Chapter 264: Chasing a Clue [R-18]

“……”

The Saintess placed a hand on her chest and flinched, pulling her thighs together warily.

…She’s on guard.

I’d kept my distance when she woke up, but she was clearly wondering if I’d done something to her while she was asleep.

“I’m sorry. Did I startle you? I didn’t do anything. A drone treated your wounds.”

“Ah… Where is this…?”

“It’s the safe house you mentioned. I never expected it to be this nice, but everyone is resting comfortably.”

Ugh.

I’m talking way too much out of awkwardness… Can’t you be more natural, Sang-hyeok?

“The children…?”

“They’re all safe. So safe they’re running around and playing outside. Sara, too…”

“Ah… Thank you.”

Something felt off.

Why was such a polite and virtuous young woman a villain?

Something had to be seriously wrong… But with my smartphone dead, I couldn’t even look up the news reports.

“We must leave immediately. The monsters will tear this place apart, too.”

“You don’t have to worry about that. The magical beasts won’t be coming here for a while.”

“What…?”

How was I supposed to explain that I had corrupted the commander-type’s superconducting pussy…?

“A very skilled hunter is standing guard.”

“You already brought us here, which I’m grateful for, but to go that far…”

“What happened? Can you tell me?”

“……”

She looked anxious…

“I was… being held captive. By that priest. Along with the children from the orphanage.”

“You were kidnapped by a violent syndicate?”

“Yes. He said he would harm the children if I tried to run away, so I had no choice…”

“……”

Grind.

I should have just used force and captured that priest.

That son of a bitch, doing something so vile.

“After the monster attack, I knew I couldn’t go back to Chunwon.”

“Chunwon?”

“That’s… the name of the priest who leads the Black Star Society.”

“I see.”

“But I never imagined… that the signal was real.”

…?

The Saintess hesitated for a moment before speaking.

“I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have brought you all here… I was just so desperate…”

“…W-Well, you can’t help it if you’re desperate…”

As the Saintess bowed her head, her massive chest, barely contained by her full-cup bra, swayed as well.

Damn it, it’s so hard to know where to look!

Just maintaining basic etiquette in front of this woman was a monumental task. If I let my instincts take over and stared at her pretty face and large breasts, I’d find myself unconsciously scanning down the rest of her body before I could stop myself.

“……”

Did I stare too openly?

The Saintess seemed a little uncomfortable.

“I’m sorry. It’s just…”

“No, it’s not that…”

The moment her expression soured, I snapped back to my senses.

“You saved me… I’m nothing but grateful.”

“I know this must be difficult after your injuries, but could you tell me everything first? I need to hear the full story before deciding what my colleagues and I will do next.”

“Yes… So…”

“Why did you say you shouldn’t have brought us here?”

“Because… this destination is a place you hunters should not have come to.”

As the story spiraled into another riddle, she finally summarized it for me.

“We came here to escape from Chunwon and join the Villain Union that’s supposedly somewhere around here…”

The Villain Union.

I’d finally found a lead.

‘Huh? That’s strange.’

So besides the violent syndicate led by Chunwon, there’s another organization powerful enough to own a lavish mansion like this?

I had assumed the Villain Union was the Black Star Society, but it seems that’s not the case.

Or maybe I just don’t have enough information to jump to conclusions yet.

“Did you… hear anything from the Villain Union?”

“I received secret messages from them from time to time. They said that if things got difficult, I should join them.”

“……”

“I was being watched, so I never had the means or the time to check for myself, but…”

“The idea just popped into your head when the monsters caused all that chaos?”

“Yes…”

So, she brought us to the rendezvous point of a union she’d only ever heard about.

“I was only told it was a safe house. I had no idea it would be such a nice facility.”

“Do you happen to remember what the person who told you looked like?”

Shake, shake.

The Saintess shook her head.

“No… The messages were always left for me in places I was cleaning…”

“……”

Let’s sort this out.

The Saintess, Syns Beje, was working at an orphanage while being held captive by the violent syndicate, the Black Star Society.

She couldn’t escape even if she wanted to, so while she was looking for an opportunity, someone claiming to be from the “Villain Union” gave her information about a safe house to spirit her away…

“And when the monsters attacked, you used it as a chance to escape with the children, only to run into trouble… Is that about right?”

“Yes.”

“I have one more question…”

“Please, ask.”

I bluntly asked the question that had been bothering me from the start.

“Why are you so nice?”

“Pardon?”

“I heard from Si-eun before coming to the recovery room. You’re a villain, right? An S-class one, at that.”

“…Ah…”

“You’re a wanted criminal. That doesn’t usually happen unless you’re a particularly vicious person.”

“……”

“But the Syns Beje I see before me seems more like a victim of a crime, someone who only thinks of the children.”

What kind of answer would she give?

I couldn’t read her expression at all.

Perhaps…

‘She’s actually the mastermind, using even Chunwon…’

…There was no evidence for that.

If I had to find a reason, it would be that despite her looks, En-jjang had only given her an A-rank for her Onahole aptitude…?

That could be interpreted as a flaw in her personality, but…

‘That’s too much of a leap…’

…I’d make a terrible detective.

“It’s probably because of my talent.”

“Your talent?”

“My body has a 『Constitution that Secretes a Powerful Anesthetic Substance』… so no one can get near me.”

“…!”

Was that why she was captured by that wretched organization!?

Now I understood why she was called the “Drug Saintess”… Come to think of it, the word “drug” appeared repeatedly in the quest description and her Onahole aptitude.

But…

‘Something’s still strange.’

It’s not unusual for a violent syndicate’s source of income to be drugs.

But they were relying on the talent of a single person to produce it?

Was the profit margin really that high?

“Did something happen because of that talent?”

“I’m sorry.”

The Saintess cut me off.

It was a clear signal of refusal, that she didn’t want to talk about it anymore.

“Thank you for saving me and the children, but any more than this…”

“……”

“I don’t want to drag ‘outsiders’ into this. I will find the Union myself. You are all free to go back.”

Hmm…

I could feel her closing the door to her heart.

I could just picture En-jjang flailing about, screaming, “Make her a superconducting pussy and open the gates of her heart!” but…

I didn’t want to do that here.

At least, not right now.

Because it didn’t seem like she was lying.

Judging by the way she treated the children and the circumstances under which we found her, this wasn’t a situation where I could unilaterally pass judgment.

However…

We soon realized we were facing a different situation.

She said we could just go back?

When the opportunity to capture an S-class villain and add it to my record was right in front of me?

The Saintess, realizing this fact a moment later, began to tremble pitifully.

“Or… are you going to take me in…? To the Hero Association…?”

“……”

The power over this villain’s life and death…

…was in my hands.

Considering the risk she posed, the right thing to do would be to restrain her and take her back to base camp.

‘If I do that, the Saintess will resist with everything she has.’

I didn’t know how powerful her anesthetic constitution was, but considering she’d survived with her virginity intact despite all the sleazeballs in that organization hitting on her, I couldn’t underestimate her just because she looked weak. She definitely had a reliable way to protect herself.

Let’s try to persuade her…

“If things go your way, the children will end up in the Villain Union too. Are you okay with that?”

“Those children were cursed by their talents.”

“Cursed by their talents?”

“Yes. They were all abandoned by their parents and relatives and ended up at our orphanage.”

…

I knew there had to be a story, but…

“We can’t find any group that would protect us. Honestly, going to the Villain Union is just a last resort, like grasping at straws. Because there will be others there in the same situation as us.”

“……”

“…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to complain like this.”

“Why were they abandoned? They all seemed like… bright, good kids.”

The Saintess’s eyes welled up with tears, as if she were holding something back.

“I don’t know what they call it these days… but it’s called the ‘Child Gacha’…”

“……”

“Among the children who awaken their talents early, there are those who are deemed useless, dangerous, or even abandoned in the Forbidden Zone for being undignified.”

Ugh…

Damn it.

I had just witnessed a disgusting side of the academy’s meritocratic society. My head was spinning.

“How do you think those kids felt…? When the parents who had showered them with love suddenly changed overnight…”

This was a mistake.

Trying to persuade her by talking about the children was a blunder.

To those kids…

…the Saintess was more than a mother.

“I’ll get straight to the point. I’m not going to take you in.”

“…Thank you.”

I had to avoid mutually assured destruction.

“But I’m not going back either.”

“What…?”

And we came here on a mission with a different objective.

Don’t forget that, Kim Sang-hyeok.

…Her Excellency the President entrusted me with the mission of investigating the Forbidden Zone. She told me to look into it because the Villain Union was making moves.

It occurred to me that perhaps it was all for this very moment.

Even now, Isabella was fighting monsters deep inside, searching for information on the Villain Union.

It’s a GO for “Chase the Union”…!!

That would also give me more time to build a relationship of trust with Beje.

There would surely come a time when she would open up and speak her mind.

“I’ll help you find the Union.”

“Why…? We must be nothing but a nuisance to you, or perhaps something even more terrible…”

“I don’t know about that. We have our own mission, so we need to find the Union, too.”

“What will you do after you find them?”

I thought about it.

What would I do?

“That’s not something I can decide on my own, but I’ll make you a promise. If it’s some kind of utopia that isn’t deceiving you and won’t put the children in danger, I won’t lay a single finger on them.”

“……”

Even knowing that such a place didn’t exist anywhere, Beje would have no choice but to take my hand.

“On the other hand, if it’s a place crawling with evil, it can’t be a home for you, so I’ll destroy it. What do you say?”

“A-Are you perhaps…”

The Saintess suddenly stammered.

“A Master Hunter?”

“Excuse me?”

I was so flustered I asked her to repeat herself.

“Ah, it’s just that… you seem… incredibly strong…”

How embarrassing…!

Did I overdo it for a D-rank from the academy?

I suddenly realized I’d been acting absurdly arrogant, perhaps because my ego had swelled after becoming the master of the Onahole Domain and having Belle under my command.

“No, I just mean I’ll do my best. Besides, Korea’s Master Hunter is a woman.”

She probably hasn’t had a chance to watch TV here…

Or use social media!? A woman who doesn’t use social media! My ideal type!

My brain began to fire up its wishful thinking circuits.

“Still, I understand that acting with us might be uncomfortable for you. So, you decide.”

“Could you give me… some time to think…?”

“Of course.”

I stood up from my seat.

“Rest well, and let me know if you need anything. There are clothes to change into, food to eat, and a place to wash up.”

“Yes, thank you…”

She had just woken up, and I had bombarded her with questions. She must be exhausted.

Let’s let her rest and talk again later.

When I went outside and briefly relayed the information I’d gathered, Yuuna crossed her arms and hummed in thought.

“Feels like the Saintess holds the next clue, too.”

“Right?”

“I mean, when we entered this building, the AI drone let us in using the Saintess’s authentication info. I thought it was because I’d been here before, but…”

“……”

If what the Saintess said was true, then someone from the Union had prepared this mansion, leaving only a single AI drone behind.

They had meticulously and cautiously prepared to lure the Saintess away from the Black Star Society.

At this point, I was certain that the hideout of the “Villain Union,” whose location had been a complete mystery, definitely existed.

“The Saintess will probably be anxious about going alone with the kids, so she’ll need our help. Let’s wait until she’s sorted out her feelings.”

“Okay! Ahh~~ A break for a while, then.”

“Where are the kids?”

“Playing in the yard.”

…Hmm.

Should I go play with them? The moment the children saw me, their eyes lit up, and they came running over.

“It’s Jelly Oppa!”

“Brother Jelly~~~!”

“Who wants a piggyback ride? First come, first served!”

“Me!!”

It was a Thursday afternoon, with the soft sunlight pouring down.

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Translated By: Meher (RaidenTL)

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