The Villain's Sister - Chapter 37

“We’ve planted bombs throughout the department store! If you obey, you’ll return home safely, but if you act rashly, we’ll kill you on the spot!”

Sobs could be heard from all around.

My body trembled uncontrollably.

Though it was warm spring, it felt as cold as early winter with only a thin sweater on.

“Shut up! Can’t you be quiet?”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

As bullets struck the ceiling, silence fell over the department store.

The sound of sirens came from outside.

The police had arrived, but it was uncertain how effective they would be.

Unlike the frightened hostages, Johan calmly assessed the situation.

With a hardened expression, he observed the robbers and checked for escape routes.

Meanwhile, the police attempted negotiation.

The robbers demanded ransom in exchange for lives.

“Seventy million raphens for children and the elderly. Fifty million for the rest.”

They were lunatics trying to sell lives. They should’ve robbed a bank instead.

‘No way the police would agree to negotiate.’

If a precedent was set, similar hostage situations would arise again.

While the robbers were distracted, Johan slipped something into my hand beneath his coat.

The cold object in my hand was clearly a gun, even without seeing it.

How had he hidden it, even after the body search?

When our eyes met, he whispered softly, “Shh.”

“What do you plan to do?”

“Just in case—”

Johan’s words were drowned out by the sound of an explosion. The building shook.

Boom! Boom!

The deafening blast made my ears ring.

Something fell from the ceiling with a pattering sound.

Those lunatics must have blown up another floor. Screams and groans echoed in my ears.

“Those who died did so because negotiations were abandoned. I’ll give you twenty minutes! Next time, we’ll broadcast each death live!”

A groan escaped at the robber’s shout.

Even amidst the chaos of the building collapsing, my heartbeat felt painfully clear.

Drip. Drip. Pat.

At first, I thought blood was dripping on my knees, but it was my own tears.

After wiping them away, I made a request to Johan.

“Johan. If I die, tell Raphael I’m sorry.”

“You’re not going to die.”

“If there is a God, someone like me dying is only natural.”

“If there were a God, scum like them wouldn’t be roaming the world.”

Johan inhaled to speak but closed his mouth again.

With a complicated expression, he stared at me. After a moment of hesitation, he grabbed my hand.

His long fingers intertwined with mine. Firmly. And warmly.

Surprised by the unexpected gesture, I looked at him, but he had already turned his face to observe the other robbers.

After some hesitation, I curled my fingers around his.

Our fingers overlapped.

The solidity of his large hand, and the warmth conveyed through it, were fatal for someone weak like me.

“Thank you.”

I wiped my eyes with my blood-stained sleeve.

I hadn’t expected such gentle kindness from this man.

As the trembling eased, my mind calmed.

Then the situation became clearer.

This was the first floor.

If people were stationed on the upper floors, they hadn’t been brought down.

If the floor right above exploded, the robbers would also be at risk, so the bombs likely went off from the third or fourth floor.

‘If chaos breaks out, the other hostages will be in danger.’

So escaping alone wasn’t an option.

Then, a gunshot rang from upstairs.

Had the police entered? Or had the hostages resisted?

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Aaaaah!”

“Eek!”

“Mom!”

All sorts of sounds clashed together.

The more chaotic it became, the more terrified the hostages here became.

The robbers checked outside the windows.

Some of them headed upstairs to assess the situation.

As the gunfire continued, the robbers on the first floor began to grow agitated.

They grabbed hostages and aimed guns at their heads.

I was among them.

“Stay still! Disobey and this woman dies!”

From the bank robbery to this department store, the same thing was happening all over again.

Johan stood up and approached the robber.

Bang!

The robber fired a shot at Johan’s feet.

“Want to die? You’d better stay in your seat!”

“Isn’t it too cowardly to use a woman as a hostage? Why not take me instead?”

“Once she’s dead, you’re next.”

Unfazed, Johan kept walking toward him, step by step. He signaled me with his eyes.

I gripped the hidden gun tightly.

As things got noisy here, more robbers gathered.

“Hey. What’s going on?”

“No time for pointless nonsense. If they’re a threat, kill them and let’s go support the upper floor.”

“One of the hostages is an off-duty cop. Paul and a few others were taken out.”

One of the robbers swung a fist at Johan’s head to knock him down.

But Johan caught the incoming hand and threw the robber over.

He quickly snatched the gun and shot the nearby robbers to death.

Hot blood splattered across his face.

The body of the fallen robber on the ground sent chills down my spine.

Hhhhhh―

A strange sound escaped my mouth, not quite a scream or a moan.

The other robbers on the same floor shot at Johan.

I saw the bullets flying in this direction.

In less than a second, everything slowed down—as if time stretched out.

“Kuh!”

The bullets grazed Johan and me, hitting the other robbers behind us.

He must have altered their trajectory with magic, but to me, the whole situation was terrifying.

“What pathetic skills.”

Johan mocked the robbers and opened fire.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The gunshots were deafening.

Some of the hostages screamed, crouched down, and covered their heads, while others fled toward the emergency stairwell.

But more robbers from the other floors began appearing from the stairwell and escalators.

Johan said quietly, “There was no one at the employee entrance over there. Take the people and go quickly.”

It’d be easier for him if I disappeared fast.

That way, he could unleash his full power.

He was going to deal with the robbers anyway, and the hostages probably wouldn’t remember detailed faces.

“Don’t get hurt.”

I ran, holding the gun.

“Over there! Use the staff entrance!”

I guided the hostages in the same situation as me and picked up a crying child who was bleeding.

We entered the staff corridor and ran down the hallway.

Whack!

A bullet grazed me and embedded in the wall.

Tiny fragments fell from the wall with a rattle.

“Stop.”

“Mom! Waaaah!”

A child pierced by glass cried out for their mom.

I wanted to cry too.

I had wished the day would never come when I had to fire a gun.

“If you don’t want to die, you’d better stop.”

What kind of worthless robber targets women and children?

“This child is seriously injured. Let the child go and take only me.”

I slowly placed the child down on the floor.

The robber approached us.

I still had my back turned to the robber.

And there was a gun in my hand.

Before he could check on me—in that split second.

I had to take care of the guy.

Looking down, I saw my hand.

The child’s blood made it hard to see my skin tone, but it wasn’t soaked in blood.

This hand of mine, which had never killed anyone before, was Raphael’s pride.

Not just pride. It was the symbol of my soul, protected by his love.

So I couldn’t bring myself to stain it.

‘Just injure him.’

The robber grabbed my shoulder.

In the moment my body spun around, I fired at the robber.

Bang! Bang!

I fired once. So did the robber.

Blood gushed from the robber’s leg. He collapsed on the spot.

Blood also spread across my clothes. My arm had been pierced.

Ugh.

A scream burst out from the pain. In the chaos, I snatched the robber’s gun.

“Coward.”

No other hostage, so you try to take a child?

If Raphael had caught you, you wouldn’t even have left behind bones.

Now that I looked closely, he was the one who had touched my body earlier. Furious, I kicked him square in the middle.

“Urgh!”

I wanted to crush him completely, but checking my wounded arm was more urgent.

I roughly treated the arm, which was gushing blood, then picked up the child again.

There was a staff break room nearby, so I entered and checked the child’s wound.

Fortunately, the glass fragment was cleanly embedded.

I pressed it deeply with one hand as if to stop the bleeding.

“It’s okay. It’ll all be over soon.”

“Mom… waaah…”

“Once this is done, we’ll go see your mom.”

The child gasped and then burst into tears.

“Shhh. It’ll be okay. Once you’re better, we’ll go find your mom. I’ll help you.”

Light rose from my hand, and the gaping wound slowly began to heal.