This Villain is Soft - Chapter 15
Only Noblemtl
Episode 15
“Oh, that’s a surprise!”
I turned around with my shoulders hunched and saw Juyeol standing there awkwardly.
“Are you really not going to accept any production requests?”
“Yeah. It’s scary dealing with villains.”
At those words, Juyeol’s brow furrowed.
“Aren’t you afraid of setting your building on fire?”
“Of course it was scary, but the firefighting facilities were well-equipped.”
“… … If you look closely, you’ll see that he’s become more fearful, but he says he’ll do anything he wants because he’s scared.”
He muttered as if he didn’t understand at all, then thrust something out.
It was a very ornate, wine-colored envelope.
“What is this?”
Haon opened his eyes wide as he checked what was inside.
“admission ticket”
The piece of paper written like that was closer to an invitation than a ticket.
Haon, who was looking at the ticket back and forth, was puzzled.
There was only a notice stating that the date and time was tomorrow night and that escorts were limited to one person.
“What do you want me to know from this?”
“Take me there tomorrow as an escort.”
“Huh? What kind of place is this?”
“A private exhibition where you can check out smuggled goods before the illegal auction takes place.”
Haon raised his head in surprise.
“What? Wh, isn’t this a scary place?”
“Most of the visitors will be villains, so it wouldn’t normally be a scary place for you. I’ll have to cover my face though.”
“But the location isn’t even mentioned… … .”
“I know that.”
He sneered as I hesitated with a frightened expression.
“If you helped me find the Awakening Orb, isn’t it your turn to help me? Was it another scam?”
“That’s not it, but I, I don’t have a complete memory… … .”
“The others will take care of it, so just take me here.”
Haon, who had been hesitating, suddenly had the thought that this might be an opportunity.
If there’s a place where a lot of villains gather, I can quickly spread the word that I’m no longer a threat.
Judging by the fact that Juyeol wants to sneak in, it might be a place where useful information is exchanged.
“Okay, I’ll try. But you gave me a ticket without letting me in?”
“No way. I was already thinking about sneaking in. The grave robber who just came and went had it.”
Haon’s face turned red with embarrassment.
“Huh, you stole it? Are you a hero?”
“Anyway, it’s tomorrow night. Don’t forget to get ready.”
Joo-yeol spoke without even listening.
“Needing an escort means a fight could break out at any time.”
* * *
the next day.
Haon was in a good mood from the morning, despite having fallen asleep in a state of confusion.
Last night, I was worried about what to prepare for a place where villains might suddenly start a fight.
But yesterday’s good sleep was not a coincidence, as I quickly fell asleep next to Juyeol and didn’t even have a nightmare.
When I opened my eyes, I saw my friend’s face checking the gun, and the cell phone on the nightstand was being repaired just in time.
It ended a little earlier than expected.
“Wow!”
As I raised both my arms and stamped my feet, Juyeol asked in a calm tone.
“So what happens then?”
Haon was fiddling with his cell phone and then held it out in front of him.
“First, I need your voice.”
“what?”
“That’s because the AI software’s voice is completely broken.”
“I don’t know what it is, but you can do it your way.”
“If you use the device owner’s voice, it will bug you.”
Juyeol clicked his tongue as if he was annoyed at the sight of her smiling and holding up her cell phone.
“It’s really annoying. What do you want me to do?”
“Oh, okay.”
“… … ?”
Before I could even understand what was happening, Haon manipulated the cell phone.
“Good morning Blue.”
When I called my beloved AI secretary, a blue bird hologram appeared around my phone.
A deep voice came from the bluebird.
[Good morning★ Did you sleep well, Haon? I hope you start your day happily ≥▽≤ How about Haon’s favorite fruit cereal for your first meal? бɛб?]
“… … .”
A lively and cute tone of speech came out that did not match the rough and low voice.
“Phew.”
Haon bit his upper lip hard but couldn’t hold back his laughter and shook his shoulders.
Juyeol’s head, which had become cold, turned towards Haon.
“There’s no need to beat around the bush and say you want to die.”
“Sorry, I didn’t do it on purpose, ahem.”
Haon barely managed to suppress his laughter and calm down.
“That’s because I set the first greeting of the day to be cuter.”
“You’re not saying you’re going to use that as is, are you?”
I waved my hand at the question, which was filled with annoyance.
“Oh, no. If you change the settings, the voice will change.”
Then he tapped his phone and spoke again.
“Blue. Keep auto-charging.”
[Understood, Haon. Activating the mana auto-recharge system!]
This time, a cute little boy’s voice, completely different from Juyeol’s, popped out.
“Because the default was broken. Just like you need sand to build a sand castle, you need voices as material.”
Haon was so excited that he started talking to Blue Bird and Blue about various things.
“Is the synchronization perfect?”
[Perfect!]
Joo-yeol didn’t know what was so special about that cell phone other than the fact that it answered calls well.
While it’s impressive to see a new hologram popping out of the phone, the hologram itself is commonplace.
I doubted whether that would really be enough to find out who killed my brother.
But soon, a surprising sight unfolded: a single cell phone took over the entire lab.
* * *
Haon went down to the lab, scanned the entire building with Mana, and sat down in front of the computer.
I put my cell phone down right next to the keyboard.
In order to send signals directly to the device through the mana circuits in your body, you had to hold it in your hand, and in order to give commands with your voice, it had to be within arm’s reach.
“Blue. I need to get it from the central system of the research lab.”
[Connecting to the research lab server. I will change the administrator rights!]
A cable stretched out from the cell phone and connected it to the computer.
If rumors spread that ‘Galaxy On has become strange’, there would be villains who would come looking for anything, so the damaged facilities had to be repaired first.
‘For the sake of my work, I need to bring the entire building under my influence.’
Blue mana infiltrated the lab’s servers and computers, and began the process of changing the lab’s owner.
Haon typed on the keyboard, reading the formulas and codes that quickly flowed across the screen.
‘Connect this to here and change this to this─.’
A joyful expression appeared on his concentrated face. He was completely absorbed in his work after a long time.
Forgetting that Joo-yeol had come down to the lab with him for surveillance purposes.
He stared blankly at the blue particle haze flowing all around the lab.
I’ve seen the engineers at Hero HQ work, but not like this.
Although I didn’t know what it was, the blue holographic pieces, the blue bird, and Haon’s fingertips typing on the keyboard seemed to be organically connected.
Even though I was seeing it with my own two eyes, I didn’t understand it.
When Ha-on stopped and stretched, Ju-yeol went next to him and asked.
“Hey. What the heck are these blue things?”
“ah……!”
Ha-on, who only then remembered that he had been in the lab, smiled awkwardly.
“Ah, this is Mana.”
“Manaram… … that strange thing you said last time?”
“That’s not a strange sound!”
He lowered the corners of his mouth as if he felt wronged, pointed to his cell phone, and continued speaking.
“Originally, the golden mana that was invisible to your eyes changes to blue and its properties change when it combines with structures such as radio waves and electricity through the cell phone.”
“Is this the ability to pull out wires anytime, anywhere?”
“That, that’s possible too, but it’s mainly used for things like this.”
Haon came holding an empty beaker, grabbed his cell phone, and synthesized mana into it while thinking of the structure of the glass.
The surface of the beaker was broken into small cubes that moved in a ripple-like motion from bottom to top.
Before Joo-yeol could even react in surprise, he dropped it to the floor.
Just when I thought he was breaking down.
Thud! Thud, thud, thud─.
The beaker hit the floor with a sound like a thin piece of metal would make a crack without even breaking.
“… … ?”
Joo-yeol picked up the beaker with a confused face and flinched.
It felt like clear, thin glass to the touch, but it was much harder and heavier.
“If you perfectly understand the structure of a substance and add the structure of mana to it, you can transform it into something similar to the material you want. That’s the basis of magic engineering.”
Haon tried his best to explain it in his own way, but he still seemed confused.
I decided that it couldn’t be helped since it was a discipline and technology that didn’t exist in this world.
However, Juyeol was thinking differently from Haon’s guess.
‘If something like this is possible… … Isn’t it too much of a waste to just use it as a tool for villains?’
Lost in thought, he tossed the heavy beaker into the air and snatched it up.
I came to the conclusion that it was a waste.
* * *
That night, a large logistics warehouse at the entrance of the industrial complex.
Haon got out of the flashy supercar and looked around, feeling very intimidated.
Dangerous looking people were entering a large warehouse.
“If you roll your eyes, you’ll be suspected. You’d be better off acting like a loser.”
Joo-yeol whispered. With his brown wig and sunglasses, he really looked like a different person.
Haon, who was nervous, nodded and walked towards the warehouse, handing over the ticket.
The gatekeeper, who had discovered Haon, was about to open the door quickly, but then hesitated.
“Wait a minute. I need to check the face of the guy I brought as an escort.”