Even the Villain Has a Story

Sayun had no idea that he could achieve significant results with such a childish method. Of course, he was the one who persisted and continued to press the button, but Sayun thought that the system wasn’t a joke. He thought that it wouldn’t have been possible to break it just by pressing the button continuously, but he had gotten something in the end.

Even if it took 50 hours, he would’ve understood, but only five hours had passed.

“Why are you so sloppy?”

Sayun spoke in a voice full of ridicule. He saw a grey circle spinning in the middle of the system window as it loaded.

Don’t tell me you’re trying to trick me because I asked for information?

As soon as the update was over, Sayun was worried that the system might blow up the guild as a trap. He was growing anxious as he tapped his foot on the floor, wondering if he was doing it for nothing.

Time passed as he listened to the clock ticking on the wall.

One minute.

Two minutes, another three minutes.

Only after 10 minutes of waiting did the grey circle that seemed to be spinning endlessly disappear.

Ding!

<Information updated.>

<Updating information target: Category Alignment, Resistance.>

<Detailed activation conditions are enabled.>

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<Input completed.>

[The one who resists (?)]

Will you end your life as evil?

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— In the current state, it’s not possible to view additional information.

<A person with at least one of the following alignments is required to activate ‘Resistance’ or to view related information.>

— The One Who Changes Fate

— The One Who is Revered Throughout Heaven and Earth

tl/n: 천상천하 유아독존 (天上天下唯我獨尊) is a Buddhist saying that basically means “throughout the heavens and earth, I (Buddha) alone am the honoured one”. It can also be used in an arrogant way. — what google told me when i searched it both in kr, cn and jp.

“Ha.”

Various emotions resided in Sayun’s voice. 

Absurdness, joy, excitement, doubt.

It had been a long time since he felt so many emotions in such a short time.

Contrary to his expectations, it was not known what the Resistance was and what power it had, but progress was made nonetheless. At last, he had found a hint he had searched a long time for.

Sayun had always wondered.

Why was his system window unique? What was the true evil of mankind, and why couldn’t he escape from this life?

Sayun had been stuck in a maze of unanswered questions and continuously wandered in the dark, but after a long search, he finally felt like he found the location of an escape map.

Usually, the awakened tended to have one alignment, so there was a high probability that those who were part of the Resistance were the opposite of the true evil of mankind. Then, if the Resistance was activated, the ‘True Evil of Mankind’ might be deactivated, or the power of the system that suppressed and coerced Sayun might weaken.

Sayun wasn’t certain, but it was enough to make a hypothesis. Evidence suggested that the system prevented the activation of ‘Resistance’ and even blocked access to information.

He took his time to enjoy the excitement he felt after a long time, but after he regained his composure, Sayun fell into deep thought while looking at the blue window.

Just finding the end of a thread didn’t fix the knot. Since it was only the beginning, he grabbed his chin, putting his other hand under his elbow as his train of thought accelerated.

“The question is, how do I find them?”

The only way to check an alignment was to look at the status window.

It was a very obvious fact, but the important thing was that there was no way for anyone to see someone else’s status window. Just because someone opened their status window didn’t mean others could see it. If that were the case, other people would be able to see Sayun’s system window as well.

The system itself was designed to be invisible to anyone other than its designated person, so it was not surprising that the status window followed the system’s rules.

Why the alignment of all things?

Hunters tended to be the most uncomfortable about disclosing their alignment among other stats.

In many cases, the hidden nature of egoists and psychopaths would often be revealed in their alignments, so it was a common practice among hunters to hide their alignment.

If a shady looking person were to stretch out their hand and say ‘Hello, my alignment is psychopath’, everyone would be reluctant.

Because of that, no matter how much information the Night Rats Guild possessed, all they could do was to organise interviews with hunters, who could be found by searching the internet for a little bit. Even so, there were times when what was said was manipulated, so Sayun couldn’t completely trust anything.

“Should I bring a hunter with a lie detector skill?”

No matter how much he thought about it, that was the easiest method. All he had to do was bring a person in front of an awakened with a detection skill and ask ‘Are you one of those who have the alignment ‘The One Who is Revered Throughout Heaven and Earth’ or ‘The One Who Twists the Flow’?’

However, the bearer of the lie detection skill in the Night Rats had died in a gate two weeks ago. Since it was about kidnapping and interrogating hunters around the world, nobody could ignore the fact or the information that he was looking for a specific alignment, and it would eventually spread no matter how secretive he was. Everywhere he looked, there were only headaches and problems, so Sayun frowned.

Why did this happen? Should I just put up a bounty for this?

Although it was the most ignorant and simple choice, the effect would be certain. It was a way for other guilds to intercept the alignment he was looking for.

Sayun had a mountain of money saved up, and while he was contemplating whether he should rush to make a decision or not, the status window came to mind. Sayun tapped his chin, looking at the unopened skill that caught his eye just like the ‘Resistance’.

Among the skills known to appear on the status window, there was no unopened skill list. Since it was information that only appeared on his status window, Sayun looked at it with interest, and he suddenly remembered a message from the system.

‘The true evil of mankind doesn’t see the ordinary status window.’

The words fit Sayun’s situation perfectly, so his gaze became persistent. Taking a deep breath, Sayun looked at his skill list.

It certainly wasn’t normal.

List of unopened skills.

‘Natural Disaster Genius Eyes (L).’

It was an L-Class. At this time, it is said that even if you have more than two SS skills, you could rise up to the world rankings.

A rank that not even the Night Rats had information about.

Sayun calmed his pounding heart, not knowing if it was a natural instinct or the occupational disease as the head of an information guild, and clicked on the information about his unopened skill.

[Natural Disaster Genius Eyes (L)]

— You can check the status window of others. Detailed information is available upon opening.

*In the unopened state, you can only check their growth limit and unopened skills.

Sayun was at a loss for words.

The sounds of his gulps could be clearly heard, and a small smirk spread on his lips.

Not only could he see other people’s status windows, but he could also check their unopened skills.

He had hit the jackpot.

Whether they were L-Class or not, he was proud to have a considerable amount of advanced skills, but this was one level higher. Even Jinhwen’s ‘Martial Arts Restoration’ or Grey’s ‘Future’ couldn’t match this.

Thank you for troubling yourself in giving this to me, I was just about to put a bounty for someone I had to find with a certain alignment. For the first time ever since he laid eyes on the status window, he felt as if the gods had blessed him.

For that reason, Sayun, who had forgotten that he had to be suspicious of all the gifts given by the system, pressed ‘acquire skill’, and his expression immediately hardened.

<Do you want to spend 1,000,000 karma to unlock this skill? (b ᵔ▽ᵔ)b>

“… What?”

The number didn’t suit the lively emoticon at all. Sayun’s eyes, which had been wet with joy, gradually lost their light.

One, ten, one hundred, one thousand, ten thousand, one hundred thousand… Sayun counted the zeros, keeping track of the numbers with his fingers. He counted them three times out loud, thinking he was counting them wrong, but the result was the same.

A million.

It was a million.

The karma he needed to unlock that skill.

Not a hundred thousand, but a million. Sayun didn’t know exactly what karma was, but he didn’t think there would be much to collect little by little. He had gained a lot, but he had also rejected a lot.

Feeling upset, Sayun checked the karma at the bottom of his status window.

Karma: 999,789

Fortunately, the karma he had collected was around a million. 300 karma was an amount that he could collect quickly, so he wasn’t that worried.

The only problem was that after opening the skill, he would become a karma beggar. 

Until now, Sayun didn’t know what it was and didn’t care because he had nothing to use it on, but now that he had something to spend it on, he was convinced that it was good to have. If he knew this would happen, he would’ve listened to the system when it told him to lower his notoriety by doing good deeds, telling him that ‘The True Evil of Mankind can at least be controlled.’.

In the meantime, he had nowhere to use the karma, so if his notoriety level was too high, he didn’t care if his karma was taken.

Does that mean if he listened to the system, he could eat rice cakes even in his sleep?

tl/n: a korean proverb. It basically means that if he listened to the system, he would get various benefits and that good things could happen.

It was a fact that Sayun didn’t want to admit, so he snorted before checking the information about ‘karma’, which gave him unexpected variables.

[Karma]

Shame for the evil deeds committed. You can obtain various rewards by collecting karma.

— 10,000,000 karma consumption can open ‘Karma Shop’.

Sayun was interested until he read that it could only be earned from various rewards, and he already knew that. He quietly moved his hand and pressed the skill’s acquisition button.

1,000,000 karma.

Then, he pressed ‘Karma’ again to check the information.

10,000,000 karma.

Another 0 was added.

He squinted his eyes to make sure he wasn’t wrong.

Sayun counted them one by one on his fingers and frowned. It certainly did not match his title of the Head of the Night Rats.

“This bloody system.”

No matter how he looked at it, the condition necessary to becoming a God was selling its conscience.

Otherwise, Sayun couldn’t understand why it was acting like such a bully. Even Foxy from the Dark Merchant Guild didn’t behave this dirty. Sayun spat out swear words and pressed his temples.

If he acquired the skill ‘Genius Eyes’, he would have to start from the ground again, but he already had a headache thinking about how he would have to collect 10 million karma afterwards.