This Villain is Soft - Chapter 77



Only Noblemtl

Episode 77

Although Ha-on was feeling suffocated, he didn’t push Ju-yeol away.

Joo-yeol thought as he carefully stroked Ha-on’s soft hair.

‘It’s small and warm. But it’s so skinny. How can someone so soft… … .’

He, who had been hugging Ha-on with a feeling of longing and excitement, gradually turned pale as he felt embarrassed.

‘To such a delicate child… … .’

Images of myself shooting Eunhaon, grabbing her by the collar, throwing her to the ground, threatening her, and spewing out a series of harsh words came to mind like a panorama.

I can’t believe you were so obsessed with a small and thin guy who could fit into my bag.

‘… … .’

I wanted to punch my past self. If possible, I wouldn’t forget to warn him to shut up.

“……hey.”

Joo-yeol felt sweat running down his back and released the arm he was holding onto Ha-on.

When I put my hand on her small shoulder, I could clearly see the difference in size between us.

“Why, why?”

Haon looked up at him, scratching her slightly reddened cheek.

He let out a painful sigh as he came face to face with that harmless, cute face that added to his guilt.

“sorry.”

“Huh? Oh, it’s okay. There’s no magic engineering here, so how could I believe in dimensional travel?”

“That’s not it.”

Joo-yeol continued speaking with an awkward expression.

“I feel like I’ve done a lot of bad things to you.”

“shame…….”

Haon began to recall, one by one, the things he had heard from him since he had first arrived here.

“What kind of nonsense is this?”

“Pick. How do you want your head to explode?”

“… …Fuck. Stop whining in front of me.”

… … I was really scared back then.

Haon shivered as he recalled the gun barrel poking his chin.

‘If I think about it, Juyeol hated seeing me cry. Maybe he had endured it to that extent. He might have really died that day when he fell into this dimension… ‘

As the blood drained from Ha-on’s cheeks, Ju-yeol fidgeted and took his hand off her shoulder.

“… … Sorry. It won’t happen again.”

“Yeah. I’m glad you believe me now.”

Haon felt truly relieved and cleared his chest.

Then Blue chirped to let us know.

[Haon! New changes have been delivered! Should we apply them to the map right away?]

It seemed like Nova, who had said he would look into the underground tunnels last night, had sent us the results.

“Let’s try it out before that.”

Haon turned his eyes to the map, guessing which places would be classified as ‘not sure’.

But what appeared on the blue holographic map was not the usual red mark.

“This is… … .”

A yellow triangle appeared near the port, indicating that something suspicious had been found.

‘But the port has already been investigated.’

I moved my fingertips to zoom in on the map, but it didn’t look any different than before. What did I find here?

While I was thinking about it, I got a call from Nova.

[Hello, honey. Did you sleep well? Did you get the location I sent?]

Juyeol, who had been observing the map, frowned at the natural and lively greeting.

“Nova! I just checked. Was there more to search in the harbor? What did you find?”

[I didn’t search the harbor. I saw an underpass that had been there before on our date after you left.]

Juyeol’s face hardened at the mention of date.

“Date? Are you talking about the trip to District 2?”

[That’s right. I was looking closely and went into that underpass this time, and what was there?]

Nova continued with a smile.

[There’s a huge, disgusting generator spinning?]

“Generator… … !”

[There seems to be a door inside past the generator, but I can’t go any further in.]

“Thank you for your hard work, Nova. Did you get out safely? Let’s not approach until we know for sure what that tunnel is.”

Haon finished the call and applied the new changes to the map.

“Are you saying that Halo dug a tunnel leading to the harbor in Sector 2 and hid a generator there?”

Joo-yeol pointed to the map and asked urgently.

“Rather than Halo, it was probably the plan of a terrorist who came from the same dimension as me.”

“… … .”

“Magic engineering can’t be done with just mana. It also requires a lot of electricity. If they were running a generator underground, tracking them with electrical signals might have been meaningless.”

Haon opened the panel of the nearby rolling Tiyong and made some adjustments. He added settings so that he could immediately see the information on the 3D map.

“Now, if you ask Ttiyong, you will be able to find out what is marked on my map.”

[I remember everything! I’ll tell you kindly!]

Ttyong stood on Juyeol’s shoulder with a proud look on his face.

He turned his head away from the old gentleman’s toaster with unfavorable eyes. It was obvious that he was unable to hide his dismay.

Haon looked at him blankly and then spoke firmly, hoping that something might happen.

“Did you hear what Nova said? You won’t be able to get any further than the generator anyway. If that’s really blocked by magic, you should never go alone.”

Joo-yeol nodded, suppressing the urge to rush into Area 2 right away.

“I’ll also go back to headquarters and check to see if Halla has reported any new construction.”

“Oh, then could you please look into it for a civilian?”

“who.”

“A person named Bae An-jae, who works as a counselor at a rehabilitation center.”

“Why? What did you do when you went for counseling?”

“That’s not it. … … In the dimension I was in, Bae An-jae was a terrorist. Just in case.”

“I’ll look into it. If you’re a civilian with no criminal record, there might not be any information at headquarters.”

“It’s okay if you can’t find it. And Joo-yeol.”

Haon clenched his fist, which had been trembling for some time.

“Don’t worry too much, Hyeseong will look into it too.”

“… … Okay. Thank you.”

He unclenched his fist, grabbed Haon’s hand once, and left the lab.

Ha-on saw him off to the entrance of the research lab as he returned to headquarters, which was hard to imagine considering the last time Ju-yeol had come to the lab and left so abruptly.

Despite their hearts pounding with anxiety because of the underground passage in District 2 that Nova had discovered, the two of them found themselves feeling much more at ease with each other.

“Juyeol. Be careful. I’ll contact you if I find anything.”

When Ha-on waved his hand in greeting, Joo-yeol also raised his hand slightly and turned around.

‘Anyway, they’re cute. Are all the people from that dimension cute?’

Joo-yeol, who was heading to his bike with pointless thoughts, suddenly realized something belatedly and his whole body froze.

If Ha-on came from another dimension, then the child named ‘Parang-i’, who was referenced when creating Blue, must have existed in real life, and the guy named ‘Our Ju-yeol’, who she sang about, must have also existed there.

He ground his teeth with an expression that suddenly became fierce.

‘What’s with the best friend? This guy is a really sneaky kid. How long have you been boiling him for?’

The unconditional kindness and defenseless attitude that Haon showed me were not directed towards a friend in my imagination, but towards the real ‘Universe Heat’.

Not oneself, but ‘another cosmic fever’.

‘… … .’

With his temper twisted, he strode back to the entrance of the research lab and grabbed Haon’s lower body with one hand to make him raise his head.

“hey.”

“Huh?”

“You’re not related to Nova at all?”

“… … ?”

Ha-on was cute with her cheeks pressed to both sides and her bewildered expression on her face, but Ju-yeol had to know for sure.

“Answer me. What is your relationship with Nova?”

“… … We’re managing Area 1 together and tracking the Halo?”

“So you’re saying we’re not related at all? So this level of greeting is okay?”

He snickered, pressed his lips against Haon’s cheek, and then pulled away.

“And that poisonous sleeping pill. Stop taking it now.”

“Huh?”

“I’ll come back again at night. I’m really going now.”

Ha-on watched Ju-yeol walk away with a blank expression, then sat down, covering the cheek where his lips had touched.

‘……uh?’

The ball under my palm instantly became hot.

‘Hey, what is this?’

My pounding heart wouldn’t calm down.

I’ve never done anything like this even with my childhood friend, ‘Juyeol’. Is that why?

But it felt so different when Nova’s lips touched mine.

‘Is it because you did it so suddenly? I was surprised when you suddenly greeted me like this while looking at my friend’s face… … .’

Haon fanned himself with his hand to cool down the heat that wouldn’t go away.

And that night, news was delivered that Bae An-jae, a counselor at Kwon Young Rehabilitation Center, had been found dead.

* * *

“What on earth do I have to do to get like this… … .”

“This is the first time even a coroner has seen something like this.”

The two detectives shook their heads as they watched Bae An-jae’s body being moved to the morgue.

“They say there was no particular grudge between them, but I think the patients who received counseling from this person would be surprised.”

“That’s true. What a sudden bolt from the blue, huh?”

“Didn’t the hero headquarters say they’d come check on it too?”

“I hope the coroner or the hero will figure something out.”

Everyone left the mortuary and the lights went out.

Just as silence fell and a sense of eeriness settled in, the ceiling ventilation hood opened.