The Tough Guy Hides the Villainess - Chapter 157



157 – Summer Sentiments # 1

157 – Summer Sentiments # 1

Thanks to the bustling efforts of the people, an election date was set.

A promotion was even launched, promising ten bottle caps to everyone who cast their vote.

“If one bottle cap is worth a thousand *won* right now, then ten is…”

“…About five packs of *ramyeon*.”

“That’s barely a mouthful for anyone.”

“Still, isn’t it better than nothing?”

In a world where groceries were precious, five packs of *ramyeon* were a worthwhile gift.

Of course, unlike last time, the world hadn’t completely ended, so we couldn’t exactly call it incredibly valuable.

But, wouldn’t it be enough to encourage people to vote?

Now, all that remained was to watch Nam Bada’s next move.

Nam Bada hadn’t shown even the slightest reaction to my presidential run.

Was it that he’d simply decided to ignore it as a strategy?

“Ha Namjin, looks aren’t everything when it comes to a person, but first impressions? Honestly, you can practically say they *are* everything, okay? Don’t go around looking so disheveled, fix your hair a bit. Come here.”

Seo Gaeul, seeing I’d been too busy preparing for the election to pay attention to many things lately, approached and smoothed back my hair with delicate fingers, like she was giving it a careful brushing.

Having my hair attended to with such caring hands, well, it felt rather nice.

And that was the problem.

“Seo Gaeul, you’re acting strange these days, aren’t you?”

“What’s strange about me?”

“You barely get irritated, and you don’t get angry at all.”

Could she perhaps be an imposter, pretending to be Seo Gaeul?

While I was entertaining this suspicion, Seo Gaeul scoffed – a dry little “hmph.”

“The tap water tastes good, that’s why. What of it?”

What tap water?

A peculiar girl, she was.

But then, girls my age often undergo colossal transformations even if you only haven’t seen them for a few days.

It wouldn’t be all that odd if Seo Gaeul had drunk the tap water wrong, and it had somehow sparked a change of heart, granting her some inner peace.

Though, I admit, it was a little disappointing that Seo Gaeul was giving me less grief.

See, I have this habit, this little shiver down my tailbone, every time a pretty girl glares at me with a deeply furrowed brow.

Wouldn’t any man?

“Get the sleepies out of your eyes, first.”

*Skeuk-*

Seo Gaeul, tidying even my face with her fingers.

For some reason, my mother comes to mind.

Is it because Seo Gaeul possesses the same notion of “miracle” that my mother carried?

“If I receive a kindness, I should provide a reward.”

I pulled Seo Gaeul to me, embracing her waist, and delivered a *chu-ahhhp-* kiss to her cheek.

Then, Seo Gaeul would thrash like a loach sprinkled with salt, letting out a pteranodon-esque scream as if being fried in oil–.

*Chu-ahhhaahhp-.*

“……”

But Seo Gaeul didn’t let out a shattering scream at my kiss attack.

Instead, she regarded me with a relaxed expression, even watching me like a mother looking at a child performing a cute trick.

If a benevolent Holy Mother or Bodhisattva were watching me, would they exude this exact aura?

“Yes, Hanamjin, that’s just like you.”

“Heok!”

Shock.

It was, in truth, a shocking affair.

“You’re not Seo Gaeul! Who are you! Reveal your true identity!”

The feeling of my hair standing on end.

Exorcism’s exorcist priests must feel exactly this.

When I asked for her true identity, Seo Ga-eul narrowed her eyes, and let out a soft, “Hmph.”

“What’s he on about.”

Judging by that reaction, it seemed like Seo Ga-eul indeed.

It’s a pity the feistiness had diminished.

Could improperly drinking tap water truly change a person this much?

In a world where every corner was tainted by the ‘Black Rain,’ drinking tap water carelessly was this perilous.

*Whoosh* -.

Then, a gust of wind blew, and Seo Ga-eul’s long, black hair swayed.

Her profile, somehow looking a little more mature, and Seo Ga-eul reached out her hand to me.

“I’ve become an adult. I’m different from the me of before. Ha Nam-jin, so, let’s make a fresh start, shall we?”

Is that so. She had become an adult, had she.

The Seo Ga-eul of now was composed and dependable, as if she were the Seo Ga-eul of the future.

I even felt a tolerance that would forgive anything I did.

*Flutter* -.

So, with the tip of my fingers, I grasped Seo Ga-eul’s skirt and slightly lifted it.

Then, Seo Ga-eul flew into a rage.

“What are you doing, you perverted b*stard!”

*Thwack-*!

Seo Ga-eul struck my back with the flat of her hand.

It was only then that I felt a sense of contentment.

“Indeed, even her underthings possess a certain… maturity.”

“…You truly want to die! I was going to be nice, but you just had to provoke me!”

At any rate, thanks to Seo Gaeul, I had a bit of fun, however fleeting.

The torrent of thoughts that had filled my head these past days felt like a window thrown open, a refreshing breeze clearing everything away.

Just then, in the distance, Bbaengdaeng-i was waving.

“Gaeul-ah! The Nymphs unearthed a hot spring while digging for bottle caps! Come quickly, let’s get in! It’s incredibly toasty!”

“It was this Bao Noi who found it, imnida…! We Nymphs are mostly water sprites…! This Bao Noi might evolve from a stream Nymph into a hot spring Nymph with his talent for finding onsen, imnida…!”

“This Ino Noi doesn’t know what’s what, but feels like soaking in a tub, ingeoda…! Immersing oneself in warm water strengthens the immune system, ingeoda…!”

“I, Bbaek Yeoul, who was once called the Cheonggyecheon Platypus, will display my swimming prowess, ingeot…!”

Quite the commotion, it seems.

It looked like Bbaek Yeoul and Seo Gaeul were planning to go into the hot spring together. Those two have been spending a lot of time together lately; perhaps they’re patching things up?

The power of the tap water I mistakenly drank is truly something.

“Ha Namjin, you! I’ll kill you if you peep!”

“A man doesn’t do such things as peeping.”

Unless it’s out in the open, that is.

It was then I realized that I was, to some extent, enjoying myself.

The world is ending, and yet I’m enjoying myself.

It seemed that I, too, had been affected by the strange tap water.

“So, how long are you going to hide there?”

I asked, directing my voice towards the corner of the protruding brick wall.

Then, just as the tip of a sneaker became visible, someone with hair dyed a garish yellow appeared.

Our “No Leftovers Day” permanent absentee—

“Namjin-ah, long time no see.”

It was Geum Taeseong.

“What brings you here?”

Geum Taeseong was working for Nambada.

For a guy like him to seek me out, it must be something work-related he wanted to say.

“Bada hyung wanted me to give this to you. He wants to settle things with a debate the day before the election. I reckon the location and time are written in here.”

Geum Taeseong handed me a USB drive.

After tucking it safely inside my jacket, I scrutinized Taeseong from every angle.

True to form for a delinquent, he was quite handsome.

But lately, his face seemed gaunt, and he looked worn and frayed around the edges.

“Looks like things are tough on your side, too?”

“These are tough times, aren’t they? You guys seem to be doing alright, though. Heard you mentioning the girls were going to a hot spring. I can’t even remember the last time I washed in warm water.”

Geum Taeseong chuckled, and he did indeed look rather grimy.

I told him,

“Kim Mori is your old girlfriend, right? She’s here, why don’t you go see her. Mibbang healed Kim Mori’s illness completely, and now she walks just fine. Runs well, too.”

“I’ve seen her from afar.”

Kim Mori was the reason Geum Taeseong started working under Nambada.

Rumor had it that Taeseong had taken on all sorts of jobs for Nambada to pay for Kim Mori’s hospital bills after she was badly injured in a motorcycle accident with him.

Now that Mori Kim was, for all appearances, healed clean through, Tae-sung Geum shouldn’t have any reason to keep working with Nambada.

So, I’d casually asked Tae-sung if he might like to join up with us.

Except, Tae-sung’s expression held a firmness, a resolution of some kind.

“Doesn’t seem there’s anything for me to do here.”

“And there is there, you’re saying?”

“That’s what I want to find out.”

With those words, Tae-sung turned on his heel and vanished into the distance.

Just then, Duk-soon popped out.

Guessing she hadn’t gone into the hot springs like the other girls.

“Tae-sung went that way.”

I pointed with a finger to where Tae-sung had disappeared.

Duk-soon, after what seemed like an age of deliberation, then *thump-thump-thumped* off in the direction he’d gone.

Seeing them, I felt a prickling at the bridge of my nose, a warmth gathering behind my eyes.

“Does love bloom even amidst crumbling earthen walls? Youth, indeed.”

“You say that like you’re some ancient geezer.”

I turned to see Yu Yeo-reum, looking supremely comfortable in sweats, toweling her wet hair.

Already a healthy beauty to begin with, and now scrubbed clean from a bath, she carried a formidable presence.

“What’s that USB you just got?”

# # #

「Location: In front of D City Hall」

“Time: Eve of the Election, 7 PM”

“Unrestricted Debate”

The letters inscribed within the text file nestled in the USB ended there.

Purpose, place, time – its stark clarity pleased me.

“Don’t you think Nam Bada might be setting a trap to drag you down?”

At Yoo Yeoreum’s question, I gazed out at the sky visible beyond the tent flap.

The summer sun seemed utterly blue, searingly hot.

“It cuts both ways, doesn’t it? It’s enough that Nam Bada’s swallowed my bait. And if things go well, I might even persuade him to support the Lunar Migration Project.”

“Going to the moon, you mean. To be honest, I’m not sure if even that is the right thing to do.”

“The pollution is getting worse and worse. Within two years, the Earth will become uninhabitable due to the radiation spewing from the Great Labyrinth.”

It was only a problem for Korea right now, though.

Eventually, the pollution would escalate into a global catastrophe.

“Black Rain” was a phenomenon unfolding in every corner of the world, after all.

The lunar migration was the same.

Eventually, all of humanity would have to flee to the moon for sanctuary.

Korea was merely the first to depart.

In a way, it was a privilege, a head start.

“But can the moon even accommodate eight billion people?”

Yoo Yeoreum seemed full of questions.

I decided to give her a simple answer.

“Possible, it is. The ‘Council of Sages’ built a facility on the far side of the moon the size of the Korean peninsula, since long ago, didn’t they say? Everyone packed tight like sardines in stasis capsules, though.”

“So, while we’re migrated to the moon, Earth will just purify itself of pollution naturally?”

“That, I couldn’t know.”

Whether it’d be 100 years, or 1000, until Earth becomes a land fit for people again.

When that time comes, even the sea levels will have changed, and the maps with them, perhaps.

“How long until the people who went to the moon and returned build civilization again? We could all go back to the Stone Age, you know. Men hunting, women gathering.”

Yu Yeoreum’s question was perfectly natural.

Even if people safely evacuate to the moon, and Earth is purified after a long time…

How long it would take for the returned people to rebuild civilization is another story entirely.

Though we wouldn’t start again from the Stone Age like Yu Yeoreum imagines.

Building up infrastructure like modern civilization would take quite some time.

“Still, in 10 years, we could probably manage a rough imitation of modern civilization, couldn’t we?”

“Jin is so clever.”

“Of course. I’m the cleverest of middle school grads, after all.”

In the end, the world perished again, so I couldn’t graduate high school.

It seems I’m destined to remain a middle school graduate forever.

So, as I was clicking my tongue at the disappointment, Yu Yeoreum opened her slender eyes.

“So, why are you touching my arm?”

“No, I just thought it was softer than I expected.”

Soft, soft…

Yu Yeoreum’s arm, one would expect it to be as hard as steel, but unexpectedly, it was soft like an Inyingi.

“It looks so firm, how can it be so squishy? I can’t believe this arm can lift a ton with ease. What’s the secret?”

It was truly a state where her muscles were completely relaxed.

Astonishing.

Wasn’t that strange hermit the one who said it?

‘Flexibility is the key to technique.’

From noble mtl dot com

The flexibility I was searching for was within Yu Yeoreum.

In other words, if I could make this softness entirely my own, the muscles in my legs would have the potential to become several times stronger.

With an important showdown against Nam Bada on the horizon, I desperately needed that flexibility.

“Yu Yeoreum, I want to touch you a bit, is that okay?”

“To touch the body of a high school senior? Of course it’s not okay.”

Is this the light Yu Yeoreum, then?

If it were the dark Yu Yeoreum, she would have readily agreed.

So, as I clicked my tongue in disappointment, Yu Yeoreum added,

“If you can beat me in a fight.”

Oh?

Good.

It seems the time has come to show the power of the “Nam Jin Sincere Punch” I developed smashing rocks on the mountain last time.

Even Yu Yeoreum, who doesn’t have strong emotional changes, will be surprised when she sees the effect, surely.