If it was there, Iris could come visit without any problems.
Johannes’s heart began to race.
At the same time, a rush of heat pooled down below.
Just imagining being alone with Iris in his officetel sent his thoughts spiraling in a lewd direction.
He felt a fleeting sense of self-disgust at being such a beast, but it wasn’t something he could control by willpower alone.
That part between his legs was an area that acted on its own, separate from his brain.
He gulped.
Then, clearing his throat so his voice wouldn’t tremble, he cautiously opened his mouth.
“Ah… I think it’ll be fine.”
“Great. That’s a promise, okay?”
“W-Want to come over tomorrow?”
Growing anxious, Johannes clenched both hands on the table and asked.
He wanted to say she could come over right this instant if she wanted.
But he worried that might sound strange, so he restrained himself and said tomorrow instead.
Still, maybe that was too much?
When Iris widened her eyes and shook her head with an awkward smile, Johannes squeezed his eyes shut.
He thought he’d made another mistake, his heart getting ahead of himself yet again.
“No. Tomorrow’s a bit…”
“Ah, I-I see. I just happened to be free tomorrow, so, uh, never mind. Really, you don’t have to pay any attention to what I said…”
Dejected, Johannes spat out his usual self-deprecating lines.
Left alone, he seemed likely to dig a hole and crawl into the earth’s core.
Iris waved her hand and spoke up.
“Tomorrow’s no good, but I’ll come visit soon. I’ll check my schedule first! Of course, I need to check yours too…”
“M-Me! I’m always free. Well, except for weekends, I’m usually not busy. I mean, I used to be swamped with work, but these days it’s been kind of slow…”
If he emphasized how free he was too much, he might come across as useless.
Johannes, recalling how Iris had once called him ‘an important and amazing person,’ quickly corrected himself, scratching the table with his finger.
A smile touched Iris’s lips as she looked at Johannes.
His flustered manner struck her as cute.
Impulsively, she reached out and grabbed the fingers Johannes was drumming on the table.
Then she rounded her eyes playfully.
“Alright. I’ll let you know in advance. Let’s pick a date.”
“Uh, o-okay…”
When Johannes flinched and pulled his hand away, Iris simply shrugged.
After that, the two focused on their meal without much conversation.
Iris stayed quiet because she decided to hold off on probing Johannes for information about the Enraka Church.
Somehow, she felt like if she brought it up, the cheerful look on Johannes’s face would vanish.
Anyway, they’d arranged to hang out at his place next time, so she could just ask then.
‘There’s still plenty of time… And now we’ve got another plan, so there’s no rush.’
Meanwhile, Johannes was still dazed from the sensation of Iris holding his fingers and smiling at him.
He kept putting food in his mouth without even tasting it.
When he came to his senses, his plate was empty and his stomach was full.
Looking across the table, Iris was still in the middle of her meal.
He slowly nibbled on what little food was left, matching Iris’s eating pace.
‘Hope I didn’t look too greedy… I don’t even know what I was thinking as I ate.’
James had given him strict warnings before he left the house.
Don’t get ahead of yourself, and stay calm even if you get flustered.
But if it were as easy as that, James wouldn’t have needed to warn him.
Though he’d improved a lot compared to before, Johannes still acted like an idiot in front of Iris.
It was an uncontrollable habit—there was nothing he could do.
When they finished eating, the two left the restaurant.
Iris took a mask from her bag, hooked it over her ears, and looked back at Johannes.
“Thanks for the meal. That was really delicious! How’d you know about this place? You’ve got good taste.”
“…I-I’m glad you liked it.”
Johannes scratched the back of his neck and hung his head.
With sunglasses on, his expression was hard to read, but from his body language, it was clear he was embarrassed.
Watching him, Iris felt herself getting embarrassed too.
‘With the suit and sunglasses, he kind of looks like Laika at a glance. But his personality is completely different.’
Though he was dressed up, the resemblance was only skin deep.
He was nothing like the showy Laika in manner.
Arrogant Laika was infuriating, but there was a frank charm about him.
Timid, easily flustered Johannes had a hapless side that tugged at her maternal instincts.
It made him feel cute.
As Iris thought of Laika, she anxiously fiddled with her mask, scanning her surroundings.
The chance of running into Laika, a celebrity, in this busy district was slim—but you never knew.
If he was angry enough, he could be hunting for her with fire in his eyes.
While he was silently watching her, Johannes carefully opened his mouth.
He’d wanted to ask why she wore a mask since their first meeting, but he’d held back.
If there was a reason she couldn’t talk about, asking might upset her.
But right now, Iris seemed to be in a good mood, so he found the courage.
“Um, Iris… By the way, why do you wear that?”
“Huh? The mask? Uh, well, there’s a flu going around lately… haha.”
Iris made a casual excuse.
She couldn’t exactly say she was avoiding people because she was on the run, so she blamed the flu.
“Really? The flu… so it’s going around, huh. M-Maybe I should wear one too…”
Johannes took her response positively and tried to make small talk.
But then Iris abruptly cut him off.
She’d spotted red hair in the distance that looked just like Laika’s.
It might be him—she had to hide, just in case.
She quickly dashed into the entrance of a nearby large building and called out to Johannes.
“Wait! I need the restroom! If you have somewhere to go, you can go ahead.”
“No, I-I’ve got plenty of time. I’ll wait right here!”
His timid attempt at small talk ended in failure.
He slumped his shoulders, watching Iris’s hurried retreating back.
‘Does Iris really need the restroom that badly…?’
Johannes sat on a bench, fiddling with his lips.
A gentle smile curled at the corners of his mouth.
Thinking back over today’s date, he realized his stammering habit had improved a lot.
In the past, even saying a word to her was hard, but now he could sit across from her and have long conversations.
Though his heart still pounded wildly whenever he looked at her.
Just then, a loud boom sounded in the distance, followed by people screaming.
“Somebody help!”
“Somebody help me!”
Johannes’s dazed smile vanished.
He looked up to see white smoke rising far away.
Frightened people ran, and the shops began closing their shutters one by one.
Staring at the building Iris had entered, Johannes stood up from the bench.
After glancing around, he slipped into a secluded spot behind a statue, out of people’s sight, and transformed.
A skintight black suit, face covered by a mask.
At a glance, he looked like an assassin.
His transformation outfit was a black style that matched his usual image.
He strode quickly down the now-deserted street, cleared out as people fled.
For a villain to cause trouble on Pink Street, where security was heavy—that took guts.
Normally, he’d have ignored it, but today was a date with Iris.
He wanted to end their time together on a good note.
‘Whoever it is, I need to take care of them before Iris comes out.’
He knew Iris wasn’t an ordinary person—she was a Hero.
She was strong enough to escape from a Monster dungeon unscathed.
But as far as he knew, Iris had only recently awakened her abilities.
Monsters with low intelligence were a world apart from Villains who could strategize.
He worried she might recklessly charge in and get hurt.
For a Villain to show up in the safe zone of Pink Street, they had to be either a complete novice or extremely powerful.
If it was the former, that would be fine.
But if it was the latter, he wanted to handle it before Iris got into trouble.
‘That… won’t be easy.’
His red eyes narrowed as he gazed into the distance.
The Villain wasn’t alone.
They’d brought a Monster that was smashing up a building.
The Monster, resembling a yeti, was as big as a two-story house.
And a little ways from the Monster, he saw a Villain in a flashy suit.
Johannes alternated his gaze between the Monster and the Villain, biting his lip.
If they could bring a Monster with them, this wasn’t someone ordinary.
‘Is that one of “those guys”? But, he looks awfully familiar…’
The Villain, with red hair and a flashy suit, looked just like the man Johannes hated most—Laika.
But wasn’t he an actor?
Plus, as a chaebol third generation of J Corporation, there was no way Laika would be doing something so dangerous.
Chaebol heirs with abilities usually chose not to use them.
‘It must be someone who just looks like him. Even if Laika were a Villain, he’d never show up in Pink Street with all these eyes watching… unless he was insane…’