I Became a Villain's Hero

TL/Editor: Raei

Schedule: 4/week

Illustrations: Here

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"...Get lost, damn it."

It was fortunate that he had turned his back.

Had he seen her face, he might have realized how difficult it was for her to utter those words.

Somehow, he always seemed to understand her struggles well.

"...I'm looking for another part-time job. Don't worry. I'll disappear just as you want."

"...That's not what I meant."

"Is that so?"

"...I don't want... I don't want you to disappear, Soo-yeon."

Even amidst this, the fact that he didn't want her to disappear sent a thrilling pleasure through her.

It felt like a reward for all her waiting.

He had clearly stated that he didn't want her to disappear.

Her calculations were right, after all.

He must have been in love, helplessly so.

"It's too late. I won't return to a traitor."

His apology sounded almost like a consolation, seeming to soothe her hurt feelings.

And as she received this comfort, her suppressed emotions began to overflow.

Before she knew it, she was showing her true feelings to him, not just an act.

It wasn't planned.

She had only wished that he would feel a bit of the pain she had endured throughout the night.

"...Don't do this. I get that you're upset... Just forgive me this once. There's no need for this on a good day, right?"

"What are you talking about? You pushed me away first, telling me to leave. And now I'm going."

"...I'm sorry. Let's forget about this and go have something nice to eat. Today, let's do something special, go out to eat, and take a walk to make up..."

Song Soo-yeon swayed like a reed at every word he said.

She almost immediately wanted to relent and drop her sharp stance.

Now, she too wanted to reconcile with him.

But her inner turmoil held her back.

If she was to do this, she wanted to be certain.

Such an event should never happen again.

"Just go and enjoy yourself alone."

"..........."

"I'll be fine. I'll make friends with other people and forget about you, just so you know."

She never actually intended to do that.

But Song Soo-yeon had seen how other women got jealous when men confessed to her.

Jung-gyeom surely liked her, and she intended to stir up his jealousy.

".........."

He remained silent, as if she had dampened his spirits.

It seemed like her plan was somewhat working.

As they caused a commotion, more and more people began to look their way.

Song Soo-yeon still had her back turned to Jung-gyeom.

The murmuring grew louder. Parents, students... various people.

"Whats going on? Is that guy hitting on a high school student?"

"That's Song Soo-yeon. The pride of our school. She always gets confessed to like that."

"So, she's rejecting him now?"

"Seems like it, doesn't it?"

For a moment, Song Soo-yeon got distracted by these voices.

However, Jung-gyeom seemed unfazed.

She heard him approaching her from behind.

His hand gently touched her shoulder, radiating a warm heat.

"Soo-yeon... If you too act like this, I..."

Song Soo-yeon shrugged her shoulder lightly.

It was a reflexive habit whenever someone touched her at school.

At that moment, something touched her arm and fell.

-Thud.

Song Soo-yeon's eyes drifted to the ground.

The bouquet Jung-gyeom had brought was now lying on the wet ground, covered in mud.

"...Oh."

This was a mistake.

She hadn't intended for this to happen.

She knew he had bought the flowers despite his difficult circumstances.

It was his way of giving her a normal graduation gift.

Song Soo-yeon looked up at Jung-gyeom.

And her previously hardened expression collapsed in an instant.

".........Ah."

Jung-gyeom stood there with a deeply hurt expression, just as she couldn't see his face when she had turned her back.

She hadn't known he could make such an expression.

He always took everything with a smile, and she thought he would just brush this off too.

His eyes quivered.

The corners of his mouth, forcibly lifted, were now struggling to stay up.

"Wait, ah-"

Before Song Soo-yeon could finish her sentence, retracting her words as if to say she didn't mean to make him cry, someone cut her off.

"-Bro! If you've been rejected, just go!"

Mocking voices erupted.

Turning towards them, Song Soo-yeon saw one of the boys who had been rejected by her the day before.

Just as she was about to shout back, numerous voices intermingled and threw their words.

"An adult trying to pick up a student, tsk tsk."

"The world is going mad..."

"No matter how pretty she is, thats just wrong."

Parents clucked their tongues.

The sounds surrounding them grew louder.

The arrows of blame were pointed at Jung-gyeom.

Drawn by Song Soo-yeon's beauty, many had begun to misunderstand the scene.

Jung-gyeom was labeled as a shameless adult, and Song Soo-yeon as the victim.

The level of teasing and mockery intensified.

Sneers and reprimands blended softly.

After the first boy, nobody shouted at Jung-gyeom loudly, but the oppressive atmosphere weighed heavily on him.

Song Soo-yeon was inadvertently gifting Jung-gyeom the same pain that had tormented her the most.

He had only healed her, but she had done the opposite.

Confused by the rapidly changing situation, Song Soo-yeon moved as if broken.

She couldn't suddenly comfort him after being angry.

She just stuttered, waiting for Jung-gyeom's reaction.

She no longer intended to push him away.

This was as far as it went.

In this strange atmosphere, it seemed right to accept his apology.

"..........."

But Jung-gyeom, with an awkward smile and a vacant gaze, just stared at the fallen flowers, making no effort to pick them up again.

He was deeply wounded, she could tell.

After a brief moment, he let out a hollow laugh.

"......Right. I see."

Then his inner thoughts echoed.

'.......So, in the end, I'm destined to be hated.'

The moment she heard that, it felt as if a dagger had plunged into Song Soo-yeon's heart.

He was misunderstanding.

She didn't hate him.

This shouldn't be happening.

She realized the hurt she had inflicted on him.

She suddenly remembered that he, too, was a loner.

She recognized that he, like her, bore similar wounds.

She had seen him as her hero, invincible.

"...Do you... have something to say?"

Song Soo-yeon asked desperately.

She was ready to accept him now, even if he just hinted at an apology.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then looked straight at her, smiling.

"I'll go back today. You seem... very angry. Let's talk another time."

".......What?"

"I really meant it when I said congratulations on your graduation."

She knew.

Just as she hid her shame behind anger, he masked his sorrow with a smile.

He couldn't take it anymore and was leaving.

Jung-gyeom turned around.

He didn't pick up the flowers.

"........Mister.....?"

Despite her call, he didn't respond.

He was moving away from her.

Something was terribly wrong.

Song Soo-yeon alternately looked at the flowers he had left behind and his retreating figure.

But her body was frozen, unable to move in the face of overwhelming fear.

He was drifting away.

It felt like this could truly be the end with him.

"Wait, Mist-"

'......It's lonely.'

His voice came again.

She clenched her teeth.

Her heart felt like it was tearing apart.

She couldn't understand why things had turned out this way.

Finally, she managed to lift her frozen feet from the ground.

She started walking to catch up with him.

She wanted to stop him.

"Mister....! Where are you going! We... we're not done talking!"

At her words, his steps stopped abruptly.

Song Soo-yeon froze too.

"....Let's talk a bit more....."

He lifted his head, which had been looking down.

His slumped shoulders straightened.

"What...? Mister. Look at me first."

His voice reached her.

Again, it was his inner thoughts.

'.....Solace?'

".......What?"

Jung-gyeom's head turned upwards towards the sky.

And at that moment, a dazzling light exploded above them like a flash.

Startled by the light, Song Soo-yeon fell to the ground.

"Ah!"

She shielded her eyes from the light pouring from the sky with one hand.

But that wasn't enough, so she turned her head away.

Then, she saw the flowers that Jung-gyeom had dropped earlier.

The flowers he had bought for her.

'My flowers.'

Song Soo-yeon found herself reaching out for them.

-Thud.

"......?"

But someone had picked them up.

Song Soo-yeon watched the scene, powerless.

Soon, the flash subsided.

Complete silence fell over the area, except for the sound of a hero's footsteps on the snow.

-Step... Step...

Song Soo-yeon just watched, unable to do anything.

It was Solace.

Solace was walking towards Jung-gyeom with the flowers in hand.

It was a scene she couldn't understand, but Solace's actions didn't wait for her understanding.

Song Soo-yeon's eyes scrutinized Jung-gyeom's expression.

The pained look he had shown earlier was now gone.

His large eyes were wide open, and he was staring at Solace with slightly parted lips.

"....Excuse me...!"

Solace broke the silence that had settled over the playground.

She seemed indifferent to the onlookers, showing a frankness Song Soo-yeon could never possess.

"......This may be our first meeting...! But I know you....!"

Jung-gyeom's expression gradually brightened.

The darkness that had clouded his face seemed to fade away under Solace's sunlight.

His eyes blinked rapidly.

"You were at the Hero Association the other time, right? You... you scolded Shake for, for a junior you knew!"

Jung-gyeom asked in disbelief.

".....You were there...?"

"Yes! And... I was so impressed by what you said about heroes...! Why do heroes only fight villains, you asked... It was shocking. It was the first time I thought about it that way."

"............"

"I thought you were incredibly brave...! I'm still scared of senior Shake...."

"............"

"...So...!"

Solace stretched out her arms.

In her hands was the bouquet that should have been gifted to Song Soo-yeon.

"I... I wanted to meet you!"

From that moment, time seemed to slow down.

Song Soo-yeon kept her gaze fixed on Jung-gyeom the whole time.

His expression changed vividly.

He showed dozens of expressions she had never seen before, despite spending months together.

In the end, the wounded look was nowhere to be found.

It was as if Solace had healed the wound Song Soo-yeon had inflicted.

"....Ah...really..."

He muttered to himself.

And then he burst into an honest laugh.

It was a laugh that seemed both powerless and on the verge of tears.

It was the most beautiful smile of his that Song Soo-yeon had ever seen before.

Tears even glistened in his eyes.

But watching the happy Jung-gyeom, Song Soo-yeon couldn't understand why she felt so breathless.