Even the Villain Has a Story

As soon as he opened his eyes, Sayun could feel the thick, coppery smell of blood in his mouth. He wiped his tired face and stared blankly at his bare hands.

His mind was hazy. After thinking about what had happened, Sayun managed to recall the events before he lost consciousness, and got up from the bed in a flash.

‘That bastard!’

The tiredness that had flooded him vanished at once.

‘The One Who is Revered Throughout Heaven and Earth’

Sayun had become accustomed to only looking at tendencies, so he couldn’t confirm what the other information was, but he did read those words clearly. Nine words that he couldn’t forget even when he woke up after passing out. One of the two alignments engraved in his mind; Sayun clearly saw it at the last awakened person he saw.

He couldn’t remember what the guy looked like because he was trying to get a hold of his clouded mind that was about to break. All he could remember was that he caught the possessor while he was losing consciousness, so he staggered towards the bathroom. When he looked in the mirror, his face was covered in blood.

“I made another horror movie.”

The screams he had heard before he fainted, the condition he was in, and his life these days were just a horror movie. Sayun thought that he could be part of the staff of a haunted house looking like this, before he washed his face with cold water and drove away his fatigue.

With each movement, his head throbbed, narrowing the gap between his eyebrows. Because of this skill, living with anaemia, as if it was an incurable disease, had become a daily routine.

He wouldn’t have to go through it anymore, though.

“Ah…”

His voice trembled softly, with emotion.

Sayun’s smile was worthy of a villain. He wiped his face with the back of his hand and checked his cell phone.

First of all, he had to figure out whether Jongsik had captured the awakened as ordered.

[You passed out and we moved you to the bedroom. I’ve secured the person you asked me to catch, please contact me when you wake up.]

Sayun was very satisfied.

Even if he tried to find something wrong, he couldn’t because there was nothing to find. Sayun put his hat back on and called Jongsik while getting ready to leave.

Before two beeps could be heard, Jongsik’s voice filled his ear.

– Are you awake?

“Yes. The guy who I told you to catch?”

– He’s in the villa.

“… Where?”

– The villa on Geoje Island.

The torture house.

Thinking he had heard it wrong, Sayun asked Jongsik again and the word ‘torture’ was added.

Sayun, who was dizzy, placed a hand over his forehead when he heard that Jongsik had taken his precious alignment holder, who he had been looking for for more than three months, to the torture house. He didn’t even have the energy to raise his voice.

“Why?”

– What?

“Why did you take him there?”

– Brother, you didn’t tell me where to take him, so I took him to the usual place… What’s the problem?

Sayun didn’t even know where to start. Certainly, it wasn’t that he didn’t understand why Jongsik did that, because that’s what they usually did with every new guild member. That’s what Jongsik was used to.

But of all people, why bring him there?

Even though Jongsik watched Sayun go around looking for that person day and night for three months. It made no sense. This was why Jongsik was 32 years old and still single.

Sayun sighed and told Jongsik to prepare to go to the villa, then hung up the phone. Jongsik was bewildered, wondering if he had done something wrong.

The water was already spilled, and there was nothing Sayun could do about it anymore.

He should think positively. If not, the system might tell Sayun to interrogate the alignment holder.

Sayun really wanted to be hopeful, so he checked his condition in the mirror one last time before leaving the room. He pulled his sunglasses from his pocket and tried to put them on, but there was dried blood on them and he frowned. After blowing on them and scraping it off with his nails, the sunglasses were in an acceptable condition.

When he got off the elevator, familiar buildings were lined up. Unknowingly, he waited for Jongsik to come, only to later realise that Jongsik was already at the villa. 

He couldn’t ask Jongsik to come and pick him up because the traffic was bad at 1 p.m., so he had to drive himself.

Sayun walked into the parking lot with his hands in his pockets and picked up a decent car out of the three lined up, then started the engine.

He grasped the steering wheel and fastened his seatbelt.

4 a.m.

The wheels of the black sedan skidded through the silence.

***

“There you are.”

When he arrived at the villa, Jongsik, who had been waiting for him, welcomed Sayun. He handed his sunglasses to the person who was trying to receive his luggage, even though he brought none, and lightly spat out a rebuke that he couldn’t say over the phone.

“Why did you take that child to the villa?”

“Brother didn’t say anything.”

“You knew I’ve been looking for him for over three months, you should’ve taken him somewhere else.”

Jongsik seemed to expect a compliment, but Sayun’s tone made him lower his eyes. If others had done that, it would’ve looked pitiful, but that didn’t work with Jongsik because of his size.

After leaving him feeling sad, Sayun opened the door to the basement and as he walked down the stairs, a musty smell stung his nostrils. A fishy and unpleasant scent went up his nose, and he waved his hand at Jongsik to clean it up. After that, he arrived underground, and after exchanging a couple more unprofessional words, he reached the basement and finally found a young man sitting on a chair.

A man whose hands and feet were tied to the chair and had his mouth gagged.

Judging by the eyes of the head of the Night Rats, the young man was up for torture.

“… Jongsik.”

“Yes.”

“Did you tie him up?”

“What? Yes. He was surprised that I dragged him out so suddenly, so I knocked him out and tied him up.”

Jongsik spoke in a happy voice, as if Sayun had asked him if he knew the ropes of something he had been doing for several years.

It was a tone that seemed to ask for praise, but Sayun couldn’t praise him, so he swallowed his words and used the ‘Genius Eyes’ skill to confirm his findings. The status window of the man who had been kidnapped opened.

<Skill ‘Genius Eyes’ gives you a peek at the target’s status window. Be careful of the pain. (b ᵔ▽ᵔ)b>

<Showing the status window of user Han Geonjoo.>

.

.

.

<Han Geonjoo’s Status Window>

Age: 22

Gender: Male

Rank: B-Class

Alignment: ‘The One Who is Revered Throughout Heaven and Earth’

Titles: ‘The One the Gods Watch (?)’, ‘I Am a Little Bit Better (A)’, ‘The One Who Masters Everything (S)’, ‘There is Only One Genius Under The Sky (A)’

Skills: [The Art of Living (A)], [Adaptation (S)], [Insight (B)], [Eloquence (A)], [Self-Talk (A)], [Weapon Handling (S)], [Calm (B)]

Exclusive Skill: [Sense of Survival (SS+)]

Unopened Skills: [Detection (SSS)], [Shadow Domination (L)]

Privileges: ‘There’s Quite a Difference in Level (A)’, ‘I Know It’s Unfortunate, But It’s a Week After Awakening (S)’, ‘Innate Sense (A)’ 

— Abilities

Strength: B+ (SSS)

Agility: B+ (SSS)

Stamina: A- (SSS)

Luck: S (S+)

It was certain.

Among the two alignments that the system informed Sayun of, the guy was the holder of ‘The One Who is Revered Throughout Heaven and Earth’. Sayun stopped reading the rest of the information one by one and looked at the person passed out on the chair with bewildered eyes.

His alignment was unusual, and indeed, his status window was also extraordinary. It was cute compared to Sayun’s, but considering that his status window had been evolving for 10 years, the status window of the man— Han Geonjoo, was quite… No, very good. No wonder God just poured all the cheat keys on him.

Judging from his privileges, it seemed like it had been more than a week since he awakened, but such a status window was just a scam. Sayun’s stomach hurt just by looking at the rating, it was full of titles, privileges, and unlucky words.

‘You’re saying he’s the one who’ll succeed.’

Just by looking at the stat’s maximum growth, Sayun could see that he was an extraordinary guy. Above all…

‘The One the Gods Watch (?)’

That was one of the titles that Sayun also had. Like his, Sayun was convinced when he saw the title followed by a question mark that made it impossible to check the detailed information.

Han Geonjoo. He was the clue on how Sayun could change his damned life.

After verifying his status window, Sayun sat across from the torture chair and looked at the tied-up man.

According to what the system said, Sayun had encountered an alignment holder, but now he didn’t know what to do. If the system gave him a command, it would either be to wake up or kill the pretty one.

Ding!

A formal notification sound was heard, but the blue window didn’t open, so Sayun blinked. It was the first time something like that had happened.

While silently waiting for the unopened window, Jongsik handed a large pair of pliers to Sayun. It was when Sayun started habitually stroking it that the window finally popped up.

<You have achieved a meeting with the one who has the alignment ‘The One Who is Revered Throughout Heaven and Earth’. (º □ º l|l)>

<Loading system. Just a moment, please. (º □ º l|l)>

A blue window popped up with a shocked emoticon that Sayun had seen before. At the same time, Geonjoo seemed to have come to his senses, and he let out a brief pained sound.

Ding!

<‘First Step to Activation’ completed! Unlocked ‘Second Step to Activation’! (º □ º l|l)>

—

[Quest – Second Step to Activation]

‘Keep a close relationship with the alignment holder.’

Caution: Keep the relationship until the alignment holder’s rank reaches S-Class. If the relationship deteriorates, activation can be interrupted.

Compensation: ?

Failure: Unable to Activate Resistance

Current Relationship: Hostile

—

“…”

As soon as Sayun achieved one goal, he received a new quest, and he pursed his mouth as he checked the contents of the quest window that appeared in front of him. His dark blue eyes that stared at Geonjoo, who had just woken up, flickered briefly.

‘Keep a close relationship with the alignment holder.’

The second quest sent by the system was voice-assisted. After pondering the caution note, Sayun tried to look at his situation from an objective point of view.

Han Geonjoo was still tied up, and Sayun was still stroking the pliers.

Did that look friendly?

The answer, needless to say, was no.

Sayun’s eyes widened as he thought a swear word would come out at any moment, and stared at the system window.

‘Why are you telling me that now, punk?’

Even if it let him know too late, at least it told him.