novelraw Chapter 225 : Chapter 225
Chapter 225 : Chapter 225
Chapter 225: The Past (1)
Kkiiiririk— Kkiiieek—
A faint, unpleasant metallic sound was heard.
The two villains standing guard in front of the door knew the source of that sound.
One of them muttered.
“He seems to be in a very bad mood.”
At that, the villain who had kept his mouth shut for nearly three hours panicked and covered his own mouth with his index finger.
“Shh-shh! Are you crazy!”
Even as he lowered his voice, it was obvious he was nervous that even this would be too loud.
“If you open your trap here, you're dead!”
But even that was too loud.
Suddenly, the door stealthily opened.
Through a gap so small only a finger could barely pass, a purple blade suuk— came out.
And that sword pierced the cheek of the villain who had just raised his voice.
“Shut it.”
A low, threatening voice leaked from inside.
The villain who heard that irritated voice didn't let out a single groan, even though his cheek was pierced.
It was obvious what would happen if he made even one sound of pain.
He trembled and apologized.
“Sowwy……”
Whether that answer was at least not annoying.
The sword that had pierced his cheek pulled back out the same way it came.
Kkiiieek—
Thud—
The door closed again, and only the kkiiririk sound from earlier was heard intermittently.
The two villains couldn't even let out a sigh of relief.
Worried that the sound of dripping blood might be annoying, the villain staunched his cheek with all his might using both hands.
If there was any relief, it was that there was no pain despite his cheek being pierced.
The relief of having survived was stronger.
And.
“There's a limit to being loud.”
After giving a light ‘warning’ to my noisy subordinates outside, I returned to the room.
The room was too spacious to be a room for just one person.
But there was hardly any furniture or living necessities inside.
A bed just for sleeping, a desk, a small refrigerator, and a half-empty closet were all there was.
The unnecessarily large room only added to the sense of emptiness and desolation.
But I didn't care at all.
I had no attachment to this place anyway.
It was just a simple resting space.
I wiped the blood off my sword and was about to place it on the stand next to me.
I spun around and swung my sword.
Kwagagagak—!
As the dust cloud from my sword swing cleared, the person standing on the other side was revealed.
A woman, waving both hands playfully, as if dealing with a child.
“Hi-hi?”
Seeing the unharmed opponent, I couldn't help but be flustered.
Even if it wasn't my full strength, she didn't dodge it, she blocked it too easily.
An overwhelming difference in capability.
Even an S-rank hero specialized in defense wouldn't be this much.
I forgot to even swing my sword and asked.
“You?”
“Ah, you don't recognize me without the mask!”
The woman stuck out her tongue as if saying 'oops'.
She put on a smiling mask and waved her palm again.
The voice modulated by the mask, and the mask itself, there was no need to wonder who it was.
I muttered dubiously.
“Smiley.”
“That's right! Everyone's eternal friend! Smiley is here!”
I clenched and unclenched my empty hand, nervous.
The S-rank No. 1 hero.
Seeing her toughness just now, the possibility of an imposter was virtually nil.
“An S-rank. And the No. 1 hero at that. What's your business here?”
In truth, it was obvious why a hero would come.
She must have come to crush villains.
If there was any relief, it was that Smiley seemed to be alone, and I had plenty of subordinates right beyond the door.
Of course, they'd all be wiped out if they attacked, but they could at least buy me time to escape.
But Smiley showed an unexpected reaction.
“Now, now, calm down. I didn't come here to fight or catch you.”
At the unexpected reaction, I faltered.
If not those two, don't tell me she came to kill me?
“I just came to check out a huge troublemaker I've been hearing about lately.”
I was confused by her completely unpredictable attitude and atmosphere.
But Smiley, who had created this situation, nonchalantly wandered around the room, snooping.
“I'm a guest, you know. How about offering me something to drink?”
I didn't answer.
Figuring out her true intentions hidden beneath that smiling face was the priority.
“No? If you don't want to, then don't.”
She smiled and wandered the room again, lightly rubbing her finger on the desk and windowsill, checking for dust.
“You seem to clean well, but the room is so desolate. Ah, you can ignore me and keep doing your thing!”
She opened the refrigerator and peeked inside.
“Ew. Why is there only water in the fridge? Let's stock up on some coffee or drinks, or at least something to eat.”
Watching her, I thought again.
What is this.
It's said that no S-rank or higher, hero or villain, is sane, but she was particularly severe.
For a long time, she continued to criticize and lecture me about my household goods.
It was a good thing I had no important items or documents whatsoever.
After rummaging around the room for nearly an hour.
“Ah, that was fun. I'm leaving now!”
She said that and, just like that, opened the window and disappeared outside.
Watching Smiley leave just like that, without an arrest or any action, I couldn't hide my dumbfounded expression.
I couldn't even call it a relief.
And the next day.
“Hi-hi!”
She came again.
And the next day.
And kept coming after that.
She came to my hideout almost every day.
How she never got caught by my subordinates, and why she was coming.
I couldn't understand any of it.
The days Smiley came were always random.
And the time she stayed.
Some days, she'd leave after 10 minutes, saying something had come up.
Other days, she'd stay for half the day, rambling on and bothering me.
Like that, ten days, then fifteen days passed.
Why is she doing this?
News about Smiley never mentioned her being interested in villain rehabilitation.
On the contrary, she only protected citizens, and her process of subduing villains was more sadistic than a typical hero's.
So why was she so interested in me?
My organization was growing fast, but there were still bigger villain organizations and stronger villains than me.
In the end, I raised the white flag first.
“Why are you doing this to me? Don't tell me you're trying to rehabilitate me?”
I thought that was her purpose at first.
But she'd come and proudly brag about her heroic deeds, or curse other heroes who only sought money, or even talk about citizens who sued her.
She'd even vent her complaints and grievances about heroes and citizens.
“Aww, come on!”
Smiley waved her hand dismissively.
“Does a bad person become good just because I chant 'be good' next to them? Change only happens when the person has the will to change.”
She held up one hand, then used her other hand to count her fingers.
“I just had a few theories. This is the process of proving them. It's separate from my hero work, and I'm looking for something on the side. Ah, and most of all.”
She grinned and added.
“Where else would I go to talk about this?”
Complaints and grievances she couldn't easily say anywhere else.
At least here, there was no worry about them leaking.
Even if they did, who would believe a villain?
I let out a hollow laugh.
“So I was just your emotional dumping ground.”
“Ah, not that! Isn't it just nice to share your daily life? In that sense, how about you? Did you eat anything tasty today? Anything fun happen? Have you seen any cats in this neighborhood?”
“……No.”
Despite my curt reply, Smiley didn't lose her smile.
No, rather, she seemed to like that answer.
For the past two weeks, the first day was the first and last time I had answered her question.
I had ignored her completely until now.
Even if it was just a short, insincere "No."
The fact that I replied was a huge change.
I checked the time and got up from my chair.
“Go home.”
“Ah? Why?”
Since I had never blatantly told her to leave, Smiley asked, flustered.
“I have work today.”
No matter how shamelessly Smiley barged in, would she shamelessly stay when the owner wasn't home?
But she was more shameless than I could have imagined.
It wasn't a realm of 'going' or 'not going'.
“Ah, then I'll come too!”
Her reaction far surpassed my imagination.
I narrowed my eyes.
The "work" I mentioned was, of course, villain work, which meant crime.
She wanted to follow me to that?
But Smiley just smiled and stuck close to me.
“I won't get in the way, as much as possible!”
As much as possible meant she could interfere if things went wrong.
Even as she said this nonsense, I couldn't refuse.
No, I knew what her answer would be if I refused.
And just as I expected.
“Truthfully. What are you going to do if I follow? If I say I'm coming, I'm coming.”
It's a world where the strong one is the boss.
***
It had been two months since Smiley started shamelessly visiting me and acting friendly.
While I couldn't call it friendly, our relationship had improved to the point where I'd at least answer with short words.
And the enemy I faced today was the most dangerous in recent months.
Two S-rank villains.
For me, who was barely at an S-rank level, I was hopelessly pushed back by their coordination, and I only managed to defeat them by a desperate gamble that barely worked.
Covered in blood, I let out a long sigh.
“I almost died.”
I looked down at the river below.
If that gamble hadn't worked, I would have fallen into the river below and become fish food.
I finished my brief reflection and picked up the sword on the ground.
Now that the enemy was unconscious, I had to finish them off to prevent future trouble.
I swung my sword to strike the villain's neck.
No, I was trying to.
Kaaang—!
Before it could land, Smiley's weapon, the Peacemaker, blocked my sword.
I opened my eyes wide, completely unable to understand.
“What is this?”
She'd been watching from afar the whole time.
Why now?
“Didn't you say you'd only watch?”
That's why she kept watching, even when I was about to die.
Smiley, who always had a smiling face, looked at me seriously for the first time.
“I was going to. But you were about to kill him.”
“Yeah. Isn't that obvious? He tried to kill me.”
“It's different from before.”
Even if it was the same murder, for Smiley, there was a firm distinction based on the situation.
In the midst of a fierce battle, casualties could occur for self-defense.
But this was clearly a one-sided murder, swung with killing intent.
But I couldn't distinguish that difference yet.
Killing an opponent who tried to kill me was a natural principle to me.
“Right. In the end, that's what it is.”
I looked back and forth between the Peacemaker and Smiley, then let out a faint sigh.
“In the end, all you heroes are the same.”
Maybe I had been hoping for something, deep down.
My extreme disgust for heroes.
But I had a faint thought, maybe this one is different.
But reality wasn't like that.
Disappointment is an emotion you only feel because you had expectations.
“It's not like that! I was trying to protect you...!”
At those words, Smiley hurriedly tried to say something, but I had no intention of listening.
“Protecting me would have been helping when I was about to die. This is interference. Can't you even tell the difference?”
I swung my sword again with a cold tone.
Kaang—! Kkang—! Kwang—!
Of course, even at full strength, I was no match for Smiley.
The gap in our capabilities was that overwhelming, but I didn't care.
The sense of betrayal I felt was greater than my ability to suppress this unpleasant emotion.
“Wait!”
Smiley, who had been unilaterally blocking my attacks, seemed to have decided something and grit her teeth.
She re-gripped her Peacemaker and was about to swing it at me.
Kwajik-n—! Kugugung—
With an intense vibration, the bridge we were on shook.
With the sound of something breaking, the bridge we were on shook.
It was a sturdily built bridge, but it had no way of withstanding S-rank villains fighting on it.
The crack gradually widened, and the bridge split in half.
The civilians had evacuated long ago, but the cars they had abandoned fell one by one into the river below.
Normally, I wouldn't have cared if those empty cars fell or not.
—!
The faint cry from inside one of the cars was definitely not a mistake or an auditory hallucination.
Even as my sword flew at her, Smiley didn't block it but instead turned and ran toward the car the sound came from.
The car the cry came from was balanced precariously, about to fall.
Her back was completely defenseless.
A fatal opening that overcame the overwhelming power difference.
Right now, even I could land a fatal blow.
Smiley had moved instinctively to save the person, with no defense against my attack.
If I stabbed her in the back... honestly, she had no way to counter it.
And the 0.1 second she faltered, realizing that.
In this urgent situation, it was a fatal gap.
The floor disappeared, and the car tilted forward.
Smiley, flustered, couldn't speed up.
If she sped up, force would be applied to the ground she stepped on, the bridge.
And the collapse would quicken.
And as if I had decided to attack, time momentarily compressed.
She braced for the fatal pain that would follow and squeezed her eyes shut.
I lunged forward and plunged my inverted-grip sword downward.
Kwajik—!
But the sword didn't pierce Smiley.
I had stabbed the trunk of the car that was about to fall off the bridge, catching it.
I pulled the car to safety and let out a small curse.
What is this.
“Dammit.”
An enemy who would be the biggest obstacle to my future plans.
It was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to kill her.
And I blew it to save one brat.
To think I'd repeat this kind of moronic act.
“What's the 'greatest hero' supposed to do, hesitating like that.”
If not for my time-compressing Trait, that car would have definitely fallen into the river.
Smiley also plopped down, relieved.
No, the emotion she felt wasn't just relief.
With her head bowed low, she muttered softly.
“I finally found you.”
When she raised her head again, tears were welling in her eyes.