The Main Character Killed The Villain

#038

What? My soul will be affected?

“Why are you telling me this now?”

I recalled feeling like I had lost something precious the moment I broke the mercenary contract earlier. I’m not sure if it’s related.

“What about the other party? Do they also get affected?”

I asked, remembering how Hyun Dowoon was crying earlier. Nine responded with a very innocent emoticon:

: Of course. The other party receives an even bigger impact.

“What exactly is this impact?”

: The mercenary becomes bound to the other party. It’s like their soul gets an owner. Their affection increases more easily than usual, and when the contract is broken, they feel a sense of loss as if they’ve lost their soul!

What the…! If I had known that, I would have been more careful about making contracts.

Of course, I had no choice but to make the contract given the situation, but still…

‘A sense of loss as if they’ve lost their soul?’

Is that what Hyun Dowoon is feeling right now?

What kind of feeling is that loss? Is it like how I felt when I lost my family… Is that the state he’s in?

‘I didn’t want him to feel that devastated.’

However, even if I had known that Hyun Dowoon’s condition would worsen, I had no intention of changing my mind about breaking the contract with him. I just couldn’t do it.

‘This state won’t… last forever.’

It didn’t seem like Nine and the system had the power to control someone else’s soul permanently.

I’m too scared to ask, but…

‘I hope his affection wasn’t too high.’

I guess it probably wasn’t. Whatever kind of affection it was, if he had liked me, he wouldn’t have sent me to Shin Haejun’s team or disrespected me.

Anyway, it was probably just the affection of an acquaintance. If so, there shouldn’t be any problems after the sense of loss passes.

“Is there any way to check the affection level?”

: That’s impossible!

I see, it’s simple… Well, if it could read people’s emotions, that would be too much of a cheat key.

‘Let’s stop thinking about Hyun Dowoon now.’

Anyway, that sense of loss was temporary for me. So I thought Hyun Dowoon would also feel a bit down for a few days and then get over it.

***

It seems Hyun Dowoon wasn’t lying about filing a lawsuit, as handwritten apology letters soon started appearing on the community board.

They were mostly like this:

They were a student, or unemployed, or a new employee who just started working… Anyway, they explained who they were. They were angry about some difficult situation and thought it was unfair, or it was just a joke, so they left certain comments.

They were really struggling, had some unfortunate circumstances, worried about what trials would come if they got sued, felt sorry for their families, and so on… They apologized for the insulting personal attacks and derogatory comments, but asked for forgiveness just this once…

‘It seems they’re trying to justify themselves by showcasing how unfortunate they are…’

They’re probably scared now that they’ve received a lawsuit notice and want it withdrawn, so they’re posting apology letters one after another, but I felt nothing while reading them.

Rather, the comments on those apology posts were scarier.

Comments like, “I thought it was too harsh, and I was right,” or “I still think this whole thing is a bit strange, but your level of insult was so severe that you deserved to be sued.”

‘Hundreds of comments were all cursing when the posts first went up.’

As soon as news of the lawsuit spread, suddenly the comments were completely cleaned up. Honestly, it just made me think how scary humans are.

‘The world in books is no different from reality.’

I closed the Awakened community and gathered my medicine to take.

‘Good thoughts, good thoughts.’

It would be terrible if I acted on bad thoughts.

First of all, it would be unfair to Shin Haejun, the landlord, and if someone happened to be passing by below when I fell, it would be unfair to them too. It would be terrible if I didn’t die cleanly and ended up disabled, and if I self-harmed, I’d have to tell the doctor about it at the next hospital visit.

I walked around the living room in circles, trying my best to change my thoughts.

“Huff huff… Oh my.”

When I looked up at the clock without thinking, I realized I had been walking for an hour. I thought I had a smooth body that didn’t exercise much, but maybe that’s why I was surprisingly out of breath. Is it because the living room is as spacious as a playground?

I sat down on the sofa with a groan, and suddenly the doorbell rang.

“Who is it?”

When I checked the intercom, a white envelope filled the screen. There was no answer to my question, just the envelope swaying back and forth.

‘What’s this?’

I opened the front door, tilting my head in confusion, and saw Shin Haejun’s face, grinning from ear to ear.

“What if you open the door without checking who it is? What if it’s a dangerous person?”

“Shin Haejun, what brings you here in broad daylight?”

“Oh, did you want me to come at night?”

Shin Haejun smiled confidently and shamelessly as always.

“You haven’t had lunch yet, right?”

“I haven’t even had breakfast yet, let alone lunch.”

It was lunchtime, but I went to bed late and woke up late because I couldn’t sleep due to anxiety. Shin Haejun grinned at my response.

“Perfect. Let’s go in.”

“Why are you coming into my house as you please?”

“Come on.”

Shin Haejun lightly pushed my back. He was dangling the envelope in his hand again.

“What’s that?”

“An incredibly delicious meal.”

“Then just give it to me and go.”

I just held out my hand, thinking he might throw a tantrum if I refused. Shin Haejun rolled his eyes slightly.

“Bro, I didn’t think you were this cold. I haven’t had lunch either, so I bought this to eat together. I thought you might not eat alone, so I came to take care of you. Isn’t this too much?”

“You only call me ‘bro’ at times like this.”

“I don’t usually use that term.”

It was very awkward to hear a man with a mountain-like build and cold appearance lowering his body to match my eye level and speaking as if he was trying to be cute. It’s awkward, but it also suits him somehow. That was very strange.

I sighed and walked straight to the dining table. After he said that, I felt like I’d be a really bad person if I sent him back. Shin Haejun, looking excited, followed behind me and placed the envelope on the table, taking out its contents one by one.

“It’s sushi, huh?”

“Yeah. Kim Sehyun said you like tuna, right?”

“Did he say that?”

Shin Haejun nodded as he poured soy sauce into a disposable bowl in response to my question.

“Yeah. Gotta feed you what you like to score points.”

“If you hadn’t thrown away the yuzu marmalade, you wouldn’t have had to start from negative points.”

I clicked my tongue as I spoke. Shin Haejun groaned, “Ah,” and shook his head.

“Let’s not mention the yuzu marmalade.”

“Good grief.”

I looked at Shin Haejun with pitying eyes. He grinned and ripped open a pair of chopsticks, offering them to me.

“Still, it seems like it’s started.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“I thought you’d either have no thoughts at all or not respond to my advances. But our relationship has started, even if from negative points.”

“You’re really positive, aren’t you?”

I shook my head. But I pondered for a moment if Shin Haejun’s words were correct.

‘Hmm… Surprisingly, it’s not wrong…’

Maybe because it was an unconscious remark, I found it hard to deny.

‘Kim Sehyun must be really angry though.’

From the beginning, Kim Sehyun really disliked Shin Haejun showing interest in me. It felt like he was acting as if his lover had been stolen. Well, we were bound by a contract.

As such, asking about my favorite food to take care of my meals must have been a critical hit for Kim Sehyun. It seemed that unintentionally, Shin Haejun had given Kim Sehyun a taste of his own medicine on my behalf.

“I’ll eat well.”

“I heard you especially like tuna, so I bought a lot. Eat plenty. This place is really good.”

Last time… he said he’d guide me to a good restaurant next time. This seemed to be part of that plan.

Shin Haejun was watching me with an expectant face, not even opening his own portion.

“Um… you should eat quickly too, Shin Haejun.”

I reached out and ripped open Shin Haejun’s chopsticks, handing them to him. No matter what, it felt awkward to eat alone while the person who brought the food was just sitting there.

“I’m touched.”

It wasn’t much, but Shin Haejun stared down at the chopsticks. Am I some kind of cold-blooded person? Why is he making such a fuss over mere chopsticks?

“Well then, I’ll enjoy the meal.”

I picked up a tuna sushi first. If my friend Kim Sehyun said that, it would seem appropriate to start with tuna sushi. As someone who wasn’t Lee Jaeha, I didn’t really know what Lee Jaeha’s taste in food was like.

‘Wow.’

As soon as I put it in my mouth, I could taste the rice grains and tuna melting together. It really was incredibly delicious sushi, just as he had promised.

‘Huh?’

The problem started… the moment I swallowed the sushi. Suddenly, my throat began to tickle and then started swelling rapidly.

“Ack, cough…!”

I coughed frantically in panic. I couldn’t bear the urge to spit out the sushi that had gone down my throat. My tongue and throat felt prickly and were swelling up terribly. It felt like someone had sprinkled pepper all over my mouth and esophagus and was stabbing them with needles.

‘It’s hard, hard to breathe.’

As I grabbed my throat in panic, Shin Haejun exclaimed sharply in surprise.

“What’s wrong, did it go down the wrong pipe?”

“Can’t, can’t breathe…”

I grabbed Shin Haejun’s sleeve tightly, coughing and sputtering.

My breath was being cut off moment by moment. It was so terrifying. Like thrashing about in water, I felt suffocated, suffocated, and kept feeling suffocated.

‘I’m scared…!’

Am I going to die from suffocation like this? No, I’m definitely going to die. I never thought I’d die in an accident like this rather than suicide…

“Lee Jaeha, Jaeha!”