chapter 8
8 – 3. I’m a villain -4
Watching the glass shatter, Cheon Se-hee smirked.
“Stupid idiot.”
It was a smile filled with unquestionable malice.
“I guess there’s nothing left to do but try.”
“Right, let’s give it a shot.”
The creature and the woman exchanged looks before starting to merge. It was one of the creature’s abilities.
The creature, slightly melting, wrapped around the woman’s body.
The woman’sThe body is dyed black, as if ink was spilled on a white canvas.
The woman reaches out her hand.
At the same time, tentacles emerge from the shadows. They are ready to fight.
‘She’s a thief, stealing other’s inventions.’
That’s what Cheon Sehee thought of this woman who probably had been targeting this from the beginning.
It was a blow to her pride, the fact that the product of many years was stolen right before her eyes.
However, Cheon Sehee quickly cooled her anger.
‘The woman will soon be dead anyway.’
Things went as she thought. Soon, the battle began between the woman who had fused and the tentacle slime.
The slimes unleashed powerful tentacles. The woman fought back with large octopus tentacles, repulsed one wave, and continued to attack with the next.
It was a weighty, vigorous, and powerful swing.
The slimes quickly dodged, but after a while, they were pushed back.
Still, amidst all this, Cheon Sehee did not lose her composure.
“…Why are there so many!”
The woman’s voice expressing her dissatisfaction.
Yes, that was exactly the problem.
“A lot?”
“What on earth is…”
“Well, I have a lot of people playing with me.”
“You…”
Regrettably.
As the battle continued, the slimes gradually took the upper hand.
“Tsk.”
The woman frowned.
Despite her confident appearance, the situation did not look promising.
The woman perfectly blocked all the whirling tentacles and when a tentacle came down, she would strike it down and deflect it if it attacked.
Despite just getting their pace, the rhythm of the two was quite good.
Admittedly, for a first-timer, her skill was extraordinary.
In that case.
“But there’s no winning against a whole swarm.”
Their only option was to defeat in numbers.
Tens? No, perhaps hundreds.
The result of countless victims she had been toying with. She had no idea how many women have sacrificed to give birth to those slimes.
“…Tsk.”
The woman clicked her tongue. She seemed to be getting frustrated.
Swish.
One tentacle stretched out as the woman extended her arm, struck a slime. Soon, other tentacles also started attacking slimes.They were eager to be involved in killing him.
Pop. A slime burst open with a sound.
But the reward was brutal.
Countless tentacles flew and aimed at the woman. She tried to defend with what she had, but she couldn’t block everything.
Pop.
A tentacle that lashes out at her body.
Soon, the woman’s body slightly twisted. Even at a very small gap, the slimes gather in.
Just like ants flocking to a place smeared with honey.
“It’s over.”
It’s over now. Cheon Se-hee’s scornful laugh echoed.
The woman stared at the swarming slimes and said,
“The end is the end of your life, you bastard b*tch.”
Instead, she harshly criticized Cheon Se-hee out loud. Filled with anger and ready to yell, Cheon Se-hee briefly stopped their action.
What does that mean?
Looking closely, there were several tentacles also moving behind the woman. Very busily.
“What are you doing?”
Cheon Se-hee looked at the tentacles.
And then she realized it. That woman’s trick.
‘…soju bottles.’
The woman’s back was full of soju bottles. All of them were uncapped, and tissue was stuck into the openings.
She shifted her gaze to a barrel filled with yellow liquid.
It was a barrel of oil. An oil barrel left untouched out of laziness after using it to heat stoves last winter.
With tissue soaked in oil, it was stuck into the opening of the soju bottles.
That’s when Cheon Se-hee realized what the woman was making.
“Are you crazy…?”
Molotov cocktails.
“Stop that…!”
“Why?”
“Don’t!”
“Oh, could it be.”
After looking at this side for a moment, the woman sneered.
“Can’t handle a little fire?”
Cheon Se-hee couldn’t say a word.
That woman is right. All slimes are creatures weak to fire.
They can’t do anything and melt away in an instant when they come in contact with fire. How on earth does that woman know that.
How on earth did you find out, even considering making Molotov cocktails!
“Move… move away!”
No matter how desperately she yelled, they wouldn’t listen.
Because they are creatures without intelligence. They just act according to their instincts.
ThatThe united slimes were.
Paaang!!
They started to get engulfed in bursting flames.
When the woman moved her tentacles, they grasped several more Molotov cocktails.
A room that became a complete inferno as they were thrown at the same time.
The sprinkler tried to put out the fire too late, but it was already too late.
Massacre.
The end was a massacre of the slimes.
“Well, who’s the idiot now?”
When the woman puts force into her hand and gathers, tentacles popped out of the shadows.
That bludgeon-like thing would have no trouble shattering Cheon Se-hee’s bones.
And that tentacle.
“Rot in jail forever.”
It clearly displayed a will.
A will to destroy Cheon Se-hee.
“Don’t ever crawl out again.”
The next thing Cheon Se-hee saw was a massive tentacle coming down at him.
+++++
“Haah…it hurts…”
“Qyuu…You’ve worked hard.”
“Uh…Don’t talk, just give me proper pain relief.”
“I’m working on it.”
As evening approached and on the way home.
Noa blankly stared at the large wound on his arm, soon covering it with cloth.
Ignoring his slightly throbbing arm, he walked on.
The damned monster popped out again today.
It’s good to absorb magic and get stronger, but these days it’s too much.
Way too much.
It was rare to encounter them in succession like this; it was something unimaginable in the traditional ranks.
His body was becoming more tiresome as his work increased these days.
But what can he do?
If it was the path he had chosen, he had to walk it silently.
It would be nice if there were some people to act a bit childish.
“…Pull yourself together, Nanoa.”
Noa slapped his cheek. His cheeks turned red.
How could he be so weak already.
Let’s go home quickly, get treated, eat, and sleep.
Because he’s tired, he kept talking nonsense.
‘…Speaking of which, I still have the ramen he gave me.’
The face of the man who supplied the food saying it was waste every time he went to the convenience store popped up.
So what the hell did the man do in there?
Was he simply constipated and spent a long time in the bathroom?
Who knows…’It isn’t there.
It would be tantamount to admitting that I was stalking if I asked.
Regardless, there’s no particular reason to suspect Ramen. Let’s quickly go and cook up some Ramen to eat.
I hurried my steps thinking that.
“Huh?”
I saw a man.
A man who was sitting on a bench, smoking a cigarette.
The man’s face looked more tired than usual for some reason.
“Hello…no, hi? What a coincidence, seeing you here.”
Suddenly he’s using informal language?
Although, this isn’t a convenience store.
The man is clearly older so it should be expected.
I suddenly felt flustered.
He didn’t use informal language this morning, right?
Not just that.
The man got up from his seat and slowly walked toward me.
“…Um…if…if you’re okay with it…”
“…?”
“No, I mean…if it’s okay.”
“…?”
“Do you want to go and eat with me?”
The man suddenly made a move on me.
He was always strange, but I had a feeling that he seems choppier than usual.
What could have happened in a single day?
+++++
‘Is that the woman?’
‘Yeah.’
I had a conversation with the lump still inside me.
‘She looks cute.’
‘She’s young.’
It was nothing more than a coincidence. Meeting Noah.
I returned to a man’s body and was on the way to buy beer.
I was a bit tired for some reason.
So, let’s smoke a cigarette at the smoking area just for a bit. I sat on a bench with that thought.
During that brief smoke break. I saw a shaky silhouette of a girl from afar.
It was Noah.
‘What a coincidence. To happen upon each other here.’
‘Mr. ShinHyun.’
‘Yeah?’
‘If coincidences keep happening, it becomes destiny.’
I chuckled at the lump’s remark. It was a statement reminiscent of a die-hard romance novel fan.
Although I do believe in destiny, isn’t that pushing it a bit too much?
I tried to wave slightly to greet her. Noah coming our way. The moment I was about to get out my usual greetings.
‘Did you usually greet her in any special way?’
‘”Just a hello. The same feeling? Then I also introduced myself.”
“What is it? It feels like a customer and a part-timer working.”
Well, it does seem like a customer and a part-timer.
“And like this, I can’t move a woman’s heart in my lifetime!”
“So what are we supposed to do?”
Kkomul made a worried noise, then said.
“Show a different side than usual.”
“A different side from usual?”
“It’s about a gap. When a person who is always kind suddenly speaks informally and shows a different side? This is the tasty part.”
It was difficult to understand. He should just greet normally. Even so, he has read a lot of romance novels.
Would he know more about that side than me?
…Well, it’s certainly not a bad thing to win Noah’s favor.
Unless it goes too far and causes unnecessary trouble.
Of course, there’s absolutely no chance I will make the first move. So the only thing left is for Noah to make a move on me.
Would such a thing happen?
I took a moment to catch my breath and decided to follow Kkomul’s advice.
“Hello, wai… no, hi?”
The first informal speech to Noah. Noah was surprised at that.
It had to be. Even till this morning, I spoke formally, and now I suddenly I spoke informally.
“Sinhyeon, don’t be scared, go!”
“No, is this right?”
“Courageous men get to have beauties!”
Words from a self-proclaimed love expert. After a moment’s consideration, I threw a sentence I always wanted to say at Noah.
“Uh..if you’re okay with it..”
“..?”
“No,I mean…if it’s okay..”
“..?”
“Do you want to go eat together?”
I wanted to feed Noah.
Every time I saw Noah, I felt like a grandmother who sees her granddaughter.
Oh! Look how thin my baby is! Aren’t you eating at home?
The difference is that my grandchild is quite chubby, while Noah is really thin.
“…”
Noah remains silent for a while. Then, she seems like she’s about to say something, her eyes narrow.
“….Did something happen today?”
“”Or…just…um…are you crazy?”
“No.”
“…Hmm…”
Noah only sent an enigmatic gaze.
Somewhere between empathy and looking at waste.
Kkomuly muttered.
‘Strange… in novels, this usually works…?’
It was just as she had suspected.
Reality is not a romance fantasy, squid girl.
A situation that could end up being vilified as trash trying to woo a middle school girl.
I devised a strategy to change the situation.
It was something I planned to use once we were more comfortable with each other.
“…Pfft, don’t worry about it. I think I’ll just go eat some gukbap.”
Gukbap.
“…Gukbap?”
“Yep. I know a place that makes it really well. They also do good kimchi and kkakdugi…and as a service, they add a few pieces of sundae… Ah, I’ll just go alone and have some soju-“
“…I’ll go with you.”
“Really?”
“But we’ll only eat and then I’m leaving.”
This was the best way to lure Noah out.