I dealt with more than ten villains, and strangely enough, all of them were middle schoolers. Perhaps my ability was meant to preemptively weed out villains destined to become big threats in the future.
That made it even better. Isn't that an even more important and difficult task? These days, students are even scarier. Who could withstand getting ganged up on by them?
They're invincible. Other than me, who could deal with those guys? Right?
And so, today as well, I found another villain.
As always, the comment he left appeared red to my eyes.
[Hey you X-rice sheng-ki. Did you eat today and grab your X again because you've got nothing better to do? Kekekekeki]
That sealed his fate.
Justice Man, sortie! Peace!
***
I traced the bastard's IP and tracked down his ID.
This task is no easy feat. Unless you're a super-ultra-special-grade Magnus genius like me, no one could pull it off.
After pouring in days of effort, I finally found his school and home.
Then I observed him for several more days. Even after detecting the signal, this was the process of thoroughly verifying whether he was truly villain material worth killing.
And finally, I decided to kill him. He truly deserved to die. After observing him for days, I noticed that none of his classmates spoke to him.
Just how scary must he have been for that to happen? Right?
He even walked alone when going to and from home. He was a truly meticulous guy. The only times he revealed his true nature were when he was inside his house or fiddling with his phone. And each time, red-lined posts would inevitably appear on the Weekly Best site.
'I can't stand by and watch his evil any longer.'
I immediately decided to transform into Justice Man that very day. The time of execution would be when he returned home from his academy.
10 p.m.
He was passing through an alley on his way home after finishing academy. After confirming there was no one around, I approached him from behind and swung my justice baton.
Thud.
With a loud sound, he collapsed straight onto the ground.
But then.
Something was strange. My vision turned red. Why was this happening? Had I awakened not only in front of the computer but also in reality?
With that thought, I lost consciousness.
***
Bully Killer J.
Dong Bong-su had finally caught the prey he had been chasing for months.
Killer J was the nickname given to him because he left the initial 'J' carved onto the cheeks of his victims.
For someone with no occupation, he was remarkably meticulous and brutal. Among the prey Dong Bong-su had encountered so far, this one ranked among the highest difficulty. And by ordinary standards, his behavior was extremely malicious.
As his nickname suggested, he hunted only bullying victims. Middle school bullying victims, at that.
After meeting him in person today, Dong Bong-su discovered one particularly unusual thing. It was a clearly distinguishing trait compared to his previous prey.
By modern societal standards, despite committing anti-human crimes without hesitation, the boy's eyes were unexpectedly clear. Not the emotionless clarity like his own. His eyes were genuinely shining with a sense of justice.
Unless it was the most perfect disguise he had ever seen in his life, the boy was... truly a 'crazy bastard' overflowing with righteousness.
However.
That didn't really matter to Dong Bong-su. At most, it served as a slight study experience—nothing more. To him, the boy was just another piece of prey.
Dong Bong-su slung the boy over his shoulder and loaded him into his car parked near the scene.
Vroom.
The car disappeared.
The hero disappeared as well.
The world grew dark once more.
And.
Dong Bong-su continued to roam the city in the darkness, searching for prey.
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