SOS! I’m Being Forced to Be a Villain - Chapter 27

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 27

Kwon Tae-min’s fingertips wouldn’t stop fidgeting with my sleeve. I stood frozen in a daze, unable to even think about pushing his hand away, only trembling helplessly.

I was wearing shorts that exposed my legs up to my knees, but my arms were completely covered by the gym jacket I had on top.

Perhaps that was fortunate. If I hadn’t been wearing the jacket, Kwon Tae-min’s hand would have touched my wrist instead of my sleeve. And for some reason I couldn’t understand, I felt like even in that situation, I wouldn’t have been able to push his hand away, just like now.

After a moment of silence, Kwon Tae-min slowly rolled his eyes. Soon his gaze landed on the sleeve he was caressing.

“…I hope you’re not hurt. That’s why I’m doing this.”

“…”

“And I… there’s no way I’d want you to get criticized, Yu Baek-hwa.”

The muscles around my eyes twitched. Awkward, unfamiliar, and seemingly unpleasant emotions made my head spin.

Was the emotion Kwon Tae-min was showing me pity or sympathy? Or was he trying to shake me up and render me powerless because I was a thorn in his side?

“There’s a lot I want to ask you.”

Soon Kwon Tae-min’s hand fell away. Perhaps because the warmth and faint weight I’d felt through the fabric disappeared, an inexplicable emptiness washed over the skin of my wrist.

“For now, I’ll start by asking about what I can see right in front of me.”

I couldn’t understand a single word of what Kwon Tae-min was saying from beginning to end.

“The things you can’t argue against first.”

“…What, what are you…”

“How did your knees end up like that?”

After going in circles, we’d arrived back at the first question Kwon Tae-min had asked when he entered the classroom.

I couldn’t tell whether I should get angry out of habit or be flustered. I half-contorted my expression and stared at Kwon Tae-min. However, unlike my complicated tangled emotions, my mouth, which had long since resigned itself to the system’s control, babbled on its own accord.

“What business is it of a bastard like you. I’ve told you how many times to mind your own business and get lost.”

“…I’m not looking down at you right now. I’m looking up at you.”

“That’s not the problem… Ugh. Now even talking is making my mouth hurt.”

Irritably raising my hand to press against my forehead was close to a voluntary action. As I pressed firmly against my throbbing temples, I could feel Kwon Tae-min watching me carefully. But that gaze only seemed detestable to me.

“If you’d fallen on the street, you wouldn’t just have bruises, there’d be blood. Scratches or something.”

“…What?”

“If you’d been beaten up, there wouldn’t be bruises only on your knees.”

…Why is someone who ranks first in the entire school using their study brain for something like this?

Whether I was dumbfounded or not, Kwon Tae-min continued speaking calmly, paying no attention.

“For bruises this dark to form, it wouldn’t be from simply falling, but something like rolling down stairs. But if you really did roll down stairs, that still doesn’t explain why there are only bruises on your knees.”

It was getting to the point where I was getting goosebumps. I thought that you’d need this level of meddling and deductive ability to be a stalker.

“Did someone throw your body?”

I quickly raised my head. Then Kwon Tae-min met my eyes sharply, like someone readjusting their grip on a fishing rod that had caught a bite.

“…At home.”

“…”

“After we parted yesterday, or after you got home.”

I clamped my mouth shut, but no matter how much force I applied, my trembling lips wouldn’t calm down.

Kwon Tae-min’s eyelids covered his gray eyes and then lifted. Hiding the expression that had grown even colder in that instant, he turned his eyes away and rummaged through his gym uniform pocket.

“I brought some medicine when I went to the infirmary earlier.”

Kwon Tae-min gave a different answer than his question. Whether he was intentionally changing the subject or had quickly given up since I didn’t seem likely to answer obediently, I had no way of knowing.

Soon what Kwon Tae-min pulled out was a tube-shaped ointment about the size of a finger. He immediately opened the cap and squeezed cream-colored ointment onto his fingertip.

“It’s ointment for bruises. It’ll help get rid of the bruising.”

Kwon Tae-min’s hand with the ointment reached toward my bruised knee.

My vision, which had been blurred in a daze, refocused a beat too late. Only then did I come to my senses, frown, and put strength into my vocal cords.

“Who asked you to apply medicine? Why have you been obsessed with medicine since last time, obsessed!”

“It’s okay. It won’t hurt.”

“Bullshit, who’s worried about it hurting? I’m saying I hate every single one of these damn things you do!”

My foot, raised impulsively, flew toward Kwon Tae-min. But naturally, that foot was caught and restrained before it could strike him.

Large hands wrapped around my ankle in one go. With gentle but inescapable force that wasn’t rough or coercive, Kwon Tae-min held my leg in place and moved his other hand.

The damp, cold sensation touching my round knee felt unpleasant. When I flinched and frowned, Kwon Tae-min, who had been carefully applying the ointment, stopped and looked at me.

“…Tell me if it hurts.”

It wasn’t a bleeding or torn wound, and he wasn’t ruthlessly pressing on the bruise. He must have known that just spreading some ointment wouldn’t cause pain, yet Kwon Tae-min constantly checked my expression.

Wondering if my complexion might change, if I might frown a little more. Facing his gaze that clearly revealed such emotions, that inexplicable unpleasant feeling rose again.

But unfortunately, I was in no position to properly resist Kwon Tae-min. I tried to move my other foot that wasn’t caught to push him away, but it too was caught before it could reach him.

With both legs awkwardly lifted, even my posture was uncomfortable. If I didn’t brace myself by gripping the desk with my hands, it felt like my body would fall backward.

While I was just biting my lower lip frantically, Kwon Tae-min, who had been carefully applying ointment to my other knee as well, paused for a moment.

“Yu Baek-hwa, you’re going to bleed again if you keep that up.”

I raised both corners of my eyes sharply.

“Your lip, I mean. Yesterday too…”

Before he could finish speaking, I defiantly gritted my teeth and bit my lip harder. The stinging pain piercing my flesh intensified, but I didn’t stop.

So what. Why. What do you want me to do about it.

I glared at him with that kind of look. In response, Kwon Tae-min quietly closed his mouth and lowered his head again, focusing only on treating my knee.

It didn’t seem like he was acting that way because he was intimidated by my attitude.

Then what, was he going easy on me?

‘I told you how many times not to ignore me…!’

“Yu Baek-hwa.”

I flinched and hunched my shoulders like prey that had been caught. That lasted only briefly before I frowned deeply and looked down at Kwon Tae-min. I lifted my chin to try to look imposing, and straightened my shoulders and body that had briefly shrunk back.

“What. What is it.”

“Can I lift you for a moment?”

I was speechless with absurdity.

“Like hell you can.”

Despite my profanity-laced refusal, Kwon Tae-min added without showing any sign of displeasure.

“You seemed to hate it when I lift you without permission.”

“Yeah. I hate it. I fucking hate it.”

“So I wanted to ask for permission first.”

“I said no! I’m not giving permission!”

“I’ll move you quickly.”

“Stop…!”

Before I could get down from the desk as if fleeing, Kwon Tae-min stood up and blocked my path. Blocking my escape route with both arms extended in the blink of an eye, he lightly lifted me up.

“This… this crazy! You bastard, put me down!”

I poured out every curse word I knew. Whether he couldn’t hear my voice bristling with thorns, or heard it but let it go in one ear and out the other, Kwon Tae-min carefully lifted my body from the desk.

Soon Kwon Tae-min supported me with one hand and reached out with the other to pull out the chair right next to us. It was the chair that paired with the desk I’d been sitting on, positioned so he didn’t need to move even a single step.

‘If you were only going to move me this much, why did you need to lift me…’

I was so flabbergasted that I was out of it, and Kwon Tae-min gently set me down on the chair.

“…I should report this to a government agency. There’s no way that bastard is human.”

Even at my muttering, Kwon Tae-min showed no particular reaction as usual.

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