An Opening Heart
Whether she had tossed and turned all night, fatigue sat plain on Eun Seol's face.
She led me around behind the building that held the lecture halls, then opened her mouth in a voice that trembled as if she might cry at any second.
"...I saw it on TV yesterday."
"And your thoughts?"
"......That was all real, wasn't it."
I had braced for her to demand whether it was faked. Instead the question came out like this.
I answered with a light laugh.
"Whether it was staged or genuine, I think you'd already reached your own conclusion deep down, hadn't you? Normally you'd have grabbed me by the collar right away and yelled that I was out of my mind for putting a fabricated video on television."
"......"
The barb landed. Eun Seol stayed silent a long while, and when she finally spoke again her voice was even thicker with tears.
"Then... what the hell am I supposed to do?"
She stared down at her own hands. Her fingers quivered as if seized by a spasm.
"Ever since I was little I was taught that the government itself was justice... the last bastion, the shield that protects its citizens... that people who awakened powers became heroes to help the government keep everyone safe... So from the day I awakened I took it for granted that I would work for the Union, protect people, catch villains... If the government is that kind of organization, then what does everything I learned and believed even mean?
"Am I supposed to accept, this late in the game, that the real evil isn't the villains—it's the government? That everything I knew was a lie? Then what am I? Am I even a hero? Who am I fighting for? Was I the one who was wrong from the very beginning...?"
Still muttering, she seized both sides of my collar and hung her head.
"You... you knew all of it from the start, didn't you? That's why you kept gently steering me this way."
"Who knows."
"If you know so much, then tell me... what was I even...? If the life I've lived wasn't even for the citizens, then what am I supposed to do now..."
Still clutching my collar with both hands, eyes glittering with unshed tears, she looked up at me.
"I don't know what I should do right now... I don't even know whether what I'm doing is right or wrong. My head's just a mess. I can't find any answers. I asked Nightingale the same sort of thing and she wouldn't answer me either... That's how bad it is—I'm desperate enough to want answers from a villain like you. So... tell me. What am I supposed to do from here..."
Looking up at me through a sheen of tears, drowning in that heavy gloom, Eun Seol was so beautiful it almost hurt. For a moment the urge to pull her into my arms and hold her tight was almost overwhelming.
I reined it in and simply answered.
"Nothing really has to change. Just keep being who you are—attending lectures during the day, occasionally ditching class for an emergency call, and at night working as Valkyrie of the Hero Union for the sake of the citizens. That's more than enough."
"But you exposed everything! The government—"
"Is a pack of garbage, yes. And so? The government is trash and I'm targeting it, harassing it—that's true. But why does that mean you have to suffer?"
"Everything I've done was helping that government in the end!"
"Is Valkyrie part of some government special-ability unit?"
"...?"
"As far as I know, Valkyrie is a B-class hero belonging to the Korean Hero Union, not a government direct unit. Am I mistaken?"
When I suddenly asked about her affiliation, Valkyrie's pupils trembled.
"Why are you asking that all of a sudden..."
"You're not government special forces, and you never knew what they were cooking up behind the scenes. So there's no reason for Valkyrie to torment herself over the government's filth. You simply did what a hero is supposed to do."
"But..."
"Think of it this way. Suppose a villain attacks this university right now. If you take him down, the government gets to polish its public image or whatever and comes out ahead. In that situation, would Valkyrie refuse to fight the villain just because the government would benefit?"
Eun Seol blinked twice, then shook her head hard.
"Then the citizens... the students here would die or get hurt. Even if the government gains from it, I would still..."
"Exactly."
I lifted a hand and gently wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes. Startled by the unexpected touch, she half-stepped back.
"The citizens' kind hero Valkyrie can keep doing exactly what she's always done and nothing will be wrong with that. There's no reason to go on strike just to defy a trash government. If no one else is around to judge them, a deviant like me can take care of that problem.
"You don't need to do anything special, and you don't need to wonder whether your actions were wrong. After all the people you've helped and saved, has any citizen ever turned around and demanded you hand over the bag of gratitude?"
"The CEO of Cheonok Logistics..."
"That guy was already a filthy piece of work who bribed and wined-and-dined the government for bidding advantages and planted industrial spies in rival companies. We're not talking about lunatics like him."
"Well... then no..."
"Right? The whole world already acknowledges you. There's no reason for you to suffer because of the government's idiocy. Valkyrie just needs to stay Valkyrie. Of course, you'll have to leave behind that... ah... brainwashing-level ideological education that the government is absolute good."
"...I don't think that way anymore."
Her voice sank into gloom again.
"Oh? That was fast. People who get hammered with that kind of indoctrination from childhood usually refuse to believe the truth no matter how hard you beat it into them."
"I saw Eve's memories, and then I saw all of that yesterday! If I hadn't seen it maybe, but..."
"Anyway, what I'm trying to say is this. The government being garbage is the government's problem. You are just you. The kind hero of the people that I like—Valkyrie—can simply live her ordinary life, fight villains, and protect people the way she always has. That's enough. You haven't done a single thing wrong."
Eun Seol stared at me blankly for a moment after my answer...
"Pff—!"
Still gripping my collar with both hands, she burst out laughing for the first time that day.
"Pff... ahahahaha! Living long enough to get comforted by a villain telling me I'm doing just fine. What the hell am I even doing..."
"Did you hate being comforted by a villain?"
At my question she let her forehead rest lightly against my chest, as if the strength had drained out of her.
"No... thank you."
"I'm glad it helped."
She stayed like that for a few seconds before belatedly realizing just how bold she was being. She jerked her forehead away in a fluster and put distance between us. Looking at me with faintly flushed cheeks, she pointed a finger.
"Th-that doesn't change anything! If I run into you in the field I won't go easy—I'll fight you! I'm still going to catch you and make you pay for your crimes!"
"Ehh~ That's cold. After I poured my heart into comforting our Valkyrie, this is the thanks I get?"
"You said you like it best when I just live the way I always do, right? So I'll just keep doing what I always do—catch villains when I meet them. Don't forget I'm only looking the other way right now because I can't prove you're Kid G!"
"A little flexibility wouldn't kill you. So stingy."
"Sorry about that. I'm just not the type who's good at that kind of thing."
"There she is—the usual Eun Seol. You look so much better when you smile. A face this pretty shouldn't wear such a gloomy expression. It's a waste."
I stepped closer to the faintly smiling Eun Seol and lightly rested a hand on top of her head, almost a caress.
She clearly never imagined I would put my hand on her head. She froze for a full second before snapping out of it and yanking her head away.
"Wh-wh-what are you doing?! Are you crazy?! Why are you suddenly touching my head!"
"Oh? You looked so cute I just did it without thinking. Not allowed?"
"Of course not! Wh-who do you think you are..."
"You said you won't go easy on me if we meet in the field. After I worked so hard to comfort you, shouldn't I get something in return?"
"But why my head...! Dammit, what is wrong with you! I don't need you anymore! Get out! Scram! I really will hit you!"
"So harsh. Tch. Fine, then I'll go comfort Sejin instead."
The moment Kim Sejin's name left my mouth, Eun Seol's movements stopped dead.
"Sejin...? Why her?"
"From what I saw yesterday, she looked pretty hurt about failing to form that two-person team and getting rejected. The whole flower-garden-for-brains thing is part of her charm—can't have her getting too depressed. Gotta cheer her up a bit. I'll head in first. Take your time."
Even after Lee Yechan returned to the lecture hall first, Eun Seol stayed where she was and lightly touched the crown of her head where his hand had rested.
Somehow the warmth of that hand still seemed to linger.
That bastard... For a villain, why does he only ever say things that sound so good? It's definitely a plan to make me drop my guard...
Then she abruptly remembered that she wasn't high enough ranked to join the kill-order operation, so they would never meet in the field anyway—there was no reason for him to try lowering her guard.
......It did make me happy, though.
When Kid G comforted her, told her she had done nothing wrong and had no reason to blame herself, she had finally been able to breathe. She had even felt a little bit saved.
The gloomy fog that had filled her heart without end ever since she saw Eve's memories finally seemed to lift.
She kept turning Lee Yechan's words over in her mind until she reached the last thing he had said.
Then I'll go comfort Sejin instead.
The whole flower-garden-for-brains thing is part of her charm—can't have her getting too depressed. Gotta cheer her up a bit.
"......But why does that guy call Sejin by her first name so casually? With me he still sticks on the family name and only uses formal speech, but with her he talks like they're close friends..."
She had never once paid attention to it before, yet the moment she realized how comfortably Lee Yechan treated Kim Sejin, a completely different kind of irritation began to prickle.
Then she snapped back to herself and shook her head hard.
"Why do I even care? However they address each other is none of my business."
Having denied the thought the instant she became conscious of it, she started walking toward the lecture hall.
She hadn't taken ten steps before the phone in her pocket vibrated. She glanced at the name on the screen and answered easily.
"Juyeon unnie? What's up?"
Han Juyeon, the headquarters operator who never called at this hour, had dialed her, so Eun Seol's voice carried a clear note of surprise.
Han Juyeon's voice on the other end sounded distinctly urgent.
"Seol-ah! Have you heard the news? Did you see the news?"
"You mean Kid G's expose yesterday? That already started spreading from dawn yester—"
"No, not that! Nightingale!"
"Nightingale? What about her?"
"Nightingale! After she submitted the after-action report for yesterday's operation, she left the Union! You hadn't heard? Headquarters is a complete madhouse right now!"
"......What?"