The Thug Hides the Villainess

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054 – Poisonous Rat Poison #2

On the night of the full moon, it was true that Seoga-eul was feeling elated about her rare outing.

These past few days had been filled with joyous events, and she could say that she felt more lighthearted than usual.

To think that she could trap Yu Yeoreum in the basement, play with her at will, and look down on her.

Seoga-eul was fully convinced that the male student who had kidnapped her and Yu Yeoreum was anything but ordinary, and on some level, she even felt a sort of curiosity.

“Isn’t it great that I can manipulate Hanam-jin however I want? Who should I kidnap next? Or should I have him do something else? Maybe just dunk those unlikable guys.”

Seoga-eul’s feelings for Hanam-jin were closer to the joy of discovering a dagger that’s unusually sharp rather than the innocent first love of a pure girl.

Many guys had flattered her as if they could pluck the stars from the sky, but none could actually do so.

Yet with Hanam-jin, it seemed possible.

That meant he was suitable to be a capable servant.

A servant and a master.

If such a relationship was acceptable, Seoga-eul could start a special relationship with the male student Hanam-jin. However, her thoughts were shattered by the recent events.

“You bastard! You crazy bastard! I’m really going to kill you! You psycho bastard! Pervert! Psychopath!”

As Seoga-eul returned to the basement, she cursed the male student by spitting out every insult she knew.

It was because of the video taken at the abandoned factory.

“The whip of love!”

Smack! Seoga-eul, struck on the thigh by a flyswatter, jumped up like an animal shot by a gun.

“Ugggh!”

Letting out a truly pathetic scream, Seoga-eul fell with a thump.

The male student mercilessly beat her thighs, calves, and soles with the flyswatter.

Smack! Smack! Smack-smack-smack!

“You crazy bastard! You bastard!”

“The whip of love!”

Thwack, thwack!

The stockings tore, and even as Seoga-eul screamed like a madwoman, the male student remained solemn, as if this act was some sort of noble endeavor.

Just moments ago, Seoga-eul had thought she could perfectly control this male student, but in reality, she couldn’t at all.

“This guy is just a madman!”

All Seoga-eul’s guesses and hypotheses about the male student were discarded. The male student before her was like a rugby ball, a monster whose trajectory she couldn’t predict.

“AAAAH! You bastard! It’s so annoying!”

Seoga-eul writhed and screamed as if possessed by a dreadful spirit. She thought about just ending this absurd play and terminating all their relationships.

“Just escape already!?”

But, unfortunately, today was a full moon.

At this moment, Seoga-eul lacked the strength to break the iron chains binding her hands.

“Kaeul, you should use nice words. I have the duty to raise you as a people’s idol.”

“Shut up!”

Seoga-eul was steadfast.

She’d rather break than bend; that was more unpleasant than death itself.

“Do you think you can tame me? That’s never going to happen! Try holding me for a thousand years! Can you really control me?”

Seoga-eul spat out words sharper than any thorn at the male student. Yet, it seemed as if nothing could wound him.

It was like he listened with one ear and let it flow out the other.

“You bastard!”

More frustrated and heated, Seoga-eul’s eyes turned red with the stubborn determination not to lose to the male student before her.

So now, she completely shut her mouth.

Thwack, thwack!

Though her pride was being chipped away as she was hit with the flyswatter, she couldn’t utter even a small scream.

Maybe that was the right answer, for the male student put away the phone he had been using to record the video.

“Alright, let’s get changed and go take a shower.”

“…What? Did you just say that?”

Seoga-eul couldn’t take the male student’s swiftly changing attitude anymore.

She was also angry at herself for breaking her vow not to say anything.

“Hanam-jin, I really hate you. Stockholm Syndrome? Shut up. There’s never going to be a day when I like you. I genuinely want to see you die in misery.”

“It’s okay. I’m not doing this to win your love. All I desire is ‘squishiness’. And even if you hate me, it doesn’t matter. I love you. That’s what’s important.”

Some time passed─.

Yu Yeoreum shot a glare at Seoga-eul, who entered the basement.

“What kind of nonsense will she say this time?”

However, since Seoga-eul returned to the basement, she remained silent.

From the occasional huffy breaths, it was clear she was immensely angry.

Yu Yeoreum examined Seoga-eul’s appearance.

Her hair was neat, and her white outfit looked fresh like newly changed clothes.

There was also a pleasant scent.

Having used the male student’s bathroom, Yu Yeoreum quickly recognized it was the smell of shampoo and body wash.

After their walk, she’d come back clean; what could have been so upsetting?

“Were you subjected to some perverted act?”

Yu Yeoreum wondered if the male student, unable to contain his desires, had crossed a line with Seoga-eul.

It wasn’t an unreasonable assumption.

In the adult films Yu Yeoreum had seen recently, men were portrayed as embodiments of desire.

“Ugh, you bastard!”

At that moment, Seoga-eul jumped up from her spot.

She started pacing back and forth, throwing punches and kicks into thin air, ultimately revealing a face flushed with anger and even tears.

‘Seoga-eul is crying?’

It didn’t seem like tears of sadness.

It was more like she was so enraged that she couldn’t handle her emotions, causing them to spill out.

Seeing that, for a moment, Yu Yeoreum felt a pang of sympathy. Seoga-eul was pretty enough, so her tears stirred the hearts of onlookers.

However, remembering how she was stuck in this place because of Seoga-eul, Yu Yeoreum quickly barked back into a ridiculous mood.

It was the so-called “bitter feeling” they spoke of.

Though mocking Seoga-eul wouldn’t improve Yu Yeoreum’s situation, strangely enough, watching Seoga-eul suffer brought forth a peculiar joy within Yu Yeoreum.

And in this moment, she realized.

“If I use Hanam-jin, I can make Seoga-eul suffer even more.”

On one hand, it felt surprising.

Yu Yeoreum clearly remembered how Seoga-eul had been treated by the male students in their same F class.

Not only students, even the teachers couldn’t hold back their kindness and goodwill toward Seoga-eul.

“I assumed the same would apply to Hanam-jin.”

The perverted criminal who kidnapped her only because Seoga-eul asked him to—she initially thought he’d die just because of her words, but it seemed he wasn’t going to be so easy.

In that moment, Yu Yeoreum’s mind was completely restructured regarding their relationships.

At the top of this basement, she thought Seoga-eul would be, but in reality, it was Hanam-jin who occupied the highest position, with herself and Seoga-eul below him.

As these thoughts settled, Yu Yeoreum felt a refreshing clarity in her mind.

And for Seoga-eul…

She imagined how she could repay the humiliation she’d experienced today.

“Should I break the chains and escape as the moon wanes? Should I just report to the police?”

Seoga-eul had the ability to escape this basement on her own.

However, if she reported Hanam-jin, Yu Yeoreum, who had been trapped with her, would also be discovered by the police and released.

Thinking along those lines made Seoga-eul extremely irritated.

“If only Yu Yeoreum didn’t exist!”

For Seoga-eul, seeing Yu Yeoreum getting free was an even worse scenario than watching Hanam-jin sleep comfortably.

Thus, Seoga-eul had to remain in this basement for the time being.

# # #

“Shall I check the news online?”

Morning.

As I turned on the internet and searched for “Seoga-eul,” it was in a frenzy.

Thanks to the edited video I had submitted anonymously the previous night.

“Video of Seo Ga-eul from Seo Nam Group released!”

“Police authorities and S Group have launched an investigation to confirm the facts.”

“What are the three negotiation conditions set by the kidnapper?”

“Looks like this rat poison was perfectly made to eat and die.”

I wanted to bring a change to the “Seoga-eul disappearance case,” which had begun to quiet down due to all the recent events.

By exposing the video of Seoga-eul, I aimed to shift the tide.

“The three conditions set by the kidnapper are as follows.”

“1. Disclosure of transaction history with Billunners.”

“2. Instant launch of the new product ‘Zero Cola Fresh’ this week.”

“3. Changing all beverage products to glass bottles.”

These were astonishing demands, even to me.

After the world fell apart, I happened to get my hands on “Zero Cola Fresh,” and it tasted so good that I thought I would cry.

The problem was that the product was released around a month prior to the apocalypse, so the quantity released to the world was limited.

If I could launch it early now, wouldn’t I be able to drink plenty of it before the end comes?

“Heh heh, all the cola bastards are screwed.”

Furthermore, if every cola were to be switched to glass bottles, the supply of ‘bottle caps’ would increase significantly. It would be a complete win-win situation.

Perhaps General Guan Yu, who went to a water park, wouldn’t even be able to propose such excellent negotiation conditions.

“Father-in-law Seo Do-cheol, do you think you can hold out without eating this poison?”

I was certain from our last meeting that, at the very least, Seo Do-cheol truly cared for his daughter, Seoga-eul.

That man would do anything for his daughter.

“Would you be able to swallow rat poison for your beloved daughter?”

Thinking along those lines, I headed toward the nearby police station, where everyone was incredibly busy since early morning, bustling around.

Among them, Jin Ramyeon spotted me and waved her hand.

“Little brother! Over here! Here! You’ve come in time for work! Ugh, what’s all this commotion in the morning?”

“Jin Ramyeon, what’s going on?”

“Didn’t you see the morning news? It’s because of the Seoga-eul kidnapper! What a crazy bastard! Whoever it is, isn’t this just a blatant provocation? But it was a huge mistake. The criminal left a big trail.”

“Left a trail?” Did I reveal too much that I liked cola?

As I felt a bit tense, Jin Ramyeon, unable to keep a lid on her mouth, spilled the beans first.

“‘Zero Cola Fresh.’ This is a product that hasn’t been released yet, only known to the inner circle of Seo Nam. So this kidnapping of Seoga-eul is highly likely to be an insider job.”

“Insider job?”

“A person known to the victim. Seoga-eul must have followed someone she recognized and ended up in a bad situation—if that’s the case, it would have to be someone very well-versed in Seo Nam.”

As she spoke, Jin Ramyeon was replaying the video on the computer.

The scene of Seoga-eul being hit by the flyswatter played silently.

“She looks a bit thinner, but her health appears to be fine. Anyway, little brother, the midterm exams will be held through our ‘Youngsa High Special Investigation Team.’ Got it?”

Finding the missing Yu Yeoreum and Seoga-eul.

That was my assignment for the midterm evaluation.

“Then I’m heading to meet Chairman Seo Do-cheol of Seo Nam now, so don’t act weird or cause unnecessary trouble. I’ll handle everything, so just stay still.”

Meeting Seo Do-cheol again already?

I inclined my head obediently, curious about how he would react to the rat poison awaiting him.