Chapter 128

Chapter 128

Life of Downfall (1)

Bang!

The rusty iron door opened roughly, emitting a loud noise. Such violent noise was unnecessary for work that required delicate manipulation. Libra expressed her displeasure towards the uninvited guest who brought something unnecessary into this room.

“Get out.”

“Uh... Huff... Huff....”

The identity of the intruder was Sagittarius. It wasn’t particularly surprising. Only Sagittarius would enter this workshop so crudely.

However, Sagittarius’s condition was a bit surprising. Most of the armor forming his body was dented and broken. At this point, it might be more appropriate to call it rags rather than armor.

His face was in a similar state. The helmet, which would be equivalent to the outer skin for humans, was cracked and broken, exposing part of the face inside. It was no different from exposed muscles or bones for a human.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the inside of the broken helmet was covered in blood, preventing a view of what was inside.

Libra, after silently scanning his condition, muttered, “Terrible.”

“Damn it... Syringe... Give it to me...!”

Ignoring Sagittarius’s words, Libra turned her attention to the test tube in her hand. Of course, it wasn’t a drug for Sagittarius.

She was merely continuing the experiment she had been doing earlier.

“Hah, damn... Heartless bastard.”

Sagittarius sighed deeply and threw himself onto the sofa located in the corner of the room.

“Don’t worry. I’ll at least treat you.”

“Damn it, not that... Just give me one shot... Give me some drugs!”

Libra silently poured the liquid from the test tube into a beaker.

It was quite comical to see her handling tiny experimental tools carefully with hands as big as pot lids that could grab two or three watermelons at once, but no one laughed.

“Looks like you were beaten by him, huh?”

“Who’s ‘him’... Oh, that bear bastard? Yeah, I was beaten. How do you know this? Is someone spreading rumors...?”

“What a naive thing to say. How many eyes and ears do you think I have in this city?”

“What? Do you have some kind of infinite body part replication ability?”

“...Watch your words, you dimwit.”

Sagittarius was puzzled. He hadn’t heard of an ability to multiply eyes and ears. Well, I guess it could be done with that trading ability.

After coming to his own understanding, Libra’s mockery continued.

“So the ruffian has become useless even in fighting, the only thing he was good for. Why is an archer engaging in close combat?”

“Even Heracles, who was said to have fought equally with the master, was an archer. There’s no reason I can’t do close combat....”

“He was a warrior while being an archer. Fool, don’t compare yourself to someone who was versatile in both close and long-range combat. There’s a limit to shamelessness.”

Tsk tsk. Libra clicked her tongue as if disdainful and turned her eyes to Sagittarius.

“So, how was it?”

Unlike before, there was a strange expectation in those words. Sagittarius could immediately recognize the subject of that expectation. Even someone as tactless as him couldn’t miss it, because he knew who she was so eagerly expecting to hear about.

Han Jae-jung.

The one who, despite being human, unusually wields the power of a villain.

The one who lost his lifespan as a side effect.

“Well, it wasn’t much....”

Sagittarius was about to brag as usual and tell about Han Jae-jung’s fate, but he quickly changed his mind.

‘It’s no fun if I just tell about the terminal illness like this. Above all... I don’t want to see that bastard having a good time!’

If Libra remains unaware of Han Jae-jung’s lifespan, she will focus more on developing the new drug, and later, she’ll regret the time and resources invested in development when she sees Han Jae-jung die pathetically.

For someone who always preaches about rationality, a meaningless investment would be truly painful.

“...Not at all, he was incredibly strong! I couldn’t even move an inch! If I’m an ant, that guy is a bear. A bear! Wow~ he was amazing. Yeah! Absolutely! Huh? He was freakin’ awesome!”

Eat that. Sagittarius swallowed a sinister laugh internally.

If he had told the truth, Libra might have abandoned the development and returned to producing the original drug, but Sagittarius didn’t think that far.

“It, it’s really nothing! Just that today a villain mentioned you. I just dropped by because I thought of you... Yeah, that’s really all it is!”

“That’s not nothing at all.”

Joo Ah-yoon frowned as if dumbfounded and sipped her coffee. Since the place Han Jae-jung was when Yoon Seol-hwa called him was Joo Ah-yoon’s house, she was naturally there too.

“Those villain bastards are causing trouble again... Ah, but don’t worry too much for now. Brother and I have been lounging at home all day today. Nothing bad has happened so far.”

While making this excuse, Joo Ah-yoon gave Han Jae-jung a meaningful look.

It was a look that said, ‘Something did happen today, didn’t it, shit.’ Han Jae-jung pretended not to see it and looked back at Yoon Seol-hwa.

“Re, really...? Nothing happened today?”

She was looking up at him with eyes like those of a large dog looking at its bleeding owner. There was a sense of worry for the owner, as well as a determination to seek revenge on his behalf.

“It’s true. There was no problem today.”

Han Jae-jung felt something strange about these words he uttered. It was literally true. There was no problem today. He just acted as usual.

Transforming according to the quest, dispatching, fighting villains. It was the flow of a day that had become a habit.

There was no lie in these words themselves.

However, this day might be more precious than others.

For a wealthy person with 1 billion won, 100 won might be a negligible amount, but for a poor person with only 1000 won, 100 won would feel much heavier.

Han Jae-jung hadn’t fully realized how little of his life was left. But he could only guess. That the value of this day would become heavier from now on.

“...Thank goodness....”

Yoon Seol-hwa was letting out a sigh of relief. There was even a hint of moisture mixed in with the sigh. He could imagine how much she cared about his well-being.

But the meaning of that sigh wasn’t that she was relieved about everything.

Yoon Seol-hwa stared intently into his eyes and then nodded as if she had made some decision. A much stronger resolve was felt than before. Sparks flew in her ice-like transparent eyes.

“But just in case.... Um, that is... Jae-jung. Let’s live at my house. Let’s stay together for a while. Okay? I’ll let you go back when I feel it’s okay... Okay? Okay? Is that not possible, Jae-jung?”

“What are you saying, senior... That’s practically the same as confinement.”

“Con, confinement?! What a scary thing to say, Ah-yoon. I’m not that kind of bad person... Ah, right, Ah-yoon, you come to my house too. You never know. Come to think of it, a villain using powers similar to your starlight appeared too, so something might happen to you....”

“No, no. That’s an overreaction. You’re being oversensitive.”

Yoon Seol-hwa didn’t back down.

“It’s okay even if it’s an overreaction or being oversensitive. I used to think we shouldn’t do that, but not anymore. I’ll just be a sensitive and insensitive person.”

Yoon Seol-hwa trembled as she grabbed Han Jae-jung’s hand.

“If I think that Jae-jung might get hurt because I couldn’t protect him, I really... Don’t think I could bear it....”

Han Jae-jung felt her trembling through his skin and thought.

How should he convey this matter? How should he say it? Could he even say it? His heart burned black like a spreading fire.

That night. They barely managed to dissuade Yoon Seol-hwa from forcibly taking Han Jae-jung and Joo Ah-yoon to her house. But they couldn’t completely erase her anxiety, so they finally persuaded her by all staying at Joo Ah-yoon’s house.

“Jae, Jae-jung. Um... Shower... It’s your turn... Next....”

Yoon Seol-hwa, seemingly embarrassed and hiding her face with a towel, emerged hesitantly from beside the wall, delivered her message, and quickly disappeared. Han Jae-jung watched this scene with a slight smile.

Tap tap.

As he got up, he heard a sound of something tapping on the window. Han Jae-jung turned his head curiously to look at the window.

A peculiar bird with a goat’s head was hitting its head against the window. In its beak was something that looked like a note.

Han Jae-jung examined the contents of the note.

‘I thought the explanation might be insufficient. I’ll tell you everything I know. Just ask. -Botis.’

Once again, his heart spread with complicated emotions.

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