## Chapter 90 – Despair, and Rampage (1)
***
The office floor where the upper-echelon staff and executives of the Hero Association headquarters worked.
Due to the nature of hero work, which mostly takes place externally,
it was a place where most heroes didn’t have much reason to come.
However, even among those heroes, there were those who carried out the orders of the higher-ups,
fulfilling the role of a kind of special agent.
And one such hero, the A-Class Hero ‘Ice Queen’ Seol Lumi, was currently standing blankly in that office, waiting for the superior who had summoned her.
‘How long do I have to wait…?
I was told to come by 2 o’clock for sure.’
The current time indicated by the office wall was 3:07 PM.
It was well past the scheduled call time of 2 PM.
Lumi had arrived at 1:30 PM, much earlier than the scheduled call time,
but she hadn’t seen the face of the superior who had called her for almost two hours.
– Creakㅡ
The owner of the office entered, opening the office door.
It was that superior who had thrown a wad of paper with negative articles about the Hero Association written on it,
and had often hurled abuse at Lumi.
He didn’t have any sense of apology for making Lumi wait for so long,
and took out a cigarette from his chest pocket, put it in his mouth, and sat on the sofa.
“What is it? What’s going on?”
Rather, as if he had forgotten that he had called Lumi, he asked what she had come for.
“You left a call message to come to the office by 2 PM.”
“Ah! That’s right. Yes, I had something to tell you?”
He lit the cigarette with a lighter, repeatedly sucking and exhaling,
continuously blowing cigarette smoke towards the direction where Lumi was standing.
“Now, you won’t have any reason to come to this office anymore.”
“What… do you mean?”
“What do I mean? It means that I won’t be entrusting you with any important missions from the Association in the future.”
The superior’s words that he would not entrust Lumi with important tasks from the Association in the future.
The superior chuckled and explained the reason to the bewildered Lumi.
“In the process of arresting the high-ranking executives of the Dark Knights…
Didn’t the task you were entrusted with mostly end in failure?
The Trickster case too… and the Firecracker case as well.
It seems the higher-ups have lost confidence in you and your abilities?”
“That… that’s…!”
“It’s not a decision I made. Of course, I won’t say that my opinion didn’t play a part.”
The first task she was assigned, the Trickster case, was due to a lack of understanding of the ability called ‘Doppelganger.’
And the Firecracker case, which she had found out by inducing an interrogation of the Executioner,
failed because she had already disappeared from the airport by Si-yoon without her knowing.
The only case she successfully subdued was the Executioner case,
but even that resulted in significant damage to the rest area facilities, and the Association had to pay a lot of money.
Moreover, all the information obtained through the interrogation of the Executioner was useless,
and the Association judged that the disadvantages outweighed the advantages overall.
Lumi had expected some kind of disciplinary action due to the series of continuous operation failures, which was unlike her usual self,
but the fact that she wouldn’t be assigned any more operations was practically equivalent to being fired.
“Then… what about the matter you promised to help me with…?”
“Well, of course… it’s off the table.
Wasn’t the condition for fulfilling the promise to successfully complete the assigned missions?”
Lumi’s purpose for joining the Hero Association.
To be precise, the reason she volunteered for these arduous important tasks.
It was to find her sister, who had suddenly gone missing one day,
and disappeared from Lumi’s side, who had been living an ordinary life.
“Then… what happens to all the work I’ve done so far?”
The sense of despair that all the work she had done for the Association with the condition of finding her sister would be in vain.
Lumi’s face, which had always been expressionless, crumbled for a moment due to that despair,
and she looked as if she would burst into tears at any moment.
“Didn’t I just say? Since you couldn’t fulfill the promise… it’s off the table.
Don’t make me say it twice and make my mouth hurt.”
The superior puffed on his cigarette while looking at Lumi’s expression,
and spoke as if he was glad that Lumi’s situation didn’t turn out well.
From his perspective, he was displeased with a junior who was much stronger than himself during his prime,
but he had been using her as a pawn, listening well with a promise he wouldn’t keep, and planned to discard her when she became a nuisance.
‘How… how can this be…?
I’ve worked so hard for so many years… is failing a few missions enough to make this happen…?’
The saying “discarding a hunting dog after the hunt.”
A four-character idiom that describes how, after using a hunting dog to catch a rabbit that is difficult to catch by human hands due to its speed,
the dog is also boiled and eaten along with the rabbit once the task is finished.
This four-character idiom, which means to discard someone without hesitation once they are deemed useless,
was the reason for the great despair Lumi was feeling now.
‘This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening….’
Although she is usually called ‘Ice Queen’ like her hero name because she doesn’t express emotions to others at all,
she was clenching her fists tightly and trembling due to the great despair and betrayal.
‘I’ve been abandoned…? After making me do so many difficult and harsh things countless times…
After making me capture hundreds of villains I don’t even know who they are…
Now you’re saying you’re going to abandon me…?’
“But you made a lot of money in the past 5 years, didn’t you? Isn’t that right?
You even had dozens of agents attached to you. Other guys can’t do that, right?”
However, as if he felt relieved that he had used Lumi as much as he wanted and then discarded her,
the man even spouted nonsense, saying that she had received enough treatment as a hero.
“Get out now! I feel so relieved that I don’t have to see one more annoying bitch anymore.”
Then, the man waved his hand as if chasing away a bird and told her to leave immediately.
Lumi walked towards the door, trembling her fists and legs as the man said.
– Clickㅡ
“What? What’s that sound?”
However, Lumi did not open the door and go outside,
but rather locked the office door and walked back towards the man.
– Tap… Tap…
The sound of Lumi’s shoes heading towards her superior.
Each tapping sound echoed in the office as if filled with quiet anger.
“Tell me right now. What happened to my sister.”
Not the tearful expression from a moment ago,
but in that expression that seemed so cold and resolute, you could feel the anger and despair pressed down.
“What? Are you saying you’re going to rebel against me now? You impudent bitch.”
– Crackleㅡ!!!
A sharp ice fang rose from the tip of Lumi’s hand extended towards her superior,
pressing down on the part between his neck and chin, which could be said to be a vital point.
“Wh-what are you doing?!”
“I told you to tell me right now.”
The superior was flustered by Lumi’s insubordination, who had never resisted any abusive language until now.
The man was a senior to Lumi and had a not-so-short career as a hero in the past,
and he was by no means a weak person as he was recognized for his career and hard work and was an executive of the Association.
However, he had been doing only executive work for over 10 years, and his skills in using his abilities had deteriorated a lot,
and it would be difficult for him to launch a counterattack against Lumi, who was among the strongest of the active A-Class heroes.
The man, knowing this fact, was flustered and dropped the cigarette he was holding in his mouth for a moment,
but he did not move his body to avoid being stabbed in a vital point, stopping the stimulation towards her.
“Nothing will change by doing this. It’s a fact that you failed the mission.
If the fact that you have disobeyed your superior becomes known, the disciplinary action against you will become even more severe.”
However, Lumi’s ears could not hear the man’s words properly now.
She had been accumulating extreme stress in various ways for several years,
but she had been using the Association’s promise to find her sister as a support.
In addition, recently, she had to fail in missions to suppress those whose whereabouts were unknown with little information,
and even in the before and after process of the mission, she had to follow the Association’s incomprehensible instructions.
In the midst of all this, not only was she facing disciplinary action, but now they were saying they would cancel the promise,
and the things that had been festering and rotting inside her began to pour out.
“Tell me… right now… I said…!!!”
In Lumi’s agitated voice, which no one had ever heard before, was filled with anger,
aimed at the neck of the toothless tiger who was flustered and didn’t know what to do.
“Kuh…! I told you… nothing would change by doing this…!
Are you trying to threaten me…?!”
Even in the moment of life and death, the superior did not back down,
but rather warned that he didn’t know what would happen if he touched him.
However, such words did not help the man’s safety at all,
but rather only served to press down on his neck more strongly and sharply.
– Pshooook…!
The sharp ice awl pierced into the neck that was being pressed down,
and a little hot blood spurted out from the gap.
“Kuaaaaaak!! Kueeeee…!!”
The man, who became desperate when he was actually stabbed in the neck, struggled to get out of this situation somehow,
but there was nothing next to him that he could use as a weapon or to protect his body.
Moreover, all the offices on the floor where the office was located were designed with thorough soundproofing for security purposes,
so even if he screamed, no one outside would be able to hear him.
The only way he could ask for help from the outside was by phone.
However, if he moved his hand to grab the phone, Lumi, who had lost her reason, would attack.
However, just staying still didn’t mean that his chances of survival would increase that much,
so the man chose one of several options, hoping that it wouldn’t be the worst choice.
“I… I’ll tell you! About… about your sister! So… please… this…!”
“Sister…?”
Lumi’s eyes wavered at the word sister, but she did not pull out the awl that had pierced the man’s neck.
“Your sister… Seol Luna… already died 7 years ago… she already died!
Before you even became a hero…!!!”
