I Picked Up the Greatest Villain in the Story

50.

It was taking longer than expected as obtaining it was quite tricky. Meanwhile, Sehun had been secretly gathering money and various items without Jian’s knowledge.

He hadn’t fully regained his abilities yet, and there was a risk of Jian finding out if he undertook dangerous tasks himself, so he used Kim Soochul.

Soochul was a B-rank hunter who had come to pick a fight with Jian long ago and ended up being brainwashed by Sehun.

When Sehun found him a few years ago, Soochul’s life was on the brink of ruin due to gambling addiction.

Not only had he been kicked out of the Iron Guild he originally belonged to, but he had also gotten into trouble with several guilds created by gangsters and was making his last life-or-death gamble.

The mentally deteriorated Soochul was easy prey for Sehun. He placed several suggestions and thoroughly brainwashed him multiple times.

Thanks to this, Soochul was now working diligently as Sehun’s limbs. For about a year, he had even established a new guild and was acting as a fairly solid guild master.

However, he was merely filling Sehun’s pockets with all the money he earned.

“Are you feeling better now?”

Sehun barely suppressed his thoughts of confining Jian. Feeling Sehun’s trembling subside, Jian asked in a careful voice.

“…Yeah.”

He wanted to act more spoiled because he liked the hand stroking his hair, but it would be better to stop here.

Sehun lifted his head from where it was buried in Jian’s neck. His breathing eased a bit at the worried look in Jian’s eyes.

At least in this moment, Jian was looking only at him. An affectionate touch reached his cheek.

“You were fine for a while, why did this happen today?”

Sehun gave a bitter smile at the worried eyes. Experiencing breathing difficulties when faced with overwhelming situations was a long-standing chronic problem. There had been times when he had high fevers or spent nights groaning in pain.

All of these were caused by matters related to Jian. When someone asked for Jian’s number, or when Jian smiled brightly at someone who showed interest in him.

But today, he learned that Jian had kissed someone without his knowledge, so it was remarkable he hadn’t fainted.

“…I guess the college entrance exam was harder than I thought. It feels like the tension is only now being released.”

“And I didn’t even know…”

Jian firmly believed the excuse Sehun made up on the spot. Our innocent hyung. That’s why he doesn’t notice the sticky desire curled up inside me.

Although Sehun really liked Jian, times like this were a bit difficult. Seeing Jian at a loss with guilt, Sehun grasped his hand that had fallen away.

He interlocked their fingers and steadied his breath that still had a rough edge. The day he had been longing for was slowly approaching. He just had to endure until then.

When that day comes, will hyung hate me? Or will he give up and accept me?

Whatever choice he made, Sehun wouldn’t let Jian go, so he only hoped that Jian would accept his feelings as quickly as possible.

Sehun closed his eyes, burying his cheek in the soft palm like he did when he was young. The night was falling like flower petals, blood flowing from the wound in his heart.

* * *

“Hyung, call me when you arrive.”

“Okay, I will.”

Seongjun stopped by the cafe before leaving for America. He came with news that he was going to the US earlier than planned. Seongjun comforted his regretful feelings with the knowledge that Jian would also be coming to America soon.

After waving goodbye to Seongjun, who kept looking back with eyes full of lingering attachment, Jian sat in a chair and caught his breath for a moment.

Today was so busy that all the plastic cups were used up due to a large guild conducting new hunter training in a nearby dungeon.

While smiling contentedly at the thick stack of receipts, he also let out consecutive sighs.

‘I wonder if something’s wrong…’

Sehun had been acting strange lately. To be more precise, he changed after the incident where they were startled by an explicit kissing scene while watching a movie together.

When Jian heard a noise from the living room while taking refuge in his room, he thought his heart had dropped to his feet.

The large figure was crumpled up, looking up at him with such a pitiful face that it broke his heart.

His chest tightened at the blind look in Sehun’s eyes, reminiscent of his childhood when he clung to Jian’s pant leg.

There was a brief awkward atmosphere after comforting Sehun, who was struggling to even breathe properly.

Sehun got up first and headed to the bathroom, and a while later, he came out with water dripping from his face and said goodnight to Jian.

Jian had been inwardly worrying about what to do if Sehun asked to sleep together again today, but it was unnecessary.

He stared at the closed door for a long time. Although he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what, there was something a bit off about Sehun’s demeanor.

He turned off the TV that was still on and picked up a few popcorn kernels rolling on the floor, putting them in the container. Even after cleaning up, he lingered in front of Sehun’s door for a while.

Was he feeling hurt that Jian hadn’t noticed his stress building up to this point? Should he open the door now and apologize?

As thoughts kept chaining together, he roughly ruffled his hair and went to the bathroom to take a cold shower.

It felt like something was wrong, but he couldn’t tell what it was. It was frustrating, like walking down a foggy street.

Putting aside his complicated feelings, Jian went to sleep. Thinking that everything would return to normal after a night’s sleep.

‘Hyung, I’m going to school early today. I’m supposed to meet up with some friends.’

Jian was in the middle of preparing breakfast, rubbing his sleepy eyes. Sehun, who had gotten up at some point, said this while neatly dressed in his school uniform.

Although Jian told him to at least eat before going, Sehun gently refused and left the house before Jian could stop him, quickly putting on his shoes.

That day, Sehun returned home close to 10 PM. Unlike Hyunsu, who came to Jian’s cafe right after school, chatted away, and even got dinner before leaving.

‘Han Sehun rushed off somewhere as soon as the homeroom ended, like he had some urgent business. He wouldn’t tell me when I asked, so I just left him alone.’

Hyunsu’s face was full of disappointment towards Sehun as he grumbled. Hyunsu was the closest person to Sehun after Jian. If Hyunsu didn’t know, it was safe to assume no one did.

At that moment, Jian felt dizzy. The idea that Sehun was keeping secrets from him.

Of course, he had thought that Sehun would eventually break away from his embrace. Wasn’t that why he had been thinking about gradually encouraging Sehun’s independence when he became an adult?

But seeing Sehun suddenly doing things he hadn’t done before made him feel strange. He thought it might be a one-day deviation, but as of today, for over two weeks, Sehun had been repeating the routine of leaving at dawn and coming home late at night.

‘It’s not like puberty has hit him now…’

When Sehun’s strange behavior continued for the fourth day, Jian couldn’t hold back anymore and asked. Where on earth was he going around so much these days? Even Hyunsu didn’t know, so was he possibly getting involved in something dangerous?

Hyunwoo had already gone through this a few years ago, but Jian never expected to experience it now. He had tried so hard to keep his expression gentle, fearing that his words might cause the child to go further astray.

‘You don’t need to know, hyung.’

Jian bit his lower lip hard at the voice that still echoed clearly in his mind. He never imagined he would hear such words from Sehun in his life.

No, he had imagined it when Hyunwoo was having a hard time with Hyunsu during the height of his puberty, but each time, Sehun had dispelled Jian’s worries.

His speech was always gentle, his eyes looking at Jian were always sweet as if dripping with honey, and he kept in touch regularly.

Unlike Hyunsu, who would slam the door shut saying he needed time alone, Sehun often kept his room door open and frequently came into Jian’s room to sleep together whenever he had the chance.

“Haa…”

Another sigh escaped. Jian picked up his phone and opened the messenger chat with Sehun.

The text messages exchanged over the past two weeks had noticeably decreased. Jian was dying to know where Sehun was going every day, but Hyunsu didn’t know, and Sehun didn’t seem willing to tell.

‘It’s not like I can trail him either.’

Although he desperately wanted to, he was scraping together his last bit of patience and enduring. If he made a wrong move, Sehun might go further astray, which would be terrible.

He felt anxious, wondering if Sehun had met with those who formed the villain group together in the original story.

They were all described as having committed various illegal acts, being children who grew up on the streets to varying degrees. His heart pounded, fearing that Sehun might have been influenced by meeting them.

He wanted to consult Hyunwoo about his worries, but lately, he had been extremely busy. He was personally involved in training after recently recruiting a large number of new hunters.

Jian, who had been chewing on his lips, took a deep breath and dialed Sehun’s number. The monotonous dial tone sounded.

Usually, Sehun would answer before it even rang a few times, but now there was no response even after ten rings.

As Jian’s face was beginning to darken, the dial tone stopped.

“Hello? Sehun?”

Jian called out to Sehun in an intentionally bright voice, happy that the call had finally connected.