The Thug Hides the Villainess

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048 – The Prisoners Are Too Strong #1

“So, I flicked my palm to spit, and we could see the monsters trapped there! People were stuck in the abandoned piano academy building!”

Baek-Yeoul, the chubby one, excitedly chatter away. She was bragging about how much she contributed to the incident that happened a few days ago.

“Encountering monsters in the city is bad luck, right? My ‘misfortune’ actually became the landmark! Since I can apply it now, I’ve totally become a Grade 2!”

“My ‘artifact’ was also active! You won’t believe the stuff that happened—”

Team ‘No Leftover Day’ confronted the Grade 3 wanted criminal ‘Pinocchio’ and managed to capture him while rescuing the hostages safely!

The entire school buzzed with strange excitement at the unusual event of having taken down two Grade 3 criminals by students.

In fact, it wasn’t strange to feel festive, but good news always comes with bad news.

For example, like this:

“Hey, chubby one. So, what happened to Yu Yeoreum?”

Kim Jin from Class D, looking like a delinquent sister, asked, causing Baek-Yeoul to shut her mouth and glare at him.

“I’m not chubby! Don’t call me that!”

“Chubby’s chubby. So how did Yu Yeoreum do?”

“Yu Yeoreum is…”

Baek-Yeoul looked at me.

As everyone’s eyes turned toward me, I propped my casted leg up on the desk. The cast was covered in scribbles from many students, looking as if it belonged to some graffiti practice spot in an alley.

“There’s no problem with me and Yu Yeoreum teaming up to take down ‘Pinocchio.’ But the remnants of ‘Billunners’ suddenly showed up.”

Yu Yeoreum and I resisted the remaining ‘Billunners’ until the end, but I lost consciousness after getting injured fighting the ‘Judge’ and then breaking my leg at the hands of ‘Pinocchio.’

“When I woke up, neither Yu Yeoreum nor the remnants of ‘Billunners’ were anywhere to be seen. I don’t know what happened, but I’ll find out everything.”

That’s the scenario I wrote.

Everyone’s expressions shone with various emotions while they listened to my story.

Some looked moved, while others appeared tense.

“So what happened to those ‘hostages’?”

The new class president of Class D, Chun Yu-ra, asked.

Originally the vice president, Chun Yu-ra, was small like a kid but had a bold personality and was friendly with everyone.

Even that chubby one had once rated her, “Yu-ra is kind. She was the only one who treated me fairly when I couldn’t control my abilities!”

Anyway, our new class president seemed curious about the ‘hostages’ who were trapped.

Hostages?

Short-haired girl. School uniform girl. Chunky one.

These three were originally villains involved with ‘Billunners.’

Having been handed over to Yeongsa High School, they would naturally go through the proper procedures for handling.

Maybe they’d be transferred over to Yeongsa High too.

Anyway, this was the vibe after school.

I was called to the ‘Counseling Room.’

In the counseling room, a sister from the police dispatched as Jin Ramyeon was in charge.

“Hanam-jin, do you really not remember anything? You don’t know where Yu Yeoreum went or what happened to her?”

Jin Ramyeon sister prodded me as if interrogating me.

This sister was perceptive, so I had to be careful with my words.

“I don’t know! I want to know too! Where are Yu Yeoreum and Seoga-eul right now? I’m the one suffering the most because of them! Look at these tears! Manly tears!”

I, Hanam-jin, think a man should only shed tears twice.

Once when a crazy deer kid fed me poison mushrooms.

And the other time is now.

The fact that I’m curious about what Yu Yeoreum and Seoga-eul are doing right now! And it’s undeniably true that they’re the reason I’m suffering!

These are truly the tears of a heartfelt man!

Jin Ramyeon sister licked my tears with her tongue to taste them and nodded her head.

“This flavor tastes like the truth. Ah, crap. Things are getting more complicated. By any chance, what about ‘Guse-jun’? Didn’t you hear anything about him before you passed out?”

Guse-jun?

What’s that?

It was a name I had never heard before, so I shook my head, and Jin Ramyeon sister explained.

“It’s a name we got by interrogating Pinocchio and Kim Mari. He’s a key figure in ‘Billunners.’ Yeongsa High and the government consider him at least a Grade 4 special criminal.”

Does he have the concept of Grade 4?

That means he has firepower comparable to Yu Yeoreum.

“He’s an unregistered awakener. The only info we have is that he’s the son of the noisy ‘Eden Paradise’ guru from back in the day. I suspect he might directly be involved in this incident.”

I knew he was a big shot, but honestly, he had nothing to do with the kidnapping of Yu Yeoreum and Seoga-eul.

It’s like the situation was getting bigger and bigger.

I also felt a sense of responsibility as a man for this incident.

“I don’t know who that ‘Baeksuju’ is, but I’ll definitely catch him and throw him in jail. Like this! In this great! Living! World! Organizing! Armed groups! And threatening citizens! I can’t allow that!”

“Ugh, quiet down. For now, that means you have to stay quiet too. You hurt your leg, right? There are rumors that those super villains might be targeting Yeongsa High students. This is a secret, by the way.”

“Sister, you still can’t keep secrets.”

“I told you. That’s the backlash of my ‘intuition.’ I end up saying all sorts of things honestly.”

“Does that include what color your panties are today?”

“Today it’s leopard print. Hey! Why are you asking stuff like this!”

“I’m wearing tiger print today, looks like we’re a match.”

That way, I escaped the suspicion from the perceptive police sister and managed to gather some information. Leopard print, how impressive.

Oh, I have one thing I’m curious about.

“So what about Pinocchio? What will happen to someone like Kim Mari? They already promised to surrender to me.”

“We’ll watch them a bit more and might transfer them to Yeongsa High. Or we might secretly put them into the ‘Suicide Special Forces’ operated by our government.”

Suicide Special Forces?

What a grim name.

“Haven’t you seen the movie? They release the villains via judicial trading and send them on tough missions. It’s just like that. Instead of burdening the guilty awakeners with difficult tasks, we give them a chance to rehabilitate.”

Creating kamikaze special forces with minors to make them charge into battle. This Republic of Korea under the 7th Republic system is as brutal as the Japanese Imperial period.

“So what the sister wants to say is that people shouldn’t go around committing crimes unless necessary.”

# # #

“Hanam-jjin! I’m going to the zoo with Deok-soon and Chang-sik! Come with us!”

“Yeoul, it’s not really a fun trip; it’s more of a work trip, right?”

“Special activities….”

After school.

Just as I was about to leave, Baek-Yeoul and her friends were waving their hands from a distance.

“Where’s Tae-seong?”

“He’s been busy with part-time work for the past few days! What do you think? The zoo! They say there’s a spider that barks like a dog! Doesn’t that sound like a spider monster with the concept of a ‘dog’? We should go check it out!”

Well, a spider could indeed bark like a dog.

In fact, whether human or beast, there are times in life when one wants to bark like a dog.

“Okay, let’s go.”

“Oh? Really? What’s going on! Hanam-jjin! You’ve been rushing home every day saying you’re busy! Even when we asked you to hang out!”

That was true.

For the past few days, I had been going home right after school. Using my ‘injured leg’ as an excuse.

But if I kept rejecting my friends’ invitations for that reason, they’d surely get suspicious in various ways.

So, I went to the zoo with them.

—Bark bark…!

“It really is a spider that barks like a dog!”

“This is definitely a crazy alien!”

Chang-sik was terrified, staring at a spider the size of a palm.

With us trapped inside, the dazzling gold color was incredibly impressive.

—Bark bark…!

“Monster! It’s definitely a monster! Where can you find a spider that cries like that in the whole world!”

As Chang-sik kept fussing, the zookeeper who secretly let us in spoke in a small voice filled with concern.

“Aren’t you the ‘No Leftover Day’ that was in the news? Is that spider also a monster? A few days ago, it came in, and I fed it…”

When a monster is discovered, it’s a rule to report it to the relevant authorities immediately.

And that’s why the zoo contacted our Yeongsa High.

“…Alright! I’ll handle it! Everyone stay outside! If you don’t want to get caught in my curse of a disastrous calamity filled with ‘misfortune’! I’ll carry it! The great Baek-Yeoul is here!”

Baek-Yeoul was as enthusiastic as ever.

Once Baek-Yeoul gets going, no one can stop her.

That’s what happened after the monster subjugation was done, and we were on our way home.

When only Chang-sik and Deok-soon went back to their houses, and only Baek-Yeoul and I remained.

—Bark bark…!

Huh? A strange sound reached my sensitive ears.

Wondering what that was, I turned my head to see Baek-Yeoul anxiously moving her eyes.

“What? What sound? I didn’t hear anything?”

“Hey, Baek-Yeoul, I haven’t said anything yet?”

Pashush, pashush, pashush—!

It was as if Baek-Yeoul’s bag was moving on its own, and something popped out of it.

Pat-.

—Bark bark…!

“Ah! Shit, it’s a facehugger!”

I was startled and fell over as the golden facehugger stuck to my face.

If this goes on, I’ll end up becoming the dad of an alien before even getting married!

“Bark bark! No! Come here! Into the bag! Shh! Get in there quickly!”

Pat-.

Baek-Yeoul was peeling off the golden spider that had stuck to my body.

Seeing that made me dizzy.

“Hey, did you say you’d take care of that spider monster and then stuffed it in your bag?”

Has Baek-Yeoul finally lost it completely?

But it seemed like Baek-Yeoul also had a lot to say.

“W-well, how could I kill such a cute barking one!”

Looks like she decided to name it Kkeong-kkeongi.

Kkeong-kkeongi because it barks? Baek-Yeoul’s naming sense is hopeless.

Above all, isn’t it cute?

—Grrowl, arrr, grrrr, grrrrr, karkar, karkar!

That crazy radioactive mutant spider is cute?

A creature with eight legs invading Earth!

“Give it to me! I’ll take care of it!”

“No! It’s a good spider! I know!”

“How do you know?”

“…Uh? Ah! My mom has a hobby of raising spiders and snakes! From what I see, it’s a good spider! It’s just hungry right now. If we give it ketchup, it will calm down.”

Swish-. Baek-Yeoul pulled a ketchup packet from her pocket and opened it, offering it to the spider.

The crazy spider licked the ketchup like a stray cat would lap up some treat.

“I was trying to dispose of Kkeong-kkeongi with teary eyes, but during the tussle, the ketchup packet fell, and Kkeong-kkeongi gobbled it up! Then it calmed down. Isn’t that amazing? I’d bet Kkeong-kkeongi definitely loves ketchup!”

A monster spider that loves ketchup?

Is there even such a thing—?

—It could exist.

“It’s a good little one! There are no bad people who like ketchup, and there are no bad monsters that like ketchup. Hey, spider. If you like ketchup, meow!”

“Hanam-jjin, no matter what, how can a spider meow?”

“Is it okay for a spider to bark?”

That’s when we were exchanging silly chatter.

—Meow…!

The spider made a strange sound.

Seeing that, Baek-Yeoul completely lost it.

“It made a strange sound! I’ll take it home with me! Kkeong-kkeongi, let’s go back into the bag! Come here! Shh!”

Baek-Yeoul carefully stuffed the ketchup-eating spider Kkeong-kkeongi back into her bag.

A high school student carrying a monster in her bag.

She’s definitely not normal either.

—Kwiing.

“Huh? Hanam-jjin, what did you just say?”

“I didn’t say anything? See you tomorrow!”

Swish-.

After parting with Baek-Yeoul and on my way home, I opened the bag. Inside, the fluffy cloud-like Ying-ing was trembling and complaining.

—Ying-ing!

“Are you saying it’s stuffy being in the bag all day? It can’t be helped. You just hopped into my bag on your own, so that’s how this happens. You could’ve just stayed in the basement.”

—Kwiing.

“I get that feeling too.”

Ying-ing seemed to dislike being in the basement these past few days.

“Oh, by the way.”

I pulled out the concept stones of ‘Rock,’ ‘Leaf,’ ‘Sand,’ and ‘Wind’ that I obtained from the Foster Home to show Ying-ing. If Ying-ing ingests these, it should absorb only the toxins and spit them out later.

I was particularly greedy for that ‘Wind’ concept because Ying-ing already had the ‘Cloud’ concept, so I wasn’t sure what would happen.

—Kwiing.

Ultimately, Ying-ing absorbed all the concepts of Wind, Leaf, Sand, and Rock!

Ying-ing, you crazy little thing! You devoured everything!

“Hey, can’t you leave me a little? What’s the point of you eating all the concepts? You’re going to end up with a stomachache! What do you think you’re becoming?”

—Ying-ing!

Seems a bit unjust.

Anyway, I gathered up the increasingly super monster Ying-ing and returned home.

My heart felt heavy already.

But I can’t turn a blind eye to it.

—Kwiing…

Even the super monster Ying-ing was trembling in my bag, perhaps scared.

I mustered my courage and opened the basement door.

Clank, creak—

As soon as I opened the door, a voice came through.

“Yu Yeoreum, you can’t drink water because you have a low rank. This water is for me only. And you smell, you know? Go take a bath. Oh, right, you can’t because you’re locked up?”

“Give me that water. Now.”

“If you’re aggrieved, why not break that chain and come here? You can’t, can you? Too weak? Because you can’t see the light, you’re not different from the ordinary girls—”

Two women were trapped in the basement.

They frowned when they saw me.

What follows will be the story between me and these girls.