## Chapter 52 – Showdown at the Rest Stop (1)
***
“M-Ms. Serafina? What’s wrong?!”
“Ugh… Uaaaaaaah!!!”
A Hero Alliance agent was thrown before Magical Seraphina.
He had become a human bomb due to Firecracker’s ability, ‘Bombification,’ and was trembling with a fearful expression, sensing something was wrong with his body.
“S-Save me…! Hero… please save me…!”
– KUKWAKWAKWAKWAKWAKWANG—!!!!
“Kyaaaaaaaaah!!!!”
Magical Seraphina couldn’t do anything to help the Alliance agent’s desperate plea and was engulfed in the explosion.
“Seraphina?!”
The force of the massive explosion slammed her against the rooftop exit wall, and she couldn’t get up easily, seemingly from the impact.
“Hoo… It’s been a while since I’ve turned someone into a bomb.”
Only traces of the building’s destruction remained where the explosion occurred, with not even a shred of flesh left from the exploded agent’s body.
Only a wisp of smoke rose, as if the agent’s soul was fading away.
“Making corpse bombs is always so difficult to concentrate on. If I mess up, only parts of them explode, and blood and flesh go flying everywhere.”
Firecracker showed no remorse for sacrificing an innocent person, instead offering an evaluation and commentary on the explosion.
“Seraphina! Are you okay?”
Magical Aquamarine, who had been in combat with Executioner, ran to Seraphina and supported her, as she was heavily injured and bleeding in several places.
“T-The agent… right there… without a trace…!”
The injuries caused by the explosion’s force were a problem, but even more serious was her mental state after witnessing the agent’s explosion.
“Are you okay? Can you get up?”
“T-That… the agent…!”
She stuttered like Firecracker before removing his gloves, unable to open her eyes properly, and hung her head with a tearful expression.
“What? Is she acting like that over just one person exploding?”
Firecracker seemed dumbfounded by Magical Seraphina’s weak appearance, raising his arm and shaking his head.
“Further unnecessary combat is a waste of time. Crazy Chain seems to have moved as well… We should scatter.”
Executioner, who had resheathed his blades into his arm, tapped Firecracker’s shoulder.
At his call, Firecracker took out the gloves he had kept in his cheongsam sleeve and slipped his hands in.
“Ah…! Aah…! Y-You’re right! Yes, yes!”
Then, as if he had become a different person, he returned to his previous way of speaking and acting, answering Executioner hesitantly.
“If we can’t find them within a week, we’ll meet at B City Airport instead of here. See ya.”
“Y-Yes…! To the airport!”
Having decided on a place to meet again if they failed to find either ‘Trickster’ Chaeryeong or Kaiser’s boss, the two villains disappeared without a trace.
“Kuh-ooh…!”
Magical Aquamarine, holding Seraphina, who was in shock both physically and mentally, could only watch as the villains she had to catch disappeared.
“If only… if only I were a stronger hero…”
She realized vividly that all the villains she had faced until now were just fakes.
She had certainly succeeded in damaging them and had blocked attacks that were almost invisible.
Magical Seraphina had done the same.
But the reason they were suddenly overwhelmed unilaterally was definitely because of something felt from the two villains, Firecracker and Executioner.
She thought, holding the panting Seraphina with her eyes closed, that she had to overcome that something to become a stronger and braver hero, that she had to overcome it and defeat those villains.
“Let’s… go back for now. Seraphina.”
***
The morning after a clash between several villains and heroes in front of a shopping district in S City.
Chaeryeong, Jiwoo, and Siyoon, excluding Dowa, were standing on the street near the hideout, waiting for something.
“Oh! This is really amazing.”
While waiting, Jiwoo and Siyoon were watching Chaeryeong create clones with her ability, ‘Doppelganger,’ for fun.
“Like this… Nya!”
Her eyes, containing her red pupils, closed gently, and after concentrating for a moment, a pale smoke leaked from her body.
– Shooooo…
The smoke leaking from Chaeryeong’s body gathered and gathered, slowly forming into a cloud mass resembling a human body.
And the shape of the cloud-like gas mass gradually changed in more and more detail, until it was made into a clone with the same appearance as Chaeryeong with a pop.
“I can even make up to three! Isn’t that amazing?”
The faces of the two Chaeryeongs were filled with anticipation, like children waiting for praise from an adult.
Seeing that, Siyoon wondered for a moment which one was real, then just smiled and scratched both of their chins.
“”Nyaaang…♥””
Two black female cats rubbed their faces against his chest.
“M-Me too, I want to be held by Master!”
Jiwoo was amazed to see the clone showing the same expression and movements, and when the two Chaeryeongs tried to hug Siyoon, she grabbed his arm tightly and tried to hug him.
“You’re all so cute I could die.”
– Vroooom—!
He was smiling contentedly as he looked at the two female cats and one maid in his arms when a large mid-sized car stopped in front of them.
A large and clean mid-sized car big enough for six sturdy men to ride comfortably.
“Alright! Everyone, get in!”
Dowa, who had a driver’s license, had rented a car and driven it near the hideout.
“Okay. Let’s all get in!”
Chaeryeong, who had dispelled her clone, and Jiwoo, who had returned to wearing a hoodie instead of her maid uniform for the first time in a while, got into the back seat, and Siyoon got into the passenger seat next to Dowa.
“Take the highway to the beach in Y City. Was it near there?”
“Nyaang! That’s right! Ms. Dowa.”
Chaeryeong fiddled with the spare cell phone Siyoon had given her, then quickly searched for the address and held it out to him.
“In the navigation… Okay. We can start now. Kaiser’s boss… I’ll finally get to see what he looks like, at least.”
The place they were heading to through the address Chaeryeong had entered was the Dark Knights’ temporary base and the place where Kaiser’s boss was temporarily hiding.
“It’ll take at least an hour to get there. Should we stop at a rest stop along the way?”
It would take at least an hour to get to the beach in Y City where the temporary base was located.
“Yeah, it looks like everyone hasn’t eaten breakfast, so they must be hungry.”
“There’s one on the navigation route… We can stop at that rest stop.”
“Rest stop! Are we going to a rest stop?”
When the word “rest stop” came up, Jiwoo asked Siyoon with an excited voice.
“Yeah. Why? Is there something you want to do there?”
“W-Well! I heard there are a lot of delicious snacks at rest stops… Hehe.”
Rest stops are originally places for those tired from long periods of driving and riding to rest. In recent years, they have also become popular as places with delicious food and snacks.
Jiwoo doesn’t usually eat well, but she is very interested in cookies and snacks, so she reacted to the word “rest stop.”
“What should we eat when we get there? Walnut cookies or maybe skewered sausage and rice cake?”
“Jiwoo doesn’t eat her meals very well, but she goes crazy for snacks. She always bought cookies at the Alliance dormitory, so I often scolded her.”
“T-That’s! The dormitory food didn’t suit my taste…”
Her food intake has increased somewhat since becoming a maid at the hideout, but she still preferred snacks like cookies and sausages.
The amount of soda she drank in a day was about two 1.5L bottles, so Siyoon was worried that something might be wrong with her health.
“But she’s been eating her meals regularly and trying to cut down on snacks lately, right? She didn’t eat any of the drinks or bread in the fridge yesterday.”
“Hehe! Health management is essential to becoming a diligent maid!”
Jiwoo had been aware that her eating habits were a problem.
She hadn’t really thought about fixing it when she was living a life of reversed days and nights, occasionally doing hero activities, and playing games all day.
However, after becoming a maid who had to manage the hideout and serve her master, she seemed to think that she had to be healthy to become a better maid.
“Hee-eum… Nyaaaa…”
While Jiwoo and Dowa were bickering, Chaeryeong had fallen asleep and was lying on Jiwoo’s lap.
“She’s already asleep?”
Jiwoo noticed the weight on her lap and was startled, but she calmed down as she watched Chaeryeong sleeping sweetly.
“She’s really like a cat… Cute.”
Of course, she had removed her cat tail and ears before coming outside, but Jiwoo carefully stroked her head, finding Chaeryeong, who was acting like a cat, cute.
“Nyaa? Ms. Jiwoo?”
“Uwaaah?!”
Jiwoo was startled and raised her hand in surprise when Chaeryeong, who had dozed off, woke up feeling Jiwoo’s touch.
“It’s okay if you keep stroking me. Ms. Jiwoo’s hands are soft and squishy, so I like them!”
“T-Then… hehe…♥”
And so, the four of them spent their time getting closer and closer to the place where Kaiser’s boss was staying.
