NOVEL NEXT Chapter 33 - Hawk Eye Hero Office (3)
As the exam week ended and May approached, university students’ faces were relaxed with a sense of liberation, but mine was still tightly tense.
“Phew.”
Thanks to Yuna’s recommendation, I would intern at a hero office.
An office meeting the exact conditions I wanted.
If I complete about 6 months of internship there, I can become a hero.
Just slack off.
Greed sighed and smacked the back of my head.
This brat was making a fuss telling me to quickly choose an internship until recently, but already seems bored of it.
It’s probably because of that high school student incident.
Kim Insoo.
The second-year high school student who suddenly awakened abilities and committed an assault incident.
With Yuna’s help, it was ruled as self-defense, concluding with community service and a suspension.
The three turned from victims to perpetrators were expelled from school, so they won’t bully him anymore.
You must have realized that powerless justice is no better than a puppy’s whimpering.
Greed’s words were biting but struck the core.
“Yeah, it does seem that way.”
Simply apprehending monsters and villains doesn’t resolve every incident.
So I need to consider other methods too.
Such as?
“Becoming incredibly famous.”
Heroes are idols.
If I prove my abilities and become famous like TV idols, my influence will grow stronger too.
As an official superhero, not just a rookie nameless hero, I could have saved him even without Yuna’s help.
It would have ended by appearing on TV or leaking information to reporters.
Whether politicians or businesses were involved, I could have achieved my desired outcome.
So I intend to change now.
Being a hero has transitioned from an aspiration to reality for me.
Then I need to change accordingly too.
Now you’re making sense!
Greed clapped my shoulders while cackling loudly.
I inadvertently seem to be influenced by Greed to some degree.
Let’s go check it out quickly!
“Yeah.”
Until recently complaining constantly, Greed now seems curious about the hero office too.
With Netflix flooded by superhero movies these days, it’s understandable.
After adjusting my tie one last time, I left home.
The hero office is located between my school and current residence, reachable directly by bus.
Let’s see…
“There it is.”
Hawk Eye Hero Office.
It looked clean and tidy, as if the sign had been newly installed.
I headed up to the office and knocked on the door.
Knock knock.
Come in.
Entering, I saw a man sitting at a desk.
In his late 30s, with an overall ordinary appearance.
“I am the hero Hawk Eye.”
“Ah, nice to meet you. I’m Lee Jinwoo, who contacted you earlier.”
“Yes, have a seat over there.”
The man who introduced himself as Hawk Eye checked my resume, then eagerly shook my hand, telling me to do my best.
Perhaps due to Yuna’s introduction, it was an interview too perfunctory to even call an interview.
“I’m a multiple ability user with clairvoyance and psychometry.”
Clairvoyance and psychometry are common yet crucial abilities.
Is it a romantic aspiration?
Aspirations can’t be helped.
You’re right.
Despite having non-combat abilities, his운영ing a hero office seemed admirable for pursuing his dream over money.
“For now, Jinwoo can intern here while deciding on a hero name and suit. Is there anything specific you’d like to do?”
“Rather than waiting at the office, could I patrol periodically instead?”
“Yes, no problem.”
As we engaged in quite a pleasant conversation, a strange thought crossed my mind.
I had initially dismissed it as a romantic aspiration, but it was strange.
Hero offices do receive basic government subsidies.
However, for such a prime office location, the rent must be considerable, possibly unaffordable on just the subsidies.
Additional subsidies are provided as heroes’ activity counts increase, but abilities like clairvoyance or psychometry wouldn’t yield much.
Most such ability users join the Ability Response Team instead, often having their work taken over when dispatched to scenes.
Did my preoccupation show on my face? Hawk Eye began scratching his face.
“This isn’t actually my building.”
“Huh?”
“Well, I also have a story like you, Jinwoo…”
Hawk Eye showed a rather complicated expression.
But it clearly said ‘Hawk Eye Hero Office’…
As I looked around perplexed at his words, I noticed a door leading further inward.
“What’s in there?”
“That’s where the president resides. She’s currently inside, so you should greet her.”
“The president?”
“Yes. She’s the building owner as well…”
I had thought it wasn’t a shell company, so that was a relief, but it seems to be exactly that.
Since a hero established the office, it’s not a complete shell at least…
Knock knock.
Come in.
When I knocked, a woman’s voice flowed out from inside.
A very familiar voice I felt I’d heard somewhere before.
Opening the door, Yuna in a suit was glaring at the monitor on the desk before glancing up at me.
“I’m Seo Yuna, president of the Hawk Eye Hero Office.”
“…I’m Lee Jinwoo, who will be interning at the Hawk Eye Hero Office starting today.”
“I’ll be in your care.”
“…Yes, please take care of me as well.”
Yuna immediately turned her head back towards the monitor.
So from the start, it was Yuna’s… no, the GB Group’s building.
Yuna looked at the monitor with a serious expression, as if I wasn’t even worth her attention.
Her slightly cold, haughty expression, serious demeanor in her suit gave the impression of a truly capable career woman.
No, that’s not it.
Yes, you’re right…
As Yuna gazed at the monitor with a serious expression, my eyes enhanced by Greed’s indwelling to transcend human senses could see the screen reflected in her pupils.
A split screen, with text on a whiteboard on one side and a man in a shirt on the other.
A sight quite familiar to any university student… an online lecture.
She must have enrolled in remote classes soon after recovering from her sickbed.
With the rise of natural disasters like monsters and villains, a system was instituted to credit remote lectures for special circumstances.
Yuna must be taking an online class for that reason.
A university student (around my age) in a body-hugging suit, with a deadly serious expression while watching an internet lecture in the office.
I had to bite my lip to suppress an urge to laugh.
Wasn’t it like she was proudly proclaiming “I’m a career woman who owns this building, isn’t it awesome~”?
Her childlike attempt to appear mature evoked a sense of closeness in me.
“…Do you still have business here?”
“No, I’ll be going, President.”
Yuna’s shoulders twitched, seemingly pleased with the ‘President’ honorific.
Stifling another laugh, I exited through the door.
Yuna’s image changes dramatically with every encounter.
When we first met, she gave the impression of a chaebol heiress from dramas.
Since I had helped her, she outright told me to ask for whatever I needed as recompense.
The second time, I thought she was quite brazen.
Despite me declining, she insisted on intruding and being discourteous.
The third time, despite her inconvenienced legs, her whining revealed an unexpectedly relatable side.
And today’s sight confirmed it for me.
Yuna is… she has evolved one stage beyond the “chuunibyou” (delusion of being a supernatural entity) phase into a “kounibyou” (delusion of being an adult) phase.
She’s a high schooler idolizing the image of a haughty, sophisticated career woman.
According to Yuna’s attending mother at Buwonjae Hospital, Yuna contracted the Ability Syndrome in the winter of her 19th year, making her 21 this year.
Despite re-enrolling due to her disability, she’s still taking lectures remotely, remaining a high schooler in the truest sense.
A mental high schooler!
Thinking of it that way, she felt like a little sister, dissipating any discomfort.
Preconceptions can be truly terrifying.
You’re right about that.
Success.
Yuna flashed a victorious smile, glad she had followed her brother’s suggestion.
After the online lecture ended and she stretched briefly, Yuna pursed her lips recalling Jinwoo’s dazed gaze upon her.
As always, following her brother’s advice granted unexpected rewards, like money or cake appearing out of nowhere.
Jinwoo’s dazed expression from moments ago resurfaced.
Though slightly embarrassed, her stylish, sexy suit made her look quite flattering through self-praise.
Presenting a serious, career woman demeanor absorbed in her duties, didn’t she appear slightly agape and dazed?
Yuna smiled widely while twitching her shoulders, recalling that expression.
On the day Yuna received Juwon’s scolding, she learned how to approach Jinwoo.
It was to establish a hero office and become its president.
Clairvoyance risks privacy violations, so using it during official duties or without prior reporting is restricted.
Despite knowing this, Yuna hired the multiple ability user Jinhyuk to use his abilities.
If this fact was revealed externally, it could damage the company’s image.
So Juwon instructed Yuna to hire Jinhyuk at the GB Group.
And to have him establish a hero office while appointing him as its figurehead president.
When Yuna asked his reasons, Juwon explained them one by one.
First, the hero office Jinwoo seeks doesn’t exist in reality.
While hero offices receive government subsidies, it’s result-oriented.
They are operated in an extremely stringent manner befitting the use of citizens’ taxes.
That’s why heroes these days are derisively called “ticket people” despite desperately seeking exposure.
They’ve faced the reality that you can’t survive on just romantic aspirations.
They even recklessly invent slang or actively utilize internet broadcasts to promote themselves.
In such times, a hero who wants to intern and simply patrol without office obligations?
An office allowing that freedom doesn’t exist.
Conventional hero offices, whether interns or otherwise, must maximize utilization to accumulate results for ample subsidies.
An office unconcerned with results? It would go bankrupt from failing to cover maintenance costs.
There’s an opportunity to capitalize on this.
The office he desires doesn’t exist in reality. If it doesn’t exist? Then create it.
However, Yuna doesn’t have a hero license.
Hero offices can only be established in principle by licensed heroes.
So she hires the aforementioned Jinhyuk as a figurehead president at the hero office.
And Yuna enters under the pretense of being the office secretary while effectively acting as president.
As president, she now has reason to commute to the office daily.
Jinwoo has to work as an intern, so he’ll inevitably encounter Yuna from morning till night.
That would give them ample time to get to know each other.
Even if Jinwoo frequently leaves on patrols, it wouldn’t matter.
Hero patrols are connected to the office system.
Since heroes dispatched to scenes inevitably have narrow viewpoints, the office provides information support via earpieces.
That also alleviates any mental burden of calling without reason.
Upon hearing the explanation, Yuna naturally followed Juwon’s suggestion.
As always, following her brother’s advice grants unexpected rewards.