26) Chapter 5. Oh, Come On. (6)

When I was a teenager, I was already attending cram school in middle school.
In this world, though, neither Soi nor I go to any kind of academy.

Judging from what the kids say, there are plenty of academies lots of students attend, so it’s not like this world is fundamentally different from the one I lived in. Maybe it’s just that Auntie Yujin and Uncle Dohyun think differently.

Anyway, thanks to that, we weren’t tied down after school and could wander around wherever we wanted. When we were in elementary school, we usually came straight home, but once we became middle schoolers, we spent more days roaming around than coming home right away.

“So, let’s be careful for a while.”

For Auntie Yujin to bring us home and say something like that… it meant things were serious.

As soon as we got home, she sat Soi and me down on the living room sofa, wearing an expression I almost never saw on her face.

Auntie Yujin rarely looked serious in front of us. She always tried to greet us with a bright smile—more like a friendly, cheerful mom. She seemed to like that atmosphere.

So seeing her this serious… it had been a long time.
Not since that incident back when I was in fourth grade.

Uncle Dohyun, who had come home early, stood a little distance away, listening.

Because my behavior never improved no matter how much counseling I received, Uncle Dohyun still treated me cautiously. He never touched me, of course, and even when speaking, he chose his words carefully. He didn’t need to go that far, but…

Maybe that’s why I always felt like a criminal in front of him, my voice shrinking, and then he misunderstood… and after that cycle repeated, we ended up like this.

I only feel sorry, but maybe I’m just that much of a coward. No matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to get better.

“Is it really serious?”
Soi asked.

“Hmm…”

Auntie Yujin hesitated.

Her eyes flicked toward me for a moment.
If she said it was serious, she knew how scared I’d get. She was probably trying to figure out how to explain it without hurting me.

“It’s just better to be careful.”

That was her answer.

Then, after thinking a bit more, she let out a small breath and began explaining slowly.

“People called villains… they often have different behavior patterns from other criminals.”

“Different patterns?”

“Yeah. It’s because… well, a lot of them want to harm heroes.”

Again, she glanced at my face.

Stay calm.
Act like nothing’s wrong.

I nodded to show I was fine, but my head didn’t move smoothly.

Right. I already knew. I’d experienced it myself—the villain I met in elementary school.

His ability might have been useful for stalking someone, but it couldn’t directly harm anyone. Still, for a child, that was more than enough.

“Honestly, villains and heroes aren’t that different. They’re just people with superpowers. The powers might differ, but that’s all.”

If you use your power for good, you’re a hero.
If you use it for evil, you’re a villain.

Some people gain super strength and think, ‘I can save people from fires!’
Others think, ‘Hey, I could rob a bank with this.’

And of course, many choose neither path.

“If their goal is clear, they’re not that dangerous. A villain who wants money only cares about money and is sensitive about their own safety. If it’s revenge, they only target a specific person. But if they’re drunk on their own power… that’s when things get very different.”

People who suddenly gain power they never had, and fall into the illusion that they can do anything.

And those people—

“Try to become ‘heroes’ in their own way.”

“In their own way?”

“They want to be famous. Heroes are like that too. Many become heroes simply because they like helping people, but they also enjoy being praised. It feels good to hear nice things when you’re doing this kind of work. Even murderers—some kill secretly for their own pleasure, but others enjoy seeing their crimes on the news.”

“So their method is…”

“They target famous people.”

I’d heard that in the past, there were villains like that. Not from a novel—something I learned after coming to this world.

Groups forming like the Korean Superhuman Association, trying to oppose heroes.

If superhumans are considered armed individuals, then a group of them is literally an armed organization. Wanting to carve out territory and play king… it’s not impossible to imagine.

…And that was something that would happen in the future.

The academy where superhumans gather.
The academy where the protagonist is. If nothing happens there, the story can’t progress.

So in the near future, villains will gather. They’ll fight heroes, and even attack the academy full of kids who haven’t become heroes yet…

“…Ah.”

I thought too deeply.

My fingers trembled slightly on my lap. I clenched my fist tightly, pretending the shaking came from the force, not fear.

“Hey, don’t worry too much!”

Auntie Yujin quickly said.

“I’ll protect you. I’m Meteor, remember? Most villains aren’t even a warm-up!”

She flexed her arm like a bodybuilder. No muscles showed, but her power was far stronger than her appearance.

The strongest hero in the country.

…In the original story, after losing someone she loved, she threw herself into work and training, becoming much stronger but also more distant from her children.

Here… what about here? In the original, there was a villain who could fight her evenly. What about the current Auntie Yujin?

Of course, I don’t want that situation. Even if it’s necessary to fight villains, I don’t want something that could destroy a family.

And I love living in this house. I’m happy. I feel sorry for the kids and teachers at the orphanage, but… I don’t want to go back.

So I nodded.

*

“Hey, don’t worry too much!”

Just like her mother, Soi shouted the same thing, her expression looking so much like Auntie Yujin’s.

“I’ll protect you!”

“Uh… okay.”

I nodded reflexively.

But… how?

Sure, future Soi awakens. After Seo Rua’s laundry arc, I skimmed the story, but I remember that when she cooperates with the protagonist, she’s practically a second Meteor.

But right now, she’s not awakened. She’s no different from an ordinary person.

“Anyway, let’s sleep early today. If something worries you, the best thing is to sleep it off.”

Soi pushed me onto the bed.

She gently laid me down and then lay beside me.

When we were little, this bed felt huge even with both of us in it. Now, lying side by side fills it completely.

Yet Soi never complains. …Well, she’s the one who wants to sleep like this anyway.

Under the same blanket, her hand fidgeted a bit before holding mine tightly.

Warm.

Our hands, our arms touching. Even if we fall asleep like this, in the morning I’ll be stuck to the wall and Soi will be stuck to me. Neither of us sleeps neatly.

But because of that, there’s no room to be scared. No room to tremble from fear.

“Okay, sleep now.”

“I-I’m not a kid…”

“Sure, sure.”

Soi turned toward me and patted my stomach.

My face burned, but I didn’t know what to say, so I squeezed my eyes shut.

Pathetic.

Soi is only a middle schooler, yet her words felt so reassuring.

I fell asleep quickly.

*

*

*

“Do you think… that was a message for Rua?”

Dohyun asked quietly.

His face was full of worry.

“If it was a message for Rua, why would they ask where she is?”

“…I’m not sure. But if our guess is right, they probably think the world revolves around them.”

“…So they expect Rua to come find them?”

Like a mother searching for her daughter in the same house.

“Isn’t that strange? Even if that were true, Rua wouldn’t have known anything.”

“There’s no way she could.”

“But then…”

“If it really is that person, expecting logic from them is what’s strange.”

Yujin let out a long sigh and set the file down.

On the paper filled with investigation notes, several photos were clipped.

Except for the horrific crime scene, there was one photo of a woman.

A beautiful woman, smiling brightly.

Black hair, porcelain-white skin.

And eyes as dark as a bottomless abyss.

*

*

*

A/N:
I’ll try to upload one more chapter before midnight…!

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Pub: 17 Mar 2026 20:56 UTC

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