This Villain is Soft - Chapter 87
Only Noblemtl
Episode 87
“Hey! You really… … !”
Joo-yeol’s face turned bright red and he was holding on tightly to the bottom of Ha-on’s T-shirt.
“Huh?”
“Why are you stopping me? It was nice to see you.”
As Nova spoke with a sly smile, Juyeol poured out all kinds of curses with his eyes.
Haon looked around at the unexpected reaction. The heroes also looked visibly surprised.
‘Why is that? Is that what happens when you lift your clothes in front of heroes? It’s indecent? But it’s just a little bit of sideburns… ‘
Haon, embarrassed, spoke as if making excuses.
“I, I was just trying to show that I don’t have a tattoo─.”
“You really don’t have any tattoos… …?”
“Wasn’t that tattoo erased with that strange technique?”
“That being said, there are a few scars… … .”
The heroes were muttering with confused expressions.
‘Do you believe me?’
When Haon was starting to have thoughts of what might happen.
Beep─ Beep─.
An alarm sounded simultaneously from the band of heroes.
Haon looked back at Juyeol and asked, “Should I go?”
“Someone took over District 2 after District 1, so we have another emergency meeting.”
“… … That wasn’t what I meant.”
“good job.”
Joo-yeol, whose face had lost its heat, stroked Ha-on’s cheek.
“You go in quickly. You must be tired.”
“Okay. I’ll fix it up for you, Ttiyong.”
Ha-on felt a tickle in his chest at the sight of Ju-yeol’s actions, which seemed to have become more gentle and more intrusive.
He put on the helmet I had modified for him and got on his bike. It was a helmet I hadn’t seen in a while, but it seemed like he had kept it.
Ha-on scratched his cheek as he watched the receding heat.
‘Has Juyeol… become soft?’
* * *
On the way back to the lab, all sorts of complex thoughts ran through Haon’s head.
I quickly kicked off my damp shoes and changed into slippers, then stopped for a moment and Nova let out a chuckle.
“What are you thinking about this time?”
He came with Haon, saying he would definitely take him to the lab.
Haon stared at him intently and thought about it.
Even though quite some time had passed since Nova and Anjido met, there was a question they had never asked before.
A question that never disappears, even if it is sometimes overshadowed by other issues when we are too busy.
Haon finally decided to ask the question out loud.
“Nova, what happened to Halo? Why are you trying to kill Halo?”
Nova made a surprised expression and then furrowed her eyebrows.
“Honey. Are you just now starting to wonder about me? Wow, you’re asking so quickly.”
“I guess it’s a bit weird to dig into someone else’s personal grudges.”
This time, the eyebrows moved upward.
“… … Man? Personal? The choice of words is really disappointing?”
Nova crossed her arms with a pouty expression, as if she was just saying something.
Haon waved his hand, saying that was not the case.
“Actually, I asked Chacha once. Why does Nova want to kill Halo? But Chacha said he doesn’t know the reason either.”
He was not the type to go around telling others about himself. It was only natural that no one knew about his circumstances.
“Have you been asking about me behind my back?”
“I’m sorry if I offended you─.”
“Isn’t it touching? Our baby is finally growing into an adult worthy of being a boss.”
It also seemed like it wasn’t just words.
Haon looked at Nova, who was smiling happily, and continued speaking, thinking that there was something special about her.
“If there’s a problem I can help with without killing Halo, I’ll lend my strength.”
“That’s touching, but the only thing I can help you with is creating a weapon that can definitely kill Halo.”
“You don’t always need a weapon to solve a problem.”
Nova giggled as if she had heard something innocent, then touched her chest.
“Halo stole something very important.”
“What is that? I’ll help you get it back.”
“It can’t be taken back. Even after killing Halo.”
Speaking softly, Nova unbuttoned his shirt. There was a large scar on the left side of his chest.
“… … !”
It was such a horrible scar that Haon almost asked the stupid question, ‘Could it be that Halo stole your heart?’
Even though it had already healed, my chest still felt sore.
“What did you take and how did you take it?”
“I don’t know exactly what that is.”
“… … ?”
“What is certain is that after I awakened, a part of the Awakening Orb covered my heart like a shield and protected it, and thanks to that, I was able to control my abilities as soon as I awakened.”
Haon was startled and stared at his chest, which was hidden by his clothes.
Not much is known about how the forced awakening occurs, but it seems that the power may manifest itself in a form outside the body.
Although it is not a forced awakening, I wonder if River’s gills are one of those cases.
“That shield is a halo… … .”
“I was taken away by the light. After that, I had a hard time controlling my powers, like learning to walk again.”
Haon unconsciously raised his hand to his scar and hesitated.
“Does it still… … hurt… … ?”
Now that the wound had healed, his hand, unable to touch or leave it alone, wandered near his chest.
Then Nova grabbed Haon’s hand and placed it on her chest.
“… … !”
“It doesn’t hurt. Even if you touch it like this.”
“… … .”
Haon stroked his scar as he moved his hand.
I could feel his heartbeat pounding against my skin, which was thinner and smoother than my healthy skin.
“You must have been in a lot of pain.”
“That’s right. It hurt so bad, honey.”
Nova tangled her fingers with Haon’s and cried.
Haon noticed that he was starting to play again and pulled his hand away.
It felt strange that his steady heartbeat still lingered in my fingertips.
“What do you think Halo was going to do with it?”
“Until yesterday, I had no idea either.”
Nova straightened her clothes and raised the corners of her lips in a feminine manner.
“I think I understand a little bit today.”
“What is it?”
He took something black and flat out from his pocket.
He came out of the underground passage late, saying he was looking for something, but it seemed like he found what he was looking for.
“Is it carbon fiber?”
“You recognized me right away, didn’t you? It’s part of the clothes the sniper was wearing.”
“… … !”
Haon, who guessed what he was going to say, immediately looked at the carbon fiber.
A truly astonishing amount of mana was imbued. It was densely packed with the remains of condensed mana.
“Did you see it?”
When Haon asked, Nova looked at the carbon fiber with a cold smile.
“Vaguely. And it was mine originally. I could tell even through the smallest of cracks.”
“How could that be… … .”
Haon reminisced about the moment he shot the mana bullet at the sniper.
I thought it didn’t have any impact because it was just pushed back a little and the mana bullet was absorbed into the sniper’s body.
The burden on my heart felt like the clothes on my left chest were slightly torn.
It was probably the location where part of the Awakening Orb covering Nova’s heart was transplanted.
Then it makes sense that he absorbed mana.
“I couldn’t detect the Awakening Sphere even though we were in the same space. I guess they used stealth technology there too.”
Ha-on took a bottle of blue liquid out of her pocket. She also did not leave Bae An-jae’s residence empty-handed.
“I think the sniper’s forced awakening wasn’t completely successful.”
It was the blood the sniper had vomited, like blue mud.
“Halo and Sniper… What’s the relationship between them?”
He took him as his right arm and carried him around, forcibly awakening him, and during the process, a problem arose, so he stole Nova’s awakening shield and transplanted it.
“Are you going to train a successor?”
“Honey. It doesn’t matter.”
Nova added, placing a piece of carbon fiber in Haon’s hand.
“The important thing is that you stole from me and messed with me. If Halo cares so much about snipers, doesn’t that just give them more options for revenge?”
“… …Would you like to promise again?”
Haon slowly raised his little finger.
“… … Heh heh.”
Nova giggled for a while, wondering what was so funny, and then bit Haon’s little finger.
“Ah! Nova!”
Even when Haon pulled his finger out in shock, he just smiled playfully.
* * *
After Nova left, Haon headed straight to the dimensional portal research lab on the 5th floor.
Equipped with turbines and particle accelerators, the dimensional gate soon took on a more realistic appearance.
Haon placed a brilliantly shining diamond into the core of the dimensional gate.
‘Dimensional Prism!’
Even though he was extremely busy, he put a lot of effort into absorbing the Awakening Orb extract into this diamond.
And finally, today, I was heading to a place where there might be a halo. I took a diamond with me just in case.
When Halo unleashed a blinding beam of light, Haon absorbed all of its power into the diamond.
‘I should say it took longer than expected to create the dimensional prism. I should say it was created with great difficulty despite the many things that happened.’
The dimensional gates are becoming more and more colorful.
‘In theory, you just need to collect more awakening orbs and properly input the mana for the dimension you want to move to.’
Haon stopped as he picked up the fragments of the bomb that had been lodged in his side when he came here.
‘… …Why do I feel like this?’
I should be proud that the completion of the dimensional gate is not far off, but strangely, a corner of my heart felt empty.