I Picked Up the Greatest Villain in the Story

4.

When Jian turned around, he saw the child hugging the blanket and staring intently at him. The child’s clear face showed no awareness of his own actions.

For a moment, Jian wondered if the child couldn’t understand speech, but recalling the bathroom incident, that didn’t seem to be the case.

The child’s behavior, as if not wanting to be apart even for a moment, made Jian’s heart swell rather than feel annoyed.

“Alright. Let’s go together.”

Why had he tried to leave the child behind? Although he had only intended to quickly grab some clothes, now that it had come to this, it seemed fine to take the child to the closet room and let him choose clothes directly.

Holding the child’s hand, Jian entered the small room. There was only one wardrobe inside. Although it was smaller than the bedroom, it felt more spacious due to the lack of other furniture.

The house Jian currently lived in was on the second floor of the building where the cafe was located. It was a small house with two rooms and one bathroom, but to Jian, who had lived in a goshiwon before dying, it was plenty spacious.

He opened the wardrobe wide and sorted out clothes suitable for the child, placing them on the floor. Thinking long sleeves would be too long, he only picked out short-sleeved T-shirts.

“Would you like to choose one for yourself to wear?”

Interestingly, the person Jian had possessed not only had the same name, face, and age as him, but also similar tastes.

The clothes spread out on the floor were all achromatic colors, matching Jian’s taste. Occasionally, clothes with cute illustrations were mixed in, like hidden candy among hardtacks.

Jian picked up a black short-sleeved T-shirt and held it against the child’s neck. It would reach below the knees when worn. As he was rummaging for something smaller, the child tightly grasped one of the T-shirts.

“Do you like this one?”

The dark gray T-shirt had a cat picture in the center. Its big, bright eyes seemed like something the child would find cute.

“It looks like you.”

Come to think of it, the cat did resemble the child a bit. Especially the pitch-black eyes. When Jian said this, finding it cute that the child had chosen the shirt himself, the child suddenly shook his head.

Then, he poked the cat’s face once with his short finger and lightly pointed at Jian’s face.

Jian’s eyes widened. It wasn’t hard to understand what the upward gaze meant as the child crouched down and stared at him.

“Haha. It looks like me?”

The nodding was vigorous. Although it seemed more like the child than himself to Jian, instead of arguing, he thanked the child and gently patted his head. The half-closed eyes looked as content as the cat in the picture.

“Thank you for the compliment. Now, let’s raise your arms.”

When Jian pulled down the blanket wrapped around the child, the child hesitated for a moment before raising both arms as if cheering.

As expected, the T-shirt was big on the child. Taking the child, who was stroking the cat picture below his stomach as if pleased, Jian headed to the living room.

He sat the child on the sofa and plugged in the hair dryer that was on the coffee table. Surprised by the wind touching his crown, the child covered his head with both hands.

“Oh, you were surprised. I’m sorry.”

Feeling that blowing from behind might scare the child more, Jian moved to face him.

Changing the wind to the weakest setting and blowing it on the child’s legs first, a curious gaze followed.

It was an item everyone knew, yet the child’s reaction was so novel. Jian’s heart grew heavy, wondering if the child had really been kept locked up somewhere.

Even his aunt and uncle, who had abused him at every opportunity, hadn’t been this bad.

“Yaaawn…”

While drying the child’s hair and putting away the dryer, a small yawn was heard. Looking at the clock, it was already 2 AM.

Although the child was trying hard to keep his eyes open, not wanting to fall asleep, tears were already welling up.

It seemed introductions would have to wait until tomorrow. Would he be able to hear the child’s name tomorrow?

“Shall we go to the bed to sleep?”

There was only one room with a bed, so Jian planned to put the child to bed first and then sleep on the sofa himself.

However, plans changed when the child fell asleep tightly holding Jian’s hand. Although the soft breathing sounds indicated deep sleep, whenever Jian tried to pull his hand back even slightly, the small brow would furrow deeply.

Afraid of waking the child, Jian sat on the floor leaning against the bed, unable to pull his hand free.

Giving his left hand to the child, he tapped his phone screen with his right hand to order things that needed to be bought immediately. A logo of a hunter character in black combat uniform running appeared on the screen.

It was the Hunter Rocket Delivery, which completed everything from payment to delivery within three hours for those living in the metropolitan area.

Although it was more expensive than regular delivery, Jian pressed the payment button without hesitation, wanting to treat the child’s wounds as quickly as possible.

As he kept looking at the sleeping child’s face, Jian’s eyelids grew heavier. Soon, two sets of breathing sounds filled the bedroom.

The child’s tightly closed eyes opened silently 30 minutes after Jian had fallen into a deep sleep.

There was no trace of sleepiness in the pitch-black eyes. A flash of light unbefitting a child passed through the eyes fixed on Jian’s face.

* * *

“Ugh…”

From falling asleep sitting up, everything from his shoulders to arms and waist ached. Jian stretched, extending both arms towards the ceiling.

His eyes opened as soon as it turned 7 AM. It was the power of habit. Before possessing the novel character, he usually finished work around 4 AM and fell asleep around 5 AM.

Here, there was no need to work like that, so he went to bed early, but his eyes still opened without fail at 7 AM.

Even when he rolled around in bed wanting to savor the feeling of sleeping in, sleep cruelly refused to return once it had fled.

“Sleep well.”

Unlike Jian, the child was still in dreamland. Recalling the child’s condition when he was found, this might be the first comfortable sleep he’d had in a long time.

Hoping the child would sleep as comfortably as possible, Jian left the bedroom on tiptoes.

As soon as he woke up, he had checked a text message confirming the delivery was complete. When he opened the front door, there was a pile of boxed items.

After bringing all the mountain-like packages inside, beads of sweat formed on his forehead. Jian chose the smallest box among the many deliveries and opened it first.

When he opened the box, a small glass bottle wrapped in several layers of bubble wrap emerged.

In the past, he wouldn’t have been able to order a million-won item online, and if he had, he would have stayed up all night anxiously until the delivery arrived. He suddenly felt the reality of his improved financial situation.

The bottle was tiny. When he gently shook it, a shimmering blue liquid swirled inside.

He took the bottle to the bedroom. Before he could fully open the door, light footsteps were heard, and a small figure darted out from inside.

“You’re awake.”

The gesture of spreading both arms wide and hugging Jian’s thighs was desperate. Jian patted the child’s back as he clung to him, then loosened his arms and bent his knees to meet the child’s eye level.

“Do you know what this is?”

He shook the bottle in front of the child’s eyes. The child nodded slightly.

“That’s good. Shall we go to the sofa and apply this to your wounds?”

In the short time they’d been together, Jian had learned that sudden movements could startle the child. He didn’t rush, waiting for the child to accept the situation.

Only after the child nodded did Jian take him to the sofa. Sitting face to face with the child on the sofa, he carefully opened the lid of the wound healing potion bottle.

Jian had only read about it in the novel and was seeing it for the first time in reality, so he smelled the opening. It really had a refreshing scent as described.

“I’ll start with your arms.”

Thinking the child might be startled if he started with the face, Jian examined the wounds on the arms first.

After dropping a little healing potion on a wound and rubbing it with his fingertip, the purplish skin turned white.

‘This is really amazing.’

If such an item had been developed in his original world, it would have made someone a billionaire. After possessing the novel character, Jian had stuck to familiar things instead of exploring new ones.

As a result, even though he knew his possessed body was an S-rank Hunter, he had never used any skills.

The abilities themselves were too disconnected from reality for everyday use.

Moreover, Jian still didn’t really feel the difference between Hunters and ordinary people.

If he had to think about it, maybe just improved physical strength and power? Perhaps that’s why, despite living in a changed world, he had taken a step back and remained like an observer.

But using the wound healing potion today, the effect was better than expected. He thought that from now on, he should actively use items that could improve his quality of life if he changed his mindset a little.

After treating the wounds on the arms, he moved on to the legs, and even lifted the clothes slightly to apply the healing potion to the thighs, stomach, and back.

During this process, three-quarters of the medicine disappeared. All that was left was the face.

“Would you like to close your eyes? I’ll treat the wounds on your face too.”

Jian smiled gratefully at the child who had been so well-behaved, but the child shook his head and pointed at Jian’s wounded hand.