The Monster Aspires to Be a Hero!

Light had arrived, and she reached out her hand toward it.
But in the end, her hand did not touch the light.
Despite stretching her hand out so desperately, she still could not reach it.
For some reason, that felt sad.
She was so curious about whose kind touch that was.
She wanted to ask why that person had helped her.
But in the end, she couldn’t.
At the very least, she wanted to express her gratitude to that departing presence.
But no voice came out.
As she lamented that reality, the light enveloped her entire being.
It’s too bright.
Was opening her eyes always this painful and difficult?
She barely opened her eyes and looked around.
There was her mother, seeming a bit gaunt.
“Mo…m…”
“Yu…Yuna!”
Yuna’s mother hugged her tightly and burst into tears.
It was disconcerting to see her mother, who didn’t seem like such a crier, shedding so many tears.
‘Ah, my body feels heavy.’
My arms wouldn’t move well either.
“Tea…cher! Doctor!”
Embraced in her mother’s arms, Yuna recalled the dream she had just had.
There was definitely someone who had been helping her up until this very moment.
She didn’t know who it was exactly, nor could she be certain it was real.
But she wanted to believe it wasn’t just a dream.
There was someone who had cheered her on, telling her not to give up, to persevere a bit longer.
She wanted to believe that warm touch was not a dream.
Yuna asked her mother what had happened while she was hospitalized and soon learned of Jinwoo’s existence.
She needed to find that person.
…
…
The rehabilitation that began at the hospital was difficult, but Yuna did her best with the treatment.
‘Superpower Syndrome’
It was a disease that only afflicted those who had awakened powers, suddenly losing consciousness and collapsing.
Yuna learned that she had been lying there suffering from that disease.
A disease with no cure and less than a 10% chance of regaining consciousness.
She wasn’t sure if it was misfortune to have contracted the disease or good fortune to have recovered.
But since she survived, it was fortunate.
With those thoughts, she looked around at the people receiving treatment around her.
There were quite a few people undergoing rehab by her side.
They were people who had suffered the same disease as her.
At this Buwon Hospital’s 10th floor, all the patients suffering from ‘Superpower Syndrome’ had opened their eyes on the same day.
Countless reporters had come, and the doctors repeatedly called it a miracle.
Yes, this was simply a miracle in a single word.
As Yuna received treatment, she recalled the story her mother had told her.
“There was a student named Jinwoo…”
Her mother spoke of a person named Jinwoo.
It was a story about a tall, youthful young man who had looked after her and the other patients here.
‘…He must be the one.’
The person who had extended that warm touch to her every day.
The one who had spoken to her countless times, telling her not to give up.
Yuna wanted to meet that person and have a conversation.
She wanted to express her gratitude for being saved.
To do that, she would have to recover the use of her legs first.
She would quickly recover and personally invite him.
With that thought, Yuna did what she had to do right away.
First, she had to take measures to prevent reporters from troubling that person.
After doing everything she could, Yuna watched TV from her hospital bed before going to sleep.
And then she saw that news report.
It was about a man who had stopped a runaway bus with malfunctioning brakes.
Yuna blankly watched it, then felt an inexplicable sense of fate as she took out her smartphone.
As she searched about that man… she realized it.
The man’s voice, which sounded like it could break at any moment.
It felt both familiar and nostalgic.
Could it be…?
With that thought, Yuna showed the video to her mother.
Her mother said, “That does sound like that young man’s voice…” trailing off.
‘I’ve found him…!’

Heroes can use their powers to obtain small clues undetectable by normal authorities.
Even if initially lacking the power to resolve violent incidents like those involving monsters or villains, there are heroes who cooperate in investigating serious crimes.
The accident that occurred right before rush hour began.
Countless police officers, firefighters, and heroes had gathered at the scene.
Their judgment was that external forces had intervened, rather than just a bus malfunction.
They had secured testimony from the bus driver that the brakes, clutch, gear shift, and even the parking brake showed no response whatsoever.
And the most decisive factor was –
“It seems it wasn’t a false positive after all, Captain. It’s very faint, but there’s a monster reaction.”
The greatest effect gained from the byproducts of eliminating monsters was the ability to detect them.
It was equipment made by utilizing the fact that even dead monster corpses still showed a certain reaction to monster cores.
That equipment, though very faint, had detected a monster core.
“The strength?”
“Below 0.9.”
“Isn’t that an error?”
Monster strength only becomes meaningful starting from 1.
Below 0.9 is a level that could cause malfunctions from the influence of superpowers used by superhumans.
Below 0.9 doesn’t even qualify for the lowest D-rank strength rating.
There’s no way such a weak monster could have the pinpoint Telekinesis ability to disable a vehicle’s brakes.
“I thought so initially, but it doesn’t seem to be an error.”
“Hmm…”
As society accepted superpowers into daily life, nations began an endless competition.
They became obsessed with recruiting even slightly stronger heroes beyond their borders and spared no expense supporting them.
Since Forst’s emergence, the overall power level of heroes has continuously risen.
Was that the reason?
The monsters appearing over the past 5 years were quite different from those seen until now.
Not only increasing in sheer size, there were reports of monsters pretending to be dead or using abilities akin to superpowers.
Was the monster behind this incident part of that group?
A monster capable of intentionally lowering and concealing the energy emanating from its core.
…If such a monster appeared, it wouldn’t end with just a minor disturbance.
Damage incomparable to the present situation would occur.
Hopefully, this phenomenon was just a false alarm.
All the investigators gathered here wrapped up the crime scene with those thoughts in mind.

The strangely heated state of mind calmed down a bit after a day passed.
Unable to sleep, I read and re-read the videos and posts about me that had surfaced online over and over again.
Even after spending the night that way, strangely, I didn’t feel tired at all.
I must have become something no longer fully human.
As if warning me not to forget that fact, it kept giving me those realizations.
Yes, so what if I’m no longer human?
First, grasping what I’m capable of is the urgent task.
“Hey.”

Hmm.
The curiously quiet presence formed an eye on my right hand and stared at me intently.
It was just staring, but when it widened its eye and rolled it around to look at me, it felt weirdly disgusting.
How rude to call your partner disgusting.
For male heroes, the default partner is a female hero.
Like how Batman has Catwoman, you know?
To give blowjobs?
This bastard doesn’t hold anything back…
I can do things like this too.
It said that and closed its eye.
Then my hand started transforming into something else.
“Huh? Whoa whoa…”
There were squelching sounds from my hand, but no pain.
Your partner.
It said that and waved what ‘used to be’ my right hand.
There was a disturbingly familiar hole there.
The ‘thing’ I normally only caught glimpses of beyond the mosaic censoring.
“You fucking…!”
With a sudden flush of heat to my face, I slammed what was my right hand onto the floor, and it immediately reverted to a soft normal hand.
Even though I slammed it down quite hard, there was no pain.
Despite the idiotic situation, I gained a realization.
…This monster presence can transform my body, but I seem to have the priority in controlling the bodily movements.
Right. Think of me as a kind of self-aware superpower.
It seemed capable of directly moving my body, but not as freely as me.
Come to think of it, I don’t really know much about this thing.
I need to learn more to properly grasp its abilities.
Separate from any disgust I might feel, I’ll have to converse with it.
Should I start by giving it a name?
…We’ll do that later. No, I’ll decide.
It’s quite an egotistical superpower, it seems.
I felt around various parts of my body, checking the changes and what I was now capable of.
Physical Enhancement
My five senses have developed abnormally, and my strength and physical durability have become ridiculously sturdy.
My weight has increased proportionally, but strangely, my outward appearance hasn’t changed much.
My natural healing ability has also transcended common sense, able to regrow even severed limbs as long as I have nutrients.
Body Transformation
This is the new ability(?) that emerged when this presence invaded my body.
Like that strange appendage that appeared on my right hand, I can transform my body.
I can harden my body to protect it from impacts.
If I focus, I can even reconfigure my mass into something large.
Yes, like a monster.
My physical enhancements have so vastly exceeded human limits that I still can’t gauge the full extent.
I’ll likely need to check out gyms or training rooms prepared for Physical Enhancement ability users.
As for body transformation, it seems I can transform while somewhat disregarding the laws of physics.
For example, it explained I could transform my fingers into bone guns and actually fire them.
At this level, I’m undoubtedly more capable than Kiseiju’s Parasytes.
“So what are the limits then?”
That’s something we’ll have to explore further.
Surprisingly, the invader admitted it hasn’t fully grasped its own abilities yet either.
I asked it where it came from and what its purpose was.
I don’t remember. I just recall being told to ‘learn’.
It said that, then arbitrarily sat at the computer and started typing on the keyboard.
Having encountered the Parasyte manga last night, it stretched out my right arm and started freely searching for information while typing with the keyboard.
We share this body, so I thought our brains might be shared too, but strangely, that didn’t seem to be the case.
Just what kind of structure are we?
Lightly defying the laws of physics is one thing, but superpowers defy them altogether, so who knows how any of this works.
I fell deep in thought watching it skillfully manipulate the keyboard and mouse.
Could its bizarre… no, idiotic behavior and ‘Kuhuhuhuh’ laughter actually be because it’s lacking in some way?
Calling the figures ‘dolls’, or saying chuunibyou-esque things like ‘I am you and you are me’ – that seems plausible.
Since it said it hasn’t fully grasped its own abilities yet, it’s possible.
I blankly watched it as I tried to operate my smartphone with my left hand.
Normally, that should feel inconvenient, but strangely, I didn’t feel any discomfort, as if my brain had changed too.
It felt completely natural, like I had been using my left hand for a long time.
At this level, I could probably write and use chopsticks too.
It doesn’t seem too bad.
On my smartphone, I researched gyms near my home that cater to Physical Enhancement ability users.
I’ll need to visit directly and check out the facilities to compare.
I ended the day feeling upbeat.
My 4th year’s first semester would be starting soon.
In the first semester of 4th year, I should have a guidance meeting with my academic advisor scheduled.
It would likely be the same professor as last year.
The one who praised my excellent grades and cheered me on to keep it up.
Would they be surprised?
That’s what I was thinking when –
!
My body stiffened rigidly.
With the strange feeling that someone was watching me, my every nerve became tense.
I turned my head in the direction I sensed that gaze coming from.
But there was nothing there, and I no longer felt that watching presence.
What was that?
We should be careful.
“Yeah… we should.”
Was that just now the ability of a Clairvoyance user?
Indiscriminate use of Clairvoyance is definitely illegal.
Feeling a chill, I wondered if the identity of the invader in my right arm had been exposed.
But as soon as that strange sensation came, the presence reverted to normal, so it didn’t seem to be detected…
Just what was that?