The Tough Guy Hides the Villainess

029 – Heroes Obsessed with Villains #4

029 – Heroes Obsessed with Villains #4

“Hanamjin! Look! It’s a collapsed house!”

Hurrying-.

Bbangdaengi Baek Yeoul rushed into the crumbling ruin.

“Where are the bad guys! Are they here? Here? Where are they!”

Rustle rustle-.

He opened the cupboard and took out an old, worn-out cup, giggling to himself. He didn’t seem to be in his right mind.

He fearlessly squeezed into the place, not knowing what might jump out at him, like a raccoon rummaging through a field after days of hunger.

These days, Bbangdaengi seems to have a bit of a floating feeling, doesn’t he?

It’s clear that kids like him will cause trouble someday.

At times like this, I have to step in.

“Bbangdaengi, when I was in elementary school, a high schooler suddenly tried to take my money. It was also in an alley between these empty houses.”

“What’s this out of nowhere?”

“That guy said to me, ─Hey, do you have money?─ So I said I did. Then he said, ─Give it all to me─. I obediently said, ─Yes─.”

At that time, I rummaged through my bag and took out a carrot knife instead of money.

A folding carrot knife.

“I named the knife ‘Nanatsuyoru.’ “I swung it at the high schooler.”

“…A carrot knife?”

“I was crazy back then. And now I’m in high school. No elementary school kids dare approach me anymore.”

“No, what are you talking about all of a sudden while checking out empty houses?”

“The important thing is that for an elementary school student to take on a high school student, they need to have something like ‘Nanatsuyoru’ to handle it. You’re an elementary school student, and the bad guys you’re looking for are high school students.”

“…So, you’re saying that it’s reckless for me to take on the bad guys, and I should remember that this is an ‘investigation,’ not a ‘subjugation,’ right? You were worried about me.”

Bbangdaengi scratched the back of his pink head awkwardly as if he understood my point. But that wasn’t what I meant. Bbangdaengi didn’t understand the lesson I just told him at all.

“The point is, to beat high school students, we need to find our ‘Nanatsuyoru.’ Look at this table leg. If we break it, “Hey, what are you talking about all of a sudden while checking out empty houses?”

“The important thing is that for an elementary school student to take on a high school student, they need to have something like ‘Nanatsuyoru’ to handle it. You’re an elementary school student, and the bad guys you’re looking for are high school students.”

“…So, you’re saying that it’s reckless for me to take on the bad guys, and I should remember that this is an ‘investigation,’ not a ‘subjugation’? You were worried about me.”

Bbangdaengi scratched the back of his pink head awkwardly, as if he understood my point. But that wasn’t what I meant. Bbangdaengi didn’t understand the lesson I just told him at all.

“The point is, to beat high school students, we need to find our ‘Nanatsuyoru.’ Look at this table leg. If we break it, we can use it as a weapon like a baseball bat, don’t you think?”

Crash-!

I kicked the table and broke it. Then I yanked out its leg like tearing off a chicken leg from a samgyetang, and the rusty nails sticking out made it look perfect as a weapon.

Whizz-.

It felt good to swing it.

“If you get hit by this, even Buddha’s grandmother would get tetanus for sure. If we’re going to explore, let’s find some useful stuff like this. Remember, humans are animals that use tools.”

“To…tools! Got it, Hanamjin!”

Only then did Bbangdaengi’s eyes show a clear determination, as if he finally understood my point.

He still had a long way to go to become a decent recycler, but he seemed to have some potential.

However, something that had been bothering me since earlier still wasn’t resolved.

“Bbangdaengi, but I’ve been curious since earlier, what’s with the sudden ‘Hanamjin’?”

“Th…that?”

Bbangdaengi Baek Yeoul blushed and fidgeted. He looked more anxious than caterpillars trying to enter their cocoons.

He probably realized that his behavior was embarrassing.

“Calling people by names you made up. I have a name given to me by my parents, Hanamjin. Bbangdaengi, it’s rude to call me by a different name.”

Frown-.

Baek Yeoul frowned.

“Hey, you might be right, but you’re not the one to say that! Stop calling me Bbangdaengi first! You call people by made-up names too!”

“But you are Bbangdaengi.”

“I’m not Bbangdaengi! I’m Baek Yeoul!”

“What ‘Ye’ and what ‘Ul’? Or is it pure Korean without Chinese characters?”

“…Huh? That…what was it…”

“See, you are Bbangdaengi.”

“No! Then you’re Hanamjin! That’s enough! Got it? And I’ll carry out this investigation, so Hanamjin, you just follow me!”

Swoosh-.

Baek Yeoul picked up a frying pan nearby as he babbled on. It looked wide and sturdy, a very useful item.

“Oh, hey, that frying pan looks nice.”

“Right? This is my ‘Unlucky Stick’ from now on! My weapon!”

“‘Unlucky Stick’? Sounds like the name of a trot singer who performs at night events.”

“A stick that brings misfortune if you get hit by it! That’s why it’s the ‘Unlucky Stick’!”

No, it’s not a stick, it’s a frying pan.

Shouldn’t it be called the Unlucky Frying Pan?

Bangdae was getting weirder the more I looked at him.

Anyway, the morning investigation ended on that note.

The only gain was that Bangdae got the ‘Unlucky Stick’?

Honestly, the ‘Unlucky Stick’ was something I wanted too.

The more useful tools, the better.

That’s why I became interested in the ‘Treasure’ items in the Yongsa High treasure vault.

A ‘Treasure’ imbued with a concept! Having just one would be incredibly convenient and reassuring.

Thinking that, I decided it was time for lunch and contacted everyone on my phone when some guy called out to us.

“Hey, students, wait a minute!”

He was a man wearing a very old denim jacket and jeans. There were paint stains all over, and his beard was scruffy, making him look like a homeless person or a suspicious character.

# # #

“Hey, students, wait a minute!”

Srrr-.

At the man’s shout, Baek Yeoul held out the ‘Unlucky Stick’ and started to be on guard.

Soon, the man laughed.

“You guys are students from Yongsa High, right? My son goes there too. I talk to you because you look like my son and daughter. You shouldn’t be rummaging through these empty houses.”

Now that I looked, the man had a cart full of junk.

A fellow scavenger? I smell a master.

So, this area is his territory, and he’s telling us not to mess with it—maybe that’s what he wanted to say.

“I’ve seen some suspicious people around here lately. So, if you rummage through empty houses carelessly, you might get hurt.”

He witnessed suspicious people?

My interest was piqued instantly.

“Sir, where did you see those suspicious people? Specifically, how were they suspicious?”

“Sir? I’m not that old. Anyway, they were obviously suspicious. They had their hair dyed in flashy colors and were wandering around in the dead of night. I can tell they’re not from around here just by looking.”

Dragging that huge cart around, it seemed like we could trust the old man’s judgment. If he said someone was suspicious, they really must be.

“Can you guide us to where exactly you saw them?”

“That is….”

The man hesitated in many ways.

At that moment, Chang-sik and Deok-soon approached us from afar.

“…….”

“…….”

Chang-sik and Deok-soon seemed quite surprised by the shabby man’s appearance.

The man, seeing us, seemed to want to say something but then advised, “You guys, be careful not to get hurt. Leave here before the sun sets.” He then struggled to pull the cart up the hill.

Creak, creak-.

Pulling a heavy cart filled with scrap up a steep hill was a tough job even for an adult man. Watching this, Deok-soon sighed softly.

“He looks really exhausted…Should we help him?”

The man soon bowed his head and began to pick out usable items from a nearby garbage dump.

He didn’t care about getting dirty, his eyes shining as if the junk were treasures. Chang-sik averted his gaze slightly at this sight.

I spoke softly, only loud enough for Chang-sik to hear.

“Chang-sik, is that your father?”

“…!”

Chang-sik seemed greatly surprised.

Baek Yeoul and Deok-soon also seemed shocked, closing their mouths and watching the situation.

Eventually, Chang-sik sighed deeply.

“As my friend said. Honestly… I was too ashamed to say anything. Isn’t he doing dirty and messy work? I never thought I’d meet him here…. He didn’t say anything weird to you, did he… ?”

“Chang-sik, do you know what a hero is?”

“…A hero? Are you talking about the graduates of Yeongsa High School?”

“In my opinion, a hero is someone who steps up to do what others least want to do. In that sense, your father deserves to be called a hero.”

“…….”

“Moreover, isn’t he giving new opportunities to resources that would otherwise be discarded and die meaninglessly? Your father is truly a great man. We should strive to be like him.”

The old man’s greatness was on par with Seo Ga-eul of the future.

No, to be honest, slightly below Seo Ga-eul─.

But still, if he was comparable to Seo Ga-eul in my heart, his manliness was truly remarkable.

Even a silver medal is great.

“… … .”

Chang-sik seemed to be deep in thought after hearing my words, his gaze wandering here and there for a long time. Then, as if he had made a big decision, he clenched his fist tightly and loudly.

“…Father!”

Tadadak-.

Chang-sik ran up the steep hill in one go.

He lightly pushed his father’s heavy cart all the way to the top.

“━─.”

“─.”

After that, the two seemed to be talking about something, but I couldn’t make out what it was.

“Sorry! Did I keep you all waiting?”

Chang-sik’s face was covered in dust as he came down the hill. But his expression was bright, as if all the worries and anxieties from before had been washed away.

“Father gave me money to buy dinner. I’ll treat you all tonight. And he also said not to go near the 3rd district where the abandoned factory is.”

He gave us money for dinner? Awesome, we saved on dinner money!

And not to go near the 3rd district?

There must be a reason for telling us not to go. It must be his father’s concern for his son.

The old man must know that Chang-sik is an awakener, yet he still worried… .

“There is something near the abandoned factory in the 3rd district─.”

“Could it be villains… !?”

This time, Baek Yeoul showed quick and accurate understanding.

The information we had been searching for came from Chang-sik’s father.

“Lucky us.”

“Isn’t it thanks to me?”

Baek Yeoul puffed out his chest.

To be honest, Baek Yeoul didn’t do anything.

We headed to the 3rd district where the abandoned factory was before the sun set.

Just as I was thinking that the grandeur and desolation of the rusted buildings reminded me of the lines from Ozymandias, I saw a strange figure loitering outside the abandoned factory complex.

“Isn’t that a mantis?”

“Samajun. “Wang Ja-hyun’s lackey!”

As Baek Yeoul said, it was Samajun, Wang Ja-hyun’s lackey.

Why was he here?

In a bizarre situation, while I was racking my brain, a man with long hair dyed bright red like an outdated rocker popped out of the factory and put his arm around Samajun’s shoulder, dragging him somewhere.

When everyone was silent as if they didn’t know who that man was-.

A long-forgotten memory flashed through my mind like lightning.

“That guy is ‘Yeomra’.”

“Friend, if you say ‘Yeomra’, do you mean Yeom Hoon, the N-Mart arsonist? That means….”

The enemy who caused my parents’ death.

Specially wanted criminal Yeom Hoon! To think I would meet him here today!

“Guys, I think we need to cancel the reconnaissance mission.”

Extermination! It must be extermination!

I’ll make sure to crush that guy’s marble!