episode_0031

… … … … …

“What should I do now… … .”

Park Seo-ah muttered as she looked down at the boy sleeping on her bed.

At first, when I was carrying the boy in my arms and heading to the secret base, I couldn’t help but want to wake the sleeping boy by slapping his cheek and seeing him cry in fear.

When she brought him to her secret base where she could torment the boy to her heart’s content, she strangely felt calm. The desire for violence that had always been in her heart was no longer felt.

“… … Oh, I see.”

Park Seo-ah, who had been contemplating the boy for a moment, thought about why her violent impulses had diminished.

Because the boy’s crime was not enough by her standards. Putting himself in danger could be considered a crime by her standards, but it was not enough to warrant such a cruel ‘punishment’.

If that was the case, Park Seo-ah had to get the boy out of her secret base as soon as possible. She couldn’t show the inside of her secret base to a civilian who wouldn’t even torture her.

But for some reason, she didn’t want to let the boy go. She wanted to keep him by her side a little longer.

Then there needs to be a reason to keep this innocent boy by her side. Park Seo Ah quickly used her sharp mind and quickly came up with a suitable reason.

“If I send this kid out… …it’s like sending him out to be retaliated against by the Human Defense Association. I’m a vigilante, so I can’t just leave him like that.”

After thinking it over, Park Seo-ah decided to protect ordinary citizens for the first time in her years of vigilante activities.

“… … Anyway, let’s see each other tomorrow.”

Park Seo-ah stroked the hair of the unfortunate boy who was sleeping soundly and flinched. She had never imagined that she would do such a friendly thing.

She was about to stop right away, but the boy’s hair felt a lot better than she had expected.

Finally, after stroking the boy’s head for over an hour, Park Seo-ah was able to move to another bedroom and go to sleep.

… … … … …

As I slowly opened my eyes, the thick fog of sleep in my head dispersed.

“Yeah… … ?”

But still, it was strange. This was not Sister Seo-yeon’s house, nor the newly rented house they had moved into, nor Ms. Wol-hee’s hospital room, nor even Mr. Haneul’s store.

The room was vast and empty, as if drawn in a giant blank sketchbook. There was a bed and a chair, but other than that, there were only white walls and a concrete floor.

“Uh, uh. Where is this…?”

My voice cracked and my head felt dizzy. Why did I fall asleep…?

At that moment, my body flinched at the sound of the door opening. I looked nervously at the open door, and there was a person standing there.

She was probably a woman, and she was much taller than me. Her body was well-trained and sleek, with long, straight limbs. Her body seemed to be brimming with strength, like a spring.

And… …what should I say about his face? He’s really handsome.

Her sharp eyes and jawline that seemed to cut through even glass gave her a androgynous charm. If it weren’t for her ample chest under her suit shirt, she might have been mistaken for a man.

When I raised my gaze a little higher, her pitch-black eyes were piercing into me. Her short hair, which seemed to emphasize her elegant neckline, suited her well, and she gave off the air of a successful, sophisticated, and wonderful woman.

“Oh, you’re awake. How are you feeling?”

She asked with a very slight smile, in a calm and measured voice. To answer her question, I swallowed hard and tried to keep my voice from cracking.

“I… …What happened? Where am I? I don’t quite remember… ….”

“Oh, I guess I got kicked in the head too hard.”

She came closer to me and said, There was a peculiar air about her, different from any other woman I had ever met.

I wanted to step back and face away from her as she approached me, but I was afraid of offending her, so I couldn’t do it.

“It was unfortunate, but still, they are not here. Don’t you remember me saving you from the Human Defense Society that was assaulting you?”

“Ah… …I think I remember.”

Only then did the scene before I lost consciousness come to mind.

I was interrupting a robbery by the Human Defense Association on my way home from work when I got kicked in the head, and before I could lose consciousness, someone dressed in black barged in.

And the identity of the person who had interrupted the chaos was probably the woman standing before my eyes.

“Thank you so much. I don’t know how I can repay you… … .”

She cut me off by raising her hand.

“I don’t need anything in return. I did what I had to do.”

She continued speaking, sitting gracefully on her chair.

“My name is Park Seo Ah, you can call me whatever you want. I have a small business. This is one of the buildings I own.”

The relaxed tone of her speech, the sophisticated-looking suit, and the expression, “one of the buildings I own,” suggested that she was quite wealthy.

“Oh, besides business, there’s one more thing I do.

It’s like a special service for social justice, like when I saved you yesterday and killed――punished the members of the Human Defense Society. ”

Her eyes, as she introduced herself, glowed even colder when she mentioned other occupations.

“Ah, you do volunteer work while running a business… … ?”

“Huh, yes. That’s right. There are many problems in this world that are difficult to solve within the boundaries of the law, right? It’s about making sure they don’t make the same mistake again.”

As I listened to her words and thought about them, the contents of the news that I had seen with my older sister before flashed through my mind.

“Aha… … Now that I think about it, I think I saw it on the news. I heard there was a vigilante group that targets criminals… … Is that the guy on the news?”

“That’s right. I think it was mentioned in the news before. However… … .”

The corners of Seo-ah’s mouth twisted subtly as she spoke. She seemed to be smiling, but her eyes were not smiling.

“My ‘personal’ non-business stuff is absolutely a secret? You have to keep it that way. It’s really important. Okay?”

“Yes, yes! Of course. I won’t tell anyone.”

Miss Seo-ah stared at me intently for a moment, then nodded.

“Thank you. I trust you. Now you and I share a special secret.”

I just laughed awkwardly at her words. It felt quite special to share such a special secret with such a beautiful and handsome woman, but at the same time, I also felt a strange sense of burden.

“Now, shall we hear your introduction?”

This time, Seo-ah slightly stuck her chin out toward me. Since she introduced herself first, it was natural for me to follow suit, but it wasn’t easy.

The reason was simple. I couldn’t open my mouth properly to tell her about my miserable situation in front of such a great-looking person. I couldn’t look her in the eye, embarrassed to raise my head naturally.

“I, I am… … I am twenty-one years old. I, I don’t have a fixed job right now, and I have been working part-time at a logistics center.“

“I see.”

Seo-ah gave a short answer and waited silently for me to finish. After hesitating helplessly, she continued.

“And… …I live alone in a rental house that I found cheaply with the help of people around me.

Oh, I haven’t told you my name yet. My name is――”

“It was Autumn, right?”

Just as I was about to say my name, Seo-ah spoke my name first. I looked at her with surprised eyes, and she smiled and took out something she was holding in her bosom and handed it to me.

“I’m sorry. I saw it on your ID in your wallet. Okay.”

“, thank you.”

The thing she handed me was my wallet. It was empty, as if it had been taken into the pockets of the Human Defense Society, and even the few bills I had were gone. The only things left were my check card and my ID.

When I saw that, I remembered what had happened before I passed out. The words the Human Defense Society guys said when they saw my ID rang in my ears.

‘Come here tomorrow night at 11 o’clock. If you bring 5 million won, I’ll let you and your family live there. If you don’t――’

A cold sweat ran down my back. I spoke hurriedly to Seo-ah.

“Excuse me, Excuse me, Seo-ah… … Sir? We’re in big trouble. Those Human Defense Society guys saw my ID.

They said that if I didn’t come with the money by 11pm, they would harm me and my family… … !”

There was fear in my voice. Seo-ah narrowed her eyes for a moment and asked in a calm voice.

“Calm down, Gaeul-kun. I thought you said you live alone, but where does your family live?”

“I had an older sister who lived with me. She wasn’t family, but… … .”

“Your older sister? Are we related by blood?”

Seo-ah’s expression hardened slightly after hearing what I said. Her eyes, which had been sharp to begin with, became even sharper, and her voice also became slightly sharper.