episode_0026

Kind Neighbor

“You’re quitting?”

“Yes, I think this casino is beyond Mad Hatter’s interest.”

“Well, that’s a shame. I enjoyed working with you.”

“Really?”

“No.”

“Of course.”

Arthur gave a different answer than what he felt.

“Excuse me.”

(Swipe)

Arthur took out a business card from his wallet and handed it to Seolha.

[Arthur Riddle]

“If you need anything, please contact me.”

“Thank you.”

…

“Hahaha!”

“Is it good?”

“Do you think the villain would feel good having an A-class hero by their side?”

“True.”

“Hahaha!”

Fortunately, Arthur’s home office was well soundproofed, so his wicked laughter didn’t leak outside.

“So, what are we going to do?”

“Hehehe… I don’t know, will anything really change?”

The first day without Hero Snow Flower passed just like any other day.

(Vroom)

“Hmm?”

As Arthur was returning home, he saw a truck and people moving furniture into the adjacent house.

“It looks like the boss is moving to the next door.”

His driver, Hashimoto, who had insisted on driving (saying he would do it), mentioned.

“Yeah.”

‘Should I give them a bribe?’

As Arthur pondered whether to give a bribe, he realized that the person receiving the bribe was the one moving.

“Go ahead.”

“Yes.”

(Thud)

Arthur got out of the car as he arrived home. As he walked towards his house, he turned his head and looked at the neighboring house.

“…Huh?”

Among the people carrying the furniture, someone familiar caught his eye.

“…No, it can’t be.”

A woman who looked familiar, and Arthur locked eyes with her.

(Shake! Shake!)

When their eyes met, the woman waved and smiled.

“…Seolha?”

“Boss!”

It was definitely Seolha, who had submitted her resignation yesterday, running towards Arthur to greet him.

“There were no other available places left.”

“…”

Well, it had been an empty house for a few years now.

“Now we’re neighbors?”

“…Looks like it.”

‘A hero and a villain as next-door neighbors, what kind of situation is this in the world?’

“Haha, we’ll be seeing each other often.”

‘Damn.’

…

“What?! Snow Fl!”

(Thud!)

Hector, who was shouting, covered his mouth with his hand.

“…Is the Snow Flower here?”

The Snow Flower from next door spoke in a very small voice so that her voice could not be heard by Arthur.

“The soundproofing is sufficient, you can just speak.”

“Really? Thank goodness… So what do we do? Isn’t this more dangerous than impersonating your secretary?”

“…First, O Seo-hyun, you leave this house.”

“What?”

Seo-hyun looked at Arthur with a shocked expression.

“Hector can be my old friend, and Jim can be my bodyguard. What about you?”

“I’m also a friend.”

“Hmm…”

Arthur and Hector looked closely at Seo-hyun.

“No, it’s not allowed.”

“That’s right, it’s not allowed.”

“Why?!”

“Because we don’t know what you might do.”

“Fair enough.”

“Hmm, I agree too.”

Jim, who had been quietly listening to the conversation, also raised his hand slightly and said, “…”

“Hey, does your father know you’ve returned to the city?”

“…No.”

“This kid has finally gone crazy. Hurry and go greet your father.”

“Yeah, go back home and take a rest for a while.”

“I don’t know!”

Seo-hyun got up from her chair and went into the room.

“…Has she still not reconciled with her father?”

“It seems so.”

“?”

Jim didn’t understand the conversation.

“Oh, Jim doesn’t know.”

“Seo-hyun had a big fight with her dad.”

“Surprising, she seems like a good daughter.”

“Yes, so good that she was secretly dispatched to a colony without her father knowing.”

“…Colony?”

“I heard it was the 7th Outpost Base.”

“…A colony?”

At the mention of the 7th Outpost Base, Jim asked in disbelief.

“Yes, that colony.”

“…There seems to be no normal person in this house, except maybe Alice.”

“That’s true.”

“For now, Snow Flower’s suspicion of you seems to have decreased a bit. Or rather, if she moved in next door, has it increased? Whatever the case, let’s calm down for now.”

“Yeah, I should take a break from villainy for a while.”

“That seems difficult.”

?”

Arthur turned his head to look at Jim in response to his words.

“You killed an A-class hero.”

“That’s right. Thanks to that, I became an A-class villain—”

“Thanks to that, other villains around are interested in you.”

“…Actually, it was Seo-hyun who did it, Red Queen killed him.”

“The announcement is already over.”

“Darn it.”

“Still, I think my suspicion of you, Snow Flower, has decreased. If you’re going to doubt and watch me, wouldn’t it be better to have a secretary attached to you for nearly half the day, rather than living next door where we wouldn’t even need to see each other when we go to work?”

“…Is that so?”

“Well, still, since you haven’t completely disappeared, you must have come to the neighboring house, right? There’s no harm in being careful.”

“That’s true.”

Early morning

“Yawn.”

Arthur, wearing workout clothes, walked to the door.

(Creak)

Then he opened the door and saw the sun shining.

“The weather is nice~~”

Stretching while doing photosynthesis, Arthur loosened his body.

“……?”

As he turned his waist to loosen up, a woman came into Arthur’s view.

“…”

She was definitely the woman he had seen last night.

“…Seolha?”

Seolha, dressed in workout clothes like him, was looking at Arthur.

“Are you exercising this morning too?”

“Well… yes.”

“Do you want to run together?”

“Are you waiting for me by any chance?”

“No, well… it’s just better to do it together. I didn’t wait long. So, are you going to join me?”

“…Of course.”

(Pat, pat, pat, pat)

That’s how Arthur ended up jogging with Seolha, marking the start of his day.

“Huff, huff, huff”

(Pat, pat, pat, pat)

“Pant! Pant! Pant!”

(Thud!!)

“Stop! Stop!!”

“Huh?”

Seolha, who was running, turned back to see Arthur collapse.

“Are you okay?”

“Wow, your stamina is really good.”

Arthur said in a desperate voice before losing consciousness.

“Oh…”

At that moment, Seolha realized (as far as she knew) that Arthur was an ordinary person.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize.”

“Oh, I’m dying here.”

Arthur breathed heavily.

“So, Mr. Arthur, you have good stamina too?”

Seeing that Arthur managed to keep up to some extent with her usual running, Seolha asked.

“Yes, I exercise. It’s necessary for my job.”

“Oh, what did you do before the casino?”

“I was a magician.”

“Magic?”

“Yes, magic surprisingly requires physical strength. There’s a saying that a highly developed physique looks like magic.”

“…Isn’t it more about skill than physique?”

“Haha, it’s the same thing, isn’t it?”

“Hmm… a magician…”

Yeah, it might seem strange. The basic concept of the villain Mad Hatter is a magician, so even though I’ve rarely used proper abilities so far, it’s kind of like magic.

Still, there’s no need for me to hide the fact that I’m a magician. Anyway, if anyone asks around a bit, they can easily find out that I lived as a magician and was quite a remarkable one. It’s better to confess in advance when there’s less suspicion rather than hiding and raising doubts.

“It seems like you have no strength in your legs.”

“I’ll support you.”

“No, it’s okay-”

(Snap!)

Seolha lifted Arthur with ease. Well, she practically lifted Arthur with just one hand.

“…Your strength is really something else.”

‘I absolutely shouldn’t engage in close combat.’

It was Arthur’s resolution not to engage in close combat with Seolha, or rather, Hero Snow Flower.

“Invitation?”

“Yes, there’s an opening ceremony at Anderson Club Branch 5 in F04 area.”

“…Is it public?”

“Yes?”

Hashimoto asked again at Arthur’s words.

“So, if I attend, will my appearance be made public?”

“Oh, yes. It’s public. Some council members are also attending.”

“…”

I should probably compromise a little.

“…Will I get sulky if I don’t go?”

(Shuffle)

Arthur opened the invitation.

[Attendance requested]

Upon opening the invitation, there were only four strong characters without any other text.

“……”

[ps. Extremely sad if absent]

“Let’s go, pack your things.”

“Yes.”

And so, Arthur, Jim, and Hashimoto got into the car and headed to Anderson’s new club.

“One, two, three”

(Snip)

At the entrance of the club, Anderson and several others cut the multicolored ribbon with scissors.

(Clap! Clap! Clap!)

As the ribbon was cut, people started applauding.

“The building looks amazing.”

“That’s true.”

Arthur and his companions applauded from the guest seats.

“Congratulations, Mr. Anderson.”

“Thankfully, you’re here too.”

When Anderson saw Arthur, he smiled and spoke.

“Our industry has been noisy lately.”

“What’s going on?”

“It’s you.”

Ah, am I the problem after all?

“They were making a fuss at Devil Colosseum because I teamed up with an A-class villain, weren’t they?”

“Two.”

“Huh?”

“It’s not one, but two.”

“Okay, the fact that I have two A-class villains on my side made the kids really scared.”

“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”

“The problem is that the little mice got scared.”

“?”

“If you corner them, even the little mice will bite the cat.”

(swish)

Anderson took out a plastic bag from his pocket.

“?”

Inside the bag were several bullets. However, all of the bullets seemed to be somewhat deformed, as if they had already been used.

“The number of bullets that hit my car a few days ago.”

“Hmm…”

“You should be careful too.”

“It seems like it’s already too late for that.”

(swish)

Jim approached Anderson and said,

(click!)

and immediately pulled out a pistol and aimed it at the employees behind him.

“!!”

“!!”

(bang! bang! bang! bang!)

As soon as Jim pulled the trigger, the employees reached for their guns, but they were shot down before they could grab them.

“Ahh!”

“What, what’s going on!!”

Suddenly, the echoing gunfire caused the people attending the gala to start fleeing in confusion.

“…”

“We were supposed to report the armed members of Anderson’s club in Zone F, weren’t we?”

“…Seems like it.”

With the gun in hand, Anderson looked at the fallen employees. They were neither Anderson’s men nor Arthur’s subordinates, but rather a third party.

“……Damn it.”

(vroooom!!)

Anderson’s expression twisted, and several vehicles were seen rushing towards them from a distance.

(swish, swish)

Some people got out of the vehicles, holding rifles and aimed in Anderson’s direction.

(rat-a-tat-tat-tat!!)

Then, they opened fire in Anderson’s direction.

“…”

Anderson stood still without trying to evade the bullets.

(whizz! whizz! whizz!)

Either because the distance was too far or because the shooters were incompetent, the bullets failed to hit Anderson.

“…”

Unlike Anderson, Arthur quickly ran behind Jim and hid.

“Ha ha ha…”

When Arthur and Jim locked eyes, Arthur laughed confidently.

“Boss!!”

“Are you okay?!”

Anderson’s subordinates gathered around him with their rifles raised.

“Hey, get lost!”

(thud!)

In the meantime, a man with an RPG appeared, pushing aside the person holding the gun who came from the approaching vehicle.

“Don’t we need to escape?”

Arthur asked Anderson.

“No.”

(thud, thud, thud)

Anderson walked towards the approaching vehicle.

(Swish)

And raised both hands.

(Aaaahhh!!!)

As Anderson reached out his hands towards the oncoming vehicle, an enormous flame spewed from his hands.

“Aaahhh!!”

(Bang! Bang! Tung! Tung!)

The people in the leading vehicle were engulfed in flames and bullets that were with them began to explode.

(Aaaahhh!!)

Before long, all the vehicles behind were engulfed in flames.

(Kwagwang!!!)

Powerful explosions occurred as RPGs and vehicles exploded.

“Aaaahhh!!”

“P-please, save me!!”

Unfortunately, those who didn’t die instantly in the explosion screamed as parts of their bodies burned.

“…”

(Swish, swish, swish)

Anderson, whose sleeves were partially on fire, put out the flames with his hands.

“…Wow, are you a superhuman?”

Arthur asked incredulously as he looked at Anderson, who had emitted the flames.

“Yeah, it’s genetic.”

“Why would you hide such an amazing ability?”

“Everyone should have a hidden ace up their sleeve, shouldn’t they?”

Indeed, he was not ordinary.