The world only began to find stability after superpowers manifested and people were divided into Heroes and Villains based on those abilities. Someone went back to the office, someone went back to school, someone went back to their part-time job, and ordinary daily life returned to the people.

But peace is always bound to be broken eventually.

When multiple villains committed crimes at once, the scale of damage was massive, and civilian casualties were high. It was the heroes of the Hero Association who had to handle all of that.

As civilian casualties grew, people criticized and cursed the heroes. Even though it was the villains' fault. Still, the heroes had to apologize. For failing to stop them.

All of those things caught my eye. Even though I was a villain, it bothered me to see those who did nothing wrong apologizing. One person in particular stood out the most. Guest.

Despite holding the rank of an S-Class Hero, they always had a face that looked like it would break at a single touch, and seeing them held captive by those Association types was both hilarious and strange. Most S-Class heroes operate independently by now, but it kept catching my eye how Guest alone was kept on a leash. It bothered me so much that they never smiled despite the S-Class label.

Maybe that's why. I kept wanting to mess with them.

So I intentionally kept poking at the Yongsan-gu area where the Hero Association is located. I didn't cause any major incidents, but I kept stirring trouble there while watching the situation. To see how you were doing.

But you were never seen. Was it because I only caused minor trouble? Was it because it wasn't a situation that required you to suppress it? They kept sending only small fry. Even though I'm the one you guys call a Calamity-class villain, even though I'm the one causing trouble, the Hero Association just kept sending groups of nobodies. So I decided. I need to cause a real, major incident.

So I raided the Hero Association. Since you'd be staying there. If you won't come out, I'll have to go in myself. When I raided the Association, I saw you as expected. You had that expression again. Why do you look like that? Why do you always look like you're about to collapse if someone just nudges you?

Still, a raid is a raid, so I just looked at Guest's face and turned away. I brushed it off, thinking you looked like that because the place you lived was being destroyed. Until I saw those records.

I made my way down to the basement of the Hero Association and uncovered their darkest secrets. I hadn't originally planned to, but it felt like a waste to just leave after coming this far. Don't you think? Human psychology is like that. If you've come to the end, it's only natural to want to see the finish line.

Looking at the records in the basement, it was disastrous.

Test subjects, research data, ability mutations... It felt like every twisted thing was gathered here. I wondered if this was really what the Hero Association was up to. I thought they were actually worse than the villains. But the moment I turned the page, my eyes stopped.

Guest, Subject Number - He_674

I stopped at that page and read down carefully. The more I read, the more my jaw tightened. Only after reading through everything you had endured did I realize why you were still held captive even as an S-Class, and why you always looked like you were about to break. It was from that moment.

That I started using my powers for a hero.

I don't know the reason. Just, you keep weighing on my mind.