The Hero is Hunting me!-Chapter 39: The Poor Blue Flame

The entire room fell silent for a moment after Edgar’s question.

Ji-hye’s eyes widened—she clearly hadn’t expected something that reckless to come out of Edgar’s mouth so bluntly.

She cleared her throat.

"Ahem... That—"

But before she could continue, the Director cut in.

"I don’t allow it."

His voice was firm, decisive.

Edgar froze, clearly shocked and confused.

"Why? Are you trying to protect the Villains?"

"That’s not it," the Director replied calmly. "Killing is strictly forbidden here. Unless there is direct authorization from me, none of you are allowed to kill anyone."

Hearing that straight from the Director only made Edgar even more irritated.

"What kind of rule is that!? This makes no sense! You’re choosing not to kill Villains!? That’s basically the same as protecting them!"

The Director answered without raising his voice.

"Have you forgotten the purpose of this mission? Your goal is to capture Indigo—not kill him."

"But—"

Before Edgar could continue, Griffon suddenly cut him off.

"Enough with this pointless argument. This is their country. Their laws. As foreigners, we follow them."

Edgar clenched his jaw, seething. He pounded the table once before crossing his arms, radiating fury.

The room fell quiet again.

No one wanted to speak next.

Ji-hye, watching the tension rise and fall, cleared her throat again to regain control.

"Ahem... If there are no more questions, we’ll conclude today’s meeting—"

But the door burst open abruptly.

A Hero ranked A rushed inside, panting with panic painted across his face.

"Sorry to interrupt the meeting! But Indigo is currently active!"

Everyone froze for a second.

"What!?"

The Director shot to his feet, slamming the table.

"This is it! Heroes! Move out!"

The room instantly erupted in energy as everyone scrambled into motion.

*In the Female Hero Changing Room*

Ji-hye hurriedly changed into her hero suit, slipping on her gloves as she stood before her locker.

Next to hers was Na Yerin’s—Nightwolf’s—empty locker.

"Yerin... I’ll avenge you for what Indigo did to you," she whispered.

With her transformation complete, Ji-hye stepped out as Lightnova.

*In the Middle of Seoul*

I held a camera, streaming live to every major TV network in the country.

I wore my usual signature villain outfit—neat, stylish, unmistakable.

"Hello! Did you all miss me? Oh, of course you did!"

I pointed the camera toward the two tall buildings behind me.

"Do you see these buildings here? There are about fifty people trapped inside right now. And in ten minutes... both buildings will collapse, taking every single civilian inside with them!" 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

I chuckled lightly.

"What? You think they can escape? Oh, absolutely not! I sabotaged all their automatic doors, and I reinforced the frames. They can’t break through even if they try. Anyway, see you all in ten minutes!"

I ended the broadcast.

Beside me, So-ah was sitting calmly, wearing her black suit laced with streaks of red—her villain costume.

"So-ah— I mean, Red Girl, are you nervous?"

She looked up at me and smiled brightly.

"I’m not nervous at all! I’m excited! This is my first big villain debut with you, Oppa!"

Seeing her energy made me a little happy too.

I’d kept her out of battle for too long. This time was different—this was a chance.

A chance for her to grow.

Even though she’d awakened already, she still wasn’t fully in control.

Her blue flames... were still unstable.

"This will help you learn to control your blue fire," I said.

So-ah paused for a moment before nodding.

"Hm, you’re right, Oppa. Controlling this flame really is hard."

Suddenly, a bright light shot down from the sky.

Lightnova landed in front of us, holding two people in her arms.

Edgar.

And Griffon.

I instantly recognized them—they were the same two heroes who died early in the webtoon because of their own arrogance.

They were killed by Barcher, a Villain I had already eliminated long ago.

Seeing this, So-ah stood from her seat.

Lightnova set Edgar and Griffon down.

Edgar looked thrilled, practically buzzing.

Lightnova’s eyes shifted to So-ah, surprise flickering through them.

She must’ve assumed So-ah was a brand new addition to my group—naturally so, since I’d never revealed So-ah publicly.

But now was the perfect moment.

I stretched my arms outward casually.

"Oh? Welcome, heroes! Lightnova and—?"

"Don’t act friendly with us."

Griffon’s voice was cold and clipped.

"You need to be taught a lesson."

Heh.

Arrogant, exactly like their webtoon counterparts.

No wonder they died early.

Their deaths were purely the result of their own stupidity... and pride.

Lightnova looked at me with an expression I couldn’t quite decipher.

Angry, yes.

But also... something else layered beneath it.

I didn’t know what it was.

Before Griffon, a blue flame materialized—forming into a sword in his hand.

Edgar’s entire body began to emanate deep violet aura.

Exactly like the webtoon.

I leaned closer to So-ah and whispered softly,

"So-ah, I want you to take the guy with the glasses. His power is blue fire too—just like yours. The difference is, he uses it with a sword while you don’t."

So-ah nodded without taking her eyes off the heroes.

"Yes, Oppa. I understand."

Then I smirked.

"Oh my, so confident, gentlemen~"

Edgar charged first—fast, but not fast enough for me.

I blocked his punch with ease.

Lightnova appeared beside him, swinging her light blade.

I was already ready for that.

I formed my own light blade in my left hand, crossing it with hers.

"What!?" Lightnova gasped.

"Annoying, aren’t you? Indigo," Edgar growled as he tried to push me back.

I held him off with one hand, though he was strong—strong enough to shove me back inch by inch.

"Oh? Didn’t expect you to be chatty while fighting. Muscle-brain~"

"What did you say!?"

Perfect.

He took the bait.

I shoved Lightnova away with a kick, creating distance.

Edgar swung again, but I slipped past him effortlessly, letting him lose balance.

He skidded, eyes widening—he wasn’t expecting that.

Because of his bulky frame, I sprinted toward him and ran up his torso.

My foot connected with his face.

He stumbled back violently.

He was furious—face twisted, veins bulging along his neck.

Lightnova lunged again.

Our blades clashed.

Edgar struck from behind.

I kicked Lightnova away—not hard enough to damage her seriously, but enough to disrupt her stance—then ducked under Edgar’s punch and kicked him again, sending him flipping.

Another strike to his jaw.

He crashed into the pavement.

Lightnova fired a barrage of light bolts—like a machine gun made of pure light.

I backflipped, then deflected each beam with my light sword, inching backward.

She gritted her teeth and kept firing while slowly advancing.

Then suddenly—she stopped.

I knew why.

Her teammate was already behind me.

I darted sideways instantly.

Edgar smashed the ground where I had been standing.

The pavement shattered like glass.

"You’re really forcing me to get serious!"

Oh?

I hadn’t even warmed up yet.

*Meanwhile*

So-ah hurled blast after blast of blue fire at Griffon.

He slashed through them with his sword, sprinting toward her.

Once he was close, So-ah did exactly what she was trained to do.

She created a thick sphere of compressed blue flames—then detonated it.

The explosion launched Griffon back several meters.

He landed safely, skidding to a stop.

"It seems you’re quite strong as well, fiery girl."

So-ah smirked proudly.

"Is that so? I thought you weren’t serious yet. And call me Red Girl."

"Very well... Red Girl."

Griffon tightened his grip on his sword and charged again.