The Thug Hides the Villainess

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026 – Heroes Obsessing Over Villains #1

As far as I know, even “concepts” have compatibility.

If I hold the concept of “numbers,” it means I can more easily accept the concept of “addition.” The more intuitively related they are, the better the compatibility.

Even if I eat a fusion stone infused with the concepts of “nose” and “eyes,” if it doesn’t match my existing concepts or constitution, it’s likely to go undigested and be expelled unchanged.

Eyes. Nose.

Doesn’t the concept of “emotion” I received from Seoga-eul fit quite well with that?

Therefore, it seemed better for me to consume this fusion stone than to give it to Seoga-eul.

Increasing my level should help me in abducting Yu Yeoreum even more.

Then I’d also be able to elicit more active cooperation from Seoga-eul. Truly, I am a genius.

With that feeling, I opened my mouth wide and swallowed a small bead whole. What would happen now?

As I trembled with anticipation, my hair stood on end. My mildly congested nose opened up, and my vision became more intense and vivid.

I could feel the concepts of “eyes” and “nose” empowering me.

Indeed, thanks to “emotion,” the compatibility was good.

Puff.

—Gyu-ing.

At that moment, Ying-ing seemed to leap into the air before stealthily slipping into my pants pocket. It was like a hamster or squirrel burrowing into a hole.

Why is that? I wondered, but I soon found out the answer.

“Hey! Hanam-jin! What are you doing there?”

“Uh, Baek-Yeoul—”

{Name: Baek-Yeoul

Possession: {Misfortune Lv.2} – Possesses a level of misfortune respected even by black cats.

Status: {Curiosity} – Curious about your physical condition. At the same time, thinks of you as someone who must be taken care of due to your clumsiness.}

“…Hehe, the line is visible.”

Maybe it was because of the newly acquired concept, but letters that hadn’t been there before were newly added. Was it a feeling of projecting the concepts the opponent possesses?

The level marked next to the booty’s ‘misfortune’ must be indicating the rank, right?

“What do you mean you see something? Why are you spouting nonsense? Let’s get back to the classroom! Everyone else has already gone! And the prize for our group’s practical is five special class participation tickets! Isn’t that amazing?”

I once again assessed the flustered Baek-Yeoul.

The letters I had just seen were no longer visible.

The concept had strengthened, but it seemed the trigger for activation was still sensing a ‘gap’ or ‘disturbance’ in the opponent’s heart.

Suddenly, I became curious about what had happened to the concepts of “eyes” and “nose.” Had they merged within me, giving me four concepts?

As I looked down at my body, the letters appeared.

{Name: Hanam-jin

Possession: Press to unfold

{Leap Lv.2} – Possesses jumping ability comparable to characters in martial arts novels.

{Emotion Lv.2} – Possesses insight akin to that of a poor monk.

Status: {Anger} – You are extremely angry.}

It seemed that “nose” and “eyes” didn’t reside within me but were used as materials to enhance the concept of “emotion” and then vanished.

Come to think of it, if simply eating a concept stone could awaken new concepts indiscriminately, then the world would be flooded with multi-talented people.

Of course, enhancing even the level of a simple concept has tremendous effects in itself. Hence, concept stones were sold at high prices in the ‘market.’

In that sense, Seoga-eul was truly impressive.

To be able to freely manifest concepts and even pass them onto others. And here I was, keeping such an impressive Seoga-eul locked up in the basement!

# # #

“Coming 7占”

I returned home with light steps, having bought a cold cola from the store, only to find a note attached to the front gate.

The scribbled “ㄱ” was scrawled like a “7” in the handwriting of Kim Jang-dong, the Section Chief of the Superhuman Management Office. My head spun for a moment.

I couldn’t understand why Section Chief Kim Jang-dong of the “Superhuman Management Office” had visited our home again, but if Seoga-eul had cried out, maybe Section Chief Kim had picked up on it.

Clang, creak-!

I hurried to the next house and opened the basement door.

And I was met with a shocking sight.

“They’re gone…”

The figure of Seoga-eul, who I had securely locked in the basement until this morning, was nowhere to be found! Had she escaped? Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse.

“Wah!”

“Gah!”

I was genuinely startled when I heard a loud noise right next to me. As I stumbled and tried to figure out what was happening, Seoga-eul jumped out next to the basement door.

“Idiot. You scared me. You’ve got quite a few wounds, huh? Guess Yu Yeoreum really took you down hard? What a sight.”

“…What the hell…?”

A wave of relief washed over me knowing that Seoga-eul and Section Chief Kim Jang-dong hadn’t met. At the same time, I felt puzzled.

What on earth was going on? I distinctly remembered chaining Seoga-eul with iron chains. How did she make it to this door?

As I looked closely, I realized that the chains on Seoga-eul’s hands and feet had grown slightly longer than I recalled.

“This? I acquired the concept of ‘length.’ Too bad. If you had come just a bit later, I could have lengthened the chains enough to escape outside.”

What the hell.

Now, I’d have to worry that if I got home too late, Seoga-eul might lengthen the chains and escape. What kind of time limit is this?

“Seoga-eul, can you give me that concept? It’s useless for you to hold onto it.”

As a man, I had a lot of desires for adjusting lengths. If I had that concept, various sizes could potentially be adjusted freely, right?

However, when I mentioned this, Seoga-eul plopped down heavily onto the mattress she was using as a temporary bed, frowning fiercely.

“It was a secret I could give away the concept. Just like how the full moon is my weakness, regarding the concept transfer, where did you hear about me?”

I heard it from you. But I couldn’t say that. Seoga-eul had urged me not to tell anyone that I came from the future.

That ‘anyone’ included Seoga-eul herself.

“Since I have the concept of ’emotion,’ I can know a few secrets here and there.”

“What a pervert—”

Seoga-eul closed her mouth before she could finish her thought.

She elegantly crossed her long legs, which were exposed beneath the oversized T-shirt she was wearing like a dress.

“How envious. If I had something like that, life would have been much easier.”

In fact, this ’emotion’ belonged to Seoga-eul.

Thinking about it now, it meant that Seoga-eul presumably had a strong yearning for the ability to awaken ’emotion’ for some reason.

“Can’t you awaken the concept of ’emotion’ yourself?”

“Are you stupid? A concept only exists as one in the world. It means they’re not duplicable. Unless you dig around and find a concept that’s been released into the market.”

“I see. So, how about you pass that concept of ‘length’ onto me?”

“What? Looks like you don’t know everything after all. I can only transfer a concept if I know precisely who the person is. I don’t know what you are.”

So, it couldn’t just be transferred to anyone. This meant that in the future, Seoga-eul had transferred abilities to me, Hanam-jin, because she knew well about me─.

# # #

I often recalled my first encounter with Seoga-eul.

Did future Seoga-eul know that I was a middle school dropout and that I had tamed Ying-ing?

I was just a guy running errands and barely scraping by in some remote area.

Why did Seoga-eul, who became humanity’s hope known as “Supernova,” take an interest in me back then?

Unlike now, we had no intersection at all back then.

I wanted to ask.

But the one who could provide the answer─.

“Tell me your story. What the hell are you? Who are you to lock me up and play these kinds of games? Your name is Hanam-jin, right?”

─the one in question knew nothing about me at all.

Still, perhaps deducing something on her own, she started speaking of her realizations.

“You said you transferred to Yeongsa High School from a foreign language school, right? That’s not a school anyone can just enter if they only study well. Considering your family background and your parents’ jobs… On the other hand, you—”

Sluuurp.

Seoga-eul’s eyes, thin like a snake, scanned the area.

The loud howling of cats in heat filled the air.

“You don’t live in a particularly nice neighborhood. How could someone from a poor background like you get into a foreign language school? And then transferring to a stage school. This is suspicious. What exactly are you?”

“I want to talk about you more than myself. I heard at school today that you were on ‘medical leave’? It seems you weren’t missing after all. Do you know what happened?”

“……”

Seoga-eul’s expression, which had been quite talkative until a moment ago, suddenly turned cold. I must have asked something I shouldn’t have.

I thought for a brief moment that I had connected with Seoga-eul during our earlier conversation, but it was just a delusion.

Seoga-eul completely shut her mouth and didn’t even glance at the cola I offered her.

It was frustrating.

I needed to hurry and collaborate with Seoga-eul to train and acquire better concepts. Just when I was feeling anxious, something in my pocket popped out and stuck to Seoga-eul’s leg.

—Gyu-ing.

“Hmm?”

Seoga-eul’s red ruby eyes widened in shock.

Soon, she screamed, losing her composure.

“Damn it! That’s a monster! Damn! A monster! Kill it! Kill it!”

{Name: Seoga-eul

Possession: Expand for details ☜

{???} – Emotional level insufficient to peek at this.

{Yojoosuknyeo Lv.2} – Elegant like a heavenly fairy. Would never engage in filthy deeds.

{Length Lv.1} – Can adjust the length of objects like a rubber band.

Status: {Frenzy} – Full of thoughts to stomp and kill the monster!}

Puff! Puff-puff!

Seoga-eul wildly stomped on Ying-ing’s body with her feet. Since Ying-ing’s body was filled with a soft cushioning texture, it didn’t seem to suffer any serious injury, but my heart felt like it was being torn apart.

“Wait! Ying-ing may be a monster, but it’s a good monster, you know?”

“What? What nonsense is that? I warn you. There’s no such thing as a good monster in this world. If a monster shows kindness to a human, it’s just to deceive them for greater malice. So move aside! Let me kill it!”

Wait a minute… didn’t I have this kind of conversation before?

Perhaps because of that, I knew precisely what I had to do. I placed Ying-ing on my palm, cleared my throat, and lightly began to sing.

“Butterfly, Ya-doran, the home of birds. No matter how much someone claims it’s their land, it brings out the crocodiles.”

Doom-chit doom-chit-.

To the rhythm of the song, Ying-ing began to sway. Honestly, I had my doubts if this would work, but as expected, Ying-ing was a creature that loved music and rhythm by nature.

Seeing this, Seoga-eul’s expression subtly changed.

“A good monster, you say?”

“The nicest among the ones I know.”

Seoga-eul looked at me and Ying-ing with a very strange expression.

Then she slowly extended her white legs towards me.

Was she trying to tempt me again?

Last time, I severely punished her with the “Whip of Love,” so it seemed my intentions hadn’t been conveyed enough.

So, when I reached for a nearby fly swatter, Seoga-eul said in a cold voice.

“Stockings.”

“Stockings?”

“I can’t awaken concepts well without wearing stockings. That’s part of my reaction. So go buy me some. From Denia. Then I’ll tell you why I’m on ‘medical leave.’”

A reaction that requires stockings?

What kind of nonsense is that?

“I’ll give you ten minutes.”

Seoga-eul didn’t seem to be lying.

Since she promised to tell me why she was on ‘medical leave,’ it was a deal that wouldn’t hurt me.

Ten minutes was just enough time to dash to the nearby convenience store and back.

“Then, play with Ying-ing for a bit.”

“Hey! Are you crazy? You’re leaving me alone with the monster? Then at least unchain it before you go!”

“Ying-ing is good, you know? Anyway, I’ll be back soon.”

With that feeling, I closed the basement door and firmly locked it before stepping out of the front gate.

“Hanam-jin.”

Someone called out my name, making me tense up slightly.

It was Yu Yeoreum.

“I wanted to apologize for what happened in the sewer earlier, so I asked your friends and came to find your house.”

“Apologize?”

“But I heard your house was here, so why did you come out of the next house?”

Zing-. In the dark of the spring evening, Yu Yeoreum’s gaze burned with intensity.