I Woke Up as the Villain

Artifacts were much easier to obtain compared to other magical items such as ancient relics or treasures from other worlds, yet they were almost equally as useful. In addition, Yu-Seong knew that some of the creators of these artifacts, the so-called Meisters, would be able to create magical objects comparable to ancient relics and otherworldly treasures.

‘There are exactly five Meisters by the time Part 1 of the original novel was completed.’

Yu-Seong knew one of the Meisters by name and origin. Obviously, it was one of Kim Do-Jin's colleagues, whom Yu-Seong actively tried to avoid as much as possible.

‘What I need to find is the other four Meisters.’ 

There were many questions about them, since, in many parts of the original novel, they were only mentioned by nicknames and characteristics. Therefore, Yu-Seong left his thoughts of the Meisters behind for now.

However, following the Meisters’ appearance, the number of artifact producers would increase exponentially over time. In turn, a new player type would be coined—the Production type—and they would require massive amounts of mana stones. Therefore, when artifact creators appeared, the price of mana stone would naturally rise.

With that in mind, Yu-Seong wanted to acquire mana stones while they were still comparatively cheap. In addition, before the artifact sales market was fully established, he planned to grab a share of the market by investing some capital early on.

‘Since I can't just keep spending the pocket money from my father forever.’ 

Originally, it would have taken a lot of human resources, money, and time to enter this market, but Yu-Seong had future information that he knew from the original novel. In other words, it was highly possible for him to enter the market while saving on all three aspects considerably.

In fact, the best way to go about this could be to secretly reveal this future information to Choi Woo-Jae. Just as Yu-Seong had told Jin Yu-Ri that he had a skill similar to Foresight, he could tell Choi Woo-Jae the same thing and show him a few things in order to prove it. That way, even Woo-Jae would become interested in what Yu-Seong had to say. Moreover, by using the Comet Group’s enormous capital, he would be able to achieve a plain old monopoly rather than merely taking a share of the market.

‘Father is Father after all, he would most likely take a careful look at the opportunity, and as soon as artifact creators appeared, he would invest in the market with all his might.’ 

In addition, it would be slightly easier to obtain information about the remaining four Meisters, who Yu-Seong currently only knew by nickname.

Whatever Woo-Jae did, he would be able to instantly move such a huge amount of capital or talented men that it would be difficult for Yu-Seong to even imagine.

‘Since it would bring it a huge business profit, I would be able to bring father completely to my side and share the profit somewhat.’

Yu-Seong was confident that, in this way, he could unconditionally gain much more than trying to enter the market alone.

But in the end, Yu-Seong decided not to tell Choi Woo-Jae. He had already experienced a lot of dangers due to the butterfly effect. Such a big action would cause more than just a small change, and he couldn’t even imagine what kind of disaster it would bring.

‘Anyway, artifact makers would only appear after the appearance of a tower. I don't have to hastily change the future by trying to take over talent or resources for now.’ 

The plan was to refrain from mentioning information about artifact creators and new technologies that Yu-Seong already knew and snatch profits by throwing in some bait and pulling the line at exactly the right time. Yu-Seong thus chose a stable path rather than being overly greedy for major gains, even if the end profit would not be as high. This was because survival was his top priority, as always. Any gains would be meaningless if they brought about a fatal disaster.

“Then, is it also a secret where you’ll use the mana stones I prepared?” asked Yu-Ri.

"Oh, I can tell you that,” replied Yu-Seong. For him, preparation for Re-Awakening would be quite difficult without Jin Yu-Ri's help anyway.

"Oh... I'll listen carefully,” Yu-Ri said.

"First of all, please prepare an empty warehouse outside Seoul, Gyeonggi-do maybe, where people don't go as often. We also need to recruit a hypnotist who’s about D-rank. Also, I have a few more items to prepare..."

"Wait…where are you going with all this?”

"I'm going to try to Re-Awaken.”

Jin Yu-Ri paused for a moment and her eyes lost focus, even though she was driving. She asked, "...What? Is it even possible to induce artificial Re-Awakening?”

"Probably."

"For whom..." Jin Yu-Ri closed her mouth tightly, no longer asking questions. In fact, even without asking, a person’s face already came to her mind. She remembered just as she asked the earlier question. Also, with the preparations requested by Yu-Seong, she realized the danger of this work. She asked, “Does Ye-Ryeong know?”

“Do you remember when I was hospitalized after an accident in Mok-dong Dungeon?”

"Yes, Ye-Ryeong visited the hospital. Come to think of it, it was at that time that you asked me to prepare the mana stones."

"Yeah. I've talked about it again since then, and she is also quite determined.”

"...I'll do my best to prepare so that we can do everything safely, as much as possible," said Yu-Ri.

As expected, it was quite comfortable talking to someone as smart as Yu-Ri. Yu-Seong smiled at her. She seemed to clearly recognize what she had to do with just a few short conversations.

"I'm going to try my best for that, too. Thank you, as always, Jin Yu-Ri.”

"Don't mention it." Jin Yu-Ri smiled.

***

Choi Min-Seok spent several days hiring people to keep an eye on Yu-Seong's every move. He self-justified such actions by thinking that he didn’t need to and didn’t want to make much of an effort for such trivial work. However, it was also true that he was scared to do it alone, even if it was simply watching Yu-Seong from a distance. Unfortunately, even after wasting a few days like that, he had nothing to show for it.

‘Does this crazy guy have nowhere else to go besides the house and dungeon? I remember he used to drink a lot during the earlier times.’ 

It was difficult to find any flaws or weaknesses of a perfect student who only traveled between school and home. While Yu-Seong continued living a perfectly flawless life where it was difficult for Min-Seok to even make up a flaw if he wanted to, an interesting piece of news made its way to him.

‘What? Yu-Seong's car suddenly left Seoul?’

What was he up to? After agonizing for a while, Min-Seok made up his mind, jumped up, and made a phone call. It was nothing more than his intuition speaking, but he got a hunch that the opportunity had come.

"Continue chasing and tracking him."

Min-Seok prepared in a rush and hurried outside. Then, he suddenly stopped.

‘But what can I do alone?’ 

Those Min-Seok had sent to spy on Yu-Seong were D-rank scout hunters at the most. Could they be helpful in case of an emergency? He shook his head inwardly, then stomped on the ground and fell deep into thought.

'If I contact In-Young noo-nim, she'll be disappointed. Maybe even Seok-Young hyung-nim would hear about it if I called her.’

It was meaningless if Min-Seok couldn’t prove his worth and join their side. If that was the case, should he work alone? He also didn’t have much time.

‘Dang it, I have no choice but to use the secret fund.’

After some thought, Min-Seok decided to hire mercenaries using the secret funds that he had hidden without anyone knowing. This had taken place while he had been working with Byung-Chan. Using this money seemed fine to him, since it was difficult for anyone to find the source of it and track it down, so even Choi Woo-Jae was unlikely to bother.

Of course, Min-Seok didn't intend to use a regular mercenary. It would have been fine to hire normal ones for dungeon hunting or a simple escort mission, but in this case, there were bound to be too many difficulties and issues for them to deal with. Therefore, Choi Min-Seok decided to call some…dangerous characters.

"I need the black mercenaries—A-rank guys who can start right now. I need..." Min-Seok ordered one of his subordinates over the phone while biting his nails.

Hiring a typical A-rank mercenary for a day would cost about a billion won. However, in the case of black mercenaries, who normally dealt with dirty tasks, the price per unit was at least two or three times higher. Moreover, if they were called in a hurry, like right now, there was a high probability that they would demand a premium fee.

‘I have about 20 billion won in slush funds that I’ve saved up. I might be able to call up to four people…’

Min-Seok’s reason for wanting to save the fund and the instinct he had to call for extra help in order to achieve the best results clashed in his mind. He was conflicted.

'If I fail this time, I may not have another chance. But there’s no need to use a sledgehammer to crack a nut, right? Most of all, I might have to fight him in person.' 

When the person on the other side of the phone urged him to continue, he managed to say with difficulty, "I’ll take one—no, send two people."

Then, Min-Seok hung up the phone and rushed out of the house.

'Dang, my precious slush fund. Yu-Seong, I don't know what you're up to, but you better be on your toes. I’ll drop you into hell.’

Min-Seok's eyes burned with hatred.

***

On the edge of Paju, Gyeonggi-do, beyond the river, one could see the 38th parallel between South and North Korea in the distance. A luxury sedan noisily drove into an abandoned rice field.

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Yu-Seong nodded as he lowered the car window, checking out a fairly large wooden building that stood alone on the rice field. He said, "It's a perfect place. It's where I wanted it."

There wasn’t even a single person walking around here. There were also no buildings or farm areas that could be damaged in case something went wrong.

"It wasn't easy to find. No matter how far out an area is, if there is no dungeon around, most of the land is used for farming," said Yu-Ri.

"Great work."

Unlike Yu-Seong, who smiled slightly at Jin Yu-Ri's proud expression, Ye-Ryeong looked strangely tense while sitting right next to Yu-Ri. Noticing her expression, Yu-Seong said softly, "If you're worried, you can give up now.”

Ye-Ryeong shook her head from side to side. She clenched her fists. Then, as if shaking something off, she sighed deeply and looked Yu-Seong right in the eye. She said, "The only thing I'm worried about is the possibility of failure and disappointing you, boss, Yu-Ri unnie, and the people around me."

"It’s okay even if you fail, as long as you don't get hurt..." said Yu-Seong.

"I think so too. Actually, it's my first time hearing about this particular method. I'm not looking forward to it anyways. Really," said Yu-Ri.

Smiling at Yu-Seong and Jin Yu-Ri’s words, Ye-Ryeong nodded and threw a fist in the air in a self-encouraging gesture.

"But I want to do well if I can. As I told you the other day, I want to be more helpful to you.”

As always, Chae Ye-Ryeong was confident. The aura she gave off always made people feel good for some reason.