"Beep. Beep-beep."
A grating mechanical sound came from beyond the front door.
It wasn't the chime of a digital door lock. It was the sound made by the portable mana detector used by the Hunter Association's Special Task Force—commonly known as the 'Coercion Tracker.'
Each time that unique tone echoed through the hallway, ordinary neighbors held their breath in terror.
Hearing that sound meant there was a 'monster' nearby, or that even bigger 'monsters' had descended to catch that monster.
A Hero is only a hero when he's far away. Up close, he's a disaster.
Even as the sound reached him, Jinwoo wiped the blood from his hands with a towel, indifferent. It wasn't his blood.
The detector passed right in front of the door without showing any reaction.
"Damn, they really came."
Jinwoo laid Baekya down on his narrow bed as if tossing her there.
Fresh blood flowing from her mangled body soaked the white sheets red. They were high-density pure cotton sheets he'd finally worked up the nerve to buy a few days ago.
'If that blood doesn't come out, I'll have to buy new ones. And detergent isn't cheap either.'
The fishy scent of blood mixed with the subtle perfume wafting from her in the ten-pyeong studio. Honestly, he felt his heart flutter a little. A beauty is a beauty no matter the situation, no matter what state she's in.
The pale profile visible through her tangled hair was unrealistically beautiful even now.
Anyway, they say if a stray cat chooses you, you become its butler. So what the hell do you become if you bring home a disaster-grade villain? A death row inmate? Or a lucky accomplice?
Even as he fell into useless thoughts, the momentum outside grew stronger. The coercion pressing in from beyond the door intensified.
It was the aura emanated by Hunters of at least B-rank. Pressure that would have left an unawakened civilian gasping and collapsed climbed over the walls.
'To openly unleash this kind of aura in a civilian district. Typical Hero bastards.'
Jinwoo clicked his tongue and turned to switch on his monitor. Texts about the server crashing had been buzzing since earlier.
What kind of life was this, having to fix payment module code with a disaster-grade villain lying right next to him? It was a hellish daily life.
The movements outside drew gradually closer. But the detector showed no reaction at all.
[Boundary of the Erased Everyday]
This house was already within the ability's range. Thanks to Jinwoo's ability, they couldn't perceive the disaster-grade villain—not through coercion, at least.
"Captain, this is zero too. Is the detector broken? It's had no reaction since earlier."
"Strange. Intelligence said she was definitely around here. Tch, let's go upstairs. Isn't there a D-rank Awakener living there? She might have grabbed an easy mark to use as a hideout. Move it!"
Separated by only a single door, the Hunters' grumbling and rough footsteps faded away.
To them, this old officetel was merely scenery. Nothing more than a house for bugs crushed beneath their feet. They had no inclination to peer inside a bug's home.
"Phew."
With the sensation of the Heroes' pursuit fleeing into the distance, only then did the crushing reality crash in. Jinwoo stared at the ceiling with hollow eyes and muttered.
"...Gotta go to work tomorrow too. I'm dead, seriously."
Three days passed.
Jinwoo opened the front door, shambling like a zombie. It was already 1 a.m. The gifts bestowed by his grueling overtime were a backache ready to snap and eyes burning with exhaustion.
Normally, a dark room would have been waiting for him. But today, a slightly different scene awaited.
Inside the dark room, Baekya, sitting askew on the bed, turned her head.
Her glasses had disappeared somewhere, and her eyes, revealed through disheveled hair, were unrealistically cold and beautiful in the moonlight. But her gaze was sharpened with fierce suspicion.
"Looks like you're awake."
Jinwoo threw his bag in the corner, took a bottle of water from the fridge, and gulped it down.
Baekya asked in a low voice.
"How did you do it?"
"Do what? Ah, the water? My throat was dry."
"Don't joke. I'm grateful you saved my life, but please tell me how you dealt with the pursuers. They were an Association-affiliated team, so they would have chased us to the end... How were you able to avoid detection for several days?"
Instead of answering, Jinwoo tore open a convenience store sandwich. He took a bite, chewed, and then continued.
"I was just lucky. My place is in such a remote corner, and the landlord doesn't maintain it so it's filthy; they probably didn't pay any attention. Places with shoddy security are naturally harder to find."
"That's a lie. My coercion isn't something you can simply hide. Even in a near-death state, it's so powerful that an Awakener would instinctively feel it."
Baekya staggered up from the bed and approached Jinwoo.
Despite her body not yet being recovered, she had an intense presence. He couldn't feel her coercion, but even so, the bearing of a disaster-grade villain was tremendous.
Her pale hand tried to grab Jinwoo by the collar, but her strength failed, and she rested it on his shoulder instead.
"I'm thankful you saved my life. But tell me the truth. What are you? An Association spy? Or a hidden high-ranker?"
Her insistence on uncovering his identity to the very end annoyed him.
"Damn, you're really persistent over a single life debt."
Jinwoo scratched his head roughly.
"Look, Ms. Baekya. I'm not some leisurely body that can live glamorously as a villain like you. I have a mountain of modules I need to submit by tomorrow morning. I'll take your questions after I get off work tomorrow. Until then, don't even think about stepping outside this house. The moment you cross the front door, your mana reaction will go off, and I'll be implicated as an accomplice too."
Without waiting for an answer, Jinwoo spread a blanket on the floor and lay down.
The weight of her gaze on his back was heavy, but in the face of overwhelming drowsiness, even the killing intent of a disaster-grade villain was nothing but a lullaby.
The next dawn, despite it being the weekend, an emergency overtime call came in. The administrator's screams about the server crashing and the database corrupting came through the receiver.
Ignoring Baekya, who seemed about to say something, Jinwoo left the house, and he returned again on Sunday dawn.
Time passed without them having a proper conversation even once.
When he opened the front door, inside the dark room, Baekya sat by the window in the exact same posture. Her side profile bathed in moonlight was like an exquisitely carved statue.
She seemed to have examined the odds and ends and old coding books on Jinwoo's desk over the past three days.
"I've been waiting. Surely you have time to talk now?"
Jinwoo scratched his head furiously and thumped down into his old computer chair. The chair screamed.
"Really... do you absolutely have to know? Can't you just look the other way? Later, just transfer me the medical bills and clothes money, and we'll end this cleanly. Okay?"
"I have to know. How you were able to perfectly hide me, a disaster-grade villain, and why someone with such an ability is living so quietly."
Jinwoo let out a sigh and recited the contents of his status window.
"Name: Gang Jinwoo. Rank: E-rank. Ability: [Boundary of the Erased Everyday]. That's all. No fancy name to boast about among Awakeners, no flashy explosive power. I can erase my own presence, and if I exert myself a little, I can cover up another person's coercion. But using the coercion cover was a first for me."
"...That's absurd. Coercion isn't something that can be hidden so easily."
"Well, it's just that kind of ability. Still, I'm satisfied that I can live quietly thanks to this negligible ability. So please just keep the secret. I'm going to keep living like this."
"You call this not a great ability!"
Baekya suddenly shouted and slammed her hand on Jinwoo's desk. Her eyes flashed. There was a flicker of flames in them.
"With that ability, anything is possible! Do you know what it means to be able to hide coercion among high-ranking Hunters? The very tide of battle turns! Ambush, assassination, infiltration... You are an Awakener capable of all of that!"
"Hey, lower your voice. The grandmother upstairs has sharp ears. If we get reported, are you going to take responsibility?"
At Jinwoo's cynical reaction, Baekya seemed utterly bewildered, catching her breath, then took another step closer.
"Why didn't you become a Hero? With that power, you could become a Ranker, of course, and live recognized by the Association."
"I hate Heroes."
Jinwoo's answer was short and firm. Silence filled the small room heavily. Baekya pondered for a moment, then began her own story while looking at the night view outside the window.
"Before I was a Villain, I was a Hero. I once believed in justice and did my best to save people. But I lost my family to my comrades' jealousy and the Association's filthy corruption, and I myself reached death's door. When my revenge was complete, the world called me a 'disaster-grade villain.'"
She turned her head and stared directly into Jinwoo's eyes.
"Have you also failed to take revenge? You have the same eyes as me. If my guess is correct, I can help. You cover me, and I'll crush your enemies. We can do it."
Instead of answering, Jinwoo turned his chair and shut off the computer's power. The whirring fan stopped.
"I'm not interested. If your curiosity is satisfied, let's get some sleep. Tomorrow I'll finally rest... ah, tomorrow is Monday. I have to go to that hellish job."
Jinwoo lay back down on the floor.
Baekya's gaze never left Jinwoo's back.