"How does it feel to get dumped by me?"
"Shut up before I cut you for real."
Thankfully, perhaps because I had obediently admitted defeat after turning her down, Yoo Joonghyuk sheathed her sword.
Yoo Joonghyuk was definitely useful to me.
Even if I hated admitting it.
A fight against a true powerhouse always led to growth, regardless of whether one won or lost.
"Do you still have something to say?"
"The Constellation bastards keep talking to me because of you. Hand over some Coins as compensation for emotional damages."
"What?!"
"I said hand them over."
I was being completely serious.
Those Constellations were still sending messages because of her.
They weren't even sponsoring me, just gawking in admiration; when I thought about all the Coins I could've squeezed out of them during that time...
"...Are you insane?"
"For once, I agree with Jihye."
Insane, my ass.
I'd reached the Scenario limit specifically by extorting Coins like this.
"Open your eyes and hand over the Coins already."
"...I'll kill you."
Shing!
Yoo Joonghyuk swung her sword in the exact same manner as before.
She really never learned.
Grab!
"I told you three times already. I don't fall for the same trick twice."
Since I'd already clashed with her, I was used to her rhythm. Trying the same move again just made it easy to read.
"Let me ask you one thing."
"What?"
"You only have one skill related to combat. And no attribute at all."
Wow... she'd already snooped on me?
Even with my obsession over safety—which, thanks to Dokja, had reached the level of a clinical disorder—I wasn't that extreme.
"How is that even possible?"
"Difference in talent."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"If you don't, do you have another explanation? In a world like this, what exactly is left that you can't believe?"
Not long ago, monsters like these had only existed in the imagination.
Though for Yoo Joonghyuk, perhaps it wasn't "not long ago," but "a very long time ago."
I didn't know this ability-that-isn't-really-an-ability would be this useful...
This was what talent meant.
Thanks to that, even if I got pushed back at first, I could eventually turn the tide and beat her one-sidedly.
What was so special about punks who bullied other kids?
They were just bigger bastards throwing their weight around because they trusted their own strength.
Even the guys who claimed to have learned martial arts usually lost to me.
It reminded me of the time I beat the hell out of that bastard who used to torment me for being a criminal's son.
At first, he hit me with total confidence, but later, when I kept attacking without getting hit once, he started begging for mercy.
"...I'll kill you."
"You're not saying 'I'll kill you' just because you think it sounds cool, right? Let's not turn into the same kind of trash we hate."
"..."
Yoo Joonghyuk probably hadn't been like this from the beginning either.
The deaths of the people who had once been her companions must have been harder to endure than her own death.
Still, she wouldn't want to become like the people she despised. That was the only reason I was warning her.
Like it or not, Yoo Joonghyuk also had family she needed to protect.
"Just like I have family I don't want to show a shameful side of myself to, you have family like that too."
"..."
"Looks like you've got a lot on your mind?"
"It'd be even better if you'd just shut your mouth."
"Riling people up is part of my identity, so that might be hard."
Shaking someone's mental state was the most basic of basics in a fight.
[Oppa, come out now.]
Looks like Dokja wanted to talk to Joonghyuk now.
But maybe it was just my imagination—Dokja didn't seem to be in a very good mood.
Was it because I'd caused a scene with Joonghyuk without her permission?
No, it felt a little different from that.
"You're popular, huh? My little sister, Lee Jihye... what are you, some kind of yuri queen?"
[The Constellation, 'Lily Blooming in Aquarius,' perks up at the word 'lily' and approaches.]
"Oh, come on!"
Uriel was into BL, and Gabriel was into GL?
Were these really angels?
They seemed even more sex-crazed than Asmodeus...
"Jihye, come on. The adults are talking. You shouldn't eavesdrop."
"What are you even saying?!"
Maybe because Lee Jihye was still a student, even when she shouted like that, it only came off as cute.
If nothing had happened to Dokja when she was in high school, would she have been like this too?
"Yeah, yeah. You little brat."
"Who are you calling a brat?!"
"If you're in high school, you're a baby. A baby."
This kid was pitiful too.
She was at the age when she should've been enjoying her youth, and instead, she'd been thrown into this blood-soaked reality.
They said high school friends lasted a lifetime, but Lee Jihye was the only survivor.
On the outside, she acted tough.
But inside, she was probably rotting away.
Tch. This is why I can't trust Constellations.
"Come on, tell me some interesting story or something."
"No, seriously, when did we ever get close enough for you to act like this?"
"We're seeing each other right now, aren't we?"
"Aaaaaaagh!!! I seriously hate you, mister!!!"
"Our Jihye likes me this much... Joonghyuk's proposal is starting to look a lot more appealing."
"Uwaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!! Masterrrrrrrrr!!!"
Ah, this was fun.
Maybe because she was so lively, her reactions were incredibly satisfying.
"Is teasing a kid that fun for you?"
"Men are children even after they grow up, Heewon."
Dokja barely reacted after she started working, you see.
This was exactly why I used to tease Dokja so much.
Her reactions had been just this satisfying.
But I felt like something always happened after this part.
Thwack!
"Ow! Damn, you're really hard..."
Right. After I teased her like this, Dokja always got sulky.
***
"There's one thing I'm curious about. Why are you leaving Gong Pildu alone?"
"If you're a prophet, you should already know."
"Someone needs a proper explanation. And I trust I don't need to explain who that 'someone' is."
[Character, 'Yoo Joonghyuk,' is activating [Lie Detection].]
[Character, 'Yoo Joonghyuk,' has confirmed that your words are true.]
Oppa's list of people he needed to protect already included not just me, but Gilyoung too.
And the Landlord Alliance had threatened Gilyoung.
On top of that, Gong Pildu was the head of the Landlord Alliance.
He was holding himself back because of what I'd said, but if things went even a little wrong, who would that anger turn toward?
Obviously Yoo Joonghyuk, who was leaving the problem alone even though she could solve it, just because she needed him.
And even if not, it might spill over onto the other people in Chungmuro.
Even after losing once, Oppa was the type who would break before he bent.
In the end, the one who benefited from the conflict between those two would be Gong Pildu.
"There's a reason Gong Pildu needs to stay alive."
"Because of the Scenarios ahead, right? I know Gong Pildu is necessary for the later Scenarios too."
The problem was how to persuade Oppa with that.
"But it's only 'Gong Pildu' who's necessary. It's not like you need the entire group following him. If this keeps up, it'll be hard for me to control Oppa too. The only time he refuses what I say is when 'my safety' is involved."
「How troublesome.」
I thought this was a very serious matter.
That was why I was talking about it, and all she could think was that it was troublesome.
"I have many things to do. You could never understand."
"Wait! This isn't something you can just say and walk past. If you don't move now, the people of Chungmuro... most of them will—!"
"It doesn't matter."
I hadn't really noticed it before, but maybe Yoo Joonghyuk and Oppa were actually quite alike.
Outstanding talent in combat.
A cruelty that didn't care about the means as long as it served their goal.
And on top of that, personalities that would break before they bent.
Maybe the reason they hated each other so viciously was because each saw too much of their own kind in the other.
But because they were similar, they also understood each other well enough to acknowledge each other.
Maybe that was why... both of them got on my nerves so often.
"Can I hit you just once?"
"Do you think you can?"
[Character, 'Yoo Joonghyuk,' is using [Self-Defense Technique] Lv.5.]
Snort.
I never said I was the one who'd hit her.
[Oppa.]
[What?]
[Hit Yoo Joonghyuk just once. Yoo Joonghyuk agreed too.]
[ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
"Joonghyuk."
"What."
"I never said I'd be the one hitting you."
"What do you—? Don't tell me?!"
Yoo Joonghyuk realized it too late and turned her head, but it was already too late!
"It's a hectopascal kick, you bitch!!"
Thwack!!!
"Kgh!"
"Master!!!"
Oppa was scary too.
How the hell did he break through [Self-Defense Technique] and still deal damage?
Still... this was kind of funny.
Seeing Yoo Joonghyuk flying through the air like that was funnier than you'd think.
Especially with her face all twisted up after getting smacked.
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