This Villain is Soft - Chapter 42



Only Noblemtl

Episode 42

“Isn’t that what Dr. Eun made?”

“Only Dr. Eun has the brains to make something like that.”

Hanra and Twoshot responded as if there was nothing to think about.

The bosses of the old town sent Haon small gifts in the hopes that he would continue to supply new potions.

I got something back, like a strangely shaped alarm clock or humidifier, which I guess means I received it well.

The hunter who was listening to them sighed.

“The creator hasn’t been clearly identified. But I’d like to hear what route you took to obtain the potion.”

Silence fell on the wide passage.

“Are you going to let your subordinates use stimulants even though you know about their side effects?”

The hunter laughed hysterically and crossed his legs.

“Let’s not make this complicated. If you don’t cooperate even to this extent, I won’t allow you to collect protection money from the old town.”

It was strictly illegal for the gangs in the old city to collect protection money from the residents of each district, but it was also tacitly permitted.

Since the collection of protection money was left alone, illegal business and gambling have decreased significantly.

The bosses exchanged glances with discontented expressions.

Even if they couldn’t collect the protection fee, they could just create another way to get the money, but they wouldn’t be able to collect it as easily as they would the protection fee.

Then Q suddenly shouted.

“The awakening state will only last for a few minutes anyway! That’s not what’s important right now!”

She spoke to the hunter in an agitated voice.

“Please investigate the incident where my ship exploded a while ago.”

“It’s clearly the work of vengeful villains, so why do you want me to investigate this? And from a hero at that.”

As Two-shot muttered in disbelief, Q widened his eyes.

“What do you know? There was no sign of a bomb. That’s really weird!”

“I hope you know that we’re not here to talk about that kind of thing.”

Weaver smiled softly at the Hunter’s cold voice.

“Potions are just a means of protecting the body, like a gun. Why don’t you just stop accepting it?”

Everyone seemed to agree with Weaver.

“Honestly, are all heroes just good Awakened ones? Think of Ghost. At least that guy is more dangerous than my subordinates! You can’t argue with that, right?”

The Hunter’s eyes turned fierce as Q slammed his fist on the armrest.

“Isn’t this a place to discuss the dangers and sources of potions, not the nature of the Awakened? The ones causing the problem right now aren’t the heroes, they’re the gangsters in the old city!”

“I want to know the source! Where on earth do the guys from other districts get their potions and drink them!”

“I also want to know the source.”

As Weaver opened her mouth, the room fell silent for a moment. She continued, staring into the flickering light of her lighter.

“You could put money in a decorative mailbox on the dock and it would be delivered to your door the next day. No one ever saw the delivery man.”

The hunter asked, sending a signal somewhere with the band wrapped around his wrist.

“How do you know that method?”

“He had a bottle of medicine in his pocket without realizing it, along with a note telling him to put money in the mailbox at the dock if he wanted more.”

“Did you give it away for free at first?”

“That’s because the drug is still in the experimental stage, and the one first discovered in Area 2 was much cruder than what we have now.”

Rusty added to Halla’s answer.

“You know, among those who have obtained the potion several times, they are called phantoms. They are like ghosts, right? Just like someone.”

Weaver chuckled slightly as the Hunter’s expression hardened into an unpleasant grimace.

“Did you know that Dr. Eun has been coming and going from District 5 for a while?”

“What does that mean?”

“I don’t know the exact location, but I know that one of the Ghost’s dwellings is in my area.”

The Hunter, who was about to laugh, suddenly remembered that the relationship between Ghost and Eunhaon was not what it used to be.

She asked in an absurd tone, with the hard face of a city watchman and hunter.

“According to your delusions, the stimulant made by Dr. Eun is being delivered by Ghost, is that it?”

Weaver just smiled and shrugged.

After that, Hunter asked a few more questions, but the meeting ended without any progress.

As the cars in the museum parking lot quickly filled up, Weaver, who was the last to get into his car, rolled down his window and said.

“It won’t do any good to watch or remove the mailbox on the dock. The location of the money box isn’t important, right?”

And then he smiled at the hunter’s expressionless face and left.

The hunter, who had been staring at the cars moving away from that spot, sighed and turned his head to the side.

“What are we going to do if we let that annoying drug circulate?”

“It’s only for a short while anyway.”

The woman, revealed by the streetlights turning on, answered mysteriously.

The Hunter glanced at Halo, who was considered his arch-nemesis.

“Forced awakening itself is illegal, so what does it matter if it’s only for a short time?”

“Think positively. With the stimulant, maybe even righteous civilians can become heroes?”

The hunter’s eyes sank.

Unlike the hero headquarters that deals with villains as an organization under the National Police Agency, there are civilians who run around pretending to be vigilantes without any rules or minimal training.

That was exactly what headquarters was most worried about.

There have been many civilians up until now who wished to become heroes.

Every time that happened, the headquarters would give out police exam pamphlets and send them back, but what if the potion spread further?

Justice doesn’t always save lives, and unconsensual villain raids only add to the hero’s workload.

Hunter truly wanted to wrap up this case before the stimulant ended up in the hands of civilians.

Then, I asked without erasing my uneasy expression at Halo’s gaze that seemed to be measuring me.

“You didn’t spread it, did you?”

Halo chuckled as if he found it amusing and tilted his head.

“How could I make something like that? I’m not as smart as some scientist.”

“… … .”

The moment he heard that answer, the Hunter’s hero instincts, which had been honed for years, were turned on their head.

Halo’s words were nothing special. His expression and voice were no different from usual.

However, because they were opponents who had been fighting for a long time, they were able to notice things that were not visible.

“Then it’s fine.”

The hunter answered monotonously and turned around, but he knew his opponent well too.

She had a feeling that Halo would sense her suspicions as well.

The delicate balance between heroes and villains was collapsing.

* * *

After researching, Haon was able to create several prototypes of the ‘Potion Nullification Patch’.

It was a forced process, but the faster it was completed, the better. The awakening drug released in the old city seemed to be becoming more refined with each passing day.

‘When was the last time I had a good night’s sleep? Should I go to Juyeol’s and sleep over today?’

I don’t know how many cups of coffee I drank to wake up my dazed head, but I felt hungry.

Ha-on, who remembered that he had been hungry since last night, decided to eat at least one triangle kimbap.

‘I want to eat the food that Juyeol made.’

I raised my head up and stretched, and the moment I put it back down, my nose started bleeding.

“also……!”

Haon hurriedly covered his nose with his sleeve and carefully checked whether the experimental equipment was dirty.

‘Thank goodness it wasn’t buried anywhere.’

The sleeves of her white gown were dyed red, but she didn’t care.

I went to the sink and wiped the blood off my face, but my head felt dizzy.

During the two days that Chacha and Bani stayed, I ate every meal, but since there was no one to worry about, I forgot about hunger and devoted myself to my research.

‘Still, I’m glad that Chacha is getting better.’

Haon thought back to Chacha leaving the lab.

I wanted to tell ChaCha to go back soon after she came to her senses, but Solmae said that she could go to the clinic and recover, so I decided to let her go.

‘It would be more comfortable for Chacha and Solmae to live in the same building.’

I promised myself that I would repay Chacha for saving my life someday, but I didn’t really have anything to expect from him.

Just looking at Bunny made me wish I never touched the potion again.

My body was at its limit, and with every step I lost energy and my body felt as heavy as water-soaked cotton.

‘I’m really tired today. Will I be able to sleep well when I’m this tired?’

My expectations were quickly shattered. I remembered that on the first day I fell into this dimension, I couldn’t fall asleep even though I was extremely tired.

[Haon! The heroes have arrived! There are four of them!]

At that moment, Blue’s notification came urgently. He had set the heroes’ visit to ‘very important’, so he was flapping his wings and his voice was loud.

“Hey, there are four heroes… … ?”

Haon, flustered by the sudden surge of tension, turned his steps toward the penthouse back to the first floor.

‘I didn’t know you’d come first, but I wanted to meet the heroes too. I guess that’s a good thing.’

When I got off the elevator on the first floor, the three heroes were looking around the cafe with puzzled expressions.

“River… … . You’re right. It really has become a cafe, isn’t it?”

“I told you so. But I just saw what was written on the wall.”

“A place of peace? If you fight, you get ejected immediately?”

“Hey, ah, hello.”

Then, he turned around warily at the greeting that was creeping in, and opened his eyes wide when he discovered the sleeve of a bright red gown.