Villain Eaten By The Hero - Chapter 48
CHAPTER 48
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“I don’t forgive you.”
Sweat dripped from the tip of his tilted head. He seemed to be gradually losing his composure. Like an electrical appliance flickering before it goes out due to insufficient power.
“Because that’s not me.”
“But DNA-wise, it is you.”
Seo growled through gritted teeth at Belze’s casual use of science. His eyes narrowed menacingly, shining brightly in his shadowed face.
His expression, however, was more pitiful than frightening.
“…Did you always dislike me so much?”
“…….”
“Enough to get rid of it by replacing it with something else?”
Ah, so that’s how it works.
Belze merely let out a faint murmur. She knew she should say something, but she couldn’t think of anything. Unlike when she was angry, harsh words didn’t come out of her when she was in front of Seo, who tried to conceal but couldn’t hide his wounded expression.
“I don’t like the way you look, I just wanted to get rid of it…”
Meanwhile, Seo, who had been breathing heavily as if struggling for air just before losing consciousness, let out a growl that sounded more vulnerable than usual.
“You assh*le.”
With that, his body slumped downward, writhing.
In shock, Belze only clutch her clothes, not bothering to put them on. Despite the chilliness caused by her bare skin exposed to the wind, she couldn’t bring herself to do anything else.
Seo’s words had shaken her.
The insult “assh*le” had been among the lightest forms of criticism Belze had encountered out of the hundreds she had heard. Even if a passing 10-year-old shouted it to her, it would fall into the category of words she could easily brush off with a reply like, “I can’t hear you~.”
But the profanity that came out of Seo’s mouth was not as light as those she had heard before.
It wasn’t just anyone, but it was Seo, who had called her an ‘assh*le’. Seo, the lunatic who happily ran over to people, even destroying an entire store, seemed genuinely hurt now.
“F*cking hell, who would’ve thought that son of a bitch would come out… Don’t worry about it. I’m fine. In fact, I feel refreshed now. I have fewer intrusive thoughts, with less to think about and less to be embarrassed about.”
Seo, who had lifted his head unknowingly to her, now wore a gentle and affectionate expression, just like when he had come out of the personality-switching device. Belze could tell who was who by the way he looked and spoke.
He was definitely a kinder man than the one who had been hanging around Belze earlier. He smiled wryly as he looked at her face.
“But you have a terribly frozen face.”
Belze, who had been crouching, nodded her head with a deeply apologetic expression.
“I told you not to sleep with that guy, but it’s not like he’s a different person. It’s not like we are two persons, it’s just that he has a different personality but the memories remain the same.”
Belze acknowledged silently, but not without a glare.
“I’m the one who wants to be photographed, and not him.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s a complicated feeling, like I thought it was great but it’s actually not, and I’m not offended by it, but anyway….”
Seo shrugged his shoulders with a hint of regret in his smile.
“There’s nothing we can do about it.”
He remained courteous and composed towards Belze until the end, which made him seem unfamiliar.
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Belze couldn’t change Seo back to his normal state right away. The personality switching device changed his personality randomly, so she couldn’t turn him back using the same device.
Initially, it was unclear whether Seo’s fluctuating consciousness had been due to the side effects of the drug or split personalities.
The combination of the electrical signals and the medication might return him to normal in time, but there was no telling when.
Jet’s animal transformation could be reversed within a day, but there was no guarantee that other things would follow suit. If they made a mistake, rehabilitation could take up to two years.
Fortunately, Belze had the advantage of being someone who executed decisions swiftly, unburdened by second thoughts and didn’t well much on the consequences. She had scoured various government research institutions and villain research teams she’s acquaited, looking for someone with the most plausible solution.
Belze wasn’t the first person to come up with the idea of changing personalities, and there were already several precedents regarding the solution. She chose someone who had resolved the issue most quickly among them.
Luckily, he, an ordinary citizen, was a researcher at a national organization who had been fired for violating professional ethics.
Quickly securing a base through a colleague’s request, Belze rushed to visit the former researcher. The individual, however, expressed reluctance.
“This method is intense. If there’s any other way, it’d be better to use it.”
“He can handle it.”
“It’s going to take a lot of power and resources, not to mention the lack of positive reviews. The only good thing about it is that it’s fast.”
“That’s what matters. I have to go to work tomorrow. How can I take three days off? It’s suspicious.”
“But this method…”
“Do you have any idea who he is? He’s the most outspoken hero in this neighborhood. If you don’t want to get caught for illegal research, cooperate!”
Following Belze’s threat, Seo bent the metal desk, prompting the former researcher to be alarmed and hastily lead them to a shabby laboratory. He hastily wrapped what looked like a medical device around Seo’s neck and dragged him into the large apparatus.
After finally giving Seo a kiss and a farewell, as he demanded from Belze, the former researcher activated the device. Due to the high voltage, the nearby lights flickered and then went out, and the device emitted a strong burst of light. It was blinding to the extent that one couldn’t open their eyes without goggles.
But when the light faded, Seo was still the same. He emerged from the device, smelling faintly of burning, and grinned.
“Still the same, huh? Belze, this didn’t work. It’s a failure.”
He looked up, disbelieving, and saw Belze looking at him like she wanted to turn away from reality, then he realized that there was someone else besides him.
He turned his head to follow her gaze.
“……what is this?”
As he said that, he saw a man who looked exactly like him.
“Wow! You’ve become two people now!”
The former researcher deliberately sounded cheerful to break the icy atmosphere. But no matter how cheerfully he shouted, the spirits of the three had already left the building.
It was beyond belief.
The real Seo, who always had a sour expression, froze, and even the other Seo, who had been grinning since his personality switch, also stiffened. That’s how unbelievable it was.
Belze reacted faster than the two Seos facing each other. She grabbed the former researcher by the collar and shook him.
“I told you to fix him, not split him into two! Do you want to die?!”
“I mean, this method is how it’s supposed to be done, c’mon, wait, wait…. It’s not a failure!”
“You turned one unbearable guy into two! How is that not a failure?!”
Belze released the former researcher when he had started blabbering about the explanation. It went like this:Â Changing a human’s personality was not like changing salt into sugar but like adding a layer of sugar on top of the existing layers of salt.
So, if they separated the two and then mixed them back together, the older version, which could be called the “original,” would remain. Just like if you take a large amount of salt and a small amount of sugar and mix them together, you’ll only taste salt.
“Once the actions and feelings of the two merges, they will return to being one. It’s not an easy task, but if done right, it can be much faster and more effective than other methods.”
“And if it doesn’t work?”
“If it was a temporary change, the one that changed will disappear over time. If not, they will continue to exist as two separate entities. Still, if their intentions align well, they can return to their original state quickly. Plus, the side effects are minimal.”
If successful, it seemed there was no faster or more certain way than this. Other methods would likely take days just to define who the original Seo was.
The problem is, the risks outweigh the benefits.
If one refused to become one with the other personality, the future looked bleak.
At this moment, the most pessimistic person was Seo himself.
Half of his body had been turned into a rabbit, he had unintentionally lost all sense of dignity, he had been exposed in provocative photographs, and now he had to negotiate with someone who looked just like him. If he didn’t, there was a risk of another person exactly like him being created.
“Right, since he split into two, their strength will also be divided in half.”
The urgent task became even more desperate. They had to gather themselves with the other Seo, whatever it took.
Realizing how badly things had gone, Seo glared at the source of all the disaster. It was all that damn Belze’s fault for changing his personality with that potion.
“Is this how you handle things?”
He’d given her a pass for turning him into a rabbit, and what he’d gotten in return was betrayal, the kind of betrayal that denied everything about Seo.
“What are you going to do with this?”
Yet, despite all that, he meekly served meals, took pictures for her, and even put on a dog collar for her. While he didn’t do anything to her personally.
She seduced him subtly, and he followed her lead, falling into bed as if he had no choice. It was an attitude that said he would only accept things begrudgingly, without being cornered. She toyed with him like a puppet….
“Uh? How should I repay you for this?”
The more he thought, the more his anger boiled inside him. He tried to mask his frustration and annoyance with anger, pouring it all out on Belze.
He hoped Belze would realize the gravity of her actions and show some remorse. He wanted her to move busily to find a solution.
He hoped she would acknowledge her mistake, but this time, she betrayed him.
“Why are you like this with Belze? People can make mistakes.”
The other version of Seo, the more docile one, stood behind Belze, hugging her, shielding her away from Seo. The real Seo was left speechless in disbelief, unable to comprehend the situation.
Who was taking whose side now?
“Are you siding with the villains right now?”
“I’m not taking the villains’ side, I’m on Belze’s side. But it might seem that way, you know very well that Belze is a villain too. But what’s the problem if a villain causes harm to a hero?”
“The problem is that I’m the one suffering in all these. Thanks to you, I’ve even been betrayed by someone who isn’t anyone else but myself.”
He had heard of cases where people were betrayed by their closest friends or precious family members, but being betrayed by oneself? It was something he had never imagined. Seo found the experience strangely fascinating. He looked at the person with the same face as his, contemplating if he should strike that face.
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