OMH Chapter 36

Oh My Hero – Episode 36

36. The S-Grades I Ended Up Raising (17)

The location changed with a light sound like autumn leaves scraping against a bookshelf. It was pitch black, as if an EMP had gone off.

(EMP: Electromagnetic pulse, an electronic emission effect caused by nuclear explosions, which destroys all electronic devices in the affected area.)

I was waiting for Park Haemi’s briefing to figure out what was going on when I saw Park Haemi’s face twist in surprise.

It was because Woojin and Wooreen had moved to the scene with me.

Park Haemi’s ability moves those she touches along with her.

But when Park Haemi grabbed me, I was holding Woojin’s hand, and Cha Wooreen was clinging to Woojin’s leg.

Park Haemi always just grabs me as soon as she sees me, so it seems she didn’t check my situation.

Since I’m Woojin’s watcher now, it’s best if I stay within 10 meters of him if possible.

If I have to run an errand, I have to leave Woojin in my enclosed personal space or leave him with temporary watchers.

Even if an emergency occurs like now and I have no choice but to be dispatched urgently, if I leave Woojin’s watching position empty, it becomes my fault.

Woojin and Wooreen, who had been suddenly moved to a dark place, looked very uneasy.

I was about to soothe them when Haemi started the briefing.

“Well, I guess it doesn’t matter. This is the 12th floor underground. As you know, it’s M-30721’s breeding ground. As you can see, the bastard escaped the breeding ground. You know you can’t use high-powered weapons because it keeps emitting EMP waves, right?”

“Yeah, it’s obvious. That’s why you brought me here. To subdue it with my bare hands. Because you didn’t even want to give me a mechanical pistol.”

“This floor is completely closed off, so the outside is still safe, but we need to deal with it quickly before the waves affect the outside.”

“Ah, that’s obvious. You’re not going to let those two out of here until you’re done, right? I need to finish this as quickly as possible. Can I dispose of it?”

“There are 7 deaths, 2 of whom are researchers. Even if we capture it alive, it will be disposed of, so let’s just finish this quickly.”

Park Haemi finished the explanation simply and gave me a handful of glow bracelets.

Haemi and I were about to move with the bracelets, still unbent and not glowing, when I almost forgot something very important.

“Ah, Woojin!”

I hurriedly went to Woojin’s side and told him to stay put here.

Because all the lights were out, I could barely make out silhouettes with the dim light of the emergency glow sticks, but I could clearly see Woojin’s anxious face.

I made a resolution to finish this as quickly as possible and moved with Haemi’s ability.

‘I need to finish this quickly and soothe Woojin.’

M-30721 is the monster classification number assigned by the Association.

The EGA Association has been steadily recording, analyzing, and researching the monsters that have appeared over the past 7 years.

According to the information recorded by the Association, M-30721 is a giant dog about 5 meters tall on average. Of course, its form is a little different from the dogs we know.

The guy has two heads, and a dark bluish-green orb that emits EMP waves is embedded in his chest.

The researchers named the orb on its chest the ‘core’ of M-30721, but it just emits electromagnetic pulses (EMP) and isn’t really its weak point.

Not being able to use high-powered weapons unless the core is destroyed is quite annoying, though.

And if the guy with a intact core escapes the breeding ground and keeps causing trouble, the influence of the waves could break through the closed 12th basement floor’s defense wall and reach deeper basement floors or the upper floors.

If it affects the surface, it will be a real disaster. All the electronics will break down, paralyzing all administration, and we’ll go back to the Gate Break level.

So this guy needs to be taken care of quickly.

*

Park Haemi must have marked the coordinates near the monster, because we were teleported to a location 10 meters directly behind it.

The faint blue light of the glow sticks attached to the wall illuminated the shape of the guy greedily licking something on the floor.

The guy, who was chewing on and eating the corpse of a dead Association member, must have heard the faint teleportation sound, because it immediately rushed toward us.

I punched the approaching guy’s lower jaw upward with my fist, with stomach-churning, smelly digestive fluids dripping from its mouth.

Thwack!

I put quite a bit of force into it, so the monster’s heavy body slightly lifted.

Thanks to that, the core on the monster’s chest came into my eye level.

I immediately destroyed the core with a direct punch.

Now that I’ve taken care of the most urgent thing, all that’s left is to cut off the monster’s breath.

Fragments of the core’s hard glass-like shards scattered along my fist as it came out of its chest.

The fragments reflected in the emergency glow stick light, which barely allowed me to distinguish shapes, and sparkled in the air.

And beyond that sparkle was the monster’s eye looking at me.

It was the head on the opposite side that I didn’t hit.

Kuaaaaa!

Right after the core broke, the monster’s still intact head roared and faced me.

“……!”

The monster dripped smelly digestive fluids from its mouth and rushed toward me.

The liquid dripping from M-30721’s mouth is yellowish when viewed in bright light and is highly acidic.

It looks like a dog, but the process of consuming food is completely different from a dog.

Unlike dogs, they have no teeth at all and first melt the target with the digestive fluids they secrete from their mouths, then lick it up to eat.

So you can assume that almost anything will melt if it touches that liquid.

Of course, I’m Geumgangbulgoe, so I won’t melt, but it still hurts, so I don’t want to touch it. Even for me, cuticles like hair or nails will melt.

‘I’ll pass on that.’

The moment the monster’s maw was about to engulf me, its movements suddenly stopped, and its huge head, which had been facing me, fell to the floor.

Thud-!

Above the monster’s head was Park Haemi, squatting down.

Park Haemi’s one hand was holding down the monster’s head, and when she took her hand away, fingernail-sized pieces of plastic, presumably glow bracelet sticks, were shining on the monster’s head.

Park Haemi, who uses the teleportation, instant movement ability, moves to the location coordinates she recognizes in her mind.

The movement target is Park Haemi herself, and targets connected to Park Haemi can also move together.

But when there are other objects in the coordinates where a teleportation ability user moves, if they move as is, a situation occurs where the moving target and the target originally in the coordinates merge.

Fortunately, in these cases, the teleportation ability user themselves can sense it, so they can avoid the merging situation by modifying the coordinates and confirming the movement.

And conversely, this means that teleportation ability users can intentionally merge targets.

It seems that Park Haemi mixed the glow bracelets, which she had brought as an emergency light, with the monster’s brain in preparation for an emergency.

Since this is the Association’s secret experimental site, there probably wasn’t any suitably large wreckage to definitively cut off its breath.

‘The breeding ground is a sturdy space that can withstand M-30721’s digestive fluids, so it probably didn’t break easily.’

Anyway, to accurately mix those 20-centimeter-long plastic sticks into the head of a monster that moves so quickly, it was a skill worthy of Park Haemi, who has lived her whole life as a combatant Esper.

I showered Haemi with insincere compliments and slowly backed away.

I wanted to leave the on-site reporting materials to Park Haemi and go see Woojin.

However, Park Haemi, who I thought would be busy taking on-site photos, approached me.

She said that the smartwatch wasn’t working because of the electromagnetic pulse.

Hearing that, I immediately checked my watch. Of course, my smartwatch also wasn’t working due to the EMP.

“Ah, I just replaced it, and now I have to buy a new one again.”

“Don’t make that constipated face. The Association will give you and me new watches for free. Because it was an EMP incident. Our work is done, so let’s go out for now.”

Park Haemi told me the good news, which relieved me about the watch, and grabbed my wrist.

If I don’t have to spend money on a new watch again, there’s nothing to worry about. I’ll get a performance bonus from this job, too.

I relaxed and entrusted myself to Haemi’s ability.

All that’s left is to take Woojin and Wooreen, who I left at the entrance of the 12th basement floor, to the surface one more time.

With a light sound of bookshelves brushing against each other, we moved to Woojin.

Right before we were about to move with Haemi’s teleportation with a light movement sound, the fallen monster opened its eyes and bit my body.

*

“……Ah, damn it.”

This is entirely my fault. I was so focused on breaking the core that I hit it too softly.

There was no damage from the monster attacking me.

As soon as the teleportation was over, I crushed what was presumed to be the monster’s temple, and M-30721 stopped moving.

But the problem is that M-30721 teleported in front of Woojin while biting me.

How could I show Woojin such a disgusting and smelly monster? I’m so sorry.

I tore off the remains of M-30721 from my body and glanced at Woojin.

“…….”

Under the pale glow stick light, Woojin was squatting down, holding Wooreen in his arms.

He must have covered her mouth and turned her away in his arms so that his little sister wouldn’t attract the monster’s attention.

Thanks to that, Cha Wooreen didn’t see the monster, but Woojin had his eyes fixed on this side and was in utter shock.

Woojin was also subjected to harsh treatment by the monster, so he must be very scared. I should have paid more attention.

I was about to go soothe Woojin when Park Haemi put her hand on my head.

Park Haemi, who had grabbed Woojin’s arm, used her ability.

*

It was blinding, as if Haemi had brought us to the surface.

When my eyes adjusted to the light, I could see my surroundings.

Seeing researchers with familiar faces, it seemed to be the laboratory where Park Haemi mainly works.

As soon as the surroundings brightened, Woojin’s pale face immediately caught my eye.

I was about to approach the pitiful-looking Woojin when Park Haemi put strength into the palm of her hand on my head and stopped me.

“Don’t regret it and listen to me, okay? Are you really going to approach that person looking like that?”

‘What’s wrong with how I look that she’s saying that?’

At Park Haemi’s words, I looked down and examined my body.

Now that I saw it, M-30721’s digestive fluids were smeared on my body, making me dirty.

In addition, the clothes I was wearing were melting and flowing down due to the digestive fluids.

Haemi is right.

If I approached Woojin in this state, Woojin could be hurt by the digestive fluids.

While I was examining my body, Park Haemi had somehow brought a fire extinguisher and sprayed it on my body.

Thanks to that, the digestive fluids were somewhat neutralized, making me safe.

But since I looked even dirtier, I went to the shower room attached to the lab to wash up in that state.

*

I came out refreshed after washing up, but there was a problem.

The clothes I had worn, as Woojin had chosen, had melted in the monster’s digestive fluids and were no longer in a state that I could wear again.

I was wondering if I should go outside just as I was now, with a towel wrapped around my waist, when someone knocked on the shower room door.

When I opened the door, there was a man as tall as Woojin standing there.

He was a stranger, but seeing that he was wearing a Guide uniform, he must be a lab Guide. The Guide standing at the door said to me.

“Hello. You’re Esper Gang Hana, right? I heard you worked hard on the emergency mission. We don’t have enough spare clothes here, so I’ll lend you my clothes for now. Come out when you’re done wearing them.”

The Guide spoke politely, handed me the clothes, and left immediately.

The clothes of the man, who seemed to be about the same height as Woojin, were, as expected, generously sized.

I roughly folded up the length and came out.

When I came outside, Woojin, still with a pale face, welcomed me.

He must have been very scared because of the monster.

I was about to soothe the uneasy Woojin, but Woojin was one step faster than me.

Woojin grabbed me and carefully examined my body, touching me, and asked me several times if I was okay and if I was hurt anywhere.

Woojin’s kind appearance, worrying about me, was so touching and like a holy and beautiful angel painted on an art mural.

I answered Woojin’s questions without hiding anything, saying that I wasn’t hurt anywhere, and even showed Woojin my intact body directly.

On the one hand, I thought that Woojin didn’t seem to know my ability very well yet, but I understood, thinking, ‘Woojin can be like that.’

I received Woojin’s attention and wholeheartedly reassured Woojin.

Whether my efforts worked or not, Woojin seemed much more stable.

When the vitality returned to his pale face, it was as beautiful as snowflakes blooming on a bud of a red camellia flower.

Woojin and I were looking at each other when someone called Woojin.

It was the Guide who had brought me the clothes earlier.

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