OMH Chapter 40

Oh My Hero – Chapter 40

40. Hooligan (4)

It seemed Jo Yong, who was observing, had discovered something the hooligans were doing.

I immediately grabbed the binoculars and looked in the direction Jo Yong was watching.

“…!!”

I saw a person’s head rolling on the ground and the surrounding area covered in blood.

The hooligans here seemed to be practicing beheadings. This was the perfect image for us.

I immediately captured that scene with the camera on my Smartwatch.

It was an excellent photo, good enough to be used as a sample during hooligan education sessions.

I was faithfully carrying out my mission, but the team’s atmosphere was strange.

The kids looked a little scared; their expressions had darkened.

I thought I had taught them enough about how hooligans lived, but seeing it with their own eyes must have been a big shock.

I was planning to collect data leisurely while observing the hooligans for a couple of days, but I needed to revise my plan.

I had to collect as much data as possible today and return before sunset.

I thought they would be used to this kind of thing since they had been outside before their awakening, but I guess not.

I didn’t expect them to be so scared of seeing someone’s head being cut off like that.

Living comfortably in the Research Center and only dealing with captured monsters, they probably didn’t know how people lived outside.

I comforted the kids, telling them to focus on collecting data and that we would be returning in just a few hours.

Since the time of our return would be moved up depending on the amount of data collected, the kids immediately went back to their positions and started working.

I was looking at the hardworking kids with satisfaction when I was about to return to my spot, but Cha Woojin grabbed me.

“…?”

Seeing Woojin’s pale face, my heart softened.

Should I just let Woojin rest? These hooligans were engaging in more severe acts than I had expected, so the quality of the data was high.

So even if Woojin rested and the number of data points was a little smaller, the Association would be satisfied with the mission results.

I was about to tell Woojin that he could rest if it was too difficult when Woojin spoke to me.

“Are we just going to watch this and go back?”

I had explained all week that our mission was to observe the hooligans, but the beheadings must have been so shocking to Woojin that he even forgot that.

I was guiding the soft-hearted Woojin to a place where he could rest comfortably when Woojin spoke to me again.

“People, people are dying like that! So many people’s lives are being controlled by a few people’s whims, and we’re just going to watch and leave?!”

Woojin seemed to be panicking.

I slowly stroked Woojin’s back to calm him down and answered.

“We are a small team organized to survey the situation, so it’s difficult to rescue those people right away. As I explained before, there are separate missions for infiltration and suppression, right? A specialized team formed for that mission will rescue those people. They will operate much more safely than we would, so don’t worry.”

“But…”

“We are collecting evidence that a team to rescue those people is urgently needed. If we bring back a lot of data, it will be easier for the team rescuing those people to be more professional, so our work is also an important task for them. Those people will be rescued soon, so rest here for a while. Okay?”

While calming Woojin down, I sat him on the sleeping bag I had laid out. Woojin seemed to have calmed down a little; he was receiving my touch and looking down at the floor.

Woojin’s eyelashes fell like elegant black butterflies trying to rest their tired wings.

I was carefully comforting Woojin, who looked pitiful like a frail bridal wreath spiraea that had bloomed too early and was trembling in the cold wind when the kids observing the hooligans started to buzz again.

I had told them to separate and observe the hideout from various directions, so why were they huddled together, taking turns looking through the binoculars and whispering?

I had given them one pair of binoculars per person so they could observe separately.

I approached to check what the kids were doing, and they were delighted and urged me to quickly look at what the hooligans were doing.

I lifted the binoculars hanging around my neck and looked at the hooligans’ movements.

It was definitely a situation that would shock the kids.

The hooligans had killed more people in the meantime, and about ten people’s heads were rolling on the floor.

‘I don’t know what kind of confidence they have to kill people like this.’

They were said to live in a group of about a hundred people, but they were suddenly killing off a tenth of the total.

According to the hooligan data accumulated so far, I could infer that they were reducing their numbers because they didn’t have enough winter food.

Anyway, it must have been a shocking scene for the kids.

I checked with the kids to see if they had recorded the situation. Fortunately, the kids had diligently collected video data even in the midst of their panic.

With this quality of data, we could return right now.

Especially since the production personnel in that hideout were in a critical situation, it seemed good to deliver the data as quickly as possible.

I transmitted the collected data to the Association and ordered the team members to pack their bags.

But Woojin had already come to my side and was watching the situation through the binoculars.

Woojin, who had seen the brutal scene, dropped the binoculars he was holding.

Woojin was frozen stiff, his face as white as a sheet.

“…….”

I was trying to leave so that the faint-hearted Woojin wouldn’t see this situation, but I was one step too late.

Woojin, whom I had managed to stabilize, was panicking again.

I carefully approached the poor Woojin, who was trembling.

If I comforted him like before and let him rest in the corner, Woojin would regain his composure.

I succeeded in approaching Woojin and was carefully thinking about what to say.

Just as I was about to speak, Woojin turned to look at me.

Unexpectedly, Woojin’s eyes were clear and serious. Facing his handsome face, which didn’t look like someone who was terrified and panicking, I was rather taken aback.

Woojin grabbed me and said urgently.

“We have to save those people right now.”

The forceful Woojin was impressive, but the words coming out of his mouth were a difficult request to grant.

“It’s true that those people are in a pitiful situation, but it’s difficult for us to go help them right now. As Woojin also knows, we are a small team that came to spy, so it’s a little difficult to rescue that many people…”

“We have to save them now. If it’s not now, those people won’t be able to survive.”

Woojin interrupted my words and looked straight at me.

Woojin had already firmly grabbed my shoulders with both hands.

Thanks to that, I was facing Woojin’s face head-on. His face was as clear as the moonlight brightly illuminating the dark night, and the expression created by that beautiful face was resolute.

‘How can I, a mere human, reject Woojin, who is like an angel who has come down to the human realm with a sacred mission?’

I decided to rescue the people being massacred at Park Geonhyung’s hideout, as Woojin requested.

Woojin implied that he wanted me to leave right away, but I couldn’t do that.

First, I was going to leave our luggage and some of the team members here as a base.

Even if activity had decreased due to the winter, monsters could still attack, so we needed a minimum defense.

I took out a Magnetic Field Barrier Token from my bag.

This piece of equipment, which was the size of a fist, could create a Magnetic Field Barrier on one side above the line if two or more were placed in a row to create a line.

From outside the barrier, it couldn’t be broken unless it was subjected to an impact exceeding the threshold of the Magnetic Field Barrier. On the other hand, it could be manipulated as much as possible from inside the barrier.

The location and size of the barrier could be adjusted by moving the tokens, and a gap could be created by directly lifting it up like lifting a blanket.

Of course, this was also a very extravagant item to use for the hooligan observation mission, so it wasn’t supplied by the Association. I had purchased it with my own money and brought it with me.

While I was preparing the barrier by placing the tokens in appropriate locations, Woojin had already taken out a rifle from his bag and was preparing a support stand.

That rifle was Woojin’s personal self-defense item that I had bought for him, but it was so heavy that Woojin couldn’t carry it himself, so I had put it in my bag and brought it with me.

I don’t know when Woojin learned how to handle a rifle, but he looked like an expert when he took out the sight and checked it, and he was incredibly cool.

I hadn’t even told him about the team member deployment yet, but he knew his role, so Woojin must be a genius.

In fact, I wasn’t planning to use Woojin as a sniper, but I was touched by his willingness to help.

I taught Woojin and Ham Soyoung how to use the tokens and left for Park Geonhyung’s hideout, pushed by Woojin’s urging.

The people heading to the hooligans’ hideout were me, Jo Yong, and Jang Hana, for a total of three people.

Our three-person team was the optimal combination I had put together to resolve the situation without any major problems.

Jo Yong was the only Esper who had the same ability as me.

As an S-grade, Jo Yong was the superior version of me in terms of ability, so he was receiving a lot of expectations from the researchers.

Jo Yong’s usefulness hadn’t been determined yet, but he was like me in that he didn’t get injured, so it was good to use him as a combatant without worry.

Ham Soyoung was also an S-grade Esper with physical enhancement, but she didn’t have Adamantine Body/Invulnerable Physique, so she could get hurt, so I left her next to Woojin.

Lastly, Jang Hana was the most important member here.

Jang Hana was the only S-grade mental-type Esper in Korea and a multiple ability user with more than three abilities.

Jang Hana’s abilities can be roughly divided into three types: mind reading, polymorph, and memory sharing. Mind reading is literally reading minds, and memory sharing is the same as the ability of Oh Joohyuk, the Inspection Team Leader.

She can read the target’s memories and share them with others.

And Jang Hana’s last ability, polymorph, isn’t an official name, but a convenient name for the result brought about by the ability. The ability that appears to be Jang Hana’s polymorph is actually the result of two abilities.

The official names of Jang Hana’s abilities are Illusion Projection and Somatization.

It’s a bit complicated to explain properly, but to put it simply, Illusion Projection is the ability to make the other person see, hear, and feel hallucinations, and Somatization is the ability to manifest the sensory disturbance of the target on their body.

For example, it’s the ability to give the sensation that a tail has grown and actually make a tail grow.

There’s no other ability that’s really that terrifying. It was that ability that turned Woojin into a cat, or so she said.

Anyway, Jang Hana can’t engage in direct combat, but she will play the biggest role among the three of us.