episode_0024

7. Falcon Gang (8)

As I held the sword to his neck, he raised his head towards me, groaning in pain from the ‘curtana’ stuck in his stomach.

The moment he looked at me, his eyes opened wide and only a hollow laugh came from his mouth.

” Haha… I didn’t think I’d be taken down by a kid this young. Even though it was a surprise attack, it’s still unbelievable. ”

” Okay, where did you get this? ”

I took the ‘pill’ out of my pocket and showed it to him and asked.

Han Jin-oh, after he saw me take this out, his pupils shook greatly and he started to move his mouth while avoiding my gaze.

As if he had been caught doing something he shouldn’t have been caught doing, he tried to move his body around, but he stopped because of the pain from the sword stuck in his stomach and just closed his eyes.

” Hehehe! You figured that out? No, it seems like you don’t really know what it is since you’re asking? ”

He slowly opened his eyes and looked at me with a mean smile on his face.

” Don’t beat around the bush. I don’t know the exact details, but I have a rough idea of what it is. So tell me where you got it! ”

” Hoo, come on kid. Do you think I’m going to say that? I’m just a ‘bottom-level’ guy anyway. But hey, if you let me live, I can tell you what I know. ”

He was waiting for me to speak, his tongue flicking his lips.

Cold sweat runs down his face from his forehead due to the pain caused by the sword stuck in his stomach, and blood flows from his flesh as the sword touches his neck.

His eyes still sparkled with a lively desire to survive, as if he still believed in something.

” Want to trade? ”

He opened his mouth, moving his lips that had been quivering at my words, as if he wanted that.

” Are you starting to understand each other now? Kid, can you please pull this out for me? ”

He gently put down the Durandal around his neck and reached for the handle of the Curtana on his stomach.

I immediately kicked it with my foot and drove it in deeper.

” Gasp! Ugh… What is this…?! ”

” Sorry, I don’t do business with people like you. ”

The sword went in a little deeper and he writhed in pain and flinched, and at that moment I raised Durandal and swung it to strike his neck!

” Charlotte. Can’t you stop now? ”

Durandal stopped right next to Han Jin-oh’s neck, and I looked towards the direction where the voice was coming from.

There was Hyunseok, with his bangs sticking up as if he had run in a hurry, and a few strands of hair sticking out of his tied-up hair and sticking to his sweaty face.

” What, stop it? This guy doesn’t need to be alive anyway, right? Right? ”

I spoke to Hyunseok in a low voice.

Hyunseok’s purple, shining eyes were wide open and shining on me.

But as if he understood what I said, he returned to his original state, no, rather, his gaze changed to a fierce glare.

He clenched his fists as if he was trying to suppress his anger, but then he released the strength in his hands and started to come towards me.

” He’s a person with no reason to live, but that doesn’t mean you have to kill him, Charlotte. ”

” Well, I think there’s enough reason to kill. You know what I saw when I went to rescue Ara? ”

Hyunseok came closer, but stopped for a moment after hearing what I said, but soon started coming closer again.

” I don’t know, but I have a rough idea. It’ll probably be similar to what happened in the shantytown. ”

” What? You know everything. So it’s okay to kill this guy now? ”

As I was about to swing my sword high again and bring it down, I felt my wrist being grabbed and I turned around with a jerk.

Hyunseok was looking at me with a serious expression, and he was holding my wrist with his hand so tightly that it was trembling and I could feel the pain.

Han Jin-oh, who was watching us like that, couldn’t move, but was overwhelmed by each other’s momentum and began to slowly shake his body.

The wings on his back were trembling just like his body, kicking up dust from the ground, and his face was gradually becoming more and more pale.

” Let go! No matter how kind you are, you have no right to do this! ”

” Again, that doesn’t give you the right to kill this guy. ”

I glared sharply at Hyunseok and began to speak in a voice full of resentment.

” In the hideout this guy was in, ‘Mokdong Station’, there were more than one or two rooms where he would lock people up and make them into monsters like those earlier, or torture them and leave their rotting corpses!

And there were children among them! How can this guy still be alive? Even the incident that happened in the shantytown might have had something to do with this guy!

You saw it too! But why are you doing this! ”

Hyunseok looked at me with a not-so-surprised expression.

Although his appearance seemed quite cold, judging from the trembling in his hand that held me and the expression on his lips as he bit them, it seemed like that wasn’t necessarily the case.

As I looked at him like that, I saw myself reflected in his eyes.

The sight of a girl who wants to cry at any moment

*****

Through the letter, we learn that Charlotte has arrived during the standoff with the gang that has turned into monsters.

And soon after, the monsters outside the barrier that Yeonseo had created were reduced to white ash as they burned with bright red flames.

After that, Han Jin-oh, who I was keeping an eye on, started to fall with a ‘bang’ sound, and Charlotte gradually approached him.

Goosebumps began to appear on my skin and I was already running towards her when I decided that I had to stop her from doing what she was going to do next.

Charlotte was able to stop him just before he could cut her, and quickly grabbed his hand, giving him strength to keep from killing her.

As she said, I know that if that person were alive, he would probably hurt and make countless people cry in the future.

But when I heard her story about why I shouldn’t do that, I remembered the things I had done before in the world before I returned.

At that time, I was obsessed with defeating villains who were harming people with the power I had.

At first, I only acted to suppress them, but gradually, I became intoxicated by their power and started fighting.

The villains also rebelled so fiercely that it went so far as to cause bloodshed and bodily harm.

I gradually got to the point where I was on the verge of killing them.

But then those guys found out about my identity as a vigilante, and I lost my parents and younger sister who loved me because of them.

The shock at that time made me change my direction from killing evil people to subduing them, and before I knew it, I was back on Earth.

That’s why I know why Charlotte is angry now, but I decided to stop her from killing Han Jin-oh because I didn’t want her to regret it like I did .

So that you don’t lose someone precious like me .

*****

” Charlotte, I know why you make that face. That’s why I can’t let you kill that guy. ”

So he let go of my hand and quickly wrapped both his hands around my waist and started hugging me.

” Hey.. Wait?! What are you doing…!? ”

” In my previous world, I also hunted down evil people, people called ‘villains’.

Because I was in a position where I was constantly bullied in my life before being born again in that world.

I wanted to help those who were suffering more and more. But gradually, I became intoxicated with the power I had and my actions became more extreme, and eventually I lost my precious ‘family’.

From then on, I decided not to kill any villain, no matter how evil they were. That was a ‘promise’ I had with her, and I didn’t want to lose something precious again.

So… ”

I could tell what he was trying to say.

I guess I don’t want to lose something just as precious to him.

” Ah… Okay! Okay! Now let me go… ”

I pushed his body away from him and got away from him.

I felt the warmth of his embrace, and my body started to heat up.

Intoxicated by the heat, I gradually became ‘weak’ and lost all my strength, so I just sat down.

” Charlotte?! Are you…okay?! ”

When Hyunseok suddenly got down on one knee and looked at me as if he was worried about me,

My face in his eyes was burning red with the expression of a girl lost in something.

” Oh… It’s okay! Just wait a minute… ”

As I said that, I calmed my pounding heart and spoke to him.

” Hyunseok, I know what you want to say. But I am also a ‘returnee’.

I’ve lived in a different world than you, but I just realized it there.

Because if I let go of evil, it would be a world where innocent people would become ‘sacrifices’ or their ‘test subjects’.

So… I realized that I had to get rid of them right away. ”

” Charlotte… ”

Hyunseok seemed surprised by the fact that I was also a ‘returnee’ like him, and at the same time, he seemed to be wondering how I had been doing.

He looked at me with worried eyes, put his hand on my head, and started stroking it slowly.

For some reason, that feeling began to make me feel more and more emotional, and soon a tear began to flow from my eye.

” I see… Charlotte, you must have been through something like that, so that’s why you acted that way. I’m sorry. I guess I didn’t know and just forced my thoughts on you. ”

” Not necessarily… That’s not true. After hearing the story you told, I understand why you did that.

So… no matter how evil someone is, I won’t kill them right away… ”

Hyunseok listened to what I said, stopped stroking my hand, and hugged me again.

” Thank you, Charlotte. Really… ”

” Huh… But… Is this okay? ”

” Huh? ”

” Halfway… killing it… okay? I didn’t kill it, right..? ”

At those words, Hyunseok, who had been hugging me, released his arms and looked at me with a bewildered expression.

I avoided his gaze and fidgeted with my hands.

*****

Jin-Oh Han, who was lying down and watching the two of them, was so dumbfounded that he thought he could die.

” What kind of kids are suddenly trying to get into romance…! Huh…!?”

Suddenly, a slab of ice made from above fell on his face with a ‘thud!’ and he fainted.

” Shh! Be quiet.

It’s an important part of their love.”

Yeonseo took a Polaroid picture of the two of them and soon began to think happily about how she could tease Charlotte.