Even the Villain Has a Story

[none of them]

Night Rats Slave No. 2.

A secret text came from Kyungjin, who was the team leader in charge of all information on the Night Rats. It was a weekly report that Sayun, who had failed to find a person with a certain alignment, requested from last month.

Obviously, it wasn’t that short at first, but since there had been no progress for eight weeks, Kyungjin’s report had become more and more dry. Next week, he would have to send just one X.

“Where did this system bury the alignment holder?”

Sayun muttered this time as well after receiving the report. It had been three months since he awakened the ‘Genius Eyes’, but the only thing he gained by using the skill until he passed out was that the number of guild members had increased a little.

Checking their status windows, there was nothing of comfort except for the fact that all of the guys at a certain level were lured and brought to the Night Rats.

Use time wisely, and endure the pain.

“This is driving me crazy.”

Thinking about it made him feel like crying again. As the heat began rising in his body, Sayun placed the ice pack he had next to him on his eyelids. It was a small service for his overworked eyes.

It was a pity that everytime he used his skill, a little pain accompanied it. The pain couldn’t be dismissed as ‘a little bit’ and it seemed to pierce his eye. Everytime he used ‘Genius Eyes’ more than a certain number of times, blood gushed out of his eyes. He abused his eyes like that every day, and his eyesight even deteriorated.

Because he was an S-Class, he had better eyes than most people, but he had undeniably suffered damage.

“Are they really not in Korea?”

Until a few months ago, Sayun called them ‘pretty ones’, but in just three months, he had changed their nicknames.

Sayun pushed his chair back and got off. He was worried that they might not have been in Korea when he saw that he couldn’t find them even after looking for so long.

However, if the system had a conscience, they should’ve been Korean. Otherwise, it wasn’t God that controlled the system; it was just a bully, Satan, and the Devil.

Yeah, that seemed right.

The more he swore, the more credibility he gained. Sayun was in a hurry due to an ominous feeling, so he grabbed the sunglasses he had thrown on the sofa and called for Jongsik.

Now wasn’t the time for him to lie idle.

“Brother! You called me just in time. I have to volunteer for a kindergarten soon…”

“That’s not what matters right now, Jongsik.”

He offered volunteer work for Jongsik, who was anxious to death. Sayun didn’t feel like going to volunteer and play with the children, saying it would reduce his notoriety.

Sayun had to find one of two people, whether they were ‘The One Who is Revered Throughout Heaven and Earth’ or ‘‘The One Who Changes Fate’. There was no improvement in the search for three months, so Sayun unknowingly got a little lazy in finding the people with those alignments.

Sayun was determined to find one of the two ‘pretty ones’ before he died, so he pushed Jongsik and urged him to drive.

Jongsik got in the car. In the back seat, Sayun said that the Incheon Awakening Registration Centre was his destination. From Gyeonggi-do to Seoul, they went down to Incheon.

He had threatened the system to not send him all the way to Jeju Island. Still, in his head, he thought: What if the person with the alignment was in Incheon until yesterday and went back to Seoul in the meantime?

Along with his anxiety, the car started moving, and upon arriving at the Incheon Awakening Registration Centre, Sayun finally got out of the car. It didn’t even come to a complete stop, so when he suddenly opened the door and got out, Jongsik cried out and screamed.

“Brother! Don’t do that, don’t do that!”

“Stop nagging me and park the car, Jongsik.”

Sayun sent Jongsik to the parking lot, then put on a hat with a hoodie. Sayun shoved his hands in his pockets and sat on the bench in front of the centre, looking at the people coming and leaving.

He took a deep breath and used the ‘Genius Eyes’ skill. Even after getting used to it, the sharp pain still pierced his eyes.

“Do you really need to find them? I think you’re overdoing it, so don’t be in such a hurry and just do what you’ve been doing until now…”

“Jongsik.”

“…I’m sorry.”

‘What I’ve been doing until now? That’s funny. How can I keep living a life where I can’t die?’

When called out, Jongsik, who watched how Sayun had lived before, apologised. He also looked like he knew his mistake, so Sayun wasn’t critical.

It wasn’t that he didn’t know how Jongsik was thinking. He too would’ve been uneasy if the person he served vomited blood every day and collapsed.

Still, there were things in the world that could be conceded, and things that Sayun couldn’t back out of. Everytime he moved his eyes, it was accompanied by a throbbing pain.

About 30 minutes later, he started feeling dizzy. 

An hour later, blood dripped from his eyes, but he was wearing sunglasses and a black mask, so it wasn’t visible to others. In the past, when he came without a mask and people saw blood, they would start screaming and Sayun would get in a lot of trouble.

After two hours, the mask was already filled up with blood. Sayun took off the mask once he felt the blood on his tongue and frowned.

 “Brother…”

Jongsik caught Sayun’s trembling fingers and spoke in a worried voice. Sayun closed his eyes tightly after a long time, and took a deep breath. 

The inside of his eyes were hot, as if someone had started a fire in them. There were times when he thought it was a pain that he would never be able to adapt to, but after going through it a few hundred times, he was able to bear it in his own way.

One more person.

Just one more.

This time, the will to catch them overpowered Sayun.

Somehow, the feeling that he might’ve been able to find them this time also contributed to the overkill.

It was an incredibly weak feeling, similar to the chances of success in gambling, but Sayun couldn’t afford to miss this small ‘maybe’.

If there was an alignment holder here, he would miss it. If the holder ever flew abroad, the difficulty of finding them would be excruciating.

He chanted ‘one more person’ as if he were to memorise it, and leaned on Jongsik, trying to hold onto the bit of his clouded mind.

“Tsk.”

Even if Sayun was an S-Class, it seemed that he couldn’t stand the fact that he had been bleeding for over two hours. Sayun thought his body was fragile and clenched his fists. Jongsik even said that he looked sick and told him to grip his arm, but Sayun couldn’t.

He had to keep himself awake by dispersing the pain.

One last person.

Sayun knew that it was impossible to hold on any longer. It wasn’t like he hadn’t fainted once or twice, so he knew that he was going to lose his mind the next time he tried this.

The person he needed the most.

He had to catch them.

Previously, he had used the skill on every person he could see, so this time he acted carefully. The man who came out of the boat was checked, and the woman who had glanced over to his side was also checked. Sayun wondered if it was strange that he and Jongsik were stuck together, and those murmuring passersby spying on them were also checked.

No, he was actually trying to see past them.

If only he didn’t see a man who turned around at the same time Sayun turned his head.

Something was fishy.

Sayun used his skill on the guy who was avoiding him because he was surprised to see that Sayun had looked over after he stared at him.

With a ding, a boring blue window showed up. After checking the window carefully and analysing the alignment column, Sayun’s eyes widened.

“That guy…!”

Cough.

He suddenly exclaimed of his excitement, and coughed blood. Sayun, who stood up suddenly even if he was about to collapse, grabbed Jongsik’s arm.

“Brother!”

Jongsik was worried and restless after noticing how unusual Sayun’s condition was.

Sayun groaned and chewed on his lip to keep his consciousness.

His vision was blurred. Sayun controlled his eyes by chewing at his tongue, then turned over to look at the man with a sad, desperate gaze and struggled to speak.

“Kim… Jongsik.”

“Brother! Are you okay? Stop it…”

“… That bas- Guh! That bast…”

“Yes?”

“… Bring me that bastard.”

‘If you miss him, I won’t feed you.’

With a trembling hand, Sayun pointed towards that guy’s direction. His body, which had been trembling like a leaf in the wind, collapsed helplessly.

The blood that pooled under the mask finally dropped down his chin. At the same time, one of the passersby saw the scene and screamed.

“Aaahhh!”

The screams that sounded like they belonged in a horror movie were heard in front of the Awakening Registration Centre. As if he was on his deathbed, Jongsik shouted out Sayun’s name.

‘So noisy.’

That was the last thought that Sayun had before he lost consciousness.