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Translator: Vine
Chapter Title: My Flawed Abilities
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Espers, or super-powered individuals, are incredibly rare in South Korea.
And those who possess two abilities are even rarer still.
My abilities: psychokinesis and teleportation.
Considering I have two major-tier abilities simultaneously, you could say I was born with a silver spoon when it comes to superpowers.
...Yeah, if only I were actually born with a silver spoon.
Unfortunately, my abilities seem more like a gold-plated spoon than pure gold.
The reason is simple: all my abilities have flaws.
Take teleportation, for example. After teleporting even a single kilometer, the fatigue that hits me all at once is like having just sprinted a full kilometer.
Yesterday, I tried a slightly longer distance, and the fact that I slept all day afterward clearly shows its limitations.
If you look at the Teleporter, one of the villains from the original story, he only has one ability—teleportation—but it comes with absolutely no limitations.
He can simply appear and disappear at will, flashing from one place to another in an instant.
By the same token, my psychokinesis ability also has a pretty major flaw.
To put it in perspective, it's like the flimsy claw hand on a claw machine.
It's utterly useless for pinning down someone who's violently resisting; at best, I can float objects in the air, just like this smartphone I currently have suspended.
Of course, while holding things in place is difficult, batting them away is much easier. It's like how a claw machine's gripper can swing around easily even if it can't quite grasp anything.
Its only advantage, I suppose, is that it can function as a pseudo-charged attack. If I gather my power for a long time and then release it all at once, it can still deal a decent amount of damage. I used this in conjunction with my teleportation to smash villains' heads and move around.
Of course, regardless of that advantage, the undeniable truth is that it's riddled with flaws.
Still.
Even so.
If I'm just handed a gun, the ability to take care of these mere nobodies,
Is more than enough.
"W-what in the world are you doing?!"
Inside the building, filled with the screams of hostages.
To the voice of the clearly flustered man, I simply retorted.
"Since you're acting like such idiots, don't you think I ought to educate you a little?"
And with that, I fired a shot at the man who had just opened his mouth.
The distance between us was quite significant, but the bullet flew true, striking him squarely between the eyebrows.
Fortunately, it didn't seem to be a bulletproof mask, considering he crumpled directly to the floor.
Unwavering precision. Egostic Bullet.
Of course, that was only possible because I'd used psychokinesis to fix the bullet's trajectory beforehand, but hey, that's still my 'ability,' isn't it?
Whew, it's really a good thing I have even a weak psychokinesis.
Without it, there's no way I, with only military experience handling a gun, could have hit someone so accurately.
Only after three of them had fallen did the remaining men finally start aiming their guns at me.
Wait, they claim to be my followers. Why are they aiming guns at me? What a bunch of jokers.
In this tense, hair-trigger situation, I discreetly glanced at my smartphone, which was still floating in the air and streaming perfectly.
*
[He just killed 3 people instantly lolololol]
[So satisfying! For real haha]
[Wait, weren't they on his side? Why'd he just kill them idk]
[This needs an R-rating, look at all the blood]
[My brother's in there, damn it, this is serious]
[What is Egostic? Is this bastard a good guy?]
[One shot, one kill, wow]
[You crazy, bastards~~~. Does this look like a game? This is a real situation, how can you laugh and joke around,,, these kids these days,]
[But what are the heroes doing? A villain is stepping up instead lololol]
[What about the people in thereㅠㅠ I'm so worried]
[Everyone stay strong!]
[Free Kim Sun-woo Free Kim Sun-woo Free Kim Sun-woo Free Kim Sun-woo Free Kim Sun-woo Free Kim Sun-woo Free Kim Sun-woo Free Kim Sun-woo]
[Damn it, is there no moderator here? Get rid of this spam]
[Even seeing half of Egostic Oppa's face, he looks so handsome ㅠㅠㅠ]
[So many crazy people here lololol this is a real situation, you guys]
[Watching a live villain attack and talking about moderators lolol]
[If someone screenshots this comment section and uploads it, it'll be a national disgrace;;]
*
...Just a quick glance was enough to make me dizzy.
Turning my head back, I assessed the atmosphere of the scene.
The hostages, who had been screaming, were now covering their ears and trembling uncontrollably.
Right, gunshots are terrifying.
Scanning the hostages, I saw a mix of men and women, mostly in their twenties and thirties.
...I'm not even sure what kind of building this is. An office, maybe?
As I was speculating, one of the men who had been aiming a gun at me started shouting. What an insolent bastard.
"Oh, Egostic! What have we done wrong that you're suddenly doing this?!"
This man, bellowing at me. How outrageous.
Honestly, if these guys hadn't been invoking my name, I wouldn't have even paid attention to a terror attack like this. That's a hero's job, after all. Though, of course, I do intend to eliminate any villains who plan large-scale casualty attacks before they can carry them out.
Anyway, for the sake of that ignorant fool who still didn't grasp what he'd done wrong, I decided to personally enlighten him.
"Wrong? You haven't done anything wrong."
As I said that, I spun the gun once in my hand. It was amusing to see them flinch. The little bastards, they still wouldn't shoot me, claiming to be my followers. However, when even the hostages, who had been peeking, flinched, I felt a tiny bit of remorse...
"Of course, if ignorance is a sin, then perhaps it could be considered one! In that case, you all are…"
As I spoke, I simultaneously levitated several guns that I had previously stashed in my coat using psychokinesis.
Their eyes widened at the sight of the guns suddenly hovering in mid-air.
What, did they think I was going to hold and fire these guns by hand?
I'm a psychokinetic, you idiots.
"You are all traitors. Immediate execution."
With that, I simultaneously fired the guns I had levitated in the air with psychokinesis, sending bullets in various directions.
With the terrified shrieks of the hostages as a backdrop, my followers crumpled to the ground with a series of bangs.
I only intended to give them a bit of a 'mental adjustment,' but I suppose this might be a little too extreme...
Well, perhaps they'll take today's events as a lesson and be more careful in their next lives?
As I thought that, I deflected a bullet flying toward me with psychokinesis.
Even though my psychokinesis is incredibly weak, it's still strong enough to alter the trajectory of an incoming bullet. Though, of course, that's only because I knew the bullet was coming beforehand.
"Ah, ah…"
Only one person remained standing after everyone else had fallen.
All her comrades had fallen, leaving my follower utterly alone.
The reason I left one person alive was simple.
[Oppa! You have to save that woman!]
Because it was the person Seoeun had mentioned, someone who could be helpful. The one we had marked as our potential ally from the very beginning.
Her name was Lee Soobin, wasn't it? Seoeun had explained that she hadn't even wanted to be here, but was forcibly dragged along by the other followers. She'd just stood there frozen, not harming anyone since arriving. Still, she was complicit in the terror, so she wasn't entirely innocent.
Having shot down everyone else, I then walked slowly towards her, a smile on my face.
Thump. Thump.
"Ah, ah… S-s-save…"
As I drew closer, she trembled uncontrollably.
She no longer even tried to aim a gun at me. Was it because she knew it would be useless?
Finally, I stood directly before her, trembling as if she were utterly broken.
"H-h-huk…"
Standing before her, who seemed on the verge of breaking into tears, I took her chin in my hand.
Then, with my other hand, I tore off the mask covering her face.
As the mask came off, her true appearance was revealed.
My first thought upon seeing her was…
'…She's beautiful, isn't she?'
Yes. That she was beautiful.
I hadn't been thinking much, so the sudden appearance of such a beauty left me feeling a little flustered.
Her moist eyes looking up at me were enough to stir anyone's protective instincts. …Wait, that's not important right now.
Snapping back to reality, I spoke to her.
"Did you do wrong, or didn't you?"
To my question, asked in a gentle voice, she replied, trembling uncontrollably.
"I-I-I did wrong. I did wrong. I did wrong, h-h-huk, huk."
What, why are you acting like this? Is someone going to eat you?
Even though her radiant beauty, even while crying, made my composure waver, I quickly regained my focus. This wasn't the time for that.
Hardening my resolve, I posed a question designed to shatter her composure.
"What, precisely, did you do wrong?"
"W-what? What was that?"
"I asked what you did wrong."
At my question, repeated with a faint smile, she finally lost all strength in her legs and collapsed.
"Ah, ah. I… we… uh, without Egostic-nim's permission, th-this, this kind of thing happened…"
"And?"
"A-and… and then… ah, ah, h-h-huk. I-I did wrong. Please save me. Please save me, oh, h-huaaaah!"
She suddenly broke into loud sobs in the middle of her confession.
What, why is she acting like this? What did I even do?
She's the one who's in the wrong, yet somehow I feel like the villain here.
…Oh, wait, am I actually the villain?
And so, only her weeping filled the quiet building.
*
[Lmao wow, if you just look at this part out of context, Egostic really looks like a total piece of trash lolololol]
*
...Reading that comment in the chat, my stomach churned.
I never expected to be called a 'total piece of trash' for *this* reason of all things…