#086
“Trying to bully only those who seem easy targets because you can’t touch me, that’s really vicious. Typical of you.”
At Shin Haejun’s cold and stern words, Kim Sehyun shouted with an enraged face.
“Why, why are you only persecuting me? It was Lee Jaeha who maliciously hid Haejun-ssi and provoked me to get angry in the first place!”
“That’s not true. You came barging in without warning, demanding to open the door, and then got angry all by yourself.”
I spoke to Kim Sehyun from behind Shin Haejun to correct the false statement. Kim Sehyun then exhaled heavily with a face truly seething with anger.
“The malicious one is you, who’s hovering around us with two faces. Even when Jaeha experienced strange things from you, he let it slide thinking you were friends, but you didn’t even ask if he was okay after pushing him just now? It’s quite clear who’s the strange one here.”
Seeing how things were unfolding, I thought it would be better to stay quiet for now. Seeing Kim Sehyun’s upset reaction to me receiving the house, I became interested in accepting it. How to compensate Shin Haejun was a secondary issue, and if Kim Sehyun gets angrier and breaks down more, causing the flow of the story to collapse as well, it would be killing two birds with one stone.
When Shin Haejun didn’t show any support, Kim Sehyun started crying. Then he slumped down on the floor and tried to grab Shin Haejun’s pants.
“Haejun-ssi, ending the pair like this is too-”
“What are you doing.”
Before Kim Sehyun’s hand could touch him, Shin Haejun grabbed me and stepped back, avoiding the hand. Then he looked down at Kim Sehyun’s hunched body with a face as if looking at something dirty.
“What are you trying to grab?”
“This is re-really too much…”
Kim Sehyun’s tears fell in droplets on the floor. It looked like a pitiful sight even to me.
But my pent-up resentment was too deep to worry about Kim Sehyun. I glanced at Shin Haejun’s back with a glare.
‘When I’m the one being mistreated, I want to kill him, but when he’s on my side, he’s quite reassuring…’
Well, that’s why I liked him in the first place.
He’s so good at acting cute and pitiful that I keep forgetting, but basically, he has a personality that’s not just cold to others but makes you want to hit him.
Apart from my deepening concerns about how to deal with Shin Haejun later, seeing Kim Sehyun being mistreated made me feel relieved.
It was his fault for barging in without warning and saying harsh words and cursing when no one else could see.
“When did you ever worry about my lifeline, and now you’re going to blame that on Lee Jaeha too?”
Remembering what he had said, Kim Sehyun’s face turned pale. It was a statement that anyone would see as inexcusable.
Kim Sehyun trembled intermittently and looked up at Shin Haejun with a shocked face.
“Ha, Ha, Haejun… ssi. I…”
Kim Sehyun choked up with a pale face.
“I can’t, can’t breathe.”
Then he said while touching the floor as if about to collapse. It looked like he was having a hyperventilation attack.
“It really hurts… Can’t you… hold my hand?”
Kim Sehyun reached out one hand with a pitiful expression. It looked like he was asking for help. Seeing this, Shin Haejun spoke coldly and sternly.
“Trash personality.”
“Huh… what?”
I glanced at Shin Haejun for a moment. But Shin Haejun’s face showed no change at all.
“Someone really having an attack wouldn’t have the presence of mind for this. Is avoiding the situation so important even now?”
After saying that, Shin Haejun glanced at me. He probably recalled when I had an attack.
I don’t remember how I acted at all, but I thought that at the point where he could manage his expression like that, it might be an act to avoid the situation, as Shin Haejun said.
Shin Haejun, who was looking down at Kim Sehyun with a displeased face, made another call somewhere.
“Secretary Kang, Kim Sehyun came to Jaeha’s house. Report him to the police for trespassing and get a restraining order so he can’t come near here again.”
I was surprised and opened my eyes wide, as I only expected him to say he would report for trespassing, but he actually made the report right away. However, Shin Haejun gave instructions to his secretary with an unwavering face, and then looked at Kim Sehyun as if asking if he still didn’t intend to leave. It was a gaze colder than looking at a roadside pebble.
“…Sob.”
Kim Sehyun got up with a grieving face and ran out the door. His face looked not just sad but angry, which worried me, but for now, I felt relieved that I had successfully completed the quest and revealed Kim Sehyun’s true nature to the two of them.
“Are you okay?”
Shin Haejun immediately turned to me and asked. Then he examined my body thoroughly.
“I’m fine because the Director caught me before I fell.”
I calmed Shin Haejun down, feeling a bit awkward. Shin Haejun then smiled slightly, saying it was fortunate I wasn’t hurt.
“Can I come out now that it’s all over?”
At Hyun Dowoon’s voice, I turned my head to see him opening the study door and coming out. As Hyun Dowoon was completely a third party in this matter, it seemed he had waited, finding it awkward to come out right away.
‘Oh, come to think of it.’
I needed to add a bit more awareness to the hint I had dropped earlier about manifestation. I had said I would confirm that memory anyway. Now that it had come to this, I had to let the two of them know what kind of person Kim Sehyun was.
‘The idea of taking a moderate approach has become useless anyway.’
The author has already burst dungeons into the real world to get rid of me. The same situation will come again in the future, and I thought it would be better to act as I feel rather than taking a moderate approach and getting hurt.
Nine had said before that the author couldn’t kill me recklessly due to the constraints of plausibility. But given that they suddenly created dungeon anomalies and acted without restrictions, I couldn’t just sit back and take it either. From another perspective, it was as if the restrictions on me had disappeared as well.
Hearing Shin Haejun specifically say “acting violently,” even my disappointment and lament at being a villainous extra felt meaningless. It reminded me of the first quest that told me to act violently.
Hyun Dowoon even said that Kim Sehyun was more like the villain. Whether protagonist or villain, acting violently is acting violently. I felt there was no need to be confined by roles.
‘However I act, that’s just me. It’s not because I’m villain Lee Jaeha.’
Whether as Lee Yeonsoo or Lee Jaeha. I didn’t want to be pessimistic about my situation anymore. Although I started as a villain, in the end, Shin Haejun and Hyun Dowoon remained by my side, not Kim Sehyun’s. Instead of lamenting that they would eventually disappear to Kim Sehyun, I thought I should cherish my relationship with the two of them more. I had been relying only on Nine’s quests, but I also felt like I wanted to act more independently.
As I raised my head after making a resolution in my heart, I saw the two of them looking at me with kind eyes. Feeling a bit of a stir in my heart, I spoke to them.
“Since it’s come to this, I’ll say this… Kim Sehyun was definitely F-class until just before I manifested. But suddenly after I manifested, he became S-class… I think it’s a bit strange.”
At my words, Shin Haejun and Hyun Dowoon’s faces hardened.
“For now, it’s just at the level of suspicion… It’s just that I suddenly remembered when he accused me of stealing his power.”
I said that and observed their reactions. The two of them, who had been standing with hardened expressions at the same time, slowly closed their mouths and seemed to be pondering something.
“I guess it was all lies that he needed Jaeha-ssi for mental stability.”
Hyun Dowoon muttered first. Well, he was the one who knew why Kim Sehyun had called me to the dungeon. Knowing that guiding was unstable without me, it was natural for him to make the connection.
“I thought something was strange from when he kept failing at guiding without you.”
Shin Haejun’s face looked very serious as he said that. It was clear that he had become suspicious of Kim Sehyun.
“For now, it’s just suspicion, so we can’t say anything for sure, but…”
“No, I definitely think it’s suspicious. It’s strange that he suddenly changed from F-class to S-class, and it’s also strange that you came out as F-class and then suddenly rose to E-class.”
And Kim Sehyun’s claim that I had stolen his power on top of that.
Shin Haejun seemed to have definitely felt the seriousness of this situation.
“I’ll have to thoroughly track Kim Sehyun for now.”
“Then I’ll consult with the research team to see if such cases are possible, and look into overseas cases as well.”
Shin Haejun and Hyun Dowoon said simultaneously.
Will Kim Sehyun’s actions be clearly revealed? I felt that I couldn’t help but receive their help for this matter.
‘If not, I’ll wait until Nine directly tells me the evidence to resolve this.’
Even if it’s out of pity for Lee Jaeha, I’m going to punish Kim Sehyun’s actions and definitely regain all my power. I don’t know why he hates Lee Jaeha so much when he says they were never friends to begin with… but I couldn’t forgive Kim Sehyun for pretending to be a friend and toying with him.
‘Now I need to receive the quest reward.’
I need to know what’s bound to happen so I can prepare for it.
“I’m too emotionally drained for now… I’d like to rest a bit.”
I needed to check the reward Nine would give. When I said that, the two of them immediately grabbed me from both sides as if I were a baby and brought me to the bedroom, laying me on the bed. They were treating me with extreme care.
While Hyun Dowoon covered me with a fluffy blanket up to my chest, Shin Haejun turned on the mood light at the head of the bed. When the crimson light gently tinged their eyes, my face suddenly felt hot.
‘All of a sudden…’
Whether as Lee Yeonsoo or as Lee Jaeha, maybe because I had resolved to face everything more actively, I suddenly felt too embarrassed. Before, when I thought it was a world in a novel, it felt like there was an unreal layer covering everything, but now that I thought of it as my reality, it felt somehow different.
Unaware of my state, the two of them left me, telling me to rest well, and went outside. I covered my face with both hands, sighed deeply, and then took out my phone.
: *Has your personality exploded?*
Quest Grade: C
You have completed the quest. A reward will be given!
Reward: 1 viewing right for the logline ‘How to be loved by S-class espers’
As if knowing what I would demand, Nine immediately displayed the quest completion window as soon as I logged into the game.
I immediately used the viewing right I received as a reward. Then golden shining letters appeared in front of my eyes.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
