I Woke Up as the Villain

Jenny’s agile movements and excellent shooting skills did not seem like an ordinary person’s.

"They’re from my family, so they won’t be easy opponents,” said Yu-Seong.

"If I start investigating everyone, I may lose some detail."

“Since I gave you more capital, you should have more than enough, but I’m guessing that you’re lacking manpower. That’s fine, though. There are only two, no… three people I want you to look into anyway."

"Then I’ll have enough," said Jenny.

"The three are Choi Min-Seok, In-Young, and Seok-Young."

"We'll start the investigation right away."

"Thanks, Jenny."

At first, Yu-Seong thought it was somewhat unreasonable to suspect his family had anything to do with the recent villain attack. However, Choi Min-Seok kept coming to mind when he had been inside the wooden warehouse. Instead of changing his mind, he felt even more certain now.

‘I’m 90% sure that Choi Min-Seok is the culprit.’

The reason was simple.

After bringing Choi Yu-Seong and Jin Yu-Ri to the hospital, Jenny had called several members of the Hidden Team to investigate the surrounding area. They found an abandoned van along with traces that someone had been there. The van’s owner was unknown since it was an unregistered car, but there were still many things that could be guessed from what they had found.

People from a detective agency had followed him before reporting it to someone else. Then, that someone had called the villains in order to harm him, but upon witnessing their failure, they ran away. This last part was very important.

‘Why would the guy who's trying to harm me run away? He must be afraid to be involved with my death.’

Why would the person be afraid of it? The reason for that was also simple.

‘He’s scared of Father. Choi Byung-Chan has just died, and now, if even I die, then Father would definitely be really angry.' 

If that really happened, Choi Woo-Jae wouldn’t stop with just a scolding. He would try to find the culprit, and even if that culprit was family, he would still take everything away from them.

‘Maybe even his life.’ 

Given all these circumstances, Yu-Seong could tell that the opponent was quite timid, but more importantly, that they didn’t want to appear directly in front of him. To expand upon that last detail further, the culprit either didn’t want to personally confront him or was afraid of him. That was why Yu-Seong only had a ten percent uncertainty that Choi Min-Seok might not be the culprit.

To come to a final conclusion, only one thing had to be investigated. Choi Yu-Seong picked up his cell phone and called Choi Woo-Jae. After a few rings, Choi Woo-Jae's voice was heard.

- What's going on?

It seemed like Choi Woo-Jae knew that Yu-Seong didn’t call him just to say hello.

For some reason, Yu-Seong suddenly felt embarrassed at the moment, but he understood Woo-Jae’s reaction. It was true that he had called his father for a reason.

"...I was attacked and almost killed by someone. The thing is, the culprit appears to be a member of the family," said Yu-Seong. Since he called his father for a reason, he decided to be as honest as possible.

- Someone picked a fight…at a time like this?

Choi Woo-Jae’s voice immediately turned cold. Choi Yu-Seong gulped at the anger but continued to speak.

“Did any of my hyung-nims or noo-mins visit you yesterday or today?”

Choi Yu-Seong was the ninth child out of ten. In other words, he had a younger sibling. But the youngest was still just a high school student, and Yu-Seong knew that his youngest sibling didn’t have the temperament for something like this. That was why he did not ask about the youngest.

- No one came to see me. But why do you ask that?

At this point, Choi Yu-Seong was convinced that Choi Min-Seok was the culprit.

‘Stupid, he has no idea that his timid personality would reveal him as the culprit.’

His other siblings might have initially run away in fear after killing him, but they would have soon visited Choi Woo-Jae. Then, they would have knelt down and begged him for forgiveness.

‘That way, there's a much higher chance they would survive.’ 

Yu-Seong wondered whether Min-Seok really thought he could consider this over after killing him and then killing another couple of people. Of course, an ordinary person could probably escape a situation like that. However, as Choi Yu-Seong had once said to Choi Mi-Na, it was impossible for his family to deceive Choi Woo-Jae.

Getting caught was inevitable, and at that time, no matter how much they begged for forgiveness, Choi Woo-Jae would forgive them. Rather, he would punish them even more severely since they had deceived him.

'Maybe they would go through something much more terrible than a peaceful death.’ 

The only idiots or cowards in the family who wouldn’t even think of this were the past Choi Yu-Seong and Choi Min-Seok.

‘That bastard!’

A quick look at bit.ly/3iBfjkV will leave you more fulfilled.

As soon as the culprit was confirmed to be Choi Min-Seok, Yu-Seong endlessly cursed inwardly. Chae Ye-Ryeong had successfully Re-Awakened, but too many people had been killed and injured by the incident. He would never forgive Choi Min-Seok. Outraged, Choi Yu-Seong suddenly thought that this was also an opportunity.

‘Choi Min-Seok… If it's Choi Min-Seok... It's worth a try. Actually, it'll be pretty easy for me to do that right now.’ 

If Yu-Seong planned on attacking, then he had to seize all the advantages that he could right now. Therefore, he chose to take a rather aggressive stance. He revealed to Woo-Jae, "Five people were killed in this incident, and my bodyguard and I were injured. I want to make the person responsible pay for this.”

There was a short silence over the phone before Choi Woo-Jae gave a pretty sweet suggestion.

-...If you want, I can personally deal with it for you.

‘If I say yes here, everything would work out quite comfortably.’ 

However, Yu-Seong had to refuse this offer. Intuitively, he could tell that this was both a test and an opportunity. Until now, he had never shown any aggression toward his siblings in front of Choi Woo-Jae.

‘Rather, I was always in a losing position.’ 

The reason was simple. From a long time ago, the weakest in the family had always been Yu-Seong himself. He had been in a position where he had not dared to attract anyone’s attention, let alone stare at them. He lived a life avoiding eye contact and shrinking into himself whenever he saw his family members.

These behaviors had surprisingly created a habit of ‘servility’. He had forgotten how to fight and only could think of obeying. This was also why Choi Woo-Jae had mostly considered Choi Mi-Na his next successor.

‘Mi-Na noo-nim is not afraid of fighting. She can even argue with Father.’ 

However, Choi Mi-Na also lacked one trait that Choi Woo-Jae valued.

‘She won't fight and then conquer.’

The head of a company had to have the desire to conquer. Everyone else in the family, even the good-natured Choi Ji-Ho, had that disposition, but Mi-Na did not. That was why Choi Yu-Seong refused Choi Woo-Jae’s offer.

"It's my enemy. I just wanted to tell you that since I suffered first, I won’t easily let them go."

First, Choi Yu-Seong expressed his willingness to fight and his courage. He wanted to show that he was unafraid.

- Are you going to kill them?

Listening to Choi Woo-Jae’s cold voice, Choi Yu-Seong gulped down once and said sincerely, "Yes."

- Not now. Wait until I catch that girl, the Slaughter Queen.

“It’s not my way to not take revenge,” said Yu-Seong.

- Does that mean you are not going to listen to me?

Again, Choi Woo-Jae's voice contained subtle anger. However, his voice was still quite pleasant to listen to.

"I don't mean to kill them right away. But I’ll need to at least cut their limbs off to calm down.”

- Without killing?

“I don’t think I need to. Not yet.”

- Then go for it.

Yu-Seong got Choi Woo-Jae's permission, but he did not intend to end the conversation yet. He then said, "I have a favor to ask of you."

-Tell me.

If it was compared to the Middle Ages, Choi Woo-Jae was a country’s king—the Comet Group. Yu-Seong had gained permission from the king to eliminate another prince. That would certainly present another kind of opportunity.

"After I succeed in my revenge, I will take all the authority and property that my brother or sister originally had.”

- ...!!

As previously mentioned, it was still a kind of revenge and an expression of his anger, but Yu-Seong did not intend to fight for free.

After Choi Yu-Seong's words, Choi Woo-Jae remained silent for a long time over the phone before bursting into a loud laugh.

- Khakha-! Yeah, do whatever you want. However, will your other brothers and sisters stay still when a decent prey appears?

After Choi Woo-Jae left behind a strange question, the call was cut off. Woo-Jae’s words meant that it wouldn’t be easy for Yu-Seong to take the following privileges after he finished dealing with Choi Min-Seok.

‘But if I can take it, it will be entirely mine.’ 

It was no different from Choi Woo-Jae giving him a gift, but it was a thorny gift that would make it difficult to enjoy.

'I'll enjoy it all at once before the other siblings can even notice it.’ 

Choi Yu-Seong did not know, but this idea was originally Choi Woo-Jae's favorite way of fighting.

***

Choi Woo-Jae had been reading the report brought by the group's president for a while with a serious expression. However, after he hung up the phone, he burst into laughter.

‘Has he ever laughed like this before?’

Kim Pil-Doo could not hide his surprise. Although Pil-Doo had been by Woo-Jae’s side for quite a long time, he had never seen Woo-Jae laughing so heartily until today. Nevertheless, the laugh did not look awkward or uncomfortable. It was simply an expression of the man feeling good.

"Khakhaha, khahahahaha-! '' After bursting into laughter for a long time, Woo-Jae turned to Kim Pil-Doo. "Secretary Kim-, no, Pil-Doo."

It had been a while since Choi Woo-Jae had called Pil-Doo by his name instead of his position, so it made him feel pretty nervous. One might feel it was an expression of friendliness, but it felt different for Kim Pil-Doo.

Choi Woo-Jae used to call his name only when he was about to say something very important. And whenever that happened, in most cases, it became a turning point in Pil-Doo's life.

"Later on, if I ask you to serve Yu-Seong instead of serving me, will you listen to me?"

“...”

At first glance, there was no change in Kim Pil-Doo's expression. However, Choi Woo-Jae did not miss the tremble in his gaze.

"I understand. Your pride won’t allow it yet. After all, you're also aiming for my position.”

"...I'm sorry, Mr. Chairman."

"You don't have to be sorry. Let me ask you openly. On the premise that I am not involved, if you do your best, how high of a position are you confident in reaching?" Woo-Jae asked, wondering how much skill Pil-Doo could show off among the Choi's siblings.

"I'm confident that I could reach at least the top 5," replied Pil-Doo.

"Let's see... Then, you are after the second, third, and fourth?"

Kim Pil-Doo shook his head. “I’ll be after Lady Mi-Na and In-Young.”

At the answer, Choi Woo-Jae made a strange smile. “So you are saying that the third is below you?”

“Sorry, sir.”

"Why are you sorry after putting down all the other guys already? I'm fine. Let me make a suggestion instead, Pil-Doo."

"Yes, sir."

"What if the ninth goes above the third…?"

"Mr. Chairman," Pil-Doo interrupted before Choi Woo-Jae finished speaking

"Hm?"

"What you are saying is not a suggestion, it's an order."

"What..." Choi Woo-Jae furrowed his thick eyebrows.

"Young Master Yu-Seong will definitely surpass Young Master Jin-Woo."

At this point, Kim Pil-Doo said something that no one would think of. He just said that the ninth, who had just barely stretched his arms, would exceed the third who had been constantly establishing his foundation.