Breaking Up With the Heroine in an Otome Game

20 – Interlude, Kill the Hero (2)

021

Villain.

Refers to a criminal who abuses superpowers or magic for their own greed.

In the past, society was in chaos due to numerous villains, but it never escalated to a major threat in the present.

This was because it was not a favorable environment for mere criminals to run wild, thanks to the establishment of the Hero Association, extensive government support, and the launch of numerous hero training institutions.

Most of the villains active in South Korea were merely petty criminals.

But then…

“Cough, cough…ugh.”

“Weak.”

The pale girl with moonlit, shining hair spread out looked down at the man with an indifferent face.

Taking his labored breaths, the man looked up at the girl with his battered face, doing his best in his current state.

“You’re a mid-ranking hero, right?”

He looked in his late teens or early twenties.

His hands and feet were thin and delicate.

His eyes were lifeless.

“Choi Seok Hwan of the Mirinae Clan. I heard you were quite successful once.”

In the dark alley, blood splattered all around.

Choi Seok Hwan, a mid-ranking hero who went by the nickname ‘Iron Wall’ in the Mirinae Clan, could only intermittently spit out blood.

He had been a hero for over a decade.

He never thought he would be defeated by a girl like her.

Damn it.

“Cough… Damn…criminal… bastard…”

Choi Seok Hwan was not a weak hero.

He had taken down more than a dozen villains in his career.

He also had experience clearing several dangerous dungeons and fighting powerful monsters that had appeared in the city.

It was simply that this girl was strong.

More than that.

“Is it because of alcohol? If you were sober, do you think the result would have been different?”

“Ha…ha…”

Alcohol.

Yes, alcohol.

Choi Seok Hwan was drunk.

That’s why he couldn’t perform at his usual level.

If I were to make excuses for myself, I could console myself by saying that it was the alcohol that made me suffer a miserable defeat.

But deep down, I also thought this:

That I simply lost because I was weaker.

“You know.”

Suddenly.

“What do you think is the difference between a hero and a villain?”

“Ha, huh, what nonsense are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“Think about it. Heroes and villains. They’re both similar, right? They both use their powerful powers to satisfy their own desires. Isn’t that true?”

The girl spoke in a calm voice.

“Didn’t you kill a civilian by mistake while you were drunk and active four years ago?”

“That was…”

The story was no different from an accusation against Choi Seokhwan.

It was impossible not to frown at the girl’s unexpected words.

His heart wanted to shut her mouth, but his broken body had been far removed from Choi Seokhwan’s will for a long time.

“But in the news, it was reported that a civilian was killed in an accident that couldn’t be helped while fighting a villain. They left out the part about you being drunk and causing an accident.”

Choi Seokhwan suddenly clenched his teeth.

Not many people knew the whole story of this incident.

It was an issue at the time, but thanks to the help of the clan, it was able to be glossed over.

So how did that girl know?

“The bereaved family sued you, but thanks to the legal circle of Mirinae Clan, you were given a suspended sentence for involuntary manslaughter due to work-related negligence.”

“…”

“Some bereaved family members who couldn’t accept the judgment protested in front of Mirinae Clan, but later, when media attention dropped, they were advised to resign due to forgery and alteration of official documents from their company, right?”

“…”

Powerful strength and vast wealth.

The giant clans that had accumulated these two things could exert influence over the financial, media, and legal circles.

Making a few ordinary people crippled wasn’t a difficult task.

“We’re both the same criminal bastards, right? Right?”

“Stop talking bullsh*t… Ugh?!”

The girl interrupted the man’s words, stepped on his head lightly, and continued to speak.

“Is that the difference between us? That we have the background to cover up our crimes? Committing crimes without leaving any evidence?”

“Ugh, eek!”

Choi Seok-hwan writhed every time he was stepped on.

Just like an earthworm.

There’s an old saying that even an earthworm wriggles when stepped on, but that means that an earthworm has no choice but to wriggle when it’s being stepped on.

Yes, Choi Seok-hwan was an earthworm.

Already having several broken ribs, a crushed left arm and leg, he was a weakened earthworm that couldn’t even properly resist.

Softly crushed when stepped on… like a bug.

“What’s the reason for your heroic activities? Money? Power? Fame? Is it for something like that?”

“St-stop, ugh! Stop!”

Stepping with even more force, Choi Seok-hwan’s front teeth rattled and eventually popped out. His nose was already crushed, and his cheekbones began to sink in.

Argh, this… this witch.

Is she trying to kill me by stomping on me?!

This crazy…!

“But, you see.”

“Guh, eek! Kuh! Stop! Stop, please…!”

“There’s really no particular reason for me to be a villain. One could say it’s a very trivial reason.”

Choi Seok-hwan tried to move his trembling hand to somehow push the girl’s foot away, but it was useless.

His body…

His body wouldn’t listen.

“You see, I…”

Amid the excruciating pain as if his bones were being crushed, the girl’s soft voice gently caressed his ears.

In a very tender way.

“Please, stop! Sa-save me…”

“I just don’t like heroes.”

And with that – crack!

“Really.”

The sound of bones twisting filled the air.

Ah, but what is this? Is he begging for his life at the very end? How disappointing. The girl shrugged her shoulders.

A hero begging for his life from a villain?

That’s not even funny.

Hadn’t they said that weakened justice was incompetence?

Choi Seok-hwan was not only incompetent but also powerless.

He was nothing short of a hero’s disgrace.

The girl had quickly sorted out her thoughts.

Soon, she slowly removed her foot. There were a few teeth stuck to the bottom of her shoe. As she shook them off, several teeth fell to the ground with a clatter.

“Hmm.”

“…Kkeureureuk, Kkeureureureureuk.”

The man, his mouth foaming, quivered all over his body. His jaw seemed to have collapsed, and it appeared as if his cervical spine had been damaged.

He did not look in good condition, but he would not die.

She never intended to kill him in the first place.

Death is, after all, nothing more than rest.

The girl did not want to give this man the comfort of rest. Pain is living, she thought.

She wished for this man to keep living.

Continuously.

“…Of course, you won’t be able to act as a hero anymore.”

The girl gave a smug smile, searched through the man’s belongings, pulled out his mobile phone, and called an ambulance.

Suddenly, she began walking.

Into the darkness just outside the alleyway.

“…?”

– Ttiring. Ttiring.

Suddenly, a ringing sound emanated from the girl’s phone.

Upon checking the caller, it was someone she was quite familiar with.

As she took out a change of clothes from her prepared bag and changed out of her blood-stained attire, she answered the call.

“Why so sudden?”

“Yoo Dah-hee, did you see the news today? Union kids received commendations.”

“Ah, for now.”

The silver-haired girl, Yoo Dah-hee, nodded at the man’s words.

It had become a hot issue when six trainees took down a high-ranking monster that appeared at the academy.

It had angered her, of course.

And that’s because she and her companions were the ones who had sent the monster to the academy in the first place. They had a hard time opening the rift to the desired location, which made the results of this ordeal very dissatisfying.

Ended up promoting those aspiring heroes for nothing, huh?

I thought at least a few of them would die.

“I never expected all of them to survive.”

“It’s not like you did a bad job, is it?”

Union Academy could be considered a cradle of sorts.

A cradle for the gemstones that will be responsible for Korea.

“Does it make sense that there’s not even one casualty when we sent two monsters of that level in the first place?”

That’s why Yoo Da Hee decided to trample on them. The children, who were called the sparks of hope. She wanted to stomp out the small sparks before they could blaze up in flames.

“I did everything according to plan, didn’t I? I led the finalists to the training ground. Honestly, even I didn’t expect them not to die, given the presence of Minotauros and the Long-Armed Orangutan.”

“Anyway, there’s nothing going right.”

Yoo Da Hee let out a deep sigh.

She knew that the instructor in charge was a high-ranker.

But there was the burden of dealing with the children.

Yet, in that situation, they succeeded in suppressing Minotauros. Certainly, he was an amazing person.

Is it still worth something even if it’s rotten?

“The kids were amazing too. I never thought they could bring down the Black Hand Long-Armed Orangutan together as students.”

At the man’s words over the phone, Yoo Da Hee laughed bitterly.

They made a fuss as the golden generation, but indeed, they were different from before.

… Still, she wanted to break them even more.

“Sigh. At least I wanted to retire Hong Da Ye.”

Though weakened due to the aftermath of the past, Hong Da Ye was a figure mentioned as a top 10 contender.

Taking into consideration the future events, retiring Hong Da Ye would have been beneficial in many ways.

Didn’t she manage to suppress Minotauros this time without any proper equipment?

Such an annoying woman.

“And what about the other kids?”

“Baek Yoo Rin is being her usual loner self, and Sung Yoo is absorbed in playing the outcast?”

In other words, they are doing whatever they want.

Well, it doesn’t matter whether they do or not.

From the beginning, Yoo Da Hee and her companions were cooperating to achieve each other’s goals.

Although they mingled because they had common ground, each individual’s goals were different.

“They hardly keep in touch, being stuck in the academy.”

“I know, right?”

The person on the other end of the call agreed.

“Oh, right. Speaking of which, there was a pretty interesting kid there.”

“Who?”

“His name is Lee Jin-hyuk.”

“I’ve never heard of him. Who is he?”

Yoo Da-hee blinked her eyes.

She thought she already had all the important characters figured out.

“Forgot? He’s one of the ones who received a certificate of commendation this time.”

“Ah, him?”

Yoo Da-hee reacted rather sourly.

Lee Jin-hyuk, Lee Jin-hyuk…

To be honest, he was just a nobody, right?

She thought it wasn’t necessary to remember anyone who wasn’t on the level of Lee Shi-woon, Yoo Seol-hyun, Seo Na-ri, or Yulia.

She had scanned his background once because of this incident, and Lee Jin-hyuk’s practical skills score was very low.

His high theory score was something to be acknowledged, though.

“So, what about him?”

“He seemed like someone worth using as a brain, you know? I’ve seen all the matches Lee Jin-hyuk participated in. And you know how they go exactly as he planned? I was amazed.”

“Tsk. Whatever.”

Yoo Da-hee cut off his words as if she had no interest.

It seemed that the man who claimed to be a hero fan was about to start TMI.

Every time he sees a hero he’s interested in, he always acts like that.

“Next time, aim for either the training camp or the finals. Find out the details like location, number of participants, attending instructors, schedule, etc., and send it to us.”

“Okay, I got it.”

“Then… anything else to talk about?”

“No? Well, I should probably hang up since it’s late. I have to go to the academy tomorrow too.”

“What an honor student you are.”

With that, the conversation was over.

Yoo Da-hee hung up the phone smoothly.

That man was a weirdo, even in Yoo Da-hee’s eyes.

Unlike other kids, he had no particular reason to go to the academy, but he was determined enough to enroll himself.

He said he wanted to see the aspiring heroes in person.

‘Claiming to be a hero fan himself, yet enjoying ruining them. He’s definitely not in his right mind.’

Something about true heroes only being born after overcoming hardships and trials?

And if they break down halfway, it’s because they were never meant to be heroes in the first place? He would spout such nonsense.

“So, anyway, was it Team 1 and Team 16 that defeated the monkey monster?”

He casually muttered to himself, looking up at the distant moon.

“Well, I guess there’s some fun in stepping on them.”

Next time I run into them, I’ll make sure to crush them thoroughly.

Completely and utterly.

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