# Chapter 6
Even when asked again, Sano merely glanced at Iyeon without answering. He seemed to think it was cool to just maintain a mysterious atmosphere. Iyeon’s eyes trembled slightly. I heard that correctly, right? Considering he’s not answering again, I must have heard it right.
Suddenly asking to find human excrement—this guy was completely insane.
If he still hasn’t found it in a neighborhood with so many people, it must be made of gold or something. Iyeon wanted to stop these disgusting thoughts, but the answer was so shocking that his mind kept wandering. What kind of human feces? Whose feces? No way, the reason he’s sticking to me is… no way?
Iyeon’s confused gaze alternated between the rapidly moving platform beneath them and Sano. Of course, Je Sano had only offered to help with Iyeon’s work, and anything beyond that wasn’t Iyeon’s business. What did it matter if he was searching for feces or corpses? It’s not like Sano was asking for his help. He shouldn’t care about it.
“…”
No, how could he not care? The country’s number one ranked superhuman was just sitting around looking for poop!
Iyeon’s brain failed to ignore the situation. His next attempt was rationalization.
Did he actually say “human feces” correctly? What if he said “workers” and I misheard it because of Je Sano’s weird pronunciation? Even if Sano really is collecting human feces, isn’t that much better than collecting human hearts?
If he, he, he asks me for mine… right, it’s not like I need it anyway, so I could just close my eyes and… As he raised his head with this solemn resolve, his eyes met Sano’s. Seeing Iyeon’s face filled with complicated emotions, Sano frowned.
“Stop looking at me with those dirty eyes.”
Who are you to talk… Iyeon felt wronged.
“Hold tight.”
His mouth, which was about to protest, was forced shut as he staggered from the tremendous surging force. After breaking through the concrete and reaching the surface, Sano neatly filled in the hole they had made, destroying any evidence of illegal excavation.
The sudden appearance of two people emerging from the ground drew some attention, but once people confirmed they were unfamiliar faces, they quickly lost interest. In a city with so many superhumans, citizens didn’t care unless there was something spectacular to see or if it was a well-known superhuman. Normally, they would react indifferently even when witnessing superpowers right in front of them, like now. People would probably swarm if they knew who was with Iyeon, but… was it really okay to go around openly showing his face and powers like this?
“Is it okay to use your ability so openly like this?”
“That’s what abilities are for.”
It was an excessively open attitude for someone who had maintained a mysterious image for so long. Somehow his identity hadn’t been exposed. Iyeon tilted his head in confusion but soon accepted it. True, unless he flashed his superhuman registration card, it wasn’t likely that many people could tell whether his ability was Mineral Synchronization or telekinesis.
Iyeon checked the mission information on his phone again. The mission grade he had applied for was D, the same as his company’s grade. It was also the lowest grade mission that Chageum could take on. And the content, let’s see…
“…”
“Why are you standing there like an idiot?”
Iyeon, who had been staring at his phone, slowly turned his head upon hearing Sano’s rebuke. Seeing Iyeon’s dumbfounded face, Sano raised an eyebrow and took his phone to check it. Mission Grade D. Capture of multiple Level 8 variants, Flock Phoenixes.
“What’s a Flock Phoenix?”
Variants were classified into 9 levels based on their danger level, with Level 1 being the most dangerous. It was perhaps natural that Sano, who never dealt with mid-to-low level variants below Level 5, wouldn’t know about Level 8 variants. In fact, even Iyeon only knew the most basic information about Flock Phoenixes, as this was his first time taking on such a mission…
Level 8 variant Flock Phoenix. Named after their beautiful red feathers resembling the legendary phoenix and elegant deer-like antlers, these bird-type variants travel in flocks. With low aggression and attack power, they are considered a representative human-friendly variant. Nevertheless, the reason they were classified as Level 8 rather than the lowest Level 9 was simple.
They enjoy high-altitude flight, usually staying airborne, and they’re playful and fast, making them difficult to capture.
“…”
After looking around once, Iyeon raised his head to look at the sky. They were currently in a residential area with many side streets, alleys, and low buildings.
As he stared intently, he thought he could faintly see something reddish in the sky. It was fortunate, if anything, that the flying Flock Phoenixes were still around despite the notice being registered several days ago, but the variants were at a height far beyond not only the ground where Iyeon stood but even the highest rooftop in the vicinity.
And needless to say, humans are creatures that live attached to the ground.
‘I want… to fly in the sky.’
The result of randomly choosing a mission while relying solely on ground-dwelling Je Sano had returned as a desire worthy of the Wright brothers.
“Killing them would be easy.”
Sano’s answer was clear but unhelpful. Capturing them required more sophisticated skills than simply piercing through them, and naturally, the greater the distance, the more precise control was required. The Flock Phoenixes, looking like flying red petals from so far away, would be difficult even if Je Sano were Mongolian.
It’s a capture mission, so killing them isn’t an option. Non-aggressive variants were generally used for research or observation. If he just killed them all, it was obvious that the Superpower Management Office would reprimand him for killing variants that didn’t even attack.
“Don’t you have any flying techniques?”
“It’s more like jumping than flying.”
After quickly scanning the surroundings as if measuring something, Sano immediately declared:
“The buildings are too low.”
It was an answer that made sense, but one Iyeon didn’t want to understand.
This was an excessively harsh situation for Iyeon, who had only thought about taking advantage of Je Sano. He wanted to blame others, but Sano’s hedgehog show was still fresh in his mind, so his civilian self could only grumble timidly.
“The charm of a Mugunghwa 5-tier is that they can’t do even that kind of thing.”
Even that ended as a compliment when Sano glared at him halfway through. As the green eyes kept flashing, Iyeon put on a solid smile and nodded kindly, pretending to be benevolent.
“It would be boring if humans could do everything. I think so too.”
“Is my ability just for entertainment?”
His tone was so icy that it sent shivers down Iyeon’s spine.
“Wow, the weather is nice today…”
Leaving Iyeon talking nonsense to the air, Sano looked up at the sky and remained silent as if thinking about something. When the dark green pupils around his narrowly opened eyes glowed faintly as if burning, Sano’s foot rolled once.
The ground where his sole touched rippled briefly, and soon his whole body shot up into the sky. Iyeon stared blankly upward as Sano instantly turned into a black dot and disappeared.
It didn’t take long to rise high enough to see the Flock Phoenixes up close. During the brief moment he floated at the apex of the parabola, Sano quickly surveyed his surroundings and counted the Flock Phoenixes. One, two, three… six in total. None of them were flying in formation; they were all in individual flight.
Have to catch them one by one. Having completed his calculations in an instant, his body was soon pulled by gravity. His hair and clothes, which had started to fall slowly, fluttered violently. The air hitting his cheeks became fiercer as his speed increased. Just as he was quietly gauging the timing with the wind sound beating his ears…
Something soft caught his falling body completely.
The object sank down a little from supporting the tremendous gravitational acceleration, but soon rose lightly again. The fall had stopped.
Lying on his back looking at the sky, Sano stared upward with a slightly puzzled expression. This landing wasn’t what Sano had intended. He was still in mid-air, as evidenced by the Flock Phoenixes visible to the naked eye.
“You were surprised, weren’t you!”
Iyeon, frowning, thrust his face into Sano’s field of vision. His thin, fine hair was flying chaotically in the strong wind.
Sano blinked, staring at the stern face looking down at him. For him, dying this way would be even more difficult. His calm voice stated the facts.
“I could have come down on my own.”
“I’m sure you could.”
Iyeon retorted as if scolding him.
“I just happened to pick you up while I was enjoying flying in the sky.”
It was an utterly stupid answer.
Sano silently raised his upper body. After a moment of silence, as he turned his gaze to his surroundings, Sano’s eyebrows lowered. He checked again the shape of what he was currently sitting on.
The front part of the object, made of curved lines as if drawn by a child, suddenly became pointed at the end like a leaf. The left side was long, and the right was short. Some parts of the pure white body were crooked as if gnawed by a mouse, and a single wavy curve ran through the center.
It was like… some kind of abstract art. Whatever it was, it was somehow managing to fly despite its unclear operating principles.
“…What is this?”
It was an object he had never encountered before. At Sano’s serious question, Iyeon opened his eyes wide. He clearly looked like he was thinking, “How can someone be this ignorant?”
“It’s a paper airplane.”
Even after hearing the answer, Sano still couldn’t understand part of this vehicle’s structure. Calling this a paper airplane was an insult to paper airplanes.
