027 – The Hero’s Obsession with Villains #2
I’m quick to pick up on things, especially when it comes to reading people. Here’s a quick summary of the three things I’ve figured out about Yu Yeo-reum.
First, Yu Yeo-reum is an athletic beauty who loves sports.
Though I would need to see her unclothed to be sure, I’m guessing her muscles are probably more toned than those of the average guy.
Second, the strawberry scent that wafts from Yu Yeo-reum is most likely from deodorant or some kind of cosmetic product. Does she dislike the smell of her own sweat?
One would think that the sweat of a superhigh school student would be rather popular, wouldn’t you?
Third, Yu Yeo-reum’s eyes glow brilliantly just before she fires a beam of light.
Ziiing—
Like now.
“Isn’t your house over there? Why are you coming out of the neighboring house?”
Yu Yeo-reum seemed intrigued by why I emerged from the neighboring house.
Well, in life, you can occasionally come out of an empty house next door, can’t you? Isn’t that right?
Let me just throw out a quick excuse.
“This house is vacant. Sometimes I come here for hobbies. It’s like a guy’s personal space—a man cave. You’ve heard of a man cave, right? A place only for guys.”
“A man’s personal space.”
“Right, so can you please stop shining that bright light from your eyes?”
“What kind of hobbies do you do in that empty house?”
What? She’s asking that too?
This is the first girl I’ve met who asks me so many questions since I was born.
Queen of Question Marks, huh?
—Ah, haah, aaang!
At that moment, a strange sound came from somewhere. It was proper to describe it as an eerie moaning sound.
It was the sound Seugal was making from the basement of the neighboring house.
sh*t! Why now?!
“There’s a strange noise coming from over there.”
Apparently, even among the elite of Class F, Yu Yeo-reum’s senses were far above those of an average person. It was possible that Seugal had deliberately done this.
What if Yu Yeo-reum decided to go into the neighboring house and opened the basement? And what if she discovered me chaining Seugal with steel chains? I was sure she’d incinerate me with her heat beams, turning me into Donut Namjin.
“Something must be in the neighboring house. Sounded like a woman’s voice.”
Peeking… Yu Yeo-reum began to take an interest in the neighboring house. A bead of cold sweat trickled down my back, from my neck to my tailbone.
This was truly a life or d*ath crisis.
Perhaps Seugal had planned for this. Maybe she had wanted to see me suffer and had deliberately let out those moans. Although it was better than her screaming for help, it was still a behavior filled with clear malice.
Yet, Seugal underestimated me.
Do you think I’ll fall for that?
“Actually, I was watching adult videos here. I thought I’d turned everything off before leaving, but maybe the sound is still on. Now that it’s like this, do you want to come in and watch together?”
“N-No… I think watching together isn’t necessary.”
Exactly.
I thought we should leave before Seugal could do anything weirder and grabbed Yu Yeo-reum’s hand to pull her away.
To my surprise, her hand was surprisingly soft.
I half-expected to feel calluses.
—
# # #
Yu Yeo-reum and I headed towards the nearby park.
The park, despite the promise of its name, was filled with litter, buzzing flies, and mosquitoes, but it was perfect for buying us some time.
“So, didn’t you say earlier that you had something to apologize for?”
“You punched my chest. Given the lack of control, you could’ve really hurt me.”
“Oh, that? It’s fine. Look.”
Sssh— I lifted my jacket and showed Yu Yeo-reum my chest under the light of the lamppost. Surprisingly, Yu Yeo-reum was momentarily taken aback but then chuckled lightly.
“You’re tougher than I thought. Next time, I might just punch you with more ‘genuine’ force.”
It was the first time I’d seen Yu Yeo-reum laugh.
She usually had a cold expression, though it wasn’t rude like Seugal’s. I remembered her more as someone with a somewhat blurred emotional state and rarely-changing facial expressions.
Regardless, the laughter of a high school girl was like a cool breeze that stirred the heart of any man.
Even though she could sh**t lasers from her eyes and had a body as strong as steel, Yeo-reum was still a girl.
The confusion caused by Seugal’s “moaning sounds” seemed to melt away in the face of Yu Yeo-reum’s smile.
Perhaps Yu Yeo-reum had a natural talent for healing.
“Actually, Yu Yeo-reum, you look beautiful when you smile. You should do it more often.”
“…”
Yu Yeo-reum flinched slightly as if surprised by my words. She gently touched the corners of her mouth, perhaps feeling some embarrassment from my compliment.
“Did I laugh?”
No, it wasn’t my compliment. You seem surprised by the fact that you laughed. Laughing must be that surprising for you, right? Just as this thought crossed my mind, Yu Yeo-reum stood up from the park bench.
“At this internship, I placed first. I want to say that I won’t go easy on you next time, but… starting from the next internship, you won’t see me anyway because I’ll be deployed into actual combat.”
“Actual combat? Like exploring the Great Labyrinth and recovering treasures?”
“No, I’m assigned to the ground operations. You’ve heard of unregistered awakened ones? The awakened ones who aren’t registered with institutions like the ‘Hero’s Guild’ or the ‘Superhuman Management Office’. Usually, they are criminals.”
The physical ability gap between awakened ones and normal people was vast — akin to that between high school students and elementary school students. Because of this, some awakened ones used their extraordinary powers for ill purposes.
“I ended up in this neighborhood because I heard a group called the ‘Villainers’ was active around here. There are a lot of abandoned houses here.”
Our neighborhood has plenty of abandoned homes. It’s common knowledge that homeless people and criminals use them for various activities.
I don’t know exactly what these “Villainers” do, but I’m sure they’re up to no good.
What happens if they break into the abandoned house next door where I’ve stashed Seugal?
It’s definitely going to cause complications.
“What exactly is this ‘Villainers’ group?”
They are an illegal organization formed by some graduates of the first class of the Hero School. The reason our school stopped making ‘man-to-man combat’ a basic curriculum was also because of these guys.”
The Hero School is for people with special abilities. It was baffling why combat practice like “duels” were only taught in special courses costing 400,000 points, but now it all seemed to make sense.
Awakened ones back when the Hero School lacked proper laws and systems had been instilled with various combat skills, resulting in the creation of uncontrollable monsters—
“Hanamjin, since you live in this neighborhood, you should be careful too. Most members of Villainers are third-class ability users with firepower comparable to heavy weapons. You must have heard about ‘Yeomra’, the one responsible for the N-Mart fire?”
“Of course. The guy who can melt steel with flames. He’s still on the loose. Honestly, I don’t think he’ll ever get caught.”
“Yemra.” The ringleader behind the d*ath of my parents. That b*stard. I swore silently that I’d personally make sure to crush him.
“There are people like that scattered around the world, trying to destroy order and tranquility. People like the ‘Judge’, who shakes the very foundations of the judicial system. Ultimately, they’re no different from Demon Beasts.”
Ziiing— Yu Yeo-reum’s eyes lit up. Regarding her statement that awakened ones who cross the line are no different from Demon Beasts, I couldn’t agree or disagree.
I was only a little concerned about her.
No matter how extraordinary an awakened one might be, Yu Yeo-reum is still just a high school girl.
“Summer, be careful when you fight criminals.”
“For the first time, someone is worrying about me. I’ll be fine. I’m invincible, after all. And I’m not hunting criminals alone — I’ll go in with Seugal, so it wouldn’t be dangerous anyway.”
Wait a moment—
That Seugal is hidden in my basement right now…
—
# # #
“I clearly told you to come back within 10 minutes, didn’t I? It would’ve probably been faster if you had just made your own stockings instead of buying them.”
When I went down to the basement, Seugal was clearly fuming. I had things to say too.
“Hey, because of your strange noises, things were about to get weird!”
“Stranger noises? I don’t know what you’re talking about, but wasn’t that girl outside named Yu Yeo-reum? That hussy.”
「Name: Seugal
Held: Expand for details ☜
Status: 《Pride and Loathing》 – Being rescued by Yeo-reum feels worse than being kidnapped by a pervert.」
It seemed that Seugal didn’t scream for help because she hated Yeo-reum so much. Lucky day for me.
“Alright, I bought the stockings.”
Ssshh—
I spread out the stockings I’d selected from the convenience store in front of Seugal.
Despite being light, sheer nylon bundles, they cost an outrageous amount.
I was expecting a few days of poverty when Seugal extended her leg straight out towards me.
Do you need a “Love Strike”?
“What are you doing? You need to put them on for me. You’ve wrapped my hands tightly with tape, so I can’t do anything. Let’s start with the 15 deniers.”
Since your hands are restricted, I’d have to help her put on the stockings—upon listening, it made sense.
“What are you doing? Hurry up and put them on for me. If you put them on nicely for me, I might tell you why I was given ‘sick leave’. And maybe drop some interesting information that could help you in capturing Yu Yeo-reum?”
Slurrr—
Seugal with her narrowed eyes.
“For reference, I’m not asking you to do something sleazy. So, if you harbor any dirty intentions, not only will I not give you the information, but I’ll bite my tongue and d*e. Got it? I have good instincts and can sense ‘length’, especially anything stretching unnecessarily.”
Were the gaze and flick of the tongue of the snake from the biblical tale tempting Adam and Eve hidden among the ivy leaves in the garden of Eden quite like this?
“Didn’t you say you valued my body? So you wouldn’t lust after me just from putting on some stockings, right?”
Both the kidnapping of Yeo-reum and the stockings—It seemed like Seugal was entirely focused on how exactly she could make me suffer here in this basement.
Bad girl. There’s no doubt she’s doing this because she knows I have a thing for women’s stockings and small feet.
When did I develop such a taste, you ask?
Since the day Seugal came to my house soaked and took off her stockings!
Will I be able to maintain my composure while helping her put on the stockings? If I can’t restrain myself and touch her improperly, it’ll ruin my chance at “perfect education.”
Perhaps Seugal was planning exactly that.
She was tempting me to lose control and pounce on her, yet it wasn’t overt enough for me to justify using a “Love Strike.”
“What if I untie your hands so you can do it yourself?”
If I follow that suggestion and untie the tape around Seugal’s hands—she’ll undoubtedly beat me up and escape.
Dead end—!
I could sense that arrogance in her gaze as she looked at me.
Of course, I won’t fall for her tricks.
It’s unmanly to be swayed by a woman.
In this situation, there’s only one method.
I clenched my fist and—
—struck the jewels between my legs!
Puck! Puck! Puck!
The pain and shock temporarily rid me of my masculinity, forcing me into a state of forced composure. This way, my masculinity won’t rise to the occasion!
“Gwaaaah!”
It felt like my body was twisting, and foam was coming out of my mouth, but the effect was superb!
“Right now! Right now!”
“d*mn you, crazy b*stard!”
Through the extreme pain, I became temporarily female! There’s no way I could miss this moment!
Zzzzt—!
I quickly tore open the stocking package and slowly helped her put on the thin nylon socks, starting from her white toes.
“d*mn you, crazy b*stard!”
Frustrated that things weren’t going her way, Seugal thrashed around.
「Name: Seugal
Held: Expand for details ☜
Status: 《Shocked》 – I’m truly surprised by your reckless decisiveness.」
Her face was as red as a ripe autumn apple, and her breathing was rough.
“Pervert! Psycho! What are you touching, you b*stard!”
The problem was that my forced femininity from the pain wasn’t entirely complete, and I felt like I was doing something incredibly indecent as I helped her put on the stockings.
Still, I accomplished the mission through superhuman willpower!
“So, Seugal, tell me why you were on ‘sick leave’. As the only daughter of the Seonam Group, wouldn’t your disappearance make headlines and create quite a fuss? And give me some information on Yeo-reum too!”
“Aaaaahhh! Aaaah!”
