SOS! I’m Being Forced to Be a Villain - Chapter 37
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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 37
I reluctantly lifted my eyelids. What came into view was Seo Jung-hoo’s face looking up at me from close range.
I could see him slowly closing and opening his eyes right in front of me. After awkwardly opening and closing my mouth, I belatedly became aware of my current position being held in his arms.
Seo Jung-hoo’s left arm was supporting my bottom, and his right arm was wrapped around my waist, holding me steady so I wouldn’t fall. Rather than looking precarious, he seemed so effortless that he could not only walk but even run in this position. It was an infuriating point that made me scrunch up my face in annoyance.
This was already the fifth or sixth time I’d been lifted up like this. At this point, I was starting to think, ‘Is my body weight really too light?’ In that regard, I could understand just a tiny bit why Seo Jung-hoo and Kwon Tae-min were so anxious about not feeding me enough. Of course, that didn’t mean I had even the slightest intention of obediently letting them hold me.
Seo Jung-hoo quietly waited as I rolled my eyes around, scrunched and relaxed my expression repeatedly. Then he slowly opened his mouth.
“Still can’t feel strength in your legs?”
I flinched for a moment, then made a small fist with one hand. I tapped Seo Jung-hoo’s shoulder lightly with it.
“Put me down. My legs and ankles are perfectly fine.”
“You almost fell just now.”
“I just stumbled for a moment. I can walk by myself.”
“You just said it yourself, that you stumbled. So it seems too dangerous for you to walk alone.”
“You…!”
Just as I was about to raise my voice angrily, Seo Jung-hoo readjusted his hold on me. My body, which had been jolting around, was once again wrapped in Seo Jung-hoo’s arms and settled into a stable position. However, my heart that had already started pounding was beyond help, so I gripped Seo Jung-hoo’s collar tightly with both hands.
I tried to glare down at Seo Jung-hoo but stopped short. Ever since I had regained consciousness in the infirmary, Seo Jung-hoo hadn’t worn even his usual faint smile. Still, he had conveyed his apology with the dry expression I had become familiar with after seeing it several times.
But now it was different from that earlier expression too. His gaze was more sticky, he carried a sunken atmosphere, and his firmly straight eyes and mouth corners seemed to droop downward.
“…Do you hate it?”
“Huh, what. What?”
I stammered back a question. Seo Jung-hoo’s uncharacteristically anxious gaze turned toward me.
“Do you hate it a lot? Me holding you like this.”
“Wh-what crazy talk…”
I wondered if he was acting to mess with me. I couldn’t understand why he was asking if I hated it while watching my reaction, or why he was so obviously trembling with anxiety. So I quickly scanned through the profile information.
Opening profile information for ‘Main Character Seo Jung-hoo’.
Name: Seo Jung-hoo
Age: 18 years old (Seolam High School, 2nd year, Class 3)
Role: One of the main characters of the novel ‘Only Two’
Background: This person grew up in a wealthy and harmonious family, developing a gentle and considerate nature… (Show more)
Current emotional state: Anxiety, worry, desperation, shallow hope
Inner thoughts: “He said his body hurts when he’s stressed, so I should try not to stimulate him too much…”
Unfortunately, he was already overstimulating me. But regardless of objective reality, I could tell that what I was seeing right in front of me wasn’t an act to torment me, but behavior that came from genuine feelings.
“…Damn it, really.”
Being like this made all the wrongs I had committed against Seo Jung-hoo come flooding back.
Like when I had cursed at Seo Jung-hoo without reason or made personal attacks, or when I never once thanked him even though he had essentially saved me from the black man. Also… there were times when I had beaten him up mercilessly, even if my fists were like cotton swabs.
“Hm? Baek-hwa.”
Since I remained quiet without responding, Seo Jung-hoo cautiously prompted me. His brown eyes waited for me with a desperate light.
“Do you hate it?”
“…”
“Do you hate it so much you feel like you’re going crazy?”
“…What am I.”
“You said that to me before. That just touching was disgusting and dirty, to take my hands off immediately.”
‘Did I really say that much?’
My not-so-large conscience kept poking at me, making me feel uncomfortable. Eventually, I moved my small mouth and mumbled in a voice that was barely audible.
“It’s not, like, that hateful to that extent…”
“Really?”
Seo Jung-hoo’s eye corners immediately curved into a round shape. Even though it was a smile I was seeing for the first time in just over ten minutes, excluding the time I was unconscious, it somehow felt like I was encountering it after a very long time. That much of a special feeling welled up.
Soon a beautiful arc appeared at Seo Jung-hoo’s lips. Without realizing it, I reached out toward those mouth corners to touch them, then hastily clenched my hand into a fist. Fortunately, he didn’t seem to notice.
“You said you were going to the classroom?”
“…But now that I think about it, what about Kwon Tae-min. Are we just abandoning him and leaving?”
“I’ll contact him separately to come up to the classroom.”
Even though it didn’t seem like it, Seo Jung-hoo and Kwon Tae-min subtly looked after each other.
I wondered if they had some kind of friendly competition over Lee Chung-hye. No, now I was questioning whether these three people would even follow the novel’s plot. Not just Lee Chung-hye who had already broken out of the mold, but Seo Jung-hoo and Kwon Tae-min as well.
…I’d have to think about this problem gradually too.
My head seemed to throb again. If I stayed like this, I felt like I might lose consciousness again or start swaying. I shook my head vigorously, trying to shake off the complicated thoughts.
Let me go home and recharge my energy first. It wouldn’t be too late to rack my brain while lying on the bed afterward. I exhaled a breath full of fatigue.
* * *
Since last week, Seo Jung-hoo and Kwon Tae-min had been following me all the way to right in front of my house, saying they’d walk me home. For the first few days, I chased them away at the shared entrance, but as each day passed, I only got angry at them to go back after we reached my home entrance door.
I had no choice.
‘You never know when and where those black bastards might appear.’
Whenever I shared private time and private space with those two people, Seo Jung-hoo and Kwon Tae-min, the system would invariably find ways to express its anger. Because of that, after parting with the two at the shared entrance, I would often be thrown to the ground by black men who suddenly appeared from somewhere.
But not meeting Seo Jung-hoo and Kwon Tae-min was nearly impossible. This was the result of countless attempts at escape and resistance. So there was only one method left.
‘Stay as close as possible to those two people.’
Using Seo Jung-hoo and Kwon Tae-min like my amulets. Since they were two people who clung to me tenaciously no matter how much I tried to shake them off, spending a few more minutes together wouldn’t be a problem.
Fortunately, the black men didn’t force their way into my house. Whether this was thanks to that gloomy bastard beyond the system showing mercy, or if there were other unavoidable reasons, I couldn’t tell.
Reaching the familiar floor, I got off the elevator followed by two familiar presences. As we passed through the hallway, the sensor lights turned on, filling the space with bright light.
I entered the password without mistake and opened the entrance door. Then, without looking back, I headed toward the shoe cabinet, when Seo Jung-hoo’s voice came from behind me.
“We agreed to meet tomorrow, right?”
I turned my head without responding to the absurd declaration. At the end of my glance, Seo Jung-hoo smiled brightly and waved his hand before pushing the entrance door firmly shut.
The entryway, now left alone, was filled only with silence. After standing there dazed for a while, the sensor light above my head that had been blinking soon turned off.
‘…Could he really, truly be serious?’
Opening profile information for ‘Main Character Seo Jung-hoo’.
Current emotional state: Joy, satisfaction, anticipation
Inner thoughts: “I should come and wait in front here around 8 o’clock tomorrow.”
I was so dumbfounded that I just opened and closed my mouth, then shifted my gaze. Then I quickly scanned through the last part of the long text that continued below.
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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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