The Tough Guy Hides the Villainess

046 – The Great Showman #1

046 – The Great Showman #1

“9 PM.”

It was time to meet Yoo Yeoreum.

Standing under the streetlight in the park near my house, I was constantly harassed by palm-sized moths, Tinkerbells, making it quite a hassle.

“These crazy moths!”

It was truly a war between moths and humans-.

While the battle for survival between species was in full swing, suddenly, the air seemed to heat up, and a strong heat ray brushed my face.

Ziiing-. Puff-.

The moths flying around me instantly turned to ashes and scattered, and the strange burnt smell hit my nose, making me feel dizzy.

“Hey, how can you just shoot lasers like that? What if you hit me too?”

Turning my head, I saw a girl approaching from the darkness, her eyes shining. She was dressed entirely in white, from her white dress to her white socks and white sneakers.

“How do I look? Does it suit me?”

“It suits you well. It feels like a sporty girl awakening to her long-held feelings for a childhood friend, only to be caught by a lecherous gym teacher and forced to grow up too soon.”

“What kind of review is that? But Jin-ah, you’re wearing a tracksuit. And it’s the school gym uniform. Wasn’t this a date?”

Yoo Yeoreum gave me a slight scolding as she looked at my outfit.

She had dressed up nicely for a change, and my shabby clothes seemed to be the problem.

“It’s okay, I’m wearing cool underwear. I hope I get a chance to show it off today.”

“Pfft, you always joke around.”

“I’m not joking, I’m serious.”

“Such things should happen when both can take responsibility.”

Yoo Yeoreum, you’re tougher than I thought.

No need to worry about the lecherous gym teacher.

We should be worried about the gym teacher instead.

This girl shoots lasers from her eyes.

“Is it okay to shoot lasers at moths?”

“It’s fine. I absorbed a lot of sunlight today. I’m fully charged.”

“Really? If you compare it to a phone, how much percentage?”

“75 percent. By the way, every time you shoot a laser, it decreases by 5 percent.”

So, Yu Yeoreum could shoot the laser 15 more times from now on.

Keeping that in mind, I walked with Yu Yeoreum.

# # #

There were many empty houses in our neighborhood. Imagine a high school boy and girl, just one year away from turning twenty, wandering around such places.

When a boy and girl, at the peak of their physical attractiveness and brimming with youthful energy, walk down a dark, secluded path together, something inevitable is bound to happen-.

“Jina, do you want to play can shooting?”

Exactly, can shooting!

Yu Yeoreum set up the empty cans and shot them all down with lasers from her eyes.

Three shots.

Yu Yeoreum had 12 laser shots left.

“In the old days, we used to throw stones at cans for fun. Why don’t we do that anymore?”

Contrary to her cool exterior, Yu Yeoreum was full of childlike innocence and loved to play pranks.

She would rummage through abandoned houses and suddenly shout “Boo!” to scare me, or walk in a hopscotch manner following the white paint on the road.

From noble mtl dot com

We were as close as childhood friends who had known each other for a long time. It felt like we had been playing together in this neighborhood for ages.

If there wasn’t a steadfast rose named Seo Ga-eul in my heart, it wouldn’t have been strange if I had fallen for Yu Yeoreum.

Her large chest visible under her dress and her smooth armpits were like poison to my eyes.

Yu Yeoreum seemed completely unaware of how her actions or gestures affected men. Or was she doing it on purpose?

While thinking about that, we arrived at our original destination, the “Seedling Orphanage.”

“Here…”

Yu Yeoreum, who had been bouncing around happily until just now, suddenly became as calm as if oil had been poured on her. I spoke honestly to her.

“This is the place where the remnants of the ‘Villainers’ were seen. It seems that a significant number of unregistered awakeners from this orphanage are involved. I thought it would be better to tell you.”

Creak-. Yu Yeoreum touched the grotesquely old swing in the orphanage playground.

For a moment, seesaws and spinning equipment faintly reflected in her eyes─.

“That’s impossible. They wouldn’t be involved in such bad things.”

“Meet them and talk to them yourself.”

I had contacted the short-haired girl Kim Mari to arrange a meeting today.

The “Villainers” must have been targeting Yu Yeoreum like a thorn in their side, so they must have planted an ambush here.

Then surely a consuming skirmish will break out, right?

Yoo Yeoreum’s laser and charge will both deplete.

And when Yoo Yeoreum is drained of power, I’ll strike-!

It’s a perfect plan.

With this plan, there’s no need to sacrifice the lives of “No Leftovers Day.”

“Kim Mari!”

I shouted so loudly that the entire orphanage echoed, eager to execute the plan.

But the one who appeared in the orphanage wasn’t a short-haired girl, a uniformed girl, or even a chubby one, but a man with curly hair.

What was his name again?

“Weren’t you the third-class wanted criminal ‘Piccolo’?”

“It’s ‘Pinocchio.'”

Right, it was that guy.

So the Villainers were lying in ambush at the meeting place of Yoo Yeoreum and her old friends.

As I was thinking that, Pinocchio spoke.

“You came to meet Mari and her friends, right? But you won’t be able to see them. They were trying to leave the organization, probably because someone swayed their hearts. That’s not allowed, right?”

“What did you do to my friends?”

Whirr-. Yoo Yeoreum’s eyes shone so brightly it was blinding.

Pinocchio, seemingly pained by the car headlight-like glare, staggered back and hid behind a building pillar.

Then he peeked out and shouted.

“They’re safe for now. But who knows what will happen next. Yoo Yeoreum, you know better than anyone how a hungry monster can suddenly change, right?”

“What? Monster?”

“I’m really curious to see what happens when that cute animal shows its true nature. By the way, only I know the location. The time limit until our lock on the monster is released is exactly one hour.”

Pinocchio, that guy. Using his dumb brain to cause trouble.

Non-combat ability users are always so troublesome with their tricks.

Fortunately, this level of variable was within my expectations.

“Yoo Yeoreum, the truth is, we want to get along with you. We don’t want to turn a huge power like you into an enemy. So if you do us a simple favor, we’ll tell you where your friends are. .”

“Favor?”

“Our reputation is in shambles right now. We can’t become a terror to the citizens after being beaten by a mere high school student, right? So we need to repay the favor. Just take down that boy next to you. You don’t ‘Just make sure he can’t use his legs. Trading one leg for a person’s life is a good deal, right?

Make Yoo Yeoreum destroy my legs?

My lovely legs?

Are you telling me to go back to those limping days? Living in a shanty? Even so, there was a contradiction in his words.

“Hey, Piccolo, didn’t you imprison three people in total? I only have two legs, so even if both my legs are destroyed, one person will eventually die, right?”

“Why are you like this, friend? Men have three legs, don’t they?”

“That’s true.”

He’s more reasonable than I thought.

As I was thinking that, Pinocchio, who had hidden himself in the darkness, spoke.

“Three lives. One leg. Which is more precious? At Youngsago, they often have these kinds of dilemma discussions, don’t they? If you can save multiple lives by sacrificing one person, what should you do─.”

“…….”

Yoo Yeoreum’s expression became serious.

It felt like he was calculating various things in his head.

“Negotiating with terrorists is impossible. Even if I break your leg, I don’t know what other unreasonable demands you’ll make afterward. Jina, what will you do?”

He’s right.

There’s no need to naively believe Pinocchio’s words.

Perhaps feeling anxious, he added from the darkness.

“Then how about I give you a little bit of the address each time I break a leg? I’m Pinocchio, but I don’t lie. I only tell the truth you don’t want to believe.”

I had a knack for “emotions.”

It didn’t seem like Piccolo was lying to me right now.

So I put strength into my left leg and slammed it hard against the solid asphalt floor.

“Tell me the address.”

Crack-! Snap-!

I heard the sound of my shinbone breaking in half.

It hurt terribly, but I gritted my teeth and held back the urge to scream pathetically.

“Jina!”

“Oh, damn, I didn’t expect you to break your own leg. But well, a promise is a promise. Miss Yeoreum’s friends are between 1 and 50 Gaewoldong.”

How many households are there between 1 and 50 Gaewoldong? The pain in my left leg made it hard to calculate, but fortunately, I had friends who had recently taken an interest in ‘search missions.’

━Hanamjin! We’ll find them! Guys! It’s between 1 and 50!

━It seems like it will be easier if we narrow down the places where people might be trapped with monsters!

A reassuring voice came from the smartwatch.

I didn’t just have three legs now.

When combined with everyone’s, I had more than ten.

“Pinocchio, I’ll tell you a truth you don’t want to believe. If you get caught by me, you won’t die peacefully.”

Within the one-hour time limit, it was a matter of finding the place where Bbangdaengi and his friends, including the short-haired Kim Mari, were trapped.

During that time, Summer and I would catch and deal with that Pinocchio. I could ask Taesung to fix my broken leg and reverse the situation between Pinocchio and me.

When I leaned against the nearby wall, Yoo Summer spoke.

“You rest here. I’ll catch him.”

“No, don’t go. Actually, this whole place is a trap. That Piccolo guy knew you were coming, so I’m sure the orphanage is perfectly prepared for you. With your weaknesses-.”

“Weaknesses? I don’t have any.”

It was when Yoo Summer shook her head.

Clank, creak-. There was a sound like some mechanical device was operating.

And then-.

Growl-.

Beasts with glowing red eyes emerged from the orphanage building.

They were animals commonly seen around, like raccoons, cats, and dogs, but their eyes were all crazed.

If you looked closely, there were many points where their appearances differed from normal animals.

“Huff, ha, huff-.”

Yoo Summer’s breathing started to become unusually rough.

Her eyes shone like car headlights, burning like a red sunset.

“Oh, monsters….”

Yoo Summer’s condition was unusually strange after seeing the monsters.

At this point, even a fool could tell.

Yoo Summer’s weakness was ‘monsters.’ That’s why she was deployed in real combat against illegal awakeners instead of the ‘Great Labyrinth.’

The Great Labyrinth was full of monsters.

In other words, Yoo Summer had a quirk where she would go mad if she encountered ‘monsters’ in ‘dark places.’ You could call it ‘Monstrophobia in Dark Places,’ right?

The exact symptoms were probably─.

“Name: Yoo Summer

Possession: Click to see details ☜

Status: 《Rampage》 – Lost sanity due to old trauma. Unable to distinguish friend from foe. Also hungry.”

Rampage with inability to distinguish friend from foe.

I remembered the moment I first met Yingying in the underground waterway.

Of course, the current situation was worse than that time.

“Must kill the monster!”

A fist like a steel pipe lunged at me.

To Yoo Yeo-reum, whose eyes had turned a fiery red, I must have looked like a monster.

Bang—!

I quickly raised my arm to guard, but it was a punch so solid it sent a jolt through my bones.

One of my legs was also in a bad state.

At this point, there was only one way to go.

I pulled out my phone and played the video I had saved.

“Ma… .”

Was it the effect of cranking the smartphone’s volume to the max?

Yoo Yeo-reum’s red eyes sparkled like a colorful prism.

━Aah! Yaaah!

Soon, the video of skin colliding and the exchange of passion reflected in Yoo Yeo-reum’s colorful eyes.

To put it bluntly, it was an adult video.

Overcoming her trauma of monsters with a ‘disgust’ for adult videos! I hadn’t originally saved it for this purpose, but!

“Yoo Yeo-reum, darkness and monsters can no longer be the objects of your fear! What you’re really afraid of isn’t monsters! What you’re truly afraid of is adult videos!”

“Ya… .”