I could use some help.
Episode 3: I could use some help
* * *
“What the fuck happened here…?”
Permafrost stared at the pier in front of her.
Even as an S-Ranked hero, she had never seen something like this.
Twisted metal was scattered everywhere, shipping containers torn apart like paper toys. The ground was soaked in a thick, sticky liquid, mixed with chunks of what unmistakably used to be human bodies.
She raised her sleeve to cover her nose and mouth.
The place smelled like rotting iron and blood.
“You alright?”
A man walked up beside her.
She glanced sideways. “Didn’t expect to see you here, Nightwalker. Thought you were out of town.”
“Changed plans,” Nightwalker replied calmly, hands in his pockets as he surveyed the carnage. “Heard there was a massacre. Can’t miss something like this, can I?”
“You’re seriously hopeless,” Permafrost muttered.
Before he could reply, a CSI agent hurried over, tablet in hand.
“We haven’t confirmed the identities yet,” he said, voice tight, “but we did find traces of a substance mixed in with the blood. BX-486.”
“BX-486?” Permafrost frowned. “What’s that?”
“A drug that temporarily amplifies a person’s ability. Physical strain, mental overload, side effects are extreme,” he explained. “Didn’t think it was circulating in this city yet.”
“Drugs…” she exhaled slowly. “Seriously… what the hell happened here?”
Nightwalker crouched near one of the bodies, or what remained of it.
“Hm,” he hummed. “Looks like it was done by one person.”
Permafrost snapped her head toward him. “What? No way. There were at least twenty people here. You’re telling me one person did all this?”
Andrew, the CSI agent, nodded grimly. “Nightwalker’s right. The damage pattern is too consistent. These weren’t cut or blasted from the outside.”
“Then what?” Permafrost asked. “An explosion-type ability?”
“No,” Andrew said, zooming in on images. “The bodies expanded from the inside. Blood vessels ruptured outward, organs displaced explosively. Whatever did this applied force internally.”
Permafrost felt a chill crawl up her spine.
“An ability… that blows people up from the inside,” Nightwalker said quietly. “That’s terrifying.”
Her jaw tightened. “Then we can’t let this person roam free. Check every camera in the vicinity. If anything shows up, report it immediately. I’m taking this to the council.”
As she turned away, her thoughts raced.
Seriously… what kind of person could do something like this?
* * *
“Hmmm… this isn’t as easy as I thought.”
I stared at the two metal cubes floating in front of me, sweat already forming on my forehead.
Each one weighed a hundred kilograms.
Normally, lifting two was no problem. But the moment I tried to add a third, my focus shattered instantly, like my brain hit a hard limit.
Abilities didn’t just grow stronger on their own.
They needed practice. Repetition and control.
Raw power alone meant nothing.
I narrowed my eyes and shifted my focus.
Slowly, carefully, I guided one cube upward, positioning it above the other. Then, bit by bit, I began pulling my power away from the top cube, trying to let it balance naturally.
Just a little more…
Clang!
Both cubes crashed to the floor.
“Urghhh!!”
I flopped backward onto my bed, staring up at the ceiling.
Control was the real problem. I wasn’t good enough at fine manipulation.
‘Still…’ I clenched my fist.
This was the ability I chose.
And no matter how long it took, I’d master it and squeeze out every last bit of its potential.
“Alright.”
Now I had an ability.
That was step one complete.
Which meant it was time for step two.
“I could use some help.”
In my past life, I tried to do everything alone. Anyone with potential, I killed and took their ability for myself. So I had no allies or subordinates.
And in the end…
‘That was exactly why I lost.’
When hundreds of heroes came crashing down on me all at once, raw power wasn’t enough.
“…A subordinate, huh.”
A few faces surfaced in my mind.
People who, in the future, would rise to become S-rank villains. Monsters in their own right.
“I wonder who I could trust…”
Not just followers.
I needed people who would die for me if I gave the order.
After a moment, one face stood out.
“…Yeah. She’ll do.”
A slow smile spread across my face.
* * *
“The Aegis Hero Academy…? I..I’m not sure if I could make it…”
“I’m sure you could. No problem at all.”
Hero Permafrost, real name Jasmine, was eating dinner across from a young girl at a quiet restaurant.
She watched her carefully.
‘This girl…’
It hadn’t been long since Jasmine found her.
At first, it looked like a normal villain attack. Just another routine call.
Until it wasn’t.
When Jasmine arrived at the scene, the villains were already on the ground, bleeding and barely breathing. And in the corner…
A girl was there, crying and shaking.
She had done it.
After the villains killed her parents, she snapped and used her power to kill them.
“…Amy.”
Jasmine spoke gently.
“You have some of the greatest potential I’ve ever seen. And didn’t you say you wanted to become a hero?”
“Yes, but… I’m aware that Aegis is known for having the toughest entrance exams. I’m not sure if I ca…”
“Amy.”
Jasmine interrupted softly.
“Think about why you want to become a hero.”
The girl went silent, her hands tightening around her chopsticks.
Jasmine already knew the answer.
To stop tragedies like the one that took her parents.
Most people in that situation would fall into despair. Some would become villains.
But this girl was different.
She had been raised well. Her heart was still pointing in the right direction.
After a long pause, Amy lifted her head.
“…Okay. I’ll apply.”
Her eyes were shaking, but filled with resolve.
Jasmine smiled.
“There it is. That’s the girl I know.”
She stood up and gently patted Amy’s head.
“Now hurry up and finish eating. I’ll take you home.”
* * *
“Any update on our human exploder?”
Permafrost sighed as she spoke into the phone.
“No. Nothing. Whoever it is wasn’t caught on any cameras. But that’s to be expected. There weren’t many cameras at the docks to begin with…”
“That’s exactly why I disagree,” Nightwalker replied. “They weren’t missed by the cameras. They avoided them.”
Permafrost paused.
“…Avoided them?”
“Yes. If the lack of footage were coincidence, we’d still have partial captures like movement blur, or shadows. We have nothing. That means they never entered a camera’s field of view in the first place.”
“And you’re saying that wasn’t luck?”
“Luck doesn’t repeat itself twenty times across a crime scene,” Nightwalker said flatly. “The blind spots were used.”
Permafrost frowned.
“…So you’re saying they planned it.”
“I’m saying this wasn’t their first-time,” Nightwalker replied. “You suggested this might be their first incident. I don’t think so.”
“Why not?”
“Because first-timers with overwhelming power don’t stop,” Nightwalker said. “They usually escalate. They test their own limits and chase the high. Especially with an ability like this. Yet we’ve had no similar cases for an entire week.”
Permafrost clenched her jaw.
“…Then maybe they cleaned up after previous incidents.”
“That also doesn’t hold,” Nightwalker countered immediately. “Someone who cleans up habitually wouldn’t leave a scene this grotesque.”
“…So what are you implying?”
“That this was a one-time appearance,” Nightwalker said. “Not because they can’t act again, but because they already got what they wanted. This wasn’t a massacre fueled by impulse. It was more of a a controlled operation with a reason behind it.”
Permafrost exhaled slowly.
“…Meaning they’re intelligent.”
“And patient,” Nightwalker added. “Whoever this is, they don’t act unless it benefits them.”
Silence hung on the line.
“Alright,” Permafrost said at last. “Thanks for your… insight. Get back to work.”
She hung up.
Amy had already been dropped off safely, and now Permafrost was heading back toward the pier. The city lights reflected off the water, distorted and uneasy.
“Seriously… this villain…”
Her gaze lingered on the dark docks.
“I wonder what you’re doing right now…”
And in a narrow alleyway a few kilometers away…
Splat.
The sound of human flesh hitting wet ground echoed as blood splashed across the concrete.
“I said… give me the girl.”
The voice was calm.
“Wh… who the fuck are you?! What do you want, you little shit?!”
Standing beneath the flickering alley light was a small figure wrapped in a dark robe. A kid… or something pretending to be one. The figure let out a slow sigh.
“…Are you deaf?”
A pause.
“I said give me the girl.”
The three men gripping their weapons tightened their hold. Their breathing grew uneven.
One of them had already exploded.
“W….we can’t do that!” one man stammered. “She belongs to the boss! There’s no way we ca…”
BOOM.
The man vanished in a violent burst of red. Blood and fragments painted the alley walls.
“…Guess that settles it,” the kid muttered. “No more talking.”
“A….AHHH!!”
One of the remaining men collapsed, screaming as his legs gave out beneath him.
“Get back up! Don’t…!”
BOOM.
The speaker’s head detonated mid-sentence, his body dropping like a puppet with its strings cut.
Silence.
The kid stepped forward, boots crunching against bone and metal. He crouched in front of the last man, who was shaking so hard he couldn’t even scream anymore.
“Hey,” the kid said lightly.
He tilted his head.
“Take me to your boss. Okay?”
The man couldn’t form words. His throat locked up. He just nodded frantically.
The kid stood.
Even behind the mask…
The man knew.
He was smiling.
