The Villain’s Recipe - Chapter 9.2
“Are you really, truly going to grant it?”
Baek Seok-gyol gazed intently at the brightened face, filled with excitement. Then, he tried imitating Min-ha’s expression. At that, Min-ha opened his eyes wide and made a surprised face.
“Wow, hyung. Hyung, you really are.”
“Really am?”
“You’re beautiful.”
It felt like it was the first time he had ever heard the word beautiful, too. The feeling wasn’t bad. Most humans liked beautiful things. If the guide he was going to be with in the future considered him beautiful, that was fine, too.
Baek Seok-gyol smiled consciously and blinked slowly. At Min-ha’s gaze, looking at him as if spellbound, a sense of satisfaction welled up from deep within his stomach.
❖ ❖ ❖
Baek Seok-gyol kept his promise to Min-ha. He brought a phone and handed it to him.
When he turned on the screen, there was a photo of a woman with a blank face. It was a familiar face to Min-ha, too. Sui. The owner of the phone seemed to be Sui.
‘I’m sorry. I’ll just use it for a moment.’
Min-ha took a deep breath and slowly dialed the number he had memorized. Before long, the call ringing tone was heard, and the other person picked up.
-Hello?
“Grandfather! It’s me, Min-ha.”
At the blunt exclamation, the other person, Elderly Man Grandfather, asked in surprise.
-Min-ha, is that really Min-ha? Where are you! Do you have any idea what kind of chaos is going on here right now?
“Huh? Why is there chaos?”
-Why do you think so? Because you disappeared! That bastard Lee In-su, that’s the bastard’s doing, right? Where are you? Where is it?
“Umm.”
Min-ha looked at Baek Seok-gyol standing beside him. Then he turned his gaze back and concentrated on the call.
“I can’t tell you where I am, but I’m fine.”
-What do you mean you’re fine! Min-ha!
Grandfather seemed worried that Min-ha would hang up the phone. He spat out his words rapidly, trying to soothe Min-ha and get him to talk more. Listening to that, a sense of guilt welled up. Along with it, he grew even more resentful of the damned uncle who had dragged him all the way here.
“I’m really fine.”
That was as much as Min-ha could say. No matter how poorly educated he was and how much he had lived as he pleased, he still had some tact. What would happen if Gamheung-ri got marked by villains because of a mistake? Baek Seok-gyol didn’t look like that kind of person, but he couldn’t be sure.
Grandfather had said so, too. It was better to be cautious about everything.
Just as he was about to hang up the call, an unfamiliar voice intruded.
-Lee Min-ha.
Who is it? Just from hearing the voice, it sounded like a young person. In Gamheung-ri, Min-ha was the only young person around this age. Then, could it be a public official or a police officer? As he thought that, the other person continued.
-It’s me, Kang Sa-hyeok. Do you remember?
Although he borrowed the form of a question, Kang Sa-hyeok seemed certain that Min-ha would remember him. And he wasn’t wrong.
“No way, Sa-hyeok?”
-The bracelet you gave me, I still have it.
“Me too! I still have the paper crane, too.”
When it reached that point, the call suddenly disconnected. Looking at the phone in bewilderment, he saw that the signal indicator bar was gone.
“Huh? Huh.”
While he was staring blankly at the phone, Ma Jin-cheol, who had brought the phone, asked nonchalantly.
“What is the matter?”
“Suddenly the signal isn’t catching.”
“Aigo, I see. It’s probably a cell tower issue. Maybe because it’s a bit far, it cuts out abruptly sometimes. Or it could be an issue with Sui’s phone.”
“Ah, I see.”
Min-ha handed the phone back to Ma Jin-cheol with a face full of lingering disappointment.
“Didn’t you still deliver all the news you wanted? Don’t worry too much.”
Though Ma Jin-cheol was soothing him on the outside, his inner thoughts were different.
‘Kang Sa-hyeok?’
There was only a single Kang Sa-hyeok they knew. An Esper from the damned government-affiliated Management Bureau. Manipulating fire, he was an S-rank Esper considered precious even on a global scale. Why would such an entity know Min-ha, who lived in the countryside? He needed to look into him.
‘Things might get annoying.’
Kang Sa-hyeok was a troublesome figure for Zero in many ways. Whenever a villain appeared, he would rush in to set justice right. To be completely honest, he didn’t want to deal with him. Dealing with an S-rank Esper was a matter of putting one’s life on the line.
