Side Story: Hero Eaten by the Villain (Part 4)

“What are you up to?”

“Huh, I just gave you chocolate! What’s the ulterior motive in giving chocolate? I just gave it to you!”

Belze, who couldn’t escape, was caught by Seo in an alley just a few blocks away. 

The timing of the smoke bomb and the timing of the escape were both determined by Belze, but Seo caught up with her more quickly than anyone else and knocked her to the ground.

Belze, who was lying on the concrete floor after Seo knocked down a signpost like a window, curled up without even thinking about what to do.

Her bouncing pink hair was scattered on the concrete floor, and a brown wig rolled nearby.

Pressed against the concrete floor, covered by Seo, Belze simply frowned as if annoyed by his contact. Looking at his face, which was neither particularly pale nor red, he didn’t seem to have any sexual thoughts even though their bodies were touching.

For some reason, it was a little annoying. Seo threatened Belze by pulling out a signpost stuck in the ground and destroying the road.

“Is that so?”

“Ugh! Yes! That’s right! What kind of hero destroys the whole neighborhood? What a thug!”

“Why don’t you shut the fuck up? Unless you want your arm or leg broken.”

When said like this, either one would shut their mouth or throw a tantrum about who cares about your damn words, but Belze suddenly lowered her voice and muttered softly.

“If I keep quiet, you won’t break them?”

She sounded like she was talking to a friend for negotiation. This caught Seo off guard. It was pathetic how she would lower her head when she was in danger.

“…There’s probably no need to do that.”

“Yeah.”

“….”

“….”

“Why are you keeping your mouth shut? Tell me what your motive is!”

“You told me to keep quiet and then to speak. What’s with the sudden change? Are you a king? A dictator? You told me to be quiet and when I did, all hell broke loose!”

“I told you not to talk nonsense, not to shut your mouth forever, didn’t I?”

“Then say it like that! You say something weird, and then why are you getting mad at me!”

Even in such an utterly disadvantageous situation, lying under Seo’s body with a signpost stuck into the ground, it was somewhat fitting to complain.

As he pressed down on the leg trying to struggle, the sound of the chain on Belze’s pants stopped flowing. This meant that her leg was caught by one of Seo’s hands. Belze, now with a slightly reddened face, began to argue.

“I have the day off today.”

“Don’t grumble.”

“I’m serious. Want me to show you our organization’s schedule? It’s Saturday. We’re an organization that respects labor laws, so we work three shifts a week.”

“Are you crazy?”

Belze quickly corrected the fact and said something different.

“Yes, it’s a lie. In fact, we work more overtime than five days a week, and we don’t get paid much for overtime. But I’m really off today. I took a vacation day! If you’re not going to violate the agreement, will you let me go?”

“Do you expect me to believe it? That on your day off, you came to give me chocolates because you won a draw for my Valentine’s Day fan event, where you basically have to buy 100 chocolates to win?”

“That’s right.”

Belze was ready to applaud like a seal, saying it was amazing and cool of her, but she was intimidated by the look in Seo’s eyes and only clapped twice. Even that seemed feeble.

Seeing Belze clapping twice as she lay crumpled, Seo couldn’t recall ever seeing such a pitiful human being in his life, and he glanced at her with an expression that seemed to convey that sentiment.

“How did you end up like this?”

“No, why do you treat me like a lunatic? Listen. There’s a good reason for all this, and you’ll understand when you hear it. I mean, I actually bought chocolates with your face on them because I wanted to tear your face apart every time I bought them.”

“I don’t understand already.”

“You’ll understand if you listen to the end. But when you buy stuff like this, don’t you want to test your luck? So, I entered the coupon code printed on the wrapper, and since I bought chocolates every time we fought, there were a lot of them, so I had a lot of entry coupons.”

“So, you put in a bunch of coupons and won?”

“Yes, I did. It was pure luck, but the tickets are non-transferable, and I felt sorry for you when I thought about it.”

“I don’t see where you’re supposed to feel sorry for me in that context.”

“There is! If I don’t go, everyone else gets to meet 200 fans, but you only get to meet 199! You’re both heroes, so it’s frustrating to be compared.”

Still not understanding, Seo remained silent. It was such a pathetic and strange logic that it seemed like an attempt to let his guard down and escape.

But Belze must have mistaken Seo’s silence for understanding because she continued with a slightly more fervent explanation.

“And besides, you have fewer female fans compared to others. While everyone else is flooded with female fans on Valentine’s Day giving chocolates, if you’re the only one with a different vibe, isn’t it kind of awkward? So, I thought I’d pretend to be one of your female fans.”

“…….”

“Do you understand?”

“I really can’t.”

So, what Belze said just now was that, four days ago, she almost electrocuted someone by pushing them onto an electric pole during a fight that was about to explode, but today, she took a vacation because she was worried that only 199 out of the 200 invited guests would show up at the giveaway event.

Does that make any sense?

Normal people don’t do this kind of thing. Even sane people wouldn’t. This is beyond villainous behavior. So the conclusion is that everything she just said was just her clumsy excuse.

As Seo pulled out the signpost that was stuck on the ground with an expression of disbelief, Belze’s face crumpled. It was a tragedy and a struggle for someone who quickly realized they could use that signpost to push themselves away.

“If you don’t believe me, call and ask if I’m on vacation or not!”

Feeling so malicious, Seo also called the team manager. Although there were times when there were threats to Belze, there was never a time when she told such an obvious lie about being on holiday.

The schedules of heroes and villains are not always shared, but they are sometimes indirectly shared. Otherwise, the peace treaty on day-off would not be maintained, so if someone with a relatively public face, like Belze, wanted to take a break, they’d leave a contact number somewhere.

Seo ended the call, expecting the opposite of what he had predicted. With a disgusted expression, he stood over her.

He knew he couldn’t break the peace agreement over something like this, so he backed off, but he didn’t feel comfortable.

He looked down at Belze with a very troubled expression as she brushed off the dust and sand-like debris from her back.

“So you came here because you thought I might have only 199 fans?”

“That’s right. It was a selfish act. Aren’t you happy that I’m your fan?”

“There’s nothing else to do, is there?”

Seo stopped thinking there. Belze’s behavior was beyond his comprehension, so perhaps it was best not to think about it.

Belze was a villain, and it wasn’t uncommon for villains to engage in all sorts of bizarre logic. Moreover, delving into it deeply would only result in him losing out.

Part of living a healthy life is not trying to understand what doesn’t make sense. Seo stepped back, clearly suspending judgment on Belze’s behavior. Until Belze called him to attention.

“You know what?”

“What?”

“I worked hard to make that chocolate. Enjoy it.”

“…….”

After receiving a look that said, “Are you crazy?” Belze held out her scarred hand and smiled brightly.

“My sincerity, you said you’d eat it.”

The scars from the chocolate-making process glinted in the sunlight.

Part of living a healthy life is not trying to understand what doesn’t make sense. Seo should not have tried to understand Belze’s actions cleanly and should not have tried to understand them. He shouldn’t even question it.

He simply had to consider that a strange person had done something strange.

However, after quite some time had passed, Seo realized that he couldn’t do that.

The chocolate that had been given to him that day, the words that had told him to enjoy it, that he shouldn’t be left behind compared to others, had been nudging him from beneath the surface. And he had ended up doing a foolish thing.

It must have been because of the chocolate he received that day.

* * *

…He remembered.

Seo, remembering the story behind the chocolate, unwrapped the package and picked up a round piece of chocolate.

He was told to enjoy it, but he was suspicious at first, and then he got busy, so he put it in the refrigerator and completely forgot about it until today.

At that time, he had considered the chocolate somewhat strange, but now, looking back, it felt refreshing. He realized that maybe she gave it to him because she really wanted to, without thinking too much about it.

She kissed him, she visited him in his dreams, and she made out with him on a cruise, he wondered if there was at least a hint of tender emotions then.

He couldn’t be sure, but Belze had always been an unpredictable person. It wouldn’t be strange if emotions for him existed from back then.

A slight smile crept onto his face. Seo crushed the round chocolate with his teeth, savoring the sweetness.

“I’ll eat your sincerity.”

It was late, but may your sincerity be sweet.

* * *

“Why on earth is Seo so angry today?!”

“I don’t know. Seems like a side dish tantrum. He nitpicks about a spicy chocolate as a gift, but I don’t know what he’s talking about…….”

“Oh, he’s saying that someone put some weird stuff in the chocolate? If he thought it was a gift and was tricked, he’s got every right to be upset, but it’s his own fault. It’s common sense not to eat chocolates given by strangers.”

“Who’s Seo to care about common sense?”

“…No, if you gobble down chocolates given by someone then nitpick on it, that’s indecent! It’s not even Valentine’s Day, so getting mad for receiving chocolate is just ridiculous.”

“Why is Belze also angry? …Ah. Belze also gave him similar chocolates, but he didn’t eat hers.”

“Geez… He ate them, thinking it was fine, but it turned out it wasn’t. What a betrayal.”

“That’s why I said I would have thrown them away. Kim Seo is not stupid enough to eat what the villain gave him.”

“I didn’t expect it, but he received it warmly. I’m sure it was suspicious, but a little spice isn’t going to kill you.”

“I’m always amazed by Belze’s audacity.”

“Yeah, then eating chocolates from another woman and getting hurt, isn’t that perfect! Serves him right! He’s selfish, not thinking of others’ sincerity… No, why does he keep getting mad at us? I was stupid to expect even for a moment… ugh!”