046 – The Great Showman #1
“9:00 PM.”
It was the time I was supposed to meet Yu Yeo-reum.
While standing under a streetlamp near my house in the park, palm-sized Tinkerbell moths kept attacking me, which was quite bothersome.
“d*mn moths!”
It was truly a war between moths and humans.
A fierce battle for survival was in full swing when, suddenly from somewhere, the air grew hot and a strong heat wave brushed against my face.
Ziiing-. Smoldering-.
The moths flying around me instantly turned into ashes and blew away. A strange burnt smell unexpectedly hit my nose, making my head spin slightly.
“Hey, you shouldn’t just fire lasers around without thinking! What if you hit me too?”
When I turned my head, I saw a girl approaching from the darkness with glowing eyes. She was dressed entirely in white—a white dress, white socks, and white sneakers.
“How do I look? Does it suit me?”
“It suits you well. It gives off the vibe of an athletic girl who has developed feelings for her childhood friend but ended up growing up too fast due to some sinister gym teacher.”
“What kind of critique is that? Anyway, Jin-a, you came wearing sweats. School gym clothes, at that. Wasn’t this supposed to be a date?”
Yu Yeo-reum slightly teased me when she noticed my casual attire.
It seemed like a problem to her that she had dressed up so nicely while I looked too sloppy.
“Don’t worry, I wore stylish underwear. Ideally, I hoped there’d be a chance to show it today.”
“Huh, you always make good jokes.”
“It’s not a joke.”
“An incident like that should only happen when both parties are ready to take responsibility.”
Yu Yeo-reum, you’re tougher than I thought.
There’s no need to worry about some perverted gym teacher.
On the contrary, the gym teacher should be worried about you.
You’re the one who shoots lasers from your eyes.
“Is it okay to sh**t lasers at mere moths?”
“It’s fine. I absorbed lots of sunlight today. High charge.”
“So, if we compare it to a phone, how much battery do you have left?”
“75%. And by the way, every time I fire a laser, it uses up 5%.”
So, Yu Yeo-reum could fire 15 more lasers from this point onward.
I kept that fact in mind as we started walking together.
—
Our neighborhood had many vacant houses. Imagine high school students—a guy about to turn twenty and a girl—wandering around such places.
When hormonal teenagers full of vitality walk down secluded and dark streets together, certain things are bound to happen.
“Jin-a, want to try knocking down cans?”
And that’s exactly what we did!
Yu Yeo-reum lined up empty cans and used her laser eyes to knock them all down.
Three shots.
Yu Yeo-reum’s remaining laser count was now twelve.
“Back in the old days, we used to hit cans with stones and play. Why don’t people do that anymore?”
Under her cool exterior, Yu Yeo-reum had a lot of childlike innocence and loved playing.
She would suddenly yell “Wak!” while rummaging through abandoned houses, scaring me, or walk comically on white road paint.
We felt like long-time childhood friends. I even had a fleeting illusion that I had been playing with Yu Yeo-reum in this neighborhood since ancient times.
If it weren’t for the fact that Seugal was the steadfast rose in my heart, falling for Yu Yeo-reum wouldn’t have been surprising.
The glimpse of her large chest under her dress or her smooth armpits were almost toxic to me.
Yu Yeo-reum seemed unaware of how her actions and gestures affected men. Or was she doing it on purpose?
While thinking about that, we arrived at our destination, the “Sprout Orphanage,” which was the original goal of today’s trip.
“This place…”
Yu Yeo-reum’s cheerful attitude, which had been bouncing around a moment ago, suddenly calmed down. I frankly said to her,
“This is where the remnants of ‘Billerns’ were last seen. It seems a considerable number of unregistered awakened ones from this orphanage are involved. I thought I should let you know about it.”
Yu Yeo-reum touched the old, decrepit swing in the orphanage’s playground.
The seesaws or spinning equipment faintly reflected in her pupils for a moment.
“It can’t be. They wouldn’t get involved in something so evil.”
“Go see and talk to them yourself.”
I had arranged a meet-up with Kim Mari, the short-haired girl, for today.
Since “Billerns” would surely see Yu Yeo-reum as a thorn in their side, they would definitely have set an ambush here.
If so, a pointless skirmish would inevitably ensue.
Yu Yeo-reum’s laser power and battery would surely run out.
Once she was drained of energy, I would seize her!
It’s a perfect plan.
With this plan, we wouldn’t need to sacrifice someone like “No Leftovers Day.”
“Kim Mari!”
Eager to put my plan into action, I shouted loud enough for it to echo throughout the orphanage.
However, the one who appeared from within the orphanage wasn’t Kim Mari, nor any girl in a school uniform, nor even an obese figure. It was a man with curly hair.
What was his name again?
“Wasn’t you the 3rd grade bounty target ‘Pikolo’?”
“Pinocchio.”
Ah, that’s who he was.
As expected, Billerns had set an ambush here where Yu Yeo-reum and her old friends were supposed to meet.
Pinocchio then said,
“You came to see Mari and the others, right? But you won’t be able to see them. Someone’s wavering heart made them try to leave the organization. That can’t be allowed, can it?”
“What did you do to my friends?”
Wwwiiing-. Yu Yeo-reum’s eyes shone brightly, almost blindingly.
Pinocchio stumbled back, obviously in pain from the car headlight-like brightness, and hid behind a building pillar.
Then, he peeked his head out and shouted,
“They’re safe for now. But things could change. Who knows how a hungry demon beast might transform? You, Yu Yeo-reum, know that better than anyone, right?”
“What? Demon Beasts?”
“And you won’t see their plight unless you feel it yourself. Let me tell you something—I alone know this location. The time limit until our lock on the Demon Beasts breaks is exactly one hour.”
Pinocchio, scheming with his dimwit brain and causing unnecessary trouble.
Non-combat ability users always seem to have too many tricks, making things annoyingly complicated.
Luckily, I had anticipated variables like this.
“Yu Yeo-reum, we actually want to get along with you well. We also don’t want to make a giant power like yourself our enemy. If you could just fulfill one simple request for us, we’ll tell you the location of your friends.”
“Request?”
“We’ve really lost face. If we keep losing to mere high school students, we won’t be able to inspire fear in the citizens, right? We must repay that. So knock down the male student next to you. He doesn’t have to d*e. Just make his legs unusable. It would be good enough. After all, one person’s leg in exchange for another’s life sounds reasonable, doesn’t it?”
Make my legs useless?
My lovely legs?
Are you asking me to go back to the days when I limped and lived in a shack? But there’s a contradiction in what he said.
“Hey, Pikolo, isn’t it true that you’ve taken three people hostage? I only have two legs. Even if both are broken, one person will still d*e.”
“Ah, come on, my friend. Men have three legs, don’t they?”
“You’ve got a point.”
He’s unexpectedly logical.
While thinking that, Pinocchio who disappeared into the darkness spoke.
“Three lives. One leg. Which is more valuable? At the elite school, don’t you have many discussions on dilemmas like this? When you can sacrifice one person to save multiple lives, what should you do?”
“…”
Yu Yeo-reum’s expression grew serious.
I could feel her contemplating various scenarios.
“Negotiating with a terrorist is unacceptable. Even if I were to break your leg, who knows what unreasonable demands they’d add next? Jin-a, what should we do?”
She’s right.
There’s no need to naively trust Pinocchio.
Feeling a sense of urgency, the voice from the darkness added,
“How about we tell you the address one part at a time for each leg broken? I’m Pinocchio, but I don’t lie. I only speak the unpleasant truths.”
I had an ability called “Empathy.”
Listening carefully, Pinocchio didn’t seem to be lying now.
Hence, I braced my left leg and forcefully slammed it down hard on the solid asphalt.
“Tell me the address.”
Crack! Snap!
I heard the sound of my shinbone breaking in half.
The pain was immense, but I clenched my teeth and refrained from screaming in agony in an embarrassing way.
“Jin-a!”
“Ah, didn’t expect you to break your own leg, did you? But promises are promises. The friends of Yu Yeo-reum are somewhere between Gaeeul-dong address numbers 1 to 50.”
How many households are between Gaeeul-dong addresses 1 to 50? Because of the pain from my left leg, it was hard to calculate, but fortunately, I had recently gained friends fond of “search missions.”
-Hanamjin! We’ll take a look! You guys! It’s somewhere between 1 and 50!
-Finding a place where humans are trapped with Demon Beasts will make things easier!
A strong voice came from my smartwatch.
At this moment, I wasn’t just someone with three legs.
Combined with everyone else’s, I had over ten legs in total.
“Pinocchio, I’ll also confess an unpleasant truth to you. If you’re caught by me, you won’t d*e an easy d*ath.”
We just need to find the location where Bbangdaengi and their gang, along with Kim Mari and others, are held within the one-hour limit.
Meanwhile, I’ll deal with this Pinocchio while Yeo-reum looks after me. Then we’ll ask Seongseong-i (Tai-seong) to reverse my and Pinocchio’s conditions.
When I leaned on the nearby wall, Yu Yeo-reum said,
“You stay here and rest. I’ll catch him.”
“No, don’t go. In fact, this entire place is a trap. That Pikolo knew you’d come, so they surely have everything prepared for you inside the orphanage. Prepared for your weaknesses—”
“My weaknesses? I don’t have any.”
At the moment Yu Yeo-reum shook her head,
Clatter, creak-. The sound of machinery activating could be heard.
Then shortly after,
Grrrr-.
Creatures with glowing red eyes emerged from inside the orphanage building.
They were creatures we often see around like raccoons, cats, and dogs, but their eyes were all bloodshot.
Upon closer inspection, there were many differences in their appearances compared to normal animals.
“Guh, haa, guh-.”
Yu Yeo-reum’s breathing suddenly became rough.
Her eyes shone like car headlights but became increasingly red like a sunset.
“De, Demon Beasts….”
Yu Yeo-reum’s state was particularly unusual upon seeing the Demon Beasts.
Even a fool would realize by now.
Yu Yeo-reum’s weakness was ‘Demon Beasts.’ That’s why she was put into real combat situations to deal with unregistered awakened ones instead of the ‘Great Labyrinth.’ There are Demon Beasts galore in the Great Labyrinth.
In other words, Yu Yeo-reum would lose her sanity when encountering Demon Beasts in ‘dark places,’ which could be called ‘Fear of meeting Demon Beasts in dark places.’ Perhaps we can name it that?
And her exact symptoms would likely be—
“Name: Yu Yeo-reum
Possession: Expand details ▸
Condition: 《Rage》 – Lost rationality due to an old trauma. Unable to distinguish between friend and foe. Also very hungry.”
Losing the ability to distinguish between ally and enemy in a frenzied state.
I remembered the first time I met Yining in the underground water channel.
Of course, the current situation was worse than that time.
“We must k*ll the Demon Beasts!”
A steel pipe-like punch swung toward me.
It seemed I looked like a Demon Beast to Yu Yeo-reum whose eyes had turned completely red.
Crreeaaakk-!
Although I quickly raised my arm to guard in time, it was a punch so strong that my bones ached.
With one leg already out of commission,
This situation had only one solution.
I held up my phone and played a video that I had saved.
“Ma…”
Could the effect of turning the smartphone’s volume to maximum help?
Yu Yeo-reum’s formerly red eyes started emitting colorful prism-like light.
-Aaang! Aiyaaaat!
Soon, the images of skin colliding and passionate heat exchange flickered in Yu Yeo-reum’s prism-like eyes.
To put it bluntly, it was an adult video.
Overcoming her trauma of Demon Beasts with her ‘repulsion’ towards adult videos, right? Sure, I didn’t exactly save it originally for this purpose!
“Yu Yeo-reum, darkness and Demon Beasts can no longer be the objects of your fear! What you’re truly afraid of isn’t Demon Beasts! It’s adult videos that you’re truly afraid of!”
“Ya…”
