Spicy Hero E-Book

Dust Kim

• Herausgeber: GENESIS
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 239

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

In the 21st century, a Messiah and his apostles are reborn, embarking on a tumultuous journey to save the world.
At the end of days, the Messiah and his apostles find themselves reincarnated. However, each one of them is uniquely distinct.
The new Messiah, Tom, is a handsome yet rough-tempered newspaper reporter. Tom's friend, Mark, possesses a colossal physique and is a martial arts master, yet he is quite timid.
Isabel from the Vatican, under the Pope's orders to unveil Tom's true identity, is a pseudo-intellectual.
Archangel Gabriel, after years of service, struggles with anger management. Another Messiah, Karl, is a severe narcissist, and the god of destruction, Shiva, makes peculiar bets due to stress from baldness.
Can they join forces to save the world?

Leseprobe

Author

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DUST KIM

A globally unknown writer with the spirit of a revolutionary, an outsider with an ENTP personality, a creative Aquarius known for original ideas, and an intuitive, right-brained left-hander. 

He began writing novels, charmed by the unique concept of 'Messiahs and apostles reincarnated in the modern era.' After nine years of intense creativity, he has completed a distinctive hero novel.

Introduction

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In the 21st century, a Messiah and his apostles are reborn, embarking on a tumultuous journey to save the world. At the end of days, the Messiah and his apostles find themselves reincarnated. However, each one of them is uniquely distinct. The new Messiah, Tom, is a handsome yet rough-tempered newspaper reporter. Tom's friend, Mark, possesses a colossal physique and is a martial arts master, yet he is quite timid. Isabel from the Vatican, under the Pope's orders to unveil Tom's true identity, is a pseudo-intellectual. Archangel Gabriel, after years of service, struggles with anger management. Another Messiah, Karl, is a severe narcissist, and the god of destruction, Shiva, makes peculiar bets due to stress from baldness. Can they join forces to save the world?

Publisher's Review

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The author, Dust Kim, has summoned mythology to the modern era with his wild imagination. The theme of 'the reincarnation of the Messiah and his apostles' is intriguing but equally challenging to write about. Before the 21st century, no one has successfully brought the Messiah and his apostles into the modern era. 

However, with his unique persistence, the author has not only modernized them successfully but also managed to make their stories plausible. The addition of the author's characteristic satire has resulted in a masterpiece mystery thriller. The content unfolds at an incredible pace, captivating the reader like a rollercoaster.

Table of Content

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Author

Introduction

Chapter 1 Tom and Mark.

Chapter 2 Archangel Gabriel.

Chapter 3 Dav Muni.

Chapter 4 Key of Heaven.

Chapter 5 Peter, the Roman.

Chapter 6 Lucius.

Chapter 7 Clemens.

Chapter 8 Isabel.

Chapter 9 Malachy.

Chapter 10 Verification Day.

Chapter 11 Time of Truth.

Chapter 12 Messiah Karl.

Chapter 13 Jonadan.

Chapter 14 City of God.

Chapter 15 Solomon's Throne.

Chapter 16 Sergius.

Chapter 17 Heaven and Hell.

Chapter 18 Duomo.

Chapter 19 Chaos.

Chapter 20 Descent.

Chapter 21 Last Verification.

Chapter 22 Shiva and Gaia.

Chapter 23 Master Amon.

Chapter 24 Choice. 

Copyright

Chapter

1

Tom and Mark

Outside an automobile factory in Chennai, India.

  Late afternoon, a luxury car and a large van were dashing on an unpaved road with dust clouds following their trail. The cars made an abrupt stop in front of a shabby steel building. Only a field of tall silver grass surrounded this one-story building.

 Rough-looking men who were crammed in the van got off in a hurry. They were each holding a blue-grey iron pipe. Their rough behaviors suggested that they were members of a gang. From the passenger seat, a man with a thin and long scar near his eye got out of the van. He walked arrogantly and stood in front of the men. 

  “Okay, put on your masks! Don’t damage their heads like last time! We need them to publish a correction article so don’t break their fingers either! Got it?” 

 “Yes, sir!” 

 They reached for their black masks and answered as they put them on.

“Great energy!” 

 The chief approached the luxury car smiling, his mood elevated. In the back seat, the atrocious-looking boss sat arrogantly with a cigar in his mouth. 

 “It was you that messed up last time! You’re the one that needs to be careful!” The boss berated him with displeasure.

 “Don’t make me look bad in front of them!” The chief shouted back at the boss. It’s true. They were brothers. 

 “We didn’t even get paid because you messed up! You’d be fired by now if you weren’t my brother! Get out of the way!” The boss yelled with frustration as he became more livid thinking about it. The chief moved to the side and the boss looked carefully at the building. 

 There was a wooden sign hung crookedly at the entrance of the building that read, “Love & Peace Online Newspaper”. 

  “Love and peace~ What a corny name for a newspaper company. They must be out of their minds if they are this poor and won’t take the money.” 

 “I’ll go in first and get them on their knees! Take your time!” The chief shouted with confidence. 

 “If you mess up again, your only job will be to drive the van! Got it?”

“Got it! Got it! Come on!” The chief looked back at the boss, annoyed. 

 “You heard the boss, right? If anyone messes up today, there won’t be dinner or pay. Alright! Let’s go!” 

 At his words, the gang rushed into the building. The first man to arrive at the door kicked the iron door with all his strength, but it only made a loud sound and didn’t open. 

 The man next to him used the handle to slide the door open, and it slid open slowly with a harsh screeching sound. It was a sliding door. A blast of heat rushed out from the inside. The men ran in, waving their iron pipes like cavemen with stone axes. 

 The phone rang from the inside pocket of the well-steamed suit of the boss. He casually picked up the phone. The voice on the phone said in a low voice,

 “Have you arrived?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Make sure you get the correction article no matter what happens.”

“Don’t worry. And please send the money in cash.” 

“Call me after everything is taken care of.”

“I will call you right away.” The boss hung up with a sinister laugh. 

 Meanwhile, the men who entered the building were surprised by the larger interior than they expected. At the center were two large desks and a single iron cabinet. In the back hung faded curtains that were spread out. At the desk was a young reporter, pounding hard on the laptop keyboard, unbothered by the commotion. 

 “Is it customary for people in this town to ignore guests?!” The chief shouted bitterly.

 “Hold on a minute. Let me just finish this article. How can I help you?"

 The reporter glanced at them and answered indifferently. The chief took a closer look at him. He had a slender body and good facial features, a smart and handsome face. However, the way his curly, light brown hair was tied back was a bit unusual. Still, the chief supposed that after a few punches, the reporter will cooperate well. Then, one of his men broke the large mirror next to him with the iron pipe.

 “You scared me! Can’t you see I’m having a conversation?” The startled chief yelled. He looked around to make sure there was no video surveillance and lowered his mask to his chin and asked,

 “What’s your name?”

“Tom!”

“Well, Tom! You’re going to have to write a correction article.”

“Oh! That’s why you came with so many men. Who sent you?” Tom asked without any hint of fear. 

“You look pretty smart, why don’t you guess!” The chief laughed arrogantly. 

“Panhandlers who use orphans to sell drugs to tourists?”

“Nope!”

“CEO who molested the housekeeper?”

“No.”

“Then, the car company that discharged heavy metal wastewater and killed swarms of fish?”

“Oh~ you’re involved in a lot of things!”

“The pharmaceutical company that caught wild monkeys and tested on them illegally?”

“Bingo!”

“They decided to send you guys since we didn’t take their bribe.”

“Now, decide! Do you want to write it after getting beat or willingly without getting hurt?” Tom’s expression turned cold at the chief’s words. 

 “You know this is self-defense, right? How dare you prance in and threaten me with as little as iron pipes and men!” Tom closed his laptop and stood up, unbuttoning his shirt. The chief snickered as he watched the nerdy man’s abruptness. Tom took off his shirt and hung it on the back of his chair. The chief could see that Tom had a well-trained upper body under his inner shirt, but it wasn’t threatening. Tom drew the blue curtains that were spread across the room.  

 When the curtains were drawn, it revealed even more space that looked like a gym for martial arts. A black sandbag hung in the corner and on the other side were all sorts of self-defense gear, gloves, dumbbells and weights. In the center, a tall man over 6’5’’ with bulky back muscle looked back at them while holding a heavy dumbbell.

 He had bluetooth earphones that looked like bean sprouts in his ears. The man, wearing only red shorts, had an upper body that looked as solid as stone and his face looked threatening like the Four Devas that guard temple entrances. His large protruding eyes but small pupils were piercingly sharp like laser.

  “Mark! We have guests!”

  “Who are they?” Mark approached them, taking the earphones out of his ears.

  “They were sent by the pharmaceutical company.”

 “Why are they holding iron pipes?” As Mark frowned, one of the men quietly hid the iron pipe behind him. 

  “Should we hold something, too?” Tom grabbed the wooden sword and tossed it to Mark and grabbed the nunchucks for himself. The men nervously looked at the chief. 

 “I’ll give you another chance. Put that down and write the article. Come on! I don’t want to have to beat you up senselessly and upset my boss again!” The chief spoke as quietly as possible, holding back his growing irritability.

 “We’ll give you another chance, too. If you quietly leave, we’ll pretend this never happened. But if you don’t, you’ll be leaving here castrated.” Mark made a gesture of clenching something with his hand. One of the men dropped his iron pipe in fear and startled the other men.

 “Don’t be scared! We have more men on our side. Guys! Show them what you've got!” At the chief’s words, the men slowly approached the two men with their iron pipes.  

 “I warned you!” Tom swiftly used a front roll and got on his side, smashing the men’s shin bones with the nunchucks. Shocked by the surprise attack, the men grabbed their shin bones and yelled. Then, Mark came and struck the wrists of the men with the wooden sword. As the chief watched the counterattack, he pulled out a folding knife from his back pocket. 

  The chief skillfully wielded the knife and threatened Mark. Tom stood up at once and used the turning of the nunchucks to remove the chief’s knife and used reverse rotation to slam the chief’s forehead with all his strength. The chief’s eyes lost focus and he staggered. In that moment, Mark went behind the chief. He choked the disoriented chief with the wooden sword and yelled, “Everyone stop! If you move, your friend’s neck will break!”

 But the scattered men got closer and closer, and Tom shouted with an angry voice,

 “You guys don’t have any camaraderie!” 

 Angered by something rather trivial, Tom ran toward the men swinging his nunchucks. Mark knocked out the chief by hitting the chief’s neck and swung the wooden sword at the men who came to attack him. At that moment, Mark’s wooden sword broke in half as it struck one of the men’s iron pipe. He threw the broken wooden sword toward the man in front of him and hit his forehead, and then slapped the other man’s cheek with his big palm. The man who was slapped turned around in a circle and fell like an uprooted tree. 

 As the thumping noises in the building subsided, the bony driver said to the boss.

  “Boss, things seem to be settling down.”

 “There’s only two of them. Why did it take so long?” The boss got out of the car displeased. He entered through the doors with arrogance but was startled at what he saw. His men were all on the floor, but the reporters didn’t have a scratch on them. 

  “What? You guys did this?” The boss asked in disbelief.

  “Here’s the boss now!” Tom recognized him and greeted him.

  "Hey! I’ll raise the bribe money. Let’s just end this well.” Tom grinned at the boss’s cheap bargain. 

  “I’m asking nicely, just write the article! If you don’t, I’ll have to come back but with guns next time!” The boss threatened loudly, his pride slightly hurt. 

 “Today’s visit has been recorded fully on the laptop camera. If we die, you guys will be the first to be investigated.” 

 “You think you can get away with this?” The boss threw the cigar in his hand on the floor in a fiery rage. As Mark took a step closer with an intimidating frown, the boss took a step back slowly. 

 “Are you guys going to spend the night here?!” The boss took his anger out on his men. The men stood up in pain and followed the boss limping.

 Mark finally relaxed and slumped down into a chair. Mark’s hand trembled as he wiped his sweat away.

  “Why don’t we change our news topic to sports or entertainment? We made some connections when we were at Chennai Today.” Mark made a suggestion.

“It’s been tough, right?” Tom asked calmly.

  “It would have been really dangerous if you were alone today. Have you seen yourself lately?” 

Mark raised his voice in anger.

“Why?”

“You’re a mess! Do you remember the last time you even smiled?” 

“I know what you’re trying to say. But who will be the voice for the weak if not us?” Tom asked Mark with sadness on his face. 

“I mean, we can cover other topics in addition, get some ads and handle things more flexibly. We can grow the newspaper more and then go in the direction you want.” 

 Mark calmed his anger and tried to appease the situation. 

“I’ll think about it.”

“Please consider it seriously. What are we going to do if they really come back with guns? We need to stay alive if we want to shape the future. Right?” 

“Right, let’s think about it. I’m going to finish up early today.”

“Are you going to St. Thomas Hill today, too?”

“I’ll publish the article when I get home, so don’t worry.”

“When you get to the church, pray that we don’t get shot.” Mark asked with a scared look on his face.

“I will. Thanks for being by my side even though it’s been rough.” Tom patted Mark on the shoulder as if to apologize. Mark sighed and sank back into his chair. 

 He closed his eyes and traced his memories back to when his life took this turn. It was when he met Tom nine years ago. Mark was born into a family of traditional Indian martial artists. From an early age, he steadily honed his martial arts skills at the school run by his father and gained a lot of attention for his outstanding physical features. When he was in elementary school, his dream was to conquer the world as a martial artist and in middle school, his dream was to be a police officer who stood up for justice. 

And when he was in high school, as he was seriously thinking about his career, he learned that you can stand up for justice with just a pen, and so he dreamed of becoming a journalist.

 Of course, it is not unrelated to the fact that Clark Kent of Superman was a newspaper reporter for the Daily Planet and Peter Parker of Spider-Man was a newspaper reporter of the Daily Bugle. Mark particularly liked superhero animations and movies, and because of his rough appearance, he felt a strange connection to the stone character The Thing in Fantastic Four.

  He went to an all boys middle and high school, so he rarely had interactions with girls. So he had a fantasy and hope for romance. He dreamed that fate would lead him to his “Lois Lane” if he went into the journalism and broadcasting department. 

 Mark studied hard, even sacrificing sleep, and was accepted to the journalism and broadcasting department at Chennai University. At the university’s welcoming ceremony, he noticed the smart and beautiful female classmates and was sure that his campus romance was on its way. 

 But, reality was cruel. The female classmates were hesitant to approach Mark because of his rugged appearance. He lost more confidence when he couldn’t get along even with the male classmates.

 He always took the backseat in lectures because he didn’t want to block the view for other students with his big size. So he saw everything that went on in the lecture room. 

 There was a male student that caught the attention of Mark. It was Tom Anishk. He had an intelligent and handsome look, almost like a model. 

 His curly and shiny hair was recognizable even from a distance. Tom was always the first to arrive in the lecture room and he took a seat by the window. The well-maintained campus park and fountain could be seen from the lecture room. He would at times look out the window with a sadness on his face. The professors, displeased by Tom’s distraction, would ask him sudden questions. But Tom always gave the right answer, as if he had prepared for it thoroughly ahead of time, and amazed the professors as well as the students. Mark wondered if Tom’s act was an attention-seeking behavior to show off his intelligence. Attention-seekers typically enjoy gaining attention from others by acting oddly on purpose.

 One day, Mark overheard from other students that Tom was a full scholarship student and came from Kochi. Kochi is where apostle Thomas first arrived in India, and it’s well known as a city of arts and for its resorts. Kochi is a port city opposite of Chennai in the great Indian subcontinent. 

 As the semester progressed, more and more female students quarreled over the seat next to Tom. They would give him snacks or slip a note in his books. Some girls were more bold and asked him out with concert tickets. Mark began to be jealous of Tom. Of course, the girls would be attracted to him because of his good looks and his mysterious backstory. But Tom gently and respectfully declined. This attitude led to a strange phenomenon of making Tom more desirable. In Mark’s eyes, Tom seemed to be a sly guy who kept many girls on the hook. 

 Then one day, Mark saw a different side of Tom. Mark stopped by a stationery store downtown and passed by the back alley of a movie theater. Several people were fighting in the back alley. Three against one. The three belonged to a local panhandling gang, known for their ferocity. The other one was, surprisingly, Tom. 

 “What? What’s going on?!” Mark was intrigued to see this side of Tom. 

 Tom was fighting them with his back to the wall. Tom raised his fists and dodged the coming punches. Then, he managed to stomp on one of the men’s foot, diverting the man’s attention, and punched him in the chin. Then he grabbed the neck of the next man and kneed him in the stomach. When the last man flinched and moved away slowly, Tom kicked him in the chest with a double side kick. 

 “That’s pretty impressive!” Mark had become a spectator to a fighting game.

 Right then, one of the men took out a folding knife from his back pocket. The other two also took out their knives.

 “That’s cheating!”

  Mark took out a 30 cm plastic ruler form his backpack. Mark walked toward the men, filling up the narrow alley. The men froze at the sudden appearance of Mark and his massive size. 

 But, one of the men, especially riled up, ran toward him swinging his knife. Mark used the bending of the ruler to slap the man’s fingers so that he would drop the knife and then slapped his cheek. The man yelled in pain and backed off, with a clear red ruler mark on his cheek. 

 Tom was also facing off with the other man with a knife. The man tried to stab Tom with the knife, but Tom front kicked the knife away and followed with a spin hook kick to his stomach. The knife spun out into the air and the man fell on top of a trashcan. As Tom snatched the falling knife, the men stared nervously at Tom and Mark. 

 “Come on!” At Mark’s shout, the men ran away, with a promise that they will find them again. 

 “Are you okay? How did you get involved with them?” Mark asked approaching Tom. 

 “I couldn’t pass by when I saw them beating a little kid. I could have handled it myself but thank you anyway.” Tom said casually as he brushed off the dust from his clothes. He was calm, as if he didn’t realize he could have been killed. Mark assumed Tom was either fearless or never lost in a fight before. 

Regardless, he wasn’t pleased with Tom’s attitude. 

 “You might not know this, but those panhandlers are scary men! You can’t just fight them like that.” Mark wanted Tom to know the seriousness of the situation.  

 “You’re in my class, right?”

 “Right.” Although Mark was fuming, he was happy that Tom remembered him. 

 “You were using that ruler like a knife.” 

 “Yeah, I learned martial arts as a kid, so I know how to use knives, spears and sticks and even nunchucks.” Mark quietly bragged about his skills. 

 “Really? Can I learn?” Mark didn’t hate that Tom asked him this sudden favor. Although he was frustrated with him just a few moments ago. But he wanted something in return. 

 “I’ll think about it if you help me with something.” 

 “What can I help you with?” Tom asked with curious eyes. 

 “The thing is, I look just like my dad. He is not good with women and barely managed to get married when he was 40. But I want to have a passionate and romantic relationship with a beautiful woman and get married early.” Mark continued very seriously.

 “So, what is it that you want?” Tom impatiently stopped Mark.

 “Make some opportunities for me to talk with girls.” Mark answered, scratching the side of his head. 

 “Is that all?” Tom laughed at the unexpected request.   

 “Yes!” Mark felt a little humiliated by Tom’s laugh, but he didn’t show it. 

 “Okay. Let’s do it.” Tom readily agreed. Mark was so happy that he was about to cry, but he bit down his teeth and held the tears back. 

 “I heard that the broadcasting club is recruiting additional members, should we join?” 

 “That’s not a bad idea. But I didn’t see that in the school announcements.”

 “Someone from the club told me that some of the graduating seniors dropped out suddenly so they’re recruiting more members.” 

 “Was that someone a girl?”

 “Yeah. Why?” At Tom's innocent reply, Mark felt both envy and jealousy.

 “Mm, do you think they’ll let me join?” Mark felt timid and hesitated. 

 “As far as I know, their broadcasting equipment is outdated, so there are a lot of heavy equipment. You know that, too. Broadcasting equipment is known to be heavy. You can be a very needed person there.”

Tom patted Mark on the shoulder, giving him hope.

 The next day, Tom and Mark went to the broadcasting club after class.

  The broadcasting club members seemed to know Tom well and was welcoming to him, but they were a little reluctant toward Mark. Tom said he was in a broadcasting club in high school, so he could write, film and edit manuscripts, and Mark said he was confident in moving and installing broadcasting equipment. The broadcasting club members decided to let them join for a two-month observation period before officially deciding their membership.

  From that day on, Tom and Mark learned how to handle broadcasting equipment and how to properly store it from the broadcasting club’s senior member. Tom and Mark started by cleaning the storage where the broadcasting equipment was stored, and made shelves for convenient storage. As they worked with enthusiasm, the broadcasting club members started seeing them positively.

 Occasionally, when they had outdoor shoots, Mark was able to show his unique usefulness. The Jimmy Jib, which is a crane-like structure with a camera installed on it, is an incredibly heavy equipment. Mark was in charge of moving and installing the heavy Jimmy Jib. Tom also proved that he was a needed member by writing good manuscripts and showing talent in interviews and editing.

  In their spare time, they practiced martial arts together at Mark's father's dojo. Mark taught Tom how to use the sword first. Tom's posture was awkward at first, but he learned quickly like a sponge absorbing water. Tom learned each of the weapons including the stick, nunchucks, spear, and sword.

 Watching Tom's skills improve so quickly, Mark felt a different sense of pride than he did when he was learning. Each time Mark sparred with Tom, he was startled by his animal senses and variating movements. He realized again that Tom was an unconventional, real-life fighter.

 Two months later, Tom and Mark proudly became official members of the club. Six months later, Clara stumbled while walking backwards during a shoot in the countryside and got seriously injured. Mark, who was at the shoot, picked her up and ran to a clinic that was quite far. Through this incident, Mark and Clara became close. Clara was an ambitious and charismatic upperclassman in her 3rd year, who wanted to become a newscaster. 

 She was drawn to Mark who had a gentle and warm side contrary to his appearance and they became a famous campus couple. Clara and Mark would sit across from each other in the library to study, watch romantic movies and eat popcorn at the movie theaters on weekends. Mark and Clara talked often on various topics, but Mark especially talked a lot about Tom. He enjoyed talking about his friendship with Tom, Tom's extraordinary love for the environment, his unique values, and martial arts skills. Clara was interested in Tom’s stories at first, but she began to feel disappointment toward Mark who seemed to think about Tom more than her.

 One sunny day, Clara suddenly broke up with Mark. It was just the two of them at the broadcasting club room. Mark was confused and asked why. She said that she lost interest in Mark because he was still a kid who liked his friendships more than love. 

 Mark got on his knees and pleaded with her. However, she had already moved on. Then the door suddenly opened, and the broadcasting club members entered all at once. Clara got up to leave the awkward situation. Mark also tried to get up, but he fell down screaming. His legs had gone numb from being on his knees for a long time. Someone took a video of this rare sight of an intimidating-looking man struggling because of numbness in his legs. Many people saw the video, and it was eventually posted on the campus board online, recording a high number of views. Shortly thereafter, Mark left the broadcasting club, and Tom was forced to suffer from Mark's fury during special training and sparring.

 Mark and Tom eventually became best friends. Tom shared with Mark about his unfortunate family background during a train trip. Because of that, Tom left his hometown of Kochi and came to study in the distant Chennai. Mark apologized for his misunderstanding and jealousy when he found out why Tom sometimes looked off into the distance.

  Around the time of graduation, they applied for a job together at Chennai Today, and Tom and Mark managed to beat the high competition and were accepted. Tom went into the social affairs department and Mark started his first career as a photographer in the sports and entertainment department. 

  Tom assisted the veteran journalist Anthony who had a great sense of justice and accompanied him on site. Tom had earned Anthony’s trust through his diligence and excellent crisis management skills. They were a fantastic duo. 

  Then, one day, Anthony went out alone to cover a story of an illegal loan company but was found drowned in the sea the next day. Although Anthony had a big wound to the back of his head, police concluded that he died by falling after drinking alcohol and closed the investigation. Tom insisted to the police that the death involved an illegal loan company, but he was ignored. 

 So Tom decided to find the culprit on his own to restore Anthony’s honor. Tom spent day and night inquiring about illegal loan companies. A month later, he got a call from someone claiming that they knew the company related to Anthony’s incident. So Tom went to the agreed upon location, on the outskirts of the city, but was attacked by unidentified attackers. Police received a call and arrived at the site to find Tom covered in blood inside a warehouse. They also saw five men, laying on the ground. Tom had fought them off and made the call to the police himself.