The Thug Hides the Villainess

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011 – Liars Can Recognize Each Other

The corpses of monsters often possessed small magic stones near their hearts.

These were referred to as “concept stones,” as they held the “concept” that the monster possessed.

“I’m sure it’s somewhere around here.”

As I rummaged through the hideously dead dog’s corpse with my hands, everyone gasped and hesitantly stepped back. Regardless, I just did my job.

Eventually, I found two tiny stones, about the size of pebbles, in my hands.

“Found it! This is it! Small in size, but there are two—an ‘eye’ and a ‘nose.’”

The potential uses for these were limitless, which made me feel quite good, yet everyone just stared at me, baffled.

“Nah Jin, are you hurt anywhere? I could heal your wounds with my ability.”

After I finished my work, Geum Tae-seong asked me.

Of course, his face was scrunched up.

That’s probably because there was a lot of muck from the monster all over me.

“It’s hard to tell where you’re injured like this.”

There surely wasn’t anyone as unfortunate as me at this school today.

On a side note, I was somewhat relieved.

Because it wasn’t just monster waste that was mixed in here.

When Baek-Yeoul kicked me in the groin, I also peed a little. If that fact had come out, I would have been teased as a bedwetter throughout my school years, right?

Given the circumstances, it seemed like no one had noticed.

In a way, it was my small fortune.

However, it would be best to quickly destroy the evidence.

“Hey, you guys clean up a bit. I’m going to wash up.”

There had to be a stream nearby.

Thinking that I should wash off my body at the stream where Chang-sik had stepped in dog poop, I started moving.

“Ugh, the smell. What is that?”

“What’s that? A monster?”

“Gaeul! Be careful! There’s a monster!”

When I finally reached the water’s edge, there were several students wearing knight-shaped brooches on their chests.

Since everyone looked unfamiliar, they were probably students from Class F… Wait a minute, students from Class F? Gaeul, be careful!

I took a look at the girls’ faces just to be sure, and nearly lost my balance.

Among them, I spotted the woman I had been searching for.

“…Seoga-eul.”

No scars, though.

She appeared a bit younger, but there was no doubt—she was my goddess, my savior, Seoga-eul!

Who would’ve thought that coming to wash in the stream would lead me to my long-awaited love!

Had my extreme misfortune of being covered in muck turned into a blessing in disguise?

“Seoga-eul!”

I shouted as I ran toward her with all my might.

The girls from Class F screamed, covering their noses and moving away, but Seoga-eul just looked at me with a calm expression.

“Not a monster, but it looks like a student. Are you here to wash up?”

She smiled gently and pulled a handkerchief from her pocket, offering it to me.

“Here, use this. And you—”

She glanced down toward my tiger-striped underwear.

Her reddish eyes curved like a crescent moon.

“I think you should put on some pants.”

“Hey! Hanam-jin!”

Suddenly, someone rushed into the stream.

Hearing a familiar voice, I turned my head and saw Baek-Yeoul waddling towards us from a distance.

“What the, that’s Baek-Yeoul?”

“Ugh, how annoying!”

The girls from Class F showed clear disdain as they looked at Baek-Yeoul.

It was to the extent that their gaze at me, covered in all sorts of filth, felt equally judgmental.

Only Seoga-eul greeted Baek-Yeoul calmly.

“Yeoul, hey!”

“Uh? You are….”

“Doing well, right?”

Even when everyone else was rejecting Baek-Yeoul, she asked about her wellbeing. Seoga-eul was truly a kind girl.

Pretty face, kind character—she truly was perfection itself!

This meant there was nothing lacking in our partnership.

“Alright, let’s go, everyone.”

As Baek-Yeoul fidgeted awkwardly, Seoga-eul disappeared gracefully like a fairy who had finished her errand, her hair flowing in the breeze.

The scent of shampoo wafting through the air was quite pleasant.

“That was lucky.”

I held the handkerchief Seoga-eul had given me to my nose.

Hmm, this fragrant smell~.

“I can talk to Seoga-eul by just giving back the handkerchief. How lucky.”

“…Lucky? You say that even after looking like that?”

Baek-Yeoul looked at me with her narrow eyes.

What’s the big deal about my appearance? I was just a bit dirty on the outside.

I had crawled through a sewer and been covered in far worse filth than this.

Still, I should wash up.

Splash splash-!

Having a blast splashing around in the stream felt good.

I’d hunted a monster, received a handkerchief from Seoga-eul, and things seemed to be going really well.

Why was everything going so smoothly?

Did the goddess of luck favor me?

Maybe—

“Hey! Don’t splash water! Hey! I said not to splash water! Ah! Hanam-jin! Aah! I just swallowed some dirty water!”

I’m pretty sure it wasn’t her.

# # #

“I will now announce the results of the joint practice between Class F and Class D. The group with the most points is….”

At the end of the class.

Captain twitched his nose as we returned to the schoolyard.

“Huh? Doesn’t there smell something? Anyway, I’ll announce the group with the most points first. The group with the most points is Class F, Group 1, the Yeoreum Team.”

“Of course!”

“It was worth all the effort!”

Squeals of delight erupted from the girls in Class F.

The Yeoreum Team?

Turning my head, I saw a tall girl in a hoodie being embraced by everyone.

“That’s Yu Yeoreum. The class rep of Class F. Apparently, she’s already being treated as an active explorer even though she hasn’t graduated yet.”

Geum Tae-seong whispered this information, probably anticipating my curiosity.

Yu Yeoreum.

Yeoreum?

I feel like I’ve heard that name before.

“Now, I will announce the second place group. Two groups will share the second place. The first group is Class F’s Nakyup group. And the second group is… Class D’s ‘No Leftover Day.’”

“Wow! We did it! We did it!”

Choi Chang-sik waved his hands in genuine delight.

Other students’ gazes shifted toward us, as if they couldn’t believe it.

“Those guys? How on earth?”

“Was it just luck? They probably found an object imbued with a concept by chance.”

“No way, could it really be luck? They’re from the Baek-Yeoul group.”

“…Could it be thanks to the transfer student?”

Alright, alright.

I can feel everyone’s attention focused on me!

Receiving attention from others is such a thrilling experience.

“…Ugh.”

Of course, there are always those who dislike the spotlight.

That was O Deok-soon, who was shy and introverted.

“Deok-hee, you did great today. You dance better than I expected?”

Pow!

Geum Tae-seong lightly slapped the shy girl’s back.

A flush of red appeared on her cheeks.

“Forget… about the dance…”

“Now, I will announce the third-place group. By the way, the top three groups will receive small prizes, so you can look forward to it. So, third place is—”

Third place went to a group from Class F.

All of the points had been swept away by Class F.

But well, that was expected.

It made sense for them to claim the prime spots first since Class F entered the practice first.

Was Moon Hyun-a, the homeroom teacher of Class F, committing irregularities?

According to Geum Tae-seong, our Class D would be the first to enter the practice area next time.

“Then, could the group leaders please come forward? Miss Moon, if you would.”

The top-performing groups stepped forward to receive their prizes.

Geum Tae-seong tapped my back.

“Nah Jin, go.”

“Me? You’re the class leader, not me.”

“I think it’d be better if you were the leader instead of me. Honestly, if it weren’t for you, we’d just be wasting time on the cliff until we returned.”

If you put it that way, I didn’t mind being the leader.

After all, I had done most of the work.

So there we stood side by side on stage—Yu Yeoreum, Seoga-eul, and I.

I would seize the opportunity to speak in the most charming voice next to Seoga-eul.

“Ahem, Gaeul, I’ll definitely wash and return the handkerchief later.”

“Hmm? Ah…, the handkerchief. The tiger-striped underwear in the stream. It was you, huh? I didn’t recognize you since you looked different after getting cleaned up. You must be the transfer student from Class D.”

Oh!

Seoga-eul remembered me!

Isn’t a girl remembering a boy a sign of a green light?

Perhaps Seoga-eul might have been captivated by my tiger-like valor.

Then when I said, “Would you let me kidnap you?” could she answer, “Sure!”?

As I felt delighted at the thought that things might get easier, Ms. Moon Hyun-a, who was handing out prizes, frowned upon seeing me.

“Smell. You really must have been desperate if you ended up covered in monster waste. But there’s no guarantee that a coincidence like today will happen again.”

Her tone felt rather cold, as if she were in a foul mood.

Maybe it was because she was sensitive to smell from wearing an eye patch.

In that sense, this lady resembled that nose teacher from earlier, right?

“Ms. Nose, we’ll see whether today’s events were a coincidence or not. What will you do if I place first in the next practice, beating all the students from Class F?”

“…Nose? My name is Moon Hyun-a, so please call me Ms. Hyun-a. And as for coming in first? Heheh-. Let’s see you try. It seems you don’t know our Class F students are not to be underestimated. If you do come in first, I might even give you a kiss on the cheek!”

Ms. Nose laughed mockingly, as if she’d heard the funniest thing ever.

Thus concluded the prize-giving ceremony.

“Your name was Hanam-jin, right?”

As I descended the podium, heart pounding with anticipation about what my “second-place prize” would be, someone called out to me.

A girl with a hoodie over her uniform stood beside me, about my height.

Is she on a sports team?

“Are you… Yu Yeoreum?”

“No, I’m Yu Yeoreum. You said you’ll place first in the next practice, so I can’t ignore you. I won’t lose, you know.”

She reached out her hand.

“I’m Hanam-jin. Let’s do our best together.”

Crunch!

Her grip was strong.

Holding my hand like this—does she perhaps like me?

My heart was firmly set on Seoga-eul, so I regrettably couldn’t accept Yu Yeoreum’s affections.

Still, the subtle strawberry scent was quite to my liking!

Her figure slipping under the hoodie seemed rather ample too.

# # #

“Alright, class is finished for today. Everyone be careful going home. There have been whispers of strange people wandering around the school lately.”

Class ended.

Just as I thought the day had dragged on unusually long, everyone crowded around me.

“Transfer student! Is it true you almost did everything in the monster hunt?”

“Next time, come with our group! I heard you have multiple abilities!”

“Nah Jin! Pair up with me! I need to earn points!”

Oh dear, oh dear—.

Had news about me already spread?

Just great, that’s troublesome.

“I told you, I wore my cool underwear today.”

“Underwear? Hahaha, cough, cough.”

“Ew, the smell.”

“Anyway, Nah Jin! Think about it!”

But then, those who tried to recruit me as a member suddenly stepped back, covering their noses and mouths.

What a bunch of weaklings.

They wouldn’t survive in a world that had fallen apart over just this level of stink.

On the other hand, my partner Baek-Yeoul held her ground.

Despite sitting right next to me, her brow didn’t so much as twitch.

“Hey, you’re not bothered by the smell?”

“I told you I’m not a ‘hey!’ And my family runs a food company, handling all sorts of ingredients. Compared to Kibi or Kusaya, this smell is nothing. More importantly….”

Baek-Yeoul seemed hesitant.

What’s going on?

“Why? Do you need to poop? Want to borrow some toilet paper?”

“…No! I just… um, thank you for saving me earlier.”

“You mean when I took my pants off and showed the monster my underwear?”

“…Yeah! Thanks to you, I managed to earn some points.”

What? Was she building up to say that?

I thought she was about to confess something grand.

If she doesn’t have anything more to say, I might as well start heading home and think about “kidnapping Seoga-eul with the handkerchief.”

Just as I was getting up, Baek-Yeoul suddenly grabbed my wrist.

“L-Let’s be in the same group next time!”

She said it rather loudly.

Everyone preparing to go home turned to her.

“Whaaaa!”

Having shouted, Baek-Yeoul turned bashful and fumbled, causing her bag on the desk to tumble to the ground, spilling its contents everywhere.

“Ah, my pencil case!”

What in the world made her act so clumsy? Truly, she was quite an unfortunate girl.

However, among the items that fell out of Baek-Yeoul’s bag, one thing caught my attention.

“Oh, what’s this….”

It was a photograph.

A picture of Baek-Yeoul taken with someone.

They were wearing middle school uniforms and smiling brightly, a lovely photo. But there was something strange—a face ‘of someone’ hugging Baek-Yeoul had been completely blacked out.

“Hey, Baek-Yeoul, what’s this?”

“Give that back!”

Whoosh!

The kid snatched the photo from my hand, and after a moment of stammering, fell silent, but my mind was filled with question marks.

Because I vaguely recognized my emotions toward the face that had been blacked out in the photo.

There was no way I could be mistaken.

That “someone” was Seoga-eul!

“Baek-Yeoul, you’ve taken a photo with Seoga-eul before?”

“…We were classmates in kindergarten and elementary and middle school.”

Classmates from kindergarten through middle school?

So, she’s practically an expert on Seoga-eul!

What luck to have such a key to help me just nearby.

“Alright, Baek-Yeoul. I’ll pair up with you again next time. But I have a condition!”