After retrieving the bag of money,
I looked down at the woman who was collapsed on the floor.
“Why… why… why are you doing this to us…”
Her voice trembled with frustration, as if the world had wronged her.
It was almost laughable.
“Why, you ask?”
“WHY!!! Why are you so desperate to kill us!!!”
“You attacked first.”
What was I supposed to say to someone who picks a fight and then demands to know why they got hurt?
“Even today, I clearly tried to talk things out.”
“Don’t lie!!”
“…….”
She sounded so confident that for a second, I wondered if I really had done something wrong.
But then I remembered how they had immediately tried to take Pyro Bomber hostage the moment I walked in.
“You really have a talent for lying. No matter how much truth I speak, people call it a lie… but your lie? Almost had me fooled.”
Yesterday, and today.
To the woman who had attacked me first both times,
I dropped a 50,000 won bill in front of her.
“This is the price of your ability.”
“…What are you talking about?”
“It means I’ll be putting your ability to good use from now on.”
Normally, I would have killed her.
But she was the one who’d told me the conditions for stealing abilities.
I figured that counted for something, so I decided to let her live.
“Run off on your own. I won’t chase you.”
Leaving her there, I headed back downstairs.
“Hmm?”
Pyro Bomber was slumped over the table, as if she’d fallen asleep mid-collapse…
Across from her sat Mobia. Or Seo-yoon.
“…Did you kill her?”
“I saved her.”
“Phew…”
I didn’t know what had happened exactly.
But we couldn’t just leave Pyro Bomber lying here unconscious.
So I decided to bring her back to our base for now.
“She’s drugged.”
“…What kind of drug?”
“I’m not sure, but it definitely looked like some kind of narcotic.”
“Ah…”
“She might show signs of addiction, so we need to be careful.”
“We’ve got someone in our group who can purify stuff. I’ll ask her to help.”
“…Purify?”
“Yeah.”
“Seriously… there really are all kinds of abilities in this world.”
According to Seo-yoon, Pyro Bomber had ingested some unknown drug,
So I headed over to Sae-eun, planning to get help purifying her system.
“Thanks for helping.”
“Hehe, don’t mention it.”
“Wait at home. I’ll be right there.”
“Okay!”
…
“Pearl… or emerald. If not that… then I need a diamond.”
To purify Pyro Bomber, Sae-eun needed a gem.
But with everything going on lately, she hadn’t had time to go out and buy one.
“No jewelry store is going to be open at this hour…”
“Uh, secondhand….maybe we can do a secondhand deal..! I always used to buy gems secondhand to save money…”
“A secondhand deal in the middle of the night…”
“I…I-I’ll do the d-deal… r-right a-a-away…”
Since it was the middle of the night, there were all sorts of complications in trying to obtain a gem.
Even if I set out right then with the sole purpose of getting one, it was clear it would take at least three to four hours.
In that situation, wanting to minimize the damage Pyro Bomber might suffer from ingesting the unknown drug, I considered trying to get a gem somehow. Even if it meant breaking into a house.
“…Just a moment, Hye-won.”
“H-Huh..?”
Because a memory had briefly flashed through my mind.
I went to the corner of the room and opened a wooden chest I had carefully stored there.
“…Here it is.”
Inside, I quickly found a ring case that had been left to me as an heirloom from my parents.
“Sae-eun.”
“Yes?”
“Does it have to be a top-grade diamond or something?”
“No..! Even the lowest-grade diamond can produce far better results than a top-grade natural pearl or emerald.”
“Okay, then…”
It would be a lie to say I didn’t hesitate.
But I soon took the diamond ring from the case and handed it to Sae-eun.
“Let’s use this for the purification.”
“…You’re really going to use a diamond…?”
If Sae-eun used it for the purification, one of the keepsakes my parents left behind would be gone.
That meant one of the few memories I had of them would disappear as well…
“But we need to do it as quickly as possible, so Pyro Bomber’s body doesn’t take more damage.”
Clinging to the past and refusing to move forward in the present…that would be nothing but foolish.
So I firmly placed the ring into Sae-eun’s hands.
And as a result…
“It’s done.”
Less than thirty seconds had passed, and Pyro Bomber’s purification was complete.
Thud…
“Huh…?”
“What is it?”
“Um… usually when I use my power, the gem disappears instantly, but… it looks like diamonds don’t vanish.”
“Is that so?”
“I… I didn’t know either. This is my first time using a diamond.”
According to Sae-eun, the gems she had used so far would disappear like vapor after using her ability.
But apparently, diamonds didn’t vanish.
So when I picked up the diamond ring that had fallen to the floor…
“It definitely looks like the purification worked.”
“Huh?”
The diamond ring my late mother had left behind… was now dyed a deep shade of purple.
“Do you think we might be able to use this a few more times?”
“Uh… I’m not really sure about that…”
“Then you hold on to it.”
Since there was a chance that, in an emergency, that diamond ring might be able to lend its power once more,
I had Sae-eun, the gem ability user, keep it with her.
“But this… this really looks like an incredibly precious… ring…”
“It’s fine. I still have Dad’s.”
“A… A keepsake…!”
“I’ll be back in a bit. I need to thank the person who saved Pyro Bomber.”
I still had one diamond ring left.
But if a situation like this came up again, I was determined not to have to use my father’s keepsake.
So from now on, I decided to prepare by purchasing the necessary gems in advance.
…
“Hehe…”
After hearing from Seo-yoon about how Pyro Bomber had almost been taken down,
I patted her a few times as a thank-you…
“By the way, Seo-yoon.”
“Yes, oppa?”
I had pretended not to notice until now, but at this point, I felt it was time to ask about a truth I needed to know.
“Do you, by any chance, have another ability besides telekinesis?”
“No?”
“I see…”
“Why do you ask?”
“It’s just a bit strange how you always manage to find my exact location.”
“Uh…”
The moment she heard my follow-up, Seo-yoon started darting her eyes around like she had short-circuited.
It looked like she was scrambling to come up with a reasonable excuse…
“Is it this, by any chance?”
When I showed her the necklace I was wearing around my neck…
“……”
Seo-yoon froze on the spot.
“…Seo-yoon?”
“……”
“Seo-yoon??”
“……”
“I had no idea one of my abilities included freezing people in place.”
“……”
“Now that I think about it, you must’ve known where I live, too?”
“……”
Well, yeah…
That was something I had already known.
That Seo-yoon’s madness could easily surpass, if not exceed, Pyro Bomber’s.
No… if I really thought about it…
Pyro Bomber spouted all sorts of threats but rarely followed through on them.
Whereas Seo-yoon acted like the quietest person in the world… yet her actions produced outcomes no one could’ve imagined.
…So our Seo-yoon was steadily becoming a villain, huh.
“I’m sorry…”
“?”
I wasn’t particularly angry or anything.
Really, I owed Seo-yoon for many times she’d helped me survive.
Even today’s rescue from Pyro Bomber had only been possible thanks to this GPS…
“It’s just, um… I was just… I was just worried because you keep doing such dangerous things, oppa… eek!”
As Seo-yoon stood there, looking completely deflated, I placed a hand on her head.
Gently, I started to stroke her hair again.
“…Y-You’re not going to hit me?”
“Why would I hit you? It’s not like you twisted all my limbs out of shape or anything.”
“I-I would never do something like that!”
“I’m joking. And really, I’m not mad at all.”
“…Really?”
Her intention to keep me safe was good, even if it had led to the not-so-great process of attaching a GPS to me.
Still, the outcome of that bad process had been saving lives…. countless times over.
“If the intention and the result were both good, I think the process can be overlooked.”
After patting her head a couple more times, I slowly got up from the bed.
“B-But still… I’m really sorry…”
“You don’t need to be. By the way, I’m going to keep wearing this necklace.”
“…Really?”
“Of course. In an emergency, one of the strongest ability users in Korea will come save me.
And it’s also a gift from my little sister. The one I care about the most.”
“!!”
“Still, next time, I’d appreciate it if you told me before doing something like this.”
“Yes!”
“And don’t follow me around too much. If I need you, I’ll always reach out.”
“Hehe, thank you, oppa! And… I really am sorry about that…!”
Who was thanking who, really…
I’m the one who should be sorry.
It was a fact only I knew.
The fact that I was subtly taking advantage of a woman who had feelings for me.
It’d be better if she didn’t get more involved with me…
There’s a term called “elopement for love”.
A rich family’s daughter runs away from home with a man living at the bottom of society to pursue love.
We dress it up with the beautiful phrase “elopement for love”, but…
Reality isn’t a drama, and it was obvious that only hardship awaited them once they ran away.
On top of that… I, as her oppa, sincerely wanted Seo-yoon to love someone truly worthy of her.
“Uh, Seo-yoon.”
“Yes?”
“Have you ever… uh… never mind.”
“?”
I hoped that Seo-yoon would have a future without conflicts with her parents.
Just like…
How I once wished my own little sister who couldn’t fulfill her dreams would live that kind of life.
Who am I really seeing when I look at you?
At some point, I started overlapping Seo-yoon with my little sister.
I was treating this woman, Lee Seo-yoon, as a substitute for the sister I lost.
“It really drives me crazy when someone starts to say something and then just stops.”
“No, I was just going to say I’m heading over to the house next door.”
“…Why are you going there…?”
“To meet with Seong-won, the guy you brought, and Dream Caster.”
“Oh…”
Oh, right.
Come to think of it, Seo-yoon still believed I hadn’t found out that she was secretly helping Dream Caster and Seong-won.
“Um… Seo-yoon, just asking, but… is there anything else you’re hiding from me—”
“N-No..! There’s absolutely… nothing else… I-I swear…!”
“Really?”
“I-I would never…! It’s not like I, um… still have the clothes you gave me back then or anything…!”
“…Hmm? Alright.”
Why is she so flustered?
I clearly remember seeing her toss the underwear I gave her into the trash with my own eyes.
***
Screech—thud…
…He didn’t notice, right?
I quietly slipped my hand under the pillow and pulled out the underwear he’d given me that day.
“Phew…”
Even if everything else got exposed, I was genuinely relieved that this at least hadn’t been found out.
The day before, right in front of him, I had pretended to throw the underwear into the trash but actually tossed something else in.
Maybe because he saw that scene, he must still be unaware of the truth.
I was planning to sneak into his hideout next time and maybe try to steal some more clothes…. but with the GPS getting caught, I definitely can’t do that now…
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