Strong Women Generally Have a Weakness #1

"Hey!!! Loser Namjin!!!"

Breadbutt came sprinting toward me from far away, feet pattering frantically across the ground. What on earth was going on? The important part was that she was running so ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠desperately she tripped over her own feet and ate dirt.

Thud!

Tripping on perfectly flat ground—she really had a gift. Still, her chaotic entrance did manage to soften the murderous atmosphere a little.

"What's going on?"

"What happened?"

The eyes of students heading home after school all swiveled toward the alley. Even the policewoman—Instant Ramen Noona—who had been clenching her fist and half-threatening me relaxed her stance.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"You're luckier than you look, kid. Guess I'll see you around. And keep quiet about touching your noona's chest today, okay? If it gets out, noona might end up wearing an ankle monitor."

She was the one telling me to keep it secret, yet she announced it loud and clear herself—. Thanks to that, Breadbutt growled like an enraged raccoon.

"W-what the hell do you mean, chest! Loser Namjin, you! You said you liked Seo Gaeul, but the second she disappears you start chasing after someone else? Huh? Does any girl work for you?!"

"I'm single-mindedly devoted to Seo Gaeul alone."

"......"

It was Baek Yeoul staring at me with eyes full of discontent. Still, it was true her sudden appearance had helped me. Good timing and luck, I suppose. If that noona had actually dragged me off, GAME OVER would have been right around the corner in more ways than one.

"Breadbutt, so what the hell is going on? Weren't you supposed to be heading home?"

At my question, Breadbutt stopped dusting off her knees, glanced around, then whispered so only I could hear.

"You don't have any food at home, right? That's why you picked sucking on a ketchup bottle, isn't it?"

"Hey, we do have food at my house."

"You do? Like what?"

"Ramen."

"Not that!"

What was wrong with ramen? Soon Breadbutt started fidgeting like she had something stuck in her throat. It was the feeling of a mosquito bite on the sole of your foot while wearing shoes. Just as I was wondering what it could be, she opened her bag with a swish and shoved something at me.

"You! You made fun of me saying I can't cook! That's not true! So eat this for dinner tonight!"

It was a lunchbox.

"I made it myself! I'm Baek Yeoul of the Baekdang family! I'm confident when it comes to cooking!"

During the fight with Yeom Hoon the other day, I had yelled at her that she couldn't cook, and it seemed she was still holding a grudge.

It was still warm—must have been well insulated.

"If you honestly admit it tastes good, I can make you a lunchbox for dinner every single day. You've helped me with all sorts of things, so think of it as repayment? Give and take, that kind of thing."

Breadbutt was offering to solve my dinner problem every day? For me, there was nothing bad about that offer. But "Breadbutt's cooking"... would it come with modifiers like "charred black" or "twisted path to the underworld"?

While I was feeling tense for multiple reasons, Baek Yeoul whipped her head away as if she'd finished saying everything she needed to.

"Maybe... it, it might be my fault that S-Seo Gaeul disappeared."

"Why?"

"Because I hated her. I wished every day that she would disappear. Maybe my bad luck transferred over to her?"

"That can't be it. You don't have that kind of power."

"Ugh... anyway! I'm leaving! Just wash the lunchbox roughly and give it back tomorrow!"

With those final words, Breadbutt dashed off into the distance. She tripped with another thud along the way, but quickly got up like nothing happened and kept running until she vanished from sight.

"Just so we're clear, if you bring me ketchup ramen again today, I'll bite my tongue and die."

The moment I got home and headed straight down to the basement without even unpacking my bag, Seo Gaeul delivered her threat with absolute dignity. I had no idea how someone who hadn't eaten properly for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠days could still act so haughty. What else was even in our house besides ramen? Oh, actually there was one thing.

Shrrrip—

I pulled out the lunchbox I'd received from Baek Yeoul. When I opened the lid, I saw rather crudely prepared rolled omelet, vienna sausages, and soy-braised beef neatly arranged in their compartments. The delicious smell must have caught her attention, because even Seo Gaeul looked interested.

"What's this? A lunchbox? Did you make it?"

I hesitated for a second on how to answer. This was something Baek Yeoul had made. Weren't Baek Yeoul and Seo Gaeul on terrible terms? There was definitely some history between them, but neither of them had ever clearly explained what happened.

"Of course I made it. I'm good at cooking."

It seemed safer to claim I'd made the lunchbox myself. The picky Seo Gaeul was finally showing interest in food after so long. If I told her Baek Yeoul made it, she'd probably snap, "Then you eat it!" So I lied.

"Ah—."

Seo Gaeul opened her mouth wide at me. What was she doing?

"Hey, pervert. You wrapped my hands in tape so I can't use chopsticks or a fork. You'll have to feed me if you want me to eat. So hurry up and put it in my mouth. Ah—."

Oh, that's what she meant.

I picked up the food from the lunchbox with chopsticks and placed it on Seo Gaeul's tongue. Between her neat white teeth, her soft-looking tongue appeared almost seductive. And this was the same tongue that spat venom at me every single day.

Munch munch munch—

"How does it taste?"

"Mmm, well... it's passable?"

So Baek Yeoul's lunchbox was merely passable by Seo Gaeul's standards. Despite her words, she kept opening her mouth until the entire box was empty. Then she fell into deep thought like a judge on a cooking competition show.

"The vegetables are slightly undercooked, which is a bit disappointing. But it's been so long since I've had a proper home-cooked meal that I'll give it six out of ten. Next time, make sure to cook the vegetables more thoroughly. Understood?"

That was her verdict. I'd have to pass Seo Gaeul's requests on to Baek Yeoul later.

I ate instant noodles with Ing-ing and plenty of ketchup. Using a generous amount from the infinite ketchup bottle I'd obtained today made the flavor absolutely killer.

━Kyu-ing.

Even Ing-ing, now a fluffy cloud, seemed delighted by my ramen masterpiece and floated around the basement with gentle twoong-sil, twoong-sil motions. What a cute little guy!

"A ketchup bottle? You came back from the treasure hall with nothing but a ketchup bottle? Wow, I'm too embarrassed to tell anyone I got kidnapped by a man like this."

"It's not just any ketchup bottle—it's a rechargeable ketchup bottle, okay? Isn't that insanely cool?"

"And with that ketchup bottle, are you going to kidnap Yu Yeoreum? When exactly are you going to kidnap that bitch and tie her up next to me! If you succeed in kidnapping Yu Yeoreum, I'll cooperate with your weird schemes, you know?"

Once her stomach was full, Seo Gaeul became incredibly cocky. She kept stomping her feet on the floor as she spoke, but I refused to let her rile me up.

"Hey, I have a plan. Don't worry. Today we're doing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠lower-body exercises. You've been locked up in here for quite a while, so your muscles must have gotten weak. Come on, lie down."

"W-what are you planning to do?!"

"Simple rehabilitation."

I was practically an expert on lower-body rehabilitation. After all, my own legs had been crushed by a truck and badly injured before.

I grabbed Seo Gaeul's legs and moved them around to loosen up her stiff muscles.

"Pervert. You're just using rehabilitation as an excuse to touch my legs, aren't you? Men are all the same. You pretend to be doing someone a favor, but really you're only thinking about what you can do to a woman."

Of course she hated it. Since I was already at it, I decided to give her some acupressure too. I pressed my thumb firmly into the yongcheon point in the center of her sole—the pressure point that could supposedly jolt even a dead person back to life. Seo Gaeul's body sprang up like a spring.

"Hiiyak!"

"So this is your weak point? Then rehabilitation is over for today!"

"...I'll kill you. I will definitely kill you with my own hands. Just wait."

"Aww, that sounds nice. So sweet. By the way, it looks like a missing persons report was filed for you."

"Missing?"

The furious fox-like commotion Seo Gaeul had been making suddenly vanished. Her attitude turned chillingly cold, like she'd become a completely different person.

Maybe I shouldn't have said anything. As that thought crossed my mind, Seo Gaeul spoke quietly.

"TV."

"What about a TV?"

"Install one down here, even if it's small. You get to leave for school, but I feel like I'm going to lose my mind from boredom while you're gone."

A TV? That would be difficult right now. Instead, I brought her the newspaper that was delivered to our house every morning.

"Looking at the masthead, it's the paper our group advertises in. I'll make do with newspapers for now, so install that TV as soon as possible."

Seo Gaeul scanned the headlines with her slender eyes. Her elegant finger pointed to a corner of the page.

"This guy is Yu Yeoreum's dad."

"Who?"

"Opposition leader Yu Dogwan. He's a major presidential candidate."

So Yu Yeoreum had both monstrous personal talent and a powerful family behind her. Being the opposition party leader was no small position. Of course, in a year none of that would matter anymore.

"But she's not his biological daughter."

Srr— Seo Gaeul opened her narrow eyes after dropping that bombshell.

"Not biological?"

"Yu Yeoreum is actually an orphan from a children's home. The company that sponsored that orphanage was an affiliate of our Seonam Group. It's since split off and is now called the Emperor Group."

Yu Yeoreum was from an orphanage—. Depending on the situation, this could become useful information for the kidnapping.

"But that orphanage has closed its doors now. As for why it shut down—go investigate it yourself. I've given you quite a lot about Yu Yeoreum's 'weakness' with this much, haven't I?"

"Weakness? She has a weakness?"

"Who knows? Now then, Ing-ing, come here."

━Kyu-ing.

Swish— After calling over the floating Ing-ing, Seo Gaeul laid her head on its fluffy cloud-like body like it was a pillow and stretched out on the mattress. There was a time when she screamed that we should kill it because it was a monster, yet now she was using it as a pillow. Poor Ing-ing.

In a vast training room, a woman easily lifted a barbell stacked with countless 100kg plates in pitch-black darkness where you couldn't see even an inch ahead.

"......"

She hoisted a weight that would have required several strong men working together, yet her expression didn't twitch. Only tiny beads of sweat rolled from her forehead down to her chin.

"That's enough, Yeoreum. Let's stop there. Looks like you can handle 1,000kg even in a discharged state now? Your condition has been unusually good lately. Did something good happen?"

A middle-aged woman in a white lab coat meticulously checked and recorded Yu Yeoreum's results. Yu Yeoreum glanced at her face. The night-vision goggles shaped like spider eyes looked utterly ridiculous on her.

"Something good?"

"How long do you think I've been watching you? You've been subtly excited lately. It's similar to when you received a birthday cake as a child. What is it?"

"Nothing in particular...."

Yu Yeoreum left the training room to prepare for the next session. She descended deeper underground until she reached an enormous steel bomb shelter.

Clank. Whoooosh—

The moment she stepped inside, absolute darkness without a single speck of light swallowed her body. It was sticky, ink-like, perfect darkness.

A voice came from a speaker somewhere, but it was quickly followed by the sound of toxic gas hissing into the room.

In the darkness where she couldn't see even an inch ahead, Yu Yeoreum sat on the floor and sank deep into herself. The "Light" she had longed for all her life was already inside her. However, the terrible hunger was still almost unbearable.

And if there was one more thing that was hard to endure—.

—These night-vision goggles are pretty good. It's so dark, yet I can see the lines on my palm clearly.

—If I beat her, they'll really cancel my debt, right?

Voices of unknown people echoed in the pitch-black space.

—Beating up a high school girl as much as I want really takes me back. Back then it wasn't just beating, though—.

—Miss, how old are you? Do you have a boyfriend? Hehehe—.

She tried glaring with glowing eyes, but the light she had charged with "Photosynthesis" had already been depleted from living in the darkroom. This training had been deliberately designed with intentional "crisis" and "deprivation" to trigger the manifestation of a new concept.

In the end, the malice of the thugs lunging at her from every direction and their blunt weapons left wounds across Yu Yeoreum's body.

"......"

Even in that chaos, Yu Yeoreum didn't waste energy by screaming. She simply repaid the violence in kind, as if she were used to it.

Thud. Thwack!Crack. Snap!

—Kyaaaak! S-save me!

—You crazy monster bitch! Monster!

—Let me out of hereee!

The numbers being recorded satisfied Dr. Ahn and the rest of the monitoring team.

"Doctor! The vital signs are hitting a new peak again! She might awaken her third concept soon!"

"It's too early to celebrate. Until she overcomes that weakness, Yeoreum is no different from a failure."

Yu Yeoreum had one fatal weakness. If anyone ever discovered it, even someone who seemed as unbreakable as steel like Yu Yeoreum could collapse like a sandcastle.

Fortunately, security around Yu Yeoreum's "weakness" was ironclad. So thorough that no one could possibly notice it—.

—Not even Yu Yeoreum herself knew what it was.