Became a Failed Experimental Subject-Chapter 35: The Loudest One

Stab.

Venom churned and pumped from Gu Seoryong’s claws as they drove deep—injecting directly into Yu Anna’s heart.

Yu Anna reflexively swung her arm to knock her away, and Gu Seoryong pulled out and leapt back with a smug flick of her fingers.

“Pretty big heart you've got there~ How about it? Want to come work at Guryong Fortress?”

“Aha! Love it! Work for her! Work for her!”

“I’ll buy you! How much, Starlight?”

“Ghh...!”

Yu Anna staggered, dizzy, as the venom flooded her body in an instant.

Gu Seoryong didn’t miss her opening—snap.

The ground seemed to ripple like a wave.

Sensing something approaching, Yu Anna wrapped herself in high-temperature energy.

“KYAAAAAA! HELP ME!!”

“AAAAAAHHH! IT BURNS! IT BURNS!”

Then—screams.

And the acrid smell of burning flesh hit her nose.

Startled, Yu Anna retracted her power.

And that’s when Gu Seoryong’s fingertips slammed into her neck.

“Huuhk...! Ngh, haa...!”

The screaming stopped.

The smell vanished.

Just like that.

The dizziness intensified.

Gu Seoryong’s hands multiplied, slowly creeping over Yu Anna’s entire body.

Legs. Toes. Fingers. Stomach. Neck.

They jabbed into her, over and over—

Each touch injecting more poison.

One of the Gu Seoryongs gently stroked her chin.

“Hero lady, aren’t you giving away your weaknesses a little too easily?”

“Get off...!”

“You really don’t want to hurt civilians, huh? That makes it so easy.”

“You bitch—!”

“Ahn~ not there. Here. Right here.”

“Ghhk—ah...!”

She heard the voice on her right, swung her flame-coated hand—

But then poison was already stabbing into her left ear, into her brain.

Everything went black for a moment.

“Oh my? Still holding out? S-Class really is something. Too bad. Would’ve been nice if you passed out just now.”

“Gh... AAAAAAAAH!”

“Oooh~ If you fly now, you’re gonna regret it~!”

BOOM!

Yu Anna blasted into the air in a surge of wind, dodging Gu Seoryong’s claws.

But she arced downward—

And crashed, head-first, into the ground.

The impact was ridiculous.

Villains and citizens alike burst out laughing, mocking her.

“Told you you'd regret it! Too late to run, Starlight!”

“An S-Class Hero running away? Ahahahaha!”

“Give it up! With that much poison, even you’ll need time to recover!”

“Haah... haah... haah...!”

“Still not the right spot~”

“Ahahahaha!”

Snap.

Even with her senses scrambled by power and poison, Yu Anna threw another punch—

Only for Gu Seoryong to inject more venom from behind.

Every punch melted.

Every fire blast vanished like dust.

And every time, with a jab, stab, stab, another dose of venom entered her.

Yu Anna, now down on one knee, clenched both fists.

Gu Seoryong leaned in, her voice a devil’s whisper.

“If you just go full power now and melt everyone, you might be able to escape~♥”

“Kh...!”

She wasn’t wrong.

If Yu Anna released her power like she was fighting a monster—she could escape.

Even if she couldn’t fly straight. Even if she crashed into buildings.

Melt through everything.

No need to recover.

No one would be able to stop her.

But...

If she did that—

A lot of people would die.

Yu Anna did nothing.

Still.

Frozen.

Gu Seoryong dragged a claw along her neck, teasing.

“Wow, what a boring way to live~ You’re really gonna let yourself lose like this?”

“Hah... This... this isn’t enough to...”

“Sure, I won’t kill you. But I’m not gonna let you go either.

I can break you so badly you’ll wish you were dead.”

She didn’t even look like she was fighting anymore.

Gu Seoryong’s voice was laced with cruel laughter as she grabbed Yu Anna’s hair and tugged.

“If we marinate you in drugs from today on, you’ll be a real special product.

People’ll come from every city, not just W-City.

Even if you’re not in your right mind, as long as they’ve got the cash...

Guryong Fortress will be the only place where people can fuck an S-Class Hero.”

“You—!”

“Hahahaha! Look at you now, S-Class Hero! What a mess!”

Yu Anna growled and whipped her head forward, launching a kick.

But Gu Seoryong dodged, flipped the ground, and sent her sprawling.

Yu Anna tumbled across the pavement.

The villains howled with laughter, clutching their sides.

She couldn’t keep her balance.

Every movement made the dizziness worse.

Yu Anna stopped.

Surrounded herself in fire.

A full defensive stance.

She crouched, one hand on the ground, the other clenched tight—

Fire blazing across her whole body.

Blinking through the flames, she silently watched the flickering silhouette of Gu Seoryong.

“You... What the hell are you?

That body... That venom...”

“Hmmm~ This body? Pretty, right?

My underlings call it dragonification.”

“Miss Seoryong’s special, y’know! She awakened a second ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) power!”

“Starlight! For an S-Class, you’re pretty pathetic!

Gu Seoryong is the strongest!”

“Dual awakening...? Pfft... fuck off.”

Yu Anna spat thick, sticky saliva onto the ground and studied her.

Gu Seoryong wasn’t like the other villains keeping their distance—

She was physically fighting her up close, right in the flames.

Her hands and feet were completely fine.

That was no normal ability.

Dragonification?

Body-mod type power?

Even without the sensory confusion—Gu Seoryong was strong enough to be A-Class.

Of all the damn people—

A villain.

A pain-in-the-ass villain.

And she’d awakened a rare dual power.

Not just rare—deadly.

Two powers.

A body that didn’t match the data.

Enhanced melee skills.

Increased durability.

She could even withstand Yu Anna’s powers for short bursts.

Regeneration?

Illusions?

No way it was just two abilities.

Calling it “dragonification” and using all that? That didn’t even make sense.

But Yu Anna couldn’t argue—

She herself used a single power that mimicked several effects.

“Even with dual awakening, all you do is—hah... act like a piece of shit villain...”

“And here I thought S-Class espers would be more than slaves to the people.

How sad~”

Yu Anna gave a dry laugh.

Nothing was going her way.

Too many variables.

If Gu Seoryong’s ability was just “sensory disruption” like the data said, she could’ve burned the rest of the villains down slowly.

But instead—

These villains worked together like heroes.

The citizens, instead of running, were getting high and watching.

Military weapons and explosives were showing up out of nowhere.

The villains' attacks—should’ve been weak—were now deadly.

The police? Government? No reinforcements.

No one.

She came here thinking a surprise move would be best—

But seeing how much they’d prepared, maybe it was lucky she came when she did.

And at the same time—

Why the hell is she doing all this alone?

It wasn’t fair.

“Hah... This is seriously pissing me off...”

But still—

She had to do it.

Because she’s a hero.

And this job... was never the easy path.

To buy herself time to recover, Yu Anna kept talking.

“Huff... huff... Why do you villains—

Why do you live your lives hurting people, even after gaining power?”

“Hmmm? Because it’s nature’s law, sweetie.

The strong prey on the weak.

We’re predators.

You ever see a lion worry about the gazelle’s feelings?

The real question is, why the hell do you help the powerless, when you’ve got strength? That’s just stupid.”

“Because someone has to.”

“Huh?”

“If someone has to do it—

then it should be the ones strong enough to actually pull it off.”

Gu Seoryong and the other villains sneered.

They laughed mockingly at Yu Anna.

“That’s just something weaklings say to leash the strong.

They want to pull us down to their level.”

“If someone’s gotta do it, make the weak do it!

Why should the strong lower themselves?!”

“We’re special!

Chosen ones!

Winners!”

Of course they’d say that...

Yu Anna exhaled sharply,

Closed her eyes.

She tuned out all the excess senses.

Like listening to insects in a pitch-black room—

She felt it.

Something was coming.

She reached out.

And caught Gu Seoryong’s wrist.

“...Got you.”

“Oh my~ You did.”

But the Gu Seoryong she caught melted away—

And the real one drove her claw under Yu Anna’s chin from behind.

“Kh—AAAGH...!”

“Anyone would be on guard if you say ‘Come closer and I’ll bite,’ right~?”

The burning sensation hit her brain.

Yu Anna bit her lower lip.

Her eyes fluttered half open.

She flinched.

Reached with both hands.

GRAB.

She clawed at the air—then fell, collapsing to the ground.

Hands bracing on the pavement, she tried to get back up.

“Woooow. Like a baby deer. So cute~ You okay?”

“Ahahaha! You’re adorable! Starlight! Come join me instead of being a hero!”

“Ahahahahahahaha!”

“Hellooo~? You still with us? Maybe you’re just too high? You look totally gone!”

“Ahahahahahahahahahaha!”

“Huff... huff... huff...”

Between the echoes of laughter—

Snap. Snap.

Finger snaps, again and again, relentless like a swinging pendulum.

Amid her increasingly warped senses, Yu Anna heard a voice from her memories.

[That’s idealism. Unrealistic. If you keep trying shit like that, even a superhuman will get torn to pieces.]

A conversation from one day—

After a disaster-class monster attack.

Between her and Cage.

Cage believed it was sometimes necessary to sacrifice a few lives to monsters to prevent greater casualties.

Yu Anna believed all lives had to be saved—no exceptions.

[But this way, even one more person survives. Superhumans recover quickly, don’t they?]

[Throw away that sense of duty, you idiot.]

[What’s wrong with a hero having a sense of duty?]

[Do you even know what “duty” means? It’s the kind of responsibility that uses your life as a resource. If a hero dies, it causes even greater damage. One hero is worth hundreds—thousands—of the useless.]

[Don’t talk like that.]

[Value your life, Yu Anna. Otherwise, your death’s just a waste.]

She saw Cage walking away down the hallway.

The venom crawling through her brain dug deeper—

Uncovering older memories.

[Even if civilians were hurt, we should’ve taken it out right there.]

[No one could’ve predicted it would evolve.]

[Bullshit! Everyone knew—monsters get stronger the more humans they eat! You let it go once, and it comes back worse! Why didn’t we kill it on the spot?

Emergency escort? A handful of government officials? That garbage?

An A-class hero died for twenty pieces of shit?!]

[Jung Hoyoung...]

[3,800 civilian casualties.

34 psychics dead.

The idiot public cursed the fallen espers as weak and ungrateful!

His name got dragged through the mud!

If we’d let those worthless bastards die, we could’ve saved everyone!

If only we didn’t have to bow to the assholes who use heroes like tools!]

If sacrificing a few could definitely save the many—

Then those few must be sacrificed.

Even if they were civilians.

Even fellow espers.

There’s no choice.

Superhumans aren’t gods.

They have to choose.

“Haaah...”

The ground under Yu Anna’s feet began to melt.

Not an illusion—

The searing heat from her power was vitrifying the pavement.

She was about to unleash it—

To break all limits.

But just before she did,

the venom stirred deeper still—

into the deepest of her memories.

[I’m so sorry, it’s all because of my daughter—please forgive us.]

A pure-white hospital room.

A blurred, teary view.

Sunlight fractured through the tears.

A man on the bed waved his hands dismissively.

[No, no. I’m the lucky one. Is your daughter alright?]

Suddenly floating—

Someone lifted her onto the bed.

The man, his body wrapped in bandages, smiled and reached out.

When he stroked her head,

she couldn’t stop the tremble in her voice.

[Are... you okay?]

[Yeah. I’m okay.]

[But still... ugh... ngh...]

[Daddy!]

His family came into the room.

Yu Anna got half-pushed out into the hallway.

Later, she stood at the doorway alone—

Her parents had stepped away,

and from there, she overheard the conversation.

[You’re retired now. You should’ve waited for help. Someone else could’ve handled it—why go in alone?]

[Wasn’t alone. I soaked myself in water first.]

[Please... never do that again. Let someone else take over.]

[If I had, that kid would’ve died.]

[You retired because of this kind of thing, and you’re still trying to help people?!]

Silence in the hospital room.

Only his voice echoed.

[Someone had to do it.

And if someone has to, then it should be someone who can.]

[And if you get hurt again with no gear?!]

[Then I get hurt, that’s all.]

[Honey!]

[C’mon, I didn’t die~ Huh? Ow! I’m a patient, you know!]

Smack.

The sound of a slap to the back.

Then her parents returned with the bill.

The memory faded.

Yu Anna opened her eyes, a small laugh escaping her lips.

“...Heh.”

Heroes don’t choose between lives.

There is no option to sacrifice civilians to defeat a villain.

Even if it’s the long, hard way—

Even if she gets torn apart doing it—

She saves everyone.

Still bowing her head, Yu Anna let her energy die down.

Gu Seoryong frowned. Snap.

“What is this? Is she overdosed or just broken?

Why’s she lowering her power?”

If she weren’t crazy, she wouldn’t be a hero.

Yu Anna laughed bitterly—

Then slammed a fist into Gu Seoryong’s face.

It melted.

Just as she expected.

She turned and sliced through the real one’s wrist with a burning chop.

BOOM!

A punch followed, tearing off half of Gu Seoryong’s torso.

She twisted, caught her own falling hand with her tail, and restored her form.

Was this sensation even real anymore?

Or just another illusion?

“Kgh...”

“At this rate, you’re worse than a B-class.”

Even while grimacing, Gu Seoryong drove her severed wrist into Yu Anna’s gut.

Then her neck.

She kept injecting venom—

but Yu Anna didn’t fight back.

That put Gu Seoryong at ease.

Yu Anna’s limp body leaned against her.

And the crowd erupted.

“Miss Seoryong wins! She did it!”

“WAAAAAAAH!”

“Gu Seoryong! Gu Seoryong! Gu Seoryong!”

“You promised! She belongs to all of us now!”

“Boss, when does the auction start?!”

“Fuck! Should’ve skipped the damn casino tonight!”

“...Ggh.”

Gu Seoryong smiled for the crowd—

But didn’t stop injecting venom.

An S-Class Hero, down this easily?

That didn’t make sense.

Was she playing dead?

Waiting for the crowd to leave,

Or for the drugged perverts to collapse?

Maybe she’s faking unconsciousness just to burn out the venom inside?

“What are you thinking, Starlight...?”

Starlight.

A beast.

If not for the leash of “civilians,” she could wipe out every villain here in seconds.

They'd thrown her into a perfect trap, crushed her with all their might—

and she didn’t have a single visible wound.

Of course.

She’s an S-Class Hero.

The despair of monsters.

So the goal was never to kill her—

just break her mind.

Heroes are still human.

No matter how strong—

their hearts are fragile.

Gu Seoryong used her powers again.

Illusions stabbed Yu Anna’s body from all angles.

Her eyes were dazed.

Her body twitched.

Even now, Yu Anna’s murderous aura radiated faintly.

She was planning something.

But not moving.

Gu Seoryong wasn’t stupid.

Even if she was faking it, the poison wouldn’t stop.

The illusions wouldn’t stop.

If they didn’t break her now,

there wouldn’t be another chance.

Fine.

Let’s see how long you can hold out.

She licked her lips, curled her smile, and shouted loud enough for all of Guryong Fortress to hear.

“Anyone want to take Starlight home tonight?

First one to scream the loudest gets to go first~!”

“WAAAAAAAH!! ME!! ME!! ME!!”

“MEEEEEEEE!!”

“Building 102, Unit 304! PICK ME!!”

A thunderous roar of screams.

It felt like the whole fortress would collapse.

Of course, she wasn’t planning to actually hand her over.

Not until she was completely broken.

But as a special bonus, Gu Seoryong touched the edge of Yu Anna’s hero suit with her claws.

“C’mon~ Louder~”

“WOOOOOOOOOH!!”

“YEEEEEEAAAAH!!”

Can a hero still protect people—

after being humiliated by them?

Gu Seoryong laughed, and slowly began to peel away the suit.

And then—

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH!!

A roar.

Louder than the whole fortress.

Louder than anything.

It shattered the moment.

A wave of raw force,

a subsonic vibration designed to pierce the human soul with primal terror.

Every single person in the fortress—

froze.

Their eyes turned.

Toward the apartment rooftop.

Toward the black shadow sitting beneath the moon.

“B-Black Cat...?”

“Karrrrrrr...”

Yu Anna, barely conscious, looked up at Blaccky.

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The monster sirens screamed through the city.

Blaccky opened his mouth.

Inside—

a storm gathered.

Gu Seoryong’s face twisted.

“W-Wait... just—!”

Pew.

A single, thin beam shot from his mouth—

Then exploded into brilliant white light.

KRAAAAAAAK!!

A pillar of white flame crashed down from the sky.