The Villain's Sister - Chapter 63

Red Shadow laid Black Pistols down to one side and rummaged through the drawer to gather supplies.

Antibiotics, painkillers, alcohol, gauze. But no needle.

“Does it hurt a lot?”

“Are you messing with me?”

“Bite this.”

Red Shadow handed over a gauze pad.

“I don’t care who you are. I have no intention of using you, and I’m not interested.”

So he noticed already.

Black Pistols didn’t hesitate and threw off his helmet.

He didn’t trust Red Shadow’s morality.

But he trusted the consistency of the man’s actions.

That guy wasn’t a hero but a villain hunter, and there was no mercy in his hands.

That’s why, to someone striving to uphold justice, he had no choice but to be lenient.

‘It’s not like we’ve only known each other a year or two.’

He might kill well, but he wasn’t someone who lied.

“I’ll just wrap it after pulling out the harpoon. I’ll call a doctor before sunrise.”

“If my leg ends up messed up because of a quack—argh!”

Red Shadow pulled the harpoon out without warning.

“You bastard! You should’ve given me a heads-up… huff! Ugh!”

Black Pistols hurriedly bit down on the gauze.

It hurt so much that his vision flashed and it felt like his leg was burning.

While he trembled from the pain, Red Shadow quickly tended to the wound.

He sprayed disinfectant and hemostatic agent, then wrapped it in gauze.

Finishing the treatment, he handed over medicine and gave instructions.

“The wound should be fully healed by the time you go to work, so get some rest.”

You think I can go to work on this leg?

When Tristan glared with sharp eyes, Red Shadow added, “If you can’t sleep, keeping watch is fine too.”

“What are you trying to do?”

“This is Raphael’s house.”

“What?”

Red Shadow placed a hand on his shoulder and snapped his fingers, instantly transporting them to another room.

Giselle was sleeping there.

Tristan approached and placed two fingers on her neck.

Her pulse was weak, almost gone.

Smack!

Red Shadow slapped away his hand.

“You know her too, don’t you?”

“Why did you bring me to this room?”

Tristan and Giselle did know each other, but since he was currently posing as Red Shadow with a mask on, he could’ve feigned ignorance.

However—

“Because you know Giselle.”

“You must know what your words imply.”

Knowing that Tristan and Giselle knew each other meant he was someone from their circle.

In other words, it meant he knew he was Johan.

So the real name isn’t used—just this.

It’s a bit funny.

“According to Black Cloak, the drug doesn’t just put the body to sleep, it traps the soul in a dream.”

“So?”

“I’m going to enter Giselle’s consciousness now.”

“Do you not know how dangerous mental magic is? If anything goes wrong, both you and Giselle could die.”

Mental magic can only be used by a select few gifted wizards, like espers.

Even for Red Shadow, a government-certified special-class wizard, without innate talent and years of study, it was a good way to die together by losing consciousness.

That’s why Red Shadow’s decision was a gamble among gambles.

“That’s why there needs to be a time limit.”

He pulled a clock off the wall and tossed it to Tristan.

The current time was 2:07.

“If I don’t wake up by 7:07, wake me up.”

“Are you confident?”

“It’s not about whether I can. It’s something I must do.”

“Why? She’s a villain’s family.”

“If something goes wrong and Giselle wakes up, tell her she doesn’t need to feel guilty.”

“What the hell—”

Before Tristan could finish his question, Red Shadow, sitting beside the bed, began to chant quietly.

Words Tristan couldn’t understand, the truth of magic said to be granted upon a wizard’s awakening.

Mana blew like wind and faded. Something like a picture or writing rose and dissolved.

An invisible universe unfolded in midair and then vanished, and soul connected to soul.

At that moment, only around Red Shadow, time rushed forward then bounced back.

No—it wasn’t time. His soul was being pulled.

“You—”

Just as Tristan grabbed Johan, his consciousness was drawn into Giselle’s interior.

The powerful magic that transferred even the soul distorted the flow of air.

Soon, Red Shadow’s head dropped limp.

***

Johan opened his eyes in a grimy alley.

A strange machine making a rattling noise and a large trash can were lined up in a narrow, filthy alley.

When he emerged from between the buildings, a large city unfolded before him.

Skyscrapers piercing the sky, cars racing down the roads, the fresh sunlight of morning, people heading to work with expressionless faces.

Looking at the city, which seemed both similar to and different from Mist Island, he was genuinely flustered.

“Where on earth is this…”

Johan walked along the sidewalk, pushed by the passing crowd.

Though the skyscrapers were familiar, the design of the vehicles roaming the streets was unfamiliar.

That wasn’t all. Everyone was holding a square device in their hands.

Dazed by the familiar-yet-different world, he glanced around and spotted something at a street stall.

<Mist Island vol.17: Raphael’s Story>

A comic book?

Johan instinctively reached out his hand. And then—

Smack!

The vendor manning the stall slapped his hand away.

“You’ve got to pay first.”

He pulled a wallet from his coat and offered some bills.

After checking the money, the vendor twisted his face and warned him. “I don’t know what country this money is from, but it won’t work here. Bring dollars.”

“Dollars?”

“Yeah, I said dollars.”

The money the vendor showed him was currency he had never seen before.

It wasn’t raphens used in Mist Island or any other city’s known currency.

The crosswalk signal changed, and pedestrians surged forward.

Before he could be pushed again, Johan took a step ahead.

He could come back to check the comic later.

Wandering aimlessly, Johan was captivated by a TV in front of a store.

“What the…”

He had never seen a television larger than his outstretched arms.

Its thickness was as slim as a mirror, and the picture was unbelievably vivid.

A world he had never seen appeared on the screen.

A tiny device in the hand solved every part of life.

Game characters looked like real people, watches gave directions and checked your health.

It was a world he did not know.

Was Giselle’s dream a futuristic city?

Half-entranced, Johan watched the television.

Several commercials passed by. And then, she appeared.

“…Giselle.”

Giselle stood in a beautiful maze covered with flowers and grass.

The maze, filled with birdsong and dazzling sunlight like paradise, didn’t seem to please her. She took off her shoes and tore her dress.

With her legs exposed, she took a deep breath and ran toward the wall.

Giselle pushed forward, breaking through the flower-covered wall with her whole body.

After crashing through several walls, a sparkling sea and cliff bathed in sunlight appeared.

Then Giselle looked straight into the camera.

― What kind of life will you live?

Long lashes fluttered, and her red lips curved into a confident smile.

She captured all attention in an instant and jumped into the sunlit sea below the cliff.

As if, on a fresh summer day, that was the ultimate liberation.

‘How unexpected. I didn’t know she dreamed of being an actress.’

It was only a thirty-second video, but its joy reached him.

Her radiant expression and lively gaze were something he had never seen on her face before.

Wanting to see her again, Johan stayed in front of the TV.

Then someone approached and spoke to him.

“Um, are you… are you a fan of Deva?”

The speaker was a skinny teenager with horn-rimmed glasses.

He took Johan’s silence as a yes and excitedly chattered.

“I think the Aurora perfume ad came out especially well. The direction was cinematic, and she looked really pretty in it!”

“……”

“Are you going to the screening today? The synchronization with the original work is amazing, I’m super excited!”

“Screening?”

“Yeah! There’s a screening of the movie Mist Island at 4 p.m. at the Pihart Theater.”

Johan’s eyelid twitched.

The comic book Mist Island.

The movie Mist Island.

And Giselle, from Mist Island.

Giselle had pretended not to know he was Red Shadow.

He felt a strong intuition that her secret was hidden here.

“Where’s the Pihart Theater? Oh, before that, can I borrow some money?”