This Villain is Soft - Chapter 35



Only Noblemtl

Episode 35

Tears welled up in my eyes and my heart raced at the unexpected events.

“Hey, Joo-yeol!”

Juyeol burst into laughter as he watched Haon struggling with a rope wrapped around his ankles.

“Are you really that stupid?”

“Eek. Put me down… … .”

Haon held onto the hem of his t-shirt that was about to flip over and cried.

He grabbed the back of my checked shirt and untied the rope, letting me down.

As soon as his dizzy vision returned, Ha-on looked at Ju-yeol’s face, which was looking down at him blankly.

“Juyeol. Why have you lost so much weight? Did you fight? You got hurt.”

He kept his mouth shut as if choosing his words and asked indifferently.

“How did you know I wasn’t going?”

“… … Aren’t you going?”

Haon opened his eyes wide and tilted his head as if he had heard something strange.

Then he went out the door, unlocked it in an instant, and came back in.

“this?”

“… … .”

“How is this a safe house? Isn’t this house nicknamed? This is not safe at all, not at all! Do you know how long it takes Blue to open a door like this? One second. One second is the blink of an eye, uh-.”

Joo-yeol’s large hand covered Ha-on’s mouth. A faint smell of iron came from his hand.

He reached out his other hand next to his small head and knocked on the front door.

“If you’re not satisfied, you can upgrade this door too.”

“… … !”

Haon pulled his hand down with shining eyes.

“Really? Is that okay?”

“what?”

“Am I still your engineer?”

A look of sheer joy spread across his face as he held her hand tightly and asked.

Joo-yeol frowned as he looked at the small hand wrapped around his own.

“… … What’s your problem?”

“what?”

“Are you short on money?”

A loud gurgling sound echoed along with the muttering.

“… … .”

“… … .”

Haon let go of his hand with an embarrassed look on his face.

“No, that’s not it. I have a lot of money. I just forgot to eat today.”

“All kinds of things… … .”

He turned around with a dejected expression and rummaged through the refrigerator.

“There’s nothing. Tsk.”

Then he slammed the refrigerator door shut and passed Haon.

“Where are you going?”

“To buy something to eat.”

“What should I eat? It’s okay! You don’t have to buy anything.”

“I have to fill the fridge anyway. Just sit still and don’t touch anything.”

He raised his eyebrows in warning and then walked out of the house.

Haon quietly looked around the quiet room and then slowly stepped in.

As soon as he did so, Blue flapped his wings vigorously and circled overhead.

[Haon! Warning! Warning! I recommend destroying or reporting this area!]

As I stood there startled, a large blue skull appeared in front of a door. It was Blue’s creation.

[This is an area with a high concentration of risk factors!]

“What is there?!”

[A large quantity of explosives, firearms and ammunition has been detected. While possession of firearms is not illegal here, there are many unregistered firearms!]

“… … .”

In response to Blue’s answer, Haon slowly walked away from the room.

A large amount of explosive material and… … why would you have something like that in your house?

[Should I destroy the entire room? You can report it, but given the location, I don’t know when the police will come─.]

“No. Just leave it. These are probably things that Juyeol uses.”

[Cancel the risk zone designation?]

“Please do so.”

[Understood! The danger zone designation has been cancelled.]

The skull symbol floating in front of the door suddenly disappeared.

Ha-on now understood what Joo-yeol meant by ‘An-ga’.

It wasn’t a ‘safe’ house, but a house that could be ‘made safe’ if anyone broke in.

You use your house in an enterprising way. Protecting a city is such a scary thing.

I nodded and carefully sat down on the sofa where Juyeol had been sitting.

“… … .”

It felt somehow familiar and strange.

The house, furnished with only the necessities, seemed bleak at first glance, but there were traces of frequent use.

‘What were you thinking as you sat here?’

Haon’s gaze scanned the simple kitchen and the closed doors before turning to the ceiling.

“ah.”

There were random bullet holes on the ceiling. Now I noticed there were shell casings rolling around under the sofa.

‘How was I?’

I remembered the child who used to call me “Haon Noona” in a voice like a sparrow.

The child who followed me the best in the orphanage did not survive the building that the terrorists blew up.

This was before the war broke out.

Haon, who had been holding on to the sofa handle without realizing it, turned his head at the strange sensation.

The cloth was pushed and slightly torn, with a handprint much larger than my hand.

“… … .”

Haon slowly caressed his handprint as if to soothe his lonely and confused feelings.

* * *

Joo-yeol, who was standing in front of An-ga holding a plastic bag, glared at her empty hands.

I felt embarrassed because it seemed like the warmth from when he held my hand tightly still lingered.

The faint force that would have made it fall if I had just brushed it off felt strangely heavy.

That was also the reason why I impulsively left Eunhaon at her home.

The friendly gaze looking at me and the unknown meaning contained within it.

No. You really couldn’t tell? It was so transparent.

Eunhaon has been the same since she started having memory problems.

I don’t know whether to call him honest or stupid.

The face that would come to mind every now and then as I was absentmindedly letting time pass by was still there.

Affection that is so transparent that you want to suspect that it is unknown.

‘How great is an imaginary best friend?’

He entered the house with a displeased expression and flinched when he was met with empty gazes.

Sitting under the dim lights, Haon’s presence felt strangely vague.

It seemed like it would suddenly disappear at any moment.

‘Did I sit there with that kind of face too?’

As I overlapped myself with his small body, the brown eyes that held me in their sole possession gradually began to light up.

The change was so dramatic that Joo-yeol felt as if she had suddenly appeared.

Haon jumped up with a bright expression on his face, as if he had found someone very welcome.

“You’re back so soon? What did you buy?”

“… … .”

He looked at Ha-on, who was leaning forward with a curious face, with confused eyes before heading to the kitchen.

Then I looked back at her as I warmed up the frozen pizza in the microwave.

“Why did you come?”

Haon, who was about to sit down at the table, rolled his eyes and lowered his butt.

“To bring me a helmet.”

Then he took out a black helmet from his bulging crossbody bag. It was the one that Juyeol had left behind at the lab.

He just stared at the helmet in silence and then placed the heated pizza on the table.

“Huh? You’re not eating?”

“I ate.”

“Then I’ll eat well!”

Haon looked hungry, but he kept furrowing his brows as he ate a slice of pizza.

She swallowed every last bite and looked up at Juyeol with a moved expression.

“It’s been so long since I’ve had pizza! It’s really delicious. Eating it warm makes me feel warm inside.”

“What do you usually eat?”

“Triangle kimbap or sandwiches from the convenience store. Or cereal? I also eat a lot of energy bars.”

“… … .”

I guess I’ve gotten used to that weird engineer.

Joo-yeol was no longer surprised that Eun-ha-on, who was often seen at fine dining establishments, would say such things.

I just stood with my arms crossed near the table and watched the pizza disappear into my little mouth.

Just then, as I felt a strange sense of peace, a terrified scream rang out from outside.

“Hey, save me!”

When Ha-on, who was surprised a beat later, stopped chewing, Ju-yeol waved his hand and told him to just eat.

Then, with an annoyed expression, he opened the double-glazed window and threw the empty bottle of vodka.

A man’s groan was heard along with a loud noise.

The woman’s surprised scream followed, followed by her sobbing gratitude and the sound of the door slamming shut, and then silence again.

Joo-yeol closed the window and sat down at the table opposite.

Haon, who had been watching the series of events with his eyes, smiled bashfully.

“What are you laughing at?”

“It’s cool. It’s special.”

“What are you saying?”

Haon opened his mouth as he ripped off a slice of pizza.

“I saw the article. It was corrected that the fire wasn’t started by your younger brother Hyesung’s mistake. The police who didn’t investigate properly at the time also apologized.”

Does that mean the dead will come back to life? Juyeol swallowed the words that were rising to his chin and sighed.

It was a decision I already knew when I handcuffed Gowon, and it was a choice I sometimes regret.

“I don’t normally do that. I’m a member of the Hero Headquarters, so I just keep an eye on things. Not my own, but the Headquarters’s.”

“ah…….”

Haon nodded and muttered, “That’s good.”

That was the end of the story about that matter.

‘Why am I doing this?’

Joo-yeol asked himself while roughly cleaning up what Ha-on had eaten. He couldn’t find an answer.

Feeling frustrated, I checked the window lock again and turned around, then made a bewildered expression.

Isn’t Haon dozing off on the sofa, holding his helmet in his arms?

He looked down at Ha-on with eyes that seemed to have a lot to say and asked bluntly.

“So why did you come?”

“I… … am going to … look at the front door.”

The voice that answered hesitantly was already filled with sleep. He couldn’t even open his eyelids properly.

“Why did you really come here?”

Despite the harsh voice, Haon smiled faintly as if he was relieved.

“… …because I wanted to.”

“what?”

“… … Because I miss you.”

What are you talking about now? Juyeol froze in a daze at the mumbling voice.

Haon added in a dazed tone as he fell into sleep without even realizing it.

“I missed you… … Joo-yeol… … .”

The head that had been tilted up fell down and the helmet fell to the floor with a thud.