The Worst Villain is Actually a Cute Girl

Chapter 26: Faith

After returning to the orphanage.

The children walked around, wearing their newly purchased clothes.

They seemed very pleased with their new outfits.

The children were all smiles, and cheerful laughter filled the orphanage.

“Teacher, how do I look? This is the outfit my sister bought for me!”

“Do I look cool in this one too?”

“Hehe…”

Rene exclaimed with a surprised look on her face.

“Oh my! What’s this? Why has everyone become so cute and lovable? I feel like hugging you all tight. Can I take a little nibble?”

The children’s faces brightened even more at Rene’s enthusiastic reaction.

Rene, letting out mischievous laughter like “hohoho,” began approaching the children as if she really intended to hug them.

Startled, the children began to run away from Rene.

They laughed brightly, their clear laughter resonating throughout the orphanage.

Watching this scene, a faint, pleased smile appeared on Red’s lips.

At the same time, a slight hint of loneliness crept in.

She wanted to buy them even better clothes.

But she couldn’t.

‘If they wear clothes that are too flashy, they’ll stand out.’

Dressing extravagantly in the outskirts of the city isn’t a good idea.

It draws attention from many people, and it’s likely to attract those with bad intentions.

For someone confident in their abilities, it might not be a problem, but for the children, it’s dangerous.

Suddenly, one of the children was nowhere to be seen.

Red looked around, trying to find the child, and spotted her standing quietly with her arms crossed.

A girl with snow-white hair, wearing a Problem Solver’s mask.

Lily was watching the children playing with Rene.

Her face was hidden behind the mask, making it impossible to see her expression.

Without being able to see her face, it was difficult to guess what she was thinking.

Red tried to deduce it from her atmosphere and actions.

For now, her mood seemed relatively okay.

Red recalled what had happened at the clothing store.

‘Unlike the other children, she stayed calm even after buying clothes.’

Even after receiving new clothes, Lily remained indifferent.

While clothes are partly about practicality, they’re also for looking nice.

The other children spent the whole time smiling joyfully and busy changing into their outfits, but Lily seemed utterly uninterested, even slightly annoyed.

Come to think of it, when she first met her, Lily had been dressed in shabby clothes.

Her clothes were torn and worn out, like something she had picked up after being abandoned.

Perhaps she wasn’t used to dressing herself up.

Red lowered her gaze slightly, an expression of pity crossing her face.

What saddened her more than anything else was Lily’s attitude.

Lily didn’t trust people.

The evidence was her mask.

‘What kind of life must she have lived…?’

Red didn’t know why Lily wore the mask.

But wearing a mask implies that she has her reasons.

Not revealing those reasons meant she didn’t trust the people at the orphanage yet.

Even though she outwardly got along with the other children, she might be keeping her distance internally for the same reason.

Not being able to trust people is a deeply sad thing.

Especially for children, the future of this world, to exhibit such attitudes—it’s even more heartbreaking.

But considering the nature of this world, Red couldn’t entirely blame her.

She understood Lily’s attitude well enough.

Even so.

She didn’t want to use the world as an excuse to do nothing.

Red wanted to teach Lily something.

That this world is still worth living in.

That people are still worth trusting.

At the very least, she hoped Lily would come to understand the sincerity of everyone at the orphanage.

That’s why neither Red, nor Rene, nor the children tried to forcibly remove Lily’s mask.

Because doing so would deeply wound that small girl’s heart.

So, everyone waited.

For peace to come to Lily’s heart, and for her to open up of her own accord.

Red approached Lily.

Lily tilted her head slightly, as if asking what was going on, and Red’s lips curled into a grin.

Sensing an inexplicable sense of foreboding, Lily quickly tried to move away, but it was too late.

Red grabbed Lily’s shoulder as she attempted to escape.

“Hey~ Rene, what do you think of Lily? Isn’t she super cute?”

“…!!!?”

With that, Red firmly pushed the small girl toward Rene.

Rene turned her head.

Lily stumbled and froze awkwardly, as if rooted in place.

If she could speak, she would probably say something like:

Oh no.

This is bad.

“Lily is so cute! Come here, let me give you a big hug.”

“…!!!”

Rene, grinning rather menacingly, began running toward her.

Feeling the terror of Rene’s enthusiasm, Lily turned and started fleeing in a panic.

Red chuckled, a joyful smile spreading across her lips.

* * *

Nina was walking down a passage alone.

The light fixtures installed at regular intervals along the ceiling illuminated the path, so she turned off her flashlight.

She had been walking for quite some time, but the end was still out of sight, suggesting the passage was very long.

Only the sound of her footsteps echoed through the corridor.

Despite her wealth of experience that made her hard to surprise, her face was dark and full of tension.

Perhaps it wasn’t the unknown danger ahead that was bothering her, but rather a troubling thought lingering in the back of her mind.

‘Stairs…?’

Nina cautiously descended one step at a time.

It felt as if she were stepping into a place she shouldn’t be, and her body felt heavy.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs, another corridor appeared.

Nina furrowed her brows.

Whoever made this place must have found it amusing, she thought bitterly.

After walking for a long time, she finally saw light ahead.

Nina thought she had reached the end and quickened her pace.

Exiting the passage, she found herself in a spacious area.

“To think there was such a place under the orphanage… Does the director know? Or…”

Nina’s mouth fell open as she looked around.

Various experimental machines and devices filled the area.

It was clearly a laboratory.

It was hard to believe.

Constructing such an extensive facility beneath the orphanage without anyone noticing seemed implausible.

This suggested it had likely existed long before.

The orphanage was a place Isaac had found.

Did he find it without knowing about this?

If not, then…

‘…No! It’s too early to draw conclusions!’

Nina shook her head vigorously, trying to dispel her thoughts.

Jumping to conclusions wouldn’t help.

She started exploring the area to figure out exactly what this place was and what had happened there.

Using her Problem Solver’s instincts, she examined the area meticulously.

Although there was dust and scattered debris, the facility itself looked remarkably new.

The machines were still operational.

Clang~

“Huh…? What’s this…?”

Nina accidentally kicked a bottle lying on the floor and lowered her gaze.

Her expression hardened as she bent down to pick it up and read the label.

It was a bottle of Isaac’s favorite liquor.

Was it just a coincidence?

Her hand trembled slightly.

She exhaled deeply and set the bottle back down.

Nina busied herself, searching for any documents or clues related to this place.

Eventually, she found a large number of papers.

She began reading through them.

They turned out to be experiment logs.

The documents detailed the experiments, their purposes, and their results.

From the information, Nina could infer the nature of the experiments conducted here.

‘Synthetic organisms….’

Synthetic organisms—an unethical experiment that combined the advantages of different species.

Such activities violated the law.

In other words, they were crimes.

The revelation that such horrific experiments had been conducted beneath the orphanage shocked Nina deeply.

Overwhelmed by a sudden dizziness, Nina clutched her forehead.

‘No, wait a moment… if that’s the case!?’

Another thought flashed through her mind, and a chilling sensation coursed down her spine, causing her back to stiffen.

If they conducted experiments, then there must have been test subjects.

Nina quickly darted her eyes around, scanning the area, but nothing suspicious came into view, nor did she sense any presence.

‘There’s nothing here. Or maybe… they’re somewhere else. But I didn’t see anything in the passage I just came through. If they’re not here, then where could they possibly be?’

Nina raised her guard even higher and resumed her investigation.

As she examined a shattered glass container, something caught her attention.

It was a dirty, old, and torn scarf.

Gazing at it intently, Nina suddenly covered her mouth.

Her complexion turned pale, and her eyes trembled violently.

Nina recognized the scarf.

She also knew who it belonged to.

It was an item she had gifted to one of the orphanage children.

She repeated to herself that it couldn’t be true, that it was impossible, but then she found the name stitched into the fabric.

‘Why… why is this here? Why…?’

Hoping against hope, Nina examined other glass containers.

In several of them, she found items that belonged to the children.

She didn’t want to believe it.

But the answer was already clear in her mind.

Her fists clenched tightly.

Whoever had conducted these experiments here, she vowed to never forgive them.

‘So, they really did perform experiments here. But why is there nothing left? Not even a trace? Have they already moved everything somewhere else?’

Suddenly, her attention was drawn to a massive glass container in the center of the room.

Nina approached it cautiously.

The container was filled with a colorless liquid.

She placed her hand on it carefully and looked upward.

There was nothing visible.

She lowered her gaze.

The container extended deep downward, and its bottom was so dark she couldn’t see it clearly.

Nina strained her eyes to focus.

Something was moving in the darkness.

Startled, Nina jerked her hand away from the container and stepped back.

‘There’s something down there… something enormous….’

Gathering her thoughts, Nina took out her phone.

It seemed she intended to call Red.

However, the phone displayed “Out of Service Area,” and she couldn’t make the call.

‘Tch!’

As she hurried back toward the passage she had entered through, unfamiliar footsteps echoed from that direction.

Nina froze momentarily, then quickly hid herself where she wouldn’t be seen.

The closer the footsteps grew, the more Nina’s expression hardened.

She swallowed dryly, her throat tight with anxiety.

Moments later, a shadow appeared, followed by a familiar silhouette.

Upon seeing the owner of the footsteps, Nina was horrified.

It was a handsome man with black hair—Isaac.

Nina hesitated, unsure whether to trust him or not.

Sensing her inner turmoil, Isaac spoke.

“I know everything here. Hiding is useless. If you don’t come out now, I’ll force you out.”

A dangerous aura of magic radiated around Isaac’s body.

The laboratory suddenly felt colder.

He was serious.

Having no choice, Nina revealed herself.

When Isaac saw her, he blinked in surprise.

Then, immediately withdrawing his menacing aura, he let out a sigh of relief.

“Oh, it’s just you, Nina?”

“Director….”

“I almost thought you were the owner of this place. Why did you scare me like that?”

“Director, did you know about this? That there’s a place like this beneath the orphanage?”

“Of course not. I had no idea. I can’t believe there’s something like this here. Sigh… I should’ve investigated more thoroughly before purchasing the building.”

Isaac pressed his hand against his forehead with a grim expression.

It didn’t seem like he was acting.

His voice also conveyed genuine emotion.

“Then why are you here, Director?”

“Me? I sometimes come here to think about the children. But today, I found a strange passage near the fireplace, so I got curious and came to check it out. What about you? Why are you here?”

“Well… I was also thinking about the children. I’ve been visiting Sunny Orphanage often these days, so…”

“I see. Well, I’ve been visiting the orphanage too, and lately, I’ve been missing the kids even more. How wonderful it would have been if our kids were still alive, like those children….”

As the heavy topic settled over them, the atmosphere became somber.

Isaac let out a bitter smile before speaking again.

“Let’s leave this place for now. Tomorrow morning, we’ll conduct a thorough investigation.”

“Yes. This is unforgivable. To commit such horrifying acts… don’t you agree, Director?”

“I couldn’t agree more. To kidnap children and experiment on them without me noticing… absolutely unforgivable!”

Isaac’s face twisted with anger, his voice trembling with intensity.

The cold and composed titles like Ice Prince or General Winter didn’t suit the fiery rage Isaac now displayed.

It showed just how deeply he cared for the children.

Isaac turned and began walking back through the passage they had come from.

But the sound of footsteps was singular.

Isaac stopped abruptly and turned his head.

“What’s wrong? Nina? Did you find something?”

“Director, this is your first time here, right?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Then how were you so sure that experiments were conducted on the children here? I only realized what this place was after looking at the documents.”

Silence fell between them.

The atmosphere grew heavy and oppressive.

For a long time, neither of them spoke.

After organizing her thoughts and steeling her resolve, Nina finally broke the silence.

“What did you do to the children?”

Nina glared at Isaac, her voice sharp and demanding.

Isaac sighed deeply and rubbed his forehead with his hand.

After a long exhale, he lowered his hand slowly.

The atmosphere changed entirely.

His expression hardened, and his gaze turned chilling.

“…This is why I dislike Problem Solvers like you who are so quick-witted.”

Those words were as good as an admission.

Nina’s face twisted in fury as she glared at Isaac.

“So that’s how it is! How could you! How could you do such a thing? Are you even human? Those children liked you. Why? Why did you do this? Was it your intention from the beginning to establish the orphanage and bring in the children for this purpose?”

“Nina, I can explain everything.”

“Shut up! I don’t need an explanation. I’ll just crack open your skull and see for myself!”

Nina drew her weapon from her waist.

She launched herself toward Isaac with a speed imperceptible to ordinary people, aiming directly for his neck.

In just one or two seconds, Isaac’s head would have been severed and rolling on the ground.

However.

The incredible speed began to slow.

As if her time had broken, her movements gradually froze, and by the time her weapon touched Isaac’s skin, she had completely stopped.

Nina’s time had frozen entirely.

Nina became an ice statue.