Chapter 378: The World’s Fastest Fall (End)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 378: The World’s Fastest Fall (End)
Despite fleeing after a crushing defeat, the Villain King’s expression wasn’t particularly dark.
Actually, since they were hidden behind a robe and mask, it was impossible to tell for sure—they might have even been smiling.
They had lost Alcatraz, which was intended to be their fortress, in an utterly absurd manner. Most of their subordinates were gone as well, except for those stationed elsewhere and the few who managed to escape after receiving the radio order to retreat.
Even by a rough estimate, more than half of their total strength had vanished in a single day. How could anyone find a reason to smile in such a situation?
It would have made more sense if they had simply gone mad with grief, but unfortunately, he—or rather, she—wasn’t exactly insane.
To be precise, she was crazy, but the direction of her madness was simply different.
“Found him. I finally found him.”
How could she not be in a good mood when she had finally found what she had been searching for all this time?
In fact, she felt apologetic for not recognizing him the very moment she saw him.
“But now that I’ve found you, I’ll never let you go.”
Lost strength could be gathered again. The base had only been chosen for its symbolic value; there were plenty of other candidates.
Next time, she would prepare more thoroughly before going to greet him.
“Please wait just a little longer.”
I will start over from the beginning, and this time, I will come for you with perfect preparations.
My God.
* * *
I headed deeper into the basement, releasing the members of the Starlight Team and the few guards who had been imprisoned without turning traitor.
“W-Wait! Why aren’t you letting me out?!”
“Hey! There’s a person here too!”
“Ah, those guys are traitors, so don’t bother letting them out.”
Of course, I didn’t forget to filter out the spies who had actually betrayed us but were trying to blend back in.
Unfortunately, my sister was held in the deepest part of the facility, so she ended up being the last on the list. Still, as I drew closer, I could thankfully feel her familiar presence.
To think they locked her in a solitary cell with the door bolted shut… how cruel.
Judging by the energy I felt through the door, she seemed a bit weakened, but it didn’t feel like anything was seriously wrong with her physically.
However, there was one problem of a slightly different nature.
It was natural for her body to be weak after being captured, but how should I put this?
…I felt an excessive level of desire—specifically, lust.
Ever since I contracted with the Succubus Legion, I had become sensitive to the carnal desires of others. Perhaps due to the influence of my Fiery Eyes and Golden Pupils, I could sense it even more clearly than before.
In other words, the person behind this door was in a state of significant sexual arousal.
Wait, why…? No matter how I looked at it, the person inside was definitely my sister. What on earth could be happening to make her feel that way?
A disturbing thought crossed my mind—had those lunatics used some kind of torture on her? But knowing her personality, she would have bitten her tongue and died before letting that happen.
I wondered what was going on, but I couldn’t just leave her there. I had to open the door and go in.
“Honestly, this is a bit awkward…”
She had been avoiding me lately as it was.
I wasn’t sure if she’d even want me to see her like that. I considered calling Cathy or Ha-ni instead, but…
[Hngh…!]
The moment I heard her sobbing, my hands were already tearing the door open.
…Sigh, fine. I didn’t know what state she’d be in, but it was probably better for her to be seen by family than by a stranger.
I couldn’t keep avoiding her forever anyway. It was about time I faced her properly.
Even Mom told me in Hell that I should get along with my sister and that I should be the one to approach her first and show some aegyo.
Surprisingly, my sister’s condition in the solitary cell didn’t look too bad.
She seemed unable to use mana because of the restraints, but other than that, she looked relatively fine.
“Sister, are you okay? Can you recognize me?”
“…So… hyun?”
I spoke to her to see if she had the strength to answer, and she slowly lifted her head to look at me.
Her cheeks were flushed red and her breathing was ragged, but the fact that she understood me was a positive sign. It meant there was no brain damage, at least.
Once I checked her condition and fed her some emergency rations soaked in water, her strength would return in no time.
“Ha.”
But for some reason, she let out a cynical, hollow laugh.
Her eyes, which had been out of focus, suddenly became sharp and burning with intensity.
“Now I’m even seeing hallucinations like this?”
…Um? It seemed she thought I was a hallucination because of her long imprisonment.
“I’m not a hallucination.”
I tried to tell her the truth before any weird misunderstandings could arise, but she didn’t seem to believe me.
“If you’re not a hallucination, then how on earth did my brother infiltrate this place to save me? Or what, did you wipe out all the traitors and villains in half a day?”
“…Uh, yeah. You might not believe it, but that’s exactly what happened. It actually took less than half a day.”
“Na-hyun, you stupid bitch. How much further are you going to fall? No matter how hard things get, you’re dreaming of something impossible.”
Was it really that strange? All I did was fly in on the Nimbus Cloud, take down the elite villain squad, an S-rank Hero, and the mastermind behind the incident, and then half-destroy Alcatraz.
Wow, even I find it hard to believe when I put it like that.
“Or did the medicine I took earlier have hallucinogens in it? You look so real.”
Medicine. I see.
That bastard Flash tried to use drugs on her.
I should have killed him more painfully. I let him off too easy.
…Well, there was no point in regretting the death of someone already gone. Taking care of my sister came first.
“Look, I know it’s hard to understand logically, but it’s really me.”
“No, you’re a hallucination.”
Faced with her strangely firm conviction, I didn’t know how to respond.
“Why would he come all this way to save a sister who’s done nothing for him? No, he’s kind-hearted at his core, so maybe he would. But he shouldn’t. He mustn’t come here.”
She was rambling, likely due to the drugs, but perhaps these were her true feelings that I could never have heard otherwise.
“I’m supposed to protect him. I was asked to…”
On the day Mom passed away, my sister had screamed at me, saying I had to protect myself from now on and begging me to stop.
“He’s always doing dangerous things, going to places where I can’t protect him… If I can’t help him even when I want to, I should at least not get in his way. That’s why you aren’t So-hyun. You’re just a dark hallucination I’ve conjured up.”
Seeing this, I realized that being able to read people’s hearts wasn’t always pleasant.
My sister’s feelings for me were a murky mixture of the responsibility she felt toward our mother and her affection for me, and it was tormenting her.
She couldn’t even decide what she wanted to do with me, yet she hated the idea of us growing apart. Seeing her desire to do something for me made me feel guilty for not approaching her sooner.
“Sister…”
Right, if it had ended there, it would have been a touching human drama.
Unfortunately, I stood there silently watching her, moved by her words, and as a result, I ended up peering into the abyss of her mind.
“You perverted bitch.”
“Pardon?”
“The thing you see after taking drugs is your own brother. You pathetic woman. You should have stopped touching yourself while thinking about So-hyun.”
What…? I wanted to ask, but I couldn’t even pretend not to know. My Fiery Eyes and Golden Pupils showed me exactly what was going on inside her head.
“A crazy bitch who feels lust for her own brother.”
Wait, this is weird.
I started to feel that there was a lot more than just sibling love mixed into her affection for me.
Her rather graphic fantasies were transmitted to me without any filter.
What kind of fantasies she used to comfort herself, and what I looked like in those fantasies…
— A sister who gets horny for her brother deserves to be punished, right?
— Yes, I’m sorry for being such a failure of a sister. I’ll take any punishment until you feel better…!
What is this…? Am I under a mental attack? I feel… no, I feel very dizzy.
“…Honestly, this isn’t my fault. Yeah, So-hyun is the one at fault. I tried so hard not to look at him that way, but even though he’s my brother, he just keeps getting hotter every day.”
How should I put this?
I felt sad.
When I found out the Chairperson’s secret, it was at least funny. But this went beyond being funny or absurd; it actually made me feel sorrowful.
My sister, who was always cool, confident, and never backed down.
To think that deep down, she wanted to do that to me.
The sheer variety of her fantasies was a bit terrifying, especially since I was the subject of all of them.
I wanted us to be a family, but I didn’t want us to be that kind of family.
…If I stayed here any longer, things were going to get really bad.
“Sister.”
“…Fine, if this is a hallucination anyway, can’t I just do whatever I want?”
“No, you can’t do ‘whatever’! Why are you giving up so easily when you can even withstand a villain’s torture?! Look me in the eyes! Right now!”
“Right, eye contact is important before starting…? How can a boy’s face be this pretty?”
…What does she mean, ‘before starting’?
If we started anything, it would be like driving a stake through our mother’s heart as she watched from heaven.
I used the mana I gained from sacrificing my life force to cast hypnosis on her.
Honestly, I felt a strong urge to use mind manipulation, but that would be crossing the line. I just wanted her to fall into a peaceful sleep.
“Oh…? I’m sleepy…? But I’m already in a dream? Why?”
“You can still sleep in a dream. Everything will be resolved by the time you wake up, so don’t worry and sleep tight.”
“…Don’t say such strange things. Still, I’m glad I got to see you, even if it was just a dream. Thanks to you, I think I can endure even if things get worse.”
“She still doesn’t believe me. Things aren’t going to get worse. Just go to sleep.”
Despite her denials, she gradually drifted off. Once she was completely under, I released her restraints and pulled her into my arms.
For a moment, she clung to me so tightly that I thought the hypnosis had failed. Fortunately, it seemed to be just sleep-talking; she merely rubbed her face against my chest and didn’t do anything else.
“…So-hyun.”
“…You’re not actually awake, are you?”
“I’ll… protect you… Mom… I’ll… protect him…”
…Even in her sleep, she says she’ll protect me.
If she could just decide whether she wants to treat me as a brother or a man, I’d know how to respond.
But how am I supposed to say anything when she hasn’t even figured it out herself?
To think that solving the incident would lead to more worries… what a joke.
Judging by the sounds from a distance, it seemed the situation outside was mostly wrapped up.
“…Should I just act like this never happened?”
With the power of the Succubus Legion, devouring her desire would be a piece of cake.
Since she was asleep, let’s just pass it off as a momentary delusion.
Yes, that would be for the best.
* * *
When Kang Na-hyun finally regained consciousness, she scanned her surroundings with a dazed mind.
“…No, I was going to nag him about overdoing it again, but it feels a bit weird when it ends this perfectly without a single scratch, doesn’t it?”
“Ha-ni-Ha-ni. What on earth are you talking about…? It’s a good thing no one got hurt.”
“No, I mean it is a good thing! It’s just that every time he solves an incident, it’s usually a total mess. I guess he’s really okay now!”
Her brother was talking to someone.
Was it another dream…? No, the sensations were too vivid for that.
“Ah, wait. My sister is awake.”
…Oh?
Her brother was holding a bowl of warm soup and some jerky that had been thoroughly softened in water, offering them to her.
He even blew on a spoonful of soup before feeding it to her.
…It was soft and warm.
Around her, she could see other rescued colleagues and Alcatraz guards looking at the ruined buildings and cursing the villains.
Wait, was she actually rescued?
Her brain fully awakened, and her senses became increasingly sharp. She could even feel a slight pang in her stomach as food entered it for the first time in a while. Everything was screaming that this was not a hallucination.
Wait. Then… was what happened earlier not a dream either?
She looked at her brother, who was silently feeding her soup. He gave her a bright, sunny smile as if asking what was wrong.
Seeing that smile, she knew for certain.
‘You crazy bitch. Should I just kill myself?’
She knew better than anyone that when her brother or mother were trying to hide something they really didn’t want to reveal, they would try to gloss over it with that exact radiant smile.
She was grateful that her brother was trying his best to ignore her shameful secret, but at the same time, she couldn’t stop the urge to just die right then and there.