I Went Bald, and I Got Stronger

Six months had passed since the incident in which Homelander was beaten senseless by an unidentified Esper for refusing to pay for his duck-leg rice...

Luke stared blankly at himself in the mirror as he brushed his teeth.

To be fair, Wangba Shampoo really worked.

He didn't have a single hair left on his head.

He was completely bald.

"Stop hair loss with Wangba."

Apparently, he couldn't trust a word of that slogan.

It wasn't that Luke hadn't tried to fight his baldness. No matter how hard he struggled, nothing helped.

He suspected his hair loss might have something to do with his relentless workouts.

About a year and a half earlier, Luke had started training hard. Every day, he did 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and a ten-kilometer run.

For that entire year and a half, he had met his targets every day without fail, rain or shine.

More importantly, Luke had been strict with himself while training. No matter how hot it got, he refused to turn on the air conditioner.

Yes, it wasn't because he was poor or trying to save money. Luke simply wanted to toughen his resolve, so he hadn't used the air conditioner once in that year and a half.

That was when his hair had started falling out, too.

The intense training had produced remarkable results, though Luke hadn't noticed until six months ago.

Ever since the night he met Homelander, one question had nagged at him.

Who was Homelander?

Out of curiosity, he had looked him up online.

To his surprise, Homelander was a leader among superheroes—the most powerful superhero alive.

And Luke had defeated the strongest superhero in the world without breaking a sweat.

Only then had Luke realized how far he had traveled down the road to invincibility.

By now, he had probably reached it.

As he grew balder, he grew stronger.

Once the last hair was gone, he had become unbeatable.

At the same time, Luke had noticed his human emotions fading little by little.

He no longer felt fear.

For instance, he had grown used to watching Ring alone in the dead of night, and he never closed his door when he slept.

Few things excited him anymore, either.

Except supermarket sale days.

Only supermarket sale days gave him something to look forward to amid the tedium.

Luke remembered the lyrics of a song he had once heard.

"How lonely it is to be invincible... How empty it is to be invincible..."

At last, he understood the feeling behind those words.

He knew it firsthand.

Ah, life was lonely as a field of snow.

After washing up, Luke went into his bedroom, turned on the television, and lay down on the bed.

To keep from losing touch with the human world entirely, Luke had begun watching the news every day.

As usual, the news covered nothing of importance. Most of it concerned the latest doings of superheroes.

The Deep had struck a deal with an ocean-themed amusement park... A film starring Translucent, Invisible Force 2, was coming soon... Queen Maeve had signed an endorsement deal with a cosmetics brand...

None of it interested Luke in the slightest.

The mention of superheroes brought Homelander to mind.

Luke had no good opinion of Homelander.

If Homelander was like that, how much better could the rest of The Seven be?

Speaking of Homelander, Luke remembered something else.

He still had Homelander's watch.

When he got home and took a shower that day, Luke casually set the watch on top of the toilet tank.

It was probably still there gathering dust.

He had meant to return it to Homelander.

Of course, Homelander would have to settle his bill for the duck-leg rice first.

But the next morning, the restaurant owner had called and told him not to come in. The matter had been taken care of.

"Then what about the watch..."

"Keep it," the owner had replied.

What Luke didn't know was that, after hanging up, the owner immediately signed a confidentiality agreement worth a fortune.

That same day, he packed his bags and boarded a plane to New Zealand.

Vought International paid a hefty price to keep the shop owner quiet about Homelander being defeated by an unidentified Esper.

Homelander had initially suggested killing the two witnesses to put an end to the matter.

Vought International had rejected his proposal.

Why take an unnecessary risk when money could solve the problem?

Money was the one thing Vought International had plenty of.

As for the other witness, the mysterious old man, even Vought International's vast information network had yet to find him.

At first, the company's executives had worried about it. But when no damaging stories appeared in the media, they gradually relaxed.

"Breaking news. Vought International held a press conference at its headquarters at eight o'clock this morning. Vought International Vice President Madelyn personally hosted the conference. She confirmed rumors that Lamplighter has retired and made a major announcement. Madelyn said that Vought International plans to hold a superhero selection event open to all citizens this Saturday. The contestant who performs best will become a new member of The Seven, filling the seat left vacant by Lamplighter's retirement..."

At that, Luke sat up in bed.

They were choosing a new superhero from the general public?

Suddenly, Luke wanted to try being a superhero.

With Homelander at its center, the superhero team was probably rotten to the core.

What right did a team like that have to uphold justice? What right did they have to be adored?

Luke wanted to solve the problem from within.

So he decided to join the superhero team.

Now that he had decided to join a superhero team, Luke thought of another question.

Every superhero chose a hero name.

Homelander, The Deep, and Starlight had all chosen theirs when they first started out.

A name stayed with a superhero for life and couldn't be changed on a whim, so every new superhero chose carefully.

"What should I call myself?" Luke agonized over it.

He wanted something with a bit of swagger.

After thinking it over for a long time, Luke finally made up his mind.

"I'll be Cape Guy."

(The end of this chapter)