CHAPTER 57

“But even that’s unpleasant… I mean, if he’s broadcasted being caught by the tentacles, it’s so pitiful. It’s too suggestive!”

Hyena and Wonha desperately tried to justify themselves, but an unspoken truce settled in as long as the words were not spoken.

At that moment, Seo cut the metal hose in half, gripping one end firmly in his hand while ominously gnashing his teeth.

“You’re dead.”

As he swung the thick metal hose like a whip, three cameras flashed one after another. The last thing visible was the villain entangled in the hose and the screams ‘What are you doing!’.

“What are you doing?! No, don’t do it! Broadcast it! No, don’t! What’s happening? No, right? No, Seo!”

And similar screams echoed in the research lab.

***

Three days later. Belze managed to arrange a private meeting with DDD. To her surprise, the young woman who had fought with Seo, Lotte, suggested it first.

Hyena, Belze, and Lotte met in a secluded hideout and chatted. With her wavy hair falling to her shoulders and a slightly dreamy look, Lotte was well-groomed and polite for a villain.

She offered herself as a junior and told them to speak comfortably. Although she was only a year younger than Belze, she was considered a junior in the villain world.

The three explored each other little by little under the guise of fostering camaraderie.

“What’s your real name, Unnie? I’m Lee Ji-hye. It’s quite common.”

“Oh? I’m Belze.”

“Is that your real name?”

“I changed it.”

“I see. I saw the video of you fighting with Ravi. I was collecting data and saw that you really fought a lot.”

And thankfully, Lotte brought up the topic of Seo herself. Belze, who had been laying the groundwork by asking and answering unimportant questions under the guise of friendliness, seized the moment.

“I also saw you fight. It was really daring to fight with Seo from the beginning. The broadcast was cut off in the middle, what happened after that?”

“Unnie, do you call Ravi by his real name?”

Lotte asked in surprise, and Belze, feeling caught off guard, tried to explain.

“He calls me by my real name, so I thought it would be fair to call him by his real name. I don’t need to be the only one showing respect for real names.”

“Is that so? I was surprised because you seemed friendly.”

“So how was it?”

But the crucial point was what happened afterward. Suppressing her pounding heart, Belze asked again, and Lotte’s expression distorted uncomfortably.

“That guy is really a terrible person.”

“He is… Yeah, well, I know best, but how exactly?”

“Seriously, what’s wrong with him! I’ve never seen a hero like him, not even in the United States! Unnie, you’ve fought a lot with him, so you know, right? How could he do such a thing?”

Lotte slammed the table, expressing her anger, and threw fuel into Belze’s anxiety. Despite knowing it was irrational anxiety, Belze couldn’t help but be troubled by it.

Even if Seo retaliated against Lotte by only entwining her in metal tentacles, Belze’s nerves were still on edge.

Belze clenched her fist, feeling uneasy, while Lotte, with an irrational anxiety of her own, delivered a blow to Belze’s already troubled mind.

“Being humiliated while being bound by tentacles?!”

No way, no way, no way!

But if that wasn’t it, how else would Seo, who always gave as good as he got, retaliate? Belze paled to the point where Hyena patted her on the back, and Lotte arched an eyebrow in genuine confusion.

“What? What are you talking about? No way he’d do something so reckless, right? He’s a hero, after all. He can’t do such things even if he wanted to.”

“Oh, uh, yeah, well… maybe not.”

No. Seo was perfectly capable of doing such a thing.

“But he always pays back as much as he suffered. Since he struggled with the metal tentacles for a long time, it seemed possible.”

Thinking again, even if the opponent was Belze herself, he would have undoubtedly paid back twice as much.

But seeing that Seo didn’t do that to Lotte, it seemed that Seo had his own way of dealing with a situation. Belze considered this a good thing and wiped the sweat from her palms on the table.

Lotte pressed her lips together with her teaspoon and smiled conspiratorially.

“Oh, I heard that too. You were worried I might have gone through something rough after using the tentacles, right? But there’s no way. Because that guy…”

Belze was expecting a “because he’s a hero who has to uphold the law and ethics” comment, but what she heard was a shocking statement.

“…Because he must have a small d*ck.”

“No way?”

Even in the midst of anxiety, Belze’s eyes, which had been round and kind, turned cold in an instant.

Belze, flushed with emotion, answered very firmly.

“Absolutely not. You didn’t see him, did you?”

“What?”

“You say that because you didn’t see it, but let’s not make things up. We can curse him for three days and nights for other reasons. Why make up lies?”

Realizing she was being hasty as she spoke, it was already too late. Belze didn’t want rumors to spread about Seo’s private part being small. She wanted to avoid such misunderstandings.

“It’s definitely small. I haven’t seen it myself, but it’s obvious! It’s either he’s not big enough or he can’t last long.”

“It’s not obvious. And if he finishes quickly, it’s okay because he has good stamina.”

Belze didn’t stop, even though Hyena was looking at her with a “that, that….” look. Neither did Lotte.

“No, really, is that so? You’ve never slept with him, right?”

“No, no. Of course not.”

“I know. I know. I’m just saying, because there have been rumors in this circle for a few years. But do you know anyone who has slept with him?”

“Well… I don’t know. I don’t have interest in women he’s been with.”

“See? He hasn’t had any dating or one-night stand rumors for years! He deliberately avoids sleeping with women!”

“Maybe he just didn’t have someone he liked! He’s picky.”

Belze tried to justify as much as possible, but Lotte was firm.

“No man would do that, men are h*rny as hell when in their twenties. If there’s an opportunity, there’s no way to let it pass. What’s a popular man doing, turning down women who like him? He’s got a problem with his night activities. He’s not doing it because he’s afraid of embarrassment.”

“That’s a really stereotypical bias!”

“Belze, you’ve thought the same thing before.”

“Let’s not bring up the past. After all, it’s a bias. There’s no need to go into such dirty details.”

Belze, who had doubted and been more vile than anyone else, covered up her past. She was also good at covering her tracks.

As Belze lightly tapped the table with her palm and organized the situation, Lotte dropped the subject unhappily. It seemed like it was just Lotte’s speculation, meaning there was no confirmation, so Belze felt a bit relieved and resumed enjoying the refreshments.

“He’s a bit of a picky, though, and I’ve tried to seduce him myself, but he’s not very receptive.”

At this point, however, the cookie Belze was holding fell back onto the table. The fudgy cookie broke into three pieces, and Belze looked at Hyena wide-eyed.

“W-when?”

Belze asked, shaking with shock, as if she had just met an unexpected obstacle.

“On the cruise. I tried it twice before, but I was chased away.”

Belze should have said, “Oh, I see,” but she was frozen in place. Instead of expressing unease, Belze pressed the broken cookie on the table anxiously.

She knew there was nothing romantic about wanting to sleep with Seo. Belze wasn’t in any special relationship with him either, and she understood that Hyena’s words were just casual, like saying, “The restaurant we went to last time was good. Let’s go again.”

However, when the other party was someone she knew, it made a significant difference. Even if Belze didn’t have a particularly close relationship with Seo, it was clear that Hyena had said something about wanting to sleep with him.

Belze watched her for a long time, and she know Hyena’s not much of a seducer, but she’s got some serious night skills. It’s not the first time Belze seen men who’ve had plenty of women come back to her because they can’t get over her.

If someone like Hyena were to spend even one night with Seo?

As Belze, who was still unsure whether she was good in bed or not, it was unsettling.

Not that she lacked confidence, she just didn’t know. She hadn’t heard the impressions of many men, and she couldn’t compare with other women, so she didn’t have a sense of how good she was.

Seo seemed to be feeling it, but he might feel it more when he was in bed with someone else. If the partner was Hyena, in terms of experience and skill, Belze felt like she would be at a disadvantage.

“…It might be smaller than expected.”

“Huh?”

“I mean, I’m sure he’s not that big, and he will probably be rough in bed. No consideration, only asking for what he wants. You can tell from his usual behavior.”

A nervous Belze’s next move was to play dumb. Even as Hyena spoke, Belze turned her head away from Hyena and just pursing her lips.

“And, I won’t pretend to know anything, and…”

“That was a long time ago, and I’m not going after him now, so don’t make a big deal out of it.”

“I wasn’t worried.”

“Yes, yes. I get it.”

“I wasn’t!”

In a teasing tone as if knowing everything, Belze’s face flushed. They were elbowing each other and pulling at their hair as usual when suddenly Lotte spoke up.

“Stop it.”

“Huh?”

“Why?”