That’s How They Became Villains

#31. Forewarned Terror -5-

The airship rose.

Everyone living in Unhwa saw the sight of a huge white cloud rising into the sky.

The sight was at once majestic, yet somehow sorrowful.

Because for humanity hidden underground, the sky no longer existed.

That cloud, too, would not be able to stretch up into the high sky, but would remain in the low airspace.

Nevertheless, the majesty approaches, embracing the swelling heart.

The citizens of Unhwa thought about the fate of the airship today.

Meanwhile, there were those who did not worry about this.

They were the majority of the Royal Roaders who were on the airship.

We have so much money, we have such strong power, the airship we’re riding is so sturdy.

And Athena is here.

How dare anyone attempt something like a terror attack?

-Gulp, gulp.

The beverage containing the drug went down the Royal Roaders’ throats.

It was a special mold strain that Nazha had sampled from raiding Cheongang’s Third Pharmaceutical Company.

Within 1 minute, red spots would appear all over their bodies, stomachaches would be felt, and their bodies would become hot and feverish.

The first stage was a success.

Whether fast or slow, those who felt something unusual would begin to appear one after another.

And around this time, Mary looked around anxiously.

Ten minutes had passed since the airship departed. Just in case, she sent a DM to Chae Yu-ha and received a proper reply. It said that the inside was too spacious and she was lost, so it would be appreciated if Mary could come to the edge of the hall.

But there was no one at the edge of the hall. No, to be precise, there was one person.

A blonde man with his eyes closed, concentrating on something.

She remembered. He was a first-generation enhanced human called Last.

“Ah, I found you!”

At that moment, a familiar voice came from behind Mary.

A voice that, although never heard in reality, had somehow become familiar.

Chae Yu-ha (Agio) approached with a smiling face, waving her hand.

“!!!”

Mary, unable to speak, bounced up and down in her wheelchair, expressing her joy silently.

Upon noticing this, Alfred, who was pulling the wheelchair, tactfully turned the wheelchair toward Agio.

Agio was wearing a black dress. She had worn the gift that Mary had given her to try on.

In reality, it was a fake searched through a visual tracker, and the real one was stuffed in a closet at home.

But isn’t there a need for white lies in this world?

“You’re Mary, right?”

Agio, who had approached right in front of her, asked while panting.

Mary’s mind went blank.

What should I say? I’m your fan? Please hold my hand? You wench, cry your eyes out for me?

As Mary was flustered, Alfred tactfully cleared his throat and introduced his mistress instead.

“So you are Yu-ha, pleased to meet you. This person here is Mary Nelson Rothschild, the legitimate descendant and youngest of one of the seven great houses of the Royal Load.”

At this, an angry Mary hit Alfred’s thigh with her powerless fist.

She meant that she was just about to introduce herself, why take away her opportunity.

So Alfred took out Mary’s personal pad from his suit and attached it to the wheelchair.

“I’m your fan.”

Mary reached for the pad attached to the wheelchair and began to communicate with Agio.

Seeing the letters that appeared on the pad, Agio tilted her head and looked at Alfred.

Mary, who was quick to notice, wrote letters again.

“I can’t speak.”

“I can’t use my lower body either.”

“I became like this because of side effects from the enhanced human serum.”

Agio felt uncomfortable with Mary’s sudden confession.

But Mary began to write letters continuously as if she was immersed in telling her story.

“I saw the video.”

“It was so hard after becoming an enhanced human.”

“Thanks to that video, I felt like I was saved.”

“For the first time, I thought there was someone who would be sad for people like me.”

Agio felt even more uncomfortable, thinking that these were things that Chae Yu-ha herself should hear.

But on the other hand, she wanted to do something for this pitiful child.

“Can I call you Mary?”

“Please do so.”

Agio picked up Mary in an embrace.

At a glance, Alfred was startled, but Agio sent a look saying it would be fine.

“Mary is admirable. Going through such a difficult life without blaming others.”

“??!?”

Mary, removed from her wheelchair, couldn’t answer.

She just blushed red and flailed about.

“You know, I’ve seen so many people. ‘I’m unhappy so I can do this.’ ‘I’m strong so I can do this.’ ‘That person is evil so they deserve to suffer.’ People who live by rationalizing everything in that way.”

Agio continued talking while patting Mary, whom she held in her arms.

“Mary, you’re a Royal Roader, right? Someone who could have expressed the bitterness and anger inside more intensely, right? But you didn’t do that, and I want to thank you for purely saying that you like me like this.”

“Ah, ah, ahh… ahh…”

That’s not it.

The family members who mistreated me were stronger than me, so I couldn’t touch them.

I stepped on all the minions who were weaker than me so they couldn’t get up again.

Even towards you, I had the base desire for you to shed more tears for me.

But, if you say it like that…

“Uuu…”

Thick tears formed in Mary’s eyes.

And then, lowering her head so her face couldn’t be seen, she shed tears drop by drop.

Why did it turn out the opposite?

How are human emotions like this…?

Alfred swallowed his tears of emotion while watching that sight.

‘Indeed, it was the right answer to have my lady meet this person.

My lady, who seemed to have lost her emotions after becoming hemiplegic and being cast out from the family.’

At some point, she started to smile brightly, and now she’s even shedding tears.

“…”

And Jin Hyun, who was watching this scene with closed eyes, thought.

‘This is getting a bit uncomfortable, wish they’d go somewhere else to do this.’

Meanwhile, there were those who were watching this scene with distaste.

It was a group of influencers who had ignored or bumped into Chae Yu-ha when boarding the airship.

They were influencers who had become famous through singing, entertainment, internet broadcasting, and the like.

In other words, they had endured long periods of obscurity and worked hard to get where they were.

But who was this girl?

Where did she suddenly appear from, even gaining the interest of the Royal Roaders?

They were surprised when they saw Chae Yu-ha’s ID that had suddenly appeared on Instagram.

Even decent celebrities didn’t gain followers at that rate.

When they later learned that she had gained attention by currying favor with enhanced humans, they thought it was rather ridiculous.

Of all people, she makes a living by receiving attention from enhanced humans? How low-class.

But when they saw the Chae Yu-ha they had ignored lingering near the airship, the shock was indescribable.

Surely she must have come to the wrong place. She wants to board but can’t, so she’s just here to look.

It wasn’t so.

She boarded the airship as a matter of course, and moreover, Athena followed her in as if giving her special treatment.

They were about to go mad with twisted jealousy.

They had already expended great effort to please the Royal Roaders who hosted them, which made it even worse.

So, one influencer who couldn’t contain her anger approached Chae Yu-ha (not really), who was having a cozy conversation with Mary sitting on her lap.

In her hand was a glass of red wine that would hardly come off once it stained clothes.

“Oh my, aren’t you Yu-ha!”

It was a natural approach and she deliberately lengthened her skirt to make it easy to trip over.

If she fell like this and soaked her hair with wine.

She would feel a bit refreshed. She would feel a sense of superiority. Ah, that was certainly what would happen. “I’m a total fan!”

The wine glass spills, avoiding Mary and targeting Chae Yu-ha but stopped in mid-air.

It happened in the blink of an eye. Jin Hyun, who had been closing his eyes at one edge of the hall, caught the wine glass before it even had time to fall with his characteristic acceleration.

Momentarily, only that place became quiet. The influencer who tried to spill the wine couldn’t say anything.

Jin-hyun’s blue eyes, Mary’s red eyes, Alfred’s green eyes.

They were glaring at the influencer with murderous intent. It wasn’t really like that, but at least the influencer felt that way.

“Fan, I’m a… I’m a fan… S-sorry…”

The terrified influencer retreated shamefully, trying not to make eye contact with them.

She couldn’t ask further why only Chae Yu-ha received such treatment.

Because if she uttered even one word, she felt like her neck would fly off then and there.

*

And at the same time, the real Chae Yu-ha was.

“Ah, setting up the camera without Agio is really inconvenient.”

Having finished preparing for the broadcast, she cleared her throat, “ahem,” and was warming up her voice.