11 Virtues A Hero's Civilian Friend Must Uphold - Chapter 19

Damn it.

Damn it.

Damn it!

As I irritably threw away the gloves that wouldn’t fit properly due to my rushed hand movements, the cold voice of the team leader immediately followed from behind.

“Get a hold of yourself. Or stay out of this one.”

In their world, incidents like a close friend getting kidnapped were commonplace, if not frequent.

However, for the two young heroes who had just become adults, this was the first time it had happened, so Hee Won had to consider all variables.

They would try their best, but in the worst case scenario, they might have to abandon the hostage. It was uncertain whether they would be able to make rational judgments in this situation.

Knowing that the team leader, who would really exclude himself if things went wrong, Seung Joo picked up the gloves without saying more.

Next to him, Sun Jin, who was reorganizing the military uniform she was wearing, spoke.

“We’ve done this a few times even if we’re young. Keep work and personal matters separate. Right, Seung Joo?”

She called out to her friend as if to confirm, and Seung Joo, who was putting on a headset after tying his black hair up high, silently nodded.

It was clear that he wasn’t sincere, but knowing that there weren’t many personnel to move right now, Hee Won shrugged as if he didn’t notice.

Anyway, even if those two went wild, they just had to do what needed to be done.

Yoon Na Eun was someone to be protected if possible, but depending on the situation, she was a being that could be discarded at any time when necessary.

At least that’s how it was for Hee Won here.

That was also the reason why he was the team leader among these three.

“By the way, Team Leader.”

“Yeah?”

When Sun Jin, who showed a relatively more rational attitude between the two, spoke to him, Hee Won turned his head.

Sun Jin asked expressionlessly.

“That bastard Han Jae Kyung, we can kill him, right?”

“……”

Ah, she wasn’t being rational after all. Hee Won chuckled.

“Sure, whatever.”

[This is the timeline separator]

It took time to realize that she had fainted as if falling asleep.

Even if she tried to open her eyes as soon as she regained consciousness, her heavy eyelids wouldn’t lift at all.

As soon as she managed to regain her vision with utmost effort, she felt her body frozen still as if pressed by scissors.

Judging by the cold sensation on her cheek, she seemed to be lying down somewhere, but her limbs wouldn’t move according to her will as if they were paralyzed.

Someone gently brushed away the strands of hair that were disheveled on her cheek as she struggled to turn her head.

“Oh my, you’re awake.”

“……”

“Are you coming to your senses? The drug was a bit strong. Here, let’s drink some water.”

It was the brown-haired woman she had occasionally seen in nightmares and at the hotel.

As if doing it for a close younger sister, the woman wrapped Na Eun’s head with her arm to lift her upper body and brought a paper cup filled with water to her mouth.

Realizing instinctively that there would be no use in resisting and refusing to drink, Na Eun obediently gulped down the water the woman gave her.

“Good girl, drinking well.”

After praising Na Eun as if she were a baby for finishing a whole cup, the woman roughly lifted her body and leaned it against something.

Perhaps thanks to the cold water clearing her head, her eyes finally opened properly and she began to see her surroundings.

She quietly looked around.

The interior of the building, filled with dust on the floor and walls, was either still under construction or had stopped mid-construction. It was wide open without a single window.

The abandoned building, which seemed perfect for a ghostly experience at night, had no walls surrounding the perimeter to the extent that one could fall immediately after walking straight for about 10 meters.

Thanks to that, she realized that this place was quite high up.

On the gray floor, which looked like dust would puff up with every step, there were a few pieces of lumber and bricks rolling around, traces of construction that had stopped or were for some other purpose.

There were also some tools like hammers and pliers, but not knowing how they would be used in this situation, Na Eun painfully turned her head away from them.

Her hands and feet began to tremble like aspen leaves.

“Aw, you got scared. It’s okay. We won’t need to use those on you.”

Noticing why Na Eun was terrified, roughly at the end of her gaze where the tools were located, the brown-haired woman began to console Na Eun in an exaggeratedly kind tone.

Of course, Na Eun knew it was a lie.

No fool would be under the illusion that someone who looked at their trembling self with such a happy face would guarantee their safety.

“Jae Kyung~ Stop smoking and come over here for a bit. Your rabbit-like girlfriend is awake!”

Poking Na Eun’s cheek with her finger, the woman turned her head and spoke to someone somewhere in a comical tone.

The movement of someone quietly blowing smoke at the edge of the wide open building exterior stopped.

He quietly extinguished what he was holding in his hand and threw it somewhere.

At his feet, there were many discarded cigarette butts scattered around, as if he had been chain-smoking until Na Eun woke up.

Na Eun blankly took in the unfamiliar appearance of Jae Kyung putting out his cigarette and walking towards her.

‘Jae Kyung, do you happen to smoke?’

‘… Ah. Sorry. My uncle smokes and we share the same closet. The smell must have gotten on me.’

An incident that happened not long after they started dating flashed through her mind like a montage.

She thought it was a simple misunderstanding, and he had apologized. After that, there was no cigarette smell coming from him.

That conversation from the not-so-distant past strangely came to mind now, as unfamiliar as lines from a movie.

As if pitying Na Eun, who was just looking up at Jae Kyung who had approached her feet with a dazed expression, the woman pouted and made an artificially sad face.

“Looks like you were surprised. You should have had a more serious relationship. Wouldn’t it be so nice to tell your boyfriend every little detail about everything? Why do you have to be so unnecessarily smart and distinguish between what to say and what not to say? It’s annoying.”

“……”

“Since our Na Eun is smart, you’ve probably assessed the situation by now, right? Now, write the text you memorized as best as you remember here neatly.”

The woman smiled and handed a blank sheet of paper to Na Eun, who was sitting on the floor.

She even kindly placed a pen in her hand like a teacher treating an elementary school student.

“Your fingers are so pretty.”

The woman complimented as she stroked Na Eun’s fingers holding the pen.

Directly faced with eyes that gleamed eerily as they looked at her fingers, Na Eun quietly looked down at the blank paper in front of her and opened her mouth for the first time.

Perhaps because the drug mixed in the pasta was strong, her voice came out hoarse.

“If I say I don’t want to write, what will you do to me?”

A question she asked knowing the answer would probably not be amusing to them.

The two standing in front of Na Eun were silent for a moment.

Before the woman could say something with a pout, Na Eun raised her head and looked up at the other side.

“Jae Kyung, what are you going to do to me?”

“……”

Jae Kyung’s eyes, who received the question, darkened. He smiled with an expression that was hard to decipher.

He spoke to his girlfriend of nearly 2 years with the same gentle face he had shown her all this time.

Na Eun.

“You shouldn’t act stupid here.”

“……”

“Be a good girl.”

It sounded like advice, or a threat. Or maybe both.

Whichever it was, it took time for her to accept that this was not the Jae Kyung she had known all along.

Na Eun blankly looked down at the blank paper in front of her.

Although she couldn’t remember it perfectly as she had memorized it in a hurry, it was the first time in her life she had concentrated so intensely that she could write it down in a similar way.

However, not knowing what consequences the characters she wrote would bring about, she did not move her hand holding the pen.

“Ah, please.”

The brown-haired woman became a little impatient, squatted down in front of Na Eun who was sitting, stroked her hair, and said,

“Do you like getting hurt? You don’t like it, do you? Why are you being so frustrating?”

“…… I don’t remember.”

As soon as she answered, the woman tightened her grip on the hair she was stroking.

Na Eun screamed from the impact of her head hitting the floor as her hair was grabbed. The groan mixed with pain echoed hollowly throughout the dry abandoned building floor.

Her body, which had never experienced this kind of violence since birth, was vulnerable to pain.

The woman, who still grasped her hair and made her face rub against the rough floor, became irritated.

“You know what, I hate people who don’t listen the most!”

As she continued to grind the small head that couldn’t even answer due to the pain against the floor, the woman threw a fit.

“You! I didn’t like you from the beginning. Always hanging out with Kay! Eating together every day!”

That’s because we’re friends in the same class at the same school……

Even though she wanted to refute, she couldn’t ignore the pain of her cheek being crushed against the rough cement floor, so only groans spilled from Na Eun’s mouth.

“Who are you to receive Kay’s attention? Why are you precious to Kay? Are you even anything?”

You don’t have to be anything to become friends.

But Na Eun thought she had nothing more to say to this crazy woman who didn’t know that obvious fact, so this situation where she couldn’t answer right now wasn’t that unpleasant.

Seung Joo, I’m sorry I didn’t console you when this woman kissed you back then.

You must have felt really awful.

When she closed her eyes tightly, hiding her inner thoughts that would make the woman throw a fit even more if she heard them.

The grip of the fierce hand grasping her hair disappeared.

Thanks to that, Na Eun, who no longer had to rub her face against the floor, slowly opened her closed eyes.

In front of her sight, she saw Jae Kyung standing, holding her cell phone.

He was looking down at her, who had become a wreck in an instant, with a dry gaze.

More than the violence of the brown-haired woman, those indifferent eyes cruelly ripped through Na Eun’s heart.

It made her feel even more miserable to recall how he always rushed over to worry about her more than his own business whenever she was hurt anywhere.

More than the fact that she had been deceived, the fact that the love she had received was a lie made her more wretched. Yet he was becoming more and more cruel.

Jae Kyung started a video call with someone. She knew right away who it was.

Thanks to the really affectionate curses that flew in loudly from the other side of the phone.

[You damn bastard−!]

“Oh my, Kay?”

Gi-gi-give it to me! The woman exclaimed in delight, jumped up, and rushed to take the phone from Jae Kyung.

Avoiding it as if it was annoying by twisting his body, Jae Kyung spoke towards the screen.

“If you assessed the situation, hand over the code and the goods.”

[You bastard! How could you……!]

Someone must have snatched the phone midway, as another voice followed.

[Han Jae Kyung, Lee Seol Ah. Release the hostage and leave the premises within 10 minutes. Then I’ll let you live.]

Hee Won warned quietly, briefly informing them that their identities had already been figured out and they were being tracked.

At those words, Jae Kyung laughed.

“So cold. I was even a fan who got your autograph.”

[How childish to take a hostage in this day and age. The disadvantage is on you. If we abandon the hostage and don’t give you the goods, it’s all useless.]

“I know. You’re the kind of person who would do that.”

But, you’re the only one who would do that right now.

Jae Kyung laughed again. With cold eyes Na Eun had never seen before.

At the same time, a terrible pain came over Na Eun’s left hand as she sat on the floor.

“Aaahhh−!”

A high-pitched scream burst out of her mouth on its own. Her scream was clearly conveyed over the phone.

Jae Kyung, who filmed Na Eun trembling and collapsing on the floor with the screen, just stood there idly with the phone in one hand.

Seol Ah, who had broken Na Eun’s little finger with her bare hands, approached the screen with gleaming eyes.

“Kay, did you see? Yoon Na Eun screaming? How is it, ugly, right? Right?”

[……]

“Doesn’t it turn you off? Right?”

It was as if a child was begging for praise from its mother.

However, the answer she wanted did not come from the other side of the phone.

However, after a few seconds of silence, only Seung Joo’s voice, sounding like she was about to cry, was heard.

[…… Don’t do it.]

−Please.

That was a plea. Meaning they had gained the upper hand in the negotiation.

Jae Kyung smiled, and Seol Ah made a sullen expression.

Seol Ah, who had hoped that he would come to dislike that little bitch, but was a little upset that he was clearly showing how precious she was to him more than anything, walked back to Na Eun.

Out of spite, she intended to shatter one more finger, the left ring finger. The one who stopped her was Jae Kyung.

After approaching the small body still writhing in pain and trembling, Jae Kyung knelt on one knee and held out the phone to Na Eun.

“Na Eun, do you want to cry?”

Male lead is a Destined Young Husband (Female-dominant)

One-sentence summary: Wife-master, listen to my explanation!

Li Ruantang, a young lady from a prestigious family, stumbled and fell. When she woke up, she saw a noble and beautiful young man sitting by her bedside, wiping away tears.

The young master had slightly reddened eyes, and his every move exuded charm.

The sight made Li Ruantang’s eyes hot and her heart flutter. After all, she had made a bet with the young master Meng from the neighboring family. If she couldn’t marry a husband before the end of the year, she would have to admit defeat and give up the jade she had worked so hard to obtain.

Outside the window, the flowers were in full bloom.

Rather than losing the bet, the jade, and her face, Li Ruantang calculated that it would be better to seek marriage with the young master in front of her, killing three birds with one stone.

…

Meng Jun never thought that an accident during a spring outing would lead to them rolling down a cliff and into a river, yet still survive.

Now they were trapped in an unknown village, and Meng Jun had overheard that the family who had rescued them had their own intentions.

After all, it was Li Ruantang who had lost her mind and sought marriage first. He was only trying to protect himself!

Glancing at Li Ruantang, who was listing her own merits, the young husband’s voice softened, and he blushed as he lied, “W-wife-master, Wife-master, don’t you remember me?”

The young husband’s voice was clear and handsome, coaxing Li Ruantang’s heart to be soft and sweet, and she spared no effort to protect him.

It wasn’t until they returned to the capital that Li Ruantang suddenly remembered.

When they had fallen off the cliff, in order not to implicate Wei Yunruo, whom he secretly admired, the young husband had instead pulled her, who was slightly farther away, down the cliff with him…

Short summary by Yuushi L: Initially, the male lead (ML) liked another girl, while the female lead (FL) liked the ML. Both fell off a cliff. The FL temporarily lost her memory, and the ML, fearing others might take advantage of him, claimed FL was his wife while they were staying in a village. Later, when they returned home, the FL regained her memories and remembered that the ML liked someone else, so she kept her distance from him. However, during their time living together in the countryside, the ML’s view of the FL had completely changed. From this point, his pursuit of the FL begins.

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