Hello, Nahee.
Hello, Nahee.
Jin Soyul...
The her I saw after such a long time had changed so much.
"She's become way too cold now..."
Lying in bed, I blinked my eyes.
She became a villain just because her confession was rejected?
Can that seriously be the real reason?
I suppose there's a difference in perspective since I'm not Soyul.
I thought I turned her down pretty cleanly, at least.
'Besides, there were tons of people around!!'
It wasn't like I disliked her or that she wasn't my type.
It was simply not the right time for me to date anyone.
On top of that, if I were to get caught as a guide...
Wouldn't I end up locked away in some association room, getting fucked all day long to supply magic power to the heroes?
"Ugh... Just imagining it makes me want to throw up."
I rubbed away the goosebumps sprouting on my arms.
'I'm gonna fuck you.'
It feels like I can still hear Soyul's voice.
I needed a change of pace.
"Let's forget it... She was probably just running her mouth. Is Chaelin streaming?"
I turned on my phone and checked my favorite hero broadcasts list.
[LIVE : Hero Han Chaelin Playing Horror Games]
"Chaelin usually does communication streams, but she's playing a game today."
As soon as I entered the room, a familiar voice greeted me.
-Eeeek! Fuck, that scared me! Ah, that wasn't a swear word, I was just startled. Yes, yes. There seems to be some communication error.
-No? I've never sworn.
[Chaelin's insisting on her innocence again lol]
[How many times has she sworn so far? What a foul-mouthed hero.]
-Ah, I don't know. My heart's pounding. Let's look at a pretty picture of yours truly, cleanse our eyes devoutly, and pray.
Chaelin put a hand on her chest and made a crying face.
You were totally fine when looking at that giant eyeball monster.
Is it different from jump scares...?
Soon after, a photo was uploaded to the stream.
"That's me!"
-I took this one myself this time. Super pretty, right? Have you ever seen cheeks munching on food right when you want to lick—no, ahem, ahem, it's my cute senior.
[Ah... Kim Nahee is freaking pretty. I gotta admit.]
[How many years has Chaelin been fangirling over her senior?]
[Info: Han Chaelin has been fangirling over Kim Nahee even before she became a hero.]
When on earth did she take that?
It was me looking gloomy at the cafe we met at last time.
[Chaelin, isn't that a hidden camera shot? The angle looks like a hidden camera?]
-Oh my, thank you for the one hundred Star Balloons. Hey. A hidden camera, you say? It hurts my feelings when you say things like that.
"It totally is a hidden camera..."
The back of my neck burned with embarrassment. I had no idea I was being secretly photographed from an angle like that.
I thought about sending Chaelin a chat message, but then I remembered that popularity affects our salary.
"Is she promoting me on purpose?"
Since I'm not the type to do self-promotion or anything.
Anyway.
"Ah, why are you turning around there! You gotta back away while keeping your eyes on the ghost! That's the only way the ghost won't move!"
Whoa... Chaelin is seriously terrible at games, isn't she?
She's usually friendly and professional, but I had no idea she was such a clumsy dork when it came to games.
Watching Chaelin jump and scream on the screen made my heart, which had been heavy because of Soyul until just a moment ago, feel a little lighter.
However, watching Chaelin play games was so frustrating that I took a bottle of cold water out of the fridge and drank it.
Gulp.
As the cold water went down my throat, it felt like the tightly knotted lump in my chest was loosening up.
No matter how close of a junior she was...
I couldn't embrace everything.
"Watching Chaelin play games is true torture..."
As I muttered to myself and tried to turn off the broadcast.
Chaelin's voice suddenly stiffened.
Chaelin shouted in a wronged voice.
Quickly changing her stance, she waved brightly, said goodbye, and turned off the broadcast.
"Kids these days really know how to communicate well."
I muttered while looking at the screen showing the broadcast had ended.
It was long after that when my phone rang.
[Emergency Dispatch : Kim Nahee]
The moment I checked the alarm, my heart began to pound fiercely.
It seemed to be the same scene Chaelin had just been dispatched to earlier.
[Monster: Black-haired female entity / Villain name: Designated as Chronie]
An emergency, of all things.
It meant they had failed to subjugate it or someone was injured.
'Don't tell me Chaelin...'
She couldn't be dead, right?
She mustn't die.
I didn't know why out of all people I was assigned, but I didn't have the mental capacity to argue.
I headed to the address written on the alarm as quickly as possible.
I gasped for breath.
My throat felt like it was burning up.
Because the situation was that urgent.
Because I hadn't stopped running even once all the way here.
It had been a long time since I ran around like this out of my mind.
Of course, it would have been the same even if it wasn't Chaelin.
Because I'm a hero who protects people.
"Haah... haah..."
Destroyed buildings and dirt dust were scattering to the point where my vision was blurred hazily.
"Cough..."
Fanning the air with my hand, I walked while brushing away the dust.
Bloodstains scattered everywhere and fallen people.
"Chaelin wasn't the only one who came."
Even heroes were sprawled out here and there.
Approaching them closely to check their breathing, thankfully they were just unconscious.
A sigh of relief escaped me, but only for a moment.
"Chaelin...!"
Looking around, I called out her name.
"Hello."
At that moment, a quiet and gentle voice was heard.
It wasn't loud, but it was a voice that slammed straight into my ears.
Jin Soyul's voice.
When I turned my head, I saw Soyul holding the arm of the unconscious Chaelin. Chaelin's face was unrecognizable due to the blood flowing down from her forehead.
"Jin Soyul...! Why are you here!"
Her black hair fluttered softly in the wind.
"Looking for her? I'll give her to you."
She tried to approach me while dragging Chaelin across the ground. Seeing Chaelin's arm being dragged powerlessly across the shattered stone floor made my anger flare up to the top of my head.
"Soyul, what the hell are you doing!"
"A villain did villain things, so why...? I didn't kill the heroes."
Soyul said, tilting her head slightly.
Her brazenness made me grind my teeth.
"What about the civilians?"
"I killed them."
Soyul said it so matter-of-factly.
It was a voice that felt zero guilt.
Ah...
My vision went dark.
The strength left my legs, and I almost collapsed right there on the spot.
How could a child who used to be so kind...
She used to take such good care of me back then.
She was a kid who used to say she wanted to protect people, and that was the reason she became a hero...
Is she really the Soyul I knew?
Could it be that the real Jin Soyul is already dead and another villain has taken over her body?
"Are you really Soyul...?"
My voice trembled like a fool.
"Yeah. Jin Soyul. The person who liked you, oh, and I still like you now."
How could the voice confessing love and the voice saying she killed people sound so exactly the same?
"Why did you get so broken...."
I thought of her in the past. I forced myself to hold back the tears welling up and making my eyes red.
"Because when I got rejected, it was so humiliating and I wanted to die. Everywhere I went, I could hear people talking behind my back. That I followed Nahee around like a doormat just to fuck her, only to get dumped. Funny, right? Those bitches need to be killed."
Soyul cackled and laughed.
How many more people is she planning to kill?
"Let Chaelin go first..."
"Are you close? Or do you like her? You seem to be looking after her unusually well. I'm jealous."
"It's not like that."
"Nahee. Then will you listen to what I say? Ah. The only choice is to do it. Otherwise, I'm going to hurt that kid, Vegetable or Chaelin or whatever."
The unconscious Chaelin caught my eye and weighed heavily on my heart.
I bit down hard on my lower lip.
Strength tightened in the hand holding my magic wand, causing the wand to tremble violently.
"I don't want to fight you, Soyul... Turn yourself in. Turn yourself in, pay for your crimes in prison, and come back out."
It was a desperate plea.
Hoping that she, broken as she was, would please listen to me.
"Ha, that's not the answer. Since you got it wrong..."
Soyul let out a long sigh with a bored expression.
And grabbing Chaelin's hand with both of her hands.
She stroked the forearm as if checking the joints.
Ppo-gak.
The arm was twisted around.
"Chaelin!!"
"Ah, your voice is pretty as ever."
"Are you out of your mind? Are you actually insane? I'll accept your confession! That'll do it, right?!"
"Ha... fuck."
To me, speaking while pouring out tears, she suddenly cursed.
"It's that easy? That's kind of fucked up. Should I just kill this kid?"
"Shut up!"
Several golden magic circles floated around me.
"Now you're even attacking."
She said with a hardened face.
The golden magic circles soon dissipated into thin air.
"Why aren't you attacking?"
She pulled Chaelin's broken arm, using Chaelin's body like a shield.
Fine.
Let's fight today.
I transformed my magic wand into a hammer and flew straight toward her.
Just as I raised the hammer high to bring it down on her like that.
She creased her eyes gently and threw Chaelin at me.
"Ah! Chaelin!"
Unable to attack, I hugged Chaelin and sank straight down to the ground with her. The unconscious Chaelin didn't budge at all. The twisted arm caught my eye.
Tears streamed down in heartache.
And then I looked back at Jin Soyul.
Pueong.
The head of one of the people lying nearby burst open into a bloody mess.
"Ah, I told you to listen to me first. If you keep acting up like that, more people are going to die, you know? This person died right now because of you, Nahee."
Because of me...
"You should've just listened quietly."
"A-Alright..."
I gently laid Chaelin down on the ground.
"Yeah. Now you've got the right posture."
She said calmly, tucking her hair behind her ear.
"Could you take off your clothes? So we can fucking bang right here."
"Eh...?"
Did I mishear?
Right. I must have misheard because of the dust.
At that moment, the head of another person burst open again.
"Get a grip, Nahee. Another person died just because you hesitated."
She shrugged her shoulders and let out a sigh.
"I said strip so I can fuck you."
You said you liked me.
Yet what is this.
It was so insulting and unbearable.
"Watch your mouth if you're a villain. Jin Soyul—no, Chronie."