The Wolf Has Appeared Among the Sheep #2
The orphanage basement I entered following the short-cut girl wasn’t much different from the ruined surface above. Thud, thud, clink—. The place was packed with broken debris and collapsed rubble, kicking up so much dust with every step that I had to fight back sneezes.
“Not scared, huh? Most first-timers usually tense up and freak out. This place looks like it could spit out ghosts any second. They say some kids have actually seen them here.”
“I’m a man, so ghosts don’t scare me. Places like this are scarier because of the people. There’s a high chance sneaky, evil, wolf-like bastards are hiding in the shadows.”
In truth, I wasn’t afraid of sneaky or evil bastards either. After all, I was usually the one being the sneaky, evil bastard.
“What’s this about men and women? You one of those patriarchal types?”
“Aren’t you?”
“Fuck no. My dad was exactly that kind of man. He’d sit on his ass drinking all day while Mom went out and earned the money, then he’d curse her for disrespecting her husband and beat her over suspicions she was cheating—”
Despite her fierce, cool, and seemingly taciturn image, the short-cut girl spilled everything without me even asking. When her parents fought, she and her older sister would hide together inside the wardrobe to endure it.
“That’s why I like gentle, kind men.”
“Then we’re not compatible. I’m the worst of the worst when it comes to bad men. I’m the type who’d rather spank a woman’s ass than stroke her head, so don’t fall for me. I already have a woman I like.”
I’m a handsome, popular guy. Popular enough that it’s an open secret my callsign almost became “Brad Pitt.”
I’d essentially put up an iron wall in advance so the menhera girl in front of me wouldn’t develop any feelings.
Maybe getting rejected by me stung. The short-cut girl stopped walking and growled like a wolf.
“Just so there’s no misunderstanding, I have eyes too, you know? My type isn’t just someone nice. I like men who are intelligent, smart, and have the decisiveness to act like real men.”
“So that’s what you were getting at.”
“You think you’re that kind of guy? Ew, you actually make me nauseous.”
While trading such trivial banter, we arrived at a space resembling a large auditorium. The sight of various pieces of equipment under the fluorescent lights reminded me of the rehabilitation therapy room I’d grown sick of visiting. Probably a similar facility.
Whoosh—.
A bonfire blazed in the center of the room. Near it stood two—no, three—shadows. They seemed to be around my age.
“Hey guys, I brought someone who wants to join the Villains.”
At the short-cut girl’s words, the boys and girls staring into the flames turned their faces toward me. Sure enough, their hair was disheveled and their clothes were filthy enough that it was impossible to tell when they’d last been washed. If anyone resembled anyone, it was me. So that’s why the short-cut girl had mistaken me for a prospective Villains member.
Wariness and curiosity flickered in everyone’s eyes. They were probably evaluating whether I fit in with their group.
“Looks pretty scrawny.”
The extremely fat boy assessed me with those words.
Anyone who judges others should be prepared to be judged themselves.
“You look like you’d pop if I poked you.”
“What? What’d you say?”
“Whoa, did you hear that? His character’s pretty unique. Hey, what’s your name? How old are you? Have you undergone second awakening?”
Another girl, apparently interested in me, approached and looked me over from head to toe. She wore a school uniform—not from Youngsa High, but a cheap cosplay-looking one. Her long straight hair in a hime cut gave off serious Japanese manga character vibes.
“Ah, this outfit? Guys like this sort of thing, right? Don’t they?”
Flutter, flutter—. She teasingly lifted the hem of her skirt toward me. What a vixen.
At that moment, the male student who had stayed silent finally spoke.
“So—”
He wore a thick padded jacket completely inappropriate for late spring weather, and his fluffy curly hair looked exactly like sheep’s wool. With his glasses and gentle eyes, could he be the “kind, affectionate, intelligent, yet decisive man” the short-cut girl had mentioned earlier?
The sheep-like man said,
“I’m the Grade 3 ability user ‘Pinocchio.’ In other words, I’m the interviewer for the ‘Villains.’ Why don’t you give us a self-introduction? Explain why we should accept you as a comrade.”
“I don’t think I can be your comrade.”
“What?”
In truth, I had zero interest in joining the Villains. The only reason I’d come here was to gather information about the ‘orphanage’ and ‘Yu Yeoleum.’ Ultimately, it was all for Seo Gaeul.
“First, I have questions about this orphanage. Why are you all hanging around here? Isn’t this someone else’s property? Tell me honestly. If you waste my time, none of you will be walking out of here on your own two feet.”
“What is this guy on about? Is he just babbling nonsense because he’s scared like the last one? Aww, are you scared of us?”
The sailor-uniform girl who had been circling and inspecting me suddenly grabbed my ass—hard.
Kids these days really have no boundaries with physical contact.
I grabbed the uniformed girl’s ass right back. Squeeze—.
A woman’s ass has more satisfying grip than I expected!
“Kyaaak! What the—what the hell, you perverted bastard! Where do you think you’re touching! You crazy lunatic!”
Slap—!!!
The problem was that the uniformed girl who’d touched my ass first had slapped my cheek. So I slapped hers right back.
SMACK!
“Kyaaaak!”
Thud—.
The uniformed girl collapsed. Immediately, the fat boy exploded in rage.
“Sera! You—you son of a bitch! Hey! You crazy bastard! I’ll kill you!”
Riiip—.
His T-shirt tore apart from the sudden expansion of muscle beneath. The tattoos covering his arms and chest were revealed, and my mood instantly soured.
“How many drawings did you put on your body? Even if you’re runaway teenagers, couldn’t you afford a single sketchbook?”
“Aaaaaah!”
Thump, thump, thump—.
The massive body charged at me. Tired of waiting, I ran toward the pig bastard as well.
“Eh—!?”
By the time he reacted, it was already too late. My knee had already accurately crushed the space between his legs.
Crunch—.
“Hiiiiiiiiiiii!”
It was a truly beautiful soprano. He should’ve pursued vocal music instead of being a thug.
“The speedrunner who kicks the groin without hesitation—. I thought that sounded familiar. Are you perhaps Ha Namjin? The third-year at Youngsa High who caught and beat the hell out of Yeomra Yeomhun. The guy from the newspaper.”
The curly-haired man with glasses, ‘Pinocchio,’ had finally recognized me.
When celebrities get recognized on the street, do they feel like this? Honestly, having someone recognize me sent a thrilling jolt straight up my spine.
“I’m somewhat famous, huh? Then you can probably guess what’s going to happen to you. You’re not a combat-type ability user, are you? Even that ‘Yeomra’ got destroyed by me. I wonder what’ll happen to you?”
“Sharp eye. I hate fighting, you know. Mari, can you block this guy for me instead? After all, you’re the one who brought him here.”
Flinch—.
At the man’s words, the short-cut girl trembled. But it only lasted a moment.
“Oppa, run away! I’ll hold him off here!”
The short-cut girl glared at me with a demonic scowl and charged like an evil spirit. The moment I moved to dodge her attack, the curly-haired man had already vanished.
“Can’t fight but sure runs fast.”
“Yaaaak!”
I punched the face of the persistently annoying short-cut girl who kept charging at me.
The short-cut girl who took the hit widened her eyes in clear shock.
Name: Kim Mari
Status: 《Flustered and Fear》
She never thought you would seriously hit a woman, so she is greatly flustered. She is afraid of you.
She didn’t think she’d get hit by me?
I’m a philanthropist who hates discrimination. It means I enjoy beating women and men, children and elders, all equally.
“You all probably thought you were wolves hiding among sheep, didn’t you? You thought you were something special, strutting around calling yourselves ‘New Types’ or whatever. But you were wrong.”
###
The fat boy, the short-cut girl, and the uniformed girl were all first-awakened. In other words, they had no Concepts. Against me, who possessed the combat-specialized Concept of ‘Leap,’ they were no match.
Once the situation was settled, I decided to question the short-cut girl instead of the fainted fat boy and uniformed girl.
“Hey, Kim Mari. Answer what I asked earlier. Why are you all in this orphanage? Just because it’s a good hiding spot?”
“Th-this orphanage is our home. The place we grew up. We’re all from here. After the orphanage closed, we scattered, but eventually we all gathered here again—”
She answered more obediently than expected. She must have realized that resisting would only increase their suffering.
“You’re all from this orphanage? Then you must know why it closed.”
“I do. Truth is, this orphanage was only an orphanage in name. It was more like a laboratory. They ran experiments to turn children into Awakened… and then ‘that incident’ happened and it was shut down.”
“That incident?”
“A monster….”
Short-cut girl Kim Mari seemed like she wanted to say something but suddenly became terrified. What about the monster? Her breathing grew ragged and her hands and feet trembled violently. It looked like her trauma had triggered some kind of mental episode.
I waited for the symptoms to subside. Once she had calmed her own breathing, Kim Mari spoke as if making a suggestion.
“I honestly don’t want to recall what happened back then. But I’ll tell you. There’s a condition, though. You’re a third-year at Youngsa High, so you must know about Geum Taeseong, right?”
“I do.”
“He’s a horrible criminal. It makes me sick that someone like him walks around school pretending to be innocent. Because of him, my sister’s life was completely ruined.”
Kim Mari clenched her fist so tightly that her nails dug into her palm and drew blood.
“Tell him I’m giving this back and that I will never forgive him. And this is my contact information, so pass it to that bastard Geum Taeseong.”
Clink—.
Short-cut girl Kim Mari pulled a small cross necklace from her pocket and held it out to me. It was a simpler request than I’d expected.
If she had said something like “Kill Geum Taeseong,” it would have been troublesome for me in many ways.
After I accepted the cross necklace and put it safely in my pocket, the short-cut girl began speaking again.
“…The monster being raised at the orphanage went berserk. A lot of people were injured and killed. That’s why the orphanage was closed. We all scattered.”
A monster rampaged at the orphanage and people were injured and killed? If an incident like that had occurred, the world should have been in an uproar, yet this was the first I’d heard of it.
“My sister and the older kids reported it to the police and tipped off the newspapers, but everything was covered up. No one would listen to us. Through legitimate means…”
I was starting to understand why these kids had joined an organization called the ‘Villains.’ If they couldn’t resolve it through proper channels, they would use improper ones to make their resentment known.
I had no desire to give them a moral lecture about their methods and actions. After all, I was also the type of person who didn’t care about the means as long as I achieved my goal.
“Then let me ask one more thing. Do you know about Yu Yeoleum?”
“Sister Yeoreum?”
Bingo. Jackpot.
“You know Sister Yeoreum? Then if you meet her, tell her this too. It wasn’t her fault, so she shouldn’t worry about it too much.”
Short-cut girl Kim Mari told me the story of Yu Yeoleum and the monster that had been at the orphanage.