The Tough Guy Hides the Villainess - Chapter 153



153 – Tap Water # 1

153 – Tap Water # 1

Drip, drip, swaaash-.

Whenever the blackened, tainted rain fell, people would gather in small groups beneath the eaves, sharing conversation.

In an age where survival was no longer just entertainment, what stories did they spin?

“So, who’s it that Hanamjin is seeing, then?”

“Seo Gaeul, of course. Didn’t you see Seo Gaeul and Hanamjin kissing yesterday?”

“Hanamjin going on about how much he liked Seo Gaeul has been famous news since way back when, hasn’t it?”

The correct answer.

Stories of love and romance.

Having cleansed the black pond and reclaimed the department store, their supplies overflowing, the residents of Jangnam-dong in D City had regained a certain measure of ease.

Just yesterday, they had been wearing long faces, lacking even basic necessities like toilet paper. Now, they had become relaxed enough to feel interest in the romantic affairs of others.

In a way, it was only natural.

Even when I was scraping by as a scavenger in the dumps, rumors would often circulate in the last remaining city about how ‘Supernova’ So-and-so had caught the eye of ‘Supernova’ Someone-else—or the like.

Humans, all of them, love a good romance.

Even in a difficult world like this, that doesn’t change.

No, in some ways, precisely because of the situation we’re in, we need topics to take our minds off things, perhaps.

“So, friend, what do you plan to do?”

Changshik, having finished making today’s batch of chocolate, came over to my side during his break and asked, subtly.

“Name: Choi Chang-shik”

“State: 《Curiosity》 – Simply dying of it!”

It seemed Wang Ja-hyun was no different, riddled with the same.

“Right, shouldn’t you come to a decision soon? If you’re the ‘man’ you so emphasize, that is.”

True enough.

I had been dragging things out a bit.

I decided to deliver a manly conclusion to everyone’s burning curiosity.

“Tonight’s dinner menu is pizza.”

Earlier, I’d received a report that the department store food warehouse had been successfully reclaimed, and a hefty stash of frozen pizzas discovered.

If we zap ’em in something like a microwave, the cheese will stretch, all warm and delicious.

One bite and paradise wouldn’t be far off.

Only, Wang Ja-hyun punched my shoulder, *thwack*, and threw a fit.

“Not the dinner menu! Seo Gaeul, I mean. Are you really going to date Seo Gaeul?”

“I’m curious about that as well, I am.”

I see.

It appeared these fellows, sheltering from the rain under this roof, yearned to leisurely enjoy tales of love and romance as well.

It must be because of what happened just yesterday.

The incident of the future Seo Gaeul giving me a kiss, publicly.

Old memories resurfaced.

Back then, too, on a rainy day like this, under a leaky shack roof, catching the dripping drops in buckets, how wonderful it would have been to imagine a beautiful and fiery girlfriend.

“Now that it’s come up, reckon I ought to go see Seo Gaeul.”

Splish, splash-.

From noble mtl dot com

I tramped through a puddle of black, stagnant water, heading towards where Seo Gaeul was.

She was touching up her eye makeup, looking in the mirror, and jumped with a start.

“Aish, freaking scared me half to death!”

Hearing that thick curse, it seemed this wasn’t the Seo Gaeul of the future.

She glared at me, incensed.

“What are you doing here!”

“Came to see Seo Gaeul, that’s what.”

“What?”

Her face flushed crimson.

Must be happy to see me.

“Not that, you dolt! This is the ladies’ room! Get out!”

“Kyaaah!”

“Pervert!”

The women shrieked.

Soon, Seo Gaeul let out a deep, *phu-woo* sigh, then grabbed my shoulder and dragged me out of the restroom.

A deserted back alley.

Seo Gaeul spoke to me.

“If you’re here because of yesterday, don’t get any ideas. It wasn’t me who kissed you yesterday. That wasn’t me, it was someone else. Got it?”

“So, the dating thing is off, then?”

“Of course. My body was hacked, remember?”

*Hacked.*

An amusing expression, that.

A sense of humor is crucial, navigating this life.

“Puh-hah-hah!”

And so, I erupted in laughter.

My boisterous guffaws prompted curious glances from the alleyway; Seo Gaeul, face flushed with what seemed like embarrassment, began slapping my forearm with the flat of her hand. *thwack, thwack-*

“What’s wrong with you? Are you crazy? Stop laughing!”

*Whoosh-*!

And with that, she turned on her heel and fled.

# # #

Seo Gaeul returned to the tent that served as a dormitory for awakened women.

*Flap-* As she drew back the curtain that served as the tent’s entrance, Jin Eunbyeol greeted her with a smile.

“I heard you were just with Ha Namjin? Are you two really going to start dating? That’s wonderful.”

*Huhu-hu-* Jin Eunbyeol chuckled.

Her crescent moon eyes, for some reason, felt as though they were teasing her.

“Gaeul, you’ve always been so finicky when it comes to men. You’ve rejected all sorts of confessions up until now, and yet you openly kissed Ha Namjin and everything.”

It was definitely teasing.

Finally riled, Seo Gaeul turned her sharpest thorns towards Jin Eunbyeol.

“Jin Eun-byeol, perhaps you should mind your own paramour and your own affairs of the heart.”

“Paramour? If you speak of Chang-shik, we are not betrothed. Simply friends, we are.”

“Is that so? Just now, on my way, I saw girls clinging to his side, giggling and begging him to make them just a bit more chocolate. If you are not betrothed, then I suppose it matters not what he does.”

“I… I must visit the lavatory.”

Jin Eun-byeol bolted from the tent.

‘Ah, such an unforthcoming girl.’

A slight lament from Seo Ga-eul.

But that lament soon returned to haunt her.

Truth be told, Seo Ga-eul was quite mindful of Ha Nam-jin.

Unlike other men, who felt all too commonplace, Ha Nam-jin, like a rubber ball bouncing unpredictably, always left her with a lingering question mark.

And it could not be said that she held no interest in him, as a woman.

Yet, what Seo Ga-eul truly gave mind to was Ha Nam-jin himself.

Though Ha Nam-jin had often declared, like some advertisement, his affections for Seo Ga-eul, his actions were far from ardent.

‘Rather, he is far more engrossed in the matters unfolding these days than with me.’

Is this perhaps the feeling of the ladies whose priorities are being outpaced by his work?

For some reason, Seo Ga-eul felt her pride wounded.

At that moment, Yoo Yeo-reum burst into the tent.

Seeing Seo Ga-eul, Yoo Yeo-reum let out a soft *heung* – a snort through narrowed eyes.

“I daresay Ha Nam-jin has given you the cold shoulder.”

“What nonsense is this?”

“Ha Namjin isn’t the kind of man you win over with just a kiss. I know because I tried. I kissed Ha Namjin, asked him to date me, but ended up getting rejected. Didn’t think you’d fare any differently.”

“What? When did that even happen?”

“Not even a month ago.”

I didn’t know.

That something like that had transpired between Yoo Yeoreum and Ha Namjin.

And that Yoo Yeoreum, of all people, had kissed Ha Namjin. That was astonishing too.

Because in some ways, Yoo Yeoreum seemed even less interested in romance and men than Seo Gaeul herself.

“Still waters run deep. Never thought you’d be the one making a move on Ha Namjin.”

“It’s instinct for a woman to be drawn to a dependable, strong man. Seo Gaeul, tell me, among the men you know, is there anyone with a stronger will than Ha Namjin?”

“Well— If I searched, I bet I could find one.”

“Ha Namjin has the kind of steadiness that makes you think he’d never abandon his wife and children, that he’d always provide for them. I was abandoned as a child, so I value that kind of responsibility highly. Ha Namjin has that responsibility.”

*Slither-* *Chiming-*

Yoo Yeoreum pulled a water bottle from between her breasts.

Seo Gaeul was taken aback by Yoo Yeoreum’s habit of using her chest as a pocket.

“What is that? How did a water bottle that size even come out of there?”

“You know Mara Hyeon? The Awakened One who possesses the concept of ‘Seduction.’ This is a potion that person made. They say that drinking this potion allows you to hold a person of the opposite s*x captive. The effect lasts for about 24 hours.”

“Huh? What are you saying?”

“By using the power of this potion, I’ll make Ha Namjin lay a hand on me. Then, even if he is rather passive, he’ll eventually have no choice but to take responsibility for me.”

A truly wicked scheme.

“You are completely out of your mind!?”

Seo Gaeul practically leaped.

“Yoo Yeoreum, were you always this kind of character? So *you’re* that dark Yoo Yeoreum, or whatever that shrew is called! You crazy b*tch! Give it here!”

*Whoosh-*!

Seo Gaeul stretched her arm, lunging to snatch the potion vial from Yoo Yeoreum’s hand.

But Yoo Yeoreum evaded her with incredibly limber and swift, feline movements.

“Slow.”

“…Huh?”

“You’ve never even beaten me during training. There’s no way you could take this potion from me.”

It was the truth.

Seo Gaeul had never once defeated Yoo Yeoreum.

However, if things continued like this, Yoo Yeoreum would seduce Ha Namjin with the drug.

Seo Gaeul simply couldn’t condone such a thing, ethically.

*‘That girl is faster than me! Is it because she’s a little wench who does nothing but exercise and train every single day? Just how am I supposed to wrest that vial from her grasp?’*

Seo Gaeul focused her consciousness on the wriggling concept of the Grade 4 “Miracle” within her.

Even though she had her consciousness stolen by her future self, faint vestiges of the sensation of doing the impossible with the power of “Miracle” remained on her body.

Muscle memory, so to speak.

“Nghaaap!”

Seo Gaeul released a shout of concentration.

When she regained her senses, Seo Gaeul found the vial held firmly in her hand.

“Just how…?”

Yoo Yeoreum was taken aback.

Even Seo Gaeul herself was impressed by the miracle of achieving desired results without so much as lifting a finger. However, what mattered now was escaping this spot, first and foremost.

“This is confiscated! I’m keeping it!”

*Flap flap flap-*

It was then that Seo Gaeul broke free.

Yoo Yeoreum, pretending to chase after her, exited the tent, then abruptly stopped in her tracks.

Soon, Baek Yeoul approached her, speaking.

“Why did you give that to Seo Gaeul?”

“Hanamjin said he likes Seo Gaeul, right? But in their current state, nothing is progressing. As long as Hanamjin stubbornly holds onto that feeling, there’s no room for us to interfere. So, either Hanamjin or Seo Gaeul, they need to be a little more honest with each other.”

Baek Yeoul understood Yoo Yeoreum’s intentions to a certain extent.

Hanamjin had always said he liked Seo Gaeul, but their relationship remained vague and ambiguous, leaving no space for her to wedge herself in.

In other words, a stagnant stalemate!

One way or another, there needed to be a change in their relationship.

“…But, in the first place, that’s not something like a «Love Potion». That’s just–”

“Shhh, someone might overhear us.”

Around the time Yoo Yeoreum and Baek Yeoul were talking.

Seo Gaeul was sprinting with all her might, clutching the water bottle filled with shimmering liquid.

‘At this point, Yoo Yeoreum probably can’t chase me anymore.’

*Slosh slosh-*

The bottled water in her hand felt surprisingly weighty.

Seo Gaeul twisted off the cap and sniffed. It did, indeed, seem to emanate a subtle aroma befitting its name, “Elixir of Allure.”

Yu Yeoreum had intended to use this to seduce Ha Namjin, of all people.

‘Ha Namjin, it is I who has saved you.’

*Tzzing*–. The rain had ceased, and a blazing sun had climbed into the sky.

As if the downpour had been a figment of the imagination, oppressively humid summer weather caused sweat to trickle—*drip-drip*—down Seo Gaeul’s forehead.

A sudden, acute thirst overwhelmed her.

“…Well, it *is* water, after all. Perhaps just a single sip?”

*Clink, clink*–.

It was just as she had removed the bottle’s cap that she heard a voice.

“What’s this, Seo Gaeul? What are you doing out here all alone? An official communique arrived from ‘New Order.’ They’re initiating the Lunar Relocation Plan, but the ‘Genesis Sanctum’ b*stards are interfering, so they need more hands.”

Ha Namjin had appeared out of nowhere.

“Oh, you’ve got water? I was parched; perfect timing.”

He snatched the bottle from Seo Gaeul’s grip and *glugged* it down.

Seo Gaeul stared, dumbfounded.

“Why on earth did you guzzle *that* down…!!!”

Twenty-four hours.

Ha Namjin would now be in a state of indiscriminately captivating anyone and everyone.

At least, that’s what Seo Gaeul believed.