THE VILAIN
: Strange Villains
W. Gpeum
"Although it's weakened, the Center still has a strong military. There are far more Espers remaining in the Center than there are fugitives."
"So paradoxically, the fugitives have no choice but to be strong."
"It's not easy to escape the Center's gaze." The one who nodded at Jungkook's words was Seokjin, who had been a fugitive until recently. If they hadn't been strong, even escaping the Center wouldn't have been possible, so it wasn't wrong. Furthermore, Jungkook acknowledged their abilities. What they learned in extreme situations would undoubtedly be of great help to the team's growth. Yeoju, unwilling to deny that, nodded as well.
"If that's the case, then fine. I won't turn down the position of deputy manager."
Jungkook's eyes widened in surprise at Yeoju's declaration. He hadn't expected her to accept it so quickly. He had been racking his brains trying to come up with a few reasons to convince Yeoju, but she accepted the position of deputy team leader surprisingly easily. However, Yeoju Han opened her mouth.
"Other than assisting with training, I will not be involved in any team activities. My sole responsibility is training. As the deputy leader of Team BTS, I have no other duties."
"Keep that in mind."
Jungkook nodded. He'd practically been forced into the vice-team leader role, so now was the time to step back. He needed to step down, not just to Han Yeo-ju, but to ensure the rest of the team accepted her as vice-team leader. With only a small portion of the power, a vice-team leader wouldn't pose much of a threat, so the team wouldn't be overly dissatisfied with her position. As Jungkook had expected, Hoseok, who hadn't shown any signs of opposition to her in the first place, seemed easily convinced. Yoongi, who had quickly accepted the position thanks to the solid reasoning, nodded as well. It was a relief. Jimin, too, glared at Yeo-ju, his eyes sharp, as if he didn't like her, but since the team had already accepted her, he didn't make any major attacks. He simply asked another question.
“As for the deputy manager, there’s something I want to ask.”
"What, to me?"
"What on earth does 'no guidance' mean?"
Jimin, who had set the fluttering paper down on the table, pointed to the place where Yeoju's special instructions were written. "Special Instructions: No Guiding." The roughly scribbled handwriting was unmistakably Yeoju's. Yeoju, who had been reacting nonchalantly, said, "Oh, well," but instead of expounding her situation, chose a different path.
"There are already two guides, so why do you need my guidance? It's not that important, so I'll just skip it…"
The female protagonist, who had been trailing off without answering, sighed when she saw Jimin's eyes that seemed determined to hear an answer. At Park Jimin's words, even Min Yoongi and Jung Hoseok, who were reading through Han Yeo-ju's documents, showed curious reactions, so it seemed difficult to avoid this situation. Only Jeon Jung-kook reacted as if he had noticed something. Judging from the way he was looking at me with a hardened expression, it seemed that way. Han Yeo-ju made a displeased expression, ruffled her hair, sighed, and finally opened her mouth.
"It's literally true. I have A-class guiding, but I can't use it. That's all."
"I've never heard or seen anything like that."
"Yeah, I guess I'm the first. I've never heard of it before."
"Guiding, is it really impossible?"
"what?"
Han Yeo-ju, her brow furrowed, looked at Park Jimin. His expression was also noticeably crumpled. What does that mean? Han Yeo-ju reacted sharply. Park Jimin's words made it sound like he had some other ulterior motive and wasn't guiding her. And as if that weren't enough, he was now staring at me as if he was going to kill me. As if my hypothesis was 100% correct. Park Jimin responded effectively, regardless of Han Yeo-ju's frown. Literally,
"You're not making up a plausible excuse because you don't want to waste your guiding time on us, are you?"
"her,"
"Jimin hyung,"
Han Yeo-ju clicked her tongue. Jeon Jung-kook softly called Park Jimin's name. It was meant as a warning, but Park Jimin paid no attention.
"Are you really saying you can't do it? It's not that you don't do it-"
"ruler."
Han Yeo-ju, who had mercilessly cut off Park Jimin's words, extended her hand. Park Jimin looked at her scarred palm and narrowed his eyes.
"If you don't believe me, just confirm it. In a way, what you said is true. It's not that I can't do it, it's that I shouldn't do it."
"Then there is a good reason for that-,"
"Even if I say it out loud, you'll probably say, 'How can you believe me?' In that case, instead of fighting each other's mouths, let's just experience it for ourselves. My guidance."
"……."
"What's so difficult about that?"
Instead, you take responsibility? Park Jimin, who had been placing his hand on Han Yeo-ju's with a dubious expression, raised an eyebrow at those words. "What?" Before he could even respond, Han Yeo-ju snatched Park Jimin's hand away. The corner of his mouth, crookedly turned to one side, was incredibly annoying, and at the same time, Han Yeo-ju's guidance slipped through his hand.
Park Jimin's complexion turned pale.
"Ugh,"
“…Jimin?”
Park Jimin, who had tossed Han Yeo-ju's hand away, covered his mouth with his own. He staggered for a moment, as if dizzy from the sudden jump, before running to the nearest bathroom. "Ugh," Kim Seok-jin's dry sigh was followed by the sound of Park Jimin's painful emptying of his bowels.
Han Yeo-ju withdrew her thrown hand. Her expression was relaxed, as if she'd known this would happen. Jeong Ho-seok, who had been silent throughout the entire process, opened his mouth as he looked at Han Yeo-ju.
"Rejection?"
"You could look at it that way."
Han Yeo-ju answered, pushing away the paper in front of her.
"Everyone reacted like that, and the aftereffects were terrible. You'll probably be out of your mind for a while, right? So, don't even think about asking me for guidance. There are two guides on the team, so it's not like it's a big deal if I can't guide you."
The chattering continued for a long time. No one dared to speak. "Everything's decided, so can we go?" Han Yeo-ju said, getting up, but no one stopped her. The silence persisted for quite some time. Until no one remained in the room where they had been sitting.
⚒
The building Team BTS was assigned to was one of the most luxurious in the center. Considering that espers, with their keener senses than the average person, were unlikely to prefer crowded places, a building housing all the amenities was the most suitable accommodation for them. Considering that few teams are given entire buildings, it was immediately apparent how much special privileges Team BTS enjoyed under Jeon Jungkook's name. However, those assigned to the building seemed oblivious to such circumstances, simply holed up on the third floor where their dorms were located.
Jungkook knocked on the door at the far end of the third-floor hallway. The clang of hinges creaking added to the clean, hallway rumble. Inyoung, in the crack of the door, looked up at Jungkook with a puzzled expression.
"why?"
Jeon Jungkook hesitated for a moment, unsure if he should even bring up the subject. Time passed without fail, even as he pondered the matter. Only when Han Yeo-ju's expression began to shift from one of bewilderment to one of irritation did he finally open his mouth and utter a single word. Guiding.
“…Did your experiment fail?”
"You came all the way here just to ask that one question?"
Jeon Jeong-guk couldn't respond to Han Yeo-ju's words that seemed to be absurd.
“…Come in first.”
It's also rude to leave someone standing outside. Jeon Jungkook's eyes widened at the wide-open door to Han Yeo-ju's room. The monotonous interior caught his eye. "What are you doing? Why aren't you coming in?" Han Yeo-ju, who was already standing in the middle of the living room, blurted out, and Jeon Jungkook unconsciously stepped into the room. The thud of the door closing was particularly loud.
"What would you like to drink?"
"are you okay."
"Okay, then. So, you came here to hear about the guiding experiment?"
"……."
"Well, that's not all."
Han Yeo-ju, who had plopped down on the sofa, asked. Although no response was forthcoming, he continued as if he had already heard the answer. He spoke casually and casually, as if nothing had happened.
"My guiding experiment failed, so why did yours succeed immediately afterward? Isn't that what you came here to ask?"
“…Was your supernatural ability mind poisoning?”
"Are you kidding? It's not funny at all."
Han Yeo-ju frowned, waving her hand. "Isn't that obvious?" she asked, her voice slightly annoyed. "Since my experiment failed, yours must have succeeded."
"Because there was only one proper guiding plan in the first place."
"…what?"
"Oh, you didn't know that? That's possible. It took me a while to figure it out, too."
"what…,"
"To put it simply, the guiding bead you ate was real, and the one I ate was fake."
"……."
"So you're a success, I'm a failure. It's a natural result."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Jeongguk thought. "Fake guiding?" There's no way such a thing could exist. Guiding, the guide's ability, was also said to be a blessing bestowed by the gods. Unlike the espers' abilities, which would occasionally manifest when pushed to extreme situations, guiding was literally a power that could not be developed by any other means unless it was specifically granted by a god. But fake?" Jeongguk's mind raced.
Jungkook looked at Han Yeo-ju, who was leaning against the sofa, looking at him with a blank expression. Jungkook bit his lip, his composure seeming to already know the answer. Everything was a step ahead, no, maybe a few steps. No matter how hard Jungkook struggled to catch up, he'd easily fall a few steps behind, as if his efforts were ridiculous. That's how Han Yeo-ju felt. No, now wasn't the time to think like that. Now, now...
Jeongguk's eyes, which had been slowly closing, suddenly opened with a sparkle. Fake and real, Han Yeo-ju and Jeon Jeong-guk, the Institute for Research in the Eigenung area, Dr. Sung, and Jeon Jeong-hwan, the center's director—all these words jumbled together in his mind, finally reaching a single conclusion.
“Could it be that you were conducting an experiment to create a guiding…?”
"Ding dong daeng, I gave you all the hints, but it took quite a while to figure it out."
Han Yeo-ju answered in a flat voice. Jeon Jung-kook let out a deep breath. Just what kind of experiments had that damned superpower lab been conducting? Jung-kook furrowed his brow, feeling as if the thread he'd believed he'd unraveled was tangled up again.
"Since when have you known that we were doing experiments like this?"
"After I realized that my guiding was completely useless, I started thinking about how I could possibly use it, and that's how I came to that conclusion."
"So what's the difference between real and fake? What criteria are used to distinguish the two?"
“…Well, this is also a type of ‘cooperation’ you mentioned, right?”
Han Yeo-ju answered hesitantly. She sighed deeply, as if she didn't want to reveal anything, but then glanced at Jeon Jung-kook's face and gave him a look that said, "I forgot." This was so absurd that before Jung-kook could add anything, Han Yeo-ju opened her mouth.
"How do you think the Bead of Power was created?"
"……."
It might have sounded like a random remark, but Jeongguk quickly realized it was a hint to his question. Having encountered both the Orb of Power and the Orb of "real" Guiding, it was easier for him to grasp. Now it was Jeongguk's job to recall them and find the answer.
"Is the answer sufficient?"
Han Yeo-ju, leaning back on the sofa, spoke. It was a clear message telling him to just disappear when he was done. Jeong-gook nodded. His "thank you" was met with a simple "get out of here" gesture. Still, Jeong-gook, as if he'd just spread glue on the sofa, made no move to get up. Han Yeo-ju frowned. "Aren't you going?" True to his impatient nature, the words spilled out of his mouth, and Jeong-gook offered a different answer.
"I have one more matter."
"What? Tell me quickly and go, I'm tired-,"
"I got my first mission."
One of Han Yeo-ju's eyebrows went up crookedly.
"Coordinates S 201, H 1101. The closest enemy fortress to the current border. We must breach it."
"……."
"In three days."
⚒