## Chapter 25 – (9)
I hadn’t entirely failed to anticipate this situation.
I just hadn’t expected Choi Ga-eun to show up.
However, from the moment I reported it to the hero, I had a feeling that heroes might come after us.
If a hero investigated the scene, they could easily figure out that the safe and the villain’s vehicle were gone.
And in South Korea, the paradise of CCTV and black boxes, it wouldn’t take long to find the escaped vehicle.
It was only a matter of time before a hero found us.
But due to an unexpected incident, we wasted too much time.
Not only did a hero find us, but that hero turned out to be Choi Ga-eun.
Ga-eun’s face was red, and her eyes were shaking as if she was flustered.
“You, you left Min-ji… no, how long has it been, and you already have a woman…”
Ga-eun seemed to have trouble even speaking, stammering several times as she pointed at me.
I was caught in a dilemma.
What should I do?
Should I tell the truth?
Or should I be strong and assertive, like I was at the cafe?
After much deliberation, I chose the latter.
“It’s not a crime for a man and a woman to be together, is it? Min-ji will probably understand.”
“What are you talking about… there’s no way she’d understand this…”
“I’ve always had this kind of relationship with Min-ji.”
“What?!”
It wasn’t exactly a lie.
Whether it was Han-byeol lying here, or Min-ji, it was hard to define our relationship clearly.
If I had to say, it was a relationship between victim and perpetrator.
In my relationship with Han-byeol, I might have been the victim.
I tried so hard to resist, but I was tempted to help.
“Mi, Min-ji too, like that…?”
At those words, Choi Ga-eun looked at Han-byeol.
Ga-eun couldn’t easily take her eyes off the miserable sight.
She couldn’t maintain her usual confident attitude, not even now.
Her shaking eyes and hesitant fingers were proof of that.
She seemed to have low tolerance for this kind of thing.
But Ga-eun didn’t know.
“Actually, my relationship with Min-ji is even deeper.”
“Dee, deeper?”
Ga-eun lowered her head, wondering what she was imagining.
That imagination was probably right.
I went so far as to make Min-ji’s rough mouth utter coquettish moans.
“…Anyway… that vehicle. You know it’s the villains’ car, right? Those villains. Did you take them down?”
“…That’s right.”
“I knew it… there were traces like they’d been hit with a blunt object.”
Ga-eun nodded.
Having seen me carrying a bat, Ga-eun must have thought of me when she saw the scene.
And she added one more thing.
“What about the safe?”
“That’s… no.”
“…Liar.”
I lied.
Even though the safe was inside the vehicle.
Even though the scene of me getting in with the safe might have been caught on CCTV or a black box, I denied it first.
After seeing Ga-eun’s reaction earlier, I had a feeling I could hide it.
“If you don’t believe me, you can check inside the car.”
“T-there?”
Ga-eun pointed to the inside of the car, or more precisely, to the sprawled-out Han-byeol, with a flustered expression.
The redness in her complexion had mostly returned as the drug’s effects wore off, but that only made her breasts and vagina, reddened by intense masturbation, stand out even more.
“Yes. Go ahead.”
“…”
When I even cleared the way, Ga-eun approached the vehicle with slow steps.
The way she hesitated as she approached was like she was facing an explosive.
“The heat…”
The inside of the vehicle was still hot.
The scent and heat of a female continued to pour out through the open door.
Ga-eun, who felt it nearby, couldn’t bring herself to check inside the vehicle.
“…Oh, it doesn’t seem to be there.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to look further inside?”
“…It’s okay. Anyway, no one would care if a villain’s safe disappeared.”
Ga-eun didn’t go any further inside, only looking from outside the door.
And eventually, she gave up.
She really seemed to have no tolerance for this kind of thing.
Then, she stared blankly at Han-byeol before startling herself and speaking.
“W-well done, for now. As a hero hopeful, it’s good that you subdued the villain and reported it.”
“Yes.”
“But it was dangerous, the opponent was a B-rank villain.”
B-rank.
That was unexpected. I knew his ability was surprisingly tough, but he didn’t seem like a B-rank villain.
And I knew a story.
“Min-ji definitely took down the Scorpion Gang alone…”
“Where did you hear that—ah, you heard it because you have that kind of relationship with Min-ji.”
Ga-eun questioned how I knew such a story, but then she glanced at Han-byeol and understood.
Ga-eun told me about my question.
In the past, when Min-ji subdued the Scorpion Gang, she suppressed them with telekinesis before they could even use their abilities, ending the fight.
However, immediately after, taking advantage of the gap when her telekinesis weakened, the scorpion used its ability and succeeded in resisting the telekinesis and escaping.
If Min-ji knew he was an ability user and fought from the start, Min-ji would have likely lost.
I understood why the heinous villain Kim Scorpion was running a loan shark business in Incheon instead of being in prison.
He wasn’t caught back then.
And now he was caught by me.
“To catch a B-rank hero alone before the exam…”
Ga-eun’s gaze changed slightly.
It was a gaze that felt somewhat warm.
“Ah, anyway, report the vehicle later and return it.”
Saying that, Ga-eun disappeared with quick steps, as if she was running away.
The atmosphere and gaze from just now weren’t bad.
It seemed like I was being recognized as a man by Ga-eun.
And I looked at Han-byeol inside the vehicle.
“…She’ll wake up, right?”
***
After some time passed and Han-byeol woke up, I bought her some light clothes from around the area and sent her off in a taxi.
Han-byeol, who had lost the effects of the drug, became even more timid and couldn’t have much of a conversation, but she did ask for my phone number with a trembling voice, so we exchanged numbers.
I also got into a taxi with the safe and headed to the black market in Myeongdong.
At first, the taxi driver looked at me suspiciously as I got in with the dented safe, but he didn’t even glance at me after that, probably because he didn’t want to get involved.
I was glad because that was more comfortable for me.
Arriving at the black market, I first looked for someone who could take care of the safe.
It wasn’t difficult to find someone who could take care of it.
As I was carrying the safe around, an old man appeared and said he would open the safe for 100,000 won, and he actually opened the safe on the spot after I paid him.
It was a safe with a keypad for entering a password like a door lock, and after receiving the money, the old man glanced at it, pressed a few buttons, and opened it.
He didn’t hesitate at all when entering the long password.
“How…”
The old man chuckled, satisfied with my bewildered reaction, and replied.
He said that in the case of safes that use a password like a door lock, unlike safes that use keys or dials, there is a long and complex emergency number that only a few employees know, in case the number is lost.
And for some reason, the old man knew that number.
As expected of a place overflowing with villains.
Of course, there was no way a normal old man would be in a place like this.
Inside the opened safe were thick bundles of paper and—
A gold bar emitting a radiant light.
I immediately carried the safe as it was and went into a bar inside the black market.
Rarely, Violet was standing side by side with the bartender.
And when she saw me coming in with the half-opened safe, she smiled brightly.
“As expected, you’re capable.”
“…It was nothing.”
She greeted me as if she knew I was coming.
It seemed like the news that I had defeated the Scorpion had reached Violet’s ears.
I handed over the safe without a second thought, but Violet stared blankly at the bartender.
The bartender raised his hand for a moment and then shook his head.
“I can’t lift something this heavy.”
“Right?”
“…Ah.”
That’s right.
I hadn’t paid attention to it since I gained the Strength and Stamina skills, but my body was now beyond the range of ordinary people.
I gave up on handing over the safe as it was and put it on the floor, then took out the gold bar and the bundles of paper.
“Heuk, this is heavy too?”
The bartender’s face turned red as he received the gold bar.
I also thought it was heavier than I expected for its size, but it seemed to be heavy enough for an ordinary person to lift.
“It’ll be 50 million won, right?”
“50 million won?”
Violet smiled slightly.
Then she stroked my head as if I was cute.
Of course, I was much taller, so Violet had to stand on her tiptoes.
I was puzzled by that reaction.
I couldn’t relate to that reaction because I didn’t know how much gold cost.
I had only heard people say that you should buy gold, that gold is very expensive, so I only vaguely knew that it was expensive, but I didn’t know the exact amount.
“This big gold bar looks like it weighs over 10kg.”
Violet said, tapping the gold bar with her finger.
“I’ll have to check, but if this is high-purity gold—”
One by one, her fingers increased until all ten fingers were spread out.
“It’ll be over a billion won.”
My mouth slowly opened at the unexpectedly high amount.
