Chapter 22
Chapter 22
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: A Dangerous Reunion
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His gloves were studded with rows of sharp spikes.
*I can't block a punch...!*
Haon's face went white.
Even so, just as she was trying to figure out how to angle her head to take the punch and recover quickly...
“I’ve thought it over, and no, I don't think so.”
A gentle voice spoke as a hand shot out from the side and forcefully gripped Checker's jaw.
“N-Nova? When did you get to Korea, ugh—.”
With his eyes fixed on Haon, Nova casually lifted Checker into the air.
Checker, tormented by the pressure on his jaw, plunged a balisong knife into Nova's arm, but the man didn't even flinch.
The villain in pure white smiled at Haon, who was staring up at him with a dumbfounded expression.
“Darling.”
Veins and tendons popped on the back of his hand, which seemed to bear Checker's weight effortlessly.
“Love me, too.”
A sickening crunch echoed as blood splattered onto Haon's cheek.
“If you don't want to die.”
Against the backdrop of a short scream, he smiled beautifully and pulled the knife from his arm.
Sprawled on his back, Checker didn't let out so much as a whimper, apparently unconscious.
Pale as a ghost, Haon scooted backward from her seated position.
Bright red warning bells blared in her mind.
He's dangerous.
He was on a completely different level of dangerous from the Old District bosses.
“Are you hurt? Is it hard to get up?”
The devil wearing the mask of a white angel asked gently, helping Haon to her feet.
As the blood from his hand stained her sleeve, her small shoulders trembled.
“P-please let me go.”
He didn't stop her from pulling away, but tilted his head in confusion.
“Why are you pushing me away? We're going to be sleeping in the same bed anyway.”
“What? What are you talking about? No, we're not.”
“Darling. After all that time you spent chasing me around, trying every trick in the book to seduce me, you're going to pretend you don't know me now?”
“You know that wasn't me. It was the *other* Eun Haon.”
“I don't know about that. The only Dr. Eun I see here is you.”
“Why do you keep calling me that?”
Haon clutched her phone and glared at him, and he let out an amused chuckle.
“I call my darling 'darling.' What else would I call you? Do you want a different pet name?”
“...”
Haon fell silent, realizing it was impossible to reason with Nova.
Is everyone who acts friendly in this neighborhood a total weirdo?
He hadn't been this unreasonable when she met him at the lab. Was this his true personality?
She did have one guess as to why he was acting this way.
“It doesn't matter what you do. I'm not accepting your commission.”
“Forget about that blueprint.”
“...You're not doing this because of that? Hey, don't come any closer! Say what you have to say from there!”
Nova continued to close the distance, reaching for her, undeterred by her wary stance.
“I-I told you not to come any closer!”
A round blast of mana shot from Haon's phone and slammed into Nova.
*Thwack!*
Nova was thrown into the air and slammed into a wall.
Biting her trembling lip, Haon tried to make a quick escape.
*I need to get out of here while he's unconscious.*
But a sound from behind her froze her in place. A low chuckle filled the dark, eerie street.
When she stiffly turned around, Nova's eyes were fixed on her. A flicker of ecstasy crossed his golden eyes.
“Darling.”
“...!”
Goosebumps prickled her skin. As Haon flinched, he approached her at a leisurely pace.
“This is exactly what I want. To create a new weapon filled with love—.”
*Bang!*
Then, a sudden gunshot rang out, and he leaped back.
* * *
With a look of frustration, Juyeol released the Halla gang member.
The man, whose arm had been twisted behind his back, swallowed a string of curses and scrambled away breathlessly.
He'd interrogated several Halla gang members from Sector 2, but had come up empty.
He wanted to find the guy who'd been a notorious arsonist ten years ago, but maybe the man was being ostracized since he was a new recruit.
Every single one of them claimed to have no idea where Gowon was or what he was up to.
He wasn't trusted enough for important jobs, so he was probably just being shuffled around running menial errands.
*At least he didn't get himself killed in a fight today. That's a relief.*
The Sector 2 residents who'd fought the Halla gang included some villains, so he'd been worried the guy might have been killed.
*Come to think of it, Eun Haon acted like she was going to see Solmae. She couldn't still be in the Old District, could she...?*
As he rode his bike, Juyeol suddenly realized he was near Solmae's clinic and pulled to a stop.
*When did I get here?*
He frowned, about to turn around, but an uneasy feeling kept him rooted to the spot.
After a long moment of scowling and tapping the handlebars, he finally dismounted.
*It'll be a pain if she dies. And since she's completely lost it right now, I might as well check on her, just in case.*
Juyeol grumbled under his breath, a sullen look on his face, and headed toward Solmae's building.
Hugging the shadows, he rounded a corner and saw Eun Haon. And Nova.
“...”
The unexpected appearance made his stomach churn. The return of a villain who was a pain in the ass to deal with.
He didn't know what they were plotting, but there they were—the most famous couple in this business.
*I haven't gotten anything out of the doctor yet. This is a damn nuisance.*
Eun Haon's history of romantic pursuits was quite something. It was obvious that meeting Nova would make her revert to her original cruel, venomous self.
That's how it should have been.
Strangely, Haon's movements were still awkward, her gestures flustered.
*Doesn't look like she's back to normal.*
Even if she hadn't come to her senses, now that she'd met him, wouldn't she just fall for him all over again and start chasing him relentlessly?
As Juyeol continued his plausible line of thought, the sight of Nova gazing intently at Haon made him inexplicably irritated.
*Just looking at his face pisses me off. Still, at least I found out the bastard's back. This trip wasn't a total waste.*
Maybe that uneasy feeling that had drawn him here was because of Nova.
There was nothing more to gain by staying. Just as he thought that and turned to leave, he heard Haon's terrified voice, clear as day.
“I-I told you not to come any closer!”
A blue orb shot out of nowhere, sending Nova flying into a wall.
*...The hell? What was that?*
Startled by the unexpected turn of events, Juyeol crept a few steps forward from the shadows.
Something was off. Looking closer, he saw an unfamiliar expression on Haon's face as she looked at Nova.
She didn't look happy to see him. In fact, she looked like she was trying to get away from him.
“Darling.”
“...!”
Nova brushed himself off and started toward her, and Haon began to tremble, her face on the verge of tears.
Though suspicious, Juyeol instinctively raised his gun.
*Is bursting into tears in front of anyone her hobby or something?*
He wondered if he should really be getting involved, but her dazed face—a stark, almost comical contrast to the bloodstains—pushed him to pull the trigger.
“This is exactly what I want. A creation filled with love—.”
*Bang!*
With the sound of the shot, Juyeol stepped out of the shadows.
“What's with the pathetic display? If you got dumped, go drown your sorrows in booze. You're being so damn clingy I can't stand to watch.”
Haon, who had been staring blankly at the bullet hole, turned her head toward him.
Her pale, frightened face came into sharp focus. It was the same face he'd thought, not long ago, looked so damn good splattered with blood.
As his eyes met Haon's, Juyeol tightened his grip on the gun, unable to shake the feeling that he might have just made a mistake.
What if pushing Nova away was just part of a lovers' quarrel?
What if she was just about to throw a fit, asking him what took so long?
“Ju-Juyeol!”
But with a look of pure relief, she scampered over to Juyeol and hid behind him.
There wasn't a trace of hesitation in her actions, and a dry laugh escaped Juyeol's lips.
“Have you no loyalty?”
At his incredulous tone, Haon pouted and told him not to tease her. Then she noticed the arm she was clutching felt wet.
“...?”
Flipping her palm over, Haon was startled to see a faint smear of blood.
“Are you hurt?”
“It's nothing.”
“But you're bleeding.”
“Don't tell me you two had an affair while I was gone?”
Nova, who had been watching in silence, asked with a tilt of his head.
Juyeol felt so light-headed he nearly dropped his gun.
“Crazy bastard. I've heard it all now.”
“Ghost. Surely you're not going to pretend you don't know about Dr. Eun and me.”
“How could I not know? But if you get dumped, you're nothing to each other.”
“...”
A subtle crack appeared in Nova's placid expression.
“Couples fight. What are you doing here, sticking your nose where it doesn't belong?”
*I don't fucking know either!* Juyeol swallowed the retort that rose to his throat and jerked his head toward Haon.
“I hired her. Dr. Eun is my engineer now.”
“...Says who?”
His cracked expression hardened into an icy mask, and his golden eyes gleamed with menace.
A chill ran down Haon's spine. She gripped the hem of Juyeol's clothes, her shoulders trembling.
It wasn't a question of whether she could win a fight against Nova using mana engineering. She felt an instinctive revulsion, a kind of fear she'd never experienced before.
Juyeol sighed, his expression annoyed. He glanced back at her and asked.
“Hey. You wanna go back to that bastard?”