The Spoon Villain Is Obsessed with the Hero Again Today - Chapter 113



The Monster That Devours Monsters (3)

[How’s Geumseonggak? Is it manageable?]

“…”

Hyeongwang’s employee break room. Arna was staring intently at her smartphone, her brows furrowed.

The messenger app was open on the screen. But she couldn’t bring herself to press the send button.

“Would it be strange to send a message like this all of a sudden…?”

Even asking a simple greeting was not an easy task for Arna.

Who was the other person? Shin Yoon-seong, wasn’t it? Sending a sudden message asking how Shin Yoon-seong was doing.

It was too out of the blue. What would Shin Yoon-seong say if he saw this? He would surely reply asking if something was wrong.

Their relationship wasn’t that close.

“Relationship…”

Arna and Shin Yoon-seong. The relationship between the two. She thought it was just a terrible fate. Just seeing his face made her angry, gave her chills.

But what about now? Could she still get as angry as before when she saw his face?

“I don’t know…”

She wasn’t sure.

He was clearly a villain.

Definitely a bad person.

A person who was of no help in life.

Why couldn’t she erase him from her mind?

Why did he keep stirring up her heart?

“Ugh…!”

Moreover, it was the dispatch period. They were far apart.

Normally, she would have cheered and shouted for joy…

But what was this feeling? Instead of being happy, she felt only melancholy. It was as if a big hole had been drilled in a corner of her heart, leaving her very empty.

She felt drained for no reason.

“No, no…! I’m not lovesick or anything…! Why am I suffering over just one message…!”

Yes. It was just sending one sentence.

If Choi So-eun could send a message, so could she.

Arna closed her eyes tightly and pressed the send button.

“Study! Study! Study! Study! Studyyyyyyyy!”

“Ahhh!”

It was then. Suddenly, a flying squirrel burst into the break room. She almost dropped her smartphone.

“What, what is this all of a sudden…!”

It was Son I-seo from Team 1. The Son I-seo who had gone on a business trip to Gangwon-do this morning.

When did he return?

What’s with the workbook?

It looks like a GED book.

“This time, I’ll definitely pass! I’ll show that I’m no longer just a middle school graduate!”

What could have happened while I was in Gangwon-do? Son Iseo sat down and roughly opened the math workbook.

“Huh?”

Just as he was about to start studying, Son Iseo noticed Arna in the same lounge.

“Oh! You’re from Hanyul Academy too!”

“Yes…?”

Son Iseo closed the math workbook again and went over to Arna. Arna instinctively hugged her chest.

Just in case he might try something inappropriate.

“Arna! Do you know Shin Yunseong?”

“Sh-Shin Yunseong…?”

But Son Iseo’s target wasn’t her chest. He mentioned the name Shin Yunseong.

“Are you close with him? Do you take classes together and stuff? Does he always tease and bully people?”

“W-Wait a minute! Do you know him?”

Arna’s eyes widened.

Shin Yunseong is currently interning at Geumseonggak. He has nothing to do with Hyeongwang here.

But Son Iseo knew his name.

“I met him in Gangwon-do earlier.”

“Oh….”

“Do you know what he said to me? He called me a middle school graduate! He looked down on me from the first meeting, calling me a middle school graduate! It was so annoying!”

“….”

He was still scratching at people’s nerves, whether at school or outside. Truly typical of Shin Yunseong.

“Arna! Do you have Shin Yunseong’s number? Give me his number!”

“What?”

Son Iseo held out his smartphone. He suddenly demanded Shin Yunseong’s phone number.

Arna broke out in a cold sweat for no reason.

“W-Why do you need his number…?”

“When I pass the GED, I want to contact him first! I need to let him know that I’m now a high school graduate too!”

“….”

The smartphone Arna was holding currently had Shin Yoon-sung’s number stored in it.

Moreover, she had just sent him a message.

“That….”

Giving out a number is no big deal. Just saying a few digits and it’s done.

From noble mtl dot com

But why is it? Her mouth wouldn’t open easily. She didn’t want to give this number to anyone else.

Only, for me….

“Arna?”

“Sorry. I’m not that close with him… I don’t really know his number.”

Arna quietly hid the smartphone she was holding behind her back.

*

Park Won-hyuk asked if he could step out for a moment. Following his words, we left the reception room and stayed in the waiting room for a while.

“Director….”

Currently, inside the reception room, only Park Won-hyuk and Shim Joon-yong, the two officials, were having a separate conversation. The secretary, Park Ha-yul, was also in the waiting room.

“I’ve never seen the director with that kind of face before. He was always smiling in front of me….”

His daughter, Park Ha-yul, was also very surprised, saying it was the first time she had seen such a look.

Here, Kang Tae-hoon couldn’t hold back his curiosity and spoke first.

“What? Why is that guy suddenly acting all serious?”

Others had similar reactions. They tilted their heads, not knowing why Park Won-hyuk was acting that way.

If there was anyone here who knew the context….

“It’s all because of the past.”

It would be his old classmate, Ryu Jung-min, who had been watching Park Won-hyuk all this time.

“The past? Aunt… No. Do you know anything?”

“It’s a bit difficult to say with my own mouth. Just know that something bad happened.”

Even his family, like Park Ha-yul, didn’t know the story. As such, he shouldn’t carelessly talk about others’ circumstances. Ryu Jung-min judged so and held back his words.

“Hey. Shin Yoon-sung.”

This time, it was Kang Tae-hoon looking at me.

“How did you know that was a mutant?”

I wondered what he was talking about, then realized he was referring to the monster Basago I presented at the meeting.

“Oh. I’m curious about that too. How did you know it was Basago? It looked completely different from the data.”

Kim Han-bit, who was good with information, also widened her eyes and asked me.

How could they tell it was Code No. 3 Basago just by looking at the appearance? It’s a question that would naturally arise from anyone’s perspective.

I answered.

“Because I’m a genius.”

“Hey. Where are you guys going to have dinner? Not the cafeteria again, right?”

In response to my answer, Kang Tae-hoon turned his back and pondered over the dinner menu. He must have thought I was just talking nonsense.

Such tear-jerking camaraderie.

“If that’s really Basago, isn’t it a big deal? Is it okay to leave it like this? Shouldn’t we report it to the higher-ups right away…?”

At least Kim Han-bit seemed to sense the crisis and was looking for a solution.

Here, Yoo Ji-woo, who had little knowledge about the monsters, raised his hand and asked a question.

“Hey. Is that Basasak or Basago really that great?”

“It’s one of the few S-class monsters, isn’t it?”

Instead, Ryu Jung-min opened her mouth.

She continued to explain.

“A monster that devours other monsters. In the past, an entire island was devastated because of that one.”

“Then why is it showing up again now? And how did it hide that huge body until now? Wouldn’t it be noticeable?”

“That’s something I don’t know either. Well, if I had to guess, it might have absorbed abilities related to other monsters it devoured. For example, the ability to hide its appearance.”

It was exactly as Ryu Jung-min said. The reason Basago could roam around without being detected by anyone until today. It was because of Basago’s ability.

That’s why it could disappear without a trace when it had a fight with Son Hee-seo earlier.

“Such a formidable creature, why is it just staying still? Did it come to Gangwon-do for a forest bath or something? Its actions are too quiet compared to what I’ve heard.”

The creature that easily wiped out several islands showed no particular movement in Gangwon-do. It even seemed to avoid people.

There was a reason for that.

“Because it’s still gathering strength.”

I revealed Basago’s motive. Yoo Ji-woo crossed his arms and stared at me intently.

“Should I believe that or not?”

Soon, Yoo Ji-woo took his eyes off me and spoke to everyone.

“So what happens now? What should we do? Surely, we’re not going to track Basago like this, right?”

“That depends on your representative’s decision.”

Ryu Jung-min pointed to the door of the reception room. The meeting was still ongoing.

Park Ha-yul, who was quietly staring at the door, muttered softly.

“Dad…”

“Huh? Dad?”

She called him Dad, not CEO. Kim Han-bit looked at Park Ha-yul, wondering if she had misheard.

Park Ha-yul flinched in surprise, her shoulders jerking.

“Oh, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to…”

“Huh? That man is your dad?”

This time, it was Kang Tae-hoon who asked. Park Ha-yul hunched her shoulders and slowly nodded.

“Yes…”

“Hmm. That man got married pretty early, didn’t he? He looks quite young but has a grown-up daughter.”

“No, no… The CEO is still single…”

“What? Single? Then…”

Not married, not even divorced.

So what was Park Ha-yul? A daughter from a youthful mistake?

Park Ha-yul, who had been watching this, confessed a fact.

“Actually, I’m an adopted daughter.”

*

“The exclusive rights to research and development related to the new species of monsters.”

A spacious and luxurious office for one person. This was the office of the Minister of Hero Management.

“Understood. I’ll send the official document soon. Will that suffice?”

And the owner of this office, Minister of Hero Management Choi Chang-hwan, spoke towards the speakerphone.

─Thank you, Minister.

Choi Chang-hwan was in the middle of a call with Park Won-hyuk, the representative of Geumseonggak. Geumseonggak had contacted him, saying they had important information to report.

The matter was related to the new species of monsters.

─I will send the data immediately.

“You can send the data by tomorrow. It’s late today.”

The deep wrinkles on his forehead and the occasional white hairs spoke of the years Choi Chang-hwan had lived.

His lifeless eyes and barely noticeable facial expressions made him seem like a stone statue.

“Is there anything else to report?”

Because of this, people who faced Choi Chang-hwan often said the same thing.

He was a person whose thoughts were hard to read.

It was the same even now. Even though it was a simple, formal question, there seemed to be another meaning hidden in his words.

─…No, there isn’t.

Park Won-hyuk trailed off his words for no reason. Of course, Choi Chang-hwan wasn’t someone who would miss this.

There is something else being hidden. There is another problem besides the new type of monster.

But he didn’t intend to pry. That was Choi Chang-hwan’s way of working.

“Alright. Good job. See you later.”

─Yes….

Beep─!

The call ended there.

Choi Chang-hwan leaned back in his chair to enjoy the rare freedom that had come to him.

And the moment he closed his eyes….

Bang─!

The door to the minister’s office burst open. Without even a knock.

“Uncle…!”

At the same time, a clear, ringing voice filled the minister’s office.

Choi Chang-hwan lifted his body from the backrest and looked at the girl standing in front of him.

It was Choi Chang-hwan’s only family, his daughter, Choi So-eun.

“You’re at it again, Uncle…!”

Unlike Choi Chang-hwan’s dead eyes, Choi So-eun’s eyes were fiercely blazing.

It was easy to read her mind. Choi Chang-hwan knew everything about why Choi So-eun had come here and why she was angry.

Choi Chang-hwan spoke to his daughter in his usual dry voice.

“I told you to call me father when we’re outside the house.”