Chapter 28
Chapter 28
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: B-Rank Villain No-Face Hwa-ryeon (3)
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I awakened to my past life's self at a very young age.
When I was just an infant who couldn't even crawl yet, my memories suddenly returned.
'What is this? Where am I?'
Reincarnating as a baby. It was a cliché straight out of web novels, and most protagonists in those stories adapted on their own and just killed time—but that's all bullshit.
'Fucking bored!'
Being born as a real baby is insanely boring.
Sure, a baby's body sleeps a lot, so you're not awake for long, but even when you are, all you can do is suckle or briefly draw your parents' attention.
With an adult mind, the rest of the time is spent lying in bed, counting ceiling stains or staring at some infant mobile—nothing else to do, so I thought I'd go mad from boredom.
'What... is the meaning of life...?'
All I could do back then was ponder.
And the pondering I did most was about death.
'Is death not the end? What about the afterlife? Is reincarnation like this the norm? Why weren't my memories wiped?'
If there's one thing everyone in the world should truly wonder about, isn't it the world after death?
I was experiencing that post-death world in real time, body and soul, and deep reflections on it helped me endure infancy.
Maybe that's why I could adapt so easily to a world vastly different from my past life.
Even remembering my past parents' faces, yet seeing my current parents as my real ones, not strangers.
And adjusting to all the other changes in environment—it was probably a backlash against the soul-crushing boredom of infancy.
No matter the experience, anything was more fun than that boredom.
Whether pleasure, another kind of boredom, or even pain.
'Am I the only one like this? Or do others go through it too?'
Anyway, those reflections on death from back then were influencing my punishment of Hwa-ryeon right now.
"Death isn't the end."
Killing Hwa-ryeon here would feel good, sure.
But what if she reincarnates like me after dying?
Of course, I might be special. I've never seen another reincarnator, and while I've looked for records, reincarnators only show up in web novels and subculture stuff.
"It might not be the end."
Still, I don't want to give her even a sliver of a chance.
Everyone thinks all swans are white, but hasn't a black swan like me appeared?
'What if, by some chance, this bitch reincarnates with her memories intact?'
Then it would just be giving her a fresh start without punishment for murder.
A new life, a chance to escape atonement.
If that really happened, I couldn't face the victims who'd die horribly by her hands.
I'd have opened the door for her to dodge paying for her sins by killing her.
"So I'll make her live as long as possible, suffering for her crimes without killing her."
That doesn't mean I take death lightly.
Death is still horrific and terrifying.
Because death means parting from everyone you've bonded with in this life.
Even now, when my past-life friends, little sister, or parents appear in my dreams, it leaves me feeling down.
"I've got a way to torment her."
For those reasons, I decided to punish Hwa-ryeon without killing her.
I'd make her wish for death—but one issue came up.
'To pull it off, I need at least level-3 hypnosis.'
Level 3 requires mucosal contact.
Meaning at least a kiss—a French kiss, tongues touching.
"...Whatever."
Yu-ra noona exists, and this isn't my girlfriend, so chastity or ethical qualms briefly crossed my mind.
But I could ignore that.
Why? Because this kiss from now on isn't driven by lust.
"I'm a professional from here on out."
Does a male OB-GYN get horny looking at a patient's vulva?
Is it sexual harassment if a pro masseuse touches a client's body?
Does mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to save a life count as a kiss?
"So this isn't a kiss either."
What I'm doing now is stopping her from creating more victims.
At the same time, punishing her honors the souls of her victims—a memorial rite.
"It's just an act for punishment, nothing more."
I lifted the chin of Hwa-ryeon, who had dozed off, head slumped.
Her face alone could land her in entertainment—no sign of a psychopathic sadist criminal.
Media's all lies. Killers in shows all exude creepy auras.
"Reality's just normal-looking."
I pressed my lips to hers. I lowered her chin slightly, parting her mouth, and forced my tongue in.
I cast all the prepared hypnosis, then pulled my tongue out before her mouth closed.
"Pah!"
Disgusting. The kiss with Yu-ra noona was sweet and pleasant.
But with Hwa-ryeon, who wasn't bad-looking, it just reeked of foul saliva, making my stomach churn.
"And it's done."
I untied the ropes binding Hwa-ryeon.
She woke from her sleep, then left the bunker with lifeless eyes.
"That should do it."
Learning from the Shin Jeong-hwa failure, I'd laid a solid hypnosis torment.
Nothing like today would happen again.
"Guess I need to rework Shin Jeong-hwa too?"
With the organization issue, I'll rework Shin Jeong-hwa to cancel the request, add punishment for this, and ensure she never pulls this shit again.
"I've got her number, so I'll call her out soon."
She gave me her number before leaving the cafe last time, so summoning her is easy.
"Wait."
A chilling thought hit me.
Today was my date with Lee Seo-yeon, but she went radio silent, right?
What if she commissioned both me and Lee Seo-yeon as backups if one failed?
And Lee Seo-yeon couldn't dodge like me and got caught proper?
"That's why she ghosted..."
Ding-a-ling-!
Suddenly, my phone rang. I cautiously pulled out my smartphone—it was Lee Seo-yeon calling.
"......"
I swallowed, then carefully hit accept.
The moment I did, words poured from the speaker like a machine gun.
-Sorry! Jun-hyuk! I overslept and totally spaced! Ugh! It's not too late yet, right? Are you home? I'll grab a cab right now! Really, really, really sorry! Um, Jun-hyuk?
Overslept?
Our meetup was at 9 a.m.?
It's past 3 p.m. now, and overslept?
-Jun-hyuk...?
"Loser."
-W-what?
"Lame-ass virgin no-life incel."
-J-Ju...n-hyuk...
I hung up.
Making me worry for nothing.
＊＊＊
"Arrrgh!"
How! How could I oversleep on such an important day!
Lee Seo-yeon screamed and rolled on the floor.
Thud-! Thud-!
She banged her head and body everywhere but didn't dodge—punishing her dumb self felt right amid the pain.
"Sob... Lee Seo-yeon, you fucking idiot... How could you oversleep today..."
But she stopped rolling and mulled over what Yoo Jun-hyuk had just said.
"But... lame-ass virgin no-life incel...?"
It was just venting, right?
Blowing off steam for breaking the date.
She wanted to think that, but every word hit too close to home to brush off.
-Lame-ass
Lame. Maybe mocking her parachute hire incompetence.
-Virgin
Virgin. Hymen still intact. Meant to pop it but chickened out at the sight of blood.
-No-life
No relationships. Never had a boyfriend.
-Incel
No explanation needed—a word made for her.
"Aah..."
A golden holiday for a working adult.
Lee Seo-yeon collapsed on the bed, face pale.
"......"
At that moment, Hwa-ryeon, who had left the cafe, wandered aimlessly with lifeless eyes.
After walking far from the cafe, life finally returned to her eyes.
"Huh!?"
She looked around like someone just woken, then furrowed her brows.
"What was I doing here?"
She racked her brains hard...
[Yoo Jun-hyuk-related matters won't come to mind at all. Nor will you hear or see anything related to him anymore.]
No matter how hard she tried, nothing surfaced, so she decided to head back to the organization.
'First, go back and ask.'
But turning toward the organization, a chilling pressure gripped her ankle.
[Cut all ties with the organization. Wash your identity so they never find out, and devote yourself to severing all connections.]
'C-Can't... go.'
She realized something was off with her.
Why can't she go to the organization? She couldn't recall the reason.
Instinct just screamed not to go and to cut all ties completely.
'Why can't I go?'
She resisted, but it was futile.
Like a fish needing water to breathe.
Resisting these thoughts was like forcing a fish onto land to breathe.
"I have to run. But how..."
She barely mustered a plan.
Go home, grab cash.
Head to an ID-washing outfit in enemy turf for a new identity.
"Hurry... before the organization notices."
From that day, Hwa-ryeon moved without sleep.
She hid her face, zigzagged her path, withdrew all her meager savings.
Not enough for surgery, so she barely dyed her hair and eyes.
With that, she crossed to another region, washed her ID, got new papers—no more Hwa-ryeon existed.
"Hic, sob..."
Now she could escape the organization.
She wasn't even full-time, just an intern—they wouldn't hunt obsessively.
But Hwa-ryeon wasn't satisfied yet.
"D-Don't wanna..."
No, she was, but the hypnosis kept pushing her.
To erase traces perfectly, fix that face somehow.
No money for surgery, but crime was out.
[Cannot commit crimes.]
Another level-3 hypnosis blocked crime.
Even a villain who killed for pleasure couldn't break it with her willpower.
"Ugh, uuuugh!!!"
Her ego untouched, she was fully conscious.
Conscious, but hypnosis hijacked her instincts, whispering she must obey.
Like how she couldn't resist sex and pleasure urges that led to killing.
She couldn't resist the hypnosis whispers.
"Haa, haa..."
She climbed an empty mountain, lit a portable burner, placed a pot on it.
Soon, she opened the lid—oil bubbled furiously inside.
"Ah, aaah..."
She slowly lifted the pot over her head.
Her trembling hands screamed not to.
"N-No..."
It'll hurt. It'll hurt bad.
Tormenting and burning others was fine.
But suffering herself? No.
Her fear-shaking hands slipped, dumping the pot on her face.
"No..."
A beastly scream engulfed the mountain.