035 – Strong women generally have a weakness # 1
“Hey!!! Hanamjin!!!”
Bangdaengi called me from afar and came running – padadadat. I wondered what the matter was. The important point was that in his haste to run over, he tripped over his own feet and fell.
Kwangang-!
He displayed quite a skill to fall on a completely empty floor.
Nevertheless, the intense atmosphere was somewhat diffused by his sudden appearance.
“What is it?”
“What’s the matter?”
The students finishing their classes turned their gaze toward this alley, and the threatening attitude of the policewoman named Jinram towards me, who was gripping her fists as if half-threatening me, softened a little.
“Younger brother, you’re luckier than I thought. I’ll see you later. I’ll keep today’s story about me touching your chest a secret. If I didn’t, I might end up having to wear an electronic ankle bracelet.”
By asking her to keep it a secret, she ended up revealing everything herself-.
Because of that, Bangdaengi growled, like an angry raccoon.
“Hey! This chest thing—what’s that about! Hanamjin, you! You said you liked Seugal, but the moment Seugal disappeared, you turned your eyes to someone else. Huh? Do you think any woman is good enough?”
“I’m utterly devoted to Seugal.”
“…”
Bangdaengi Baek Yeo-ul looked at me with eyes full of dissatisfaction.
Still, it was true that I had been helped by her sudden appearance just now.
Should I say it was good timing and luck?
If I had been dragged away by that older sister, it would have been “GAME OVER” across the board.
“Bangdaengi, so, what’s the matter? Weren’t you going home?”
At my question, Bangdaengi, who had just been dusting off her knees, looked around.
Then, in a voice barely audible only to me, she asked:
“Is there nothing to eat when you get home? So that you were about to s*ck on a ketchup bottle, right?”
“Hey, we have food at my place too?”
“What do you have?”
“Ramen.”
“So what?!”
What’s so bad about ramen?
Soon, Bangdaengi started to fumble like someone with something to say but got tongue-tied, like trying to scratch a mosquito bite on her foot but couldn’t because she was wearing shoes.
Just when I wondered what it was, she swiftly opened her bag and handed me something.
“You! You made fun of me for not knowing how to cook! That’s a lie! So, try this tonight!”
It was a lunch box.
“I made this myself! I’m Baek Yeo-ul, master of cooking in the Baek family! I’m confident in my cooking.”
It seemed she was aggrieved by the fact that I had called her out for not being able to cook during the fight with Yeomhun a while back.
It’s still warm, so the insulation must be good.
“Alright, if you honestly admit it tastes good, I might make you dinner every evening from now on. It’s a way of showing appreciation since you’ve helped me a lot. Give and take, kind of like that.”
Bangdaengi offering to take care of my evening meals every day?
For me, it was a proposal that couldn’t go wrong.
But—“Bangdaengi’s cooking,” wouldn’t it be food with adjectives like “burnt black” or “distorted into the netherworld” attached to it?
For various reasons, when Baek Yeo-ul seemed to have said all she needed to say, she abruptly turned her head to the side.
“It might be… maybe… it could be my fault that Seugal disappeared.”
“Why?”
“Because I hate Seugal. I was making a wish every day that Seugal would disappear. Could my misfortune have transferred to Seugal?”
“That’s unlikely. You don’t have that kind of power.”
“Ugh… Anyway! I’m leaving! Clean the lunch box casually and return it tomorrow!”
With that, Bangdaengi ran off into the distance.
Though she tripped and made another Kwangang- sound halfway, she dusted herself off and ran away like nothing happened.
# # #
“I’ll let you know in advance, if you offer me ketchup ramen again today, I’ll bite my tongue and d*e.”
As soon as I returned home and entered the basement without even unpacking my bag, Seugal delivered a stern threat.
I wonder how someone who hasn’t had a proper meal for days can still be so haughty.
What else do we have to eat in our house besides ramen?
Ah, we do have one thing.
Ziiik- I took out the lunch box that Baek Yeo-ul had given me from my bag.
When I opened the lid, what appeared, prepared in a rather rough-looking yet neatly arranged manner, was scrambled eggs, Vienna sausages, and soy sauce-braised bulgogi.
It smelled so good that even Seugal showed interest.
“What is this, a lunch box? Did you make it?”
At Seugal’s question, I hesitated for a moment on how to answer.
This is Baek Yeo-ul’s lunch box, but—
Haven’t Baek Yeo-ul and Seugal had a terrible relationship?
There must definitely have been some incident between the two, but neither Baek Yeo-ul nor Seugal had ever mentioned it explicitly.
“Let’s say—I made it. I’m good at cooking.”
For now, it was better to say this lunch box was made by me. After all, here was the ever-picky Seugal actually showing interest in food for once?
If I said it was made by Baek Yeo-ul, she would probably say, “Go eat it yourself!” So I fibbed.
“Aaaah.”
Seugal opened her mouth wide at me.
What’s she doing?
“Hey, you pervert. Since you taped my hands, I can’t use chopsticks or a fork. You have to feed me if I’m to eat. Hurry up and feed me. Aaaah.”
Ah, I see, that’s what she meant.
I picked up the food from Baek Yeo-ul’s lunch box with chopsticks and placed it on Seugal’s tongue.
Her white, neat teeth revealed her soft-looking tongue.
This tongue keeps spouting insults every day.
Mmm-mmm-mmm.
“How does it taste?”
“Hm, it’s… passable.”
So Baek Yeo-ul’s lunch box was passable for Seugal’s taste.
Even though she said that, Seugal kept opening her mouth, finishing the entire lunch box in no time. Afterwards, like a judge on a cooking show, she deep-dived into contemplation.
“The degree of cooking the vegetables was a bit unsatisfactory, but this home-cooked meal felt truly refreshing after a long time, so I’ll give it 6 out of 10 points. Next time, cook the vegetables more carefully, understand?”
So that’s how it is.
I will make sure to pass Seugal’s feedback to Baek Yeo-ul.
I ate ketchup ramen with Yining.
Probably because I used an infinite ketchup bottle I obtained today and generously applied it, the flavor enhancer was absolutely perfect.
-Gweeiiing.
Even the cloud-like Yining seemed in a good mood after eating my ramen, floating leisurely around the basement. You little cutie!
“Ketchup bottle? Seriously, you brought a mere ketchup bottle from the Treasure Exhibition? Wow, I can’t believe I was abducted by someone like this. I don’t have the face to tell anyone where I’ve been.”
“It’s not a normal ketchup bottle! I told you, it’s a refilling one—it’s truly amazing.”
“So, can you kidnap Yu Yeo-reum with that ketchup bottle? When will you finally kidnap the woman and tie her beside me? If you manage to kidnap Yeo-reum, I’ll assist with all your weird schemes.”
As her stomach filled, Seugal became overly confident.
She was tapping the floor with her legs while talking, but I didn’t want to be influenced by her.
“Hey, I’ve got a whole plan for that. No need to worry. Speaking of which, we’ll do some lower body exercises today. You’ve been confined here for quite a while, so your muscles must’ve weakened. Lie down.”
“What, What are you trying to do?”
“It’s just a simple rehabilitation.”
I was somewhat of an expert in lower body rehabilitation.
Originally, my legs had been severely injured after being run over by a truck.
I grabbed Seugal’s legs and moved them around to loosen her muscles.
“Pervert, you’re using rehabilitation as an excuse, but you just want to touch my legs, don’t you? Men are all the same—hypocritically showing kindness while actually thinking about only what to do with women.”
Of course, Seugal didn’t like it.
While at it, should I give her a massage? I pressed with my thumb the Yongcheon point, located on the center of her sole, said to resurrect even a corpse.
Seugal’s body shot up like a spring.
“HIYAAAK!”
“So, that’s your weak point, huh? Then, rehabilitation’s over for today!”
“…I’ll k*ll you. Seriously, I’ll k*ll you with my hands. Just wait and see.”
“Ah, that sounds nice. It’s music to my ears. By the way, it seems there’s been a missing person report filed.”
“Missing?”
The attitude of Seugal, who had been yelling noisily like a fox trapped in circumstances, suddenly turned icy, like a different person. I wonder if I should have held my tongue.
When I thought that, Seugal murmured softly:
“TV.”
“What about the TV?”
“Even a small one, but please install one here. You just go to school and are done with it, but I’m so bored during this time, I’m going insane.”
A TV? That’s a tough ask right now.
Instead, I brought her the newspaper that flew to our doorstep every morning.
“This is the ‘Sashim Ilbo’—we’ve taken out advertising with them. For now, I’ll leave you with the newspaper; I’ll hope you’ll hold up till I can set up a TV for you.”
A delicate-eyed Seugal scrutinized the headlines of the paper.
Her gentle fingers pointed to a corner of the newspaper.
“The opposition leader, Yoo Dogwan MP criticized the President’s ‘Awakened One Registration Law’ this afternoon. This law is considered to oppress the human rights of Awakened Ones—.”
“That b*stard is Yeo-reum’s father.”
“Who?”
“Opposition leader Yoo Dogwan. Presidential candidate.”
So Yeo-reum must have been extraordinary in terms of both her personal abilities and the strength of her family.
Though an opposition leader sounds high up, but of course, by the world one year from now, that will mean nothing at all.
“Still, she isn’t his real daughter.”
Soo-oo-
Seugal, her narrow eyes widening at the shocking news.
“Not his real daughter?”
“Yeo-reum is originally an orphan from a foster home. The company supporting that foster home was once a subsidiary of our Seonam Group, but it split off and is now called the Imperial Group.”
Yeo-reum is from an orphanage—this information might potentially be usable in the kidnapping.
“By the way, that orphanage is closed now, isn’t it? How it closed—go ahead and investigate it yourself. Haven’t I already told you a lot about Yeo-reum’s ‘weakness’?”
“A weakness? She has one too?”
“Um? In that case, Yining, come here.”
-Gweeiiing.
Swiftly, Seugal called the floating Yining and used its fluffy cloud-like body as a pillow, lying down on the mattress.
At a time when she screamed Yining was a Demon Beast that should be destroyed, now she’s treating it as a pillow.
Poor Yining.
# # #
Wide training room.
In the pitch-black darkness, where not even the first step was visible, a woman effortlessly lifted a barbell stacked with countless 100 kg plates.
“…”
While effortlessly lifting a weight that would require numerous strong men to lift, her expression remained unchanged, not even a flicker.
Only a small bead of sweat trickled from her forehead to her chin.
“That’s enough, Yeo-reum. Let’s stop here. If you’re this drained, you can still lift 1,000 kg easily, right? Your condition is exceptionally good these days. Did something good happen?”
An elderly woman in a white coat meticulously documented and noted Yu Yeo-reum’s records.
Yu Yeo-reum briefly glanced at the older woman’s face.
The strange-looking night-vision goggles that resembled spider eyes on her face were rather amusing.
“Good thing?”
“Do you know how long I’ve been observing you since you were a child? Lately, you’ve been quite bubbly, much like when you received a birthday cake in the past. What’s going on?”
“Not particularly…”
Yu Yeo-reum left the training room for the next session.
Descending into the depths, ever darker underground, an immensely large steel bunker appeared.
Clunk, gooohh-
As she entered, a pitch-black darkness, devoid of even a speck of light, embraced Yu Yeo-reum’s body.
It was a sticky, complete darkness like ink.
“Alright, Yeo-reum, today, since you’re in great condition, it’s 12 hours.”
From somewhere, through the installed speakers, the voice of the elderly woman echoed.
However, it only lasted a moment before a zzzwoooooaaahh- sound of toxic gas seeped in somewhere.
“Toxic gas resistance experiment #45.”
“Subject in a complete fasting state for 36 hours.”
“It’s been 1984 hours since the last concept manifestation—”
In the pitch-black darkness, where not even the tip of one’s nose was visible, Yu Yeo-reum sat on the floor and meditated inwardly.
The light she had longed for—”Light”—was already within her inner self.
However, there was still something incredibly difficult to endure—starving hunger.
And another thing hard to bear—
“This night vision is pretty good. Even though it’s this dark, I can see the lines of my palm clearly.”
“Will you really forgive my debts if I overcome this?”
From the invisible human voices in the pitch-black darkness.
“Man, this reminds me of the old days. Back then, we didn’t just beat up high school girls but—.”
“Hey, miss, how old are you? Do you have a boyfriend? Hahaha—”
Though she glimmered her eyes with bioluminescence, the light stored from “Phytoplankton” had already diminished in the dark room.
The very essence of this training was to intentionally simulate “crisis” and “lack” to manifest new concepts.
Ultimately, dull weapons and maliciousness striking from various directions inflicted wounds on Yu Yeo-reum’s body.
Yu Yeo-reum didn’t even scream amid such chaos, conserving energy, and retaliating violently as if familiar with such brutality.
Pwoong, bwwaang! Krwddeug, ppaajik-!
“Grrrraaargh! S, Save me!”
“Crazy monster kiddo! A monster!”
“Let me out from here, argh—!”
The numbers being measured satisfied Doctor Ahn and her team monitoring the situation.
“Doctor Ahn, the vital signs are reaching a new peak! She might soon awaken her third concept!”
“It’s too soon to celebrate. As long as she doesn’t overcome her fatal weakness, Yeo-reum remains a failure.”
Yu Yeo-reum had a fatal weakness.
If someone discovered her weakness, even someone like Yu Yeo-reum, seemingly as strong as steel, could crumble like a sandcastle.
Fortunately, the confidentiality surrounding Yeo-reum’s “weakness” was thorough.
Thorough enough that—
—Even Yeo-reum herself didn’t know about it.
