novelraw Chapter 222 : Chapter 222
Chapter 222 : Chapter 222
Chapter 222: Kidnapping (2)
Smiley tried to answer my question, but.
Before she could, I swung my sword, cutting between the twins and Smiley.
Kwaaa-deu-deu-deuk—!
The ground split in two, kicking up dirt and dust.
At the same time, I grabbed the twins and pulled them out of the warehouse.
I set down the twins, who were dangling from my arms, and asked.
“You're okay, right?”
“Ah, yes.”
Dowon answered shortly, and Hwayeon just nodded silently.
Smiley still showed no sign of coming out of the warehouse, so I could finally take a proper look at the twins.
Fortunately, they weren't hurt or in a dangerous state.
Furthermore, they looked quite free for a kidnapping or confinement.
There were no other villains or Society members around either.
No matter how similar Smiley's capabilities were to mine, the twins were by no means weak either.
If they had been determined to escape, they could have.
All sorts of questions piled up in my mind, but that was only for a brief moment.
Instead of questioning it, I smiled in relief.
“You don't seem to be hurt. Thank goodness.”
If something had happened to them, it would all be my responsibility.
Before I could hold Smiley responsible, I wouldn't have been able to forgive myself in the first place.
Meanwhile, Smiley slowly walked out of the warehouse that had been split in two.
“Keheuk— Keck— How can you kick up so much dust when I'm about to talk. I just ate a ton of dust.”
She grumbled, letting out a dry cough.
However, it wasn't because she had actually eaten dust, but because the distance between the twins and me displeased her.
Smiley looked back and forth between the twins and me, then tilted her head.
“Ho-cheol, I heard you were doing something pretty important in the Battleground.”
“Well, I was about to die from spacing out like an idiot. So I was looking for a way to live.”
At the expression 'die', Smiley's expression hardened for a moment, but she soon regained her usual relaxed and leisurely smile.
“Really? Someone dropped such important work to come find them, but someone else doesn't even know that and is testing their sincerity. They'll be really upset when they find out later. Right?”
At Smiley's sarcasm, the twins' expressions darkened in an instant.
Guilt weighed heavily on their chests.
They didn't even have the right to hold onto me and rely on me.
Thinking so, the twins moved away from me.
No, they tried to.
But before they could take even one step away, I reached out my hand again and caught them.
“Where do you think you're going.”
They were in too good of a condition for a kidnapping or confinement, a situation full of incongruity.
I understood, to some extent, what was going on.
Nevertheless, I had no intention of scolding the twins.
“Well, causing this kind of trivial trouble is a privilege of kids.”
Instead, I knelt on one knee, pulled their heads, and had them rest their foreheads on my shoulders.
There was no need for the word 'forgiveness'.
Because it wasn't even wrong.
“It's okay to be spoiled as much as you want, to cling with a moderately shameless smile. How old are you guys anyway.”
Outwardly, they were barely 10 years old, and their actual age wasn't even one.
If anything, I was the bad guy for abandoning them, thinking they were mature at first glance.
“……What's with this heartwarming atmosphere?”
Smiley's expression contorted.
She had expected our relationship to be severely strained.
Even if I pretended to be okay on the outside, as long as we weren't family but strangers, she thought she could definitely sow some seeds of doubt, a rift of emotion.
Such a crack.
It was a situation she couldn't understand at all.
In the end, as if she genuinely couldn't understand, she asked.
“……Are they really your hidden family or something?”
“Half wrong, half right.”
The twins, who had buried their heads in my shoulders, flinched.
But it was only natural.
They were just hidden because of their unusual situation, not because they were family.
But my next words were the complete opposite of their expectations.
“I've never hidden them, and it's true they're family.”
“Ha.”
Smiley scoffed.
“Jeong Ho-cheol, you're all washed up. You used to throw a fit just hearing the word 'family'. And how are those things your family?”
“Just because you're family, do you have to share blood? Of course, I'm not married, so having two kids is a bit much……”
I ruffled the twins' hair and settled it.
“Let's just go with uncle. And don't call them 'those things'. They have perfectly good names, Dowon and Hwayeon.”
My one knee now dirty, I got up from my spot.
Standing in front of the twins, I lightly placed my hand on my sword.
I stared at Smiley and said.
“I told you last time. That if I saw you next time, I'd put you in a coffin.”
“Aigoo. Pretending to be tough.”
Smiley sneered and shook her head.
“You've seen 'that' recently too, haven't you? There's no way your condition is fine. I'll let you go this time.”
“Tsk.”
I clicked my tongue.
The current Smiley had a place in the Society.
Considering she had confirmed the giant monster with the leader of the Society, it was only natural that she would have come across that information.
I glanced back to check on the twins.
In truth, my condition, when did I ever care about such things.
It wouldn't affect the fight at all.
However, what weighed on my mind were these two.
Of course, they had the power to protect themselves, and in fact, if they joined in, the chances of winning would be much higher.
But as for dragging kids like this into a fight…… I still felt a sense of resistance.
“I've got things to check on my end, too.”
At Smiley's urging, I finally took my hand off my sword.
Instead, I waved my hand as if shooing away a bug.
“Get lost.”
“Then let's meet next time, okay? Bye-bye!”
Smiley left, and I let out a long sigh.
I stared blankly at the sky for a moment, then turned back and spoke to the twins.
“……Sorry. I'm your guardian, in name anyway, I should have paid more attention to you.”
Dowon shook his head.
“Thank you for saving us. If anything, we're the ones who caused you trouble.”
“For real.”
“Is that another word you learned from the internet?”
Hwayeon nodded.
I should tell Hye-jin to stop the kids from using the internet.
Especially Hwayeon.
“Now, let's go home.”
I said, placing my hands on the twins' shoulders.
But the two didn't answer readily and hesitated.
At their expectant gazes, I let out a chuckle.
“Should we grab something to eat before we go back?”
Only then did the two of them smile brightly and nod.
“Instead, it's a secret from your friends at the facility.”
It wasn't that I couldn't buy it for them, but it was a burden to be wandering around when I was a villain.
I'd rather order delivery for them.
Even this was actually quite nerve-wracking.
***
“Kids!”
Hye-jin, who had been pacing barefoot at the facility entrance, spotted the returning twins and ran to them, choking back tears.
She hugged them with all her strength.
In reality, it wasn't even a kidnapping since they had gone half-willingly, but for Hye-jin, who didn't know the full story, it felt as if her blood was drying up until she received the text from me saying I had rescued them.
The twins, held in Hye-jin's arms, apologized.
“We're sorry.”
“What are you sorry for! I should have protected you!”
It was a long time before Hye-jin finally calmed down and released them.
Hye-jin pressed her swollen eyes and apologized to me.
“Ah, I'm sorry. I've shown you something unsightly.”
“Not at all. If this is a world where love is called unsightly, then let it all be ruined. By the way……”
I waited for a moment for Hye-jin to catch her breath, then asked.
“Did you, by any chance, contact the police or heroes?”
“……No.”
She didn't know at all that I was active as a villain, but what had been effective was that I had explained the twins' special circumstances to Hye-jin in advance.
What a relief it was that heroes and police weren't involved.
If they had intervened in this matter, setting me aside, the facility's position would have become quite difficult.
On top of that, more information about Smiley would have spread.
All of them were fatal to me.
Since no one was seriously injured, it was best to bury this incident as it was.
Hye-jin also nodded at my explanation.
“That's a real relief.”
“Tell me about it.”
But I couldn't just call it a relief.
In the first place, this incident was not the end, but merely the beginning.
If the twins, who had a close relationship with me, continued to stay here, I couldn't guarantee that something like this wouldn't happen again.
After pondering for a moment, I carefully brought it up.
“……What if, because of these kids, the facility or the other kids are also put in danger.”
I even considered taking them with me.
But Hye-jin flatly refused.
“They're family. Just because someone is in danger because of someone else, can family be separated?”
“I guess I misspoke. And……”
I hesitated again, scratching the back of my head.
The content so far was the kind that the listener could accept as long as they were prepared, but this was different.
To say, 'The person in front of you has now quit being a professor and is playing the part of a villain.'
―Even for me, it required quite a bit of resolve.
Still, I couldn't keep hiding it, so I said resolutely.
“The truth is, I……”
Hye-jin smiled brightly and raised her index finger to her lips.
“I know everything. Ye-jin told me.”
“Ah.”
“It's okay, you don't have to worry too much. You must have a reason, circumstances that left you no choice. I believe that. To be precise, Ye-jin believes that, so I'll believe it too.”
“So. Um.”
I mulled over my words, then finally bowed my head briefly.
“Thank you.”
There was no need for any fancy rhetoric to someone who said they believed in me.
It would be troublesome if I stayed longer and my whereabouts were exposed to other heroes.
Judging so, I was about to leave right away, but.
“Ah, but there's one more thing that's bothering me.”
Hye-jin placed her palm on her cheek, looking worried.
“I was so preoccupied with Dowon and Hwayeon being kidnapped that I couldn't check properly. It wasn't just those children who were kidnapped.”
I narrowed my eyes.
Besides messing with the twins, what else could that Smiley wretch have done at this facility?
But soon, a terrible possibility I hadn't thought of at all popped into my mind.
“Could it be……”
Hoping it wasn't true, I asked the one thing that wouldn't leave my mind.
“Is it the children's roster? Ten-plus years' worth?”
“Yes! Exactly! 15 years!”
“Ah.”
I felt a pounding headache for a moment.
Why 15 years.
The answer was extremely simple.
The twins weren't the only problem at this facility.
In fact, they were a side issue.
In the past, Smiley had entrusted her one and only blood relative, Ye-jin, to this facility.
Even if the current Smiley was a fake, she was bound to be interested if it concerned her family's affairs.
When I was chasing Smiley out of the abandoned warehouse, she told me she was busy checking on something herself.
I should have been suspicious then!
And what if the returned Smiley contacted Ye-jin.
The things that would happen…… to be honest, even I found it hard to guess.
In the first place, I couldn't even get a feel for whether she was friendly or hostile toward Ye-jin.
“Professor? Are you okay?”
“Ah, yes. Well. Probably. I think I'm okay.”
I wiped my face, rambling incoherently.
Of course I wasn't okay.
Just before I switched to being a villain, in a conversation with the dean, I had decided to tell Ye-jin about the revived Smiley.
I kept thinking I had to tell her someday, but I had no idea how to explain it, so I kept putting it off, and now I was completely pushed to the edge of a cliff.
The worst-case scenario, the best-case scenario.
To be honest, they were both the same.
Above all, in my current position, it was impossible to go and explain it to her openly.
She wasn't staying at the academy or the facility; she was currently living and eating at the Sword Demon's sidekick office.
After a brief thought, I found an answer.
I took out my phone and contacted the hideout.
There was only one way to deliver the information most safely and surely, and furthermore, to protect her.
“Go and kidnap someone for me.”
Even as I gave the order, I let out a sigh.
First Se-ah, and now this.
At this rate, am I a professional kidnapper, not a villain?