The Thug Hides the Villainess

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050 – Pandora’s Box #1

In the bustling downtown where people were everywhere, a man with earbuds walked aimlessly among the throngs of people.

━ Yeomra and Pinocchio have already fallen. Is this the first time this has happened?
━ Getting taken out by a high schooler, what a disgrace.
━ Is this possibly a setup? Are they trying to dispose of us?

The noise coming from the man’s earbuds kept disrupting the peace.

Nervousness, anger, and fear were palpable in the voices he heard.

━ The problem is Yeomra’s death. That guy held the key to negotiating with Seo Nam Group, y’know? Like an arson order or something.
━ Are we going to be the ones that get trapped and taken down? Those bastards. They only use us when it suits them.
━ Shouldn’t we strike first before we get hit?

“Shh.”

At the man’s quiet command, the noisy chatter from his earbuds gradually became so quiet that even breathing couldn’t be heard.

He relished this silence.

He knew that genuinely precious moments were fleeting.

The man lightly glanced around.

He could sense the faces of people out on the street before summer, each carrying their own worries and concerns.

Because he had the earbuds in, he couldn’t hear their words, but to Gu Se-joon, it felt like their many cries might tear his ears apart.

Even with his eyes tightly shut, the endless shouts continued to scream directly in his mind.

All the anxieties, worries, and wails.

To shake off such cries, Gu Se-joon shivered and spoke.

“Don’t worry. I plan to meet and talk to them soon.”

━ Talk? With the head of Seo Nam Group?
━ Are you an idiot? It’d be with someone higher up.
━ If Se-joon talks to them directly, things will get resolved!

“Then let’s return to our own places now. Disperse.”

At the words of Gu Se-joon, the highest executive of Billunners, a few shadows in the street melted into the bright crowd.

“Discard and be discarded.”

Gu Se-joon thought the time had finally come.

It was time to end the childish villain games and get serious.

To do that, it seemed best to head to Seoga-eul’s penthouse.

He must have what he wanted there.

# # #

Splash.

The sound of water in the bathroom was quite loud.

I had no choice but to shout through the bathroom door.

“Don’t use too much water; the water bill is high!”

On the other side of the door, Yu Yeoreum was bathing in the nude.

Originally, I was going to help Yu Yeoreum wash up, but she threatened, “If you even touch my body, I’ll bash your head against the wall and kill you,” so I had no choice but to let her go into the bathroom alone.

Still, I couldn’t help being concerned that the kidnap victim, Yu Yeoreum, might harbor other intentions, so I pressed my ear to the bathroom door and listened closely to the sounds inside.

Slosh, splash, swish.

Thanks to my “emotion,” even listening to the splashes of water, I could tell roughly what part she was washing.

Right now, she was washing below her chest.

It must be uncomfortable to wash with handcuffs on, but she sure had some skills.

Drip.

At that moment, the water sound stopped.

Rustle, rustle.

I heard the soft sound of her drying off with a towel for a moment.

Clack, creak.

The door opened, and Yu Yeoreum, wrapped in a long bath towel, emerged into the living room. I took her into the room and dried her hair with a hairdryer.

Vrrrrrr.

Since her hair was so long, it took quite a bit of time and effort just to dry it.

Would I have to spend time like this every day from now on?

That seemed too dangerous.

“Do you not need to go to the bathroom?”

At my question, Yu Yeoreum snapped.

“I haven’t eaten anything for months!”

Apparently, photosynthesis wasn’t just for plants.

Yu Yeoreum grumbled, looking quite displeased, and turned her head away.

“Your family?”

Was she curious about the family photo hanging in the living room?

Before I could even respond, she added coldly, as if she had reached a conclusion.

“You don’t look anything like your mom.”

“I look more like my dad than my mom.”

“Is your dad a criminal like you?”

Yu Yeoreum’s comments were filled with hatred, betrayal, and scorn, almost as if she were questioning whether my parents knew how I was roaming around like this.

Was she hoping I’d feel some guilt?

Luckily, I was not a villain.

I was doing the right thing, so I could confidently stand in front of my parents’ pictures.

“Now that I think about it, my dad also faced resistance from the family when he was going to marry my mom, so he ran off with her as if he were kidnapping her. Is forced marriage a family tradition?”

My dad, though not as good as me, was a man of action and determination. Thanks to that, he started many businesses, and most of them failed miserably.

He had commitment but lacked ability.

“My mom and dad fought every day. Honestly, they weren’t the best couple, but they had no choice. Money was getting tighter at home, so everyone became anxious—”

That day was the same.

“It was my birthday, and my mom made me kimchi stew with ketchup. Even I got tired of that after a few months, so when the money I earned from my part-time job came in, I suggested we go out to eat.”

Going out just meant heading to the food court of a nearby big supermarket for some grilled meat.

But it was true that it was a rare outing, and my mom dressed up for the first time in a while, and my dad made sure to clean himself up too.

To anyone’s eye, we looked like a harmonious family.

That’s how it appeared, and if one were to scrutinize, it was a relatively harmonious household.

“But while I was down on the first floor for just a moment, a fire broke out. My mom and dad found me on the fourth-floor terrace and yelled at me to run away, but by then the stairs were already cut off, and I couldn’t do anything.”

“…”

“I sometimes think about it. What if I had just quietly eaten the kimchi stew with ketchup at home?”

“…Is that perhaps why you put ketchup in your noodles? You think you were being picky and that’s why your family went through a major incident and misfortune? Are you eating it out of remorse?”

In recent days, Yu Yeoreum’s expression, which had often been stormy like a dark cloud, had noticeably softened. I honestly shared my feelings with her.

“No, that’s just because I like ketchup. And anyway, the fire wasn’t my fault, right? It was the arsonists’ fault. It was the ones who told them to set the fire who were at fault.”

The arsonist was Yeomra.

But there were those who had instigated him to commit the crime.

According to Jeong-ui-seon, the class president of Class D, Seo Nam Group was the leading suspect. They may have deliberately created the incident to gain political leverage.

─ A mad awakened one has committed a crime! ─

Creating fear among citizens to enforce strong regulations and repression of awakened ones led to the implementation of the “Awakened Control Bill.”

Because of that, awakened ones like me had to undergo DNA tests and various psychological evaluations at least once every six months.

This Yeongsa High School “smartwatch” also served to monitor students’ locations in real-time, albeit with some margin of error.

Yu Yeoreum spoke.

“Soft drink.”

“Sodium hydroxide.”

Yu Yeoreum abruptly suggested a game of word association, and I hit back with a strong word.

Thinking of words starting with “rium” must have been quite a brain teaser.

Indeed, Yu Yeoreum looked at me as if she had been ambushed.

“What are you talking about? I can drink soft drinks. Most soft drinks can be made from nutrients, but among them, I like strawberry milk the most. Keep that in mind.”

# # #

“How nice! You got to take a bath.”

Seoga-eul flicked Yu Yeoreum playfully.

Even a bee leading with its stinger wouldn’t be sharper than that.

Indeed, a fragrant smell came from Yu Yeoreum.

The scent of shampoo wafted from her long, luscious hair.

Perhaps because the unpleasant feelings had evaporated with the bath, Yu Yeoreum’s expression had returned to a relaxed state.

She was nonchalantly responding to Seoga-eul’s mental attack.

“As you said, the bath was pleasant.”

“What? What do you mean?”

That kind of attitude and position seemed to irritate Seoga-eul intensely.

Seoga-eul was now furious, trying to find a way to eat away at Yu Yeoreum’s mood.

“Look at her chest! It’s smaller! Isn’t she hiding something? Hanam-jin! Look at her chest! It’s shrunk compared to usual! There’s definitely something going on!”

Seoga-eul pointed at Yu Yeoreum, who wore my oversized T-shirt like a dress. Indeed, Yu Yeoreum’s chest seemed smaller than I remembered.

What’s going on?

What kind of trick is this?

Perhaps she was using a trick to escape.

However, Yu Yeoreum snapped back as if to say, “What nonsense?”

“I’ve completely drained it. The amount of light stored is all used up. When I have a lot of stored light, my chest gets bigger. Once it runs out, it shrinks down to this C cup.”

So all shrunk down to a C cup, huh? Even that far exceeded the average size in Korea. Just when I thought that was amazing, Seoga-eul grinned like a wicked nine-tailed fox.

“What utter nonsense? Are your breasts some battery? She’s definitely done something during the bath. Pervert! You should touch her to check! Before we end up in some trouble!”

Seoga-eul’s point had some merit.

Rather than let something unpredictable happen, it might be better to check directly.

“Quickly touch her to find out.”

Seoga-eul wore an expression of triumph, like a detective who caught a thief, as if she thought she had won.

On the other hand, Yu Yeoreum’s face had reddened with embarrassment, and she let out a deep sigh, as if resigned. Then she made a proposal to me.

“Alright. I’ll let you check, but if it’s not a big deal, buy me strawberry milk before today is over.”

She would let me check her chest in exchange for strawberry milk—

A kind of transaction proposal.

“Strawberry milk? Hey! Are you seriously asking for that while you’re kidnapped? Think about your situation! Strawberry milk, what are you on about? Just stop with the nonsense!”

Seoga-eul was decidedly against this transaction.

My decision here—

“Fine.”

I decided to buy strawberry milk if nothing was wrong instead of checking Yu Yeoreum’s chest. I thought this made complete sense.

Thus, I began to touch Yu Yeoreum’s chest.

Over her clothes.

Three times.

With the concept of “emotion,” I was sure I could discern whether what I was doing was wrong after three touches.

As my hand reached out, I touched something unexpectedly elastic.

Beside me, Seoga-eul was chuckling.

“Our Yeoreum is never gonna get married at this rate!”

“…”

Yu Yeoreum clenched her lips tightly.

「Name: Yu Yeoreum

Status: 《Humiliation》 – It is extremely humiliating to have my chest touched by an evil villain, and I feel like I might cry, but I shall endure.」

Although she didn’t show it, she seemed to be very displeased with the current situation.

For the record, this was my second time touching a woman’s chest.

The first time was with Jin Ramyeon, right? I hadn’t been in my right mind then, but this time was different.

I was a man.

That meant I wouldn’t just harass women without care.

Thus, I handled Yu Yeoreum’s chest three times methodically, without any ulterior motive.

“No problem at all. It really seems like Yu Yeoreum’s chest changes size based on the amount of light she stores, just like she said.”

“…So hurry up and take your hand away. And don’t forget the strawberry milk.”

Wheezing, Yu Yeoreum confirmed our agreement again.

I, Hanam-jin.

No matter what, I’m a man who keeps promises.

“Right, one strawberry milk. So I just need to buy that now, right?”

“Hey! Wait a minute! I want apple juice!”

At that moment, Seoga-eul shouted.

Apple juice.

It seemed she also wanted apple juice.

“Seoga-eul, you didn’t have a chest examination.”

“Then let me get checked too?”

“No, you don’t need to get checked; what for?”

“…Wha… What did you say?”

Seoga-eul’s expression was red with embarrassment due to being rejected by me.

She looked like a perfectly ripe apple.

「Name: Seoga-eul

Status: 《Major Humiliation》 – Being rejected by the kidnapper makes me feel like I lost to Yu Yeoreum, causing me to feel incredibly mad!」

She was puffing up in anger, and even I flinched a bit. But I wasn’t going to fall for that expression.

I had to focus on truly training Seoga-eul from now on.

“Seoga-eul, once you succeed in your concept awakening, I’ll buy you apple juice then.”

“Concept? Nice words. Then bring me my 「treasure」. It should be in my room. Having it will make it easier for me to learn concepts.”

Her treasure?

Did she mean the Japanese sword that was in the treasure room? It didn’t seem like that. Seoga-eul must have several treasures too.

“And if you bring the treasure, all I have to do is give you a ‘squishy’ once, right?”

“What?”

「Squishy」? What’s that?

I had no idea, but the word felt like it was frying my brain.

Is that a word they teach in high school or university?

As someone who only finished middle school, I couldn’t predict what ‘squishy’ could mean!

But I was sure that if I brought Seoga-eul’s treasure, I would find out what that ‘squishy’ was.

Hehehe—.

I couldn’t help but laugh as if my brain were malfunctioning.

Now let’s go back to Seoga-eul’s penthouse!

This time, proudly, through the front door.