The Thug Hides the Villainess

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025 – Three Problematic Individuals but the Strongest #3

“Hey! Hanam-jin! Are you okay? Eating a monster!”

Geum Tae-seong ran over to me, checking the size of my pupils and flicking his fingers to confirm my consciousness. I was fine.

Though my solar plexus felt tight as if I had indigestion, it was bearable.

The issue was that Ying-ing wasn’t staying still in my stomach and kept moving about.

It felt like I might throw up, but I had to suppress it somehow.

“I’m ugh, okay!”

“My friend! Well done! The 2 million points are ours! To succeed in hunting monsters consecutively during the practice, it’s a first for our D group!”

While Chang-sik cheered, Yu Yeoreum and her group looked rather disappointed about losing the credit for the monster hunt, struggling to leave easily.

Bling-bling.

At that moment, the smart watch on our wrists chimed, signaling the end of the practice. Now we just needed to find the ‘exit’ marked on the map to finish.

“Next time, we won’t get robbed.”

Yu Yeoreum muttered in a blunt tone before disappearing with her group in the distance.

I thought it’d be best to escape this place quickly to calm my restless stomach.

“It seems the nearest exit is in the building we started at. Let’s head there.”

It wasn’t too hard to find the exit since retracing our steps was straightforward, but a minor issue arose. I happened to encounter those annoying guys right in front of the exit.

“You bastard! Hanam-jin!”

He was overall slender and had an annoyingly smug appearance.

What was his name again?

“Cricket?”

“It’s Sa Ma-jun!”

Right, that was his name.

That punk I met at Seoga-eul’s party.

Wang Ja-hyeon’s lackey? It’d be fitting to call him that.

Where was Wang Ja-hyeon now? No, that wasn’t important at the moment.

What a twist of fate to run into these guys while Ying-ing was thrashing about in my stomach. Was it the ‘bad luck’ of having a fat bum at play?

I glanced at the ‘door’ set up next to them.

If I went out that way, I’d be able to return to school.

But it seemed Sa Ma-jun saw this as an opportunity and started to act out.

“This door is ours! If you want to get out, go through another one. Although it’ll take more than 10 minutes to get to another door! Unless you want to fight us.”

Tell me to go around for 10 minutes right in front of the exit? That was clearly a hassle.

He was clearly holding a grudge from what happened before.

He was being unmanly. If I had known this would happen, I should have smashed his marbles last time and turned him into a girl.

No, maybe it’d be good to clarify his gender identity once and for all, I thought, when Baek-Yeoul yelled.

“W-we won’t just sit here if you want to fight! I’ll curse you! The… the curse of misfortune! I don’t know what might happen! Consider this a warning!”

The curse of misfortune?

Could Fat Bum do that? Fat Bum seemed to glance at Deok-soon and shouted.

“Deok-soon! Remember the strategy we talked about at Chang-sik’s house yesterday? I think it’s time to use it! When I yell, erase the sounds around us!”

“…Are you serious? And I’m not Deok-soon, I’m Deok-hee…”

For whatever reason, it seemed Fat Bum and Deok-soon had some prior arrangement in mind. What exactly were they planning? I grew more tense as Fat Bum dashed towards the F group students.

The F group students laughed boisterously.

“Baek-Yeoul? What are you going to do coming here when you can’t even control your powers? I’m Sa Ma-jun! The Sa Ma-jun of ‘Torch Lighter’! Just blowing a breeze will ignite a fire─.”

“Deok-soon, now!”

Bang! Baek-Yeoul shouted.

Immediately, Deok-soon began to dance as if she had no idea what was happening. With that, all the noise around us was perfectly erased.

Complete silence.

In our eyes, Baek-Yeoul who was making a ruckus and the confused Sa Ma-jun and his F group members were visible.

About 20 seconds later, when Deok-soon’s dance ended,

Huff, huff—Deok-soon was catching her breath when the F group shouted.

“A letter that started in 20th century England? If you don’t send it to seven people, misfortune will strike? What a ridiculous joke!”

“What? Were you going to do something grand?”

What on earth was going on?

After catching her breath, Deok-soon explained in a small voice.

“Yeoul was reciting a letter of luck. If you don’t send the same content to seven people, you’ll have an immensely unfortunate day… only those guys can hear it.”

So while Deok-soon had set up a shield of silence around us, Baek-Yeoul was reciting the ‘letter of luck’ that would only be heard by them.

Would that actually work? Even Deok-soon shook her head, saying, “Honestly, I’m not sure if it works…”

But Fat Bum was filled with tremendous confidence.

“You guys are going to be unlucky for the next few days! The only way to make up for it is to send the letters I mentioned to someone else! I warned you!”

Now looking, Baek-Yeoul’s eyes looked dazed. It was like she was high on something. Wasn’t the pink dye the issue?

“Damn, I can’t play anymore.”

It seemed Sa Ma-jun had given up on fitting in on this bizarre stage.

Swish—

A flame ignited in the palm of his hand.

Was Sa Ma-jun a pyromancer? No wonder he seemed so annoying.

“W-what do we do?”

“My friend! This is the very definition of a crisis!”

First of all, Deok-soon and Chang-sik were still useless in a fight.

“You guys! I warned you! You better start writing those letters quickly!”

—Right now, Fat Bum wasn’t in her right mind.

Should I step in?—that was the thought I was having.

“Hanam-jin, you rest. You’re not in good shape from fighting Yu Yeoreum.”

Step by step, Geum Tae-seong stepped forward.

At that, even Sa Ma-jun’s face, which had just been relaxed, revealed a trace of tension.

“Geum Tae-seong, didn’t you say you wouldn’t fight anymore?”

“I didn’t hear that.”

Geum Tae-seong lightly tripped Sa Ma-jun’s ankle.

“Oops!”

Sa Ma-jun, properly caught in Geum Tae-seong’s trap, fell to the ground. Unfortunately, he hit his head on a protruding stone in the process.

“Ugh!”

Sa Ma-jun’s eyes rolled back, and he started foaming at the mouth.

“Ma-jun!”

“You bastard!”

Soon his crew seemed ready to charge at Geum Tae-seong for revenge, but the fiery mass in Sa Ma-jun’s hand caused the trouble.

Whoosh! Boom!

“Ugh!”

“Ahhh!”

Eventually, Sa Ma-jun and his crew got tangled up in the fire they had created and flew away.

What a bunch of unfortunate guys.

“See! What did I say! I told you you’d be unlucky! Take that!”

Was the ‘letter of luck’ Fat Bum spoke of really effective?

Honestly, I wasn’t even sure anymore.

# # #

“The top of this practice is ‘No Leftover Day.’ I never expected the D group under my guidance to have consecutive successes in monster hunting. Hanam-jin, what kind of magic did you pull?”

“It’s not magic but skill. Actually, it’s all thanks to my excellent leadership, but saying that wouldn’t sound humble, so I’ll credit it to all my team members.”

I awkwardly rubbed my nose with my finger.

Everyone clapped for us, the first place winners, and I felt great.

Is this what being popular feels like? I can understand why everyone dreams of being a celebrity.

Hmph. At that moment, the teacher, who had been watching me with discontent, sneered.

“Must have been luck. Or perhaps you found good companions.”

The teacher approached Geum Tae-seong and caressed his arm with a flirty huff.

“Tae-seong, wouldn’t you like to move to F group? With my recommendation, your grades would surely adapt well to F group.”

Even though I was the leader of our team, the teacher seemed to show more interest in Geum Tae-seong. However, Geum Tae-seong just shrugged, uninterested.

“I prefer D group.”

“You have good fighting skills. Only four people lasted over a minute against my Yeoreum in a duel. You’re one of them. I’ll specially accept you even though you’re a problematic student.”

Slowly—

With narrow eyes, the teacher looked over at Geum Tae-seong. She seemed like a predator in the marriage market, trying to catch a good young man.

But Geum Tae-seong was no push over either.

“I’m done fighting. Besides, teacher, don’t you have something to say to Hanam-jin instead of me?”

Right, in truth, the teacher should have business with me, not Geum Tae-seong.

I approached the teacher and made my lips pout like an octopus.

“What… what are you doing?”

“A kiss, remember? A kiss.”

“…You smell! You’re just rolled out of a sewer! And saying you’d kiss me after eating a monster? No way! At least brush your teeth first!”

“Teacher, would you go back on your word? A teacher training awakened individuals! What kind of thoughts would students have if they see a teacher not keeping their promises?”

“Grrrr!”

The teacher’s face turned bright red as she huffed in indignation. She seemed embarrassed to have to kiss me now. Women really aren’t frank about their feelings.

In such cases, even if I was younger, it would be good for me to take the lead.

I wrapped my arm around the teacher’s waist and pecked her lips.

“Whoa!”

The teacher looked flustered as if it all happened in an instant. She soon rubbed her lips with her palm and spat indignantly.

“It was my first kiss!”

I didn’t care, triumphantly raising both hands like a victor holding a trophy.

“I’m number one! Hooray for D group! Hooray for D group independence!”

“Wow!”

“Wow! But what independence?”

“Hooray for D group!”

The D group kids started clapping.

Of course, some were sad.

Mostly the boys from the F group.

“Our homeroom teacher had her first kiss with that guy….”

“Ma-jun, cheer up. It was just a kiss, not a big deal.”

“Shut up!”

Good, good.

I was definitely the star of today.

Grumbling—

At that moment, my stomach lurched violently.

“Uh, excuse me for a moment. I need to use the bathroom.”

I rushed down from the podium installed in the playground to the back of the nearby auditorium. With the resolve to purge everything from my stomach, I opened my mouth wide!

“Ueek!”

━Gyu-i-ing.

What came out of my stomach was just Ying-ing.

The blue slime Ying-ing.

Seeing it made me feel instantly relieved, as the tightness in my solar plexus vanished.

“Ying-ing! Nice to see you! I really am lucky!”

Why did I feel lucky? Because with Ying-ing, I could use the ‘Core’ and ‘Eye’ conceptual stones I obtained from defeating monsters before!

Speaking of which, let’s do it right now!

Clink. I pulled out the conceptual stones I had stashed in my pocket and presented them to Ying-ing.

Ying-ing, who had been quite wary of me after being eaten, approached my palm slowly after sensing something from the stones.

━Gyu-i-ing.

Then it ingested the conceptual stones with its body!

Wriggle, wiggle.

How much did Ying-ing tremble on my palm? Finally, it spat out a small, round bead from its body, as if expelling unnecessary nutrients.

“Didn’t ‘Eye’ and ‘Core’ match with you, Ying-ing? Well, I guess a slime wouldn’t really need eyes and a nose.”

━Gyu-i-ing.

Monsters, when consuming conceptual stones, only absorb useful concepts for themselves and spit out unnecessary concepts like mere nutrients.

Here, nutrients are toxins harmful to the human body but beneficial to monsters. So, the bead Ying-ing spat out was a ‘conceptual stone’ free of toxins.

And it was a fusion conceptual stone of ‘Eye’ and ‘Core.’
If I sold this at the ‘market,’ I would have received at least 1,000 bottle caps.
With that money, I could safely stay in a shelter for a few weeks with clean water and food that wasn’t contaminated? That would be an excellent price.
But right now, there was no market to take this item.
So, what should I do?
Should I eat it?
Or give it to Seoga-eul for her enhancement?