Chapter 3
The next day.
I received an identification card from Regalia.
“Here, this is yours,” she said.
“What’s this…?”
“It’s a means to prove your identity in this city.”
The ID she handed me bore a picture of me — one I had no idea when it was taken — with the name “Eight” written on it. Naturally, that wasn’t my name.
“Eight…? Who’s that? And when was this photo taken—”
“Who do you think? It’s your name. From now on, you’re Eight. The name you mentioned, Kim… something or other, was just too exotic, don’t you think? No matter what, I can’t create a fake ID with a name that stands out like that.”
“…Understood.”
Eight.
For some reason, that name seemed closely related to the eighth thing mentioned yesterday… but what could I do? If my employer calls me “Eight,” then I am Eight, just as if she called me anything else. I’ll just have to roll with it.
As I stared blankly at the ID, Regalia snapped her fingers to grab my attention.
“What’s wrong? We need to get moving.”
“Where are we going, exactly?”
“Didn’t you hear? Today, we’re going to see the members of the organization, right? ”
“Ah… I had indeed forgotten that. So, this isn’t the place?”
I said this while looking around the mansion. She called it a villain organization, but wasn’t it just a rich girl’s hobby? I mean, it seemed just like a child’s play, really.
This mansion was just the right size for such games. It was unnecessarily large, with not just empty rooms but entire unused buildings. It was the perfect place for villain games without being discovered by others.
However, Regalia frowned as if I was saying something really stupid.
“This is the lady’s house. Who would be foolish enough to create a villain organization in their own home?”
“Is that so…?”
I wouldn’t know since I’ve never tried.
Following the incredulous Regalia, I stepped out of the mansion.
The limousine we had come in last night sped out of the mansion and quickly headed toward the city.
As I watched the numerous buildings pass by outside, it felt as if I could return home at any moment. However, it wasn’t true. This wasn’t the world I lived in, and the country I knew didn’t exist in this world.
‘So, this means I have to survive in this world…’
After a moment of staring out the window, the limousine came to a halt.
The driver quickly got out and opened the back door, and Regalia smoothly exited the vehicle.
“We’ve arrived. Let’s go.”
“Ah, yes.”
I got out of the limousine behind Regalia and paused in awe at the grand building before me. I had unconsciously assumed that a villain organization would be using some dark, out-of-sight underground lair, so the imposing building in front of me was truly shocking.
What lay before me was a building far larger and more impressive than any I had seen around, the kind where respectable people would presumably be heading to work.
“Chairwoman, you’ve arrived!”
“Hmm.”
“Here’s a report summarizing the events from yesterday and today.”
“I’ll read it on the way up.”
As Regalia entered the building, guards and suit-clad employees rushed to her, bowing deeply. The sight of these adults bowing to someone who looked no older than an elementary school student was incredibly surreal.
Yet, neither Regalia nor the bowing employees seemed bothered by it. Everyone treated it as if it were perfectly normal, indicating it had been this way for a long time.
“─Eight? Come here.”
“Yup.”
Suddenly, I felt a newfound admiration for Regalia. Ah, long live Regalia.
As I followed her into the elevator, my body was lifted as if defying gravity. It felt momentarily like teleportation.
The instant the doors opened, I realized immediately that this was indeed a villain organization. The scene that greeted my eyes could only be explained as such.
“─All hail Regalia! All hail Evilus!”
“Louder!”
“All hail Regalia—!”
Ugh—!
Combatants clad in skintight suits yelled bizarre slogans.
Huff—!
A bipedal tiger, covered in scars, lifted a weight that no human should ever be able to manage with ease.
Hehehehe— Just wait…
A girl was creepily giggling in front of photos of magical girls dressed up.
It was absurd to say that this place wasn’t a villainous organization. I froze, taken aback by the sudden influx of information.
As I stood there, stunned, one of the members from the organization noticed us and shouted in shock.
“B-Boss! All hail Evilus!”
“Hmm. All hail Evilus.”
“The Boss is here?”
“How’s the body, Galm?”
“Same as always.”
“B-Boss, it’s been a while…”
“It has indeed. Ayle. Still looking at magical girl pictures?”
Hehe— It’s my only hobby…
After exchanging greetings with the weightlifting tiger and the picture-obsessed girl, Regalia pulled me forward and spoke.
“This is our eighth executive. His name is Eight.”
“Oh— Is he strong?”
“No. Eight is our scientist. He’s a powerless, useless person, so don’t bother trying to pick a fight with him.”
Tch— How boring.
As soon as Galm realized I was powerless, he clicked his tongue, clearly losing interest. However, the picture-loving Ayle gave me an oddly warm smile.
“Hey, hey— Eight, is it? You’re powerless too? I’m also a powerless person… Let’s get along as powerless friends.”
“Ah, sure. Nice to meet you.”
As I extended my hand for a handshake, Ayle flinched and hurriedly wiped her hand on her clothes before extending it to me. Our handshake was incredibly brief.
But even that short encounter made it easy to grasp the personalities of the other two executives.
One’s a musclebrain, and the other’s a voyeur…
They perfectly fit the bill of people who matched yet didn’t belong to a villain organization at all. After all, what’s most important in a villain organization? The power to fight against heroes.
Galm looked like he could easily take down a scrawny guy like me with his bulky muscles — but who knows? It’s not like I would expect his strength to surpass that of a hero, especially when hunting beasts isn’t difficult with a single firearm.
The same went for Ayle. A powerless person? Having learned firsthand what it meant to be treated as powerless in this world for just one night, I could only marvel at how she hadn’t taken her own life yet. I couldn’t expect much more from her.
So that’s how it is.
I became convinced that this villain organization was simply a pastime for Regalia. A childish game disguised with the name of a villain organization.
So I didn’t really need to do anything meaningful for the organization either. As long as my boss hadn’t lost interest in this little play, I could goof around and collect my salary while living off the fat of the land.
That expectation vanished before even a minute had passed.
“Well then, Eight. I’m assigning you your first task.”
“Uh? What do you mean…?”
“Create something useful for these two! Oh, and if you need anything, just say so. I’ll get you whatever you need.”
This is bad.
In a panic, I glanced at Regalia.
“Uh, when is this due…?”
“Hmm. A week should be fine, right?”
“A week…?”
That was barely enough time to finish a university assignment. And now, I had to create something useful for the executives of a villain organization? All within a week?
Although I was told I could use any budget I wanted, the time constraint was far too tight. I hadn’t yet figured out how science in this world differed from what I knew.
“Boss? I don’t think I can manage both….”
“Really? Then it’s fine if you focus on just one. What’s important is that you show everyone what kind of person you are.”
“But I really am nothing….”
Upon hearing that, Regalia looked at me as if I was saying something completely absurd.
“What nonsense… You’re the scientist whom I trust. Don’t say such things.”
“No, I genuinely lack confidence….”
“Don’t doubt yourself. Trust in the you who trusts me.”
With that, Regalia tapped her chest with her fist and grinned before heading to the elevator alone, murmuring something about having a lot of work to do.
Left alone on this floor, I turned to look at Galm, who was intensely focused on working out. Chatting with a tiger several times larger than I was and covered in scars was intimidating.
“Uh… Mr. Galm?”
“—What?”
“Uh, do you need anything?”
“No.”
“No, I mean, anything at all would be fine…”
If I can’t make something, I might get booted from the house.
Seeing the intent in my eyes, Galm let out a big sigh and replied.
“Well, I sometimes wish I were a little stronger when it comes to fighting.”
“Ah… You mean something like steroids?”
“No drug can make my body stronger.”
“…Then you want me to make something like a fatigue recoverer or an energy drink?”
“Do as you wish.”
Galm exhaled stubbornly, as if he didn’t want to say any more, and resumed his workout. I cautiously withdrew, not wanting to risk getting my head squished by a dumbbell.
As I stood awkwardly in the corridor, a member of the organization soon approached and introduced me to my research lab.
“You can do your research here. If you need anything, feel free to reach out.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
“You don’t have to be so formal. As an executive, you’re our boss.”
“I just find this more comfortable.”
With a wry smile, I watched the staff member leave and sighed while looking around the empty lab. Normally, these projects would require multiple PhD-level scientists working together for extensive periods, going through trial and error…
Yet here I was, expected to produce results by myself in just a week without any support. Honestly, getting tangible results in such a short period was impossible.
In that case, I had no choice but to resort to a bit of trickery.
“Imitation has always been the mother of creation…”
If creating something entirely new wasn’t possible, I could just copy what I remembered from Earth. Fortunately, I had memorized the nutritional compositions of some market products for a project.
Among those was the energy booster Galm desired.
“It was something like guanidine acetate and creatine monohydrate… What else was there?”
Creating something from scratch would be out of the question, but if I knew the outcome, reproducing it wouldn’t take too long. So I plunged headfirst into my first task as a scientist in a villain organization.
*
A week later.
Staying true to his villainous nature, Galm raided the city and started attacking people.
The citizens, having become accustomed to seeing villain organization members in skintight suits, began to flee as if it were routine.
While regular combatants vented their stress by smashing cars and buildings lying in the streets, Galm anxiously awaited the arrival of a hero.
“─That’s as far as you go!”
“Ah, you’re here?”
Before long, a hero appeared. His quick response time was faster than a five-minute standby. There was no way he could have been here without waiting nearby, yet Galm looked at him as if it were perfectly normal.
A rookie hero, perfect for facing someone like him. Galm sighed at the sight. He longed for those thrilling fights he once had, but it was even more disheartening to realize that he was struggling to take down someone of this level.
“You villain scum! I will never forgive you─!”
“Can we make this quick? I have things to do.”
“…I cannot concede! I am Hero Sugar Mask! There can be no compromise with villains!”
Was this rookie still caught up in the allure of heroism? Galm sighed again at the hero’s strange poses and clichéd lines. With a simple wave of his hand, regular combatants, who had been waiting for his signal, quickly charged at the hero.
Seeing the combatants rushing towards him, Sugar Mask swung his arms around lightly and defeated them easily. The defeated combatants fell dramatically, as if choreographed.
Having dealt with the combatants in a flash, Sugar Mask directly lunged at Galm. As he rushed towards me, Galm pulled out a vial from his pocket. It was the item handed to him by a new executive a while back.
─Here’s the finished product. Please test it.
‘…What a pointless thing.’
Honestly, I didn’t expect it to work.
His body, worn and rusted beyond its limits, was just a shadow of what it once was, and regardless of what he tried, there’d be no way to return it to its original state. No drug or ability could cure him.
It was impossible for a potion created in just a week to enhance him. That’s what Galm thought as he gulped down the potion.
And at that moment.
Galm felt a surge of power coursing through his entire being.
“Take this—!”
Sugar Mask threw a punch at Galm just as he was drinking the potion. He already knew enough about Sugar Mask. A retired soldier who had been forced to retire due to injuries. While he had excellent physique thanks to his beast heritage, he was nowhere near being an esper.
He was the perfect villain for a rookie hero looking to make a name for himself.
As it usually went, he would exchange a few blows before hitting the ground. Then he would follow his usual escape plan. However, strangely enough, it didn’t go that way today.
“Ha, haha—!”
“…?”
“Ahahaha! Sorry, kid—!”
Galm seized the punch aimed at his abdomen and let out a loud roar of laughter.
“You can’t stop me—! Bring someone stronger! Someone who can make my heart race!”
For an instant, he regained the strength of his youth.
Galm, the Beast King, roared.
That day, contrary to the plan, Galm ended up collapsing five buildings, and an emergency response team of A-rank heroes barely managed to force him into retreat.
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