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In the battle between the Villains and Heroes, a total of 604 casualties reported on both sides. Civilian damage is currently being assessed. Many injured, rescue operations are underway.

Buildings have been damaged and collapsed due to Revenge. The speed of restoration is severely delayed because of those needing rescue. Several returning from Revenge have been called in to assist with rescue and damage recovery operations.

The city functions have ground to a halt. Nearby transportation has been controlled. Patients are being transported to hospitals across the city to avoid overloading the medical system.

Many key figures of the Evil Society have been killed or captured, but the apparent leader slipped through our fingers.

Several Heroes have been injured and are incapacitated. Some are showing signs of mental confusion, and Heros Company is currently working on a solution.

The public’s distrust towards Heros Company is rising. Citizens are forming unauthorized vigilante groups, insisting they must take matters into their own hands.

As the leader of the Evil Society is confirmed to have mind control abilities, distrust towards Mind Control Ability Users is on the rise.

Conclusion.

Social chaos is escalating. Heros Company is facing significant losses and growing public distrust.

Early exposure of the Evil Society has dealt a severe blow to their operations. Arman’s existence and abilities have been exposed.

Most importantly, Heros Company has begun their intense pursuit to hunt down the Evil Society.

Looking at the ‘Tragedy of the Showboats’ from the perspective of the Liberators, there was only gain to be had.

Without putting in any effort, suddenly, two enemies they’d eventually have to deal with were fighting tooth and nail amongst themselves.

Not just a little brawl either; it was a full-fledged deathmatch.

On top of that, the chaos in society created space for us Liberators to maneuver. Could there be a better outcome?

From the standpoint of the ‘Liberators’…

As an Academy student, particularly one in Class A, Blanca’s situation was quite different.

Since the Academy had declared a temporary closure for the week, the mood among the kids had sunk so low it was practically underground.

While I wasn’t particularly close with most of my classmates, my friends, excluding Yeonhwa and Jinhyeon, were all there, which only worsened the situation.

“So… how long are we going to just sip coffee in silence?”

Not having much to do at home and feeling low alone, I gathered my friends at a cafe, but nobody was opening up.

The awkwardness was unbearable, and seeing everyone so down made it hard to bear, so I tried to steer the conversation with random chatter. That finally got the ball rolling.

“…Hey, guys. You okay?”

Yeonhwa, who had the courage to ask even though she wasn’t there, got her answer the moment she locked eyes with Minho, whose gaze was filled with remorse and regret.

“Not okay, huh… uh, um… what do you even do in a situation like this?”

Yeonhwa tried her best to console everyone, but it was too serious a matter given what had happened.

I think it’s fine not to feel the need to do something, Yeonhwa. Sometimes, people just need time to sort their thoughts.

Jinhyeon offered wise advice, unknowingly showing off his own mental growth.

Still missing the timing, huh? At least that’s unlikely to change for a lifetime, but it brought a tiny bit of cheer back.

Even if it was like dropping a single drop of fresh water into an ocean of ink.

“Exactly, you don’t need to force yourself to console everyone. The bad guys here are… the Evil Society!”

Ageha, who seemed somewhat okay, pointed the blame at the Evil Society, but to me, it looked like she was struggling to face the guilt and venting it by condemning the Evil Society.

That said, I didn’t particularly want to call her out on it. Even if she was a bit stronger and special, she was just a high schooler.

Forcing her to confront the responsibility of a cataclysm? Seems way too cruel.

“R-Right… if they hadn’t cooperated so well, all this… terrible stuff wouldn’t have happened…”

Rapiz, who seemed to be holding up next to Ageha, suddenly revealed her not-so-great inner thoughts.

After all the effort she put into helping people alongside her grandmother and mother, she thought she’d feel less guilt, but perhaps it had only grown heavier.

Seeing the people buried in debris and the collapsed buildings up close might have that effect.

Surely, those who needed painkillers or antibiotics weren’t in as bad a shape as those who had to clear debris stuck on them.

For someone as sensitive as Rapiz, seeing that must’ve created guilt where none existed before.

“…Is it our fault?”

Seolhwa, who had been quiet up to that point, dropped a bombshell.

Everyone glanced at Minho, avoiding eye contact, trying to twist around the topic, but… it had to be said eventually.

Minho, reacting to those words, began to blame himself.

“It’s my fault, all of it… if I hadn’t pushed to go… even if I had only been a little late… if only I had been careless enough to get caught, it wouldn’t have come to this!”

Once he started down that path, he was digging deeper, spiraling inward.

I could understand at least where he was coming from, but he was spreading that gloom in front of those already trying to stay upbeat. I had to step in.

I didn’t want to let the others drown in guilt too.

“Like Ageha said, the bad guys are the Evil Society, not us. Even if we hadn’t gone, this was bound to happen eventually. So, just tone down the self-pity a bit.”

Maybe that was a bit too harsh, but I felt like unless I confronted him strongly, Minho wouldn’t stop blaming himself.

“Right…?”

Alice asked with a hint of nervousness in her tone, sounding brighter after hearing what she wanted to hear.

I don’t know who’s to blame. I don’t even know how Arman ended up there.

But saying it’s our fault doesn’t mean we need to waste any mental energy on it.

But for Minho, it didn’t seem to resonate; he was still saying it was his fault.

“So even if it’s not our fault… I’m not saying this justifies the tragedy, but hey, isn’t it a good thing we caught onto those guys sooner rather than later? If they had gotten bigger…”

“It would’ve gotten dangerous. Still, there had to be a better way; people didn’t have to die like this…”

Wow, that was an entirely depressing conversation.

Maybe it would’ve been different if we were alone, but right now, there seemed to be a limit to the comfort we could offer.

“If you want to blame yourself that much, I won’t stop you, but just don’t spread that gloom to the others. Everyone’s trying hard.”

It was only after throwing out a harsh remark like that that I managed to get Minho to stop his self-blame.

He wouldn’t voice it, but I knew he’d still be festering inside; that’s something to deal with later.

“So… have you guys heard anything from Heros Company?”

I shifted topics to throw them a lifeline.

“The info department… contacted us, asking for every detail we knew. So, I filled them in.”

“Me too.”

The others echoed Rapiz like parrots, saying they’d also gotten a call from the info department.

“Minho, did you get contacted too?”

“…Yeah. They asked for information up to a point. When they asked why I was there… I said I was just checking on a rumor.”

Minho seemed a bit out of it, but luckily it looked like he still had enough sense to cover his tracks.

That’s a relief. At least if he’s got that level of sense left, it should be easy to talk to him.

“The Evil Society… really is something else. How did they grow so big without Heros Company catching wind?”

“Yeah, right? I mean, even if they are Mind Control Ability Users, how could they…”

As soon as the conversation turned to the Evil Society, everyone seemed to zone in on that topic, starting to chatter one by one.

Most reactions were fear-based—like “Those bastards are dead to me.”

Thanks to the efforts of Heros Company’s info department.

Heros Company was doing everything in their power to recover from the damage and demonize the Evil Society to safeguard their image.

They even pulled some rather forced narratives saying a number of unsolved cases were actually orchestrated by the Evil Society.

As a result, the information about the Evil Society spread to the public, and details about the members leaked everywhere.

But people were also outraged online, asking just what Heros Company had been doing while the evil organization grew so powerful.

In fact, there were many who took to the streets in protest.

After spending quite a bit of time chatting about various topics to lighten the mood, it was finally time to wrap up our meetup.

“Hey, Minho. If you’ve got nothing to do, wanna come over to my place?”

But I invited only Minho over to my house.

I was just uneasy about leaving him alone. I felt like he needed some mental care.

 

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