The Main Character Killed The Villain

#037

The pair contract has a clause stating that it can be unilaterally terminated if both parties agree, or if one party makes a mistake or if they are no longer beneficial to each other. I planned to use this clause to terminate the contract if Hyun Dowoon opposed.

A significantly low matching rate is evidence that we’re not helpful to each other.

Having already severed the mercenary contract registered in the system, there was nothing stopping me from breaking the pair contract that was just a piece of paper.

“Did you hear me? I said let’s end our pair contract.”

Even though I said to end the contract, Hyun Dowoon was staring at me with a blank face. It was a completely different expression from before I offered to do guiding.

Even when I repeated myself, Hyun Dowoon’s blank expression didn’t change.

‘Why is he in a daze?’

When I clapped my hands, a faint light returned to Hyun Dowoon’s eyes.

Then suddenly, a tear dropped.

“Director?”

Flustered, I called out to Hyun Dowoon. Then the blue jewels of his eyes wavered, and tears began to flow more abundantly.

“Why, why are you crying?”

“Ah… uh…? Uh….”

Hyun Dowoon himself seemed not to know what was happening. He groaned long and covered his eyes with his hands.

It was very disconcerting to see this man, who had always been so mature, suddenly crying.

‘Could it be that like me… it’s because he terminated the mercenary contract?’

If not for that, there was no explanation for this sudden crying. There’s no way maintaining a contract with me could be that important.

No matter how I thought about it, it seemed similar to when I suddenly burst into tears. But I was so flustered that I rolled my eyes, and Hyun Dowoon groaned long again.

I ended up looking around, trying to find tissues placed on one of the furnishings.

“Ah!”

As I tried to get up, Hyun Dowoon suddenly grabbed my wrist. It was much rougher than usual. I let out a startled cry of pain, and his grip loosened a bit.

“I’m… sorry,” Hyun Dowoon said with a small gasp, like a sigh. Then he immediately whispered, “Don’t go.”

“No, I’m just going to get some tissues.”

I don’t understand why this usually composed man is acting like this. Why does this person, who has always seemed confident and relaxed since the moment we met, suddenly seem so fragile?

‘I’ve already made up my mind….’

When tears rolled down from his beautiful eyes, my heart ached a little, but the moment I felt that he still wasn’t telling me important things, I lost the will to continue our relationship.

‘Still, I don’t want to see him cry.’

I did resent him a little, or quite a bit… But Hyun Dowoon was the first person I opened my heart to after falling into this world. So I didn’t want to see him crying in distress.

I just wanted us to part ways cleanly, why is it turning out like this?

“Ah….”

When I said I’d get tissues, Hyun Dowoon’s grip loosened a bit more. But when I tried to gently shake him off, he suddenly gripped tightly again.

“No, no. I don’t need them, so don’t go.”

Hyun Dowoon said, pulling me towards him. As I fell into his arms, my heart ached again.

‘Why did you make me misunderstand?’

‘Why did you send me to Shin Haejun’s team without asking me?’

‘Why didn’t you answer when I asked you serious questions?’

‘Why are you and I only a 1.9% match?’

Questions that wouldn’t come out of my mouth floated around in my head.

Hyun Dowoon’s body was stiff, as if very tense. He curled up his body as if trying to hold me even closer.

“Please let go of me.”

“Please, just for a moment, I don’t… don’t know why I’m like this. Just for a moment… just a little longer.”

Hyun Dowoon seemed to be in a panic. As I looked into his confused, sunken eyes, Hyun Dowoon started pleading again.

“Why… why the contract…. Jaeha. I, I….”

Hyun Dowoon’s mouth tightened as if it was difficult to say ‘why are you ending it’. He stumbled over his words and carefully scanned my face as if looking for an answer.

“I… have several reasons.”

Seeing Hyun Dowoon continue to act as if he was scared and overwhelmed, I too somehow felt choked up and found it difficult to speak long sentences.

“I asked thinking it would be the last time. I’ve been constantly wondering why you need me.”

“Last, you said last,” Hyun Dowoon repeated with a shocked face.

“I can no longer have faith in you, Director. What’s the meaning of a pair relationship without trust?”

“I, I will do better. If you tell me what the problems were, I’ll fix them all.”

I thought this wouldn’t happen, that he might oppose a little but ultimately agree to a clean break. Contrary to my expectations, Hyun Dowoon was completely humbling himself and clinging to me.

I couldn’t understand why at all. Surely he would have many excellent guides who want to be his pair guide, like those I saw in the community.

‘My inventory ability is amazing, of course. But it’s not like you have to keep me as your pair.’

Hyun Dowoon doesn’t go to dungeons much anyway. No matter how I thought about it, there was no reason why I had to stay by his side.

“You know you’re being criticized along with me, right? I’m a bit tired too…”

“Did you look at the internet or news?”

“Of course I did. It’s obvious that there would be stories about me.”

“Why…! Why did you look when you knew it would be difficult! I was planning to sue them all anyway.”

Hyun Dowoon cried out in an agitated voice. His face was filled with worry for the hurt I must have received.

“You are the first guide I chose since becoming an Esper. I requested it and you accepted, so why should you be criticized!”

“Because I’m the weak one. Because I have no ability.”

Because my visible abilities are rock bottom.

I smiled self-deprecatingly.

“You are a capable guide. You’re the most special person among all the guides I’ve seen.”

“You said you were going to sue, right? I’ve already seen everything. Once it couldn’t be prevented as if it never happened, it was bound to happen eventually.”

At my words, Hyun Dowoon’s face stiffened.

“Above all… you and I aren’t helpful to each other, Director. I found out by searching the community that our matching rate is the lowest ever recorded. I can’t continue guiding like this.”

Hyun Dowoon’s eyes trembled slightly. Thinking he had calmed down a bit, I slipped out of his arms.

“Director, you’re a fair, equal, and efficient boss. I think you know what the efficient choice is. Right?”

“Choosing you…! It wasn’t about efficiency! You’re not my subordinate employee!”

“But you did treat me with efficiency in mind, didn’t you?”

I smiled weakly.

“Please let me go. I’ll let you go too.”

I stood up. I believe that the intelligent Hyun Dowoon would have understood my intentions by now.

As I walked to the door, my mood sank, but I thought this was a good enough ending.

“You…!”

Whatever Hyun Dowoon was saying behind my back bounced off my ears. I probably won’t have to come here again. I closed the door.

***

“You were the first one I chose without considering efficiency in my life…”

Hyun Dowoon muttered blankly as he watched the door close. The moment he saw Lee Jaeha’s turned back, it felt like his heart stopped.

‘What should I do.’

He had never experienced his thoughts stopping in his life.

No, just once.

He had experienced his mind stopping just once when he saw Lee Jaeha. And this was the second time. This too was because of Lee Jaeha.

‘What should I do.’

He really couldn’t think of anything.

Just like a spring being wound and unwound repeatedly. He kept remembering the moment Jaeha let go of his hand during guiding, the words asking to end the pair, and the frail back leaving the room.

Hyun Dowoon looked down at his own hand. He recalled the shocking tremor he felt when Jaeha ended the last guiding while saying to end the pair. It shouldn’t be possible, but… he felt a shock as if his soul was shattering.

The feeling that something very precious had been cut off.

‘The last…?’

How could it be the last when he liked it so much.

‘If Lee Jaeha… forms a pair with someone else? If he dates someone? If he marries someone?’

Could he endure it?

In a moment of uncontrollable anger, he slammed his hand down on the sofa, which sank in the shape of his hand. But soon, along with a sense of powerlessness, a terrible depression came over him.

‘If that happens, I’ll surely die. I can’t bear it.’

It wasn’t that he had lived an easy life, nor that he had never wanted to die before.

But this time, his thoughts really ran to extremes.

‘If Lee Jaeha opens the door and comes back.’

‘If Lee Jaeha never meets me again from now on.’

It felt like his emotions were on a roller coaster. He didn’t know why it suddenly became like this, but a terrible sense of loss came over him.

“Why… is it different from what I had thought?”

Hyun Dowoon curled up and pondered.

He was basically a person who organized his thoughts by assuming both very good and very bad situations. Of course, he had imagined the situation where Lee Jaeha would someday ask to end the pair.

At that time… he had thought about persuading, but he didn’t feel this painful and extreme sense of loss. Rather, he only thought about how to turn Lee Jaeha’s heart around.

‘I keep… feeling like I’ve lost something very precious.’

As if Lee Jaeha had taken away something that constituted himself.

It felt like a puzzle piece that had fit well had fallen off.

***

: Yeonsoo, you’ve terminated a mercenary contract for the first time!

As I trudged home and sat on the sofa, Nine spoke with a ding sound.

: I recommend you rest well today!

“Why?”

I tilted my head and asked at the sudden words, and Nine said something unexpected.

: A mercenary contract is a contract that binds souls! The moment you terminate it, your soul takes a hit!