Leave the Hero's Ex-Girlfriend Alone! - Chapter 5

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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 Hero’s ex-girlfriend alone!
EP05
I caused a disaster during the promotional presentation, but thankfully my employee badge is still hanging around my neck.
Team Leader said it was only an internal presentation anyway and told me not to take it so seriously, but I’d messed things up, and for a while I was emotionally drained.
So today I just stepped out to grab coffee for my team-
“Eun Haesoo?”
The moment someone called my name from behind, I lost consciousness before I could even turn around.
When I opened my eyes, I was in a space that looked like an abandoned factory.
My hands and feet were bound tightly.
“How does it feel to be kidnapped?”
In a space without a single speck of light, a man quietly walked out.
He was a neat-looking man with thin gold-rimmed glasses and black hair swept back with precision.
I’d been receiving threats on a regular basis, but kidnappings were relatively rare.
So I wasn’t immune to a full-fledged kidnapping like this.
“W-what is this all about…?”
I already knew the reason, but I carefully asked the man standing before me.
The Villain who had kidnapped me came slowly toward me, then knelt down.
“I’m just curious. About Alpha.”
“Then… wouldn’t it be better to ask him directly-”
Before I could even finish, the man clamped a hand over my mouth.
He covered my mouth with one hand and pressed his index finger to his own lips, as if telling me to be quiet.
“Shh-”
With my mouth and body stripped of freedom, all I could do was blink and stare back at him.
Seemingly pleased with my response, the man slowly lifted his hand from my mouth.
“Just hand over the information I want, and you can go home without a single scratch.”
If I gave him the information, I could live.
Then there was only one choice to make… yet for some reason, I didn’t want to do what this man wanted.
“W-well, I’m not sure. Is there any information that would actually be useful to you…?”
I smiled awkwardly and studied the man’s expression.
“That’s fine. I’ll just find out for myself.”
At that moment, the man covered my eyes with one hand, and my mind slowly grew hazy.
It felt like someone was forcibly pulling information out of my head, but with my hands and feet already bound, I couldn’t resist.
“Hmm… this is quite useful information.”
Satisfied, the man brushed off his trousers and stood up.
When the hand covering my eyes was pulled away, the sudden rush of light made me wince.
“Thanks to you, I think I can take care of Alpha.”
He vanished, and I was left alone in this place.
Only then did I realize what had been done to me.
“…If this happens, it’s a breach of contract, isn’t it?”
My vision spun.
* * *
News spread across the public that Alpha had been seriously wounded.
Hero Alpha, penetrating wound through the left shoulder. Not life-threatening, but currently on hiatus.
The Association strongly condemns… claims that the information leak was the decisive factor.
The news poured out coverage day after day, plastered with sensational headlines.
Thankfully, the Villain was bound and transferred to the Association, but for me, that became the problem.
“Ms. Eun.”
An Association official pushed a stack of documents across the table toward me, his expression icy.
“This isn’t something that will end as a simple kidnapping case. You signed the agreement, didn’t you?”
“I don’t even know what information I handed over.”
It was truly unjust.
I was kidnapped the usual way, and I escaped the usual way.
Being blamed like this for something beyond my control is something I can’t accept. But my defense was cut off halfway through.
“I know it wasn’t intentional. It must be because of the Villain’s ability. But the problem isn’t about that.”
The Villain’s ability that came to light was ‘Psychometry.’
So that’s why I felt like someone was rummaging through my head back then…
The Association official tapped the ballpoint pen in his hand against the desk as he spoke.
“Alpha’s injury has already spread, and the captured Villain has testified that he got the information from you. This will soon become known to the world as well.”
I was left speechless.
I realized that no excuse I could offer would do any good.
“Then what’s going to happen to me?”
“The Association will be dismissing the director. That is, unless some other variable comes up before then.”
*Click.*
The Association official gathered the papers and rose from his seat.
Like before, I couldn’t move, as if my hands and feet were bound.
Truthfully, being sued by the Association is nothing to worry about.
I’ve been through worse, so that kind of thing doesn’t bother me at all.
But what’s gnawing at me right now is something else.
That guy got badly hurt because of me.
Even if I hadn’t meant any harm, the fact that he ended up in danger because of me was unbearable.
* * *
A week later, a stack of documents arrived from the Hero Association.
The contents of the documents were simple.
“This is the secret I supposedly leaked…?
I stared at the report enclosed with the ruling, dumbfounded, and muttered.
A single line of text in the Association’s report.
Hero Alpha — Fear of Cats
“Ha…”
I couldn’t fathom how a cat could hurt him that badly.
I knew he was afraid of cats, but I hadn’t realized it was this bad.
A body as big as a mountain, a face that looked just like a cat’s, yet he shrank the moment he came face to face with one.
It was so absurd that I let out a snort of laughter.
The trouble was that such a contradictory image somehow made him seem adorable.
“Such a coward.”
Below that was a brief notice.
No Charges
In short, it meant the Association would let the matter of leaking Alpha’s information slide.
The reason was just as simple.
Alpha, the party concerned, did not want to press charges.
I had heard that there was quite a bit of backlash within the Association.
But apparently, when the person concerned, a Hero who was also the Association’s asset, doesn’t want to pursue charges, cases like this do sometimes get passed over.
I slipped the Association’s report back into its envelope.
* * *
I headed straight to the hospital after work.
When I arrived, security guards were controlling the entrance.
Quite some time had passed since the incident, yet reporters were still loitering around the hospital, hoping to snap even a single photo of Alpha.
‘How am I supposed to get in?’
It seemed impossible to reach that guy’s room on my own.
Just then, someone called out to me from behind.
“Haesoo?”
“Team Leader…”
When I told Team Leader Ahn Gyeong-un that I’d come to visit Alpha, he offered to take me there.
He himself had just come from seeing Alpha, and he went back to the company.
Before I opened the door to the room, I took a deep breath three times.
“I’ll just check that he’s okay and leave.”
I tried to reassure myself that I was fine, but my fingertips trembled a little.
I readjusted my grip on the fruit basket I’d brought as a gift.
The sliding door opened quietly with a soft whoosh, and through the gap, Alpha came gradually into view, sitting propped up against the bed.
The moment the door opened, the guy who had been reading looked up.
“Oh, if it isn’t Eun Haesoo, the new recruit?”
As I stepped into the room, he closed his book and gave a smile.
In the past, I would have jokingly fired back, but now even that smile made me uneasy.
Just as I’d seen on the news, the bandages wrapped around his shoulder caught my eye, and a wave of guilt mixed with some indescribably complicated emotion washed over me.
“How are you feeling?”
I gently set the fruit basket I’d brought on the bed as I spoke.
“Like you’d expect.”
He shrugged one shoulder and said it as though it were nothing at all.
Why was he always so casual about his own well-being?
The more he did, the heavier something settled in the corner of my heart.
He cared so much about others, I wished he’d look after himself just as well…
“That business with the lawsuit… you had it smoothed over, didn’t you?”
I couldn’t meet Alpha’s eyes, so I just fidgeted with my fingers.
“Yeah. If the Association gives you any grief about it, ignore them.”
Alpha pulled a tangerine out of the fruit basket and offered it to me.
I took it without thinking and simply held it in one hand.
Just as I was wondering what on earth to say next, something came to mind.
“Are you still scared of cats?”
“Yeah. Still terrifying.”
“Still?”
I barely held back a laugh and covered my mouth with one hand.
How ridiculous I’d thought it was when I first learned that secret.
I remembered the time we were walking together and he’d instantly ducked behind me.
When I finally swallowed my laughter and looked up, he was staring straight at me.
Our eyes met naturally.
“That thing on your cheek… looks like it’s about to fall off.”
I pointed at the gauze stuck to his cheek and said so.
Whatever he’d done, the gauze that should have been firmly in place was about to peel away.
“Oh, I bumped it while washing my face. You change it for me.”
Alpha peeled away the gauze that was barely clinging to his cheek.
Then he said there should be spare gauze in the drawer, and slowly slid out from under the blanket and perched on the edge of the bed.
I felt his gaze lingering on me in a strange way, and for no reason at all, I started flustering.
I opened the drawer and began rummaging through the assortment of items inside.
‘So much stuff…’
Just as I was about to tear open a small wrapper in my hand, Alpha stopped me with a gesture and said,
“That’s… alcohol swabs.”
I looked at what was in my hand and jumped in surprise.
I was sure it was gauze, but in my panic I must have grabbed an alcohol swab instead. Seeing my flustered state, Alpha smiled faintly and said,
“Is someone trying to assassinate me?”
“No! I didn’t take it out on purpose, it’s just-”
I tried desperately to explain myself, but seeing Alpha still grinning, I could tell it was already a lost cause.
I pulled out the gauze from the drawer again and glared at him.
“Hold still. Unless you really want to die.”
Gripping that still-grinning face of his, I issued my threat.
As I carefully pressed the gauze onto the wound, my fingertip brushed against Alpha’s cheek.
He simply looked at me, and for no reason at all, I held my breath.
“…There.”
I pressed the last piece of tape over the gauze and stepped back.
The air in the room felt a little warmer than before.
I cleared my throat once, wiped my hands with a wet wipe, and gathered my things.
“Well then, get some rest. And next time… be careful not to get hurt.”
“Yes, thank you. Mr. Assassin.”
Alpha tapped the freshly changed gauze and said,
“Sure, see you in hell.”
I opened the door to the room and stepped out.
A few days later, the words I’d tossed out as a joke came back to me as reality.

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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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