Who Do You Think You Are, Asshole?!

Bang~

"If you might be useful later, I'd kill you, you clown."

After thinking for two seconds, the crimson glow faded again. Ron frowned impatiently and vanished from the spot, taking Deep with him. The next second, he returned to the room.

Later in the story, Queen Maeve relied on Deep to find proof beneath the sea that Homelander had stood by and watched people die.

Though he could dive to the ocean floor and search himself, it was better to leave that sort of tedious grunt work to someone else. Letting that clown live like this might make him suffer even more.

"Ah, where did you just go?

And Deep—where did he go?"

Still not fully processing what had happened, Starlight ran over and stared blankly at Ron, who had vanished along with Deep.

"I threw him into the ocean. Hopefully, he can calm down.

Maybe he'll find a couple of female dolphins down there to comfort his wounded heart."

He straightened his clothes and answered casually.

"How would they comfort him?"

Starlight opened her mouth, wanting to ask whether he meant verbal comfort or something else.

She had heard that Deep could talk to fish. Some people had been curious whether he might fall in love with one, and now there didn't seem to be any other possibility.

Ron ignored her. She realized she should not have asked that and closed her mouth, changing the subject. Looking at Ron's perfectly sculpted profile, like an ancient Greek statue, she held out her hand and smiled.

"Thank you.

I'm Starlight. You saved me from an embarrassing situation."

"No need to thank me. An innocent girl like you shouldn't be defiled by others."

Ron glanced at her hand, stepped closer, and wore a faint smile like a gentleman.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to ask you for a favor."

"W-what kind of favor?"

Forced to back up until her back hit the wall, Starlight pressed both hands against his hard chest to keep him from coming closer. Looking away, she asked quietly and awkwardly.

Watching his handsome face draw near, feeling the man's breath clearly, and remembering how Ron had appeared to save her and punish the bad guy, her face reddened slightly.

"Even though I was a superhero who fought crime, today I ended up in a textbook damsel-in-distress scene from a movie."

"Dear Starlight, that guy just now really got me worked up."

Holding a lock of her hair in his hand, Ron sniffed it. He did not answer, only leaned close to her ear and whispered softly.

"Bleurgh..."

The scene shifted.

Inside one of Vought's public restrooms.

Starlight knelt beside a toilet, vomiting in disgust.

She angrily shouted toward the stall door.

"How are you any different from that asshole?!"

Leaning against the door with his arms folded, Ron spread his hands expressionlessly in the face of her accusation.

"Maybe the difference is that I'm much more handsome than that clown? Stronger?

I actually have the authority to kick you out of The Seven, yet I didn't threaten you."

"You weren't exactly resisting either. Half-pushing, half-going along with it?"

"You ruined my fantasy of you!"

Starlight fell silent for a moment. Why did Ron sound so proud of himself? She snapped back, shouting viciously.

She had thought everything today would be dreamlike and wonderful. Her dream had come true. Though she had encountered disgusting workplace coercion, a handsome hero had immediately appeared to rescue her. After that, it had seemed like a beautiful office romance ought to unfold.

But who would have thought that in the blink of an eye, the hero would turn into a dragon?

"Don't put it that way. Things just progressed a little quickly between us. We skipped some unnecessary steps."

Outside the door, Ron still spoke in that unconcerned tone, as though he were trying to persuade her.

"Yes, we skipped introducing ourselves, holding hands, kissing, and went straight to..."

With a bang, Starlight threw open the door. Even angrier, she stormed to the sink and mocked Ron. Halfway through, she turned back and pointed at him accusingly.

"You didn't let him defile me. You drove him away, then did what he didn't finish!"

Then came another furious stream of complaints.

"Enough. It's not like you're some little girl who has never experienced anything.

The fact that I was willing to come here with you was already good enough."

Ron was growing impatient and told her to stop while she was ahead.

"Meanwhile, it was still my first time. Your movements were nowhere near gentle.

Did I complain even once?"

When she faced that clown Deep, she had not had this much to say. She had only dared to run into the restroom alone and throw up, not daring to say anything afterward.

"You..."

And she was blaming him for not being gentle? Starlight's chest heaved violently. She was so angry she nearly spat blood. How could someone be so shameless?

To be honest, Ron was not that interested in Starlight. It had merely been a sudden burst of malicious amusement, and he had not restrained himself.

When one had enough power, shouldn't one be able to do whatever one wanted?

"I was raised in a religious family!"

Unable to endure it any longer, Starlight interrupted him.

"So what?"

Starlight had been raised in a religious family, but in the story she had not followed certain rules by remaining chaste. She had tasted forbidden fruit long ago, and more than once.

Even when faced with Deep's threat, she had not said no and had yielded easily.

Ron's face turned cold. Too lazy to keep talking, he dropped his arms and turned to leave.

She was a woman who could not tell what was what. He had wanted to comfort her with a few words, but she would not listen to anything. She was clearly already an adult, yet she reacted as intensely as a little girl. She had received worse treatment than that useless Deep.

Leaving the restroom, he arrived at a hallway.

Ron's gaze suddenly focused on a spot. He struck without warning, seemingly grabbing someone by the throat, lifting him, and pinning him against the wall.

"Hehe, who are you?"

Translucent, who had been invisible, revealed his body and asked with a grin.

He raised both hands as though surrendering, but he did not look serious in the slightest.

"Today, I already castrated one clown."

Ron glanced downward and issued a cold warning, gradually tightening his grip.

"If you don't want to end up like him, don't let me see you looking like this again."

Translucent, one of The Seven's members, could alter the material of his skin into a carbon-based super material harder than diamond, granting him optical invisibility. He liked going around naked while invisible and spying on other people's privacy.

If he moved too fast, or if someone possessed extraordinary vision, his invisibility still allowed them to see his rough outline.

Ron did not want someone wandering naked in front of his eyes every day.

"Do you understand?"

"Who the hell do you think you are, asshole?!"

Nearly unable to breathe from being choked, Translucent's face twisted with anger at that tone. He swung a fist in retaliation, smashing it viciously toward the man before him.