Villain Eaten By The Hero - Chapter 82

82 

Seo’s mix of self-deprecation and consideration pushed Seok further into the abyss. The more he talked with Seo, the more he felt like he was sinking into a pit.

Feeling deeply frustrated for the first time in his life, Seok muttered in a voice that sounded like he was about to cry.

“Haha, you’re right. Yes, that’s right… um, yes, I’ll step in right away and catch Oh Hye-na.”

“Why Oh Hye-na? It’s not like she’s the worst. She’s busy fighting with DDD.”

“Ah, yes. Right. No, it’s not Oh Hye-na. I was mistaken. I’ll be going…”

Seok staggered off after receiving his work instructions and equipment. Seo watched him with a worried gaze, observing Seok’s slouched shoulders and uneasy gait.

Halfway down the hall, Seok suddenly turned around, holding onto the wall.

“Don’t worry, though. I’ll make sure to find Belze.”

“No… you don’t have to.”

“I owe you an explanation, and for your sake, I’ll do that much at least.”

Even in the midst of everything falling apart, Seok’s determination seemed to burn brightly. Though his desire to support Seo to the end was admirable, he remained blind.

“Don’t worry, just trust me.”

“…….”

Worries began to pile up like a mountain.

When Seok said he would participate in tracking Belze, the worries that Seo had pushed to the corner resurfaced. While disciplinary action looming over him might be somewhat bearable, capturing Belze posed a different problem.

It was undeniable that he couldn’t keep Belze, who was being pursued, at his home indefinitely. If she were to be discovered in his house, both of them would undoubtedly be in danger.

Yet, the thought of Belze leaving didn’t sit well with him either. He had already experienced the joy of returning home to her and welcoming him. He didn’t want to go back to the time of entering a dark, cold house late at night or early in the morning.

After hearing about it, Belze developed a sensor light that turns on when you take the elevator, but that’s not what Seo wanted.

As he was about to gnaw on his lips, Seok, who had been walking ahead, turned around for a moment.

“Oh, could you lend me a handkerchief? The one I brought this morning got wet.”

“Why?”

“…….”

Seok had always carried a handkerchief with him because his palms and ankles would get wet after using his freezing ability, but now that his handkerchief was wet, Seo wondered if he had done anything during the day to need it.

It was just a passing question, but an oddly profound silence followed. Seok, murmuring like a wooden doll, broke the silence.

“I met the wrong girl… no, I got involved with the wrong girl… Anyway, it’s unusable now. Yes. That’s right.”

Seo’s words seemed to touch on another sensitive area. Although Seo couldn’t understand the exact details, it seemed like Seok didn’t want to appear in a bad light.

As notorious for his villainous nature, but even a villain takes care of their family members. Seo was no exception. He clenched his fist and lightly tapped Seok’s chest.

“If something’s wrong, tell me, hyung.”

“Yeah…….”

“Even if I don’t know what it is when you’re disciplined, I’ll mess things up for them while they’re at it.”

Speaking sincerely, Seo looked Seok in the eye.

“No.”

Hmm, it seems it wasn’t that much. Perhaps he’s been too nosy about family matters or relationships.

Seo blamed himself inwardly and took out a handkerchief from his bag, handing it to Seok.

When Seok received the handkerchief, he felt a sense of discomfort. Seo looked at the handkerchief again. Gone was the plain handkerchief with the geometric pattern, and in its place was a white handkerchief with an embroidered black rabbit.

…A black rabbit?

Hastily rummaging through the bag, Seo found a black rabbit keychain inside, a pouch with a peacefully sleeping black rabbit, and even a wallet with a black rabbit-shaped card tucked inside.

Even the little tumbler he keeps in the back of his cupboard is covered in a fabric with a black rabbit printed on it.

“Do you like rabbits that much…?”

Committee Member Kang clucked his tongue as he watched Seo furiously pull things out. It was because, in investigating Seo, he had seen photos on his phone.

Photos of Seo with black rabbit ears and Belze kissing him.

Seo, who received the sincere disdain of Committee Member Kang for his brutal disregard for ethics and involvement with a villain, had only one concern.

He didn’t know how Belze had arranged all this.

Therefore…… Belze might have searched every inch of his house.

His heart began to race a little more urgently.

*

At that moment, Belze, while watching the news on a tablet, activated the robotic vacuum cleaner.

The article about the Meteor Daily headquarters being attacked by villains had rude comments like, ‘Isn’t this Ravi’s doing?’

Although most of them were likely jokes, every joke like that served to narrow Seo’s standing. Determined to spread mobile ransomware to those who left malicious comments, Belze cleaned every corner of the house.

Seo, who is busy day and night, lives alone in the house, so even though it looks clean, dust piles up in every corner.

Half the fun is wiping away dust with a hand mop. Half the fun was imagining the scene where Seo is touched by having his house cleaned. There was also the joy of finding amusing items Seo had accumulated.

It was fun to look through his TV listings, but it was even more fun to find underwear and clothes that he probably wouldn’t have bought himself. Setting aside the ones that looked good to try on later, Belze reached into a drawer near the dresser.

Amidst miscellaneous items like emergency medicine, notebooks, and pens, a round leather belt caught her eye.

It was a belt as small as a child’s belt. It was barely big enough to fit around a person’s neck, with a long cord attached…

“…It’s a dog collar.”

Shaken, Belze closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them. Still, it didn’t change the fact that the leather belt in front of her was undeniably close to a dog collar.

“Seo doesn’t have a dog.”

In the three years she had known Seo, there had been no trace of a dog by his side. He didn’t have a dog.

The thought of who this belonged to made the hairs on her back stand on end. A chill ran lazily down her spine from her tailbone to the crown of her head. She shuddered slightly as she leaned back.

No, that couldn’t be.

Seo, known for keeping his personal life neat until he got involved with Belze, suddenly developed a taste for dog collars.

Suddenly, the moment when Seo put a dog collar around her neck and pulled the leash came to mind. The tension of when he swiftly grabbed the leash from behind resurfaced.

Belze, gently touching her bare neck, quietly put down the leather belt. Pretending not to see, she closed the drawer, and then opened the next, revealing a crude iron safe.

The safe, which opened with a four-digit password, swung open wide in less than five minutes. The items Seo had hidden discreetly were laid out before Belze without hesitation.

Belze cautiously picked up the items inside the safe, more careful than when she had casually picked up the dog collar.

But once she realized what the items were, they slipped from her hands.