The Villain's Sister - Chapter 47

“Are you the one called Scott, the distributor of Blue Gas?”

“Y-you bastard. Do you even know who’s backing me? I’ve got some serious—”

Scott lunged, swinging his knife.

Red Shadow easily subdued him and snatched away the blade.

“Aaaagh!”

A gloved hand burst one of Scott’s eyes.

It was a gruesome sight, but he had seen worse on the battlefield.

What was truly horrific wasn’t Scott’s destroyed eye, but the children who had been permanently disabled by the Blue Gas he distributed.

Blue Gas was a drug.

He had no sympathy for the addicts.

But the children born from those addicts were innocent.

Dozens of children were born with neurological, mental, and physical disorders due to their parents’ addiction to Blue Gas.

“If you don’t want to lose the other eye, you’d better tell me who manufactures it.”

“Like hell I’ll tell you. You’re gonna kill me anyway!”

Scott crushed something in his hand, and acrid smoke spread instantly.

At the same time, a beam of light shot into the sky.

The same color as Blue Gas.

It spread through the slum’s sky like a meteor shower crashing into a haze of marijuana on the ground.

“You’re screwed now, asshole. You think you can play hero? It ends today!”

“Just tell me the manufacturer.”

His voice was dry and brittle, a clear sign of irritation. But Scott couldn’t read that tone.

Red Shadow made a shallow cut across Scott’s neck with the stolen blade.

“Hrk.”

The edge barely grazed the skin, but the threat was enough to make Scott flinch and squeal.

“Whatever you do, it’s no use.”

“No use, huh…”

“Puhahaha. You idiot. You’re looking for White Hands, right? Well, I know something. Let’s make a deal. I’ll tell you where White Hands appeared if you let me go.”

Red Shadow’s eyes wavered under the mask.

If this guy really knew something, making a deal wasn’t a bad idea.

Killing him could wait until after verifying the intel.

“I overheard something at the hospital. Said when White Hands touched them, they felt warm and didn’t hurt anymore.”

Red Shadow’s brows furrowed. It was exactly what he’d experienced.

But…

“I can see you’ve called for backup. But you’ll only get help if you’re still alive by then.”

The blade sliced his earlobe. Blood dripped down onto his shoulder.

“Huff! Wait, wait!”

Scott yelled in panic.

“S-Sunshine said that Red Shadow’s looking for White Hands…”

“That’s not more important than letting someone like you go.”

He wasn’t looking for White Hands to ask for healing or offer thanks.

Since they didn’t want their identity revealed, he also wanted to keep it hidden.

There were just… a few things he wanted to ask.

Or maybe a couple.

No—three or four… maybe more…

“Huff!”

Red Shadow pointed the blade at Scott’s heart.

With a bit more force, the knife would pierce skin and stab into the organ.

In that moment, Scott realized exactly what kind of person Red Shadow was.

A villain hunter with Raphael’s power, Big Bear’s brutality, and Sunshine’s madness.

An anti-hero more merciless than any villain—Red Shadow.

He was called that because in his wake, only shadows stained with blood remained.

“Shit! I’ll tell you everything! Just take a leg and let me live! I don’t wanna die!”

When Red Shadow lowered the blade, Scott panted, drenched in cold sweat.

“I really don’t know who makes it. I swear on my last eye! I really don’t! I just meet the guy who delivers the gas twice a mon—”

Bang!

Scott’s head exploded mid-ramble.

It wasn’t Red Shadow.

Blood and brain matter splattered across Red Shadow.

Chunks of flesh slid off his masquerade mask and fell to the ground.

Ignoring the warmth of fresh blood on his clothes, Red Shadow scanned the surroundings.

Then he spotted a man in a black cloak on the emergency stairs of a building in the alley.

It was too dark to make out his face.

Red Shadow fired his gun without hesitation.

The man flicked his fingers and deflected the bullet back toward him.

Red Shadow redirected the bullet to the side walls.

As fog hissed out and he closed the distance with teleportation, the man melted into the shadows and vanished.

Red Shadow’s eyelids twitched.

A wizard he didn’t recognize—possibly a new villain—was highly skilled.

***

Two Star had planned to bribe Scott, the distributor of the new drug Blue Gas, in order to track down the supplier and bring him into their organization.

As a result, Scott was chased by members of Two Star and ended up in the emergency room due to injuries.

Unfortunately, that was the day of the department store terrorist attack, and the person who shared the hospital room next to him was…

“Hi, Cassie.”

Wearing a neat shirt, Johan forced the corners of his lips upward to erase his cold impression.

He genuinely had no idea that a forced smile might look even scarier to a child.

“Mom, that man looks like a villain.”

Cassie whispered to her mother, Abigail.

You shouldn’t say things like that. Abigail gently scolded her.

Johan accepted the fact that his forced smile was truly terrible.

‘This is driving me crazy.’

Striking fear into villains came easily to him, but winning over a child felt so hopeless it was suffocating.

After losing track of Black Cloak, he investigated Scott’s whereabouts and finally caught a clue about White Hands—but it just had to be a five-year-old child.

‘They said she didn’t have a single scratch.’

Though her clothes were soaked in blood and torn, she was rushed to the hospital, and not a single injury was found on her.

“This is a gift from me to you, Cassie.”

As Johan rustled and handed over a doll, Cassie peeked her face out from behind Abigail.

“A blue bunny. I heard Cassie likes blue bunnies. Is that true?”

“Y-yeah. It’s Blue!”

Cassie opened her mouth wide when she saw the bunny doll Johan was shaking.

According to the toy store owner, the blue bunny named Blue was currently the most popular doll on Mist Island.

“Here.”

Cassie took the doll from Johan and ran off into the living room.

“Cassie! You should thank the gentleman!”

“It’s all right. Just seeing her happy is enough.”

Abigail sighed and served him some tea.

“Mr. Johan. Thank you so much for what you did that day. Thanks to you stepping in for the hostages, we were able to escape safely.”

“It was nothing. I only did what I had to.”

The wound on his face from that day had almost healed. He was truly fine.

“I think your girlfriend was with you then, are you both all right?”

“Yes, we’re safe. My girl… friend also returned safely, so please don’t worry.”

He hadn’t expected her to remember Giselle.

Well, that must be why she recognized him and invited him into her home.

“I wanted to thank you through the hospital or the police, but your names weren’t listed in the victim registry, so I couldn’t find where you were. I was really worried something had happened to you both.”

Sneaking a glance at Johan, Abigail moistened her dry lips with her tongue.

She looked clearly nervous, so Johan spoke more gently than before.

“It’s probably because we went straight home before our names were added to the police records. Calming my startled girlfriend took priority over administrative procedures.”

After spinning that plausible lie, she nodded in understanding.

“We’ve been trying to find you both ever since. Well, more precisely, your girlfriend. I really wanted to thank her.”

“Thank her?”

“While the hostages were huddled together, I was hiding behind you and your girlfriend. Then you stepped in and fought, and during the escape, I got pushed away by the crowd and lost Cassie.”

“I see.”

“When the chance to escape came, your girlfriend ran while holding Cassie.”

It was Giselle who had taken Cassie. Fortunately, the child was safe.

That premise pointed to a truth that gave him hope, and Johan’s eyelids trembled.

Unaware of his own accelerating heartbeat, he focused on the conversation.

“It’s thanks to that that I remember you and your girlfriend so clearly. How could I forget? You two saved my daughter and me.”

“…Is Cassie all right?”

“I know why you came, Mr. Johan.”