With Han Yeong-Seok's arrest, Harmageddon collapsed. The Hero Association fell into disgrace as a series of scandals emerged—allegations of incompetence, political collusion, and various other controversies—forcing them to relinquish most of their privileges and reducing them to an organization in name only.
To be clear, this wasn't about the Heroes themselves failing, but rather the Association as an organization being unable to recover from public scrutiny. After all, when a company's executives commit crimes, the idols under their management don't stand trial by association, do they? No. The situation with the Hero Association and its Heroes was similar.
Eventually, the remaining Heroes left the Association in droves to find their own way, effectively dismantling the organization.
What happened to these Heroes after leaving? They set up their own offices and continued their Hero work. Leaving the Hero Association only to establish Hero offices—I'm not sure if that's admirable or just stubborn.
[News report: "With the Hero Association's significant decline, buildings with 'Hero Office' signs have begun appearing throughout the city. In the Namsan-dong area, now known as Hero Street, these offices can be found in nearly every building..."]
I turned off the news I'd been watching mindlessly and sank back into the sofa.
Five months since Han Yeong-Seok's arrest. The world was changing at a pace I could barely keep up with.
What have I been doing all this time?
Nothing, really.
It's not that I completely cut myself off from society after everything I'd been through. It's just that my physical condition hasn't been great since that fight, and I've had a lot of things to check, so I haven't had many opportunities to go out.
What things needed checking?
My body, obviously. And to be clear, I don't mean that in any weird way.
—"An artificial life form created by my own hands."
That's what Han Yeong-Seok said to me right before his arrest.
It could have been a lie to catch me off guard, but it seemed unlikely he would lie in that situation, which is why I underwent various examinations at the Association.
Of course, getting proper examinations from the Association while it was in chaos was difficult. Thanks to that, I had experiences in Korea that you'd normally only expect in American hospitals.
Some might ask why I didn't just go to another hospital, but when it comes to monster-related fields, the Association's hospitals were still the best, so I had no choice.
The research institute did offer to help, but...
"You want me to... take this pill?"
"It's not medicine, it's a vitamin."
"Oh, I see. A vitamin... *gag*!"
"Oh dear."
Maybe because of the memories still in my body, I'd get nauseous just approaching the research institute, and I'd overreact to the smallest things. So naturally, I gave up.
Actually, the research institute gave up on me first.
They apologized for adding to my trauma when they were only trying to help, and even treated me to beef.
I also ended up in front of reporters for playing a major role in Han Yeong-Seok's arrest. Like that time at the courthouse. The difference was that back then I was being interrogated, while this time I was sharing my thoughts.
Anyway, I was in the media spotlight again, which naturally attracted a lot of attention.
And I learned something: getting a lot of attention means dealing with an enormous amount of hassle.
After my interview aired, I received a letter of consolation from the Monster Experiment Victims Alliance.
By the way, the chairman of this alliance turned out to be Mr. Bak Gwang-Cheol, the centipede monster.
It would have been nice if it ended there, but suddenly there was all this talk about "the tragic victim of Harmageddon's artificial monster experiments," "the victim who caught the perpetrator," "what were the Korean police doing," "what was the Association doing," and so on.
News that started with my story somehow turned into a political debate, which really turned me off. And that was just from watching it on TV.
Politicians even started visiting, talking about increasing welfare for victims who had turned into monsters. As for what was happening behind the scenes that I didn't know about...
*I don't even want to imagine.*
Anyway, living like that in a daze, summer passed, autumn too, and now it was winter with its pure white snow.
"It's winter already..."
I got up from the sofa and stood by the window, watching the falling snow.
...Time really flies.
It feels like it was summer just recently. Now it's already winter.
Maybe because time passed so quickly, it didn't feel real.
The person who tormented me so much was arrested, and both Harmageddon and the Association collapsed.
But this didn't feel real either.
Of course, the terrible pain I feel every month during molting reminds me that "yes, this is reality."
But during peaceful moments like this, I sometimes worry that I'll suddenly come to my senses and find myself back in that time.
At times like that...
"What, are you feeling sorry for yourself again?"
I turned around at the familiar voice and met eyes with Hyun, who was loosening his tie.
Yes, I'm still staying at Hyun's house.
Well, I'm not just freeloading anymore—we're living together now.
This would be a long story too, but to explain briefly... Hyun and I got married.
You might misunderstand, but we're only married on paper.
At first, I felt uncomfortable and tried to refuse and leave, but Hyun stopped me.
"I have to keep my word."
That was his reason.
It was about what he'd said when I asked what he would have done if I wasn't really Yu Sia.
—"I'd still have taken care of you. I rescued you, so I should be responsible for you, right?"
I thought he was just saying that to comfort me, but that wasn't the case.
So, well... that's how it happened.
Because of this, there were briefly rumors about Hyun being a lolicon, but they naturally disappeared as soon as the media showed how quickly I was growing with each molting.
It was kind of funny how his nickname changed from "Dragon-catching Lolicon" to "Wise Investor," but anyway, that's what happened.
"You're home early today."
"The request finished quickly. The other requests that came in weren't ones I needed to handle personally, so I left them to others and came home."
I should have mentioned this earlier, but Choi Hyun is among the Heroes who retired from the Association and set up their own offices.
As a former S-Class Hero with a huge fan base, his large office receives dozens of requests daily.
"Ooh, a terrible boss dumping all the work on his employees."
"What are you talking about? There are plenty of people who can handle things besides me. There's Noona Ha-Young, Noona Ryu Hwa."
It's called a large office, but looking at the lineup, it's more like an all-star team.
The reason Hyun's office surpassed all others within weeks of opening was because of this insane roster.
It's impressive. These are people who could reasonably retire, but they're still working.
...Or maybe they just needed an excuse to leave the Association?
Well, whatever.
"How's your body?"
"Same as always. I'm fine."
I shrugged with a bitter smile, and Hyun came over and touched my left foot.
The foot that had been caught during my final clash with Han Yeong-Seok.
"Still can't move it?"
"You know I can't."
After several moltings, the outside looked fine, but it still wouldn't move.
Something must have gone wrong when that bastard Han Yeong-Seok tried to absorb me, and now I was left with a limp.
Hyun's expression immediately darkened, and I pressed my palm against the back of his apologetic head.
"It's okay. I'm used to it now. At least I don't scream in pain every time I walk, right?"
Maybe I've matured after everything I've been through, but I can now laugh off something like having one bad leg.
"Hey, that's not funny."
"What's the big deal? Being all depressed won't fix my foot. You just live with it."
I shrugged with a smirk and patted Hyun's shoulder.
"So get up, man. My horns are heavy, and it hurts my neck to bow my head."
"How heavy can horns be?"
"I'm just telling you to get up, so stop arguing and do it."
As soon as I said that, Hyun nodded, slipped his hand behind my knees, and lifted me up.
The classic princess carry. I've gotten used to this too.
"It's still daytime."
I sighed deeply, and Hyun chuckled as he set me down on the sofa.
"I'm just going to give you a massage, so don't misunderstand. Or were you expecting something else?"
"...Pervert."
Hyun looked up at me indignantly, but I avoided his eyes and pretended not to notice.
I felt the pressure as he pressed firmly on the soles of my feet, so I lowered my head again.
"Thank you. For always helping me."
"We're a couple."
"I thought we were only married on paper."
"Half true."
Then what's the other half?
I silently swallowed the words that had risen to the tip of my tongue.
Neither of us needed to ask such things to confirm each other's feelings anymore.
"I see."
As I smiled and let it go, Hyun, who was massaging my foot, suddenly brought up something unexpected.
"Hey, have you heard of the Elixir?"
A word I could never forget.