This Villain is Soft - Chapter 97



Only Noblemtl

Episode 97

“Why? What’s the problem?”

Joo-yeol, who had responded in a friendly manner, was walking down the stairs of the new hero headquarters while holding Ha-on in her arms.

The heroes and staff at headquarters looked at him with dumbfounded expressions, but Haonman was the one who felt embarrassed.

“I’m not hurt anywhere. I can walk down on my own two feet.”

When Ha-on showed signs of trying to get out of his arms, Ju-yeol held her body tighter.

“You’re right. Do you know how many times I’ve almost fallen down these stairs?”

“That, that’s because the stairs here are a little higher… …!”

“So just stay quiet.”

“Ugh… … .”

He finally let Haon down after reaching the first floor.

Haon rubbed his hot face and glared at him.

“Aren’t you treating me like a patient?”

“You are too weak.”

“I’m not weak!”

“You can’t even use magic engineering inside headquarters.”

“… … .”

Haon kept his mouth tightly shut.

In order to meet with hunters who had a lot of work to do at headquarters, it was most efficient for me to go in and out of the headquarters.

However, the Hunters and executives seem to regard magic engineering, which did not exist here, as a dangerous technology, and have banned the use of magic engineering within the headquarters building.

Haon agreed to this because he thought there would be no need to use magic engineering here since he had already made this building stronger.

Juyeol sighed as he looked at Haon’s crooked face.

“Yes. Correct me. It’s not you. It’s your body that’s too frail. I feed you with care, but why are you so thin and small? That’s why you can’t even run properly.”

Haon felt wronged. It’s true that he’s slow on his feet, but isn’t it a bit too much to not let him climb the stairs?

After going back to the lab and thinking it over, I concluded that it was excessive.

‘I think it started from that day.’

There was a day when I was drinking water in front of the main hall and got very upset.

He had only spilled some water and was unable to breathe properly for a moment due to coughing, but Juyeol took him straight to Solmae with a pale face.

I still vividly remember Solmae running over, thinking something big had happened, and then turning around with a flustered expression.

From that day on, Juyeol started to act as if Haon was a person made of glass and snow.

If you touch the machine, you might hurt your hand a little, and if you misstep, you might fall.

Every time that happened, Joo-yeol would make a fuss as if something big had happened. He didn’t even care about the bruises that were forming on his body.

“Don’t you think it’s too much?”

Haon grabbed River, who had come to share the status of the underground passage in District 2, and asked him.

She also used to glare at Joo-yeol as if she couldn’t stand his behavior, so I believed she would agree with what I said.

But River gave a different answer than expected.

“I guess so.”

“Are you serious?”

When Haon felt wronged, River made an awkward expression.

“That’s because you didn’t see Ghost’s expression that day.”

“That day?”

“The day you fell into the water. You died in front of him and came back to life.”

“ah.”

Haon knew that his heart had stopped for a moment that day. He also knew that he had survived thanks to River.

I couldn’t even imagine how surprised Joo-yeol must have been watching that scene from the side.

‘If Joo-yeol had done that… … .’

I guess I’ve become more sensitive to his safety too.

Haon, lost in thought, nodded with a helpless expression.

And the next day.

While Joo-yeol was climbing the stairs to the headquarters, he looked at Ha-on, who was still holding him in her arms, with a curious look.

“Why are you so quiet today?”

“When do you tell me to be quiet?”

“It’s suspicious.”

He was groaning and struggling in embarrassment the day before, but today he is very cooperative.

Haon wrapped his arms around River’s neck steadily, recalling the conversation he had with him yesterday.

“Come to think of it, I used to cling to you and cling to you as I pleased. I thought there was nothing I couldn’t do for you. You can do whatever you want, too.”

“… … .”

At those words, Juyeol suddenly stopped, his shoulders flinching.

Then, with a slightly red face, he opened his mouth and then belatedly panicked.

“What the heck! This is going to be a big problem. Who else have you ever said something like that to? You wouldn’t have said that to your so-called friend, would you?”

“… … ?”

“Do whatever you want… … . There’s nothing I can’t say. Don’t go around saying things like that.”

“… … .”

Haon became more aggrieved.

I felt so upset at the words that I didn’t know what to do with them that I grabbed the hem of his clothes.

Juyeol thought Haon was afraid that he would fall, so he lightly picked her up and patted her shoulder as if to say that it was okay. It was a gentle touch.

Haon was embarrassed as his heart started to pound as his anxious feelings melted away.

‘What the heck… … .’

I buried my face in his shoulder, not wanting him to see my relaxed expression right now.

‘It’s embarrassing, but it’s comfortable. It’s also warm.’

Thinking like that.

* * *

It wasn’t long before the Hero Headquarters in District 2 resumed full operation.

Haon continued to check the underground passages in District 2 for any suspicious signs, going back and forth between the research lab and the old city.

But Bae An-jae stopped me from taking over District 4 once and didn’t even bother to show me any more.

‘The more hasty you are, the more you’ll get involved. Don’t be swayed and just do what you can.’

As soon as Haon confirmed that areas 2 and 4 were running stably, he started fixing the belt.

If only Ttyong had been next to Joo-yeol on the day Han-ra got hit by a truck, things would have been much better.

‘I wanted to make it more durable. If I did, it would break more easily when it rolls around and the parts collide.’

Ha-on checked the number again and went up to the 4th floor research lab to check the screen.

After the server expansion, it has become much easier to find data on the ‘Eunhaon’ server.

The amount of data that ‘Eunhaon’ had was on the level of a single portal site, so I couldn’t even imagine how long it would take to find the information I wanted without Blue’s help.

‘If I had more time, I would spend the whole day opening up all the materials here and doing nothing.’

Haon looked through the materials Blue had selected.

I was able to figure out the wavelength of the sniper’s mana from the armor fragments Nova gave me.

When analyzing the syringe River had brought, mana of the same wavelength was vaguely detected in the blood on the tip of the needle.

The blood was the sniper’s.

‘I thought it was a potion administered to Halo because it had Halo’s name on it. It was the opposite.’

The liquid remaining in the syringe was a potion that seemed to have been made by Bae An-jae, mixed with someone’s blood.

It’s not the sniper’s, it’s probably Halo’s blood, as the name on the syringe says.

‘I injected a potion mixed with Halo’s blood into the sniper.’

Haon used the sniper’s blood and mana waves to arbitrarily construct a body record that looked like a combination of an MRI and an X-ray.

‘… … It’s terrible.’

Although it was an unclear sample, this alone gave an idea of ​​how bad the sniper’s condition was.

‘To this extent, he must have been sensitive to mana and suffered from minor illnesses even before the forced awakening. Mana is abundant here.’

I felt the areas where blood seemed to have clots with my fingertips. There was something like an old stain on the ribs near the heart.

‘Seeing the mana bullets I shot in pain and the shield of the awakening orb protecting me, I guess mana can be both medicine and poison.’

Haon turned off the screen with a complicated mind.

‘Why don’t you do something like forced awakening?’

After analyzing the data, I decided not to tell Joo-yeol that I felt a little sorry for the sniper.

Because feeling sorry doesn’t erase what I did to him.

‘Then now… … .’

Haon’s gaze turned to the ceiling. Directly above was the Dimensional Gate Research Lab.

‘I should start preparing to go back soon.’

The creation of the dimensional gate was progressing successfully.

After several trials and errors, Haon boldly adjusted the formula as if he had witnessed a secret piece of the universe after waking up from a long sleep.

It was really soon now.

‘By the way, who should I hand over the areas I’m in charge of? Should I just hand them all over to the Hunters?’

While I was deep in thought, my phone rang. It was a call from Nova.

“hello?”

[… … .]

When there was no response, I checked the caller again and it was definitely Nova.

“Nova?”

[A moving star is seen, twinkling red.]

Haon, who had been puzzled by the sudden words, soon opened his eyes wide.

“When you are struggling with loss and feeling lonely and can’t sleep, call me.”

“then?”

“I tell you about stars, and Nova opens the window and looks for them. Doesn’t that sound fun?”

I remembered the conversation I had with him and sighed silently before thinking back to Nova’s words.

A star that moves and twinkles red?

“It must be an airplane.”

As I answered with a chuckle, a gruff voice came from the other end of the phone.

[Honey. Are you laughing?]

“Why are you calling me honey again? You haven’t called me like that in a while.”

[It doesn’t matter because it’s a different self.]

Haon was puzzled, unable to guess Nova’s intentions.

[Honey. Aren’t you going to tell me?]

“Oh, do you see three stars lined up in a straight line in the sky? That’s─”

He was still a difficult person to understand, but the fact that he called me while looking at the night sky must mean that he felt lonely.

Haon listened to Nova’s humming voice as he counted the stars one by one with his eyes.