In a dark room, Eric stood before the hologram display, its pale glow reflecting off his grim expression as he stared at the figure seated on the other end.

"This is a rather serious issue. We’ll have to move the family members of the heroes whose information has been stolen. This is to ensure security.... I’m most certain a lot of them are already panicking right now."

Eric let out a soft sigh. "Yes, the forum exploded into a rage of fear and concern from the heroes... This is a rather disappointing development for the association, as it’ll most likely lead to a lack of trust."

"Indeed, we’re beginning to slack in our security... This shouldn’t repeat itself again. Thankfully, it was mostly lower-ranked heroes. If the higher-ranked heroes were drawn into this... they wouldn’t take it lightly."

Eric smiled wryly at the man’s words. "It took quite the effort and reassurance to get the heroes to calm down... We’ll look into the matter and upgrade security. But I’m still curious, what exactly could they be searching for within the Association? It’s rare for impures to suddenly take interest in that."

The man on the other end let out a rough cough, clearing his throat before he replied, "The Council... they have so many secrets... I’m afraid I can’t say for certain, but with the recent happenings, I can’t help but have a feeling that they had a hand in this... After all, those brats only care about their own benefits. The sudden increase in plague victims, an attack on the association, and the impure beast hordes lately as well... It’s kept a lot of the high-ranked heroes busy. In essence, we’re entering dangerous times...."

"Speaking of which, the new hero that you mentioned... His ability is the first of its kind, and he’s potentially going to be a big hit in the industry. A lot of the council members will have their eyes on him. That said, I will request that you keep this information away from them for the meantime. We’ll try to keep him neutral for now, but if he stands out, they’ll definitely try to reach out to him."

Hearing about Nicholas again, Eric couldn’t hold back the smile that formed on his face. "I don’t have a full grasp on how his ability works yet, but with the supervisor by his side, we’ll get more information on that soon enough."

"Very well then, Manager Eric, I’ll leave the rest to you."

"Thanks, Ambassador Ronald. Have a good night’s rest."

---

After leaving the association building, Nicholas was approached by one of the guards. "Sir, please follow me this way... You’ll be taken to your new location."

Nicholas stared at the guard with a raised brow.

"Your family has already been moved to the new location."

’That’s right, the supervisor mentioned this...’ Nicholas thought, slightly surprised... He didn’t know that they’d prepare an escort for him, but it was rather unsettling. ’Doesn’t that mean the guard will know the place as well?’

Almost as though reading his mind, the guard flashed a bright smile. "Oh, and don’t worry about your security. My ability allows me to forget things like these quite quickly!" the guard said, leading him to a taxi waiting not too far from them.

’So abilities aren’t limited to just cool stuff? I guess I got off with two good ones.’ Nicholas didn’t know how he was supposed to react to such an ability.

Was it a curse or an ability? Either way... it made it more convenient for him. He still wasn’t comfortable knowing that the association’s information had been leaked.

He entered the taxi, his back sinking into the cool leather coat of the seat. He pulled out his phone and opened his email.

A quick check revealed he’d received numerous emails from the association.

The first was a congratulations on his successful registration, accompanied by a file that contained some highlights of the association, what it stood for, and how it came about.

It also highlighted the top heroes of the association at the current time. One was a hero that he happened to recognize thanks to Katherine. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

’Nectron.’ It was Katherine’s favourite hero and was known for stopping one of the most powerful villains at the time, Tenebris.

The other two heroes were Vixen and Zane. They were the most popular S-rank heroes of the Hero Association.

’So they’re the backbones of the association’ Nicholas’ gaze lingered on their images before drifting right back to the remaining mails that the association had sent him.

The other carried a password and link that gave him access to the Hero Forum that they had mentioned before.

’The forum should have more information about how things work in the association, right?’

Initially, he had no interest in the heroes whatsoever ever since coming to this world, but since his rude awakening, he found himself getting much more interested.

Using the link and password, he got access to the forum. From the looks of it, his entire profile had already been set up by Dana.

Just as he entered the forum, a bank notification popped up, informing him that the $120,000 had been transferred to his account.

A small smile of satisfaction flashed across Nicholas’ face. ’A closed deal.’

Maybe it was out of habit, but the satisfaction of seeing the money in his account after a cleared job was simply addictive... He paused for a moment upon seeing the money.

’....Wonder what Katherine and Marina would like?’ Nicholas thought to himself. After all, it was the first time he had to think of someone else besides himself.

He was just about to close the forum when he quickly noticed the small tag under his user profile that read, ’Supervisor.’ As Nicholas read the name on the screen, a resigned sigh slipped through his mouth.

Similarly, elsewhere, the muffled sound of the shower slowly died out as Selena stepped out, wearing her silk gown that exposed her fair, smooth skin and well-crafted curves.

She had returned to her apartment not too long ago and was just about going through her usual night rituals before bed.

Since she stayed alone, she didn’t have to worry about anything. Soft music played in the background as she filled her glass with wine. Resting comfortably on the sofa, she picked up her phone, letting out a breath of relief. "What a hectic day."

She took a sip of the wine, then went through her mail, raising a brow as she saw a particular mail from the association. ’A new hero in my supervising team?’ she thought as she opened the mail.

Upon seeing the name, Selena’s eyes widened, the pure shock causing her to cough up her wine.

"What?!"