Become Overpowered CEO of Hero Clan

Become Overpowered CEO of Hero Clan – 150

As I got off the bus, I made eye contact with the PD, who bowed his head triumphantly. He probably thought I was silently praising him. At this point, there was no turning back.
‘Is he planning to extract more footage for another video?’
This “unlucky vs. lucky” New York trip was meant to capture the humorous contrast between the luxurious courses and the team members who had to endure budget packages with a smile. It was far from a horror-themed special filled with screams.
Of course, I knew that horror-themed shows were a surefire way to attract views… but would this really help attract foreign viewers?
“Wow! An escape room~~~!”
GIl-seong, whose tastes had been perfectly targeted, started making a fuss. Eun-ha seemed excited too, indicating she also liked this kind of thing. Man-deuk seemed indifferent, but our youngest…
“Ugh.”
With a look that said, ‘I’d rather fight a monster,’ he took a step back. And standing behind him was me.
“Ah, sorry, sorry.”
“It’s fine.”
It wasn’t fine. We were in the same boat.
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The horror-themed escape room that the PD had booked turned out to be more of a haunted house attraction than an actual escape room. It focused more on the atmosphere and scares than on puzzles.
“Oh, this sucks. I’m stuck with him.”
“Honestly, he’s reliable.”
“…Agreed.”
The escape room was designed to minimize puzzle elements and maximize the horror experience.
The horror experience required us to go in pairs, with a 20-minute interval between each group. The draw resulted in Man-deuk and GIl-seong being paired together, while Jin-soo and I were grouped.
“Kyaaa!”
Seo Eun-ha, who let out a scream reminiscent of a prehistoric bird, ended up as the last unlucky one, having to go alone. I thought she enjoyed these kinds of things, but it seemed she couldn’t handle it solo.
“PD-nim, why don’t you go in with Eun-ha?”
“What?”
So, we decided to make the PD, who was grinning slyly, Eun-ha’s partner. It was payback for laughing every time we drew the short straw. His sly chuckles had been particularly annoying.
Rustle.
“Ah! We’re last.”
After redrawing the order of entry, Jin-soo managed to pick number three. I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing.
“Ahhh! I’m scared, but excited! Hoo, hoo!”
“Really? Then you can take the lead. This is your chance to experience the woes of being a tank.”
“No! Absolutely not. I won’t do it. Really, I won’t.”
After listening to the staff’s instructions, the horror-themed escape room officially began.
‘I don’t think I’ll need to do much.’
The team members would fill the footage with their reactions. My screen time would probably be limited to a comparison shot with captions like “The stoic captain even in front of ghosts.”
Screams echoed sporadically, with GIl-seong’s shrieks becoming more distant. The facility seemed quite spacious.
However, during the waiting time, I discovered something unexpected.
Flinch!
Squeeze!
It seemed that Jin-soo was more scared than I was. It was puzzling; he had no problem slicing through terrifying monsters, yet he was frightened by a haunted house that even civilians enjoyed. Every time GIl-seong’s screams pierced our ears, he clung to my sleeve.
“Are you scared?”
“N-No! No?”
He was definitely scared.
Aaaah!
Roooaaar!
Twenty minutes later, the second group went in, and more screams erupted, this time in a male voice.
‘I should give them a bonus.’
I imagined Eun-ha calmly leading while the PD screamed his head off. That would make for some entertaining footage.
Capturing the diverse reactions of the team members, with their screams in various tones and angles, would be great. Meanwhile, Jin-soo and I would only need to provide a mild horror experience, akin to a middle schooler and his uncle.
“Next group, please.”
“Yes.”
Gulp.
Jin-soo’s fear was palpable. He clung to my sleeve and wouldn’t let go.
Creak.
Clang!
“Hmm?”
As soon as we were pushed into the dark space, a fluorescent light flickered on. It was an ordinary house. Turning around the L-shaped hallway, we saw three closed doors on either side of a narrow passage. On a desk in the corner was a photo of a Western couple. All the doors were firmly shut.
To be precise, beyond the doors were just blocked spaces.
‘I can see everything.’
With my five-star sensory ability, I could clearly perceive the terrain and any signs of life. I wondered if it was even possible to experience fear in this body. Of course, it was still scary.
Creak—
Opening the door at the end of the hallway revealed another identical house structure.
‘A loop?’
It seemed they had employed the loop technique often used in horror games, where the same location repeats with only the atmosphere changing.
“I-I’ll take the lead!”
He was trembling but insisted on going ahead. Moreover, Jin-soo’s right hand was gripping his sword’s hilt. If a ghost popped out, it might get sliced. We didn’t need headlines about a Korean hero killing an American dressed as a ghost.
“Stay behind me.”
“B-but…!”
There’s no ‘but.’ This isn’t a mission site. No one will recognize you for your bravery in an escape room.
“Just follow behind me. You might end up hurting someone.”
“Oh! S-sorry.”
“Take your hand off the hilt.”
Creak—
We moved to the next room.
Another identical hallway appeared. As we moved through room after room, the atmosphere finally shifted.
Sssaaa—
Hehehehe.
Eerie sounds and ghostly laughter filled the air as red lights suddenly illuminated the space.
Thud!
A tense Jin-soo took a step back.
I appreciated Jin-soo’s protective instincts, but at this rate, he might actually hurt someone.
‘This feels similar to a disaster site.’
Under the red lighting, sticky liquid was dripping from the ceiling and walls of the hallway. It seemed like the decorators had designed it to look like blood.
‘The photo has changed. Is the story that the husband is a murderer?’
In the framed photo of the Western couple, the wife’s face was now missing.
As we continued for another ten minutes, female ghosts dancing erratically appeared, and a zombie or Frankenstein-like ghost with a saw embedded in its chest suddenly burst through a door. Each time, I was more worried about Jin-soo reflexively attacking the ghosts than being startled myself.
‘I have a bad feeling about this.’
It wasn’t just the atmosphere, humidity, or unpleasant emotions. There seemed to be a faint negative energy lurking somewhere in this place.
While it’s common for negative energy to gather in locations designed to induce fear, this wasn’t a place where people had died with extreme resentment, frustration, or despair.
“Standby team, do you copy?”
I instructed the PR team members waiting outside to investigate any crimes or accidents related to this establishment. They soon reported back that the owner claimed no such incidents had occurred.
That couldn’t be right.
Creak. Creak. Creak.
Across the hallway, a decayed female corpse was shaking its head wildly.
To my horror, it wasn’t an employee dressed as a ghost but a genuine road-level evil spirit.
‘The previous groups must have been safe.’
If it had unleashed its power earlier, I would have noticed. It must have been hiding, drawn by my five-star spiritual energy.
Shing!
Jin-soo drew his sword.
What started as an escape room adventure had suddenly turned into a mission to purify a disaster.
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The Devourer, a road-level evil spirit that roamed across the United States consuming spiritual energy, had a unique hunting method. It wandered through haunted houses and other fear-inducing locations, preying on people’s spiritual energy. Although the Association was aware of its existence, its ability to move by shadow and never stay in one place for long made it difficult to confront.
This time, the Devourer had chosen a horror-themed escape room in Manhattan as its new nest. Such a place, filled with fear, was the perfect hunting ground for it to feed on negative energy.
Creak. Creak.
As expected, within days of moving its hunting ground, enticing prey had appeared. Three three-star individuals, one two-star, and, incredibly, a five-star prey had walked right in.
Creak. Creak.
The Devourer deliberated. Should it wait for the right moment to capture the five-star prey, or settle for the three-star ones? If it recklessly released its negative energy to catch the smaller prey, the five-star might escape or prepare too well for the hunt.
Creak. Creak.
Ultimately, the Devourer decided to target the big catch. The negative energy it released was denser than that of most road-level spirits.
Shing!
Flash—
The two-star prey, having lost all sense of fear, charged with a blade. The Devourer transformed its right arm into a bone spear and thrust it forcefully.
Whoosh!
The young prey narrowly twisted its body, avoiding a fatal wound. Though surprised by the prey’s agility, the Devourer immediately launched a mental attack with its glaring eyes.
Tremble!
Thud—
However, the two-star prey, who had been trembling, regained its composure within seconds. The mental attack had been swiftly neutralized.
‘This isn’t good,’ I thought, realizing the gravity of the situation.
Jin-soo had drawn his sword, and the Devourer, now fully revealed, was a formidable opponent. It was clear that our escape room adventure had turned into a real battle against a powerful evil spirit.
“Kreeek?”
Fwoosh!
The five-star ethereal, who had his hands behind his back, threw something to the two-star prey, who appeared to be his subordinate. The blade of the prey ignited with a white flame.
“Hyaap!”
Slash!
“Kreeek?!”
Amazingly, the Devourer’s transformed arm was shredded by the blade wielded by the mere two-star prey. The two-star prey, Hero Yeo Jin-soo’s sword, had been temporarily empowered to a second-tier general grade by the holy flame sent by the five-star hero, Isaac.
Unaware of this, the Devourer misjudged the situation, thinking its senses had failed to accurately gauge the opponent’s level. Sensing danger, the Devourer immediately released a black smoke intended to mentally incapacitate its opponent.
Screeeech—
Sizzle!
However, the black smoke was instantly purified upon contact with the white flame. Before the Devourer could launch a follow-up attack, Jin-soo’s sword, imbued with the holy flame, cleaved the spirit in half. Despite being a road-level evil spirit, it was no match for a weapon of second-tier general grade power.
Thus ended the Devourer, which had caused thousands of casualties, in a rather anticlimactic manner.
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Swoosh—
The road-level evil spirit disintegrated into dust, leaving behind only a fist-sized core of spiritual essence.
“Oh? I did it!”
“Excellent.”
“But the sword…”
The blade, having borrowed some of the holy flame’s power, quickly cooled and was now completely damaged. Crafting a new hero-grade sword was no big deal. More importantly, Jin-soo had gained valuable experience from defeating a road-level evil spirit, making this encounter highly beneficial.
sWooooong—
“Aah!”
[Yeo Jin-soo’s soul is in turmoil.]
[Yeo Jin-soo’s spiritual energy has reached ‘3 stars’!]
With this, the entire first squad had achieved 3-star status. Their hero suits and weapon setups were at least of hero grade. This meant that everyone now possessed the combat power of an A-rank hero.
[Four or more affiliated heroes have reached 3 stars, fulfilling the achievement condition.]
[Achievement ‘Rising Momentum!’ unlocked, granting 1 ‘Intermediate Combat Skill Ticket’.]
Once again, we received a combat skill ticket. Since acquiring the skill ‘Shadow Stealth,’ we had been accumulating these tickets whenever the team members reached 2 or 3 stars in even numbers.
‘Let’s not use them hastily.’
Indeed, they were just accumulating. Although I had only managed to collect three so far, I didn’t feel an immediate need for combat skills. It didn’t seem likely that any particularly useful combat skills would come out of it.
I was holding onto them in case I could later meet the system’s administrator and request an equivalent exchange or unlock a feature like ‘Skill Box Fusion.’
“I reached 3 stars!”
“Well done. Even though I assisted, you faced a road-level evil spirit. This shows how exceptional your potential is.”
I took the opportunity to boost his self-esteem. A happy smile spread across his face.
“Let’s head out.”
“Yes!”
Buoyed by the joy of his star upgrade, Jin-soo became temporarily immune to fear. He even tried to high-five the ghosts as he led the way.
We continued through the house, and at some point, a door leading to the basement opened. Navigating through sudden traps and ghostly dance routines, we reached the basement’s end in just ten minutes.
“Grrr…”
“Hehehehe.”
The ghosts we had encountered so far gathered, closing in on us. With a clank, the iron bars blocking the space opened. We sprinted down a long hallway and pulled open the iron door at the end, revealing the outside.
Bang— Bang!
The team members and staff were gathered there. But why the fireworks? It seemed a bit much for just completing this one task…
“Happy birthday to you~♩ Happy birthday to you~♩”
As the familiar melody rang out, my mind reflexively connected today’s date with Isaac’s significance.
‘May 10th.’
Today was the anniversary of when I first created my Clan of Heroes account. It was a surprise birthday party, indeed.