This Villain is Soft - Chapter 28



Only Noblemtl

Episode 28

While looking over the commission fee details, Haon thought of Nova, who seemed to know nothing about ‘Eunhaon’.

‘Did Halo think that she could keep Nova’s side only if she maintained her power? She must have known that Nova wasn’t sincere… … .’

I had a headache from the complicated situation.

‘Eunhaon’ is a person who even conducted horrible human experiments for the purpose of studying the awakening sphere. He was not a being that he could understand in the first place.

I decided to put aside my lingering doubts and look into my relationships with other villains.

“Blue. I need to see the recent history of money exchanges with other villains.”

[All right!]

Haon, who was carefully looking at the records listed on the monitor, stopped when he found a familiar name.

“Plateau? This person is definitely… … .”

It was the arsonist that Juyeol had gone to find. Perhaps the famous arsonist at the time of the fire at Juyeol’s house.

But why is there a record of ‘Eunhaon’ sending money to the arsonist? And that too quite recently?

‘Could it be that the culprit of the incident that Eunhaon discovered is Gowon?’

Haon’s eyes lit up at the sudden thought that occurred to him, then he tilted his head.

‘He might have found out that the criminal had returned to Korea first and tried to make a deal with Joo-yeol with that… … But why did he give him the money?’

Even though we seemed to be one step closer to a meaningful clue, the case was still a mystery.

Joo-yeol had boasted that he would help him find the culprit, but even after fixing the phone, he still hadn’t found anything satisfactory.

‘Joo-yeol was also continuously looking for the culprit. Thinking back on the question I asked Cha-cha, it seemed like he was having a hard time finding Go-won, right?’

I don’t know if he is the culprit that Joo-yeol was looking for or not, but it was a case of losing.

“Blue. Check out Gowon’s contact information. I don’t know why, but he wouldn’t refuse to contact someone who gave him money.”

* * *

Squeak─.

The rusty iron door opened and the sound of footsteps approaching without any concealment.

The being that stood still in the middle of an abandoned factory was surrounded by a soft light alone in the darkness.

She looked to be in her early fifties and smiled, sweeping back her faded blonde hair.

The scars that could not be completely hidden by the blindfold and the eyes that were as black as black holes stood out.

“Is the hero headquarters trying to stir up trouble for me as well?”

At the same time, light exploded in all directions and swallowed up the darkness.

The dark shadows cleared away, revealing the ghost.

There was no sign of surprise from him as he sat on the wooden box wearing a helmet.

“Don’t go around asking questions when you know it’s not right. It’s obvious that you came alone and why you came.”

Joo-yeol tilted his head and stared at the woman approaching him.

She was the Halo, the ‘Order of Villains’, holding a destructive light. She was just standing still, but the pressure was considerable.

“Why would a suspended hero look for a sniper?”

Sniper is a sniper who can be called Halo’s right-hand man, and is a villain who is not an Awakened person.

Although he has never committed a crime on his own, he is rumored to do whatever Halo tells him to do.

They say he was brought in from Russia to be trained as a spy and raised there, and he was quite skilled.

Juyeol took off his helmet and stood up. His black eyes, which had a different feel from Halo’s, were strangely gleaming.

“I just have a question. If you let me meet the sniper, I’ll leave quietly.”

“Quietly?”

Halo glanced at his men sprawled on the floor and sneered.

“You’re making all this fuss just to catch an arsonist who joined a gang? What if Hunter finds out?”

Joo-yeol frowned and glared at her when the name ‘Hunter’ was mentioned.

“Isn’t it a difficult request to ask for a quick chat?”

“Why are you looking for the arsonist? He must have been behaving well since returning to Korea.”

“It’s strange. Why did the guy who left for Macau suddenly come back, and why is he acting so well?”

Halo, who had been observing him intently, muttered, “Come in,” and quickly withdrew the light.

Only a dim light remained around the halo.

And what I feel are silent footsteps.

A quiet and hazy presence.

Someone was approaching, cutting through the darkness.

Juyeol, wearing a helmet, sat up and looked ahead in infrared mode.

The villain, wearing a balaclava and night vision goggles so his face was completely invisible, carried a long rifle on his back.

It was a sniper.

The guy stopped ten steps away. He seemed to not want to be seen, even though his face was already covered.

Joo-yeol asked without taking his eyes off the sniper, who didn’t show a single strand of hair.

“You know that guy named Gowon? He’s an arsonist. Where is he?”

Silence fell along the darkness of the abandoned factory.

Both Ghost and Sniper had their expressions obscured, but Juyeol had the illusion that the guy was looking into his eyes through his helmet.

I felt more embarrassed than offended, and my sharp words came out for no reason.

“Don’t say you don’t know. There’s a guy who saw you talking to Gowon.”

“Is it because of something that happened 10 years ago?”

“what?”

“Are you doing this because your house burned down?”

“… … .”

The first time I heard the sniper’s voice was a woman’s.

He is a villain who doesn’t talk much and doesn’t show a single strand of hair, so opinions are divided about his gender. His height, which appears to be 175cm, also contributed to the debate.

Of course, the reason Joo-yeol was momentarily speechless was not because the sniper was a woman.

Since I had been searching so noisily for the culprit who set fire to my house 10 years ago, there was probably no one in this world who didn’t know about it.

But I didn’t expect that someone other than a sniper, who was famous for not opening his mouth, would ask such a question.

“It probably doesn’t matter to you why you’re looking for him.”

“It’s important.”

Juyeol glared at the sniper at the voice without any highs or lows.

“… … You’re not going to be looking after the Halla Gang, are you?”

“I saw it.”

“what.”

“That day ten years ago. I saw Gowon set fire to a house in District 3 of the old city.”

“… … !”

Joo-yeol almost dropped his gun because his strength was drained for a moment. A myriad of emotions swirled around him.

“That guy… … is the real culprit?”

He felt as if the ground beneath his feet was sinking, so he gathered all his strength and took a step forward.

I felt like I was finally taking a step toward finding the identity of the culprit I had been searching for for 10 years.

“Are you sure? Tell me more.”

“… … .”

The sniper took a step back, keeping his distance.

Joo-yeol, who was anxious because the clue that had barely come into view seemed to have disappeared, approached quickly without worrying about the safety distance from Halo.

“Speak straight.”

“You’re not going that far?”

Halo stretched out his arm to block Juyeol’s path. It was only a moment before his gun was pointed at Halo.

“Get out of the way. Don’t disturb me.”

“I think I’ve let my arrogance slide.”

Halo raised the corners of his mouth as if it was funny and looked relaxed even with the muzzle in front of him.

On the other hand, Ju-yeol’s eyes turned to the sight of the sniper moving further and further away.

“I told you to call me Vicky!”

The moment I swung my gun at Halo’s head, a bright light suddenly burst out.

“Ugh─.”

My eyes automatically shut as the field of vision set to infrared mode turned white.

Joo-yeol barely managed to keep his staggering body still and took off his helmet.

I couldn’t open my eyes because my optic nerves felt like they were frozen and then burned.

“This fucking… … !”

He chewed on the curse and waited carefully for his eyes to clear.

He wasn’t a rookie who wasted bullets by shooting anywhere without thinking because he couldn’t see.

I strained my nerves and concentrated on hearing and sounds. I could hear the clanking of chains hanging from the abandoned factory. It wasn’t close.

When my vision returned after a while, neither the Halo nor the sniper were visible.

“Ghost has grown a lot. You know that, right? I’m saving him for the sake of the Hunter.”

I looked up at the smiling voice and saw two people sitting on the steel structure of the ceiling. The surroundings were bright with the light of the halo.

Juyeol growled, still glaring at Halo with his cold eyes.

“Don’t talk nonsense when you’re not on good terms with the Hunter.”

Then, Halo’s figure disappeared like shattering glass and moved to the railing below.

“Don’t bother me and leave when I let you go alive.”

When dealing with Halo, the Awakened Ones of Light, the heat and explosions caused by light were not even considered annoying.

What you really need to be careful about is the optical illusion caused by the refraction of light. That was the hallucination.

Joo-yeol did not rush into hallucinations, but he ground his teeth in anger.

“If you had told me where the plateau was, I would have gone out quietly a long time ago.”

Halo chuckled and their positions changed again. This time, they were on the opposite railing.

The sniper, who was either a hallucination or a real person, spoke while leaning his arm on the railing.

“If you want to catch a plateau, why don’t you go to Dr. Eun?”

“……what?”

He furrowed his brows at the sudden mention of Haon’s name.

He thought that she meant to ask him to track him, but the sniper’s additional words made him run straight out of the abandoned factory.

“I heard that Dr. Eun called Gowon to the lab.”

* * *

“therefore…….”

Haon, sitting across from Gowon on the first floor of the research center, thought carefully about his words.

It was not Barney’s part-time job, so there were only two of them in the cafe.

“You came back to Korea because of me… …?”