11 Virtues A Hero's Civilian Friend Must Uphold - Chapter 56

……Let’s separate once it’s all resolved. Once it’s all resolved. If he has a conscience, he won’t take advantage of the current situation.

If Na Eun were to have any kind of relationship with her team leader, Seung Joo, who was filled with thoughts of immediately going to find Seo Hee Won and half-killing him, inwardly vowed.

As a friend, she had no intention of allowing Seo Hee Won to continue staying by Na Eun’s side like this.

Sun Jin felt the same way.

Only Na Eun was calmly humming a tune, while Seung Joo was lost in thought, even forgetting to rummage through the refrigerator.

As Sun Jin pushed back Na Eun’s bangs with a heavy heart, Seung Joo’s phone, placed some distance away, buzzed and lit up.

It was within Na Eun’s line of sight as she was lying down, so she saw the caller’s name and smiled.

“Is it elder brother Seok Hoon?”

“…Ah. Yeah.”

“Why, what’s he saying?”

Na Eun, who had recently found her friend’s love life interesting, asked with a grin. Seung Joo checked the message casually and answered halfheartedly.

“There’s a praise gathering in Seoul this weekend, and he asked if I wanted to go together, so I said no.”

“What?”

Na Eun, who had been sprawled out until now, quickly sat up at those words.

Sun Jin had to lean back to avoid her. Na Eun crawled towards Seung Joo with an incomprehensible expression.

“Why not? That’s a date!”

Why did you refuse! In a slightly reproachful tone, Seung Joo stammered uncharacteristically.

“What date. This elder brother just doesn’t have anyone else to go with, and besides, is this the time for me to be doing that?”

“What do you mean ‘is this the time’? Then when is the time?”

Na Eun stuck close to Seung Joo’s side, resting her chin on her shoulder to peek at the messenger chat with Seok Hoon.

Thanks to Seung Joo allowing her to look, Na Eun saw all the exchanged messages and said.

“You’re doing this because of me.”

“What do you mean because of you? I’m just busy, that’s all.”

“Aren’t you busy worrying about me meeting Han Jae Kyung?”

Aren’t you saying you don’t have time for this because you’re busy worrying about me even though you could meet him? When Na Eun asked somewhat aggressively, Seung Joo changed the subject.

“It’s not like that.”

“Of course it is. Quickly reply that you’ll go.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Hurry up.”

Na Eun pecked at Seung Joo with her chin resting on her shoulder like a baby bird’s beak.

Despite this, Na Eun glared at the unmoved Seung Joo and finally resorted to terrorism.

She scrolled through the messenger chat and after reading Seok Hoon’s last message with her eyes [I see, it’s not possible. That’s too bad. ㅠ], she reached out her hand.

Ack, hey! Seung Joo screamed. Indeed, a hero’s reflexes are terrifying.

As soon as she snatched the phone, Seung Joo tried to take it back immediately, but Na Eun resisted and called for Sun Jin’s help.

Sun Jin, who liked Seung Joo as much as she liked Na Eun, took Na Eun’s side this time.

Sun Jin grabbed Seung Joo’s waist to hold her up, and in the meantime, Na Eun quickly sent a reply to Seok Hoon on Seung Joo’s behalf.

After sending the message cleanly and confirming that the ‘1’ indicating it had been read disappeared, Na Eun willingly handed the phone back to its rightful owner who was lunging at her, breaking through Sun Jin’s guard.

Aaah! He read it! What are you going to do! Na Eun laughed as she gave a little tap on the head to the panicking Seung Joo.

It was a moment of realizing the eighth virtue that a hero should have as a civilian.

Helping to have plenty of ordinary experiences.

At twenty-three, you should have at least one romance, right?

Hoping that her friend, who was always used to helping others but not used to helping herself, would practice a beautiful love this time, Na Eun gladly accepted Seung Joo’s ensuing scolding.

Since her abilities manifested when she was young, Seung Joo had no particular complaints about living a life somewhat distant from normalcy.

The Center never said that activities were mandatory, but Seung Joo naturally belonged there as if it were as natural as breathing.

The reason for joining the Center wasn’t anything particularly grand. There was no underlying noble spirit of sacrifice.

I can do it, and it’s better for someone who can do it to do it than someone who can’t.

Lifting crumbling building walls, catching and throwing falling helicopters. Such things weren’t something just anyone could do.

Even if she couldn’t do anything about tragedies beyond her reach, she thought it was enough if she could prevent tragedies within her reach with her own strength.

If she had the power to save but didn’t, she felt she wouldn’t be able to sleep properly that night due to unease.

That’s how it was. Just because she felt she wouldn’t be able to sleep well. Because she would feel uncomfortable.

That was simply the reason why she risked her life to save people in every terror attack and disaster.

Others often misunderstand her as hot-tempered and immature, but in reality, Seung Joo was a person accustomed to giving up on things.

Studies? It wasn’t fun anyway, so if I’m busy, I just can’t do it.

Dreams? I already have a paying job anyway. I’ll just make this my career path.

Romance… it’s not essential. I’ll do it when the time comes, and if not, then not.

Living with such an ‘if not, then not’ attitude, she didn’t blame the world even when chaos like today erupted.

Still, damn it, dropping a helicopter during worship service isn’t right, is it?

As she pulled out unconscious people one by one from the pandemonium between buildings, Seung Joo inwardly swore.

Having met Seok Hoon on the weekend due to her friends’ meddling, she had planned to spend the day immersed in religious activities as usual, surrendering herself to the fervor of the praise gathering.

Of course, Seok Hoon was a good person and she liked him too, but as she wasn’t very confident in herself when it came to romance, she didn’t expect any progress in their relationship as her friends had hoped.

Seok Hoon was kind, and they matched well from a religious perspective.

Seung Joo, who anyone could see loved to have fun, was surprisingly deeply religious, and Seok Hoon, who said his dream was to become a pastor but gave it up due to his parents’ opposition, was someone she could converse with quite well.

According to plan, the praise concert should have ended around 9 PM, and after finishing the prayer meeting, she should have had a light dinner with Seok Hoon and parted ways.

She should have gruffly answered her friends’ pestering about how it went with ‘How could anything happen? We just ate and parted,’ but as always, the world doesn’t revolve around what Seung Joo wants.

Still, it’s fortunate that I was here.

Even in the midst of the chaos of rescuing people caught up in a sudden terror attack on her rare day off, Seung Joo unconsciously thought this.

Having naturally parted ways with Seok Hoon in the place that had instantly turned into a scene of carnage due to the helicopter crashing into the roof of the main sanctuary, Seung Joo quickly changed clothes and immersed herself in her duties.

She didn’t have to worry too much about Seok Hoon since she had confirmed that he had gone outside the building far away.

What she had to worry about was full inside the building.

“K……”

Ah, damn it. Seung Joo didn’t hide the curse that automatically came out when she spotted a woman looking at her from afar with tears in her eyes.

I thought it was that person. This loud and noisy terror was that woman’s signature.

“Did you come to see me?”

What are you talking about, are you crazy? Seung Joo naturally raised her middle finger as if breathing.

Lee Seol Ah, who met Seung Joo after nearly a year, didn’t hide her moved expression as she approached her.

Seung Joo rolled her eyes at the wooden cross in Seol Ah’s hand.

It seemed she had picked up a tabletop cross from somewhere in the sanctuary and was walking around with it. She wasn’t curious about why.

There was no point in a sane person like Seung Joo trying to understand what was going on in a crazy person’s head.

“Aren’t you going to put that down? It’s blasphemy, you crazy person.”

“It’s always good to hear your voice.”

Lee Seol Ah, who already didn’t take Seung Joo’s curses as curses, at least pretended to die at her words, so she obediently dropped the wooden cross from her hand.

But seeing Seol Ah step on it as she approached her, Seung Joo furrowed her brow thinking, ‘That’s just like you.’

Seung Joo didn’t hesitate.

She instantly rushed forward, grabbed Seol Ah’s arm, and threw her backwards.

Seol Ah, who was grabbed and thrown, got up laughing and not hiding her joy despite the situation.

Suddenly, a gun was in her right hand.

She raised her arm. Seung Joo quickly moved her body. Lee Seol Ah’s target wasn’t her.

Lee Seol Ah didn’t use a silencer on the gunshots she deliberately used in every terror attack to maximize the fear of her targets.

Along with the enormous gunshot, a scream erupted from behind.

A man who had been hiding behind the altar was crouched down, trembling with both hands covering his head.

Seung Joo, who had hurriedly blocked in front of the man with her own body, clutched her shot stomach.

Blood seeped out steadily downwards.

“Oh my, are you okay?”

Seol Ah looked at Seung Joo, who was bleeding from the bullet she had fired, with surprised eyes, then immediately poured out fiery anger towards the man crouched behind her.

“Because of you, innocent K got shot!”

It’s because you shot in the first place, you psycho. Seol Ah looked pitifully at Seung Joo, who was standing in front of the man with one hand clutching her stomach.

It was such a sorrowful gaze that anyone who saw it might mistake it for a look towards a lover.

“Are you okay? Does it hurt a lot……”

The more you respond to what a crazy woman says, the more entangled you become.

Seung Joo moved her legs without answering anymore, and thus began the back-and-forth fight with Lee Seol Ah.