## Chapter 187 – Beginning of the Assault (1)
***
It was that time of year when the chilly wind blew, making it feel like snow could fall from the sky at any moment.
Sub-zero temperatures, so cold they made your teeth chatter, slowed down the activity of all living things,
and made you want to stay huddled in a warm room, not moving an inch.
Of course, humans living in modern society had to work hard to make a living, regardless of the weather or time of year.
So, they would force themselves to put on thick clothes to protect themselves from the cold,
or turn on the heating inside buildings to ensure smooth social activity.
This was no exception for heroes, who could be said to be the guardians of the city.
“Ugh, it’s cold…!”
A female hero rushed into the office of the United Management Department.
“Wind Trooper! You’re visiting us again today.”
“Yeah! The weather is just too cold, you know….”
It was common for heroes to become friendly with the union staff,
and coming into the office to chat like this was a very normal occurrence.
In fact, it could be a bit annoying from the staff’s point of view,
but the information and effects that could be gained from communicating with heroes were quite good.
They could find out if there were any problems on the ground that office workers would have difficulty knowing,
and it made the heroes feel comfortable with the union organization.
Of course, there was a principle that the hero’s personal information should be kept secret,
but as long as it didn’t deviate from that, the union also encouraged employees to talk to heroes.
“Would you like some coffee? You’re shivering a lot.”
“Ah! I’m okay. I don’t know when another dispatch request will come.
Actually, well… there haven’t been any requests lately.”
For the past few months, the number of villain attacks on heroes, as well as
villainous acts of terror against the city and its citizens, had drastically decreased.
Based on City S, there were usually more than 10 villain crimes, large and small, every day,
but recently, there were many days when not even one case occurred.
“I know. It’s really fortunate that the city is safe,
but it’s the same as saying that the heroes have nothing to do.”
“That’s why I’m worried. It’s already Friday, and I haven’t been out once this week.”
As of now, the number of heroes registered with the union is about 9,000.
Originally, that many heroes were able to work without any problems,
but now only about half of the heroes are dispatched or assigned to other tasks.
As the female clerk said, if no incidents occurred, the city would be peaceful,
but the irony was that the heroes who were supposed to protect that peace were losing their jobs.
“I’ve been doing this for over six years… I don’t think I’ll be able to get promoted to A-class,
I’m just thinking about quitting.”
“There have been almost dozens of people who said they would quit this month alone.
After all, performance is really important in the hero business….”
Heroes basically receive better salaries and treatment than ordinary office workers,
but it feels a little lacking for a job that involves risking your life.
However, in order to overcome this shortcoming, a performance-based system exists for heroes,
and depending on performance, it affects not only salary but also promotion to the next rank.
Especially in the case of B-class or C-class heroes who are not yet on track,
they risk their lives for performance in order to make up for the significantly lower salary compared to A-class.
“Still… you never know what might happen, so we should wait and see.
If we all quit in a rush like that, who knows what might happen.”
Heroes are, after all, people and they can’t help but think about how to make a living in order to earn money,
but there are many who have a great sense of duty to the safety of the city and its citizens, like her.
So, even if there is no work, they always wait at the union wearing their hero suits,
or help citizens in need from nearby while wearing plain clothes on the outside.
– BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEPㅡ BEEP BEEP BEEPㅡ
“What… what is this sound?”
Suddenly, a warning sound began to ring out inside the office.
“What’s going on all of a sudden!! Everyone, hide!!”
“Kyaaaaaaa!!”
The fact that this warning sound was ringing meant that something must have happened inside the union.
It meant to evacuate for the staff, and to dispatch immediately for the heroes.
“First of all, everyone evacuate to the emergency exit behind the office!
I’ll go out and see what’s going on!”
B-class hero Wind Trooper threw off the jumper she was wearing over her hero suit,
evacuated the clerks to the emergency exit at the back of the office, and ran out of the office door.
– KUGWAGWAGWAGㅡ!!!!
“Ugh?!”
As soon as she opened the office door, the roar of an explosion covered her ears,
and thick smoke rose from the hallway stairs, obscuring her vision.
‘What the heck…!’
It was not only the staff who were flustered, but also her, a hero,
but first, she pulled herself together and started going around the nearby offices.
“Evacuate! Keep moving forward!”
She evacuated the panicked union staff to the emergency exits located in each office,
and began to use her ability to secure visibility in preparation for the appearance of a villain.
“Haaaaap…!!”
Her ability, which can be seen from her hero name, is ‘wind’.
It is an ability to control the flow of air to create wind.
– WHOOOOOOOOOOOOSHㅡ
The smoke that was about to fill the hallway was cleared by the wind blowing from her fingertips,
and several heroes who were in the union headquarters and ran out in an emergency began to reveal themselves.
“What’s going on right now? Did a terrorist attack happen at headquarters?”
“I… I don’t know what’s going on either.”
Wind Trooper ran to another female hero across the street and asked what was going on,
but she shook her head and answered as if she didn’t know either.
“It doesn’t seem like there are any more explosions… should we wait and see what happens?”
A hero with orange hair who introduced herself as A-class hero ‘Ignition’.
Ignition seemed to have recognized at once that Wind Trooper was a B-class hero,
rather, she calmed her down and calmly led her out of the hallway.
“According to the message on the device, the explosion points are on the 2nd and 4th floors…,
and the cause is presumed to be explosives of unknown origin.”
According to the message sent to the hero device, a bombing attack was being carried out at the headquarters building,
but fortunately, the location of the explosives was quickly found.
It was something that often happened with a grudge against the hero or for simple terrorist purposes,
and the headquarters building was also equipped with a device to detect these dangers.
“We almost had a big problem…,
There are other management department offices on the 2nd floor and the information department on the 4th floor.”
The management department is the department that manages the union organization itself, including the heroes belonging to the union,
The information department manages not only hero and villain-related information, but also the device system.
It was the same as attacking two key departments that operate the union.
“Since personnel for follow-up measures have already been deployed,
we should give guidance to the office workers we evacuated.”
***
About three hours after the bombing attack,
a message arrived on the device that the situation had been resolved.
“The situation has been resolved… and the staff seem to have returned to work normally.”
Fortunately, the scale of the damage caused by the explosion was not that great,
and it seemed to have ended safely without any employees being killed or injured.
The two heroes, Wind Trooper and Ignition, also reassured the evacuated employees,
They were going around to other floors to help sort out the situation.
“Haa… that’s a relief.”
Wind Trooper, who had been a hero for over six years, seemed to have never experienced a terrorist attack on headquarters,
She took a deep breath, quite surprised.
“Is this your first time experiencing something like this?”
“Yes… I don’t usually have much to do at headquarters.
I’ve been at headquarters a lot lately because there hasn’t been much dispatch work….”
“There hasn’t been much work lately anyway.
I wonder if all the villains have run away as a group.”
The two heroes sat at a table in the hallway for a while, taking a breather and talking.
Ignition put on a jacket over her hero suit and continued the conversation.
“I heard that there are many people who are thinking about quitting the hero business these days,
What do you think, Wind Trooper?”
“If I think about the money, I want to quit… but I don’t think I should.
Even just today, an attack happened in the middle of a quiet time.”
Wind Trooper suspected that something might happen as the quiet and peaceful situation continued.
Experiencing the terrorist attack carried out at headquarters, not anywhere else,
Her suspicion turned into a conviction that she would not quit the hero business.
“You’re a wonderful person. The more peaceful the world is… the less we should become dull.”
Ignition nodded as if agreeing with Wind Trooper’s words,
She picked up the paper cup containing coffee and got up from her seat.
“But what should we do? This terrorist attack won’t be the end of it.”
“What do you mean? I thought the situation was all sorted out earlier…?”
Ignition’s words that the terrorist attack was not over yet.
Wind Trooper tilted her head, understanding that it was not completely finished.
“I don’t think you understand properly… I don’t have time to explain it to you.”
Ignition approached Wind Trooper, who was making a puzzled expression,
and whispered very quietly in her ear.
– KUGWAGWAGWAGWAGWAGWAGWAGWAGWAGWAGWAGㅡ!!!!!!!!!
– BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEPㅡ BEEP BEEP BEEPㅡ
“The main dish starts now. What just happened was just an appetizer…♥”
And the terrorist attack on the union headquarters, which had stopped three hours ago, began again.
