What I saw in the news and reality were completely different.

  It looked like a massive bomb had exploded. Huge cracks ran across the asphalt, street trees uprooted entirely, and buildings with holes punched through them as if hit by a giant's fist.

  The air was thick with concrete dust, the smell of burning tires, and the metallic scent of twisted rebar all mixed together. Every single smell that hit my nose came through distinctly separated. My enhanced senses since the meteor incident were shoving all the information from this hellish scene directly into my brain without any filter.

  Police cars wailed their sirens as they desperately set up barriers, but even they couldn't approach beyond a certain distance. The sound of helicopter propellers circling overhead pounded my heart anxiously.

  "There's another person over there!"

  "It's dangerous! Please evacuate this way!"

  The urgent shouts of police officers echoed. I could see terrified citizens tangled together as they fled. A child who had lost their mother's hand was crying out, and I also saw a young person helping up a fallen elderly man.

  At the center of all that chaos, it was there.

  "GRAAAAAHHH!"

  An ear-splitting roar shook the entire city. It wasn't just a sound. The sound waves became physical shock waves that rattled the windows of surrounding buildings, and I could feel the vibrations reach my chest.

  In that moment, my legs went stiff. My body wouldn't listen to me.

  A massive shadow visible between the buildings. It definitely had a human form, but its movements were pure beast. Its height alone looked well over 6 feet, and its shoulder width was like a door.

  The sight of it swinging both arms to destroy everything around it was on a completely different level from what I'd seen on TV. The destructive power I faced in reality was beyond imagination.

  THWACK! THWACK!

  Every time it swung its fists, concrete chunks flew in parabolic arcs. One of them fell and shattered just a few meters from where I was standing. A fragment grazed my cheek as it passed.

  'I'm scared...'

  That was my honest feeling. It was a completely different dimension of fear from when I'd sent the coach flying at the boxing gym, or when I'd been fine after taking a baseball to the head. That thing wasn't human.

  It was a monster possessed by destructive instinct. The fear that had made me powerless on Cheongryong Mountain seemed to wrap around my entire body again. My determination to become a hero felt like nothing but wordplay in front of this overwhelming destructive force.

  But at that moment, a small crying voice from between the building debris reached my ears.

  "Mom... Mom... I'm scared..."

  It was a child's voice. Thanks to my enhanced hearing, I could hear it clearly even in all this noise.

  Following the direction of the voice, I turned my gaze and saw a small figure trapped in the gap between collapsed building debris. It was a girl who looked about six years old. Her pink dress was dirty with dust and soil, and her small shoulders were trembling with fear.

  Right then, it began walking toward where the child was.

  'What should I do?'

  Hesitation washed over me. Could I face that monster? What if I died? But I couldn't just leave that child alone.

  The words I'd resolved in the park flashed through my mind. 'I won't stand by and watch anymore.' 'I'll use this power for others.' This was exactly that moment.

  The fear hadn't disappeared. But that child's crying awakened something greater than the fear inside me.

  It was responsibility.

  I took a deep breath and pulled myself together. Then I rushed into the scene.

  I quickly surveyed the surroundings. The complex environment characteristic of Gangnam Station intersection came into view. Stairs leading down to the subway entrance, sturdy pillars of bus stops, manhole covers embedded throughout the road, and collapsed streetlights and utility poles. My enhanced vision was recognizing all of these as potential weapons or defensive measures.

  A police officer who had been controlling people from the outskirts approached to stop me, but through an instantaneous leap, I had already gotten close to the front of the monster.

  With each step closer, its size felt increasingly overwhelming. Each muscle was as thick as a log, and whenever those muscles moved, it made a sound like air being torn. Hot heat was radiating from its entire body.

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  And above all, the tiger tattoo clearly carved on its right shoulder.

  It was that bastard. The one who had driven me to the brink of death. The very person who had assaulted me on the mountain and tried to bury me alive.

  But now he was completely different. There was no trace of the cowardly and cunning appearance from before. Instead, he had become a beast possessed only by pure destructive desire.

  "You... you..."

  Tiger Tattoo sensed my presence and turned his head. Bloodshot eyes with bulging veins fixed on me.

  The moment that gaze touched me, something strange happened. The monster's movement stopped for a moment.

  A faint but clear recognition flashed in his eyes. There was still something left inside him, even though I thought he had completely lost his reason.

  But that moment was brief, and soon a dark blue mass began writhing behind his neck.

  "My family... they're all dead..."

  The words that flowed from his mouth made my spine run cold.

  "Because of you..."

  But before those words could finish, the mass behind his neck moved even more violently. His expression contorted with pain.

  Against his will, his fist clenched by itself.

  Those were the eyes of a beast that had lost its reason.

  'This bastard... has gone completely insane.'

  No. He wasn't insane. He was being controlled.

  THWACK!

  He struck the ground with his fist. The asphalt cracked like a spider web and fragments scattered in all directions. Several fragments grazed my forearm, but I didn't get injured thanks to GNOM's instantaneous movement.

  Tiger Tattoo grabbed his neck and writhed in agony.

  Tiger Tattoo suddenly reached for a nearby car. Like picking up a toy, he easily lifted the vehicle. A car weighs at least 2 tons, but to him it looked as light as a basketball.

  "GRAAHHH!"

  Tiger Tattoo roared and threw the car at me. In that moment, what flashed in his eyes wasn't anger but warning.

  A massive chunk of metal flew in a parabolic arc. I could hear the sound of wind being split.

  I quickly rolled to the side and reached for a nearby manhole cover. Instantly, my fingernails dug into the gaps of the manhole cover, and GNOM's power activated, easily pulling out the thick iron cover.

  CLANG!

  The car struck the manhole cover, creating a massive shock wave. The impact was enough to make my arms tingle, but I could endure it. The vehicle shattered into pieces with fragments flying everywhere.

  It charged toward me. A speed that didn't match its massive bulk.

  I instantly rolled my body to the side. Tiger Tattoo's fist struck where I had been standing, creating a deep dent in the concrete floor.

  'Fast... but predictable.'

  My senses were also different from before. Its movements were fast, but they were linear and predictable patterns. The GNOM inside me made my senses extremely sharp, and all the movements in the world began to look like slow motion.

  I quickly got up and put distance between us. The basics I'd learned at the boxing gym helped. Footwork, evasion, timing.

  'The power is overwhelming, but... there's no technique.'

  Tiger Tattoo was relying only on pure destructive force. There were no complex tactics or feints. He was trying to solve everything with strength alone.

  "Stop it! You're a victim too!"

  At my shout, Tiger Tattoo's movement paused for a moment.

  "Just like me... because of the meteor..."

  But at that moment, the mass behind his neck writhed even more violently.

  "GRAAAHHH!"

  It let out a roar filled with rage and grabbed a nearby streetlight. The sound of the metal pipe twisting and breaking was audible. He swung the streetlight, which was easily 12 feet long, like a baseball bat.

  SWOOSH!

  The streetlight cut through the air and passed over my head. I quickly ducked and rolled to the opposite side. Right then, a broken piece of streetlight caught in my hand. It was about 6 feet long - a suitable weapon.

  "Now it's my turn!"

  I swung the streetlight piece like a spear and struck Tiger Tattoo's arm. The metal pipe hit his thick muscle with a clanging sound.

  "GRAAAHHH!"

  It writhed in pain and picked up nearby sidewalk blocks. At that moment, I could see his hands trembling slightly.

  They were heavy square concrete chunks.

  THUD! THUD! THUD!

  The sidewalk blocks flew like bullets. I barely managed to twist my body to avoid one, but the second block grazed my left shoulder. My workout clothes tore and my skin was scraped.

  Tiger Tattoo charged at me again. This time he seemed to be trying to drive me toward the bus stop.

  I quickly rolled toward the subway entrance. It was a tactic to create a height difference using the stairs. When it followed, I ran down the stairs and temporarily disappeared from Tiger Tattoo's sight.

  "Grrrrr..."

  It growled down at me from above the subway entrance. There was a strange desperation mixed in that sound.

  I leaped back up from the middle of the stairs.

  But Tiger Tattoo was already waiting. He had pulled out a bus stop pillar and was holding it like a shield.

  THUD!

  My fist struck the concrete pillar. Spider web-like cracks appeared in the pillar, but it didn't completely break.

  "GRAAAHHH!"

  It pushed the pillar and shoved me away. I was pushed back several steps, and in that gap, Tiger Tattoo picked up and threw building debris.

  I quickly grabbed another piece of building debris and threw it at him. The two chunks collided in mid-air and shattered.

  Right then.

  HISSSSSS... WHOOSH!

  The sound of a nearby buried gas pipe rupturing could be heard. It was probably due to Tiger Tattoo's powerful shock waves. Instantly, the smell of gas stung my nose.

  I didn't miss that opportunity. I quickly ran to a nearby utility pole and pushed it with all my might. GNOM's power exploded and the massive utility pole began to be uprooted entirely.

  THUD! THUD! THUD!

  The utility pole fell and the connected wires sparked. Several wire strands wrapped around its ankles.

  "GRAAAAAHHH!"

  Tiger Tattoo writhed from the electrical shock. At that moment, the mass behind his neck became blurry for a moment. It wasn't completely subdued, but its movements became sluggish for a while.

  And in that brief moment, desperation flashed in his eyes.

  I couldn't miss this opportunity.

  "Snap out of it!"

  At my shout, a single tear flowed from Tiger Tattoo's eyes.

  "GRAAAHHH!"

  It let out a roar filled with rage, forcibly broke the wires, and grabbed pieces of scattered rebar. The sound of the rebar twisting and breaking between his fingers was audible.

  Then he threw them at me like spears. I concentrated all my senses to dodge them one by one. Thanks to my enhanced dynamic vision, I could see their trajectories clearly.

  Tiger Tattoo charged again and alternately struck down with both fists. I barely avoided them while backing away.

  'This won't work. I need to save that child.'

  At that moment, the child's crying voice came from the debris pile again.

  "Mom... I'm scared..."

  The moment I heard that voice, another power surged up inside me. It wasn't GNOM's power.

  It was my own will, human Kang Chul's will.

  'There's no more time to hesitate.'

  I charged straight forward. It also ran toward me.

  The distance closed. 30 feet, 15 feet, 10 feet...

  Tiger Tattoo swung his fist. I also swung my fist.

  And at that moment, time seemed to completely stop.

  Just as my fist and its fist were about to collide in mid-air, the memory from the convenience store flashed through my mind like lightning.

  He had been cowardly and cruel, but still human. And now, this monster.

  'You... went through the same thing as me.'

  That moment of realization was infused into my fist. It was a fist containing compassion, not anger.

  THWACK!

  The two fists collided. And something amazing happened. Its fist began to be pushed back by my fist.

  "Grr... GRAAAHHH..."

  Surprise flashed across Tiger Tattoo's expression for the first time.

  My fist pushed away its fist and headed toward his face.

  THWACK!

  This time it was a truly powerful blow. Its body flew in an arc and fell into a pile of building debris.

  THUD! CRASH!

  The debris collapsed and covered Tiger Tattoo. A few seconds of silence. And there was no more movement.

  But in that quiet, a faint voice could be heard.

  "Thank... thank you..."

  In his face visible between the debris pile, there was no longer any trace of the black mass. As if he had been freed from some kind of bondage.

  I gasped for breath and stared at the debris pile.

  The battle was over. But what filled my heart wasn't the joy of victory.

  First, relief washed over me. The thought that I had saved that child warmed my heart. But that was brief, and soon the heavy reality pressed down on my shoulders.

  The fact that I had saved a being who had once been human. He too had been a victim of the meteor like me. And in the final moment, he had returned to being human.

  Rather than guilt, a deep sense of responsibility swept over me. If this was the path of a hero, how many more such salvations would I have to perform in the future?

  But one thing was certain. That child was safe. And I had used this power in the right place.

  And the look Tiger Tattoo had shown at the end.

  Anxiety, fear, and deep responsibility filled my heart.

  This was the real first step of being a hero.