The Tough Guy Hides the Villainess - Chapter 116



116 – It’s Time for Heroes! #2

116 – It’s Time for Heroes! #2

Kim Woo-soo was a self-made man who was born into an ordinary family and worked tirelessly to succeed.

“Congratulations to Kim Woo-soo, son of Chungnam, on entering Seoul National University!”

“Congratulations on graduating at the top of the Business School at Seoul National University!”

It’s no exaggeration to say that the days when he studied while sleeping only three hours a day made him the man he is today.

In fact, he showed an extraordinary knack for networking rather than studying.

“Professor, this is Cheonma from my hometown. It’s great for blood circulation when brewed.”

“Wow, look at how thick this root is!”

From noble mtl dot com

“I hope you can look after me during the internship… Hehehe…”

It was also thanks to his networking skills that he joined the National Intelligence Service and later transferred to the Superhuman Management Agency.

The Superhuman Management Agency is a powerful department in the 7th Republic.

But? If he made one mistake, it was choosing to side with the cunning Nam Bada over Nam Woo-joo.

Nam Woo-joo was the crown prince of the 7th Republic, while Nam Bada was more like a contractor who handled all the dirty work.

As Nam Bada’s subordinate, Director Kim Woo-soo also ended up doing dirty, shameful work that he couldn’t boast about to others.

“This is not the version of myself I wanted!”

It was a harsh reality for him, who was once called the son of Chungnam and had banners hung in his hometown.

However, after Nam Woo-joo, the crown prince of the 7th Gong, fell from power due to the demon incident, the situation changed when his younger brother, Nam Bada, was given full authority to clean up the aftermath.

“My choice was right after all!”

Although he still did dirty and rough work in the underground where sunlight didn’t reach.

Working under Nam Bada, who had become powerful, turned out to be a great choice in the long run.

Then, a crisis came into his life.

A research facility created in collaboration between the “Witch Church” and the Superhuman Management Agency.

Seo Ga-eul came there and wreaked havoc.

“You crazy b*stards!”

Bang-! Bang bang bang-! Bang bang-!

She shot strange shockwaves from her palms, smashing the research facility to pieces, and just watching it was exhausting.

But Kim Woo-soo was not just a sycophant who had taken his position through flattery.

“Shoot the anesthetic darts! Anesthetic darts!”

Pishushuk-.

The darts with sharp needles aimed at Seo Ga-eul’s body, and some of them stopped in mid-air as if blocked by an invisible barrier.

“Damn it, this monstrous woman!”

As far as Kim Woo-soo knew, Seo Ga-eul, the princess of Seonam, possessed a concept called “miracle.” Thanks to that, she could create a defensive shield in the air that transcended physical laws.

But-.

Wooong…

The output of the ability that acted like a shield gradually weakened.

It was because there were still many clumsy parts in using the “miracle” as a defensive ability, resulting in a lack of duration.

Tsk-.

When Seo Ga-eul clicked his tongue, a few anesthetic bullets finally lodged into his body.

“You b*stards…”

Despite the powerful drug that could even put an elephant to sleep, Seo Ga-eul kept cursing until he collapsed.

Manager Kim Woo-soo felt a sense of relief and sudden fatigue at this moment.

“Manager, what should we do? The principle is to quietly handle illegal intruders and witnesses. But this is Seo Ga-eul from Seonam.”

“I don’t know, man!”

Handling someone as famous as Seo Ga-eul recklessly could lead to unforeseen consequences.

So he contacted Nam Bada for now.

“Mr. Bada, this happened. What should we do?”

Nam Bada’s instructions were simple.

First, arrest and wait.

He said he would handle it himself.

Only then did Manager Kim Woo-soo feel relieved.

‘As expected, I made the right connections. I thought all my hair roots would fall out from stress.’

But then.

Another source of stress threatening Manager Kim Woo-soo’s hair roots appeared, and it was none other than Han Nam-jin.

The boy, who was thought to have died after going missing during the Namwooju subjugation operation, suddenly emerged from the underground, claiming an absurd story.

“Are you saying you’re President Nam Tae-gun’s grandson?”

“That’s right. I don’t really want to admit it, but if you doubt it, you can do a DNA test. I see there are various facilities here, so you should be able to do a DNA test, right?”

In this underground lab, it was easy to conduct a DNA test. But from the beginning, there was doubt whether the proposition of being President Nam Tae-gun’s grandson could even be established.

The probability of a grandson inheriting Nam Tae-gun’s blood was exactly zero percent.

Chief Kim Woo-soo had worked under Nam Tae-gun for a long time, so he knew a bit about Nam Tae-gun’s biological son, Nam Ha-neul.

He knew that Nam Ha-neul had a bad relationship with his father, Nam Tae-gun, and that he had entered the military academy and served as a soldier.

He also knew that Nam Ha-neul was infertile, which had caused him to fall out of favor with his father, Nam Tae-gun.

In other words-

Nam Ha-neul was incapable of having a son.

Therefore, Han Nam-jin’s claim of being Nam Ha-neul’s son was obviously false.

‘It should be false.’

Chief Kim Woo-soo’s scalp, which had always navigated the power dynamics well, felt unusually itchy. It was a similar feeling to when he had been torn between Nam Woo-joo and Nam Ba-da during his dispatch.

Scratch, scratch, scratch-

Kim Woo-soo, scratching the few remaining hair roots with his nails, asked.

“Do a DNA test? Are you trying to buy time to escape?”

“Why would I escape? It’s you guys who should be escaping, hiding underground like rats and doing strange things. I have only one demand. Hand over Seo Ga-eul.”

Kim Woo-soo knew Han Nam-jin well.

He knew that Han Nam-jin was a boy managed by Kim Jang-dong, a long-time colleague at the Superhuman Management Agency.

He also knew that Han Nam-jin was at the center of a major incident these days and was being hailed as a hero with a martial arts medal.

And he knew that every time Han Nam-jin started an internet broadcast, the world would be abuzz.

“Is the broadcast still on?”

If this underground facility is exposed to the world, the people in charge will be swept away like flies before a typhoon.

Feeling anxious, Kim Woosu asked Han Namjin.

“Is the broadcast still on?”

“Not right now, but it depends on how you respond. I have only one demand. Hand over Seo Gaul and the access rights to the ‘Great Labyrinth Entrance’ somewhere in this facility.”

He said he had one demand, but he was asking for both Seo Gaul and the access rights to the Great Labyrinth.

Isn’t that two things?

Of course, Kim Woosu’s mind was overloaded and he had no capacity to argue.

# # #

The man who seemed to be in charge of this underground lab was a rough-looking human with a half-bald head.

“Kim Woosu.”

Looking at the name tag on his white coat, I decided to make a deal.

“Mr. Woosu, let’s just end this quietly. If you do as I say now, I won’t make a fuss about this facility. Let’s compromise.”

“But, Seo Gaul’s safety was entrusted to Nam Bada. If you take her away from here, how am I supposed to explain? I can’t just say she suddenly disappeared.”

“Use my name.”

“……”

Kim Woosu seemed to be in agony.

I shouted at the soldiers who were still pointing their guns at us.

“What are you doing? Bring the woman Seo Gaul to me immediately!”

I could feel the conflicted gazes of the soldiers under their tactical helmets.

About 10 seconds passed.

Kim Woosu, who was groaning like a sick puppy, spoke.

“Bring that lady back.”

“Boss! Are you serious? You’re just going to let them go like this?”

“What else can we do! If he’s really the president’s grandson! And even if he’s not, he’s too big for us to handle. The whole country is mourning this guy, and if we get involved, we’ll be in big trouble.”

He’s a smart man.

So smart that his hair follicles overheated and he became half bald.

Then Seogaeul appeared.

Seogaeul looked dazed, like someone who had taken strong cold medicine.

“Uhnyaa…”

Uhnyaa, what nonsense.

I snapped my fingers in front of Seogaeul and even slapped his cheeks.

Seogaeul’s condition was still strange.

“Why is he like this?”

“He got hit by a tranquilizer dart. Even a great 4th-grade awakener would be out of it for half a day.”

“I see.”

There was something I had vowed to do when I met Seogaeul again.

To make him pay for causing trouble.

I had vowed to bite him when I met him.

So I bit Seogaeul’s white ear hard!

“Bwaaah!”

Seo Ga-eul screamed like a pterosaur attacked by a sea dragon while watching the ocean.

Then, touching her ear, she shouted at me.

“You crazy b*stard!”

She’s back to her senses.

But instead of blaming me for biting her ear, Seo Ga-eul got angry at the white coats in front of her.

“It’s these b*stards!”

“What?”

“These b*stards made my mom die! These b*stards─.”

Seo Ga-eul tried to say something.

But Director Kim Woo-soo interrupted her story as if to preempt her.

“Ga-eul’s mother suffered from an unknown narcolepsy, right? As time went on, she slept more and more, and eventually, she would have slept all day long. Abroad, they call it ‘Fairy Dream.’”

Fairy Dream.

Is that what it means?

Kim Woo-soo continued his explanation.

“It was a disease that didn’t originally exist in this world. It was one of the misfortunes that entered this world when the Great Labyrinth Gate first opened 20 years ago. So, the treatment had to be done in a way that didn’t exist in this world either.”

They said there were many patients in this facility suffering from ‘Fairy Dream’ like Seo Ga-eul’s mother. They had been conducting various experiments on them.

“The patient couldn’t withstand the magic accumulating in their body, so they kept falling asleep. The only way to adapt the body to the magic was to artificially awaken them. The success rate is about 30 percent.”

The success rate of artificial awakening is 30 percent.

Which side was Seo Ga-eul’s mother on, the 30 or the 70?

“At that time, I wasn’t in charge of this facility, but as far as I know, Miss Autumn’s mother successfully completed her treatment.”

“Successful? You call that successful? My mother lived every moment in burning pain until she died! Even if she was alive, it wasn’t living!”

“Sleeping every moment as if dead. Awake but in pain. Miss Autumn’s mother just chose the latter. And if you want to blame someone, blame that young lady over there.”

Manager Kim Woo-soo pointed his chin at Baek Yeoul.

Baek Yeoul, who had been quietly listening to the conversation while hugging her dog, was startled.

“Who, me? Why me!”

“You’re Baek Yeoul of Baekdang, aren’t you? It was Baekdang Pharmaceuticals that provided the most investment support for this underground facility. The Fairy Dream treatment was made by Baekdang.”

Baek Yeoul seemed greatly shocked that her family was connected to this suspicious facility.

Stories I didn’t even know are coming out.

Baek Yeoul looked at Seo Ga-eul with anxious eyes.

Seo Ga-eul also glared at Baek Yeoul with eyes as hot as flames.

Seo Ga-eul was the one who tormented Baek Yeoul, but in fact, Baek Yeoul’s family caused pain to Seo Ga-eul’s mother during her treatment.

What a truly complicated relationship.

How deep does the rift between these two women go?

Kim Woo-soo soon let out a sigh.

“There is a concept stone given by Miss Yeoul’s mother in the Level 0 area. Let’s go see it together. Once you see it, you’ll understand what I’m talking about. Students have the right to know.”

Level 0, is that where the “special concept stone” is stored?

Following Kim Woo-soo, I walked to a huge tank where a girl was crouching naked.

She looked about ten years old.

“…That…”

When Seo Ga-eul thought that it looked just like a fetus in the womb, except for the artificial life-support machines attached all over it, she was greatly surprised.

“…Baek Yeoul? It looks exactly like Baek Yeoul when she was in elementary school.”

─It had the appearance of a person and looked exactly like Baek Yeoul in her elementary school days.

Mini Baek Yeoul.

What on earth could have happened?

“Namjin, do you know why our foundation is called the ‘Witch Church’?”