“Sir, regarding the final arrangements for Lamplighter’s retirement ceremony, the date is set for next Saturday.”
“The venue will be the Vought International Building…”
The voice in his ear buzzed like a chattering fly beside Alex’s head.
It was as though a layer of frosted glass separated them—blurry and chaotic.
Yet that sensation vanished completely the very next second, replaced by an extremely bizarre feeling.
‘I…
transmigrated into Homelander?’
Looking at his own hands, the outfit on his body, and the memories within his mind, a tremendous wave surged through Alex’s heart.
At this moment, he was seated in a wide leather office chair, with a massive floor-to-ceiling window before him.
Outside the window lay New York’s bustling skyline.
Sunlight spilled through the glass and onto his body, warm and cozy, yet it made him feel an inexplicable restlessness.
Just a second ago, he had been griping to his coworkers about how the season five finale of The Boys was an absolute pile of dog crap.
He never expected that the next second he would transmigrate into Homelander’s body, appearing in the lounge within Vought Tower that belonged exclusively to Homelander.
Everything that had happened was simply far too abrupt, hard to process, and the cautious voice in his ear only made it all the more grating.
“Wait, stop talking for now!”
“Let me sort out my thoughts.”
Alex reached up somewhat irritably and pressed against his temple, raising his voice as he spoke.
The moment his voice rang out, the blonde woman before him—dressed in a gray business suit, the very picture of corporate attire—instantly fell silent.
The cautious expression on her face abruptly turned tense.
Based on the memories in his mind, along with his knowledge of The Boys, Alex knew that this woman before him was none other than the one people jokingly called the Queen of Stress-Tolerance—Ashley Barrett.
She was also one of the few people who managed to survive at Homelander’s side all the way from season one to season five.
Only, at this moment, Ashley was utterly terrified in the face of the words he had casually uttered.
Head lowered, she frantically tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, her downcast gaze fixed tightly on the schedule in her hands, her fingers trembling ever so slightly.
Seeing this scene, Alex felt a bit helpless.
He had just transmigrated and hadn’t adjusted yet—he hadn’t meant anything by it.
Thankfully, perhaps because Homelander’s super-strong body had also enhanced his brain somewhat, all of his thoughts were remarkably clear.
Facing this entire situation, he quickly sorted things out.
“Ashley, I’m not targeting you.
My thoughts were just a bit muddled a moment ago.
You can continue now.”
Alex looked at the woman before him, who resembled a startled quail, and spoke in a calm voice.
But—it had been fine while he wasn’t speaking.
The instant these words left his mouth, his super hearing picked up Ashley’s heartbeat skyrocketing wildly, and through his super vision he could clearly see her heart pounding madly, her blood pressure surging.
Even the tiny details—her pupils constricting, the cold sweat gradually surfacing on her forehead—were all so vividly clear.
“S-Sir.”
“If you have any objections, I can report them to the company…”
Ashley was rather nervous, even stammering a little as she spoke.
It wasn’t that the first-generation Queen of Stress-Tolerance lacked ability—it was that Homelander’s reaction just now had genuinely been horrifying to her.
That moody, mercurial Homelander—when had he ever cared about anyone else’s feelings?
And when would he ever explain his own thinking to someone like her?
In that first moment, drawing on her understanding of Homelander, Ashley wondered if perhaps this was just some twisted little amusement of his before he planned to kill her?
Thinking this, Ashley grew even more nervous, to the point that she could barely keep steady in her high heels.
Watching Ashley in this state, Alex quickly caught on.
It was his own behavior that had made her so nervous—after all, the previous Homelander would never have done such a thing.
However.
What did that matter?
He was Homelander now.
“Saturday, and then?”
Alex smiled faintly as he spoke to Ashley.
Seeing Homelander’s smile, Ashley panicked even more.
Aside from putting on a show in front of the cameras, from what she knew, the times Homelander smiled were more often than not when he was killing someone.
But she didn’t dare show anything at this moment either, and could only continue speaking with trembling fear.
“The company hopes you can serve as the representative of The Seven and deliver a speech at the ceremony.”
“Also, regarding the candidates to replace Lamplighter, the company has narrowed it down to a few.
They hope you’ll review them and give your opinion…”
Ashley’s voice was shrill, carrying a hint of ingratiation.
Only, Alex, who had just told her to continue, now had his attention nowhere near this matter.
Because the moment Ashley had begun speaking, a cold, unfamiliar mechanical voice suddenly rang out beside Alex’s ear.
[The Super Hero System is activating.]
A system?
Alex looked at the semi-transparent panel and text that had suddenly materialized before him, his expression somewhat subtle.
Homelander paired with a system?
Had he not become Homelander, Alex figured he would be incredibly excited to have a system activate.
But now?
It seemed like no big deal anymore.
Based on his knowledge of the plot, even without a system, with his current strength there was absolutely no way he would walk down that dog-crap path of the season five finale again.
“Sir, here are the files.”
In the time it took for the system function to activate, Ashley handed over a tablet.
Alex took it absentmindedly and casually swiped through it a couple of times—a few candidates roughly the same as in the original work.
All of them had been screened through the Super Hero Teen League.
Starlight, from the original work, was prominently among them.
[System function activation successful.]
Alex shifted his attention slightly and, with a curious heart, began studying the system’s functions.
The Hero System.
The name was extremely simple and clear, and its effect was just as straightforward.
As long as Alex, or any member of a faction he established, performed heroic deeds—regardless of their original intentions—he could obtain Hero Points.
And with Hero Points, he could exchange them within the Hero System for everything that existed in the anime One Punch Man.
Whether it was superpowers, some kind of special expertise, or high-tech technology, gadgets, and the like.
As long as it existed in the anime One Punch Man, it could all be exchanged.
Even the Limiter that Saitama possessed!
It was just that if he wanted to exchange for the Limiter, that wouldn’t be something achievable overnight.
According to the system’s description, the Hero Points required for something like the Limiter were simply an astronomical figure.
But even so.
At the thought of the other things and abilities in One Punch Man, Alex, who originally hadn’t cared much, began to feel a bit of anticipation.
After all, even Homelander, the most powerful superhero in this world, would only count as middle-tier if placed in the world of One Punch Man, where powerhouses stood in droves.