24. There Are No Bad Dogs in the World
24. There Are No Bad Dogs in the World
24. There Are No Bad Dogs in the World
The next day. As usual, I was giving Han Yu-wol my blood.
"That's enough."
"Mmm... just a little more..."
I didn't want anyone else from Black Dawn to see this, so the daily bloodsucking happened in a secluded corner where nobody ever came.
How did I end up as Han Yu-wol's personal blood bag?
The answer was obvious: the people who commissioned my death.
I already had a pretty good guess about their identity.
'The one group that sees me, Yu Ha-yeon's childhood friend, as a thorn in their side. The Hero Association.'
No one else in this world would have reason to want me dead.
Hypocrites.
Every single person who claimed to act for the good of the world operated on a logic that couldn't be called sane.
The episodes caused by them alone numbered in the double digits. To see the ideal ending in V. AGE, fixing the Hero Association was mandatory.
Not everyone in the Hero Association was a hypocrite.
There were genuinely good people who spent their lives apprehending villains and helping those at the very bottom of society, all for the sake of world peace.
The duality that exists everywhere existed, naturally, in the Hero Association.
'Once I get out of here, the Hero Association is my number one priority to watch out for.'
They'd failed once, which meant they would definitely try to take my life again.
With those thoughts running through my head, I pried Han Yu-wol off of my neck.
"Haa... what a shame..."
"Don't overdo it. You might actually kill me."
The bedding and basic facilities were decent, but I hadn't slept well last night.
Part of it was the unfamiliar environment, but the biggest reason was physical.
With my Stamina stat stuck at 2, my body recovered more slowly than other people's, and my immune system was on the weaker side.
And on top of that, my cells were working overtime to replenish the blood I'd lost?
My body simply couldn't keep up.
'I need to take my nutritional supplements, too...'
If I missed even one day, the effects would drop off.
With a faint flicker of hope, I spoke to Han Yu-wol.
"Could I ask you for a favor?"
The moment the word "favor" left my mouth, a smile spread across Han Yu-wol's face.
As if she'd been waiting for this.
"A favor... I wonder what it could be?"
"I need some medicine. The kind Jenny made for me, and something to restore my stamina."
"Ahh... that..."
The day I first met Han Yu-wol.
Those nutritional supplements I'd gotten from Jenny's Pharmacy in the back alleys.
Han Yu-wol seemed to remember that day.
'I mixed the ingredients the way you told me, and my little sister got better. Thank you.'
Jenny had told me later that after curing her sister with the ingredients I'd given her, she'd left the back alleys behind and settled in Seoul.
Han Yu-wol knew Jenny, and Jenny was the only person who was openly friendly toward me. That was why I'd put a shred of hope into asking her.
Han Yu-wol seemed to follow my train of thought perfectly, and she spoke.
"Hmm... aren't you asking for a lot? A kidnapping victim making a request like that. The supplements are a purely personal matter. I could manage the stamina recovery, but..."
From Han Yu-wol's perspective, my supplements were my own problem.
As long as she could drink my fresh blood, that was enough for her, so she was telling me the supplements were off the table.
'Should've known better than to trust her.'
Did I have no choice but to give up on the supplements?
After everything I'd built up so far.
What a waste.
Just as I was giving up, feeling the weight of that regret—
Han Yu-wol offered me a positive development.
"It's not completely impossible, you know? You have to give something to receive something."
"I'm already giving you my blood..."
"That's a separate matter. If you provide compensation that satisfies me, then nothing is impossible."
"..."
Compensation.
She was telling me she'd get me the supplements, but only in exchange for something that made it worth her while.
What did I have that I could give Han Yu-wol? What kind of compensation would satisfy her?
No matter how much I thought about it, I only had one thing: my body.
"What do you want?"
There was nothing else I could offer her besides my blood.
Han Yu-wol knew that perfectly well. That was exactly why she'd brought up compensation in the first place.
No other reason could explain the way she was smiling at me now.
She wore the haughty expression of someone who had just gotten exactly what they wanted.
"If you're asking... I don't really want anything in particular. So just come to my room tonight before bed. I'll be satisfied with that."
"...Are you serious?"
"I don't lie to people I'm fond of."
Before bed.
Come to her room.
A compensation that clearly came with strings attached.
I had no choice. I nodded.
Han Yu-wol clapped her hands together, rose from her seat, and started walking toward her room.
She looked like she was getting ready to head out.
She glanced back over her shoulder and added one small remark.
"Keep your promise."
With that, she vanished into the depths of the hallway, toward her room.
The moment she disappeared from sight, a wave of relief washed over me—immediately followed by a chilling sense of dread.
"It's going the way I wanted, but..."
Why did the simple passage of time feel so terrifying?
Han Yu-wol's room. The one place I had sworn never to enter.
Now I'd been forcefully invited, and I could only dread what the near future held.
***
Inside a student counseling room at Hero Academy.
A red-haired woman sat waiting in a chair.
Shin Si-hwa.
Since the incident had occurred at Hero Academy, the former hero was assisting with the investigation.
'How could something like this happen at Hero Academy...'
There were no fatalities, but one student was missing.
When Shin Si-hwa heard the belated news of the attack, the sight of the unconscious students had made her feel as if her breath had stopped.
'A-are you all... o-okay...?'
Every single student on the ground had been alive, but completely unconscious.
An institution meant to raise future heroes being attacked by villains—this was a scandal that would tarnish the academy's reputation as well.
But there had been one exception. One student who hadn't lost consciousness.
Her name was Yu Ha-yeon. The student who was Han Si-jun's childhood friend.
To Han Si-jun, who didn't have much time left, she was practically family.
'Poor thing... with so little time left, how could something like this happen...'
Han Si-jun was supposed to be spending what remained of his life happily with her, making sure no moment was wasted.
So what was this about a kidnapping? Why had he been taken?
No one knew the reason he'd been kidnapped, so Shin Si-hwa had arranged this meeting to question Yu Ha-yeon, the person who'd been closest to him.
An interrogation under the guise of "questions" was cruel to someone still in shock, but it was the best thing Shin Si-hwa could do for the life Han Si-jun had left behind.
Knock knock.
"Come in."
"Excuse me..."
The door to the counseling room opened.
The student who entered was the one Shin Si-hwa had been waiting for: Yu Ha-yeon.
A girl known for her sociability and rumored to be the most talented student in Hero Academy.
The childhood friend of the kidnapped Han Si-jun.
'Her eyes have changed.'
Yu Ha-yeon's gaze now was different from before the incident. It had settled into a steely calm, and her catlike eyes gave off an even more aloof impression.
"You said you had questions for me..."
The rumors about her recent insane training regimen, despite her never having trained before, were apparently true.
Hearing the exhaustion in Yu Ha-yeon's voice, Shin Si-hwa began the questioning in earnest.
"I know you're still not in a good state of mind. This meeting might be uncomfortable for you, but I need your cooperation. Is there anyone who might have held a grudge against Han Si-jun?"
"No. Si-jun's reputation isn't great, but he never did anything to make enemies."
Yu Ha-yeon answered immediately.
She'd spent more time with Han Si-jun than anyone else, so her words were likely close to the truth.
Shin Si-hwa mentally dismissed the theory that the crime was motivated by a personal grudge.
"Not a grudge... I understand. Now, on the day of the incident. Every other student was knocked unconscious. Why were you, Yu Ha-yeon, not affected?"
"That's..."
Yu Ha-yeon's words trailed off.
She was hesitating to answer.
Shin Si-hwa, a former A-rank Hero, was trained to catch subtle changes in a subject's behavior and press them with questions.
After a brief pause, Yu Ha-yeon continued.
"Unlike the other students, I was close to Si-jun, so maybe that's why I kept my senses... I'm not really sure about that part either..."
"You're not sure. I see. Did you speak with the villains at all?"
"...No. Not a single word."
Yu Ha-yeon's eyebrow twitched slightly as she answered.
So she had spoken with a villain.
Then why was she hiding it?
Was there something she couldn't tell?
Shin Si-hwa wanted to press for the content of the conversation concealed behind that lie, but the stubborn look in Yu Ha-yeon's eyes told her the girl would never talk.
"In that case, what exactly was the situation..."
Shin Si-hwa asked many more questions afterward, but nothing Yu Ha-yeon said yielded any further evidence.
The girl herself was close to being a victim in this case too.
Shin Si-hwa decided not to take up any more of her time.
"I know this is hard, but stay strong, Yu Ha-yeon."
"...Yes. Thank you, teacher."
When the questions were over, Yu Ha-yeon gave a calm reply and left.
Alone in the room, Shin Si-hwa sat for a moment and sorted through her thoughts.
About Yu Ha-yeon's lie.
'She definitely spoke with them. With a villain. But why? Why did she lie?'
Shin Si-hwa couldn't understand that part.
If she'd spoken to a villain, that would be a lead, evidence that could help bring Han Si-jun back.
For Yu Ha-yeon, who was waiting for Han Si-jun more desperately than anyone, to lie—it made no sense.
Only one conclusion followed from that.
'She's hiding something.'
But she had no idea what it was.
If there were CCTV footage left to monitor the students, that would be one thing, but the attackers had been meticulous in smashing everything to powder.
"Haa... the reason she's hiding it... to protect something...? Or else..."
Shin Si-hwa sighed and slumped back in her chair.
The connection between Han Si-jun and the villains that Yu Ha-yeon was so desperate to conceal.
Shin Si-hwa could glimpse its tail, but she couldn't grasp it.
***
With Han Yu-wol gone, Black Dawn's hideout was peaceful and uneventful.
Most of the other members had no interest in me, and they didn't seem to want the hassle of seeking me out to bother me either.
To the villains aside from Han Yu-wol, I was apparently just a "Key" without a Mana Core, nothing more.
That suited me just fine.
Or it would have, if not for the pink lump blocking the TV in front of me.
"Can you move? I can't see."
"No! I don't listen to dogs!"
Ban Ha-na.
With a mental age that seemed shockingly low, she had planted herself in front of the news I was watching and was staging a protest demanding I play with her.
'Pet! You! Play with me! Grandpa Hae-il said to play with you!'
That was what she'd said when she barged in out of nowhere.
The idea that Shin Hae-il had sent Ban Ha-na my way just to find her a playmate was beyond absurd.
He probably just found playing with her annoying and decided to dump her on me.
Ban Ha-na flapped her arms like wings, completely blocking the TV.
I had no choice but to answer.
"Fine. I'll play with you."
"Good! A pet should obey its master! You're a good pet, aren't you?"
Pat pat.
Standing on her tiptoes, Ban Ha-na patted my head.
Did she even know what the word "pet" meant?
First things first, I probably needed to gauge her level of education.
'Out of all seven, Ban Ha-na is the only one left with any real potential.'
The other six were all fairly old, and each one was a villain with a significant criminal record.
As people age, their brains harden. They stop accepting new things.
Someone like Shin Hae-il would stay a villain even if he died and came back to life, and the others had long since walked too far down that path.
But Ban Ha-na?
She had no criminal record yet, she was around my age, and she was young.
Her mind was a blank slate.
To put it simply, her head was completely empty.
That meant there was still a chance to rehabilitate her.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"No reason. I was just thinking you're really cute."
"F-flattery won't... g-get you any treats...!!"
Black Dawn was an abnormal group.
Among them, Ban Ha-na was the least abnormal. If I could just nudge her slightly toward the right path...
'First, I need to get something into that head of hers.'
Rehabilitation started with education.
Step one: raise her knowledge to a human level.
"So, what should we play?"
Grin.
From this moment on, she was my rehabilitation project.
Which meant—
She was prey.