Ch.167Rina Lee Wants to Catch a Mole! – 2

I came to Russia to serve as Rina Lee’s backup and controller.

In reality, the latter role carries more weight, but the former is definitely one of the reasons too.

Russia claims they’re providing S-rank support, but it’s just one person.

The rest are busy handling gates that keep popping up annoyingly across their vast territory.

For that reason, providing backup for Rina made perfect sense.

‘They said The Mole isn’t just a stupid nickname—he’s actually quite tricky.’

If he were easy to catch, the S-ranks here would have caught and finished him long ago.

Since they couldn’t, he survived and came to stab Rina.

Despite getting beaten up badly, he still managed to escape from Korea.

The conclusion was to at least not let our guard down against someone like him.

That is, until he ended up dangling from Rina’s hand less than two days later.

“Caught you, you little rat.”

It seems The Mole hadn’t fully recovered from his previous injuries.

Rina’s appearance is hardly different from when she left, suggesting there wasn’t much of a fight.

Ironically, Rina is completely fine despite being exposed to the poison that even other S-ranks fear.

The proper procedure would be to hand over the captured Mole to the Russian side immediately.

After all, he was a Russian S-rank, so they should decide his treatment.

But if our Rina handed him over so obediently, why would people call her crazy?

“Hey. I’m going to beat you as much as you stabbed me, okay? If you think you’re going to die from the beating, then die. I’ll stop beating you then.”

…Wait, something seems off about that statement. If you think you’re going to die, then die?

Shouldn’t she be saying if you think you’re going to die, speak up? Then she’d stop beating him.

WHACK! WHACK! WHACK!—

Meanwhile, the deadly beating had begun.

The official reason was “he resisted during capture,” but…

“Urgh! AAAAGH!—”

No matter how you look at it, he’s not resisting—he’s just getting beaten without being able to do anything.

He couldn’t do otherwise since she had already broken all his limbs when capturing him.

I found myself newly grateful that Rina wasn’t an Elder.

After about 30 minutes, Rina slowed down her beating.

Oh, it seems to be finally over. And it looks like The Mole is still alive.

“Kuheu…”

“Ah, you bastard. Seriously. If you had come out earlier, you wouldn’t have suffered like this. Did you think I couldn’t find you hiding underground? Aish, this stupid bastard, I swear.”

Rina squats in front of the thoroughly crushed Mole, snickering.

Then she hits the back of his head once, making a sound like a pumpkin cracking.

They said to capture him alive if possible, but after all that effort, she seems intent on killing him.

“Hey. Does it hurt? Does it hurt? Why aren’t you showing any expression? Fuck. Do you really want your skull caved in?”

Anyone would see her as a thug bullying an innocent citizen.

In reality, she’s a kind of hero punishing a villain who committed all sorts of evil acts…

‘Rina… is this thing really a hero?’

Damn it. We agreed not to call that thing a hero!

“Well! Since he doesn’t seem to have any will to resist anymore, shall we take him away now, Seojin oppa? Oh, I can beat him more if you want me to!”

At Rina’s words, The Mole sprawled on the ground desperately looks at me.

With an earnest gaze begging me to save him, or perhaps to just kill him.

I wonder if such a look could really come from an Elder’s eyes.

Thinking of Hyuk Kwak or Sujin Hyun, Elders had always seemed almost monstrous.

Strangely, when they face Rina, those Elders suddenly seem quite pathetic.

“…Let’s stop and go. He’s an Elder, so he probably knows a lot about their side or villain forces. If we want to extract any information, we should go easy on him, Rina.”

“Hmm! If oppa says so, I’ll stop! Hey! Mole! You should know how lucky you are today!”

It’s ridiculous that she’s talking about luck after already beating him to a pulp.

But The Mole seems just glad that his hellish time is over.

“Welcome… HURK?!”

The Korean and Russian personnel waiting for us in the safe zone are all shocked.

They watch as The Mole rolls on the ground from Rina’s kick.

From their perspective, it makes sense—they’re watching an Elder, a monster in itself, being treated like a soccer ball.

“Here. I caught The Mole. The reason he’s in this state is because he resisted a lot when I told him to surrender quietly.”

I suppose screaming in agony while trying to survive counts as resistance.

“If it had been someone else, they wouldn’t have been able to subdue him, let alone kill him. It’s only because it’s me that I could just break his limbs and beat him up a bit. Tell the Russians not to worry since his life isn’t in any danger. And tell them not to say anything unnecessary.”

As she says this, Rina winks at The Mole.

I can guess why she’s doing that. She’s telling him to play along and not say anything that might get him beaten again.

She seems like a brute, but at times like this, she’s surprisingly cunning.

Anyway, this concludes our mission. We came to catch The Mole, and we caught him.

There was some violence, but at least we weren’t on the receiving end, so there shouldn’t be any problems.

All that’s left is to return home quickly and take a day off for the dispatch…

“Well then, Seojin oppa! Shall we go finish our remaining work?”

What’s this about suddenly? What work is she talking about?

When I give her a look demanding an answer, Rina shrugs her shoulders.

Why does that shrug feel so ominous? I hope I’m just imagining things.

“Our dispatch is until tomorrow, right? That means we have to return to Korea tomorrow!”

“…Wait. Are you saying we’re staying one more day in Russia and returning tomorrow?”

Not in Korea, but overseas, and not somewhere warm but in this freezing place, one more day?

Damn it! Give me a break! I’m already exhausted from coming all the way here because of you!

If I had at least done something useful here, it might be different, but all I did was witness violence!

“Oh, come on, oppa. That’s not it. Would I really ask you to work until tomorrow?! You worry too much!”

You don’t look like someone who wouldn’t make me worry! You’re making me worry right now!

“But officially, we have to work until tomorrow. That’s the schedule and plan. But ta-da! We’ve already finished our work, right? So we can unofficially return. However, since there’s an official schedule, we should stay together until tomorrow, and when the time comes, we say goodbye! That’s it.”

So we return early, spend some time, and then clock out right on schedule.

Okay. Yeah, I understand that far. It’s not difficult, I can accept it.

But, Rina? I think there’s some hidden intention there?

“Together, the two of us.”

“Yes. Together, the two of us. Of course we should! You came as my backup, right? So we have to stay together until tomorrow!”

Together until tomorrow. The implication was crystal clear.

It hasn’t even been a week since I started a relationship with Soohyun.

I even exchanged words like “grandson-in-law” and “father-in-law” with Minseong Kang and Taejun Kim.

And not even a week later, I’m supposed to roll around in bed with another woman?

Wouldn’t anyone with a conscience die of guilt unless they were desperately starved for women?

“Um, Rina. Just in case, I wanted to ask…”

“No. I won’t change it. I don’t want to change it.”

Could you at least listen to what I’m going to say before answering?

“It’s obvious, isn’t it? You were going to say you’ll definitely grant my wish later, so just wait a little longer. Right?”

“…That’s right.”

“That’s what I thought. I won’t change it. I don’t want to change it. Today and tomorrow. During that time, Seojin oppa is mine. I can do whatever I want with you, and you have to do whatever I tell you to. Wasn’t that our promise?”

I hate my past self. No matter how unavoidable it was, the wish token was definitely a mistake.

Why did I do that when I knew Rina would act like this…

“Um, Rina. I have at least some conscience…”

“Rina.”

“What?”

“Call me by my name too. Drop the formal ‘Rina-ssi’ and all that stiff stuff. Why does Kim Soohyun always get special treatment? Every time that happens, I get super jealous, you know?”

“That…”

“And speak casually too. I’m not asking for it in public settings, just when we’re alone like this.”

Sigh— I let out a breath and stared at Rina.

After silently enduring my gaze for a while, she bit her lip slightly.

“Do you really dislike me? Is there not even this much space for me to enter? I tried so hard. To create just a small gap to squeeze into, I really did my absolute best.”

She’s trying to act like it doesn’t bother her, trying to be cool, but she can’t hide her trembling eyes.

She’s always nagging me about maintaining a poker face, but now she’s the one making mistakes.

“…To be honest, you’ve already created a gap. A gap so definite that even Soohyun can’t do anything about it.”

“Then why do you keep pushing me away?”

“I told you. I feel guilty. Frankly speaking, it hasn’t been long since I started a relationship with Soohyun, and now with another woman? What would the Chairman or Soohyun’s father think?”

At that, Rina gave me a very fierce look.

But her voice sounded extremely wronged.

“That’s why I keep getting pushed back. Me! Rina Lee! I keep giving way! I don’t use force, and unlike my ‘crazy woman’ reputation, I try to be understanding! I’m really doing my best, but you keep doing this? Am I asking for too much? I’m just asking for enough not to fall behind!”

“…”

“If we waste more time here, we’re just giving that woman, Kim Soohyun, more leverage. Do you think I’ll just sit back and take it? That’s when I’ll really become a crazy woman! I’m trying to maintain just a precarious balance, trying not to be like that in front of you.”

I was aware of it. That Rina has been giving Soohyun some leeway.

And that the reason was because she was worried about looking bad in my eyes.

“Seojin oppa.”

With her head bowed, Rina continues.

“After all this effort, please let me catch you. I’m trying this hard because I believe I can catch you someday. If I realize it’s impossible, I don’t know what I’ll do then. Don’t you know that feeling when you want to smash the machine because the mole is too fast to hit in the whack-a-mole game?”

I’m not sure why the whack-a-mole game suddenly came up.

Normally, if it’s too fast, you’d call the owner to complain first.

But since I know that Rina has really been trying hard…

I decided it was time to let myself be caught.

*Swoosh*

I bent down slightly and leaned my head toward Rina.

“…What are you doing?”

What do you mean? You just said you wanted to be caught. So I’m letting this ‘mole’ be caught.

“Whack-a-mole.”

“What?”

“I said you caught me. Rina, go ahead and give it a good WHACK!”