Became a Failed Experimental Subject-Chapter 33: Hero Hunt

Gu Seoryong shifted her position on top of me, slow and deliberate.

A stance ready to spring away at any second—yet at the same time, her monster core vibrated ever so faintly, scanning me.

Cautious. Defensive.

She looked me over with an irritated tone leaking into her voice.

“Ugh, I was just getting to the fun part. What a buzzkill.”

At her fingertips, new venom began to form.

A sharp burst of pain tore through my gut—blood inside me curdled, thickened. I winced. Starlight’s expression darkened like steel.

“Excuse me? S-Class Hero, Starlight? What were you thinking, coming here? No one stopped you on the way?”

“That’s why I came. While the rest of us were busy cleaning up monster attacks, some bottom-feeding eel decided to worm its way into deep water and foul it up.”

“Hmph... Worthless trash. This is exactly why the discarded ones never last. They’ve got no value. So? You came here to punch me in the face and throw me into villain prison—is that it?”

“Nice deduction. So how about this—you let the guy go, and come quietly.”

“Oh my, no. He’s mine.”

“...Tch.”

The room thickened with tension. Gu Seoryong casually flicked her tongue, unfazed, like she didn’t have a care in the world—even with me being used as a hostage.

Starlight let out a breath, slowly lowering her energy.

I knew exactly what that was.

Silence before the charge. A trick she mastered to keep monsters like me from reading her movement pattern.

“KYAA!”

“GYAAAH!!”

CRASH!

The window behind Starlight shattered under the pressure of her acceleration. Gu Seoryong sprang from the bed, barely dodging Starlight’s fist, flipping through the air, and landing effortlessly near the elevator.

A thin trickle of blood ran down her pale cheek—Starlight’s fist had grazed her.

“So you really are top-tier A-Class.”

“Attacking mid-conversation? Pretty damn rude.”

“I don’t take etiquette advice from villains holding hostages.”

“Hostage...?”

Gu Seoryong licked her lips slowly, looking between the two of us.

Her energy shifted—just a little. Like she was more confident now.

She picked up her tailored jacket from the floor and tossed it over one shoulder.

“Oh, right. A ‘hostage.’ Because of course, a hero would have to rescue a hostage, right? But tell me—how do you know he’s not mine?”

“Hmph. If he were, you’d have already used him against me.”

“I’m not a villain.”

My voice cut in. Starlight looked down at me, still paralyzed on the bed.

She narrowed her eyes.

“Then... he’s not a villain either. What is he? Some kidnapped esper?”

“I’m not an esper.”

“...Tch. What the hell did you do to him for his body to end up like this?”

“Ggh...!”

She glanced down at my stomach, now mottled and dark from Gu Seoryong’s poison, then extended her hand—flames sparking to life.

Ssshhhhhh!

The searing pain was unlike anything Gu Seoryong’s venom had caused. I flailed.

The poison I’d been carefully digesting burned away instantly—only to leave behind a scorched palm print that would take far longer to heal.

“What the hell?! Are heroes allowed to roast their hostages now?”

“I didn’t kill you. That was first aid. Better than dying slowly from poison, isn’t it?”

“You sadistic bitch. Are you even a hero?”

Seriously. This twisted woman—how the hell could she just burn someone like that?

Then—snap.

Gu Seoryong flicked her fingers again.

A wave of sound-based confusion pulsed outward toward Starlight, but she countered with a flare of white-hot fire that incinerated the incoming energy.

In that split-second of distraction, Gu Seoryong lunged.

“AHA!”

“Kh—?!”

She slipped beneath Starlight’s punch, flipped off the floor toward her, and brought two fingers to her lips.

Fwooosh.

She exhaled a concentrated mist of poison right into Starlight’s face.

As the venom cloud exploded and obscured vision, Gu Seoryong began her transformation.

Her hair turned a gleaming moon-white. Scales coated everything but her belly and face. A thick tail extended, claws forming on both hands and feet.

KR-RK!

Her talons gouged into the marble floor, tearing through the carpet.

She lunged—both hands forward, claws aimed like daggers.

Starlight blocked, crossing her arms, but the sheer force hurled her backward through the open window.

“Ahahaha! That’s right! You can’t attack a hostage, can you—HERO?!”

“You little—!”

CRASH!

Gu Seoryong whipped her tail, smashing the nightstand beside the bed.

From the wreckage, she snagged a microphone with the [N O V E L I G H T] tip of her tail and grinned, looking out the broken window at Starlight suspended in midair.

[My little darlings~? CODE S!]

“...What?”

Snap!

Gu Seoryong’s fingers flicked again.

Every spotlight in Guryong Fortress suddenly turned, blindingly aimed at Starlight.

And then—from balconies, rooftops, and walls—dozens of powered criminals emerged, positioning themselves like snipers.

“You look surprised, dear S-Class Hero. Thought the bad guys would scatter when you showed up? Hate to break it to you—but we’ve been waiting.”

“You set a trap?”

“Oh no. Don’t call it a ‘trap.’ Call it a hunt.”

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Cannonfire burst from the ground—fist-sized rounds shot into the sky.

Gunfire. Sniper rifles.

Anti-materiel caliber. I’d heard those sounds before—in the lab.

Even if they didn’t pierce her, even a graze would sting.

Starlight soared to avoid the hail of bullets as Gu Seoryong laughed into the mic.

[Ahahahaha! Ladies and gentlemen! Tonight’s main event—Hero Hunting begins now!]

“YEEEAAAAAHHH!!”

[Step outside and watch—get 100 casino chips free! Take a hit and get 300! Dodge a stray bullet and live? Your whole life could change tonight!]

“WAAAAAH!! KILL HER!! KILL HER!!”

The air filled with the hiss of smoke grenades and the sickly-sweet stench of aphrodisiacs drifting through the window.

“Well then, I’ll be right back~ wait for me, sweetheart!”

“GU SEORYOOOONG!!”

“Ahaha! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

“GET HER! FUCKING KILL HER!!”

Gu Seoryong kissed her fingertips, blew it toward me, and dove straight into the madness below—drunk on chaos.

“...Hmph.”

I rolled to my side on the bed.

The paralytic venom was nearly digested. All that remained was the tranquilizer and the stimulant.

Back then—four years ago, when Gu Seoryong first escaped the lab—this kind of venom would’ve had me down for over a day.

Now?

Ten, maybe twenty minutes. Tops.

“...It hurts.”

More than that—my stomach hurt.

Not inside.

The outside.

****

Meanwhile...

“Let’s see if this’ll even scratch an S-Class.”

“Sniper team—focus fire! Don’t stop even for a tenth of a second until every round’s gone!”

From the walls, a psychic embedded in ice reached toward Yu Anna. Mist scattered through the air like glass dust.

Next to him, another villain hovered, surrounded by swirling currents. He clapped once, and the icy particles detonated upward, vanishing into the sky.

At that exact moment, Yu Anna felt her skin bristle.

“Hyahaha! Take it and DIE, hero bitch!”

BOOM!

A massive shockwave erupted around her.

A grenade, fired by a low-tier C-Class villain, had detonated right next to her.

It was no ordinary round—it had been charged with electricity by an esper with power over lightning. A capacitor shot, fully loaded.

Though it had been fired away from her exact position, it was enough to warp the entire battlefield into a firework of exploding energy.

Every bolt of electricity honed in on her—their human lightning rod—thousands of arcs collapsing in from every direction.

“KYAAAAAA!”

“Ahahaha! That was insane! What was that?!”

KRRRA-BOOM!!

Thunder cracked through the sky like a sonic boom.

The guests of Guryong Fortress whooped and hollered as if they were watching a concert.

Flashes of lightning left trails in the sky like scars.

And in the center of it all—Yu Anna, her body scorched black, exhaled a breath she’d held through the blast.

Her core flared.

“You little shits...”

“She’s alive! Load up the next round!”

“Fucking hell! If she were really S-Class, she’d be dead already!”

The barrage didn’t stop.

Anti-materiel rounds from sniper cannons. Dozens of them.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from fгeewebnovёl.co𝙢.

Boosted by esper strength, fired on repeat.

The villains laughed among the drugged-up crowd, openly enjoying the spectacle.

“Hey you bitch! Just fucking die already! You’re too small a target!”

“HAHA! You suck! Can’t even hit her with telekinesis!”

“Shut the fuck up before I shoot you, asshole!”

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

Even as Yu Anna darted through the air, the bullets tracked her like bloodhounds. They weren’t ordinary projectiles—they were psychokinetically guided rounds, powered by esper villains with barely even C-Class abilities. Still, they dogged her relentlessly, blocking her every angle.

While the low-level villains pinned her down, the B-Class ones were preparing the next wave.

Gunfire. Reloading. Recharging psychic abilities. In the chaos, tiny openings formed.

Yu Anna didn’t miss them.

She pressed her palms together and raised a single finger.

Piiiing. Piiiing. Piiiing.

Pinpoint light blasts shot out, each searing straight through their targets. The villains hit disintegrated like sand sculptures caught in a storm.

“Oh dear~! Maybe be a little more careful? You might end up shooting civilians by mistake!”

“I TOLD them to evacuate! Dammit!”

“WAAAAH! AHAHA! I'M FLYING!”

“Evacuate? With all this fun going on? Not a chance!”

“Freaking annoying!”

The entire Guryong Fortress was soaked in stimulant gas, laced with Gu Seoryong’s sensory-confusing abilities and illusion-inducing pheromones.

As Yu Anna tried to gain altitude again to escape the tracking shots, Gu Seoryong suddenly spun into view behind her.

CRACK!

With a whip of her tail, she struck Yu Anna down toward the crowd below.

Yu Anna halted herself just inches before flattening the civilians, barely skimming the top of the metal cage that formed the central arena.

Above her, Gu Seoryong landed—THUD!—grabbing onto the cage bars with her scale-covered feet.

“Ahaha! It’s tough being a hero, huh? Gotta protect all these precious civilians too!”

Snap... snap... snap...

That sound again. The flicking of fingers. It echoed in every direction.

Yu Anna’s world flipped—sky and ground reversed.

Her sense of direction shattered. She soared upward, barely avoiding the people below—only to see the entire apartment complex begin to collapse toward her.

Or so she thought.

She reached out in panic to catch the falling building—only to freeze at the sight inside the window.

A middle-aged man, mid-act with a prostitute, grinned excitedly.

“Daaamn! Starlight! You’re even hotter up close!”

“Aaah~!”

But the apartment wasn’t really collapsing.

Her sense of balance was. Just another illusion.

The building stretched like taffy, the people inside like frames from an old film. The windows peeled away like playing cards, one after another, as Yu Anna flew past them.

“Hey Starlight! Stop fighting and just come lie down in here!”

“Ahahaha! How ‘bout a million won? I’ll pay right now!”

“Die already! I bet against you—put my money on your loss! Oof!”

“KYAAAAA!”

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

More shots.

One bullet ripped through the man mid-sentence, blowing off his head as it crushed the prostitute behind him.

Yu Anna dove through the wreckage, past the gore, teeth clenched as she dropped toward the crescent moon glowing beneath her.

“God... this is disgusting!”

“Aww? Was that for my sweeties? Or the civilians~?”

She hadn’t noticed Gu Seoryong get that close again.

Now the villain crouched on a nearby rooftop, claws dug into the ledge like a perched predator. She flicked her fingers again.

Snap. Snap... snap...

The moon fractured like a deck of cards being fanned out.

And suddenly, Yu Anna was surrounded—thirteen Gu Seoryongs standing before her.

“Ta-da! Guess which one’s the real me~?”

“All of them.”

FWOOSH!

Yu Anna unleashed a blazing inferno across the entire rooftop, burning every Gu Seoryong to ash.

But then—from a rooftop on the opposite building—another figure appeared, crouched in the moonlight, casting a perfect shadow.

Gu Seoryong again.

She held something small in her hand, shaped like a chess piece. She pressed it down.

Click.

The illusions vanished.

Yu Anna looked around.

Claymore mines.

Dozens of them.

All across the rooftop—loaded with shrapnel, set to obliterate everything in front of them upon detonation.

“Yes—ka-boom~♥”

BOOOOM!

A massive explosion erupted atop the apartment building.