This Villain is Soft - Chapter 38



Only Noblemtl

Episode 38

Haon looked around with a stiff face.

A very faintly perceptible flow of mana.

A rough and ominous atmosphere carried by the wind.

‘This is… … .’

Suddenly, a small explosion sounded from the direction Ha-on was looking.

Although it happened far away, Haon’s eyes trembled slightly.

This wasn’t just an explosion, it was a mana explosion.

* * *

Haon, sitting in the 4th floor lab, looked at the analysis results with a serious expression.

The place where the mana explosion occurred was the dock, and when I got there, Q was running wild.

It appeared that the smuggling ship in the queue had completely blown up along with the dock.

The fog was thick, allowing them to sneak a peek at the wreckage before the heroes arrived, but any traces of Mana had already faded.

Still, I figured something out.

The structure of the mana that temporarily flowed inside Checker’s body and the mana remaining in the explosion debris are the same.

‘It can’t be a coincidence.’

Haon, who was worried, decided to take out the records that he had put away deep inside and forgotten.

“Blue. Show me all the records of the forced awakening research.”

[I will collect and post the forced awakening research records by date!]

“No. Instead of by date, just sort them as ‘Eunhaon’ has sorted them.”

[Okay, I’ll rearrange them according to their original classification.]

With a few flaps of Blue’s wings, the documents floating on the screen rearranged.

Haon quickly moved his eyes, concentrating on the records on the screen.

‘This is a failed formula. This is not enough. This is not it. This is not it.’

Just a quick glance at it would tell me whether the experiment was a success or a failure.

‘This is… no. This is also no different from gambling. What the heck is this?’

Haon, who had been staring at the screen for a while, sighed and rubbed his eyes.

Was this a forced awakening that occurred separately from the ‘Galaxy On’ experiment?

Or is it just that Checker has a constitution that has fewer side effects even if forced awakening fails?

Haon pushed the documents he had brought forward all the way back, swapping their positions with those at the back.

‘Let’s look at the environment, not the experimental results. Things that are not related to the formula but are absolutely necessary.’

As I was scanning the page with my eyes sore, some numbers caught my eye.

“uh?”

I slowly opened the document with a strange sense of foreboding.

It was the investment details for the research on the awakening sphere that ‘Galaxy On’ received.

‘I’ve definitely seen these numbers before. Even the order is the same. Where have I seen these before?’

I was listing the numbers I had recently seen in my head like Tetris, and then I was startled by a name that suddenly popped into my mind.

“B, Blue. Show me the details of the commission fee.”

Haon, who was checking the documents that were posted, jumped up so suddenly that his chair fell over.

The investment in the Awakening Orb research exactly matched Halo’s commission fee.

* * *

“You contacted me first. What’s going on?”

Nova, who came across the first floor cafe and sat across from me, smiled brightly but looked uncomfortable.

“After spending one night with me, he threw me a pair of gloves and didn’t contact me or meet me, and he didn’t even stick around at the lab.”

“Wh, what are you talking about!”

Haon thought it was a good idea to let Bani leave work first, as his words could have been misunderstood.

“No, I’ve just been a bit busy. Nova said she was busy too.”

“I took the time to contact you even though you were busy, but you didn’t answer even once. Don’t make me worry whether I should really kill you.”

“… … Sir, I called you because I had something to ask you.”

One of Nova’s eyebrows arched upward.

“Yeah. I don’t think you asked me out on a date.”

Haon called Nova for an unknown purpose, but even in front of him, he was confused as to whether it was the right choice.

‘Galaxy On’ loved Nova, so I assumed that she simply received a request from Halo, but I was completely wrong.

“Nova. What does ‘Galaxy On’ have to do with Halo?”

“I didn’t expect to hear that name here. What do you want this time?”

“… … You don’t know?”

His reaction convinced Haon once again that he really didn’t know anything about ‘Eunhaon’.

Nova just smiled brightly, wondering if her guess was wrong.

Haon decided to change the question.

“Do you know anything about the forced awakening or the explosion that occurred at the docks today?”

Then Nova looked at Haon with a strange gaze.

“Even if it seems messy, it actually has a sharp edge.”

“What is it?”

“I am an Awakened One who has successfully undergone forced awakening.”

“… … !”

A tremendous shock struck Haon’s mind.

It was incredibly surprising that the forced awakening, which had an extremely low success rate, succeeded without any side effects, but there was another reason why I was so shocked.

No matter how you looked at it, the forced awakening experiments of ‘Eunhaon’ were all destined to end in failure.

However, if there is a genetic sample of a person who successfully achieved forced awakening, it is a different story.

I don’t know exactly about mana, so the odds are still very low, but if some random chance is added… … .

Haon tried to remain calm and asked with a trembling voice.

“Did ‘Eunhaon’ know that too?”

“That’s right.”

“Did ‘Galaxy On’ ever take Nova’s hair or blood?”

“I got something pretty good in return.”

“And, how many times… … .”

“Well. Was it five times?”

“… … .”

Haon returned to the first riddle he had after falling into this dimension.

Why did ‘Eunhaon’ die, and what did the killer steal from the penthouse?

The situation when I came here and discovered the body came to mind from various angles.

The cause of death for ‘Eunhaon’ was a gunshot wound to the forehead. There were no other injuries.

‘He wasn’t shot in a fight. It must have happened suddenly.’

There was no sign of resistance, and the lab’s laser guns were not out in force to threaten.

‘I knew the criminal well.’

Not just someone you knew, but someone you didn’t know would kill you.

She was lying near the door, and the nearby desk was in disarray.

I killed ‘Eunhaon’ and didn’t search the lab.

Rather, it was the penthouse that was a mess.

‘The culprit knew where the item he was looking for was.’

Or maybe you were sure it wasn’t in the lab.

Haon recalled that ‘Eunhaon’ was also quite strict about security and came up with a hypothesis.

What if your most important data is stored in the penthouse rather than the lab?

And what if that’s about the successful outcome of the forced awakening research?

Haon, who had finished guessing in an instant, raised his head.

“Does anyone else know that Nova is a forced awakener?”

“I’m not the type to go around bragging, but I think you all can guess?”

Judging from the way he was scribbling, it seemed like he didn’t even know if ‘Eunhaon’ had spoken to anyone.

“But were there any side effects?”

“Hmm. Could this be considered a side effect since the hair and eyes changed after awakening?”

Haon nodded. The last question was a matter of personal and academic curiosity.

“babe.”

“yes?”

“The interrogation was quite long, but you wouldn’t be sending me away empty-handed, would you?”

“ah…….”

Haon was sweating profusely at the sight of his expectant eyes, and a few hours later, what he brought home from the workshop was white clothes.

Nova opened her mouth with a look of discontent.

“… …Honey. You made me wait this long. Are you kidding me?”

“No way.”

Haon opened his eyes wide.

Nova asked sheepishly, not a trace of playfulness on his face.

“Shouldn’t a gift be made with the recipient in mind?”

“It was made with sufficient consideration.”

“Where on earth are you?”

“Nova is pretty, so I thought these clothes would suit her well.”

Haon confidently spread out the clothes in both hands. The white clothes, which looked like an ao dai, had a faint check pattern drawn in silver thread.

He always wore checked shirts, which seemed to be Haon’s style.

Nova quickly recognized that the clothes in front of her were made of the same material as the gloves she had been given.

If that’s the case, then that’s something you can’t get anywhere else.

“Of course it would suit me. I’m pretty, just like you said.”

But I was starting to get annoyed with Ha-on, who kept telling me I was pretty but wouldn’t take an inch closer.

“Do you really think I’m pretty? Don’t you want to do anything for someone so beautiful that they make you lose your soul?”

“Nova is really beautiful. She’s the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen.”