The Hero's Obsessive Villains #1

As far as I knew, even Concepts had compatibility. If I possessed the Concept of Numbers, I would naturally find it easier to accept the Concept of Addition. The more intuitively related they were, the better ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the synergy.

Even if you swallowed a fusion stone containing the Concepts of Eyes and Nose, if it didn’t match your existing Concepts or constitution, there was a high chance it would simply pass through undigested.

Eyes.Nose. Didn’t they pair pretty well with the Appraisal Concept I’d received from Seo Gaeul?

Therefore, it seemed better for me to consume this fusion stone myself rather than give it to her. Raising my own level would definitely help with kidnapping Yu Yeoleum. And if I did that, I could probably draw even more active cooperation from Seo Gaeul.

Yeah, I really am a genius.

With that thought, I opened my mouth wide, dropped the small bead into my throat, and swallowed.

Now what’s going to happen?

My body trembled with anticipation from every angle. Then suddenly, the hair on my head stood on end. My slightly stuffy nose cleared with a refreshing pop, and my vision grew far sharper and more vivid. I could feel the Concepts of Eyes and Nose lending me their power.

Guess the compatibility with Appraisal really was good.

With a soft flash—

━Kyu-ing.

At that moment, Ing-ing leaped into the air only to zip straight into my pants pocket with a frantic swish-swish-swish. It looked exactly like a hamster or squirrel frantically digging a burrow.

Why’s it acting like that?

I was wondering about the reason when I immediately found my answer.

“Hey! Ha Namjin! What the hell are you doing over there!”

“Oh, Baek Yeoul—”

“…Heh heh. I can see the lines now.”

Thanks to the newly acquired Concepts, words that hadn’t appeared before were now visible. It felt like I was projecting the other person’s Concept. The level written next to Ppang-daeng-i’s ‘Bad Luck’ probably indicated its rank.

“What the hell can you see! Why are you spouting ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠nonsense? Hurry up and get back to the classroom! Everyone else already left! And our group project first-place prize is five tickets to special classes! Isn’t that awesome!”

I appraised the fidgety Ppang-daeng-i once more. The text I had seen earlier was now gone. It seemed that although my Concept had been strengthened, the trigger still required me to sense a ‘gap’ or ‘fluctuation’ in the other person’s mind.

Suddenly, I became curious about what had happened to the Concepts of Eyes and Nose. Had they simply merged into me, giving me four Concepts total?

When I looked down at my own body, new text floated up.

It looked like the Eyes and Nose hadn’t simply attached to me. Instead, they had been used as materials to strengthen the Appraisal Concept and then disappeared. Well, that made sense. If just eating Concept stones let people awaken new Concepts left and right, the world would be overflowing with multi-ability users.

Of course, simply raising the level of an existing Concept was still an incredibly powerful effect on its own. That was precisely why Concept stones sold for such high prices on the ‘market.’

In that sense, Seo Gaeul really was amazing. She could manifest Concepts at will and even transfer them to others. And right now, I had that very Seo Gaeul locked up in my basement!

###

「Came 7」

I bought a bunch of cold cola from the school store and headed home with light steps, only to find a note stuck on the front gate. The handwriting where the ‘’ looked like a ‘7’ belonged to Chief Kim Jangdong.

My mind spun for a second. I had no idea why Chief Kim Jangdong from the Superhuman Management Agency had visited our house again, but if Seo Gaeul had screamed loudly enough, he might have noticed.

Clack. Creeeeak—!

I rushed to the house next door and flung open the basement door. Then my vision went blurry.

“She’s gone…”

The sight of Seo Gaeul, whom I had securely locked in the basement just this morning, was nowhere to be seen! Had she escaped?

I was thinking that things had gone to shit in every possible way when—

“Boo!”

“Guaaaak!”

A loud noise exploded right beside me, nearly scaring me to actual death. While I was sitting on my ass trying to figure out what the hell was going on, Seo Gaeul popped out from beside the basement door.

“Idiot. Scaredy-cat. You’re covered in injuries? Looks like Yu Yeoleum beat the crap out of you, huh? You look great.”

“…Wait, what is this…”

A wave of relief washed over me at the realization that Seo Gaeul and Chief Kim Jangdong had not met. At the same time, I felt puzzled. What the hell was going on?

I had definitely chained her up tightly with iron shackles. How had she gotten all the way to the door? When I looked closer, the chains attached to her hands and feet were noticeably longer than I remembered.

“This? I acquired the Concept of Length. Too bad. If you’d come back just a little later, I could have stretched the chains and escaped outside.”

God damn it.

Now I’d have to live with the anxiety that if I came home too late, Seo Gaeul might stretch her chains and escape. What was this, a time limit?

“Seo Gaeul, can you give me that Concept? It’s useless for you to have it anyway.”

As a man, there were many things whose length I wanted to adjust. If I had that Concept, maybe I could freely change the size of all sorts of things?

But after hearing me, Seo Gaeul flopped down onto the mattress she was using as a makeshift bed and scrunched her face up in a deep frown.

“The fact that I can give away Concepts was supposed to be a secret. So was the fact that the full moon is my weakness. Exactly where did you hear all this about me?”

I heard it from you.

But I couldn’t say that. Seo Gaeul had strictly warned me not to tell anyone that I had come from the future. And that ‘anyone’ included Seo Gaeul herself.

“I have the Appraisal Concept, so it’s only natural that I can learn about various secrets.”

“What kind of perverted—.”

Seo Gaeul started to say something but shut her mouth. She elegantly crossed her long legs that stretched out from under the oversized T-shirt she wore like a dress and idly tapped her ankle.

“I’m jealous. If I had something like that, life would have been twice as easy.”

In truth, this Appraisal had originally belonged to Seo Gaeul. Thinking about it now, it meant she had once harbored an intense enough desire to awaken the Appraisal ability.

“Can’t you just awaken Appraisal yourself?”

“Are you stupid? There is only one of each Concept in the world. They don’t overlap. Unless you somehow dig one up and release it into the market, that is.”

“So that’s how it works. Then how about handing over that Length Concept to me?”

“What, so you don’t know everything? Listen. I can only transfer a Concept to someone if I know them in detail. And I don’t even know what the hell you are, do I?”

So she couldn’t just give abilities to anyone. That meant the future Seo Gaeul had given her abilities to me, Ha Namjin, because she knew me well—

###

I often recalled my first meeting with Seo Gaeul. Had the future Seo Gaeul known that I was only a middle school graduate? That I had tamed Ing-ing?

I had been nothing more than a guy from the sticks who ran errands for others just to get by. So why had Seo Gaeul, the woman called a Supernova and hailed as humanity’s hope, taken any interest in me?

Back then, unlike now, we had no point of contact whatsoever.

I wanted to ask. But the person who could give me that answer—

“Why don’t you tell me about yourself instead? What the hell are you? What kind of bastard locks a girl up and pulls this kind of crap? Is your name really Ha Namjin?”

—was currently someone who knew absolutely nothing about me.

Still, she seemed to have done some reasoning of her own and began rattling off her deductions.

“You said you transferred to Yeongsa High from Yeongmun High, right? That place isn’t somewhere you can get into just by studying hard. They look at family background and parents’ occupations too. On the other hand, you—”

Sssss—.

Seo Gaeul scanned her surroundings with narrow, snake-like eyes. The shrill cries of angry cats in heat echoed loudly.

“You don’t exactly live in a nice neighborhood. So how did someone from a poor family like you get into Yeongmun High? And then you transferred to this school. It’s suspicious. What exactly are you?”

“I’d rather hear your story. I heard at school today that you were marked as being on medical leave? Not missing. Do you know what’s going on?”

“……”

Seo Gaeul, who had been chattering away quite fluently, suddenly turned ice-cold. It seemed I had asked something I shouldn’t have. I thought we had connected for a moment during the previous conversation, but that was clearly my mistake.

Seo Gaeul completely clammed up. Even when I offered her a cola, she showed zero interest.

This is frustrating.

I needed to cooperate with her as soon as possible, train, and acquire better Concepts. While I was feeling impatient on multiple fronts, something in my pocket suddenly popped out and latched onto Seo Gaeul’s leg.

━Kyu-ing.

“Huh?”

Seo Gaeul’s ruby-red eyes widened. Then she immediately lost ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her mind and screamed.

“It’s a fucking monster! Fuck! Monster! It’s a monster! Kill it! Kill it right now!”

Thud! Thud-thud!

Seo Gaeul mercilessly stomped on Ing-ing with the soles of her feet. Since Ing-ing’s body was full of soft, squishy cushioning, it didn’t seem to take any serious damage, but my heart felt like it was being torn apart.

“Wait! Ing-ing is a monster, but it’s a good monster!”

“What? What kind of bullshit is that? I’m warning you. There is no such thing as a good monster in this world. If a monster shows goodwill toward humans, it’s only to deceive them for an even greater evil. So move! Let me kill it!”

Wait a second… haven’t I had this conversation before?

Because of that, I knew exactly what I had to do. I placed Ing-ing on my palm, cleared my throat, and began to sing lightly.

“Butterfree, Kadabra, the birds’ hometown. No matter how much anyone insists it’s their land, a swarm of alligators will come out.”

Boom-chick boom-chick—.

Ing-ing wriggled its body in time with the rhythm. Honestly, I wasn’t sure it would work, but Ing-ing was a creature that loved songs and rhythm by nature. Seeing that, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠even Seo Gaeul’s expression subtly changed.

“A good monster, you say?”

“It’s the nicest one I know.”

Seo Gaeul looked at me and Ing-ing like we were the strangest creatures she had ever seen. Then she slowly extended her pale leg toward me.

Is she trying to seduce me again?

I had already punished her harshly with the Whip of Love last time, but it seemed my intentions hadn’t been properly conveyed. I was reaching for a nearby fly swatter when Seo Gaeul spoke in a cold voice.

“Stockings.”

“Stockings?”

“I have a constitution where my Concepts don’t awaken properly unless I’m wearing stockings. It’s one of my repercussions. So go buy me some stockings. Denier brand. Then I’ll tell you why I’m on ‘medical leave.’”

A repercussion that required her to wear stockings? What kind of nonsense was that?

“I’ll give you ten minutes.”

Seo Gaeul didn’t seem to be lying. Since she was offering to tell me why she was on medical leave, it wasn’t a bad deal for me either. Ten minutes was enough time to run to the nearby convenience store and back.

“Then play with Ing-ing for a bit.”

“Hey! You crazy bastard! You’re going to leave me alone with a monster? At least untie me first!”

“I told you, Ing-ing is nice. Anyway, I’ll be right back.”

With that, I closed the basement door, locked it securely, and was just stepping out the front gate when—

“Ha Namjin.”

Someone called my name, making me tense up slightly. It was Yu Yeoleum.

“I wanted to apologize for what happened earlier at the underground waterway, so I asked your friends and came to your house.”

“Apologize?”

“But I heard this was your house. Why did you come out of the neighbor’s place?”

Ziiiing—.

In the darkness of the spring evening, Yu Yeoleum’s eyes burned with intense fire.