The Tough Guy Hides the Villainess

“Ramen party!”

Bubble bubble bubble bubble-.

I threw five packets of ramen into a large pot and boiled them wildly.

Squeezeee-.

I squeezed an entire bottle of ketchup in as well, and the savory smell pierced my nose so intensely that it gave me shivers of pleasure.

“Do we have ssamjang? A spoonful of ssamjang in ramen? This is─.”

─This is no longer just food, it’s a work of art that will go down in history.

Keke, ramen, you chewy, plump little thing.

Today, it’s either you or me that dies!

“Is it really okay for me to enjoy something this delicious all by myself? Hehehe, these ramen bastards are all dead.”

Five packets of ramen.

It’d be great if I could add ham, but even back then, there was never any ham in our fridge.

We had no money.

Bang bang bang bang-!

Someone banged on our door at that moment.

When I opened the door, a bunch of ugly thugs with menacing faces barged into our home without permission.

“Han Nam-jin. Today’s the day to pay back the interest, right? Did you get the money ready?”

Ah-.

Debt collectors.

I remembered how my mom and dad failed big in business towards the end, and how they resorted to loan sharks, causing me a lot of suffering.

Today, as per the original timeline, I was supposed to have my leg crushed by a truck and be rushed to the hospital, so I didn’t expect these guys to show up.

They said those scumbags took the insurance and hospital money I received back then.

“What, you were making ramen?”

“Good timing, I’m hungry. Little bro, plate it nicely and bring it to the big bro here.”

“Damn, what’s that smell? Ketchup? Who the hell makes ramen like this, you idiot!”

Ssshhh-.

The loan sharks poured all the ramen I had worked so hard on into the sink.

At that moment, I heard a snapping sound ─snap─ in my head.

“Money-grubbing jerks who don’t know how precious food is! Attention, all of you!”

“What?”

“What the hell is this guy saying?”

“Is this bastard crazy?”

Days of suffering to get food flashed through my mind like a revolving lantern.

The long, humiliating, and disgraceful days—.

Do they even know how hard it was when I whipped that forever office worker Kim Jang-dong?

“Do you even understand the humiliation I felt when I had to sell my pride for two potatoes? Bastards who don’t know how precious food is deserve some punishment!”

Thud-!

With a loud shout, I jumped into the air and kicked the loan shark leader in the head.

Whack-!

The loan shark boss, hit by my powerful kick—since I was a ‘leg strength’ ability user—was sent flying into the wall.

Judging by his white, upturned eyes, I wasn’t sure if he was dead or unconscious.

「Name: Kim Do-jun

Status: 《Unconscious》 – He has lost consciousness due to a major shock.」

“B-boss!”

“You son of a bitch!”

“Screw off! No, I’ll screw you over!”

I ran forward and kicked both men in their groins with all my strength.

Whack whack-!

“Aaah~”

“Guaaah!”

Without even having time to react, the men foamed at the mouth, and I emptied all their pockets, acquiring a total of 230,000 won.

230,000 won!

How many packs of real ramen could I buy with that?

Who cares, damn it!

“I’m rich! Hehehe! The best in the past! You guys happy too? Huh?”

“Urgh….”

“Oww….”

「Name: Kwon Young-min

Status: 《Pain》 – He is in extreme pain.」

「Name: Kim Tae-yang

Status: 《Shock》 – He is in great shock as he has lost sensation in his lower body.」

Just from being kicked in the groin once, they became this limp?

At this rate, they wouldn’t survive the world to come.

‘So, what do I do now?’

As the smartest middle school dropout, I used my brain to think it through, and the future was crystal clear.

If I let these guys go now, they’d definitely come back to harm me.

“That’s just how people are.”

People who cause trouble for others never hesitate to seek revenge if something upsets them.

These guys were exactly like that, as far as I could tell.

“I’ll just bury you in the yard. I’ll even plant some flowers on top of you. Isn’t that nice? You pieces of shit will be reborn as flowers. This is the ultimate recycling.”

Screeech-.

I tightly bound the loan sharks’ fingers with cable ties, but they squirmed and struggled in resistance.

“S-stop! Hey! Han Nam-jin! This isn’t like you!”

“Hey! You’re talking about burying us! This isn’t a joke! It’s murder! Help! Help!”

“Don’t waste your energy. You know better than anyone that no one lives next door, right?”

This rundown neighborhood, left abandoned after a failed redevelopment, was great for this.

No matter how much they screamed, no one would hear.

“…This, this bastard’s eyes have lost it!”

“I told you we should have stopped pushing him when he paid off the principal! We’re really gonna die now! Boss! Wake up!”

They kept squirming, so I kicked their groins a few more times, and they quieted down.

But I realized I’d need a shovel if I were going to bury them in the yard.

“Ah?”

I suddenly remembered that we didn’t have a shovel at home back then.

Guess I’ll have to pass on the burying part for now.

“You should consider yourselves lucky. You see, I’m really good at finding recyclable items at the junkyard. So, I’ll just recycle you.”

Everyone would be shocked if I said there was something useful even in these trash-like scumbags.

But my brilliant mind had already devised a way to make use of them.

“Hey, have you guys ever kidnapped anyone before? Could you do it again?”

At my question, the loan sharks, still bruised from being kicked in the groin, made a sour face.

They looked at me like a homeroom teacher staring at a student who had written “Emiya Kiritsugu” under future career aspirations.

How did I know that expression?

I didn’t want to know either.

“Who…who would we kidnap?”

“The president.”

The only daughter of the Seonam Group would have security on par with the president.

So kidnapping the president wouldn’t be much different.

The loan sharks, seemingly impressed by my grand plan, exchanged glances and burst into laughter.

# # #

“A shovel and pork belly. This is life.”

After leaving the neighborhood, I bought three servings of pork belly at the big supermarket and picked up a shovel at the nearby hardware store, making my bag heavy.

Money was a wonderful thing.

As long as you had money, you could get anything you needed.

Even in a ruined world, money was important.

Of course, back then, “bottle caps” were considered currency, but that’s a funny story for another time.

Three servings of pork belly.

Just thinking about those sizzling pieces on the iron plate made my hips twitch and my tailbone tingle.

The well-cooked fat would dance on my tongue.

If that didn’t excite you, you’re not a man.

“Kekeke-.”

It was when I returned home, in a great mood at the thought of grilling meat for the first time in years.

I was momentarily surprised to see a bunch of people in black suits gathered at my house.

“Did word get out that I bought meat already? There’s not enough to share.”

Could they be cronies of those loan shark bastards?

There were five of them.

The yard wasn’t big enough to bury all of them.

This is why people need to live in bigger houses.

“If you want to get wrecked, step up first.”

Shh-.

I raised the shovel and pointed it at the men in suits, who burst out laughing.

“This punk? Is he the one who hit our lady and ran?”

“Yeoul, is this the guy?”

Ssshhh-.

Someone emerged from between the men in suits.

A short-haired girl in a school uniform appeared, and she looked oddly familiar before she screamed at me.

“Hey! You!”

“What the… butt girl?”

The high school girl from the truck accident.

The misfortune I kicked away had chased me all the way here.

Was this what it felt like for a discarded cursed doll to keep returning?

“Why do you keep messing with my life! Why are you making me miserable! Why! Whyyyy!”

I was genuinely frustrated to the point of foaming at the mouth.

“Butt girl? Messing with you? Hey! What did you do right to act like a victim? You broke my phone! Do you know how much this phone costs? It’s over 2 million won! What are you going to do about it?”

My brow furrowed as the high school girl swung her strangely designed phone in front of me.

Trying to rip me off for 2 million won just because her phone broke?

This girl was worse than the loan sharks.

“Butt girl, is a phone worth more to you than the lives of 40,000 people?”

“…40,000? Suddenly?”

“With 30,000 won a month, you can provide vaccines for 600 children according to UNICEF’s standards. With 2 million won, you could save 39,600 lives.”

The girl seemed flustered, perhaps caught off guard by my logic.

She muttered, “2 million divided by 30 is…”, counting on her fingers.

Soon, one of the men in black suits whispered something to her.

“Yeoul, his math checks out.”

“It’s about 39,600 people, based on 30,000 won.”

“Really?”

The high school girl trembled.

I seized the opportunity to hammer the point home, as she clearly didn’t understand the value of money or basic math.

“If it’s broken, I’ll just fix it for you. Then you don’t need compensation, and it’s a win for both of us. You save 40,000 lives, and I don’t have to compensate you. Win-win, right?”

“Win-win, my foot! Hey, this is a custom-made smartphone for awakened individuals from Yeongsa High! It’s synced with a smart watch, and there’s no way you can fix it! Just bring your parents. Since 2 million won is a lot of money, it’s better to talk to them rather than you, a student.”

“Y-Yeoul, calm down!”

“Please relax!”

The high school girl’s face turned red as she screamed, and the tall men around her panicked.

Watching guys with balls get bossed around by a girl was pretty hilarious.

I made up my mind right then—I’d never be like that.

“Hey, you can’t just meet my parents because you want to. If you ever met them, this situation would get much bigger.”

“What are you talking about? Are your parents the president or something? I’m Baek Yeoul of Baekdang! My family used to supply ingredients to the presidential office.”

“My parents. They’re both dead.”

“…D-dead…?”

The girl, who had been screaming like a raccoon splashed with water, suddenly went quiet, clearly taken aback.

The men in black suits around her stirred uneasily.

About five seconds passed before Baek Yeoul awkwardly scratched her forehead, looking quite embarrassed.

“You don’t have any family? You live here alone?”

“Not alone. There were definitely three brothers who felt like family here.”

“The people who were tied up here? They’re over there.”

Between the men in black suits, the loan sharks were still tightly bound.

They were listening to our conversation like quiet, dead rats, trying to appease the men in suits and the high school girl with pitiful faces.

“Miss Baek Yeoul from Baekdang Pharmaceuticals, right? Don’t listen to this guy! He’s a total nutcase! This bastard was talking about kidnapping the president!”

“After his parents died in an accident, we took care of him like a little brother, but he’s completely lost his mind. All he does now is make weird ramen and eat it! Just look at the ramen he left in the sink!”

“The sink? Weird ramen? Ugh-. Urgh-. Oh, God….”

Baek Yeoul glanced at the sink, gagged a few times, and her face twisted in disgust.

“What, is this what you’ve been eating? You have no money and no parents, so…?”

「The Emotion Reader detects emotional turmoil.」

「Name: Baek Yeoul

Status: 《Compassion》 – She feels sorry for the boy who has to eat food waste. At the same time, she’s shocked by the economic gap and slightly relieved about her own life.」

“…Fine. I don’t want to mess with you anymore. If I keep this up, it’ll only hurt my family’s reputation. But Han Nam-jin, I won’t forget this. Just you wait.”

With that, Baek Yeoul handed me a piece of paper.

「Yeongsa High School」

「With your nation in your heart, and the era in your hands」

「To Han Nam-jin」

“You’re an awakened individual, right? I saw your admission documents in the mailbox, so I guess I’ll be seeing you at school from now on.”

Yeongsa High School, the school for awakened individuals.

Also known as “Stage” in fancy terms.

In my past life, my leg was wrecked, so I couldn’t enroll.

And even in this life, I wasn’t particularly interested in attending, but I’d always been curious about why it was called “Stage.”

Suddenly, a thought flashed through my brilliant mind like lightning.

“Does Seo Ga-eul also go to that school?”