The Thug Hides the Villainess

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068 – The Winning Rate is 120 Percent!

8 PM.

Seoga-eul, who had been tense and alert towards the outside, expressed her irritation.

“Hanam-jin, this bastard, is he seriously planning to skip out again today? He needs to come and feed me!”

Having already gone two days without food, Seoga-eul’s nerves were quite frayed.

Awakened individuals expend significant calories, so even just one day without food is legitimately painful.

Watching Seoga-eul, Yu Yeoreum began to wonder,

Seoga-eul must have some concept of being a “delicate lady,” but her behavior was far from it, after all.

Concepts act as a sort of binding or restraint, making it nearly impossible to act against them.

Someone who holds the concept of “gracefulness” would naturally behave gracefully.

‘…Or could it be that she received some form of “delicate lady” boost and that’s why she’s like this?’

“Ugh, I’m so hungry.”

Shivering with irritation, Seoga-eul fidgeted.

In truth, her excessive unease today wasn’t solely due to hunger.

It was also because of that “something” she had seen standing outside the stone door yesterday that had unsettled her.

“Hanam-jin, that bastard, didn’t get killed by that weird thing yesterday, did he? That’s why he’s not here?”

As Seoga-eul formed that plausible conjecture, Yu Yeoreum remarked,

“Seoga-eul, you haven’t stopped talking about Hanam-jin since yesterday. Perhaps…”

“What are you saying? Who else is going to feed us if he’s not around?”

Seoga-eul snapped back. She didn’t know what Yu Yeoreum was about to finish with “perhaps…” but it was undoubtedly something that would irritate her.

“And besides! No one else even knows we’re trapped here, right? I can’t just shout out to people because there are strange monsters outside.”

Seoga-eul halted her thoughts about Hanam-jin and recalled the bizarre monster instead.

What could that thing possibly be?

“Yu Yeoreum, didn’t you see exactly what was beyond the wall with your insight?”

“I did see it. It looked human. Its eyes were bright red.”

Through Yu Yeoreum’s vision, it was a human-like figure.

Though, it bore some differences that made it somewhat off.

It gave a strangely uncomfortable vibe.

Seoga-eul spoke.

“I didn’t realize it yesterday, but that unsettling, ominous feeling… It’s a kind of uncanny valley I’ve felt before. It was when I met Jin Eun-byeol.”

Seoga-eul thought back to the daughters from wealthy families.

Girls like Seoga-eul, daughters of conglomerates, throw parties on their birthdays to foster relationships, and Seoga-eul and Jin Eun-byeol from Samjin Group had met like that.

Of course, Seoga-eul didn’t particularly like Jin Eun-byeol.

That girl had been quite distasteful.

It felt like some ‘otherthing’ had skinned over the name Jin Eun-byeol.

It hadn’t always been like that; around the time they entered middle school, she suddenly became unpleasant, as if she had changed drastically. Was that when Jin Eun-byeol’s fame as a fortune teller began?

‘If Father Seo Do-cheol has relented, he might be reaching out to Samjin Group to inquire about my position with Jin Eun-byeol. Then Hanam-jin and Jin Eun-byeol would collide.’

Seoga-eul imagined what would happen if the unsettling Jin Eun-byeol and the crazy Hanam-jin clashed.

Who would win? It was quite the dilemma.

If Hanam-jin were to lose…

“Seoga-eul, your heart rate is rising sharply.”

“You perverted bitch! Don’t just read my heartbeat without permission!”

Whip.

Seoga-eul pointed at her chest with her hand and glared at Yu Yeoreum. Now that she thought about it, Yu Yeoreum had a sweet scent.

For a starving Seoga-eul, the sweet smell emanating from Yu Yeoreum was absolutely torturous.

So, Seoga-eul, like a fox sneaking up on a chicken coop while Yu Yeoreum lay on the bed enjoying “photosynthesis” peacefully, leaped at Yu Yeoreum.

“Come here!”

“What the hell is this?!”

Seoga-eul licked Yu Yeoreum’s nape!

Lick!

She was startled to find the unexpectedly soft skin tasted delightfully sweet.

‘…Sweet! And does each part taste different? Is this the power of the concept of “candy”?’

Of course, Yu Yeoreum was horrified.

She hadn’t expected Seoga-eul to pull a perverted stunt like that.

“Stop it! I’m not into that! You crazy girl! Get away from me!”

As the graceful Yu Yeoreum pushed Seoga-eul away, Seoga-eul, having licked that candy-like body and ingested calories, felt dizzy.

The sugar coursing to her brain quickly calculated the outcome of the confrontation between Jin Eun-byeol and Hanam-jin.

The conclusion came swiftly.

Hanam-jin would win.

Because Hanam-jin had the “Whip of Love.”

It was a weapon feared even by Seoga-eul herself, who was known as the worst bitch around.

# # #

“Whip of Love!”

Crack!

“AAAH!”

As I hit Jin Eun-byeol, who lay on the bed, she bounced up and down, convulsing delightfully.

With her eyes blazing blood-red, it looked like she was glaring at me, and then she even displayed the skill of turning her head 360 degrees.

But that was about it.

Turning her head around like that couldn’t incite any emotional response or fear in me.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

As I continued to swat at Jin Eun-byeol, her pale skin began to blush red.

At that moment, the previously defiant Jin Eun-byeol seemed to change course, shedding tears, pleading with us.

“Okay! Stop! Stop it! Just what do you want to know?!”

Had her resolve finally softened?

How disappointing!

If it were Seoga-eul, she would have been bouncing back for at least another hour!

‘Looks like I’ve become a body that can only be Seoga-eul.’

Just as I felt that disappointment,

Choi Chang-sik, who had been tense the whole time, spoke.

“The devil wouldn’t simply answer our questions. They would definitely try to confuse and mislead us! With that in mind, I’ll go ahead and ask first!”

Was he actually volunteering as a martyr?

What a self-sacrificing spirit!

“Tell me if I can get a girlfriend!”

“Wow.”

“…….”

Choi Chang-sik’s question made Baek-Yeoul and Deok-soon frown. It felt like they were asking, “Are you seriously asking that at a time like this?”

Soon, Jin Eun-byeol snickered.

“Choi Chang-sik, son of Jeong Yu-na. You can’t have a girlfriend.”

“Wh-what!?”

“But you will end up with two wives. I’m not lying. I can’t lie, after all. That’s the backlash of my ‘foreknowledge.’ Whether you believe it or not is up to you. My ‘foreknowledge’ isn’t perfect either.”

Is it true? Skipping straight to the wife stage instead of a girlfriend?

Choi Chang-sik was indeed impressive.

“When will I be able to get a girlfriend?”

Curious, I asked.

When exactly can I escape this pathetic single existence?

Then Jin Eun-byeol stretched her lips wide enough to reach her ears and gave an eerie smile.

“Hanam-jin. You will be alone for ten thousand years! You are destined to struggle with extreme loneliness for an endlessly long time! Hehehe.”

Am I doomed to a lifetime of solitude without even being able to get a girlfriend?

That’s total nonsense!

“No way, you devil! I don’t believe a word of what a fortune teller says!”

Men, after all, don’t generally believe in prophecies or divinations.

People become obsessed with fortune-telling because of a lack of male hormones, or so my theory goes.

“Alright, we have two questions left. My ‘foreknowledge’ has a daily usage limit.”

Wait, there’s a limit to how many questions we can ask?

You should have mentioned that beforehand!

That girl, she purposely hid that!

Now we had to be careful with our questions.

Just then, Deok-soon, who had been trembling the whole time, seemed to muster courage to ask.

“Why? Why did you torment me? Even my dad and brother? What was so bad that you had to bully me! I didn’t do anything wrong to you.”

Deok-soon had heard that she was bullied by Jin Eun-byeol in middle school.

She seemed curious about the reason.

Jin Eun-byeol’s expression suddenly turned calm.

It was a face entirely different from the demonic one she had shown just moments ago.

“In my dream, you hit me.”

“…In a dream?”

Was Deok-soon disliked simply because of something that happened in a dream?

“Is it really just because of that…? Just that…”

Deok-soon looked as if she was truly furious, biting her teeth hard, yet somehow managing to hold back her anger.

She seemed to have a lot she wanted to say but felt that it wasn’t the right time for it.

Now, only the last question remained.

Everyone’s gaze turned to me.

It seemed they wanted to give me the last question opportunity.

“Did you know that at the time of the N Mart arson, the then rookie president Nam Tae-geon and Chairman Seo Do-cheol of Seonam were involved?”

“Are you sure about that? If I answer this question, one of you will end up terribly hurt.”

Slowly, Jin Eun-byeol’s eyes narrowed.

“I’ll give you a last chance to change your question. Sometimes the smallest truth can be a sharper and more painful wound than the biggest lie.”

She arrogantly offered it like she was being generous, but it was laughable.

Perhaps she didn’t want to answer the question and was trying to divert attention.

If President Nam Tae-geon fell, then Jin Eun-byeol, his goddaughter, would also suffer considerable damage. It seemed she wanted to change the question to avoid tightening the noose around her own neck.

It seems her reaction over lying regarding foreknowledge was the real deal, huh?

“No question changes!”

“…….”

Jin Eun-byeol’s expression looked extremely vexed.

In a paradoxical situation, she couldn’t help but be in agony.

Now, Jin Eun-byeol gritted her teeth and thrashed around.

It was pitiful to watch her in distress to the point of shedding tears of blood.

I struck Jin Eun-byeol’s sole with the “Whip of Love.”

Slap!

“Speak up. Before you hurt yourself even more.”

“Argh! You… according to you…! The N Mart arson was planned by Chairman Seo Do-cheol… and… President’s… approval… was there! The evidence documents have already been burnt…! Yeomra is dead, and, heh, heh…”

In the end, Jin Eun-byeol spilled the beans.

It was regrettable that all evidence had been burned, but Jin Eun-byeol confessed the sins of high-ranking figures publicly.

That alone was a fruitful yield.

“The broadcast has been terminated due to a violation of the terms.”

“Friend! The broadcast has stopped!”

As Jin Eun-byeol’s confession ended, the recording ceased.

Did someone intervene from above?

The objective had been achieved, and the broadcast didn’t matter much, but there was a problem.

“…Hehehe, this is all your fault. Because of you… because of you— cough!”

Jin Eun-byeol began to struggle.

She began convulsing as if something were lodged in her throat, frothing at the mouth.

I rushed over to her, opened her mouth, and cleared her throat. It was then I noticed that she had some strange object in her mouth.

A foreign currency.

Strange, foreign currency.

“Name: Lucky Coin”

“Description: A ten-year anniversary commemorative coin with the fairy princess’s face drawn on it.”

“Possession: 《Luck Lv.4》 – Luck like the bluebird in a fairy tale is here. It grants the owner’s wishes, and currently that power is entirely exhausted.”

What the hell is this?

When I felt baffled, Baek-Yeoul’s face turned pale.

“That coin…!”

Baek-Yeoul seemed to recognize what that coin was.

Soon, frothing in her mouth, Jin Eun-byeol said.

“It’s all your fault. Baek-Yeoul! You killed him! Hehehe!”

Blinking, blinking—. Flicker—.

The lights in the entire building flickered on and off, and then perhaps the fuse blew, plunging the entire villa into darkness.

When the thoroughly frightened Chang-sik hurriedly turned on his phone’s light, something ridiculous had already occurred.

“…Huh? Where did she go? Friend! Jin Eun-byeol, who was tied to the bed, is gone!”

Jin Eun-byeol, who had been tied to the bed, had vanished.

All the crosses hanging on the wall were now turned upside down.

Soon, Deok-soon raised her hand.

“Chang-sik, uh, your shoulder….”

Drip, drip—.

From the fingertip that Deok-soon was pointing to, a mysterious red liquid was dripping onto Chang-sik’s shoulder.

As Chang-sik’s face went pale in the phone light, Deok-soon continued.

“Do… Chang-sik, don’t look up. If you do, you’ll die! It’s a horror movie cliché!”

Instead of the frozen Chang-sik, I lifted my head.

Creeeak, crackle—.

Jin Eun-byeol was hanging from the ceiling like a spider, her limbs grotesquely stretched, joints bending in impossible directions. The odd thing was that her face was squished into a whirlpool-like state.

That Jin Eun-byeol was already “not quite human.”

A demon.

That would be the right way to put it.

She wasn’t merely going on a temporary rampage after consuming conceptual stones like Yeomra or Pinocchio; she had been devoured by the very concept itself, her identity as an awakened one completely obliterated.

This was my second time witnessing a being in such a complete demonic state.

For high school students, it was truly a major crisis!

But?

I’m not an ordinary high school student!

Speaking of which, I’m the world’s smartest middle school dropout!

“Ahahaha! Finally, the time has come to unveil my trump card!”

I pulled out the “Charger Ketchup Bottle” from my lower half.

I believed this “Ketchup Bottle” would be the key to resolving this situation.

The winning rate is 120 percent!