Who Saves the Despairing Girl (2)
"I'll tell you the truth I've been hiding from you all this time, Rumi. In exchange… you have to tell me what happened to you."
Si-yoon was willing to gamble by revealing his identity as a villain, all to hear the truth Rumi had been keeping from him.
Confessing that he was a villain to a hero like her was no different from self-destruction, but with the Stage 2 Slave Brand already etched into her, he had enough insurance to make the risk worthwhile.
"I told you before that you could be honest with me… so I figured it was only fair I told you the things I'd been hiding too."
Rumi kept her head lowered for a long while, her eyes darting restlessly, before finally lifting her gaze to meet his. With a look of quiet resolve, she nodded.
Si-yoon nodded along with her and spoke.
"You're the hero who protects this city and its people—Ice Queen. And I… am someone who stands against you."
"Stands against me… You don't mean…?"
The answer was simple and clear. Anyone who had to oppose heroes could only be one thing.
"That's right. I'm a villain. I've attacked civilians… and I've caused chaos in the city."
The shocking truth spilled from the lips of a man who had never looked like a villain. The same Si-yoon who had melted the ice around Rumi's heart, who had wrapped her in warmth and tenderness, was a villain.
If she had still been the cold, rational Rumi of the past, she would have struck him down on the spot. But her mind was already worn thin, her spirit shattered by exhaustion and years of betrayal. The pride she once held as a hero had long since crumbled to dust. She could only stare at him in frozen shock, unable to attack.
"You look surprised. I expected as much."
Heroes and villains were fated to clash until one of them fell. Rumi felt a sting of betrayal at the realization that he had hidden his true nature while meeting her as a hero, yet she still couldn't understand why he had never attacked her.
To a villain, an A-rank hero should have been nothing but an eyesore. If they had grown close enough to share a bed, he would have had countless opportunities to eliminate her.
Then… what about that time? What really happened back then…?
She also couldn't comprehend how he had not only dealt with another villain at the rest stop but had even saved her—a hero.
"Why… didn't you attack me? Surely, from a villain's perspective, a hero like me should have been nothing but a thorn in your side…?"
No matter how she turned it over in her mind, nothing made sense. Rumi asked the question directly.
"Because I wanted to make you mine."
Another unexpected answer. Just like when he had confessed to being a villain, Rumi was startled—but this time the feeling was different. The first revelation had been laced with confusion and a hint of betrayal. This one sent her heart racing, as if she had just received a love confession.
"I've basically confessed to being a villain right in front of a hero. Now it's your turn, Rumi."
Si-yoon hadn't gone into details about the Corruption System, but simply admitting he was a villain to a hero was already more than enough.
"I… I…!"
Though her heart was still pounding with a mix of embarrassment and excitement, Rumi couldn't keep him waiting after he had been so honest with her.
"This afternoon… I attacked one of my direct superiors. And then… I ran away from the Alliance Headquarters and wandered the streets."
She attacked her superior…? Was it that article from earlier…?
The news headline Si-yoon had seen before sleeping with Do-hwa flashed through his mind—a hero had attacked an administrator and fled after leaving them in critical condition.
"I had an older sister who meant everything to me. She was four years older, so if she were still alive, she'd be twenty-nine this year."
"Your sister…"
"I don't know the exact details, but she had powers like mine. She became a hero at twenty because she wanted to protect our family."
Back when Luna, Rumi's sister, had been approaching adulthood, villains had been far more rampant than they were now, and citizens lived in constant fear.
Luna, who cherished her family deeply, had joined the Alliance and become a hero the year she turned twenty, determined to protect them with her abilities.
"She rose to A-rank after defeating countless villains over the years… but the year I turned twenty, we suddenly received word that she had gone missing in the middle of a battle."
Four years ago.
The Alliance had informed Rumi and her family of Luna's disappearance. Devastated, they had spent nearly a year scouring the entire country for any trace of her. But no matter where they looked, they found nothing.
"The Alliance noticed my powers and told me that if I became a hero and carried out difficult missions diligently, they would actively help me find my sister. So I became a hero."
Si-yoon listened to Rumi's heartbreaking past in silence, simply nodding.
"But recently, because I'd been failing the missions they kept assigning me, the higher-ups decided to punish me. I heard it from my superior."
"Punishment…"
"Yes. They planned to strip me of all my current duties… and break their promise to help me find my sister."
For five years she had endured grueling missions that most heroes couldn't even imagine, only for a handful of failures to bring everything crashing down. She couldn't accept it. In a fit of rage unlike anything she'd ever felt, Rumi had attacked her superior—and the terrified man had finally confessed the truth: her sister had already been dead for seven years.
"They knew my sister was… was already dead… and they still… kgh…"
As she spoke, the betrayal and despair she had felt in that moment surged back. Rumi squeezed her eyes shut, lowered her head, and let fresh tears fall.
"I'm… I'm sorry. My heart just hurts so much all of a sudden…"
"It's okay… It's all right."
After crying in Si-yoon's arms for a while, Rumi calmed herself and continued.
"I was so furious I attacked my superior like I wanted to kill him… then I ran from headquarters and wandered the streets in a daze."
The superior who had told her the truth was the same one who had always tormented her. That was why she had struck him so violently. Afterward, caught between rage and emptiness, she had fled the building and aimlessly wandered the bustling streets.
"So that's why…"
Si-yoon finally understood why she hadn't answered any of his calls all day and why her voice had sounded so broken over the phone.
"I don't know what to do anymore."
The Hero Alliance would find the attacker soon enough. Even if she returned and confessed everything, they would never understand or show her mercy. They would brand her a villain and lock her away like an Executioner. Rumi knew that whichever path she chose, it would end badly. She kept her head bowed, eyes tightly shut.
"I'll help you get your revenge, Rumi."
"…What?"
"I told you. I'm a villain."
Si-yoon gently cupped Rumi's tear-streaked cheek and offered to help her—and her sister Luna—take revenge.
"Does that mean… you're asking me to become a villain too…?"
The image of her smiling sister Luna rose in her mind, along with memories of the pride she had once felt protecting citizens. Yet Rumi couldn't bring herself to immediately reject Si-yoon's sweet offer.
Revenge…?
The Hero Alliance that had used her and her family for years, discarding them without so much as a word of thanks—sometimes even complaining. And now this powerful man, strong enough to eliminate high-ranking villains in an instant, the same man who had given her so much love and joy, was offering to help her take revenge on them.
I want revenge. I want to get back at the ones who betrayed me…
Rumi kept replaying her superior's mocking face and words in her head. The desire for vengeance began to burn away the last remnants of her loyalty as a hero. Finally, her tearful, conflicted expression hardened with resolve. She lifted her head, threw herself into Si-yoon's arms, and smiled.
"I'll accept your offer."