This Villain is Soft - Chapter 75



Only Noblemtl

Episode 75

‘Why on earth…?’

Haon trembled in front of the recurring nightmare. Today’s nightmare was a little different.

“Eww!”

“Whoa!”

The people who were being chased by terrorists and crossing the bridge were not the people that Haon could not save.

“Save me! Please save me!”

“Mom!”

They were children. Children who looked like the ones I saw in District 2 of the old town.

‘That wasn’t it. These kids are alive!’

Haon, who waved his cell phone as planned and opened up a shield of mana, felt like he was out of breath even though it was a dream.

‘No. Please. Don’t do that. They’re alive!’

It was no use begging in my heart.

Kwaang! Kukukung─.

The children fell screaming and screaming as the explosion went off in a horrible manner.

Haon looked down at the collapsed bridge with an expression as terrified as the children.

The flyers the girl had handed out were fluttering down.

‘… … I couldn’t do anything again.’

Still, this was the last nightmare of the night. I somehow managed to get through it today too.

‘Are you really holding up?’

Haon’s shoulders trembled as he sobbed.

In the recurring dream, I tried a new way to save people like inertia, but as always, today too, I moved only as planned.

I wonder if there was a way to save the people in this dream. I wonder if it was possible to save the people crossing the bridge that day.

‘Isn’t it all useless?’

With that thought, tears fell down my eyes. This was something that could not be undone.

No matter what I do, I can’t save them, and the numbers on the back of my hand won’t be erased.

‘Those kids too… … .’

The children in other districts, like those I failed to save, just fall into the darkness.

Haon sat down in front of the bridge and sobbed. A feeling of helplessness ate away at his entire body.

Why do people, why do children have to go through that?

There were people running across the bridge, children coming home late at night, sleepy, right in front of me, but I was the only one left in this place.

‘Sorry…….’

As I was mumbling apologies to no one, the nightmare suddenly collapsed like a sandcastle with a feeling as if someone was caressing my cheek.

* * *

Haon was in a daze, and only slowly moved his eyelids.

My eyelashes were wet and my vision was blurry because of the tears.

‘I think something touched my cheek.’

I wanted to feel my cheek to check, but my whole body was weak and I lay still, unable to move a single hand.

As the period of taking sleeping pills given by Solmae increased, the time spent feeling dazed immediately after waking up also increased.

As I was sobbing without realizing how much time had passed, I heard a rustling sound from somewhere.

‘Huh? Who’s there?’

Haon, startled, felt himself waking up faster than usual and started to squirm.

I rubbed my eyes and looked ahead, and a round object popped out.

[Repairman! Here I come!]

Haon was so absorbed in watching Ttiyong transform into the shape of a mechanical hamster that he opened his eyes wide.

‘It’s a tie? That means…!’

Ha-on, who was struggling to get up, found Ju-yeol who had stopped while carrying a cup of water from the kitchen.

“… … It’s a fever.”

I reached out to him as if possessed, and then fell down under the sofa with a thud.

As I lay there, unable to control my dull body, a dull pain slowly spread.

“……ouch.”

“It really varies.”

Haon blankly looked up at Juyeol, who was lifting him up with a firm grip.

“Blue. This isn’t a dream, is it?”

[Did you sleep well, Haon? We’ve always had a welcome guest waiting for you!]

It was really hot.

“Juyeol-ah!”

Haon instinctively hugged his waist. He held onto his hands as if he was determined to make sure he would never escape.

“Why are you here now? I’ve been waiting for you.”

“Now, wait a minute.”

The stiffened Juyeol hesitated and pulled Haon away. As Haon’s sullen eyebrows drooped, he added as if it was nothing.

“Take a break and think about it.”

“What does that have to do with thoughts…?”

Then he sat on the sofa across from me and shook a bottle of sleeping pills.

“First of all, this. Since when have you been eating this?”

“Are you okay? Do you know what that is? I said it’s something you don’t use very often.”

When Ha-on answered with a tilted head, Ju-yeol clicked his tongue as if he didn’t like something.

“When I asked the head doctor at the headquarters for the strongest sleeping pill, I saw him mix this, but he ultimately refused to give it to me. He said it was too toxic and had strong side effects.”

“You can’t sleep either? It does have some side effects, but… … I kept taking it because I felt like I needed to sleep.”

“on the sly?”

His eyebrows quirked upward.

Haon was still bumping into things here and there whenever he moved. He was still dazed and had poor distance perception due to the side effects of the sleeping pills.

As Ha-on sat on the sofa with an embarrassed expression, Ju-yeol spoke in a tone that showed he didn’t understand.

“On that topic, you don’t even change the access rights without fear?”

“But then it would seem like we’ve really broken up.”

He was taken aback by my childish and unfamiliar choice of word, ‘breakup.’ I thought we had already fallen out, but it seemed that was not the case for Ha-on.

‘That’s right. That’s why he suddenly hung on me and said he would help me or something like that.’

Joo-yeol sighed as he felt himself being swept away by Ha-on even at this moment.

But Haon felt good whether he was whining or sighing.

I was having a proper conversation with him for the first time in a long time, and he seemed to be worried about me. And it was in his penthouse.

“You came here because you need my help?”

“… …Before that, I have something to say.”

Ha-on sat up straight at Joo-yeol’s words with a hardened expression.

“I opened the USB.”

“… … !”

“Actually, it’s been a while since I opened it.”

“ah…….”

I couldn’t believe it even after seeing it. Haon nodded his head in gloomy mood.

I had expected that it might be so, but when it was actually confirmed, a corner of my heart ached.

‘If you don’t trust me, I asked you to trust my skills at least… ‘

A cold, desolate silence continued. The only sound that could be heard was the occasional sound of a sled rolling around.

Time passed without anyone opening their mouths, until the sound of tires ripping could be heard outside.

Joo-yeol broke the silence by chewing on a small curse.

“I can’t do this anymore. This whole thing with you… … .”

He couldn’t continue speaking and looked up at the ceiling with a complicated expression before lowering his gaze and meeting Ha-on’s eyes.

“Explain it.”

“huh?”

“How did the number 56 come about?”

“… … .”

Haon took a deep breath. It seemed like a scream was echoing in his ears.

But it felt different than when I showed the numbers on the back of my hand.

I was starting to feel a little bit of a sense that no one would believe me. I had decided that I would somehow resolve the misunderstanding. Maybe now was the chance.

You came all the way to the penthouse and sat in front of me, so maybe… … .

“I come from another dimension.”

Ha-on, who barely opened his mouth, felt as if he had gone back to the moment when he first met him.

“We fought against terrorists there for two years. A lot of people were killed and injured.”

It was the same old plea to be believed that he came from another dimension, but the circumstances were a little different this time.

“I killed maybe five terrorists, and the rest… … .”

What was different was that I spent time with him, and what was different was that he came to listen to me first.

Haon held her cold hand tightly.

“These are the people I couldn’t save.”

Juyeol frowned at the trembling voice.

Haon continued to speak, fidgeting with his hands, unable to keep still.

“I, if I had been just a little quicker, I could have saved him. So, to say that he died because of me… … isn’t wrong.”

“… … .”

After another long silence, he opened his mouth.

“Do you have any other evidence besides what’s on the USB?”

“… … !”

Haon opened his eyes wide, even though he didn’t realize he had them closed.

Juyeol’s expression itself was different from when he said he wouldn’t let it go if he brought up another dimension.

“Hey, there it is! I’ll show you. On my phone─.”

“Not that.”

“Huh? Then what… …?”

“Give me something I can’t manipulate. Something like information you couldn’t find out even if you hacked Hero HQ and tortured Chaser.”

“… … .”

“I have no choice but to trust you.”

Something that Joo-yeol has no choice but to believe.

He really came here with the intention of trusting me. My heart was pounding fast.

Ha-on, who was worried about what to say, put down his phone and spoke calmly.

“Where I lived, ‘Juyeol’ was the son of the director of the daycare center.”

There were some overlaps between me and ‘Eunhaon’. Some of them were creepy.

“The director was really kind to me. He was very affectionate and like a parent to me.”

So, there must definitely be such parts between him and ‘Juyeol’.

“The director often took me and the children from the daycare to the beach, and he always chose a rainy day to go.”

I continued, desperately hoping that this would be one of them.

“When I asked why, he said he liked watching the sea when it rains. And that’s the reason.”

Ha-on and Ju-yeol’s eyes met, and their mouths opened simultaneously.

“Because it looks like the sea is returning to the sky.”

“It looks like the sea is returning to the sky… … .”

Rattling.

The sofa was pushed back as Juyeol suddenly got up.