The Tough Guy Hides the Villainess - Chapter 156



156 – The Girls of the Reed Fields

156 – The Girls of the Reed Fields

“He’s going to hold an election when the water doesn’t even run properly?”

Seo Gaeul frowned, eyeing the presidential campaign promise leaflets falling from the sky.

I reached out and smoothed the furrow between her brows.

“Unfurrow that brow of yours.”

“Aish, where do you think you’re touching me with those unwashed hands?”

Gaeul’s reaction is… flatter than I expected?

I thought she’d be much more prickly.

I suppose my ‘election candidate registration’ must have been quite the shock.

Nam Bada will certainly think so, too.

Nam Bada wields the authority of the president simply because it was given to him by Nam Taegeon.

That’s just how the Seventh Republic’s constitution is.

But if I hold an election and receive votes from many people?

The legitimacy of Nam Bada’s authority will inevitably be shaken.

“But you…you weren’t interested in things like being president, were you? When Nam Taegeon said he’d pass the presidential seat on to you, you resisted so strongly.”

Sergaeul, with her slender eyes, questioned me.

I fell into thought, looking at the collapsed concrete debris and the cracked asphalt road.

Trying to judge my own heart with precision.

“Inheriting something and winning it yourself… those are different things, aren’t they?”

I am a man.

In Chinese characters, *namja* (男子).

A man meant a being who toils in the field (田), sustains himself with his own strength (力), and stands on his own.

Could I truly pride myself as a man if I inherited grand and extravagant wealth, living a life of loud ostentation?

No, it was only by raising one’s own city and throne from a heap of mere earth that one could truly prove oneself a man.

I wanted to etch my name upon this broken earth.

“Sergaeul, you’ll help me with the campaign, won’t you?”

“I’ll see what you do.”

“What am I supposed to do?”

“Act pretty?”

“That’s something I’m damn good at, you know.”

“Whatever.”

We returned to our base in front of the department store, exchanging idle banter as we went, only to find everyone in an uproar.

It seemed they had all seen the campaign flyers I’d distributed with the help of the World Federation Corporation.

“Hanam Jjin! What is this! Elections, you say!”

It was Bbangdaengi, always making such a fuss.

Soon enough, Mibbang too, piped up.

“I’m just curious if you really intend to give out ten thousand bottle caps to families who have children…! And I’m wondering… where will you even *get* that many bottle caps…!”

Bottle caps, eh?

The Nymphs will take care of that, I reckon.

Seeing as how they’ve been picking up bottle caps all over the place these days.

“Hieeek…! Please don’t take the bottle caps Bao-noi has…!”

“Hieeek…! Ino-noi was going to order a pizza with those bottle caps, y’know…!”

I see.

To reassure the anxious Nymphs and the people, I let them in on my true intentions.

“Truth is, there’s not much chance this election will actually be carried out properly. We lack the facilities and the infrastructure. But Nambada is more likely to express his discontent with the *act* of holding the election than with the outcome itself.”

This election was bait, meant to lure Nambada out.

My purpose is to bring him, who’s hidden himself away somewhere, onto the same stage and drag him down.

In other words, this election is ultimately no different than setting out bait in front of a snake pit.

# # #

“Hanamjjin posters… this should do it, right?”

Baek Yeoul printed out large photographs and plastered the posters on every wall.

Candidate Number Zero, Hanamjjin.

I rather liked the sizable photograph of the boy, so handsomely masculine.

“Candidate Number Zero… how amusing. Puh-heh-heh.”

Baek Yeoul had little to laugh about these past few days, with nothing but unfortunate events piling up.

The frequent outages – electricity, water, gas – brought only inconvenience, yet preparing for such a bizarre event felt like ushering in a festival.

“Hey, the forehead-revealing one looks better than this photo.”

Seo Gaeul, of all people, was finding fault with Baek Yeoul’s poster.

Baek Yeoul bristled.

“Seo Gaeul, what do you even know! Hanam-jjin looks best with his bangs like this, you hear?”

“No, I’m saying, his forehead is nice and straight, so exposing it is better.”

*Whoosh-*!

Seo Gaeul, unyielding in her stubbornness, swapped the posters.

Baek Yeoul, though angered by this, reigned in her fury.

If the concept of death were to run wild due to a misstep, a grand catastrophe would surely unfold.

However, she couldn’t bear to simply suffer in silence. Baek Yeoul lent an ear to the wicked heart that resided within her.

And so, a good way to torment Seo Gaeul occurred to her.

“So, Seo Gaeul, I heard from Yeoreumi that you took the ‘Love Potion,’ right? What did you do with it?”

“Ah, that. Hanam-jin drank it.”

“Huh? Why?”

“I don’t know! I was so annoyed about it. They said the effect lasted 24 hours, but I don’t think so. You can tell at a glance, can’t you? Hanam-jin’s charm has increased by a lot.”

Baek Yeoul found it difficult to surmise what had transpired between Seo Gaeul and Hanam-jin.

But one thing was certain – what Hanam-jin had actually consumed was nothing more than ordinary tap water.

And Seo Gaeul still seemed to believe it was the genuine ‘Love Potion.’

“The potion actually worked?”

“Right! There’s simply no other reason why I’d find Hanamjin even remotely handsome. But… perhaps, with the election looming, it might even be for the best.”

Could the effects of the ‘love potion’ bring a bounty of votes?

Just as Seo Gaeul pondered this, Baek Yeoul let out a cold, unpleasant laugh. *Pffft-hahaha-*

“Seo Gaeul, listen to this. That… ‘love potion’. It’s actually just tap water.”

“What?”

“It’s just tap water! You’ve been fooled! You idiot! You fool!”

*Pwahahaha-*

Baek Yeoul practically exploded, bursting into a massive fit of laughter.

Tears even pricked at the corners of her eyes.

But Seo Gaeul felt as if the sky itself were collapsing around her.

“You’re saying it was really just tap water? Don’t lie!”

“I’m not lying!”

What Hanamjin drank was actually just tap water?

Then… what *were* those effects?

The racing of Seo Gaeul’s heart whenever she looked at Hanamjin?

All that suffering?

All those kisses she planted on Hanamjin’s cheek had nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with the ‘love potion’ then.

Seo Gaeul couldn’t believe it.

She felt a surge of rage.

“…That’s impossible!”

The fluttering in Seo Gaeul’s chest, the fondness she felt for Ha Namjin – it *had* to be the potion’s effect.

But Baek Yeoul didn’t seem to be lying.

“…Really, just tap water?”

*Whoosh.*

Seo Gaeul only then began to feel shame for her actions towards Ha Namjin.

Things she’d blamed on the potion were, in truth, born from Seo Gaeul’s own deluded assumptions.

Which meant, that the liking Seo Gaeul felt for Ha Namjin, though arising from a misunderstanding, was entirely due to Seo Gaeul’s own heart.

In other words, Seo Gaeul *was* harboring feelings for Ha Namjin.

The truth was a torment to Seo Gaeul.

“Bwaaah!”

And so, Seo Gaeul screamed.

A shriek that resonated from the deepest, most abysmal depths of her soul.

Seeing her, Baek Yeoul found Seo Gaeul both comical and, in a strange way, pitiable.

“Seo Gaeul, you’ve grown into quite the twisted child.”

Baek Yeoul and Seo Gaeul had been incredibly close in their youth.

So close, in fact, that people said they were more like sisters than actual sisters. They were always together, shared everything, and knew each other’s minds without needing words.

*Back then, Gaeul laughed easily, cried easily, and got angry easily too.*

Seo Gaeul’s personality was, if anything, more like Mi-bbang’s now.

What changed Seo Gaeul, without a doubt, was when Seo Gaeul’s mother fell ill, suffered, and ultimately passed away.

From then on, Seo Gaeul became a girl who rarely revealed her inner self.

She neither wept, nor laughed.

Even the occasional smile was a fabricated pretense.

Baek Yeoul felt a pang of sorrow for Seo Gaeul, pity even, but Seo Gaeul pushed her further away, even antagonizing her.

Back then, Baek Yeoul resented Seo Gaeul’s twisted path, but now, she could understand her heart a little better.

Seo Gaeul, at such a tender age, had suffered such a profound wound that she couldn’t fully accept her own emotions, instead choosing to evade them.

And so, she became unable to be honest with herself─.

That’s the story.

‘Seo Gaeul definitely likes Ha-Namjji. Because, Ha-Namjji is a wonderful person. It’s only natural to like someone like that.’

And yet, the reason Seo Gaeul can’t easily accept her own feelings is because she’s ignored them ever since Auntie passed away─.

Baek Yeoul, thinking this, suddenly drifted into a reverie of the past.

What if she hadn’t given up on comforting and supporting Seo Gaeul?

Perhaps the world would have been a better place than it is now.

“Seo Gaeul, you need to rediscover the heart of your childhood. I found something fun with Mibbang, and I’m only going to show it to you. Come here.”

Whisk-.

Baek Yeoul grabbed Seo Gaeul’s hand and pulled her somewhere.

Seo Gaeul, who had been screaming after realizing the truth about the “Potion of Allure,” was helplessly dragged away by Baek Yeoul.

They arrived at a thicket of reeds growing wild behind the department store.

Trickle trickle-.

Water flowed through a collapsed ditch, surprisingly clear for polluted soil.

“The nymphs planted baobab trees, so the land around here is somewhat purified. Looking at this, doesn’t it remind you of the park we used to play in? We caught spiders and lizards there, remember?”

Towers of reed, reaching skyward.

Baek Yeoul rustled through them, sss-ing her way around.

Seo Ga-eul grew faintly uneasy as Baek Yeoul vanished amidst the reeds.

Having grasped the notion of “death,” Baek Yeoul was now like a ticking time bomb, ready to detonate at any moment.

“Hey! Baek Yeoul! Where are you!”

“I’m here!”

*Passeueuk*-.

Baek Yeoul emerged from the reeds.

And in that instant, Seo Ga-eul startled.

For Baek Yeoul appeared much smaller than she had been.

As if she had reverted back to her very childhood.

“Are you… Mibbang?”

She wondered if this was perhaps Mibbang, Baek Yeoul’s doppelganger, or some younger sibling.

Baek Yeoul frowned.

“I’m not Mibbang, you know?”

Seo Ga-eul rubbed at her eyes.

And just like that, Baek Yeoul, who had looked so young, was once again a tall high schooler.

How curious, she thought, just as Baek Yeoul held something out to her.

“Look! I caught a spider in the reeds! A huge one!”

In Baek Yeoul’s hand was indeed, a truly enormous spider.

A spider of gold.

━Woof woof…!

“What is it, thought it was something else. It’s just Woof Woof.”

“Is that all the reaction I get? Back when we were kids, you were the one who loved catching spiders and lizards more, Seo Gaeul.”

That was so.

Looking at the aloof and sophisticated Seo Gaeul of now, no one could imagine it, but the truth was, Seo Gaeul had been a vibrant girl who loved playing in the mud and catching bugs.

From noble mtl dot com

Since when did she stop being like that?

Had she simply become an adult?

No, Seo Gaeul didn’t feel like she was an adult.

Then what on earth was she?

Neither a cold adult, nor a passionate child─.

Autumn, between winter and summer.

“Let’s play hide-and-seek. Baek Yeoul, you’re it!”

Rustle-!

Seo Gaeul vanished into the tall reeds.

And then, she began to sob, shedding the tears she had held back, until Baek Yeoul found her only when the sun was already scattering the sunset in a distant, yellow glow.

“Found Seo Gaeul!”

A dazzling twilight hour, indistinguishable between dog and wolf.

To Baek Yeoul, Seo Gaeul, huddled in the reeds, seemed unusually small.

As if she had returned to her childhood.

“Huh?”

*Shuk shuk shuk-*

Baek Yeoul rubbed her eyes, just in case.

And then, there was Seo Gaeul, already grown so much, glaring down at Baek Yeoul.

“Why are you so slow finding it? I almost dozed off.”

“Then how about *I* hide, and *you* try to find *me*!”

*Passeuseuk-*!

Now, the two girls raced through the reed field, one slightly ahead, then the other.

Perhaps it was because of the unusually tall reeds and the languid sunset, but the girls seemed so small, like proper little children.