Blame v2c13

Evil’s tone was blunt, but the content contained within was ultimately that he would give Cheche the gem he wanted.

“First I’ll demonstrate with this, so you just have to follow along.”

“Director-nim.”

Cheche looked up at Evil. His large, round eyes sparkled like the sun rising in the sky. As gentle ripples form on a lake where sunlight shines, a faint smile spread through Cheche’s eyes.

“Thank you very much.”

“…Uh…”

“Thank you.”

Evil’s face heated up hotly. His mouth fell open and his red eyes blinked. Evil stared blankly at Cheche like someone whose bell of first love had just rung.

“……”

James, who had been quietly watching the scene, silently left the office to gather tools matching each raw stone. He had now built up immunity and learned how to handle such situations.

Evil didn’t seem to recognize even the sound of the door opening and closing with a thud. He clutched his chest with a bewildered expression. For some reason, his heart was pounding too violently. Thump thump, the sound of his heartbeat echoed loudly in his ears.

“Director-nim?”

“Something’s wrong right now. My heart’s beating too fast.”

“Should I call a doctor?”

Cheche came around the table and approached Evil.

“Don’t come close. Fuck, put away that pretty face.”

“……”

Evil clutched his chest with one hand and tried to cover his reddened face with the other arm. The heat wouldn’t subside when that pretty face with dark brown skin, golden eyes, a small nose, and red lips stared at him. Just as Evil was about to yell again at the refugee who was using more honey trap tactics instead of putting it away when told to, the office phone rang.

Evil wasn’t startled, but Cheche’s eyelids trembled slightly as if a little surprised by the unusually loud bell sound.

In the awkward silence, the phone bell rang once more and Cheche walked to the desk and picked up the receiver. The caller ID displayed on the phone screen was the external secretarial office.

“This is Advisory Director Evil’s office.”

– Ah… who answered the phone?

“This is Cheche.”

– Ah, that person from Tar… Nice to meet you for the first time.

“Yes, hello.”

– I naturally thought James-ssi would be there and called. He’s not answering his personal phone, so I called here. Can you put James-ssi on?

“He’s out right now.”

– I see. Director-nim probably hasn’t come to work yet either.

He was about to inform them that they were together right now, but the other side continued without hearing the answer.

– Is the secretary work manageable? It’s all your first time encountering this stuff, so it’s difficult, right?

“The sunbae-nims are kindly teaching me, so I’m getting used to it.”

– Used to it? You still don’t know anything. Even I, who’s in my second year, am still not used to it. Well, you’re just sitting there for external purposes anyway…. Now when the remeasurement confirms you as a Soul Aura User, you won’t need to know secretary work or anything, so it doesn’t matter. You’re fortunate to be able to live a much more human life than when you were in Tar. Right?

Cheche gave no answer.

– Why are you silent?

“What business are you calling about?”

The other side snickered.

– Oh, there was a dispatch request from Armal. It’s an area under earthquake tsunami warning, and they say evacuation is being delayed. They don’t need many, two Soulers and three Motioners should be enough. Make sure he approves it quickly as soon as he arrives.

Cheche looked at Evil. He definitely would have heard the content, so he didn’t explain again.

“…He says he’s going.”

Evil unbuttoned his shirt up to the third button and fanned himself with his hand.

“He’s going.”

– Huh?

“He says he’ll go directly.”

– What do you mean…?

Cheche calmly explained to the other side who didn’t understand.

“Director-nim is also here with me right now. He heard what you told me and said he would go directly.”

– …Go directly to the site? Wait, you’re together right now… it’s nine-thirty in the morning…?

Thud, Evil kicked the sofa with his foot.

“His ears are sick… why is he reconfirming what he heard perfectly fine. What’s that bastard’s name? That sick… anyway, such a half-wit should be fired. How many times is he asking again? Why the hell does the HR department sit an idiot in the secretary position to piss people off.”

That shout also entered the other side’s ears through the receiver. The external secretary who had judged extremely normally that Evil wouldn’t have come to work this early (?) screamed silently. If he had known Evil was there, he never would have asked again.

– Yes… then… I’ll relay that Advisory Director Evil will come directly….

“Hey, wait a second.”

Evil, who had gotten close in an instant, snatched the receiver from Cheche’s hand.

“Who the hell are you to speak down to him?”

He must have answered something urgently, but naturally the voice on the other end of the phone wasn’t audible to Cheche.

“You mocked him by speaking down, you beggar bastard. You said it was your first greeting, so why the fuck are you speaking casually and acting crazy? Even James, your superior, doesn’t speak casually to him, you know? …Sorry my ass, you just wait right there. I’ll personally give you etiquette training. You should be grateful that thanks to my education, you can at least function as a human being, right? Even if there’s not a single wrinkle in your brain, you should at least have good character as a person.”

With that terrifying threat as his final words, Evil threw down the phone. The secretary who would soon no longer be a secretary would be devastated, but it was their own doing. Because of their personality of frequently looking down on others, they had no people around them, so they hadn’t heard the rumors that Evil was commuting on time, nor the rumors that he seemed to care for Cheche.

“Fucking disgusting. There’s nothing but vomit-inducing trash everywhere.”

From Evil’s cursing body flowed anger close to murderous intent. It was too great an emotional change in such a short time.

‘I feel like I could almost touch it….’

It was intense enough for Cheche to think that. Although emotions don’t have colors, to Cheche who had come to use Soul Aura, it felt as dark as pitch black. It was a very intense black.

Soul Aura Users are sensitive and emotional. Things that ordinary people would briefly get angry about and move on from approach Soul Aura Users more intensely, especially high-ranking Soul Aura Users, and the emotions from them last longer. That’s why high-ranking Soul Aura Users absolutely need mental healing from Adapters.

However, in the current era, there existed no Adapter of a rank that could heal Evil.

‘These small angers accumulate and made him misanthropic….’

The time spent with Evil and the facts newly learned after awakening as a Soul Aura User made Cheche understand Evil.

He had no choice but to have vulgar curses on his lips. He had no choice but to not want to save people. He had no choice but to commit evil deeds, and he had no choice but to have no interest in Tar….

It must have been extremely difficult for Evil to like people.

Cheche suddenly felt his chest ache and brought his palm to it. Though he’d been tortured countless times until now and felt pain, this throbbing in his chest was an extremely unfamiliar pain.

“What’s wrong? Do you feel like shit too?”

The refugee who was always expressionless slightly furrowed his brow and brought his hand to his chest. That action made the already sensitive Evil even more furious.

“I’m going to kill that beggar bastard. I’ll completely bury him in society first, then remove him from this world without leaving a single piece.”

“Please don’t do that.”

“What do you mean ‘please don’t,’ you picked up trash fallen on the street and threw it in the garbage can too. Cleaning up trash that only stinks is helpful to the world.”

“You mustn’t carelessly kill people.”

“Is that even a person? Huh? Is it a person? And fuck, do you want to defend trash even in this situation? You should take my side! I take your side, so why!”

Evil snapped viciously, then wildly kicked the table and sofa. True to his personality of his body moving first when angry, he smashed the furniture in the office into a mess, but he couldn’t lay a single finger on the small refugee standing right in front of him, and around Cheche, as if a barrier had been erected, not a single broken fragment flew.

Crash, bang. As Evil panted and smashed everything, Cheche quietly asked.

“What does ‘defend’ mean?”

“Ah, shit. Really…!”

Evil had a face that said he couldn’t do anything about this small thing and was dying of frustration. Cheche tilted his head slightly and looked up at Evil, who was heaving his chest like someone who had swallowed something hot in one gulp. Evil confirmed that Cheche wasn’t frowning like he had moments ago. Seeing his eyes returned to a calm gold color, Evil eventually only let out a big sigh.

“When someone does a bad thing… it means to take their side.”

“I didn’t defend that person.”

“…….”