A Perfect 100-Point Villain - Part 2 - We'll Do Anything for Money! - The Haedream Detective Agency
I stared at the business card that the burly, macho-looking man named Han Cheolho had handed me and exclaimed, “Wow, so the three of you run a detective agency together!”
Han Cheolho puffed out his chest like he was showing off and shrugged. “If you ever run into any trouble, don’t waste time worrying about it—just come find us!”
“Ugh, that’s so fucking gross…” muttered his younger sister, Han Yujin.
I had to agree it was pretty gross, but I kept my mouth shut. No brakes at all, even when it’s your own brother.
When I glanced over at Last, he was still staring straight through me. The sudden guilt made me quickly turn my gaze toward the window.
Han Cheolho and Han Yujin. I hadn’t noticed just from their faces, but the way they bickered was unmistakable. A-rank hero Han Cheolho and B-rank hero Han Yujin. The prologue of the original webtoon had Last exposing his identity while trying to protect these two, only to get dragged off to court. If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve paid way more attention to every single panel.
Let’s see… The older brother was A-rank, the younger sister was B-rank… This is gonna be tough.
If it were two B-ranks, maybe I could manage, but starting at A-rank, these guys begin using their special abilities. There’s a clear rock-paper-scissors dynamic between abilities, and worst of all, these characters barely had any screen time so I couldn’t remember what their powers even were. And with Last watching me so intently, I couldn’t exactly ask my status window for help.
What should I do? Maybe I’ll test the waters first.
As the siblings continued tearing into each other, I cut in. “Um…”
“Earlier, Jinhyun mentioned something about a ‘vigilante group.’ Does that mean you’re running the detective agency on the side?”
The two siblings instantly stopped fighting, their eyes sparkling as they answered in perfect sync.
“Oh no, it’s the opposite! The detective agency is our main job, and we do vigilante stuff on the side. We’re both Enhanced Humans, you see.”
Both clearly referred to Han Cheolho and Han Yujin. Just as I expected, Last was still hiding the fact that he was an Enhanced Human too.
“I see! So did you get official ranks from the Hero Corporation? You need a rank to have legal sanction for private punishment, right?”
“Hehe, prepare to be shocked! This gorilla right here is actually an A-rank!”
“Whoa! A-rank?”
“That’s how we’ve been able to keep the agency running this long. Otherwise they would’ve shut us down ages ago. These days everyone’s super sensitive because of all those unidentified Enhanced Human rampage incidents.”
After that, no matter what I asked, the pair answered with sparkling eyes and genuine enthusiasm. They were surprisingly good-natured for how they looked. So this was why Last had risked exposing himself to save them.
“Wow~ This is my first time meeting an A-rank! I heard that starting at A-rank, you can use special abilities or something like that. Is that true?”
“Ah, well, it varies from person to person, but in my brother’s case—”
“Yujin.”
At that moment, Last, who had been quietly listening, cut sharply into the conversation.
W-what? Did I do something wrong?
I tensed up, watching Last’s expression carefully. He continued, “The food’s here. Let’s talk while we eat.”
He then helped the waiter—who was carrying plates with both hands—set the table. I tried to calm my slightly shriveled nerves and began distributing the spoons.
“Thank you, sis.”
“Hey, why is the youngest one in the group the only one not handing out spoons?”
“What are you talking about? Why are you acting all high and mighty when I’m just being nice?”
Leaving the siblings to their renewed bickering, I handed a spoon to Last. He stared at it for a moment, then—
Grab.
He deliberately made sure our hands touched as he took the spoon directly from mine.
Fuck…
The fact that his expression didn’t change at all made it even more terrifying.
And so, the meal began amid unbearable tension—so tense I couldn’t even tell what I was putting in my mouth. Maybe it was because they were Enhanced Humans, but even after I felt full, the food kept coming nonstop. Every time the mountain of empty plates grew too high, a waiter would come and clear them away. Their expression seemed to grow darker with each trip.
Hang in there…
At least they’d be getting a big tip.
“Fuck… can’t they eat in moderation…”
It was then that a voice—whether it belonged to a waiter or someone else, I couldn’t tell—brushed past my ear.
“Wow, look at them. How much are they even eating?”
Now that I was paying attention, it wasn’t just one voice.
“So that’s why this place is so popular. They make bank off bastards like that—how could they not do well?”
I’d been too distracted to notice before, but the voices had been there the whole time.
“Isn’t the woman next to them a normal person?”
“Doesn’t look like she’s with them. Maybe she just joined their table? See, those three are all wearing the same clothes. Probably coworkers.”
“Ugh, if it were me, I’d rather wait than eat with Enhanced Humans.”
It had been so long since I’d been exposed to raw human malice that I suddenly felt like I couldn’t breathe. I took a sip of water and glanced at Last and the siblings. Shockingly, not a single shadow crossed their faces. It was as if the people’s insults simply didn’t reach them.
There’s no way you wouldn’t hear what I can hear.
“Hehe.”
The moment that thought landed—
“Hehehe…”
I suddenly found the entire situation unbearably amusing.
“Huh? Sis, why are you laughing in the middle of eating?”
“No reason.”
I sliced the meat on my plate in half and looked around. The people who had been noisily murmuring just moments ago all fell silent the instant our eyes met.
“Does laughter need a reason?”
That’s right. Reasons aren’t necessary at all.
[All Evil Begins with a Single Step!]
[Mission: Acquire 100 Villain Points]
[Reward: Point Shop Unlocked, One Piece of Future Knowledge]
Whether it’s good deeds or evil deeds, reasons are ultimately unnecessary.
Thank you. For giving me an excuse not to hesitate.
“Excuse me, waiter.”
I raised my hand high and called over a server in the distance.
“Could I get a highball, please?”
It was time to put the plan into motion.
On the 21st-floor terrace of Cheongang Department Store, Jinhyun stood gazing at the sky, lost in thought, when Han Cheolho approached him.
“Hey, Hyun. Why’ve you been so stiff all day? Something bad happen?”
“…It’s nothing.”
Jinhyun’s eyes remained fixed on the pitch-black night sky as he answered. Han Cheolho let out a heavy snort, clearly dissatisfied, and clapped a hand on his shoulder.
“You got some secret you can’t talk about?”
A secret he couldn’t talk about. At those words, Jinhyun—who was foolishly honest by nature—froze solid.
“Just tell me. Don’t keep it bottled up alone.”
Han Cheolho patted him gently, his voice full of concern. But how could he possibly say it? That he was actually a First Generation Enhanced Human without any nanomachines in his head. That the very first Enhanced Human laboratory—now so distant it felt like a dream—was his hometown. That in that lab, there had been other friends besides him.
“………”
…And that the woman he’d met for the first time today—Chae Yuha, was it?—with her bright smile that gave no hint of what she was thinking, had made him feel strangely at peace, like he’d returned home.
How on earth could he possibly explain any of that?
“Hey!”
Smack!
A sharp pain brought Jinhyun’s consciousness crashing back to reality.
“That hurts, hyung.”
“Yeah, I’m your hyung! Haah… seriously, you.”
Han Cheolho let out a deep sigh and looked at him.
“I won’t say anything else, so stop tormenting yourself alone. Come back inside once you’ve sorted your thoughts, got it?”
With those short words, Han Cheolho stuck a cigarette in his mouth and left the terrace.
Jinhyun rubbed his stinging back and stared at the spot where Han Cheolho had been standing.
A-rank hero Han Cheolho had always been like this. Back when Jinhyun had escaped the lab and was wandering lost, the man had taken him in and given him the solid shelter of a detective agency. When his dying sister needed saving, he’d scraped together every last won to turn her into an Enhanced Human too. Call it reckless, sloppy, lazy, thuggish—any word would fit. That was simply how Han Cheolho lived.
When he thought of it that way, Jinhyun felt the tangled mess in his chest slowly unravel.
That’s right. What good would worrying do? Nothing would change anyway. And if he was that curious, couldn’t he just ask directly?
‘Have we met somewhere before?’
…Yeah, that sounded terrible.
Having finally organized his thoughts, Jinhyun was on his way back to the restaurant when—
“You fucking bastards. I don’t care if you talk shit about us behind our backs or to our faces, but you should at least treat us like human beings, don’t you think? Huh?”
The restaurant was being torn apart by an Enhanced Human consumed with uncontrollable rage.