A Busy Day

Ten Swords.

Ten Contractors who received special weapons after being chosen by Tanaka Ryuhei, the hero known as WeaponMaster.

And Yoshida, one of those Ten Swords, was adjusting his clothes while looking in the mirror with a faint smile.

“Mr. Yoshida, it’s almost time for the press conference.”

“Ah, let’s go.”

After finishing his final check, Yoshida followed his secretary’s guidance to the press conference hall.

Click! Click!

“Mr. Yoshida! Look this way please!”

“Just one comment before the interview!”

“I’m Milton Thomas from ABC News! A few days ago, you strongly criticized not just WeaponMaster Ryuhei but other heroes as well. Could you elaborate on your specific thoughts about the heroes?”

Camera shutters and flashes erupted from all directions.

Seeing the reporters filling the conference hall, Yoshida quickly composed his expression.

Right now, he was someone working to criticize heroes who abuse their overwhelming powers and point out their misconduct.

He had to avoid even minor controversies.

Passing through reporters blocked by bodyguards, Yoshida stepped onto the podium, lightly tapped the microphone, and began speaking.

“Hello everyone. I am Yoshida Tetsuro. I stand here today to discuss those called heroes. As everyone here and watching the broadcast knows, heroes possess power on a completely different level from ordinary Contractors. These heroes carelessly wield such power…”

Yoshida licked his lips while scanning the numerous reporters’ gazes and cameras focused on him.

His chest felt like it would burst from the thrill of knowing hundreds of thousands of people were hanging on his every word and watching his every move.

‘Why did I live so foolishly before?’

When he was first chosen by Ryuhei and became one of the Ten Swords, he felt like he owned the whole world.

But that joy was short-lived.

As the saying goes – with great power comes great responsibility. In exchange for gaining power beyond Contractors, he had to be summoned to all sorts of dangerous scenes and fight powerful monsters.

Public acclaim?

The thrill of battle?

There was none of that.

Just stress accumulating from life-or-death struggles and a deteriorating psyche.

“Ordinary Contractors risk their lives fighting monsters an average of 10 hours a day, 6 days a week to protect people. But heroes, despite their overwhelming power, only hunt monsters when they feel like it. Do you know what a massive waste this is? If heroes worked just a little harder, humanity’s situation would be so much better than it is now!”

That’s when they came.

Mysterious visitors suddenly appeared, asking to borrow his power to change this unfair world.

At first, he felt suspicious and refused to talk.

However, his mind changed the moment he saw the massive sponsorship funds they brought.

He could earn what would take three days and nights of life-risking battles just by saying a few words.

‘Maybe I’ll try it just once, just this once?’

[If WeaponMaster shared his weapons with more Contractors, we could protect Japan much more safely.]

A short post on social media.

The response was explosive.

As if someone had manipulated it, his post instantly became a global issue, and other Ten Swords members expressed agreement or made similar posts.

The first time is hard, but it gets easier after that.

The posts grew increasingly aggressive, and Yoshida began criticizing heroes not just on social media but in interviews and broadcasts too.

“WeaponMaster Ryuhei has been confirmed to possess 26 weapons in total. In other words, this means we could create 26 hunters at the Ten Swords level. However, Ryuhei inefficiently keeps all these weapons to himself. While the weapons belong to Ryuhei, it’s abundantly clear which is more important between individual rights and countless lives.”

He could gain more wealth and fame than before just by running his mouth.

Yoshida no longer fought.

Instead, he moved according to the mysterious visitors’ words.

He stoked public opposition against heroes and Contractors while gathering like-minded people to build a faction.

Though this divided Japan, he felt no particular guilt.

Because he was convinced that what he was doing would ultimately benefit Japan, and by extension, the whole world.

‘It might be tough right now, but if we can confiscate Ryuhei’s weapons, it’ll be worth it in the end. Right?’

Bang!

Just as his speech was reaching its climax, an explosion rang out from somewhere.

Silence briefly fell over the conference hall.

An explosion in the middle of downtown meant one of two things.

Either an accident from a Contractor’s power, or a portal opening and monsters appearing.

The former would be relatively fortunate, but the latter would be dangerous.

“Haha, there’s no need to be afraid everyone. If monsters have appeared, I’ll just take them down, right?”

The tense atmosphere loosened at Yoshida’s words.

However, the warm mood didn’t last long.

“A hero!”

“What? What’s that about all of a sudden?”

“Look at this. A hero just appeared in front of this hotel!”

On the smartphone screen held out by one reporter, a video was playing showing ground cracked like a turtle’s shell and a man entering the building.

Though only his side profile was caught, the reporters immediately recognized him as a hero.

Heroes were so few they could be counted on one hand worldwide.

An ordinary person might not know, but reporters memorize all the heroes’ faces.

Naturally, they could easily identify the man in the video.

“Shooting Star Han Yuseong?”

Screech!

The tightly closed door opened with a sharp metallic sound.

Han Yuseong stood there.

A heavy silence, incomparable to moments before, descended.

The atmosphere couldn’t help but be heavy when a hero appeared at an event created to criticize heroes.

Yoshida broke the silence.

“So it’s Shooting Star Han Yuseong. Nice to meet you. But what brings you here?”

Yoshida looked at Yuseong with a disinterested expression.

Hero or not, he was the star of this event right now.

He couldn’t appear weak when the whole world was watching him.

“What’s this?”

“What’s what?”

“I’m asking why you’re approaching me.”

“Well. I wonder why?”

Seeing the smile on Yuseong’s face, Yoshida swallowed dryly.

His instincts, honed through battles with monsters, were screaming that the current situation was dangerous.

“I don’t know why you’re here, but this is extremely rude behavior. Can’t you see there’s a press conference going on? Does being a hero mean you can act so recklessly?”

Yoshida ignored his instincts and took a strong stance.

He wasn’t some reckless Contractor who feared nothing under heaven – he couldn’t imagine that a globally renowned hero would harm him in front of reporters and cameras.

However, it didn’t take long to realize that was a misconception.

“Heavy Smasher. Yoshida. I’m arresting you for acts of treason against humanity.”

“…Pardon?”

Yoshida stupidly repeated the completely unexpected words.

He wasn’t alone.

The reporters too were stunned speechless at the shocking accusation of treason against humanity that came out of nowhere.

Yuseong, regardless, slowly walked up onto the podium and extended his hand toward Yoshida.

“W-wait, what nonsense are you spouting?”

“You know better than anyone what I mean.”

-Sorry. You’ll have to be the scapegoat to resolve this situation smoothly.

A voice heard in double.

Seeing Yuseong’s clenched fist, Yoshida instinctively understood the meaning of those words and drew up his magic power.

Woong!

As the tattoo hidden under his clothes emitted light, a power fist appeared covering from his fist to shoulder.

An A-rank weapon received from Ryuhei.

The weapon that earned Yoshida the alias Heavy Smasher.

Hiss!

Click! Click!

As he activated the skill built into the power fist, steam burst from the shoulder armor and gears began meshing and turning.

It was a skill that should never be used on humans, but remembering how Yuseong had addressed him, Yoshida threw his punch without hesitation.

A fist containing enough power to knock down even an ogre in one hit.

Yuseong threw a light jab with a snicker.

Boom!

When the two fists collided, a massive shockwave spread in all directions.

Camera lenses and glass shattered while people were thrown backward, clutching their ears and staggering.

However, Yuseong, who had taken the punch head-on, looked completely serene.

“W-what is this?”

It was widely known that Yuseong was strong.

Just going on NewTube, you could find hundreds of clips of him casually leaping over tall buildings and throwing around massive monsters.

But not budging even a single step seemed too much, even for him.

“I was expecting more since you had the grand alias Heavy Smasher, but I’m a bit disappointed.”

Tyrant’s arms versus the power fist.

Though only one rank apart, the performance gap between arms specially made for a giant humanoid weapon and a weapon made for human use was more than tenfold.

When the startled Yoshida threw a second punch, Yuseong extended his fist with even more power than before.

That was the end of the fight.

Bang!

Unable to withstand Yuseong’s strength, Yoshida was thrown through the wall and fell down.

“Um, Mr. Han Yuseong. Could you explain what exactly is going on here?”

A nearby reporter asked in a trembling voice.

A hero appeared at a press conference criticizing heroes and killed someone.

And this was being broadcast live worldwide!

This was truly a massive incident.

However, Yuseong, who had caused the incident, calmly answered as if it were nothing special.

“You can find detailed information on the International Contractors Association website. I have other business to attend to, so I’ll be going now.”

After giving a light greeting to the cameras, Yuseong went down the building, retrieved the power fist from Yoshida’s corpse, and activated the skill built into his newly acquired Gravity Shoes.

Woooong!

With a faint vibration, gravity changed and his body became lighter.

Though he could create anti-gravity if he wanted, he might enter the atmosphere if he jumped carelessly in that state without knowing better.

‘I would’ve died from the fall if I hadn’t reduced speed with gravity platforms.’

Shuddering slightly, Yuseong checked the gravity state once more and kicked off.

Bang!

With a fierce explosion, Yuseong’s form rose not just meters but kilometers into the air.

Creating another gravity platform at the apex to leap even higher into the sky, Yuseong looked down at the ground using Eye of Truth.

Massive streams of light spreading from Tokyo across all of Japan.

It seemed today would be a busy day.