That’s How They Became Villains

#37. Golden Continue

Hero Corporation, Unhwa Branch.

A robot about 3m in size exited the tall building’s main entrance, it was the S-class Hero Athena.

The only human hero of the Hero Corporation, and a mysterious figure who always moves around in a walking suit designed exclusively for her, even during everyday life.

Since she always conceals her appearance with a visual tracker even when she gets out of the walking suit, almost no one knows her bare face.

“…”

Athena’s appearance as she left the building seemed noticeably dejected.

This was because she had just been scolded so loudly by her boss, Handsome, that her ears could have split.

“Why, Athena. What was the problem that you did nothing on that airship? You don’t know how much trouble Me has gone through trying to block the claims from the Royals.”

The reason Athena couldn’t do anything on the airship wasn’t particularly special.

It was because no one on the airship had given her an order to resolve the situation.

Athena was an extremely passive individual.

Most people don’t know this due to her 4-dimensional and mysterious image, but Athena was someone who couldn’t do anything on her own without someone beside her giving instructions. In other words, she was like a passively controlled NPC in an RPG game.

To compensate for this, Athena was always accompanied by a Vitaloid named Kilos as her sidekick…

“Uninvited guests cannot board the airship.”

“What? That can’t be! Please check again! I’m Hero Athena’s sidekick! Without me, that person is a scarecrow who can’t do anything!”

“There can be no exceptions.”

“Ha, couldn’t you just look the other way this once! Without me, that person really can’t do anything…!! Oh? Athena? Athena!!! Don’t abandon me!!”

For some reason, he couldn’t board the airship with her.

“Sigh, that’s why I told you not to board alone. I hear you’re under disciplinary action for a whole week, what are you going to do during that time?”

A small Vitaloid attached itself to Athena’s side and asked.

This Vitaloid, about 130cm in size, was Athena’s sidekick ‘Kilos’ just mentioned.

Not only was Kilos small in size, but since he was next to Athena in her walking suit, he appeared even smaller.

To soothe Kilos who seemed upset, Athena picked him up with her giant arm and placed him on the suit’s shoulder.

However, Kilos rather thought Athena was making fun of him and burst out in anger.

“No, more than this…what are you planning to do from now on!”

“…”

Athena’s walking suit slumped even more dejectedly.

At this, the soft-hearted Kilos twitched his lips and then, argh, damn it! He tapped on Athena’s suit while getting angry.

“I’m sorry for getting angry. But what happened on the airship?”

“Bad people…lots of them.”

“Hmm, bad people! I kind of know that from Maker’s broadcast. Was there anything else?”

“…Junior. Met.”

“Junior? Do you mean Last?”

“Want to…meet again.”

At Athena’s words flowing from the suit, Kilos was startled.

To reiterate, Athena was an extremely passive individual.

To use a certain game as an analogy, Kilos was the trainer and Athena was the x-kémon.

No matter how great the x-kémon is, it can’t do anything without the trainer’s attack command.

But now, this was like the x-kémon saying on its own, ‘Master, it would be better to press Strengthen rather than Flamethrower there.’

“Meet again? Who? The junior?”

-Nod nod.

The giant 3m tall walking suit bobbed its head.

Kilos immediately took out a pad and started looking for Last’s workplace.

S-class Hero Athena (under disciplinary action) went to Cheongang with her sidekick.

Royal Line is the boundary that separates the city from the Royal Road.

A product of an old-fashioned class society where if a person with an unregistered bio-chip crosses this boundary, they are immediately recognized as a criminal and pursued by security organizations.

Ironically, however, it is also the place with the highest population density because it’s where one can see the golden scenery of the Royal Road up close.

Near the Royal Line, there are all kinds of amenities as numerous as the population, with the most representative being the casino ‘Golden Continue,’ known as the Royal Line’s greatest output.

I was now at Golden Continue.

“Wow! So this is the ‘Burning Continue’ that brother said was one of the fastest ways to burn money earned in a year!”

“It’s not ‘Burning Continue’, it’s ‘Golden Continue’. And where did you learn to talk like that.”

I was with the Kim siblings, Seok-ho and Seolhwa.

Originally, I had planned to bring Agio, who once lived in the Royal Line, for guidance, but Agio was at the hideout with Nazha, working on erasing the wanted code entered into the core.

Working without the two most competent members of our alliance, I felt uneasy.

I looked up at the Golden Continue sign, stylishly removing my sunglasses.

Just a few hours ago, I received a call from Branch Director Park Seong-tae. He said it was fine to use Arc’s channel line for broadcasting purposes, but we needed to pay the network usage fee.

When I asked if we could use it for free by pretending to be kidnapped like last time, he said there were limits to that as well.

What did he say again? If money keeps leaking out from the wrong places, an investigation might be launched into either the broadcasting station’s lobbying or its ties with a certain organization.

When I asked the brilliant Nazha and the experienced Agio, they explained it in a way even a fool like me could understand.

Simply put, if we honestly pay the network usage fee while using the line, the broadcasting station would be providing service for what they received, so there would be nothing to fault them for later.

[Your inner malice is puzzled. ‘They provide service to a terrorist organization for network usage fees and there’s nothing to fault them for?’]

Well, the point is that he’ll take care of things well, so just help him maintain appearances.

No one knew why Park Seong-tae was being so submissive to us.

Anyway, when he asked if we could pay the network usage fee monthly, surprisingly, our organization had no money to draw from.

When I asked since when we’ve been so broke, Nazha said:

“Ah, didn’t I tell you? I quit my job.”

So, figuring out how to make money and survive became the top priority.

[Your inner malice is feeling petty]

Shut up, you wench.

We changed our appearances with visual trackers and entered Golden Continue but, “ugh,” I quickly covered my ears at the ear-splitting noise.

Besides the loud music that made the floor vibrate, there were sounds of slot machines spinning and beads colliding. This neighborhood really doesn’t have even a speck of consideration for enhanced humans!

Glancing over, I saw Seolhwa also covering her ears and shouting “Ababa” in pain. I felt a bit relieved that I wasn’t the only one suffering.

Meanwhile, Kim Seok-ho was picking his ears as if it wasn’t that loud. I wondered if sensory perception dulls for lower-tier enhanced humans.

“Uh, sister…! What did you say our purpose was again…!?”

Seolhwa shouted urgently, as if she wanted to escape from this place as soon as possible.

To that, Seok-ho answered instead of me, who was in pain.

“Places like this always have guards. Since corporate guards often overcharge, they usually employ guards from the outskirts.”

“S-so…!?”

“But do guards from the outskirts only have advantages? Not at all. These guys run intimidation rackets. They deliberately bring their goons to the casino, cause trouble on purpose, then pretend to drive them out and receive more protection money.”

“Wow, they’re complete thugs…!!?”

“Yes, and that’s the thug behavior we’ll be doing this time.”

“Huh!?”

“Hey, mister! Don’t say it like that, you’ll make Seolhwa misunderstand.”

“Am I wrong?”

This old man, really.

“You should be more precise. When those guys bring their gangs to cause trouble, we capture the gang and blackmail them for protection money. That’s the core of this plan.”

“Wow…!! I don’t really understand, but it’ll work out somehow..”

Of course. Next, we’ll defeat the gangs who come for revenge one by one, and gather the outskirts’ cell organizations in one place.

The ultimate goal is for Maker to recover the money these cell organizations are siphoning through illegal businesses.

“Let’s go inside for now. It’s too noisy even for me to stay here.”

We followed Kim Seok-ho’s guidance and went inside Golden Continue.

After passing through the area lined with slot machines, there was a Trump Room.

From here, perhaps because people gambled against each other, it felt more pleasant and quiet.

Looking around briefly, I saw guards in black suits standing with their arms crossed at each corridor.

Pistols that could be drawn and fired immediately were holstered at their waists. I wondered if there was any place in this neighborhood where people didn’t carry guns.

We decided to split up and pass time separately until the gangs appeared at the casino.

Since I was already at a casino, I thought I should taste some dopamine and approached a Texas Hold’em poker table.

All seats were taken, so I couldn’t sit down, but seeing one of them almost broke, I figured I could sit soon.

“Full house.”

“Ah, damn it!! I lost again!!”

With a light “thump, thump!” on the table, the now penniless man stood up from his seat.

I glanced at the man’s face. Suddenly, time seemed to flow slowly.

Isn’t that man Cheon Taewoo, the CEO of Cheongang Group?

Why is he doing this here?