novelraw Chapter 193 : Chapter 193
Chapter 193 : Chapter 193
Chapter 193: Revenge
Ho-cheol awkwardly patted the top of Ji-an's head.
“Why are you crying?”
Ppae-aeeeeeng—
It was his best attempt at consolation, but she only cried louder.
He hadn't seen her for two weeks.
He had expected some resentment, but he never imagined she would cry so loudly that the whole dormitory would hear.
“If you cry too much, your clothes will get all wet.”
I even wore my cleanest clothes, and now I'll have to change right away.
This time, he pressed down on her head with his fingertips.
Ppu-ae-aeng—
As if there was a tear button somewhere on her head, her crying grew even louder.
“Goodness, anyone would think a dead person came back to life.”
In truth, Ho-cheol had some excuses.
It wasn't like he just disappeared without a word.
Hadn't he texted her every single day without fail?
Of course, it was just one unilateral, short text a day, but he couldn't help it.
On the first day, he had called her without much thought and had been held up for three hours, so he couldn't bring himself to touch the call button.
And whenever he tried to hang up, she would sniffle and ask if he was already hanging up, so even Ho-cheol couldn't cut her off coldly.
In the end, they had agreed on texting.
Was even that a bad move?
No, if he had actually ghosted her, the aftermath would have been completely unmanageable.
Her crying seemed to be subsiding, so this was just about right.
Soon, So-hee also popped out from inside the room.
With a cold expression exuding a chill, she said.
“Hmph, it’s really hard to see your face.”
Seeing So-hee's angry face for the first time in a while, Ho-cheol gave an awkward smile.
“I know.”
Even as he scratched the back of his head, her expression remained stiff.
After silently scratching the back of his head for a moment, he finally stopped his hand.
He erased the previous awkward smile and let out his usual relaxed laugh.
“I’m back.”
Only then did So-hee’s stiff expression relax, and she smiled.
“Welcome back.”
“Welcome back……”
Following suit, Ji-an, still in his arms, greeted him with a stuffy voice.
“There, there.”
He squeezed the back of Ji-an’s neck and asked.
“So, did you two get along well?”
“Well, moderately.”
As if agreeing with So-hee’s answer, Ji-an’s face, pressed against his chest, bobbed up and down slightly.
“That’s a relief.”
During the nearly two weeks Ho-cheol was gone, part of the reason he had extremely reduced contact with Ji-an was that he had been hoping for a situation like this.
The bonds Ji-an had formed with others were with a friend who had been in the same situation as a former test subject.
And Ho-cheol was the end of it.
And one of them was even dead.
It would be even better if she made friends at the academy, but that would probably be difficult.
If a new positive relationship were to form, So-hee was the perfect fit.
So-hee subtly tilted her head to the side, checking Ho-cheol’s hands and behind him.
His hands were empty, and he wasn't hiding anything behind him either.
She narrowed her brow and asked.
“You didn’t buy any presents?”
“Uh. Well. That is……”
Ho-cheol said, flustered, as he watched So-hee’s expression.
Should I have bought a back scratcher or something on the way?
Seeing Ho-cheol at a loss, So-hee let out a small laugh.
“I’m kidding.”
What could she expect from someone who left without a proper explanation, calling it a top-secret mission?
Just the fact that he contacted her regularly and came back in one piece was a gift enough.
“By the way.”
So-hee looked back and forth between Ho-cheol and Ji-an with a strange expression.
“Me too……”
Torn between the composure of an elder and the frustration of a bystander, she honestly revealed her true feelings.
“I didn’t want to give you such a plain welcome, but it seems a bit crowded.”
It was because Ji-an was so blatant and had quickly taken the spot.
So-hee also had her own desires, as long as she didn't cross the line.
She had phrased it indirectly, but Ho-cheol immediately realized it was an appeal to enter his embrace.
However, it wasn't easy since there was already someone in that spot.
The grip of Ji-an’s hand on his collar tightened.
A will to never let go.
Seeing this, Ho-cheol made a regretful expression.
Is it still too much to ask?
However, contrary to his expectation, Ji-an soon shuffled to the side.
It was a very small difference, but the space in Ho-cheol's embrace, which she had monopolized, now had enough room to somehow hold two people.
A trivial difference, but to Ho-cheol, it was a big difference.
He smiled slightly and opened his arms.
“There’s a spot open here. How about it.”
“It would be embarrassing to refuse here……. Well, I won’t decline.”
With an excuse, So-hee subtly stood in front of Ho-cheol.
And in the same posture as Ji-an, she hugged him tightly.
“Thank you.”
“I’m more thankful. For getting along so well.”
Looking at the two who showed no intention of letting go from his embrace, Ho-cheol let out another dry laugh.
“This is nice too.”
“What is?”
Having a home to return to.
Having people to welcome me in the home I returned to.
Feeling a strange sense of excitement from the first floor of the building, my heart pounding as I walked up the stairs, and even feeling a thrill the moment I grabbed the doorknob.
“I really like all those moments and emotions.”
Ho-cheol lowered his head and whispered into their ears.
“Having a place to come back to is the best, isn’t it?”
The two could only nod, their faces instantly turning beet red.
After sniffling for a good while longer, Ji-an pulled away.
And the moment her eyes met Ho-cheol’s.
“Ah?”
She let out a foolish sound.
Her bloodshot eyes widened more than ever.
As if she had seen something she shouldn’t have, her pupils trembled pathetically.
“Eh?”
“What’s with you all of a sudden.”
“N-no. It’s just……”
Unable to speak properly for a long time, Ji-an hesitated for a moment before asking.
“Who are you?”
“What kind of nonsense is this again.”
“Are you the mister? No, you are the mister. But this. Uh, ah……”
In truth, her eyes had been welling with tears from the moment Ho-cheol opened the door, so this was the first time she had seen his face properly.
And Ho-cheol, seen again after two weeks, was a completely different person.
Ji-an reached out and touched Ho-cheol’s face here and there.
The very careful touch was more of a confirmation than simple skinship.
She especially kept pressing the area under his eyes.
“You look like a completely different person.”
Ho-cheol asked back, sounding dumbfounded.
“Anyone would think I had plastic surgery or something.”
Ho-cheol, thinking anyone would see Ji-an was overreacting, answered bluntly.
“Definitely. In the nearly half a year I’ve seen you, you look the most normal right now.”
So-hee nodded as if in agreement.
Comparing him to right after his release from prison, his atmosphere had changed so much that you could say he was a completely different person.
And that change, while it might not be for others, came as a huge shock to Ji-an at least.
“This is bad.”
Ji-an stood on her tiptoes and at the same time pulled Ho-cheol’s face closer.
Her half-lidded eyes shone dangerously.
“I don’t want to let this mister go. What should I do?”
“Is that so?”
Even in the face of an obsession so sticky it felt like madness, Ho-cheol was relaxed.
It wasn't the first or second time she had been like this.
Tta-ak—! Ppak—!
“Ack!”
The price for her nonsense was two bright red marks left on her forehead.
***
So-hee and Ji-an clung to him, telling him to eat first before leaving.
But Ho-cheol shook them off and headed straight for the Dean’s tower.
This man probably can't even swallow his food properly because he's worried about his granddaughter.
I should ease that worry a little.
The Dean was, as expected, working in his office despite it being the weekend.
A situation where even daily life was difficult due to all sorts of ominous imaginations and distracting thoughts from worrying about his granddaughter.
He could only maintain his composure by focusing on work like this.
The Dean shot up from his seat as if he had been waiting.
“You’ve come.”
It was true that he was waiting for Ho-cheol, but it wasn't Ho-cheol he was waiting for.
To be exact, he was waiting for the news Ho-cheol would bring.
“So, my dear old man.”
Ho-cheol took out a few photos from his pocket and spread them out—flicker.
They were all photos of Min Ha-rin.
Of course, since he couldn't take them openly, they were all taken secretly by Wolf Fang from a distance.
A secret photo.
It might be a crime, but what did it matter when he was pretending to be a villain right now?
Above all, the client was the Dean.
“But she was more perceptive than I thought, so I couldn't take many.”
Whether it was intentional or instinctual.
He basically never saw her standing in an open place.
Looking at the photos, the Dean let out a sigh.
With sad eyes, he caressed his granddaughter’s face in the photo.
“She’s lost a lot of weight. She’s nothing but bones.”
She was on the thin side, but I don’t think she’s nothing but bones. Ho-cheol was about to refute that but closed his mouth.
That's just how family worries are.
“Still, it doesn’t look like she’s seriously injured on the outside. That's a relief.”
“Want me to let you hear her voice? I recorded some too.”
“I’ll gladly accept.”
Ho-cheol took out a recorder from another pocket and placed it on the table.
“So, what do you think? Is she okay?”
It was information that couldn't be known from photos or a simple voice recording.
Ho-cheol tapped the table with his fingertips.
“She’s okay. Well, the expression ‘okay’ itself is a bit strange since she’s acting as a villain. But she hasn’t crossed ‘the line’ yet.”
The Dean, who had been tense all this time, let out a sigh of relief for the first time.
‘The line’.
It was most important for both heroes and villains not to cross that line.
Whether by one's own will or by another's.
For a person who had once crossed the line to come back was dozens of times harder than crossing the line for the first time.
And even if they did come back, it couldn't be undone.
Even if you unfold a crumpled piece of paper, the creases remain clear.
Ho-cheol, who had been silently tapping the table for a long time after that, opened his mouth again.
He had considered keeping it a secret for a while, but since they were family, it would be better to share this and find an answer.
“But it doesn’t seem like she became a villain just by going astray.”
The Dean had explained it as if his granddaughter had fallen into the path of a villain because of problems with his education and the surrounding environment.
However, the person named Ha-rin that Ho-cheol actually saw had not become a villain for such reasons at all.
Above all, the emotions she showed and the motive of revenge.
There was a distinctly different root from an ordinary villain.
“Revenge. She said so herself. And her eyes were the eyes of someone completely consumed by revenge.”
“Revenge?”
The Dean asked back in bewilderment.
“Why are you surprised. You should know, old man.”
“……I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Then things get complicated. In any case, she seemed to hold a considerable grudge against Hong Beom-do.”
“Why……”
The Dean repeatedly muttered the word ‘why’, as if he couldn't understand.
Of course, the title of S-rank No. 1 villain was by no means a light one, but both the Dean and his son had almost no connection with Hong Beom-do.
At best, it was a bad relationship on the level of hero and villain.
It was only that much.
“No, why would that child hold a grudge against someone like Hong Beom-do……. In my entire life, I’ve never seen that child involved with Hong Beom-do, let alone seeking revenge against him.”
It would be different if they had lived separately or had no interaction.
They had frequent interactions even when his son and daughter-in-law were alive, and after the couple passed away, the Dean took her in to live with him.
No matter how much he racked his brain, the possibility of her being involved with Hong Beom-do was zero.
“It’s a problem if you don’t know either, old man.”
Ho-cheol muttered, touching his lips.
It was information he shared hoping to get at least some hint.
But it only ended up doubling the Dean’s worries.
Hong Beom-do might be someone Ho-cheol could ignore, but he was still the S-rank No. 1 villain.
By no means an easy opponent.
If she tried to get revenge, she would only end up getting herself killed for nothing.
“It’s not a light revenge either. At least a few years. And a few more years to come. I felt an aspiration to achieve it even if it meant sacrificing everything else for that one single goal.”
He might not know other emotions, but at least when it came to the emotion of revenge.
Ho-cheol himself knew it well because he had been more intensely immersed in it and had pursued it more blindly than anything else.
“For now, she doesn't seem to know what she has sacrificed, or what more she has to sacrifice. But it won't be long.”
Ho-cheol made a diagnosis with a rather serious expression.
“She’ll collapse soon.”
The Dean’s expression became more serious than ever.
At least, Ho-cheol was not the type of person to lie or exaggerate in a situation like this.
“Revenge. It's good to get revenge.”
Ho-cheol was also a person who had once lived madly for revenge, and in the end, he had succeeded in his revenge.
Revenge is sweet.
Its end is not empty either.
The guys who chatter about revenge being futile are just masturbating because they don't even have the ability to take revenge.
To the extent that if Ho-cheol were to go back to the past and face the same situation, he would make the same choice.
There was no reason to give up on revenge.
However.
Even knowing all that, he could clearly say.
“It’s better not to do it. Something like revenge.”
Revenge is, in the end, a twisted affection and love.
A tragedy that arises because one loved someone to the point of madness, and such emotions backflow in an improper direction.
In the end, sooner or later, you realize.
Living only for revenge becomes a life of looking only at the target of that revenge.
When the one you should really be looking at is the person you loved.
A life where you can't see what you really should be seeing because you're only thinking about, looking at, and chasing the target of your resentment.
Isn't that too sad?
“But if things go according to my plan, her revenge will probably succeed.”
The target of Ha-rin's revenge was, in all likelihood, Hong Beom-do.
And as Ho-cheol’s plan proceeded step by step, her revenge would naturally be achieved.
After pondering for a long time, the Dean asked Ho-cheol in a low voice.
“I hope that child does not get blood on her hands. And yet, I want to solve everything. Is there no such way?”
“It’s not that there isn’t.”
Ho-cheol swallowed his next words.
However, if he changed the plan like that, he would have to take all the vice and karma that resulted from the aftermath.
He smiled lightly as usual and shrugged his shoulders.
“It’s an easy job for me. Yeah, leave it to me.”
Sacrifice.
He wasn't particularly pursuing such a foolish value.
The cost of the snacks and coffee he had barged in and helped himself to until now.
Just that much would be good.