The Villain Is Good at Being Behind -3-
Someone once said: Life is a blessing in disguise. In this case, that someone wasn’t me. To break down Saeongjima, it means the happiness and misfortune in a person’s life have so many variables that it’s difficult to predict or assume anything. This was the only ancient idiom I remembered from my original world.
If you wander around the university district, you’ll always spot fresh-faced young kids already slumping around like they’ve lived a full lifetime of disappointment. To those kids, I’d rest a hand on their shoulder and say, “Life’s a total saeongjima, man. Don’t get stuck on your current misfortune—look toward the happiness waiting in the distant future.” Once I said that, it was over. Game, set, match. At least for the rest of that day, I would feel incredibly proud of myself. That’s why I memorized it completely, background story and all.
“Heh…”
It was roughly thirty minutes after the train had departed. Nadja had fallen into a deep sleep before ten minutes had even passed. I was carefully jotting down personal memos, worried she might wake up.
I had made writing personal memos a habit not long ago. The reason was simple: to pack my head with as much knowledge of the original story as possible. My existence had already altered quite a few major plot points. Still, knowing the established settings—like in Nadja’s case—would inevitably prove useful at some point.
Personal Memo
This is from the middle of Chapter 4, in the episode where Last is exiled to the surface. Cheongang tried to move Last to the elevator using this train. However, the train already had members of the terrorist group known as the Followers of the Crescent Moon lying in ambush.
Their goal was to pull Last—who must have been deeply disappointed in Minos’s citizens—over to their side. But the Followers of the Crescent Moon couldn’t persuade him by any means. Because he was a genuine, order-obsessed, idiot pushover.
-Tap. Okay, today’s homework is finished.
Writing memos for too long always gave me a headache. I pressed the end button and heh, stretched my arms out wide.
I felt someone’s eyes on me, so I glanced over. We exchanged looks for about three seconds. I smiled sweetly and made a tiny V sign with my fingers.
“Heuk…”
The person next to me hurriedly turned away to stare at the distant city. Yes, please keep looking anywhere but at me.
At that moment—bang! Someone slammed open the compartment partition. Damn, that startled me. When I turned toward the noise, my eyes met the culprit.
That face—I remembered it. His name was definitely Kim Seokho. The one single-handedly supporting his sick younger sister. I’d heard he’d been sentenced to brainwashing by Eniac, so why was he here?
-Whoosh!
Something shot straight toward me. I clearly felt something cold graze my cheek. When I shifted my gaze, a vicious blade was now embedded in the headrest.
Did that guy remember what happened that day?
“Chae Yuha!!”
As if answering my question, Kim Seokho shouted my name and charged. That was proof his memories hadn’t been erased by the brainwashing.
“I’ve waited for this moment…!!”
-BOOM!!!
Suddenly a cloud of fire and lightning exploded right in front of me. It felt like a bomb had gone off. The entire car shook violently. Seated passengers were lifted off their seats and slammed back down.
In that chaos, I witnessed Kim Seokho—caught directly in the blast—fly all the way to the far wall and crash into it.
Thud… Kim Seokho collapsed. He seemed to have lost consciousness on the spot.
What the hell? What is going on?
I shook Nadja, trying to wake her. But true to her enhanced-human nature, once she fell asleep it was nearly impossible to rouse her.
“Everybody hands up!!”
A dozen or so armed soldiers emerged from the smoke.
There’s a phrase for moments like this: Well, life’s a saeongjima. Who the hell came up with that?
“Which one of you bastards is Chae Yuha? Come out while I’m still asking nicely.”
Click. The armed men loaded their rifles in unison. They thrust gun barrels at every seat, demanding, “Are you Chae Yuha?”
Who were these guys and why were they after me?
For now I stayed silent as a dead mouse and observed.
“Come out already!!”
Bang! A bullet tore through the train ceiling. Screams of “Kyaaak!” erupted as if on cue.
I swallowed hard. The train’s chrome-alloy deck had been pierced. That meant the bullets were armor-piercing rounds made of the same material.
Armor-piercing rounds. Expensive, large-caliber ammunition capable of punching through the skin of most enhanced humans.
These weren’t random thugs. They were professionals who had prepared, knowing exactly what kind of forces would be on this train.
And their target, for some reason, was me.
“Are you Chae Yuha?”
Before I knew it the armed men had reached the very last compartment where Nadja and I sat. I swallowed nervously. On the outside I kept smiling as if I were perfectly relaxed. If I didn’t, I was afraid I’d scream like the civilians earlier.
“Why aren’t you answering? Want a hole in your head?”
“Hey, take a look. Doesn’t she match the description the boss gave?”
When the guy behind asked, the one in front stared hard at my face and muttered, “Hmm, yeah.”
“Stand up. You’re coming with us.”
The words “Like hell” rose in my throat. I stayed glued to my seat. Having gun barrels pointed at me constantly would shatter my composure, so I deliberately kept my eyes on the window.
“Stand up now! Do you want to die?”
“Stop wasting time—just drag her.”
The black-clad man at the back reached for me with a meaty hand.
At that moment, a small hand grabbed his wrist instead.
“What? Let go!”
The man’s gaze dropped. There stood Nadja, who had just woken up and was stretching with a huge yawn.
“…Why won’t this release?”
Nadja rolled her eyes, trying to assess the situation. All the while the man’s wrist remained trapped in her grip.
“You little—let go!!”
“Hmm?”
Nadja tilted her head, then finally seemed to grasp the situation and rose from her seat.
“You guys are the Followers of the Crescent Moon, right? So why are terrorists who should be operating in Nago City pointing guns at my little sister? Hmm?”
-Squeeze…
“Aaaack!! My wrist! It’s breaking!!”
The veins on Nadja’s forehead bulged.
“And why have you been yelling so loudly? You woke me up. I was finally sleeping without nightmares for once.”
-Crack.
“Kuaaaack!!!”
The sound of bones shattering was unmistakable. As the man in black collapsed, the others trained their guns on Nadja at once.
“Fire!!”
Flames spat from the rifles loaded with armor-piercing rounds. But when the smoke cleared, not a single bullet had touched her. A thin barrier radiating from Nadja’s body had stopped every round dead.
The terrifyingly spinning bullets lost their momentum on the thin membrane and clattered to the floor.
Shocked by the sight, the terrorists even forgot to reload. Nadja completely ignored them, calmly picking up the expensive shell casings one by one.
“What… what is this?”
“A barrier that armor-piercing rounds can’t penetrate?”
“An enhanced human with special abilities!”
No. Nadja’s power wasn’t something as simple as a barrier. If I had to describe it, hers was closer to Iron Man. Overwhelming technological prowess that reached the realm of science fiction. The countless inventions born from that power. That was Nadja’s true ability and her weapon.
“Sawol, are you hurt anywhere?”
Nadja glanced back at me. I barely held onto my concept, flashing a bright smile.
“Nope. I believed in you, sis.”
It would have been even better if you’d woken up a little sooner, though.
Kim Seokho had been unconscious for roughly five minutes. In that time the terrorists who had stormed the last car had been almost entirely dealt with—by none other than Nadja.
She summoned weapons and shields out of thin air, completely overwhelming the armed squad. I wasn’t sure if “summon” was the precise term, but no one would argue it didn’t fit. To an outsider, the sight of invisible nanomachines assembling instantly into swords and shields would look exactly like weapon summoning.
After dragging the now ice-cold corpses into a corner, Nadja approached Kim Seokho.
“What should we do with him?”
I had told her the story. He had received brainwashing yet retained his memories and had come to target me. From Nadja’s perspective it was an unbelievable tale, but from my perspective it left a lingering unease.
“I want to keep him alive.”
Since he had appeared before me again, I couldn’t simply pretend to forget him.
Nadja decided to respect my wishes, adding the footnote that her little sister was too kind for her own good.
And Kim Seokho, who had regained consciousness a short while ago, had heard every word of the conversation.
“Hey, what’s taking so long?!”
More terrorists arrived. Nadja immediately went to handle them, leaving only Chae Yuha and Kim Seokho in the rear of the train.
“Can you hear me?”
Chae Yuha spoke. She already knew he was awake. Nadja would have known too—enhanced humans possessed far sharper senses than ordinary people.
“Why did you come? If you still have your memories, you should have just kept living quietly with your sister.”
At those words Kim Seokho’s temper flared, but he couldn’t show it outwardly.
I want to keep him alive.
Was that why? Kim Seokho couldn’t understand his own heart. The moment he saw Chae Yuha’s face, murderous rage had surged inside him. Yet when he actually threw the knife, he had hesitated. That was why the trajectory had gone strangely off course.
“How is your sister? Is she doing well?”
“…Don’t you dare speak about my sister with that filthy mouth.”
“She’s sick, right? Sick enough that she can only survive by becoming an enhanced human.”
“…Shut up. I’ll kill you.”
“The brainwashing didn’t erase your memories, did it? Does your sister know that?”
“……”
At Chae Yuha’s persistent questions, Kim Seokho fell silent. She took it as confirmation.
“She doesn’t know? Your sister must be very sad.”
“What would you know?”
“I do know. Even someone like me once had a family.”
The implication was that she no longer did. Kim Seokho couldn’t ignore those words.
He, who had been staring at the floor the entire time, finally lifted his head to look at her.
“You’re finally looking at me.”
Chae Yuha smiled faintly. It wasn’t her usual smile that hid her true feelings, but a sorrowful one tinged with melancholy.
“You are my sore spot. Thanks to you, the city no longer hates enhanced humans without reason. But calling it a sacrifice feels wrong, because I used you however I pleased.”
“What exactly are you trying to say?”
“I’m giving you a chance to help me.”
Chae Yuha extended her hand toward Kim Seokho.
“If you refuse, I’ll spread the fact that you threw a knife at me all over the internet.”