Pandora's Box #1

The bustling downtown area was packed with people going about their day. A man with earphones plugged in wandered aimlessly through the dense crowd.

The voices coming through the man's earphones kept shattering the peace. They were filled with anxiety, rage, and fear.

“Shh.”

At the man's quiet command, the noisy chatter coming through the earphones gradually fell silent until not even breathing could be heard. The man savored this silence. He knew all too well that truly precious moments were painfully short.

He casually scanned his surroundings. The faces of people who had come out onto the streets ahead of summer each carried their own worries and concerns. Because he had his earphones in, he couldn't hear their voices, but to the man—Gu Sejun—countless screams poured in from them, threatening to tear his ears apart. Even if he squeezed his eyes shut, the endless screams kept shouting directly into his brain. All kinds of anguish, worries, and desperate cries—.

As if shaking off those screams, Gu Sejun shuddered and spoke.

“Don't worry. I'm planning to meet them myself soon and have a talk.”

“Then that's enough. Everyone return to your positions. Dismissed.”

Dismissed—.

At the words spoken by Gu Sejun, the highest executive of the Villainers, several shadows lurking on the street melted into the bright crowd and disappeared.

“Throw us away after we've served our purpose, huh.”

Gu Sejun thought the time had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠finally come. The time to end this childish game of playing villains and become the real thing. To do that, it seemed best to head to Seo Gaeul's penthouse first. That's where what he wanted would be.

###

Shaaaaaaa—.

The sound of running water from the bathroom was quite loud. I had no choice but to shout at the bathroom ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠door.

“The water bill's going to be huge, so use it in moderation!”

Beyond this bathroom door, Yu Yeoleum was taking a bath completely naked. Originally, I had planned to wash her myself, but after she threatened, “If you lay a single finger on my body, I'll smash my head against the wall and die,” I had no choice but to let her go in alone.

Still, just in case the kidnapped hostage Yu Yeoleum was harboring some other intentions, I pressed my ear right up against the bathroom door and listened carefully to every sound coming from inside.

Slosh slosh slosh—.

Splash splash—.

Shaaaa—.

Thanks to my Emotion concept, I could roughly tell which body part she was washing just from the splashing sounds. Right now, she's washing under her chest. It must be inconvenient with the handcuffs on, but she's pretty good at it.

Drip—.

Then the water sounds stopped.

Rustle, rustle—.

After the sound of a soft towel drying her body came for a moment—.

Click, creeeak—.

The door opened, and Yu Yeoleum appeared in the living room, her body wrapped tightly in a long bath towel.

I took her to the room and carefully dried her hair with a hair dryer.

Whiiiiiiir—.

Maybe because her hair was so long, just drying it took quite a bit of time and effort. Would I have to do this every day from now on? It feels way too dangerous.

“Do you need to use the bathroom?”

At my question, Yu Yeoleum snapped back irritably.

“I haven't eaten anything for months.”

Her photosynthesis really is something. Yu Yeoleum grumbled as if she was genuinely annoyed, then turned her head.

“Your family?”

Was the family photo hanging in the living room bothering her? Before I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠could even answer, she added in a chilly voice as if she'd already drawn her own conclusion.

“You don't look like your mom at all.”

“I do take after my dad more than my mom.”

“Is your dad a criminal like you?”

Yu Yeoleum's words were thick with hatred, betrayal, and mockery. It felt like she was asking, Do your parents even know you go around doing things like this? As if she wanted me to feel some guilt of conscience.

The fortunate thing was that I wasn't a villain. Since I was doing the right thing right now, I could stand proudly in front of my parents' photo.

“Now that I think about it, when my dad wanted to marry my mom, there was strong opposition from the family, so he supposedly kidnapped her and ran away with her. Kidnapping marriage must run in the family.”

My dad wasn't as good as me, but he was a man with his own drive and decisiveness. Thanks to that, he started many businesses, but he ruined most of them. He had no real skill, only drive.

“Mom and Dad fought every day. Honestly, they weren't a loving couple, but I guess it couldn't be helped. As the money in the house kept shrinking, everyone got more and more anxious—.”

That day was the same.

“It was my birthday, and Mom made me kimchi stew with ketchup. No matter how much I liked it, eating it for months straight made me sick of it. So when I got my part-time pay, I suggested we eat out for once.”

Even calling it eating out just meant going to the food court at the nearby big-box store and grilling some meat. But it was still a rare outing, so Mom put on makeup for the first time in a while, and Dad even slicked his hair back with oil while wearing neat clothes.

A harmonious family to anyone's eyes. That's how it would have looked, and strictly speaking, it was a fairly harmonious household in its own way.

“But while I was briefly downstairs, a fire broke out. Mom and Dad spotted me from the fourth-floor terrace and screamed at me to run, but the stairs were already cut off, so there was nothing I could do.”

“…….”

“Sometimes I wonder. What if I had just quietly stayed home and eaten the ketchup kimchi stew?”

“…Is that why you put ketchup in your ramen too? Because you think your complaining about the side dishes caused that huge incident and made your family unhappy, so you're eating it as a form of repentance?”

For the first time in several days, the dark cloud that had been hanging over Yu Yeoleum's face like a perpetual storm had softened considerably. I honestly shared my true feelings with her.

“No, I just really like ketchup. And besides, the fire wasn't my fault, was it? The ones who set the fire are to blame. The ones who ordered them to set it are to blame.”

The arsonist was Yama. But there were people who had ordered him to set the fire. According to Jeong Uiseon, the class president of Class D, the most likely suspect was the Seonam Group. It was possible they had deliberately created the incident to gain a political advantage.

—A crazy Awakened committed a crime!—

By instilling anxiety in the citizens, they had pushed for the implementation of the Awakened Control Act, which strongly regulated and suppressed Awakened individuals. Because of that, people like me had to undergo thorough DNA tests and various psychological evaluations at least once every six months.

This damn smartwatch was actually for monitoring the students' locations in real time. There was some margin of error, though.

Yu Yeoleum said, “Beverage.”

“Sodium hydroxide.”

It seemed like Yu Yeoleum was suddenly suggesting a game of shiritori, so I countered with a powerful word. Thinking of words starting with 'ryum' would probably give her a headache. Sure enough, Yu Yeoleum raised the corners of her eyes like someone who had been caught off guard by a surprise attack.

“What are you talking about? I can drink beverages. Beverages can generally be converted into nutrients, but among them, I like strawberry milk the most. Remember that.”

###

“Must be nice? Taking a bath.”

Seo Gaeul shot the words at Yu Yeoleum like a dart. Even a bee with its stinger out wouldn't be as sharp as her. Sure enough, a fragrant scent was coming from Yu Yeoleum. It was the smell of shampoo from her long, voluminous hair. Perhaps the unpleasant feelings from the bath had completely vanished, because Yu Yeoleum's expression had regained its usual composure. Even Seo Gaeul's mental attack couldn't shake her.

“As you said, the bath felt good.”

“What? What did you just say?”

That attitude and posture seemed to have seriously gotten under Seo Gaeul's skin. Now completely furious, Seo Gaeul was desperately trying to find a way to ruin Yu Yeoleum's mood.

“Look at her chest! It's gotten smaller! She must have done something, right? Ha Namjin! Look at her chest! It's smaller than usual! She definitely did something!”

Seo Gaeul pointed with her hand at Yu Yeoleum's chest, which was wearing my oversized t-shirt like a dress. Indeed, Yu Yeoleum's chest had become smaller than what I remembered. What the hell? What kind of trick did she pull? Maybe she did something to try to escape.

However, Yu Yeoleum replied bluntly, as if it was the most ridiculous thing she'd ever heard.

“It means I've completely discharged. All the light I had stored up is gone. When I have a lot of stored light, my chest gets bigger. When it's all used up, it shrinks down to a C-cup like this.”

So even when it's all shrunk, it's still a C-cup. That alone was already way above the Korean average. Just as I was thinking how impressive that was, Seo Gaeul smiled slyly like a wicked nine-tailed fox.

“What kind of bullshit is that? Is your chest some kind of battery? She definitely pulled some trick while bathing. You pervert! Touch it yourself and check! Before something happens and everything goes to shit!”

Seo Gaeul's words made sense. It would be better to check directly than risk something unexpected happening.

“Hurry up and touch it to confirm.”

Seo Gaeul had the triumphant expression of a detective who had caught a thief. It looked like she thought she had won. On the other hand, Yu Yeoleum's face turned red with embarrassment, but she let out a deep sigh as if she had no choice. Then she made me an offer.

“Fine. I'll let you check. But if there's no problem, buy me strawberry milk before today is over.”

She'd let me examine her chest if I bought her strawberry milk—. It was a kind of trade proposal.

“Strawberry milk? Hey! You're in a kidnapped position and you're asking for something like that? Think about your situation! Strawberry milk my ass! Please stop talking nonsense!”

Seo Gaeul was extremely negative about this deal. My decision here was—.

“Alright.”

I decided that instead of examining Yu Yeoleum's chest, I would buy her strawberry milk if there was no problem. I thought it was a fairly reasonable suggestion.

And so, I ended up examining Yu Yeoleum's chest. Over her clothes. Three times.

Since I had the Appraisal concept, touching it three times should definitely let me figure out if something was wrong or not. When I reached out, something more elastic than I expected touched my palm. Beside me, Seo Gaeul burst into laughter.

“Our Yeoleum can forget about getting married now!”

“…….”

Yu Yeoleum bit her lip hard.

She didn't show it on her face, but she seemed to really hate the current situation. By the way, this was only the second time I'd ever touched a woman's chest. The first time was with the Jin Ramen lady. I was in a panic back then, but this was different. I was a real man. That meant I didn't grope women recklessly. That's why I professionally, without any ulterior motives, kneaded Yu Yeoleum's chest three times.

“No problems. It really seems like your chest shrinks and grows depending on the amount of light you've stored up, just like you said?”

“…Then take your hand off already. And don't forget the strawberry milk.”

Yu Yeoleum let out a rough breath and reconfirmed our deal. I, Ha Namjin, am a man who keeps his promises no matter what.

“Yeah, one strawberry milk. I should go buy it now, right?”

“Hey! Wait! I want apple juice!”

At that moment, Seo Gaeul shouted. Apple juice. It seemed she wanted to drink apple juice too.

“Seo Gaeul, you didn't get your chest examined.”

“Then examine mine too?”

“No, there's no need to examine yours.”

“…What… wh-what did you say?”

The expression on Seo Gaeul's face after being rejected by me turned extremely flushed. Like a perfectly ripe apple.

She was huffing and puffing as if she was truly furious, to the point that even I flinched. But I wasn't the type to be swayed by an expression like that. From now on, I had to focus on properly training Seo Gaeul.

“Seo Gaeul, once you succeed in awakening your concept, I'll buy you apple juice then.”

“Concept? Nice choice of words. Then bring me my Bogu. It should be in my room. I need it to learn concepts more easily.”

Seo Gaeul's Bogu? I thought she meant the Japanese sword that was in the treasure vault, but it seemed that wasn't it. So she had multiple Bogus.

“And if you bring the Bogu, I'll do ‘malang-malang’ once for you, right?”

“What?”

Malang-malang? What the hell was that? I didn't know what it was, but it was a word that made my brain feel like it was frying. Was it something they taught in high school or college? As a middle school graduate, I had no idea what this ‘malang-malang’ could possibly be! Whatever it was, if I brought Seo Gaeul's Bogu, I'd find out what ‘malang-malang’ meant.

Hehehe—.

A laugh escaped me automatically, as if my brain had short-circuited. First, let's head back to Seo Gaeul's penthouse! This time, confidently, through the front door.