CH 10

“A…Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

“Hyung, stop making weird noises.”

“You bad punk. Oppa is working so hard and you can’t even give me comfort.”

“…Don’t you ‘oppa’ with me. Anyway, it will be better if you just lay there. Why are you being a crybaby?”

I thought my tears were coming out as Seo-eun looked at me pitifully. Gosh, it really hurts.

This place is deep underground somewhere in Seoul.

It was the underground base of Han Seo-eun, a genius hacker and a genius scientist who can make everything. Of course, she is still a kid who is only in 9th grade.

As soon as I dealt with the terrorism caused by my followers impersonating me, I teleported myself here and fainted again. Teleporting continuously is killing me. Even to a deep underground…

Still, it certainly didn’t hurt that much since Seo-eun made me a fatigue recovery capsule. She should have told me that she had something like this yesterday. I was completely knocked out all day yesterday.

It was even twice as hard because I wasn’t the only one moving, I also dragged another person with me this time.

Fortunately, Seo-eun made this fatigue recovery capsule or something, or else I would have actually fainted.

“Urg. So… why did you tell me to bring her here?”

I pointed to the woman sitting on the chair.

As she realized she was being noticed, the woman hiccuped and was surprised.

The woman with long black straight hair and her eyes looking dead. Somehow I feel bad looking at her.

She even looks pretty, so she looks like the heroine of a tragic love story.

She is the only one I saved among the eight followers.

Honestly, I saved her as I wanted to give her to the Hero Association and Stardus as a gift. But I just brought her back after listening to Seo-eun.

“Oh.”

Seo-eun, who was busy with something on her computer screen, turned her chair and looked at us.

Seo-eun looked at her and asked.

“Unnie… I mean noona. Noona, are you Lee Soobin?” TN: Noona means “Older sister”. The term is used when a man is calling or talking to an older woman whether he is related to him or not.

“Huh? Oh. How did you know?”

“I know everything.”

Seo-eun was being all chic and stated. But if you look closely, her nose bridge seems to get higher.

This kiddo is so cute trying to talk like that. I feel like a father smiling at his daughter.

So that person’s name was Lee Soobin. Come to think of it, I didn’t even know her name yet. Lee Soobin. A very common name.

“So, Seo-eun? Can you explain why I had to bring Lee Soobin here? She self-proclaimed as my follower.”

She shuddered again when I said.

I mean, she is so timid, how did she cause that terrorism?

She already started to tear up. She must be very scared.

“Oh. I would like to ask you a favor.”

Seo-eun said casually.

Wait, ask for a favor? You?

Not only me but Lee Soobin also seemed quite confused by Seo-eun’s words. What does this mean all of sudden?

“No… Hmm, Seo-eun. I don’t understand. You told me to kidnap a terrorist that I just met for the first time to help you? Oh… Hmm… Before that, wouldn’t it be faster for you to get stabbed with a bread knife by that person while you sleep?”

The woman behind said, ‘I’m not… letting go of the bread knife.’ or something, but I ignored her. This place is a cold and heartless Ego-base. The one with a tiny voice cannot survive.

“Haa. It’s not like that”

“What do you mean ‘it’s not like that’, Seo-eun? I think you don’t know the world yet because you’re still in 9th grade of middle school. This world is not a place where people would actually work quietly for the people who kidnap them and tell them to work. Don’t you think she would hold grudges? Either she is going to steal all your information and run away or get back at you. Even though I don’t know why you need her help.”

I felt like someone from the back shook her head like she wanted to say, ‘I will not betray you’. Well, it was not a feeling, but she actually said it.

Seo-eun only sighed at my speech. Seriously, this brat? That’s it. I have to be disciplined as a father.

As I was about to begin my speech, Seo-eun spoke up.

“Hey, Lee Soobin.”

“H-Huh?”

“Your parents were researchers at Han-Eun Group, right?”

At that moment, blood veins started to disappear on Lee Soobin’s face.

Her face turned pale in an instant.

‘N-N-No…’, she began to deny. Looking at that sight, Seo-eun only smiled bitterly.

“Unnie, don’t you want to get revenge, too? To those bastards, Han-Eun Group.”

“What…?”

“Didn’t your parents die in that ‘accident’?”

Lee Soobin’s face stiffened slightly at Seo-eun’s words.

I was about to scold Seo-eun, saying she was stepping down from her concept and calling that woman ‘Unnie’, but when she mentioned “accident” with the Han-Eun Group, I began to listen carefully.

“I saw your posts on the Deep Web. You don’t like the Han-Eun Group either. You said you wanted to kill them all.”

“H-H-How do you…”

“How do I know? Your firewall software has too many weaknesses. You should make a new one.”

Getting up from her seat, Seo-eun approached Lee Soobin and held her hands tightly.

It was a little funny that Lee Soobin, who is sitting on the chair, is taller than Seo-eun, who is standing. But I decided to say nothing because the moment seems serious.

“I’m looking for the head of the Han-Eun Group. They ruined my life. I’m going to find them, search for them and kill them all. I think only then I can feel relieved.

Soobin, will you help me please?

When Seo-eun ended her sentence like that, Lee Soobin burst into tears and held Seo-eun’s hands.

“Yes, let me, let me help you!”

“Thank you, Soobin.”

Then two of them hugged each other.

Hmm…

Seo-eun with white hair and Lee Soobin with black hair are hugging each other. It looks like a black and white picture.

Am I the only one who cannot keep up with the emotions?

What the hell are these two doing all of sudden? They said a few words and then hugged each other.

Watching two of them hugging like that, a man like me feels left alone so I just laid there awkwardly.

What the hell is happening…

***

Lee Soobin.

Graduated from Seoul National University with a computer engineering degree.

She is the same age as me, 25 years old.

Her parents died when she was young so she lived by herself with the subsidy.

Since middle school, she has been studying computers like Hikikomori, and her computer skills are excellent.

Her quality is high enough to understand every word Seo-eun says.

While I understand nothing.

She works for the cyber terrorism agents and economic life on Deep Web.

The reason she came out as my follower last time was…

“What? Out of nowhere?”

“Yeah… They were talking about supporting Egostic or something… And I only wanted to be part of it so…”

“……”

What the. So in conclusion, she is not even my follower?

I looked at her shifting from her seat.

Lee Soobin. Unlike her name, which sounds kind, she looks a little scary in person.

She is tall with long black hair. When she has no expression on her face, she reminds me of those bullies during my school days.

…But how can she be so different from what she looks like…?

“You don’t have any friends?”

“Yes… I stayed at home all the time and I only attended class enough to graduate from school…”

“….”

Why do I feel like crying while listening to this?

Well, she seemed harmless in general.

Of course, she still has some suspicious points.

For now, I have never seen her in [Stardust!] comic, the world that I fell into.

The fact that she has never appeared in the comic, which means she had no big impact.

She was just an extra character. Just like me.

“I see. Lee Soobin, welcome to our crew.”

“Ye-Yes!”

I shook her hands.

I can see her blushing from chewing her tongue while talking, but let’s pretend that I didn’t see it.

“…Since when did we have a crew?”

I decided to ignore the murmuring Seo-eun behind me.

We have three people now, so this is a crew!

***

But honestly, I am a little nervous.

I wish she was an original character, someone that I know.

I know nothing about her true personality or what she has in mind. How can I let her stay beside Seo-eun? What if something happens?

Also, I moved from a comfortable home to this underground base.

I told Seo-eun a different reason, but honestly, she seemed to know roughly about my concerns.

But why is she being like that?

Does she know Soobin in advance?

In such a deep underground basement, Han Seo-eun, Lee Soobin and I, the three of us started living together.

A man and two women living together, the picture looks a little weird.

Seo-eun is in middle school, and Soobin, she is certainly a pretty woman. But there is no particular problem.

My heart is already with Stardus, Shin Haru in the first place. When I fell into this world, I made up my mind to live for her for the rest of my life.

Well, even though the day she and I will be together will never come. Haha.

So I started living in this place.

Living with other people is more chaotic than living alone.

“Hyung, did you realize you left the refrigerator door open? The ice cream will melt!”

“Me? Hey, I never opened the refrigerator!”

“S-Seo-eun. I think I left it open. I-I’m sorry…”

“Oh! Oh… It’s okay! People can make mistakes. Hehe.”

“…Wow, you made a fuss when you thought I did it.”

“……”

I’m sad. So sad.