## Chapter 205 – Commencement of Total War (1)
***
A week had already passed since Utopia’s attack on the Hero Alliance headquarters.
The terror, perpetrated by a mere ten or so villains, sent shockwaves throughout South Korea. In a single day, the Alliance and the Armed Forces were rendered nearly dysfunctional, a truly perilous situation.
Thanks to the newly appointed Director’s negotiation with the villain leader, the damage was contained, but the aftermath of the terror was proving difficult to recover from quickly.
Except for the main building, which housed the headquarters, everything else required complete reconstruction. Even the main building was partially collapsed, making it clear that rebuilding would take months.
However, immediately after the terror ceased, the Alliance did not begin restoration work on the headquarters. Instead, they deployed hundreds of heroes to the untouched site.
“Why are we suddenly stationed at the headquarters reconstruction site?”
“That’s what I’m saying. Apparently, it’s the order of the new Director?”
The deployed heroes couldn’t understand why they were being made to wait at a site where work hadn’t even begun, instead of performing their usual duties of rescuing citizens and subduing villains.
They had already secured an agreement from the villains who caused the terror that they wouldn’t attack the Alliance again, and this was a busy time for stabilizing a society in chaos.
Normally, they would just wait quietly until they were called out, but with the Alliance’s functions paralyzed, they now had to patrol the city and assess the situation.
“What can we do… we have to do what they tell us.”
“We’re lucky if we don’t die just standing here.”
They didn’t seem too pleased with the new Director’s orders, but they kept quiet, not knowing what would happen if they disobeyed a superior’s command.
They could only hope that another villain attack wouldn’t occur, and watch for anyone crossing the boundary line.
“Was there a rain forecast for today? Why is it so dark?”
“I didn’t hear anything about rain… Could there be a fire over there?”
As dozens of heroes repeated their guard duty for several hours, a dark silhouette began to appear faintly beyond the boundary line.
“I’ll go take a closer look! Please wait here.”
A spirited young hero used his ability to fly into the air and quickly headed towards the dark shape.
“What is it…? Why are so many buses lined up coming this way…?”
The dark silhouette turned out to be a line of vehicles heading towards the Alliance headquarters.
A convoy of what looked like at least ten buses completely occupied the road, led gracefully by a luxurious sedan in front.
“Senior… can you hear me?”
“Yeah… what’s wrong? Why does it look so dark?”
Sensing something was amiss, he reached into his suit pocket for his communication device to contact his senior hero.
– Zzzzzzzㅡ
“Gah…?!”
A red laser beam shot from somewhere towards his abdomen, instantly creating a large hole. Unable to maintain flight, he fell.
“What?! What’s going on! Answer me! Is it a villain?!”
“I… don’t… know… Gah…!”
The impact of hitting the building wall and falling onto the road from dozens of meters in the air was significant. It was an injury that even a hero with a strong body would find hard to endure.
Unable to properly answer his senior’s call due to the burning pain, he screamed and desperately tried to stop the blood flowing from his pierced abdomen.
“Hey! Hey! This… this looks bad! Th… Zzzzzzzㅡ”
When the junior hero who made the call didn’t respond, the senior hero urgently shouted, as if trying to signal a critical situation.
But as fate would have it, the transmission suddenly cut off, leaving only a loud static noise ringing in his ears.
“Se… nior…”
His body began to cool down due to the severe blood loss, and his once bright eyes seemed to acknowledge their fading light.
– Tap… tap…
In front of the young hero, now in a miserable state, the sound of heavy boots began to approach, replacing the noisy static from the device.
Soon, the sound stopped near his head, and the owner of the boots whispered something in his ear.
“You… you came to scout us out from afar, didn’t you?”
The woman, swinging her long pink hair, sneered mockingly and stomped on the dying hero’s head with her boots.
‘I have to… fight back…!’
She was clearly the one who shot the laser at him, and he knew exactly why they were heading to the Alliance headquarters.
But he had been easily incapacitated by a single attack and had no strength to resist her mockery.
His best hope was that his cooling body would quickly meet death, or that his screams would alert other heroes to the approaching danger.
“I didn’t think you’d take that slow laser head-on…, should I have fired it a little to the side?”
Kaiser, the former leader of the Dark Knights and president of Shadow Company, was ultimately the leader of an illegal organization, a villain group.
She seemed disappointed as she looked at the hero, whose vision was blurred and consciousness fading, as if she had intended to use him as a test subject if he hadn’t been hit directly by the laser.
“If he’s already dying, he’s useless.”
She had modified countless people to create her weapons, but even she couldn’t do anything in situations that were beyond repair.
“Ugh…”
She kicked the hero, who could barely manage a faint scream, aside and opened the back door of the luxurious sedan she had been riding in.
“To the boundary line… in front of the Alliance headquarters site.”
“Boundary line of the Alliance headquarters site… confirmed.”
Her secretary, who had been standing in front of the driver’s seat, nodded expressionlessly, got into the driver’s seat, and stepped on the pedal again, advancing towards the Alliance headquarters with the bus convoy.
***
Meanwhile… at the Utopia organization’s hideout on the outskirts of S City.
Normally, they would be praising the Slaves who had returned from their destructive activities as villains, or on other days, enjoying a peaceful life and a sex life filled with carnal desires.
But now, Siyoon and all the Slaves were gathered in the living room, dressed and ready for battle at any moment.
Thanks to Chaeryung’s efforts, they knew that former Director Kaiser had contacted the managing director and executives, and they were certain that an attack on the Alliance would eventually begin due to Kaiser’s unknown power.
It was somewhat strange that the villain organization Utopia was preparing for an attack on the Hero Alliance, but this was part of their plan to use Sua, the Director of the Hero Alliance.
“Uh…? The heroes are… agitated…!”
Chaeryung’s clone, standing next to the heroes deployed at the site, sensed an unusual atmosphere, and that atmosphere was transmitted to Chaeryung, who shared her senses.
“Are they… here…?”
“Everyone is murmuring, so I don’t know exactly what’s going on, but… it seems the communication with the hero who went out to scout something strange has been cut off.”
– Ddrrrringㅡ
“This is…!”
Chaeryung anxiously told Siyoon and the females the facts, and soon after, Sua’s cell phone rang, its urgent notification sound signaling a dire situation.
“Director…!!”
The caller was none other than B-class hero Wind Trooper.
He had been captured and brainwashed by Siyoon during the attack a few days ago and destroyed the city, but he had remained brainwashed ever since and was also serving as Sua’s secretary under Siyoon’s orders.
“V… villains…!”
“It’s okay… first, hide in a safe place and speak calmly.”
Wind Trooper was stuttering, seemingly quite flustered. Sua calmly told him to take refuge in a safe place and asked about the situation on the ground.
“Communication with the hero who went outside the boundary line for reconnaissance has been cut off…, and now several buses are approaching the headquarters all at once from beyond the boundary line…!”
“I understand. I’ll send support soon, so please tell them not to panic as much as possible.”
Another attack had begun on the headquarters, which hadn’t even started reconstruction work yet.
“Haa…”
Sua sighed, feeling a complex mix of emotions that were hard to explain.
Just a few days ago, she had joined forces with a villain organization that had almost destroyed the Alliance and was taking refuge in their hideout. Now, she had to borrow their power to fend off an attack from another villain organization.
Moreover, that villain organization was cooperating with someone who held key power in the Hero Alliance, so it was no wonder Sua’s mind was in such turmoil.
But what could she do?
She had to protect the Alliance, her father’s legacy, no matter what. Sua bit her lip slightly, lifted her head, and steeled her resolve.
Seeing Sua’s determined expression, Siyoon grinned with interest and stood up, opening his mouth.
“Last time, the goal was to attack the Alliance headquarters and the heroes…, but this time, we’re doing the exact opposite.
The goal is to subdue the guys who are trying to attack the Alliance headquarters building and the heroes, and to capture the leader and the managing director who are leading them.
Honestly, I don’t really care what happens to the heroes…, but that would be breaking the contract with this great Director, so be careful.”
As Siyoon, the leader of Utopia and Sua’s collaborator, finished speaking, the nine Slaves also stood up and nodded vigorously, reaffirming their will to fight.
“Nyaa…! We’ll move out!”
And one by one, they took Chaeryung’s hand and switched places with her clones, beginning to move to the scene to wage a full-scale war.
