Leave the Hero's Ex-Girlfriend Alone! - Chapter 19

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Leave the hero’s ex-girlfriend alone!
EP19
“Alpha-nim. Please, calm down!”
An Association agent tried to talk Alpha down, but it was no use.
At this rate, not only would the Response Headquarters be blown away, but everything around them might be destroyed as well.
Just then, the radio crackled again with a sharp hiss.
“…Temporary solo search approved.”
It was a short, firm order, the kind issued only under protest.
“However, any further action must wait for a report. Depending on Headquarters’ judgment, your Hero status will be revoked and you will be reclassified as a ‘Managed Subject.'”
Alpha didn’t spare the trailing words a second thought.
He let out a short, low breath, dripping with mockery.
“Now they want to strip my badge? Go ahead.”
As the echo of the radio faded, the agents around us let out heavy breaths.
Some sagged to the ground in relief, while others clenched their fists, tense.
* * *
A rustling sound pulled me back awake.
Maybe the rain had let up a little.
Outside, it was still dark and damp, but the downpour had thinned out since earlier.
As I took a breath and looked ahead, I saw Zero draping his shirt, now ruined beyond recognition, over my knees.
“…What are you doing?”
“Oh, you’re awake. You looked cold.”
His rain-soaked hair hung limp over his forehead, and something glimpsed through the strands caught my eye.
…A scar?
At first, I thought I must be mistaken.
But the longer I looked, the more certain I became.
On his right brow, a scar traced a somewhat sharp curve.
I couldn’t tear my gaze away from that mark.
In that instant, Zero stopped moving his hands.
As if he’d sensed where my eyes had landed, he slowly lifted his head.
Our eyes met for a moment.
The scar slipped back out of sight beneath his damp bangs.
I parted my lips slightly.
Hesitation and curiosity tangled together, but in the end, I asked carefully.
“You have a scar on your forehead?”
“Ah, I usually keep it covered…”
Zero raised his head and brought a hand up to his forehead.
He let out a short breath and brushed the spot a few times.
“It’s ugly, isn’t it?”
Zero asked in a subdued voice.
I shook my head slightly.
“No, it looks like a pretty deep wound. I’m just curious how it happened.”
The moment I finished, Zero quietly turned his head away.
He kept his gaze fixed outside, but he looked like someone who had dived deep into some corner of his own thoughts.
As the silence stretched on, I regretted asking and hurriedly waved my hand.
“If you’d rather not say—”
“I had it made so that people would remember me.”
Zero’s voice dropped quietly.
Yet those words struck my ears with far more weight than any confession could have.
“Huh?”
I asked back reflexively, but Zero’s expression remained calm.
Just as a drop of rainwater trickled down his arm and fell from his fingertip with a soft plink, Zero began to speak.
“You more or less know about my power, don’t you?”
I nodded in silence.
No matter how many times people cross paths with him, they never remember him.
An ability that quietly erases even one’s existence.
“Ever since my power awakened, no one has recognized me. Not even my family.”
Zero drew a short breath.
It wasn’t quite a confession, more like someone retracing a path they had walked long ago.
“So every day, to prove to my father, who can’t remember me, that I exist, I’ve been leaving marks behind.”
I couldn’t find any words.
He tried to wear an air of nonchalance, but every word carried a resignation pressed down hard beneath the surface.
“Not that it did any good.”
Zero gave a light shrug and smiled.
But the smile vanished almost at once.
The corners of his mouth still curved upward, yet his eyes weren’t smiling at all.
It was an emotion I couldn’t put into words.
“Doesn’t that seem strange, though? I remember you.”
I only realized what I’d said after the words had already slipped out.
It really was strange.
Even without being aware of it, I remembered the man in front of me.
Ever since that day at Halo, I’d recognized him first, whether it was in the park or at the seaside stall.
“Yeah, just like that day.”
That day?
“What are you talking about?”
“So I’m the only one who remembers.”
“When exactly did we meet?”
“We used to meet regularly, for a while.”
“That’s absolutely ridiculous.”
“It’s the truth.”
Zero looked at me with a serious expression.
“Even my coming to Korea was all because of you, Haesoo.”
I remembered what Team Leader Ahn Gyeong-un had said back when Zero had broken into Halo.
‘No Villain crosses a border without a reason.’
And that reason was me?
“In what sense…?”
“In a positive sense.”
The very fact that a Villain had come after me was already bad news.
“Don’t worry. I would never do anything to harm you.”
“How am I supposed to believe that?”
“Because you’re the only person who remembers me.”
His eyes wavered faintly.
Maybe because I’d just heard about his past, the words felt sincere.
Looking at him, I realized for the first time that an ability could be a curse.
“Your ability must have caused you a lot of trouble…”
“Hmm.”
Zero rested a hand against his lips, pondered for a moment, then spoke as if something had come to mind.
“Once, at the supermarket, I got in line to pay, and when it was my turn, the cashier asked me how long I’d been standing there. I guess they thought I was cutting in line…”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah, so I got back in line from the very beginning. Twice, no less!”
Zero flashed a V-sign with his fingers and grinned brightly, as if he was happy about something.
Seeing that, I couldn’t help but let out a snort of laughter.
“And there’s another one. Whenever I order coffee at a café, they always doubt me. Asking if it’s really mine, if I’m the one who ordered it. I definitely ordered it. Me!”
Pointing at himself, Zero complained as if he’d been wronged.
It sounded like a joke, but it was closer to self-mockery born from long familiarity.
“That must have been hard. Having to go through things like that over and over…”
When I said it quietly, Zero let out a small breath.
“Well, I’ve gotten used to it.”
But can getting used to something really dull the pain…?
“I don’t think I could hold up.”
“Really? But you’re not exactly unremarkable yourself, Haesoo.”
“Hmm, maybe you’re right.”
Kidnapping, threats, and confinement, over and over.
A Triple Crown.
“The worst part was not being able to use public transportation. Every time I got on, a Villain would show up and hijack it, and I felt like a walking nuisance, I’m telling you.”
Even now, thinking back on it, it was absurd.
Once, I got on a bus and people panicked and piled out in a rush.
Even the bus driver, the middle-aged man himself.
“So the moment I turned adult, I got my driver’s license right away.”
“That was a smart move.”
“But there was also a time my entire car was kidnapped.”
The car was eventually scrapped.
Even now, thinking back on it, my insides still churned with resentment.
“Looking at you, Haesoo-ssi… it’s almost a miracle you’re still alive.”
“Alpha’s the one who saves you every time…”
I felt gloomy all over again.
The situation was very different from back then.
“Because he came to rescue me?”
Zero picked up the thread of the sentence I hadn’t finished.
“…Yes.”
“He’ll do it again this time.”
“…How can you be so sure?”
“Because Alpha would never give up on you.”
All at once, something hot surged up from deep in my chest.
“…He could have given up.”
“Why would you think that? Has Alpha ever once given up on you, even for a single moment?”
…No, he hasn’t.
Not before we parted, and not after.
Even if it took time, he always found me.
“He will this time too.”
Zero sounded certain, but I wasn’t so sure.
I agreed to the breakup so easily, so of course I assumed his heart had drifted away from me.
That’s exactly why I’d given up on him all the more.
But if that wasn’t the case…
Thud. Thud.
My heart began to beat in a steady rhythm.
I clutched at my chest, where a tingling ache was spreading.
‘Got kidnapped again, and here I am like this.’
‘Isn’t this the fastest rescue ever?’
Whenever he came to get me, he always wore a nonchalant look and spoke in a casual tone, yet his whole body was always drenched in sweat.
It was a dead giveaway of how much he’d run around searching and how hard he’d fought, even as he tried to pass it off…
My heartbeat wouldn’t stop.
I pulled my knees up and buried my face in them.
My mind slowly began to fill with thoughts of that guy.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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