novelraw Chapter 269 : Chapter 269
Chapter 269 : Chapter 269
Chapter 269: Christmas
The first thing that entered Ho-cheol's vision as he stepped into the Director's Office was a glass cup shattered into pieces.
The recent crashing sound seemed to have been caused by that cup.
Ho-cheol looked at Ji-an first.
The center of her forehead, as she sat in the chair, was red and swollen.
It was as if she had been hit by the thrown cup.
Next, he looked at the Twins.
Dowon was calm, but Hwayeon's breathing was ragged.
Furthermore, her face was flushed, suggesting she was considerably agitated, but she hadn't shown any further action since throwing the cup.
This guy must have been the one who shattered the cup.
Even after entering the Director's Office, Ho-cheol did not speak.
He neither made a fuss about the bruise on Ji-an's forehead nor worried about her.
He was completely neutral in this situation.
No, if anything, he would have sided with the Twins, who were the victims in this context.
It was hard to side with Ji-an.
Still, the situation and atmosphere itself were much more stable than he had anticipated.
If it was only this much.
Ho-cheol, who had been choosing his words for a long time, stood between the Twins and Ji-an as if to intervene.
“So. Did the discussion end? Or was it resolved?”
Although seemingly similar expressions, their nature was entirely different.
Resolution would be good, but if the talk had merely ended, his role was not yet over.
And thankfully.
“It's resolved. There's nothing more to do.”
Hwayeon sat down on a nearby chair and answered briefly.
“Is that so? I don't know anything, so I need some explanation.”
Ho-cheol, sighing with relief inwardly, asked.
“Especially that.”
He gestured towards the broken glass cup fragments.
“Well, just...”
Dowon scratched the back of his neck.
“It's nothing big. She just roughly spilled out everything inside—why she did such a thing, the reason, the principle of action, the purpose. And that was it. Of course, she made some nonsense comment in the middle, and that's why she got angry.”
“Nonsense comment?”
“She said she would take responsibility for us. That she would take us to live with her if necessary.”
Ho-cheol's eyes widened slightly in surprise.
He turned his head and looked at Ji-an.
“She said that was the right way to take responsibility that she had thought of and learned. But she didn't seem to think our choices or opinions were important, still treating us like her belongings, so we refused.”
Dowon glanced at the cup dropped on the floor.
“We didn't throw that. When we explained the reason and said no, she suddenly looked shocked and banged her head on the desk, causing the cup to fall.”
The situation was different from Ho-cheol's expectation.
“That's the end of it. This is our home. We have no intention of going anywhere else.”
“...Is that all?”
Dowon smiled broadly and nodded.
“Yes. Well, there's nothing more to it.”
“Geez, why are you babbling so much? We just decided not to care anymore, isn't that enough!”
Hwayeon cut in.
She clenched her small fist and swung it around.
“The conversation got long because you kept getting excited.”
“Of course, I got fired up! I decided I’d give whoever it was a taste of their own medicine if I ever met them! But like this...”
Hwayeon weakly lowered her clenched hand.
“When she apologizes the moment we meet, how can I be angry?”
“Then don't be angry.”
Dowon, who responded curtly, looked back at Ho-cheol.
“Yes. That's how we resolved it. Both my sister and I decided not to cling to that kind of past anyway.”
I'm the older sister and you're the younger brother—Hwayeon shouted that, but Dowon continued speaking without even pretending to listen.
“We received a new future, so why should we look back at the finished past and obsess over it? What happened in the past is all finished business. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“...You don't resent her?”
Ho-cheol's question was reasonable.
The Twins suffered, being treated as test subjects in the facility since birth.
They were even nearly killed when a bomb was planted in their hearts.
Ji-an was the most direct cause of that, and it was impossible for a person to harbor no resentment at all.
“Because nothing changes even if we do.”
“Now we'll just treat her as someone we know one degree removed, through you, Uncle. She didn't exactly create us with malicious intent, either.”
“Not 'created'.”
Hwayeon laughed and nodded at Ho-cheol's correction of the word.
“Ah, right. Not created, but gave birth to us. Anyway, the bad ones were the Society who tried to use us for bad purposes, and they all got taught a lesson by you, Uncle.”
Dowon opened his palm and lightly tapped Ho-cheol's side.
“All we learned from the adult closest to us was this. That's why we forgave her.”
Who they learned it from, and what they learned.
There was no need for an explanation.
It was clearly the sole result of Ho-cheol's efforts that had guided the two, who could have fallen into the deepest despair and resented the world, onto the right path.
Clatter—
At that moment, Ho-cheol stumbled and fell down as if collapsing right there.
“Uncle!”
All three of them cried out in surprise at once.
Before they could rush over to him, Ho-cheol raised a hand to calm them down first.
“No. I'm fine. Just. Just my tension letting go.”
Haah— He let out a long sigh and, rarely, confessed his inner thoughts.
He wiped his face with both hands.
His palms were soaked with cold sweat.
“It's a real relief. That it ended this way.”
Although he didn't show it outwardly, Ho-cheol was also more tense and anxious than Ji-an.
What if they hadn't sincerely apologized and forgiven?
What if they hadn't accepted each other's existence and the relationship had spiraled into the worst-case scenario?
What if the relationship had escalated into a fight?
What if someone had been seriously hurt as a result?
How should I have acted, and whose side should I have taken?
I had my own ideas, but could I have acted according to them?
Since my release from prison.
No, this was the first time I had faced such a difficult situation in my life.
And if they had been hurt for such a reason.
I would have blamed myself for forcing out an issue that could have been kept a secret until the end.
I would have lived with more lingering regrets and self-reproach than Smiley had left behind, carrying it as a lifelong burden.
It was just a great fortune that I was a good person in front of them.
He barely managed to balance himself and crouched down.
He pulled the Twins’ heads close, letting them lean on his shoulder.
“Some idiot says forgiveness is the best revenge, but how can that be true. How difficult is the forgiveness chosen by one's own will, not something forcibly picked out because they were pushed? So...”
Ho-cheol, who had been moving his lips for a long time, spoke in a small whisper.
“Thank you.”
As for Ho-cheol, he was genuinely relieved, grateful, and moved.
“You have now proven that the path I have walked and the goodwill I have built up until today have meaning.”
Hwayeon stared at Ho-cheol’s side profile, then opened her mouth and bit his neck—Ang—. Chewing lightly on his neck, she grumbled.
“If you're so grateful, come visit often. It's really hard to see your face.”
Then, as if feeling awkward, she added.
“That auntie looks like she's half-living with you.”
Ji-an flinched greatly at the term auntie, but held it in for now.
Ho-cheol released them and nodded.
“I'll try.”
Leaving behind the Twins who told him not to forget a gift next time, Ho-cheol walked out of the facility.
They clearly wanted Ho-cheol to stay longer, but today, Ho-cheol was completely drained and couldn't bear to do anything more.
Ho-cheol and Ji-an did not exchange a single word as they walked toward the car.
There was no sign of anyone speaking first, as if silence were a virtue.
Only after arriving at the car did Ji-an finally open her mouth.
“...Mister.”
“What.”
“I'm sorry.”
A brief apology.
It was unclear what reason the apology was for.
She had more than one thing to be sorry about.
Ho-cheol narrowed his brows.
“If I were you. I wouldn't have said that. Because that's not what I wanted to say or hear in the first place.”
Ji-an instantly fell silent.
Moving her lips for a long time, she finally returned the answer Ho-cheol truly wanted.
“Thank you.”
“For what.”
Only then did Ho-cheol also smile and reach out his hand toward her head.
No, he paused his hand before it touched her crown.
Instead, he lowered his hand and held Ji-an's hand.
“I'm the one who's more grateful.”
Just like the Twins who chose forgiveness over revenge or resentment, I was simply grateful to Ji-an, who sincerely asked for forgiveness.
Even if her fundamental nature was not that of a good person, today's choice and action were completely unrelated to that nature.
No, it was even more remarkable because she had overcome her own nature.
In truth, although Ho-cheol had seen the favor he bestowed on others return to him several times, he had never seen it pass on to complete strangers.
Giving and receiving was natural.
However, giving, receiving, and then bestowing that goodwill again was an entirely different concept.
Having seen that twice.
It was as if all the patience and goodwill I had built up until now had been repaid.
“I guess it was a good idea to live a good life after all.”
This was the first time I had thought it was a good thing I got out of prison, as much as today.
***
How much time had passed since the Twins' problem was resolved?
Ho-cheol turned his head and checked the calendar.
Released in February, it was now the end of December.
I was finally spending the year outside.
It felt like too much had happened for just one year.
I feel like I've been doubly busier than when I was a Villain.
His gaze moved down from December.
“Christmas.”
Christmas for a Villain.
I had never celebrated it, nor thought about celebrating it in my life, but this year I wasn't a Villain.
Should I put some thought into it?
Ho-cheol pondered for a moment.
A gift that could simply be bought with money.
None of the people who would receive a gift from Ho-cheol would be happy to receive such a thing.
And it wasn't appropriate to openly ask the other person what gift they wanted.
In fact, judging by the atmosphere, Han So-hee and Ji-an, as well as the people around him, weren't expecting any kind of gift or anniversary celebration from him.
If I gave them a gift Ta-da— at a moment they weren't expecting at all, they would be much happier than with a mere ceremonial gift.
The thought itself made me not dare to ask.
A gift that felt like sincerity and effort rather than money.
I immediately came up with a few gifts.
However, all of them were the kind that required a considerable amount of time.
Even if I diligently prepared from now, it would be cutting it close.
Could I also prepare it while avoiding their gaze?
Ho-cheol could not find that possibility at all.
It was virtually impossible to get away from the eyes of those ticks who came and went daily.
No, who now stayed as if it were their own house.
If that's the case, I have no choice.
There was only one place where I was free from their gaze and didn't have to be conscious of anyone else.
***
Ho-cheol's newly gathered Villain organization, 'Unhappy' Hideout.
Wolf Fang let out a hollow laugh upon seeing Ho-cheol perched on the windowsill.
“I thought you came back for some activity after such a long time, but for such a simple reason.”
“It's quite an important matter, you know?”
Ho-cheol flipped through the instruction manual and asked.
“But did the organization ever specifically celebrate Christmas?”
“We celebrated it diligently every year.”
Ho-cheol raised an eyebrow at the unexpected answer.
Really?
I had no idea?
Although he wore such an expression, he lowered his head again with a figures— expression at Wolf Fang's subsequent explanation.
“Because Heroes and the police all loosen up then. We could pull off a big job. It was essentially a double-money event.”
“Then let's pull off a big event this year, too.”
“Really?”
This time, it was Wolf Fang who looked surprised, opening his eyes wide.
Ho-cheol was currently only the nominal Boss, having half-withdrawn from the organization's affairs.
Of course, since I had only intended to use the organization for personal reasons from the start, it was natural for me to be uninterested if there was no need to use it.
Now, Wolf Fang had almost all authority delegated to him, barely maintaining the organization's structure.
But to suddenly initiate a project so proactively?
What gave him the idea?
“It's a simple event. Spread the word to other hostile organizations and wild Villains too.”
Of course, the event Ho-cheol was talking about was not for the Villains at all.
“Hide-and-Seek. The period is three days before and after Christmas.”
I intended to meet everyone I had been indebted to or close with, and the majority were Hero-related professionals.
What if the gatherings were ruined by a Villain disaster?
“Tell every bastard who causes trouble and gets caught during this time that the penalty won't be prison but the funeral home, so everyone just stay home and sleep.”
I would absolutely not let it slide that day.
Only then did Wolf Fang, understanding Ho-cheol’s true intention, let out another hollow laugh.
“What on earth would people who know the Boss think if they saw you like this?”
Ho-cheol crossed the knitting needles he held in both hands and answered gruffly.
“Wow. This bastard has great hand skills. That's what they'd think. Now, stop bothering me and go.”
“Understood. But is there a gift for me, too?”
Ho-cheol looked at Wolf Fang with a dumbfounded expression.
I let him off the hook lately, and he's losing his mind again.
Ho-cheol took a candy out of his pocket and threw it at him.
“Isn't that enough?”
“No, even so, cinnamon flavor is a bit much.”
“Should I change it to blood flavor?”
Only then did Wolf Fang open the door and escape as if fleeing.
In the room that became quiet again, Ho-cheol stared blankly at the firmly closed door and let out a faint sigh.
It feels like I'll have to stay up all night to make one more.
This is driving me crazy with annoyance.
Grumbling so, Ho-cheol set his hands to work.