A Perfect Plan
A Perfect Plan
Healer.
A term common in games for someone with the ability to heal wounds.
The manhwa I'd been dropped into, Stardust!, also had a woman with a healing ability.
Healing looked like a hero's power at first glance.
Unfortunately, she was a villain.
Having a healer on your side is incredibly reassuring. Having one on the enemy's side drives you insane.
You beat a villain so badly they shouldn't be able to move for months, only for them to somehow crawl away, escape, heal completely in a day, and come right back to launch another attack.
Our Stardus kept wondering how those bastards recovered so quickly, and it was eventually revealed that a female villain called Ex-Saint had been healing them.
She was the main reason the already-brutal villains in the latter half of the Original Work were even harder to defeat.
Taking her out of the equation alone would make the latter half much easier.
So.
I was going to take her in.
"So, big bro, you're saying there's a girl who eventually becomes the Saintess of the Villains and heals them?"
"Yeah. Wouldn't having someone like that on our side be incredibly reassuring?"
"Seriously... Are you never going to tell me how you know all this? Is it just a delusion, or can you actually see the future?"
"You're still a kid, Seo-eun, so you wouldn't understand. Once you're an adult, you just~ know these things."
"What does that even mean...? Ugh. Fine. So where is she now, and what's she doing?"
"Hmm..."
"What is she doing?"
"She's probably... pickpocketing in some back alley?"
"What?"
Seo-eun stared at me as if I had just said something absurd. Hmm... How was I supposed to explain this?
"I think she was in high school around this time?"
Seo-eun looked even more dumbfounded.
Hmm... How was I supposed to explain this?
***
Lee Ha-yul.
She'd been an orphan since she was very young.
She and her younger brother endured brutal abuse at the orphanage, barely scraping by from one day to the next.
Then the orphanage director discovered her ability.
A top-tier healing ability capable of saving even someone on the brink of death.
Normally, he should have reported it to the Association immediately.
But the wicked orphanage director concealed it.
Then he tried to sell Lee Ha-yul to wealthy conglomerate families.
In other words, he planned to traffic her.
But Lee Ha-yul found out and escaped the orphanage.
She killed the deranged director who knew her secret by stabbing him.
After that, she wandered the back alleys with her younger brother.
They barely survived through theft and pickpocketing.
Then one day, thugs killed her younger brother right in front of her.
The shock finally drove her into villainy.
She blamed the world for what she'd become.
She blamed the Association and the government for failing to notice her and help her sooner.
She clung to life with that resentment until she eventually joined the Villain Alliance and helped them carry out a project to bring down South Korea.
Come to think of it, she had a lot in common with the Seo-eun from the Original Work: both resented the world and eventually tried to destroy it.
Anyway, the point was that I would win her over and bring her to my side.
She seemed perfect as the first member of the Egostic-led Villain Alliance I had in mind.
If I gathered them one by one, maybe I could eventually have almost every villain under my command.
Well, that probably wasn't going to happen.
Anyway, none of that mattered. Recruiting her was the immediate priority.
The problem was that her experiences at the orphanage had left her deeply distrustful of people, so she probably wouldn't be easy to win over.
If I ran up to her and said, "I'll give you money, so swear loyalty to me!" I'd be asking to get stabbed.
Still, maybe the suspension bridge effect could make it work somehow?
"I'll handle everything myself, so you don't need to worry, Seo-eun."
"That only makes me more worried..."
Seo-eun gave me a distinctly unconvinced look.
There was no need to worry.
I was already certain this method would work.
Because this was exactly how I'd gotten close to you, Seo-eun...
***
Anyway, that was how I ended up there.
It was evening, and I stood in a Seoul back alley with no security cameras.
If I remembered correctly, she should have been active somewhere around here...
As I wandered aimlessly through the alleys,
Seo-eun's voice came through the earbud I was wearing.
[Big bro, at your two o'clock, there's a girl hiding in the alley and watching you. I think that's her.]
Bingo.
I was dressed in black and wasn't wearing a mask.
I was walking around dressed to look a little clueless but fairly wealthy—in other words, like an easy mark.
Hmm...
I kept strolling at an unhurried pace.
Finally, a girl came running from the other end of the alley.
She ran straight at me, slammed into me as if by accident, and kept going.
And just like that, I got shoulder-checked by a teenage girl.
Who would have guessed that the once-proud Egostic was living like this? What a tragedy.
With a quick tap-tap-tap, the girl disappeared into the darkness.
Only after she was completely out of sight did I reach into my pocket.
As expected, it was empty. The wallet inside was gone.
"Just as I thought."
Good.
Everything was going according to plan.
I grinned in the darkness of the back alley.
[What are you doing over there? Come back already.]
"Yeah."
The bait was set.
Now all you had to do was bite.
***
"Huff, huff."
Lee Ha-yul ran and ran.
Her first successful pickpocketing job in a long time.
She kept running until she was sure the man couldn't find her. Only after putting plenty of distance between them did she stop to catch her breath.
Once she reached a safe place, she pulled out the wallet she'd stolen with trembling hands.
The initials E.S. were embroidered on the outside.
When she carefully opened it, she found...
"A hundred thousand won?"
Ten ten-thousand-won bills.
This was an incredible windfall.
People used cards these days, so hardly anyone carried cash...
"With this money... I can buy Cha-yun something other than ramen..."
She murmured to herself, then headed home with a faint smile.
Of course, she felt a little sorry for the man who'd lost his money because of her...
'I can't help it...'
They had no money, no abilities, no identification—nothing. This was the only way they could survive, she told herself as she walked.
The guilt kept piling up all the same.
"Big sis, you're back?"
When she entered the ramshackle shack in the shantytown, her younger brother greeted her.
With a bitter smile, she stepped inside and told him,
"Big sis, I made some money today. Let's get something good to eat."
"Really? Wow!"
Still only an elementary schooler, he wasn't very good at expressing his emotions.
Watching him, she smiled without realizing it.
Right. Even if I didn't get to eat, I had to make sure this kid ate well.
She stroked her younger brother's hair and sighed.
They could get through today and tomorrow with this, but what would they do after that?
Her heart darkened, as black as the night outside.
***
[Title] Mangostic, When Are You Coming Back?
I'm cold...
=[Comments]=
[OP found frozen to death, yikes]
[This comment has been deleted.]
↳[?]
↳[???]
↳[What was it? It got deleted before I saw it.]
↳[It said, "Sorry, I've been busy lately. Wait a few more weeks."]
↳[Why does it say the account does not exist when I click it? This is creepy as hell.]
↳[Was that seriously Mangostic?]
↳[No way lol]
*
I'd been bored lately, so this was how I'd been amusing myself.
I'd go into my fan cafe and leave a few comments among the people hanging out there.
I deleted them right away, of course, but it was more fun than I'd expected...!
I had a feeling Seo-eun would look at me like I was pathetic again if she caught me doing this... Hmm...
Enough playing around. I turned my thoughts back to the future.
The "Drizzle Soaks You Through" Plan.
This time, I let her steal my wallet.
Next time, I'd change clothes, go back, and let her steal another.
But that wallet would also have the initials E.S. embroidered on it.
After stealing a few more, she'd eventually realize that she kept robbing the same person.
Then she'd notice something strange. Why did he keep returning to the same place? Why didn't he react when she bumped into him, even after she had already stolen his wallet once?
And why did the cash inside increase from 100,000 won the first time to 200,000, then 300,000 won?
Once she started wondering, I'd appear in front of her home.
'The truth is, I knew you pickpocketed me before, and I tracked you down to catch you.
'But when I saw you doing your best to care for your younger brother despite your terrible situation, I was deeply moved.
'If you're willing, I'd like to become your guardian.'
But even if I said that, her deep distrust of people meant she'd never listen.
She'd tell me to get lost. I'd say I understood and quietly retreat, looking dejected.
Then, even though she'd rejected me, she'd somehow keep thinking about me.
She'd assumed I was after her power, but perhaps I wasn't. And after I'd walked away so coolly, I never came back...
'Maybe... he really was just a good person...'
Just when she was thinking that wistfully, I figured the incident would happen.
Her younger brother's murder by the gang.
What if I stepped in just before he died and saved him?
And then offered to become her guardian again?
Wouldn't she trust me completely and come under my wing then?
"Heh heh heh... Perfect..."
Deep in the basement, I let out an evil laugh.
Yes. My plan was perfect.
There was no way it could go wrong.
One day, I sat in my room with a wallet stuffed with 200,000 won in hand, plotting the next stage of my evil plan.
Seo-eun suddenly threw open my door, rushed in, and shouted.
"Big bro! The gang or whatever just showed up! What do we do?"
Why the fuck were they already here?