The Villain's Shadow
The woman eventually followed the man into the opposite alley. The taxi had been blocking the view, so fortunately, Lim Hana remained undetected.
“Ah, aghhh…!”
Her head throbbed. Her back ached. Her entire body screamed in pain. It felt like all those horrific memories were resurfacing. From the first time they met to everything that had happened recently. A relentless chain of hatred and agony.
The woman who had lived a life completely opposite to hers was an existence of utter despair. At the same time, she was an insurmountable wall. In the end, Lim Hana had fallen to her knees before that faint, seeping light.
She had submitted to Cheon Mari.
But even that didn’t change reality.
I can’t do this… I have to apologize…
The reality where she had treated Kang Sian with indifference. The reality where she had ignored his words. The reality where she had attacked him. The reality where she had tried to kill him. And the reality where, in those fabricated memories, she had hated him with every fiber of her being.
Even one of those things would have been enough to end a friendship. Yet Lim Hana, despite once caring for him, had committed all of them countless times. No matter how much she tried to atone, there was a line that simply could not be crossed.
Bringing up their shared childhood friendship in hopes of forgiveness was nothing but deception. Besides, if true forgiveness were that easy, the world would never have reached this state.
Take the early twenty-first century, when Nazi Germany brought some unidentified magical device to Earth. What happened? Accelerated global warming. Days stretched to thirty hours. Months shortened to twenty-five days. Years reduced to three hundred. The device malfunctioned without warning, turning the entire planet into chaos. It nearly destroyed the moon.
Luckily, the United States threatened them with nuclear weapons and forced them to stop. Otherwise, Earth might have ended up like Shareltea—without a moon and surrounded by a ring of asteroids.
But there was no real relief. The flow of time had become eerily similar to Shareltea’s.
In response to that catastrophe, Nazi Germany expressed “deep regret” as a form of apology. And how did the anti-World Tree nations of Earth reply?
Obviously, they told them to fuck off and demanded proper compensation along with a genuine apology from the Führer.
Still, as was typical with such incidents, sincere effort could usually reduce the demanded reparations. The real problem, of course, was the apology itself. For them, the idea of the Führer bowing his head was simply unthinkable.
The proxy of the World Tree. The Grand Sword Master. The Leader. The Übermensch. He was a self-proclaimed superior being who had transcended humanity. It was a realm no one could dare encroach upon. In their eyes, the fact that he hadn’t responded with overwhelming force to such demands was already a form of apology.
A truly remarkable act of restraint.
The citizens of the free world were deeply moved. After all, this was the same Führer who had been mocked as a pathetic Grand Sword Master that even an S-rank hunter could beat with his feet. They never imagined he would show them such consideration.
Before long, the streets were filled with “real men” and “real women” insisting that gifts be prepared for the Führer. And so, governments bound to follow the will of the people prepared a single gift.
Naturally, the recipients weren’t limited to Germany. The nations of Shareltea were included as well. After all, they had taken advantage of Earth’s chaos to launch attacks and then expressed their “regret.”
Thus, medical ethics were upheld.
Across Germany and the entirety of Shareltea, massive quantities of improved versions of the zombie drugs krokodil and bath salts were distributed. All under the tacit approval of freedom- and human-rights-loving citizens, carried out by democratically elected governments.
A benevolent act of donating massive amounts of Earth-made narcotics to hostile forces.
A few years later, this produced remarkable social effects. Hundreds of millions became so addicted to Earth’s drugs that they began tearing each other apart in the throes of side effects—creating a literal heaven for the World Tree.
And as a free bonus, they even included fentanyl whose effectiveness had already been proven. The craze lasted roughly ten years. It was such an outstanding humanitarian effort that reelection was practically guaranteed.
A good deed, indeed. They hadn’t actually forgiven anyone.
True forgiveness was only possible when the other party desired it. And it was only possible when both sides stood on nearly equal footing.
But where did she and Kang Sian stand as equals now?
Lim Hana was nothing more than one member of a group of assailants facing imminent investigation and lawsuits. Of course, since her spine had been shattered by a backbreaker, she would likely avoid prison on grounds of self-defense. Still, the fact that she would be stuck paying enormous fines or receiving a suspended sentence didn’t change. She remained in the position of the defeated.
In a situation like this, what would it mean to tell Kang Sian that she regretted everything?
It wouldn’t be forgiveness. It would simply be begging for mercy.
No matter what her intentions were. No matter what she had been aiming for. No matter what she had hoped to resolve.
Lim Hana could not be forgiven under the name of childhood friend.
And tragically, Kang Sian had no intention of showing even that much mercy.
“Where did I hide this last time…? I’m sure I stashed it somewhere in this alley.”
“Haa, maybe someone took it.”
“No way. I definitely hid it near the warehouse wall.”
“Mari, that’s why I told you we should’ve just smuggled it to headquarters or your house…”
From the very beginning, Kang Sian had no reason to treat her like a childhood friend. They had only been close during kindergarten and elementary school before becoming enemies. On the other hand, Cheon Mari was his real childhood friend. The person in question might think it was bullshit, but that was simply how it was.
Therefore, the forgiveness Lim Hana desperately wanted would never come. It was an unchangeable truth, an unbreakable shackle of time.
To Sian… I’m sorry… I was wrong… No, if only I hadn’t done that from the start…
In the end, she hit a psychological wall. Her self-esteem plummeted at the reality that she lacked even the courage to apologize, and she fell into despair. She blamed herself harshly and cursed the person she used to be. Everything had gone wrong from that moment, she thought. If only that hadn’t happened, she would have been the one standing in that place.
It was a delusional fantasy. The mindset of a typical coward who could only look backward.
And it was right then, as one woman sank deeper into despair, that Kang Sian and Cheon Mari discovered something in the corner of the alley.
“Oh? This is it! Yeah, this is the one!”
“Hey, keep your voice down.”
“Oops. Anyway, see? I told you I hid it well.”
“Yeah, you did hide it well. Though the fact that it’s next to a dumpster is a bit of a problem.”
Several boxes capable of holding ten bottles of Vitamin 500 each sat beside the trash bin. When they opened one, bundles of yellow paper spilled out. They were none other than “laundered, inedible dietary supplements.”
The two began counting the contents inside the boxes.
“Eight boxes worth 100 million won each. You?”
“Same here. Not a single one was stolen.”
What a relief.
The reason they had gone through the trouble of hiding these “truly inedible dietary supplements” here was to avoid getting unnecessarily entangled during any investigation.
“Mari, the boxes smell. Giving these as gifts seems a bit much, don’t you think?”
“That’s… true… What should we do?”
“Then let’s take them and transfer everything into different boxes.”
“Apple boxes? Pear boxes?”
“That’s too cliché. Let’s disguise them as Christmas presents instead. Since it’s the end of the year, if we wrap them like electronics, no one should get suspicious.”
“Oh, now that you mention it, Sua unni said she’d be back home from her business trip at 29 o’clock. Well, we have plenty of time.”
It was a truly profound and perfectly legal conversation. Lim Hana, whose mind worked rather slowly, couldn’t understand a single word of it.
Kang Sian lifted the “anyway, inedible dietary supplements.” Just as he was about to move, Cheon Mari stopped him.
“Wait. How much are you planning to give as gifts?”
“I have my dignity as a professor to maintain. I’ll give Sua noona 1 billion… and um… what should we do with the remaining 600 million?”
“Hmm, here’s an idea. Why don’t you give the rest to your cousin?”
“Harin noona? But she’s a prosecutor. Is that even allowed?”
“People accept huge sums all the time anyway. Besides, even if she works in the provinces, money is always necessary.”
These “anyway, inedible dietary supplements” were beneficial to everyone. They stimulated desires that even naturally occurring communists couldn’t resist.
That was why Kang Sian carefully considered the current laws. After roughly ten seconds, he nodded.
“She’s family, after all. Shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Good. Then if any issues arise later, we’ll say you gave it to Harin unni and I gave it to Sua unni. Got it?”
“Huh? You’re saying you gave it instead of me?”
“If we say you gave both, it’ll look suspicious from every angle. Better to split it.”
“No, that’s not what I mean. What excuse are you going to use?”
“I’ll just say I gave it because we’re like family.”
The story was set. They nodded at each other and began carrying the “presumably legal and inedible dietary supplements” toward the taxi. Along the way, they discreetly slipped some of the bundles they had taken out of the boxes into the driver’s hand.
The taxi driver was startled and tried to get out to express his gratitude, but Kang Sian quickly stopped him. Meanwhile, Cheon Mari loaded all the boxes into the trunk. Once the trunk was closed, the two casually glanced around.
It was just a precaution. Still feeling uneasy, they whispered softly to maintain their cover.
Huh…? What the… What are they doing…?
It was around then that Lim Hana managed to pull herself slightly out of her despair. Unable to understand what they were talking about, her curiosity surged. But it didn’t take long for her to realize that curiosity was poison.
The moment the whispering stopped, Kang Sian and Cheon Mari turned to face each other.
E-eh…?!
And then they suddenly embraced.
Warmly. Tenderly. Gently.
In the snowy weather, beneath the faint glow of the streetlights, the scene stood out even more. It looked like a painting, like something out of a storybook.
Of course, to someone it was a nightmare straight from hell.
Lim Hana stared into the horrific abyss with a deathly pale face.
“N-no… Sian, she’s a bad… girl…”
No matter what she said, no one would listen. All she could do was helplessly watch as both of them blushed faintly.
“I thought I heard someone’s voice. Must be my imagination.”
“My hands were cold, so I guess I let it slip.”
She had thought it couldn’t get any worse. But reality always had a way of being worse than expected.
“It’s cold. Can I put them in?”
With those words, she slipped her hands inside his coat. It was an incredibly bold move. Kang Sian simply stared at her.
“…Never mind. Just hold on tight.”
He pulled her hands out, then immediately lifted Cheon Mari into a princess carry.
“Kyaa~”
Her voice was dripping with coquettishness. The emotion behind it was painfully obvious.
Lim Hana clenched her teeth so hard her eyes grew wet. The past she could have claimed for herself now filled her with instinctive revulsion.
“A-ahhh…!”
And so they boarded the taxi while still embracing. Soon after, the engine roared and the vehicle soared away, disappearing toward one side of the city.
In the spot where the taxi had landed, only one woman remained—unable to believe the karma that had befallen her.
“Who do you think that was?”
“No idea. But it looks like our disguise worked, at least…”
Kang Sian and Cheon Mari fell into thought. It had been brief, but it didn’t seem like it would cause any problems for the upcoming academy events.
“Then it’s fine, right?”
Right now, the academy was what mattered most. Some random spy was none of their concern.