The uproar at HQ ended in the most unexpected way.
King, strongest man alive, turned back Tornado of Terror with a single sentence—without lifting a finger.
The story grew wings, racing through the Association, embellished into countless versions.
Some said King subdued her telekinesis with a look.
Some said the King Engine's roar shook Tornado's soul.
The wildest claimed the two had fought three hundred rounds on the astral plane—and King had won handily.
Either way, King's image climbed to new heights.
Meanwhile, the man himself sat cross-legged in his humble apartment, munching chips and flipping through the latest fashion magazine, dead inside.
"What is this drivel…" Lin Mo couldn't help complaining.
On the cover, he wore a sleek, expensive black coat, collar high, half his face hidden. Post-processing had made his eyes razor-sharp, glaring coldly ahead.
Beside him, a huge gilded headline screamed: "The Style of a King: 'I Don't Do Meaningless Things.'"
Great! They quoted that too? He cringed.
He hadn't meant anything deep—just needed to calm Tornado down.
He flipped the pages, more exasperated. The regular cover stars and idols had been squeezed into a tiny corner feature.
Over eighty percent of the magazine was his close-ups and overwrought analysis of his style, behavior, even "life philosophy."
In a world crawling with monsters, the absolute symbol of strength out-pulls pretty faces who only sing and dance.
Well, except for Sweet Mask—both hero and mega-idol—with real sway in the Association.
On the bright side, his Energy Points had indeed gone up. Small comfort.
"Forget it. Out of sight, out of mind."
He flicked the offending magazine into the trash with pinpoint precision.
"Time to check in on my game. The core framework's nearly done."
He sat at the PC and opened his engine.
On screen, a pixely hero faced down a huge, ugly dragon.
"Combat logic… balance tweaks… and a friendlier newbie guide."
His fingers flew, a contented focus on his face—the world he truly belonged to.
"Once the first beta's ready… I'll have Saitama test it."
"Right. Even a complete newbie should be able to experience the full game…"
He nodded at his own "thoughtfulness."
Elsewhere in City Z, a dim, abandoned warehouse.
"King… the strongest man alive?" A suited middle-aged man rasped the name between clenched teeth, voice hoarse and dripping envy. "Hah. Just a carefully packaged idol. A thief who stole our market."
His name was Akawa, president of a venerable clothing group.
Since King endorsed a brand owned by one of the Association's big shareholders, the entire industry's ecosystem had been wrecked.
King's personal pull was a tsunami.
Consumers lost their minds for "King's Pick," as if wearing it lent a bit of the strongest man's swagger.
Akawa's company and his peers suffered cliff-drop sales. Flagships bled.
Desperate, they sought heroes to endorse too—only to learn a hard truth.
They didn't have the pull to hire S-Class, and most S-Class heroes wouldn't be as… idle as King Lin Mo.
A-Class and below had fans, sure, but their market impact was nothing compared to King.
So Akawa and a clutch of capitalists, cornered, hatched a mad idea: if they couldn't beat King in business, they'd erase him physically.
They poured money through black-market channels to contact the world's largest assassin syndicate—
A shadowy outfit with the motto: "Pay up and we'll slay even gods." They called themselves the Good Day Group.
"Can you do it?" Akawa shoved a heavy metal briefcase at the masked men. "He's the strongest man alive—S-Class, Rank 6!"
"Relax. We're professionals. There's no one we can't kill—only prices you can't afford."
The leader weighed the case and seemed satisfied. "Go home, chill the champagne, and wait to see the headline: 'Hero King Dies in Freak Accident.'"
Behind him, a lanky shade hit Enter on a laptop.
King's detailed profile, daily haunts, his apartment's floor plan, even his favorite grocery and game store—all spun in clean 3D.
In a corner, a bear-sized bruiser polished a custom pistol.
A well-oiled hit squad.
Lin Mo, oblivious, was on the phone inviting Saitama to a café for a hands-on game test.
-------
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