Villain wants to live as a commoner chapter 51

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As soon as I got home, I quickly changed my clothes and came out.

Then, I sat at the dining table and started interrogating Baek Gunho, who had begun cooking in the kitchen.

Baek Gunho, however, either answered absentmindedly or ignored me entirely while he cooked.

His unusually blatant avoidance only fueled my suspicion.

“If you wanted me to introduce you that badly, why didn’t you just say so?”

“No, it’s not that I want an introduction; I’m just curious why you’re acting so strange!”

“Set the table.”

Baek Gunho said coldly.

Grumbling, I took out some side dishes from the fridge, set the table, and served the rice.

“Are you really not going to say anything?”

“I’ll introduce you next week.”

“No need.”

Yeah, knowing Baek Gunho’s personality, there’s no way he would willingly open up.

That guy probably wouldn’t say a word even if he were tied up and tortured.

He’s not the kind of person to spill everything just because I keep pressing him.

I was about to give up when Baek Gunho looked at me with a strangely troubled expression.

“Why are you staring at me like that?”

“No reason.”

Baek Gunho quickly averted his gaze and started eating.

I also picked up my chopsticks, trying to bury the uneasy feeling.

The food, as always, was delicious.

After eating and lazing around on the couch, Baek Gunho came over and sat next to me.

“About Shin Chaeyoung…”

My ears perked up at the mention of her name, and I sat up straight.

“A trace amount of magic stone powder was detected in her body. It’s suspected that the powder strengthened her. The problem is, we don’t know where the powder came from.”

“You couldn’t find the source?”

“No. It’s likely that someone who infiltrated the Bureau gave it to her directly, but we can’t pinpoint who. There are suspects, but we can’t officially investigate, so there’s no progress for now.”

“Why not?”

“Just a hunch.”

A hunch, huh?

Baek Gunho’s hunches are usually right, but that’s not something that can be used as evidence in an investigation.

“Who do you suspect?”

“A guy named Lee Kanghoon… He’s a Bureau Hunter, C-rank.”

Baek Gunho pulled out a tablet and showed me Lee Kanghoon’s profile.

Unsurprisingly, he looked perfectly normal.

I stared hard at his face, feeling like I’d seen him somewhere before.

“I feel like I’ve seen him before.”

“His post is nearby, so you might have run into him.”

“Ah.”

It’s rare for an ordinary person to run into a Bureau Hunter enough to recognize their face, but I’m not exactly ordinary.

I’ve had enough run-ins with the Bureau’s Hunters thanks to various incidents to become familiar with them.

If he’s stationed nearby, we might cross paths again. I memorized Lee Kanghoon’s face.

“If he’s the one who helped Shin Chaeyoung escape… could he be with Baekmyeon Sect or the Black Sea Guild?”

“He’s with Baekmyeon Sect.”

“…Is that another one of your hunches?”

“Yeah.”

Everything’s just a hunch, huh? If Baek Gunho’s suspicions are correct, he should consider becoming a fortune-teller.

I slowly read through Lee Kanghoon’s profile. Then, something caught my eye.

“His father is a government official in the Special Abilities Division.”

“Yeah, a pretty high-ranking one. Any weak evidence will just let him slip through.”

Kwon Sahyeok definitely mentioned that Baekmyeon Sect was recruiting the children of high-ranking officials in the Special Abilities Division.

Lee Kanghoon might have been one of their recruits.

I finished reading the file and handed it back to Baek Gunho.

“So what now? You said the Bureau can’t investigate.”

“The Bureau can’t, but I’m still looking into it.”

So, you’re conducting a private investigation. Well, I wouldn’t expect Baek Gunho to sit idly by.

“Is there anything I can help with?”

“Not right now.”

Yeah, there’s not much I can do besides smashing things up… I suddenly regretted using up that mysterious magic stone last time.

If I still had it, maybe I could have made Lee Kanghoon talk.

Where can I get another one?

“Don’t get any weird ideas. Just stay out of it.”

Baek Gunho, who had been watching me closely, warned me.

Does he think I’m going to cause trouble?

I only ever get dragged into messes, I don’t go looking for them.

“Don’t cause any trouble, okay?”

“Okay.”

“And don’t go looking for Lee Kanghoon.”

“I said I won’t.”

“And definitely don’t try to stir up trouble to lure Lee Kanghoon out.”

“…I hadn’t even thought of that, but now I’m tempted.”

“Don’t do it.”

“I’m joking.”

“Is this something to joke about? You…”

I turned on the TV to drown out the nagging that followed.

Seriously, it’s not like I said I’d do anything, but he still doesn’t trust me.

✧✧✧

Lunchtime.

A coworker, who was sipping a drink at a café, slumped onto the table with a sigh.

“Sigh, I just want to quit and start a YouTube channel.”

“Yeah, I get that.”

I replied absentmindedly, and suddenly, their eyes lit up as they sat up straight.

“Huiwon, you should start a YouTube channel!”

“Me?”

“Yeah! People would be mesmerized just watching your face.”

“Right? When I first saw you, I wondered why you didn’t become a celebrity instead of joining a company.”

Team Leader Lee chimed in, making my face flush with embarrassment at the sudden attention.

The reason YouTube was brought up was that Na Hongju was coming to the office today.

We had confirmed our contract to advertise on the Hyloberyl channel, and she was visiting for a meeting.

After lunch, I returned to work, but I couldn’t focus.

The horoscope for today said everything would go smoothly, but my concentration was all over the place.

I daydreamed about quitting and becoming a successful YouTuber while sitting at my desk.

It’s not like I’m good at talking or have any special content to showcase, so it wouldn’t succeed anyway.

‘Stop daydreaming.’

But the more I tried to focus, the sleepier I became.

S-rankers supposedly don’t need much sleep, yet for some reason, I always felt drowsy at work.

It’s as if the office had the effect of a high-grade status ailment item.

Even coffee, the essential weapon of office workers, didn’t work on me.

My body was so strong that I had a natural resistance to most drugs, and caffeine had no chance of waking me up.

To shake off the drowsiness, I headed to the restroom and splashed cold water on my face. It helped a little.

As I was leaving the restroom, I ran into someone coming out of the adjacent women’s restroom.

It was Na Hongju.

“Oh.”

Just as I was about to walk past her, Na Hongju spotted me and widened her eyes.

“You’re the person I saw on the subway, right?”

“Ah.”

“You’re the one who helped that person who collapsed from mana overdose on the subway!”

I didn’t expect her to remember. I nodded in agreement, not seeing a reason to deny it, and Na Hongju seemed genuinely happy to see me.

“I didn’t expect to meet you again. Isn’t this fate?”

“Yeah. Was that person okay?”

“Yes, they’re doing fine now.”

“That’s a relief. I was worried after leaving so suddenly.”

“Oh, no worries. Thanks to you, they didn’t get hurt. I have to get back to my meeting, but it was nice seeing you again.”

“Yes, take care…”

Just as I was about to say goodbye, I felt a chilling sensation sweep over my body.

The air around us grew tense.

It was a dungeon break.

Na Hongju must have sensed the same disturbance because she quickly scanned the area with a serious expression.

We both turned to see a rift opening at the end of the hallway.

A monster emerged from the gaping portal. It was a bug-like creature, about the size of a human head.

“Get down!”

Na Hongju shouted urgently.

But instead of running, I pulled out a gun from my inventory and aimed it at the monster.

Bang!

The monster spurted blood as the bullet hit it. It wasn’t strong enough to go down in one shot, but it wasn’t a tough opponent either.

I could handle it without using my abilities.

“What’s that? Amazing.”

Na Hongju asked, eyes wide as she watched me fire again.

Instead of replying, I shot a few more rounds.

The monster spewed more blood before collapsing.

Na Hongju placed a hand on my back, casting a support skill on me.

She pulled out several potion bottles from her inventory.

“Can you keep fighting?”

“Yes, I can.”

“I’m thinking of blocking the other side so they can’t escape, but then they’ll only come from this direction…”

“Go ahead.”

As I answered Na Hongju’s urgent question, he reached out and used a skill.

A transparent barrier formed behind the gate.

With the other path blocked, the monsters began rushing in only from one direction.

Na Hongju, standing beside me, threw a potion at the approaching monsters.

The monsters hit by the potion wobbled and fell below.

Between shooting the charging monsters, I took care to finish off the ones that had fallen to the ground.

My accuracy isn’t usually this good.

Is it thanks to Na Hongju’s skill?

I was even impressed with how well the bullets were hitting their targets.

Since the hallway was narrow, only a limited number of monsters could attack at once, making them easier to deal with than expected.

After defeating quite a number of monsters, the gate stopped spewing them out and everything went quiet.

“Is it… over?”

Na Hongju muttered. It felt like one of those ominous flags in a comic.

Doesn’t the enemy always come back to life after lines like that?

Then it happened.

Thick black smoke began pouring out of the gate.

Before I had time to dodge, the smoke filled the hallway, engulfing us completely.

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