There Is No Hidden Villain in This Novel Chapter 76

“Crazy…!”

Of course, putting a knife to a person’s body is a threat. Of course, since he was the one who tried to pull that stunt on me first, I didn’t feel any guilt. After that, regardless of whether the guys presumed to be colleagues of the one captured by Ryuseong dragged their tools over, halted, and growled low threats—grrr, grrr—I steadily played the game of drawing slashes on his neck with the knife pointed at it. The game of drawing slashes is something like this…

“Do you even realize whose turf you’ve walked into. If you back off now, I’ll treat you as customers. But! If you mess with our hyung-nim even a little bit…!”

“Keuk… ugh-geuk!”

“…Damn it, stop, stop! I said stop! This bastard… you people!”

It means that when I hear bullshit, I slash the hostage’s neck. Of course, if it went too deep, his effectiveness as a hostage would decrease, so I didn’t do it deeply. Just a shallow cut.

If these guys had been proper gangsters, I don’t think this would have worked, but for some reason, they seemed to be sworn brothers or something, going on about hyung-nim and younger brother with teary, cow-like eyes, which was so pathetic that I gave it a try, and it worked perfectly.

‘Then you shouldn’t have exposed your weakness just like that.’

I let out a sneer through my nose and let the gangsters’ gazes, full of hatred and resentment, go in one ear and out the other.

However, it seemed difficult for our soft-hearted Ryuseong—the guy who isn’t just not soft-hearted when he’s slaying monsters but is so steadfast he’s scary—to be comfortably guided to the place that would smuggle us out like I was.

“…Is this really the right way to do this?”

Since I was pretending to be Chinese, damn it, I just nodded instead of answering in Korean.

However, Ryuseong did not stop his questions.

“Saying it’s the right thing to do, not a thing that deserves a beating, make some sense…”

[I know what you are worried about.]

This time, I spoke in English so that Ryuseong could understand. Instead, I made the accent slightly awkward to sound like a foreigner speaking English, but Ryuseong probably didn’t notice. Though the gangsters lined up around us were hanging on my every word.

[But I am not worried.]

“Why? Are you thoughtless?”

[Because you will protect me, won’t you.]

Saying that, I lightly tapped your chest. Ryuseong said nothing, looking somewhat distant as if lost in deep thought.

‘Why isn’t he saying anything?’

Was it… persuasive?

Did that kind of sophistry actually work?

This is a story Cassis de Millang does not know, but in fact, Ryuseong was thinking this.

‘Ha… to think a guy like this is my lover…’

The sophistry had worked, but in a different way. Ryuseong was grimly thinking something along the lines of, ‘Who else would protect a guy like this but me.’

Be that as it may, the situation was escalating to the point where it seemed like almost all the gangsters we had encountered in the underground shopping center were about to follow us. At the sight of the gangsters, carrying bats and pitchforks on their shoulders and swaggering around, scowling menacingly and growling, both the merchants and passersby were fleeing in surprise.

If we head to the gate gathering this much attention, won’t our location be exposed? Once my thoughts reached that point, the conclusion came easily. As I thought, it seems they have no intention of giving us proper guidance.

[I was going easy on you because I thought you were scoundrels who knew the meaning of loyalty.]

This was sincere. If the younger brothers couldn’t do anything because their hyung-nim was captured, it makes you want to cut them some slack. But a guy who attacks saying he doesn’t care what happens to his hyung-nim is somehow… not cool, you know?

‘If your life’s already over, at least have some pride!’

If you’re a gangster and you don’t even have pride, what are you going to do! That was the moment Cassis de Millang was about to utter such a ridiculous statement. His violet eyes strangely distorted.

His eyes could see it. That behind the gangsters, there was a trembling cane.

He also heard the sound of weak coughing, cough, cough… and along with it, the sound of some gangster shouting when he discovered the old woman.

“What’s this! This old hag!”

“Can’t you read the room?!”

“Get out of the way!”

Feeling that the gangsters might do something to the elderly person, Ryuseong felt he had to move at that moment, but Cassis moved before him. To be precise, he flipped the dagger in his hand into a reverse grip and pierced the hostage’s thigh.

Stab!

“…!”

It was the gangster who seemed to be the type to clench his teeth and endure the pain of a major wound without a sound. But I didn’t like that a mere gangster was acting all cool. I twisted and churned the blade right where I’d inserted it and pulled it out, and a scream poured out with the blood, drawing everyone’s attention. I let out a giggle and lightly scraped the tip of the knife over the hostage’s stomach.

[Where do you think is next?]

Ryuseong, who was forcibly holding down the hostage’s convulsing body, did not take his eyes off Cassis de Millang, feeling troubled. Because Cassis whispered so gently, the fear was doubled. You can’t know what a person who can commit such an act so casually is capable of. It was precisely that fear that was overwhelming the gangsters.

At the same time, Ryuseong had noticed the fact that Cassis’s fingertips had trembled minutely the moment he confirmed the old woman’s presence. That he wasn’t acting this way solely because he possessed a cruel nature.

[I knew you were all acting strange. Still, I let it slide because you were cute, but I’m tired of it now.]

He thinks the line is not clear. Just as a being like himself is regarded as a representative of good, a spokesperson for justice, he knew well what a heavy yoke it was to attach the concept of good to humans. In Ryuseong’s mind, a good human could not exist; there were only good choices. Making the good choice at a crossroads of choice. Since he believes that is the only way to do good in a human body, Ryuseong did not consider himself to be good.

Instead, he had always thought that evil was a little more distinct.

Oppressing someone. Disdaining humanity. Vilely mocking and scorning. Detestable emotions. Unjust emotions. That is evil. From the pre-regression Ryuseong’s perspective, Cassis de Millang was undoubtedly evil. However, the pressure placed on Ryuseong since his regression seemed to repeatedly cry out for him to shatter the film covering his eyes.

[Do you want to die? If not, you should listen to me, hmm? Will you be a good boy, or.]

To look at Cassis de Millang properly.

[Shall we all die together.]

The madman who had drawn his knife began to move away from Ryuseong’s side. He is giggling as he flings the blood pooled on the reverse-gripped dagger onto the faces of the gangsters. Meaning, he is swinging the knife. And not even with proper swordsmanship, but just sloppily, like a drunkard staggering and dancing.

At his incomprehensible, and therefore all the more chilling, actions, the gangsters back away, forming a circle around him. A crazy bastard. A uniform reaction is drawn from the gangsters’ eyes. Though he isn’t unarmed, what kind of bravado does it take to throw yourself into a hostile group trusting only a single dagger in your hand? Even an Awakened One dies if they get a bullet through the heart.

Ryuseong raised all his senses to a wartime state so that he could be prepared even if the worst-case scenario came to pass. It was the first time this had happened since he had regressed. Cassis de Millang was giving Ryuseong many firsts.

But the surrounding atmosphere became strange. It seemed he was trying to advance in one direction, but the gangsters were strangely blocking his path.

The madman, who raised an eyebrow as if annoyed, was about to smile softly and thrust his knife at that moment.

“Get out of the way.”

A booming voice roared. The gangsters trembled, asking if it wouldn’t still be dangerous, but the strong voice did not stop shouting.

“Are you trying to shame me!”

But the voice that burst out was imbued with inner energy. An Awakened One? Well, he knew there were a dozen or so lying in ambush nearby, but the one who had bellowed seemed to be quite skilled. Ryuseong frowned. But Cassis smiled brightly as if to say, what threat could they be, and after glancing back at Ryuseong, he was lightly walking down the path the gangsters had made.

“Where did you come from? I’ve never seen a face like yours. Which syndicate sent you!”

Ryuseong also followed behind Cassis, holding the hostage tightly, chasing the source of the booming voice. At the end of it stood the old woman. The very same old woman Cassis had encountered on the subway. The woman, who until a moment ago had been trembling and frail, was now glaring at Cassis de Millang with the spirit of a tiger.

Ryuseong, flustered by the sight, wanted to see Cassis’s expression, but his face, when it was finally revealed, was brightly lit and showed no sign of movement.

[Sent by which syndicate, what a misconception. Do I look like a fool who would do menial work under someone?]

Cassis de Millang, smiling suspiciously, seemed to have known from the beginning that the old woman before him was the number one figure in Korea’s smuggling industry.

‘Wow, I was almost fucking screwed.’

I, who knew nothing, was dumbfounded by the unexpected development. Why is the old woman who was groaning earlier here? Don’t tell me the old woman is the top dog in the smuggling world? Aish, goddamn it, was all that coughing like you were about to cross the river Styx just an act? Then I could have been mobbed after rushing out to help the old woman?

‘For fuck’s sake!’

I’m glad I stopped that bastard Ryuseong who was about to jump in! They say in the martial arts world the ones you have to be most careful of are women, children, and the elderly… Why is that actually true!

If this is the old lady I think it is, she’s a character who appeared in the original work. However, I didn’t know that person pretended to be frail, so it was a big shock for me too. But screaming internally won’t change the situation. The old woman isn’t going to become frail again just because I pray for it, is she? You’re supposed to fight villains with guts. The fortunate thing is that Cassis de Millang is a master of the poker face. When I lowered my head slightly and held an arrogant smile, the old woman in the faded robe contorted the wrinkles around her eyes as if thinking about something.

“Greet the customer, you bastards!”

It seems my guts are stronger.