The Tough Guy Hides the Villainess - Chapter 158



158 – Summer’s Sensibility # 2

158 – Summer Sentiments # 2

Even if the world crumbled, Yoo Yeoreum wouldn’t panic like others.

It would merely render life a touch more inconvenient─.

To compare, it was akin to the hassle of dealing with a broken phone disrupting one’s work.

Yoo Yeoreum’s emotions were always this placid.

Despite her name being the heated word for “Summer.”

Yoo Yeoreum’s life resonated less with sun-drenched beaches or the stage of youth where emotions burn to their limits, and more with the sentiment of sitting beneath eaves as the scenery wavered, watching the clouds drift by.

At times, it resembled the monsoon rains that persisted throughout the entire summer.

But it wasn’t always like this.

There was a time when Yoo Yeoreum, too, acted as vivaciously and passionately as her name implied.

There were times when she was as energetic as the shouts of young athletes racing toward some distant competition.

Though that was during her very early childhood.

However, enduring a significant event at a young age inevitably caused Yoo Yeoreum’s emotions to diverge slightly from others, leading her to where she was now.

Yoo Yeoreum herself thought this:

‘Perhaps I have been living in a destroyed world since long, long ago.’

The emergence of a thick, viscous ‘darkness’ in Yoo Yeoreum’s heart, a heart that possessed the concept of ‘light’, was also for that reason.

Desires she couldn’t express, due to a demeanor more composed and mature than children her age─.

Such as wanting to sleep in late, or scooping out a massive ice cream from the refrigerator to devour in place of a meal─.

Things like wanting to adorn herself prettily like ordinary girls, and go to the movies or an amusement park with a boy she liked, riding the Ferris wheel together and sharing cotton candy─.

─Yoo Yeoreum was inept at satisfying such desires, and those desires, stacked meticulously, eventually met the darkness of the Red King, giving birth to a being known as ‘Yoo Yeoreum of Darkness.’

‘She seems to be sleeping peacefully now, but…’

Perhaps because the ‘Crimson King’, consumed by the concept of the ‘Sea’, was scattered across the world, seeking resurrection, the darkness within Yoo-yeoreum had also sunk to the deepest floor of her heart, lying dormant.

But she didn’t know when it might awaken again, and if it did, what unbridled actions Yoo-yeoreum could expect.

So, Yoo-yeoreum thought to seize this opportunity and peel away some of the shadows nested within her.

The method was simple.

To gradually finish the things left *miwan* – incomplete.

Like eating a pint of ice cream instead of rice.

The sparring match with Ha-namjin was one such thing.

‘Truthfully, it’s not like I desperately *wanted* to spar…’

While not to the extent of Seo Ga-eul, Yoo-yeoreum was equally clumsy at expressing her true feelings.

It was because of her unique family situation, and because the things Yoo-yeoreum truly desired were always broken, malfunctioning, and ultimately taken from her for various reasons.

Perhaps misfortune had a hobby of lying in wait for Yoo-yeoreum to earnestly desire something, then swiftly appearing to ruin it.

Therefore, Yoo-yeoreum was accustomed to concealing her desires.

This sparring match was perhaps the same.

“Ha-namjin, good to see you showed up without running. Just so you know, I won’t hold back just because it’s a spar. Honestly, Ha-namjin, the fact that you betrayed me and kidnapped me still makes me angry sometimes, when I think about it.”

The underground parking garage of the department store.

The empty lot where the Black Nail had once been was chosen as the location for this sparring match.

It was spacious, sparsely populated, and quiet.

“Yoo-yeoreum, still those kidnapped days were fun, weren’t they? Skipping school, skipping training, getting to spend those lazy days doing whatever we wanted in the basement.”

The boy grinned, his gums showing.

A mischievous grin, it recalled a time in their youth, when pranks were pulled without a hint of restraint.

“You found it…entertaining?”

Yu Yoreum cast her mind back to those days, confined within the basement.

Logically, they should have been horrific days, but surprisingly, that wasn’t quite true.

As the boy said, she had very few instances in her life where she had enjoyed such deviations from the norm.

But.

Yu Yoreum didn’t particularly want to admit it.

Truthfully, Yu Yoreum was angry right now, and merely wanted to vent that emotion.

“I found it unamusing.”

Even if she didn’t know what she was angry *about*.

If it was Ha Namjin, then he would be a suitable target to unleash her burning heart upon.

“A beaaam─ from my eyes.”

And so, Yu Yoreum attempted to unleash the stored light from her eyes.

But Ha Namjin’s posture was…strange.

He didn’t assume a fighting stance.

If he were to be struck by Yu Yoreum’s heat ray in this state, a gaping hole would surely be torn through his body.

And so, Yu Yoreum hastily closed her eyes.

“What are you doing?”

“Yoreum-ah, must our sparring always involve physical blows?”

I sensed an atmosphere quite out of the ordinary.

Yu Yeoreum felt as if she might explode – boom! – like a ticking time bomb.

If we proceeded with this sparring match, I had a feeling either Yu Yeoreum or I would end up seriously hurt.

So, I decided to deploy the very finest wisdom of a middle school dropout.

“Does a sparring match necessarily have to involve clashing bodies and trading blows? Aren’t there things beyond just that when it comes to competition?”

“Then what?”

“How about this? If I show you, Yu Yeoreum, what ‘fun’ really is today, then I win this sparring match. But if it’s not fun, then you win.”

“…….”

Yu Yeoreum’s expression turned lukewarm.

But that was alright.

Yu Yeoreum was originally a cool customer, touched by a bit of nihilism, with emotions that ran thin.

If Seo Gaeul felt like she was lying about her emotions, turning away from them, Yu Yeoreum felt closer to not even knowing exactly what her emotions were in the first place.

If we were to compare them to restaurants, Seo Gaeul was the type to signal left and go right.

Yu Yeoreum was the type who didn’t even know what a turn signal was and just messed with the windshield wipers.

Understand perfectly, right?

I grabbed Yu Yeoreum’s hand, who was wearing that cool expression.

“If we get there any later, the girls and nymphs in the hot springs will come out and make a racket, so let’s hurry. I’ve discovered a fun place, but it would be a real hassle to bring them all along.”

“Where are you going?”

The place I was heading to was a shantytown created by the World Federation, “New Order.”

A temporary residence for people who’d lost their homes to the apocalypse.

On the way back from meeting the “Bomb Girl,” I stumbled upon a fascinating place.

Just the sort of place I figured Yoo Yeoreum would appreciate.

“A refugee settlement… it’ll be somber, depressing, then.”

Yoo Yeoreum said, a touch pessimistic.

One imagines a refuge for displaced people would naturally feel that way.

But upon actually arriving, the place was deafening, a whirlwind of noise.

“Portable phone chargers for sale! Ten bottle caps! Trade for ramen and bottled water, too!”

“What about rice?”

“No way!”

“Fan for sale. Fan.”

“Anyone selling a bicycle around here!”

“It’s like a market.”

My “sense,” keenly tuned, didn’t miss the slight, almost imperceptible, surprise in Yoo Yeoreum’s expression.

She hadn’t expected a place this raucous, this lively.

“Isn’t the resilience of these people amazing? Hey, Auntie, gimme some peanuts.”

“Five bottle caps, fork it over!”

A market in a ruined world.

The first time I saw it, I was so moved by the will of these people to survive, I almost teared up.

Humans are truly remarkable—something like that.

But Yoo Yeoreum’s attitude quickly turned lukewarm.

“It’s rowdy, not quite how I pictured it, but not all that entertaining, either.”

“That’s just here, I suppose. The market’s true face lies deeper inside, you see.”

And so, Yoo Yeoreum and I ventured into the market’s heart.

Sunlight streamed down upon a series of pens, fenced off rather crudely, emanating an odor that stung the nose something fierce.

The reek of beast.

━Meooow-.

━Squeak squeak-.

Huddled behind the fences, various creatures lay in wait.

Before each pen stood a sign, painstakingly lettered.

「Animals for Sale.」

「Payment Accepted Only in Bottle Caps.」

「Cat: 10」

「Hamster: 1」

「Hippopotamus: Price Negotiable」

…

.

It wasn’t only humanity that suffered in this ruined world.

Seeing animals, lost and adrift, being traded here and there, Yeoreum’s expression shifted considerably.

“Look there, they’re actually selling a hippopotamus.”

“Strange, isn’t it? Last time I was here, there was even an elephant, but someone must have bought it.”

“What is it with selling elephants in a world like this, and who’s even buying them?”

“Search me.”

Regardless, all sorts of creatures were raising a ruckus, a noisy clamor.

First, I pressed the peanuts I’d just bought at the market into Yoo Yeoreum’s hand.

“Try feeding them.”

“…….”

Yoo Yeoreum reached out a hand, a nervous tension about her, towards the hamster.

I found it rather unexpected that Yoo Yeoreum seemed more interested in hamsters than cats.

Come to think of it, before we’d become close, Yeoreum had mentioned that watching squirrel-centric ‘Tube videos was one of her hobbies.

Squirrels were cute, she said.

Looks like Yoo Yeoreum has a fondness for creatures resembling mice.

“Say, you two, are you Awakened, aren’t you?”

An ajusshi who’d been intently observing Yoo Yeoreum feeding the peanuts to the hamster approached us.

And then, he went hee hee hee, laughing.

“I’ve got some fellas down below that you folks might fancy… care to come down to the basement?”

Basement?

Intrigued by the story, Yoo Yeoreum and I followed the animal merchant ajusshi down to the basement.

# # #

The basement was cooler and quieter than I’d anticipated, but there were many sets of gleaming eyes.

“Hanamjin, look at that. That cat has two tails.”

As Yu Yeoreum said, there *was* a cat down in the cellar with two tails.

What sort, I couldn’t say.

“It’s a Ragdoll.”

Yu Yeoreum announced.

At this, the animal merchant, a fellow who looked suspiciously like a drug dealer, chuckled, heh-heh-heh.

“The missy’s got an eye for cats, she does. That one’s a Ragdoll alright. Belonged to a friend of mine. Drank some black water by mistake and ended up with two tails like that. A fiend, that’s what it became.”

Animals becoming fiends after accidentally drinking black water was a common enough thing.

However, unlike most fiends, this Ragdoll cat seemed…docile.

“Ragdolls are calm by nature.”

Yu Yeoreum seemed to know her way around cats.

Though, it wasn’t the cat that held Yu Yeoreum’s gaze, but some strange beast huddled in a corner.

Judging by its appearance, it was probably a squirrel.

Stripes along its body, tail bushy and full.

Except its size was akin to that Ragdoll cat we’d just seen.

━Woof woof…!

It even barked.

Are squirrels supposed to bark?

As I pondered this strangeness, the shopkeeper spoke.

“That’s a dog-squirrel. Called dog-squirrel ’cause it barks like a dog. It’s a fiend too. Looks all cute and cuddly, but don’t you be fooled. Savage one, that is. This knee scar here, it’s from that very beast takin’ a bite out of me.”

“Squirrel─.”

Whether Yu Yeoreum had even heard the warning in the old man’s words, she showed a keen interest.

A squirrel that barks like a dog.

Strange, it certainly was.

Yu Yeoreum even reached out her hand.

━Krrreung! Krrreung! Krrreung! Krrreung!

The dog-squirrel, as they called it, was seized by Yu Yeoreum’s hand, flailing about as if in a fit. It even bit at her fingers.

But Yu Yeoreum just went, “Poof-,” and laughed.

“Look, it must like me.”

Where’d she get that idea?

Even I was a bit taken aback by this.

Yu Yeoreum cradled the dog-squirrel in her arms.

She spoke.

“But hey, its eyes are closed. Are they injured?”

“It hasn’t been able to open its eyes since I found it. Otherwise, how could a plain old man like me have caught such a ferocious beast? If you like it, just take it. I won’t take any money.”

Giving it away for free?

Just as I was thinking how unexpected that was, the old man added,

“The world’s a place where even animals suffer because of human greed, you know. Humans can just up and leave for the moon, but what’s going to happen to the animals left behind on Earth…?”

He seemed to truly love animals, this old man.

In the end, Yu Yeoreum came to possess the dog-squirrel that barked and howled.

“Look, there’s a tag stuck to its ankle. I can’t make out the letters, but it looks like this squirrel was in a laboratory or a hospital or something.”

It felt like only yesterday Yu Yeoreum trembled before monsters, yet what a curious thing it was.

Perhaps seeing her own reflection in that squirrel, wounded by human experiments.

Droop.

The dog-squirrel, nestled in Yu Yeoreum’s arms, hung limp.

Had it deemed resistance futile against Yu Yeoreum’s powerful grip?

Or, lost in a world now veiled in darkness, had it finally found solace in the arms of such a formidable person, a balm for its trembling anxieties?

Sniff, sniff.

From noble mtl dot com

Its moist nose twitched incessantly, testing the air, a rather endearing sight, even to my eyes.

“So, Yu Yeoreum, did you have a fun day today? Can I consider this sparring match a win for me?”

“……”

Yu Yeoreum’s expression flattened.

Was she pondering?

“Consider it your win. It was fun.”

More honest than I expected.

That’s the difference between her and Seo Gaeul.

Yu Yeoreum knows how to concede.

“But where did my wallet go? The one with at least fifty bottle caps inside.”

Yu Yeoreum patting herself down.

Pickpocketed, perhaps?

“I have to find it. It has pictures of Mom and my brother inside.”

To find a stolen wallet in a market teeming with nearly a thousand souls?

Even for Awakened Ones like us, it felt an impossible task, didn’t it?

But then, I saw the dog-squirrel, its nose twitching furiously.

If it barked like a dog, wouldn’t its sense of smell be just as keen?

“Let’s have it sniff out something with Yoo Yeoreum’s scent and find it.”

“Good idea. Woof, woof-woof-.”

Yoo Yeoreum let out a string of dog barks.

I recalled hearing that the “Black Fairies” of old, worshipping the monster Iing-Iing, were gifted at communicating with monsters.

Yoo Yeoreum was said to be half Black Fairy, so even if some kind of communication was exchanged between her and that dog-squirrel, it wouldn’t be…too strange, would it?

—Woof…!

*Fshhht-*!

At last, the dog-squirrel took off, dashing somewhere.

It couldn’t even see, yet it navigated nimbly this way and that.

The creature entered the City Hall building like that, and stopped before a certain man.

It was U.S. President Adams Snail.

I was surprised he was still in Korea.

Yoo Yeoreum and President Adams, locking eyes, froze as if turned to stone.

“…….”

“…….”

Were they broken, perhaps?

Only the blind chipmunk crisscrossed between Yoo Yeoreum and Adams, sniffing—sniffing incessantly.

As if the same scent lingered between the two of them.

“You stole my wallet?”

Yoo Yeoreum asked.

Adams shook his head.

“I wouldn’t even know what that is.”