I Woke Up as the Villain

After some thought, Choi Yu-Seong made a decision. He said, "You're right.”

If Kim Do-Jin approached him with a certain thought, it was better for Yu-Seong to accept Do-Jin’s impression rather than deny it. What was important here was Kim Do-Jin praising him, after all.

'Excessively praising me.’ 

It didn’t have to be sincere. Choi Yu-Seong thought it was more important not to make Kim Do-Jin suspicious of the situation. If he simply agreed now, Do-Jin would have nothing else to say.

"As expected..." replied Kim Do-Jin with a light nod.

Yu-Seong expected this exact reaction. He simply found it strange that Kim Do-Jin accepted the situation rather calmly and was not uncomfortable at all.

"Am I the first one? To know your secret?" asked Do-Jin.

Choi Yu-Seong quickly tried to understand the meaning of the question.

‘My secret?’

The situation was slightly confusing, but it was a slight relief that Kim Do-Jin didn’t ask Yu-Seong whether he knew his secret.

‘And I don't think he noticed that I’m possessed.’

Making up his mind, Yu-Seong nodded in agreement once again. "Yeah."

"I like that,” said Do-Jin.

"Yeah... What?" asked Yu-Seong.

"The more thoroughly you hide such secrets, the better. You're doing well," said Do-Jin with a slightly happy expression.

Why would he say that? Choi Yu-Seong had no choice but to feel strange as he looked at Kim Do-Jin.

‘Is he serious?’

Yu-Seong was doubtful about Do-Jin’s words, feeling uncertain about this entire situation. If this was the acting skill of a returnee who had been working for 30 years in another world, such a performance would make sense.

"Well, that's enough about me. I asked you to meet me today because I wanted to ask you something,” said Yu-Seong. He shouldn't and didn’t want to be lured into following the beat of Do-Jin’s drum.

Kim Do-Jin nodded lightly and accepted the change in conversation. He repeated, "To ask me something?"

"Yeah. You've done the Orc War Chief Raid by yourself before, right?” asked Yu-Seong.

"Are you trying to challenge it?"

Choi Yu-Seong scratched his cheek at the direct question. He muttered, “I didn’t intend to. This has something to do with my family.”

"It must be related to the Comet Group’s guild business,” said Do-Jin.

"Exactly," responded Yu-Seong. He did not deny Kim Do-Jin's speculation.

Do-Jin sounded certain. Even if he didn’t, he would eventually find out the truth. Above all, he had no power to stop the Comet Group's guild business. Kim Do-Jin was not ready enough to stop the process that was already well underway.

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"Let me ask you one thing. If the Comet Group's guild is created, will you also be actively involved with them?" asked Do-Jin.

"Probably."

This was to be expected. From the moment it was created, the Comet Group's guild was going to grow at a rapid pace, an unprecedented speed in the history of Korea. For Choi Yu-Seong, who was already receiving a lot of attention from Choi Woo-Jae, it would be the best choice for him to enter the guild while receiving many benefits.

‘Although there will be some responsibility following…’

Considering his continuous effort in building a relationship with Choi Woo-Jae, Yu-Seong found that even accepting some responsibility could be rather advantageous.

"...Then there is nothing I can tell you," said Do-Jin.

"What?"

“Did you forget that I asked you to join my guild?”

"I didn't forget, but isn't this inevitable? For me, I’m..."

Before Yu-Seong was done speaking, Kim Do-Jin jumped up from his seat and snorted. With a cold smile, he said, "Solve your problems on your own."

There was no time for further conversation since Kim Do-Jin hardened his face and immediately left the cafe. Choi Yu-Seong did not bother to catch up with him.

"Is he bipolar or something? I thought he was in a good mood, but he got angry all of a sudden… What a strange guy.”

In the end, Choi Yu-Seong gained no benefits at all from the meeting.

***

Kim Do-Jin left his meeting with Choi Yu-Seong and headed straight to the dungeon. He had a stiff expression, looking annoyed.

'It’s always been my intention to use Choi Yu-Seong to get closer to and eventually kill Choi Woo-Jae. That’s clear.’

However, recently, Do-Jin had changed his mind.

‘There's no need to use Choi Yu-Seong to kill Choi Woo-Jae.’ 

It was true that using Choi Yu-Seong was the fastest way for Do-Jin to achieve his revenge. However, looking at Choi Yu-Seong in recent years, it seemed clear that this would not be easy.

'He's pretty smart. It'll seem suspicious if I suddenly try to approach Choi Woo-Jae’ 

Of course, if Choi Yu-Seong positively accepted Kim Do-Jin's thoughts at this stage, the results would be decent. But what if he became wary, or if he rejected him?

‘Then it'll become harder for me to kill Choi Woo-Jae.’ 

In other words, Do-Jin should not reveal his goal of revenge. As soon as he came to this conclusion, Kim Do-Jin felt slightly confused about one particular decision he had made.

‘Why do I have to hang on to my relationship with Choi Yu-Seong?’

This was Do-Jin’s first time feeling like that, so his thoughts were complicated. Though, he was skillful at understanding his inner thoughts.

‘I guess I just like him.’

Do-Jin had quite a lot of reasons for liking Choi Yu-Seong. Quite high growth potential, excellent insight, and quite good bases were several external reasons why he liked Yu-Seong. However, there was a much more fundamental reason than that.

‘When I look at him, I feel a strange sense of kinship.’ 

It was a mysterious feeling, like they had been together for a long time. In a way, the word "just" was the right reason. It was incomprehensible, but on the other hand, it was also understandable.

‘If it's Choi Yu-Seong, he can stand next to me someday.’

By the time Kim Do-Jin had fought against the Demon King, there were countless people, including his colleagues who supported him, but no one had stood by him. Everyone had simply pushed Kim Do-Jin from behind. They were together with him but Kim Do-Jin's speed had been too fast for them to follow.

However, Do-Jin felt that Choi Yu-Seong would be different. Someday, there would definitely be a day when they could fight together. Kim Do-Jin did not have much doubt about this fact. After all, his sixth sense was quite right. Even if he didn’t try hard, he could quickly grasp the majority of the situation—just like now.

‘Someone's chasing me.’ 

Kim Do-Jin just entered a deserted dark alley somewhat intentionally. He tilted his head and asked with both hands in his pockets. "How long are you going to follow me like such a sneaky rat?"

"...Kim Do-Jin."

As if responding to a call, two foreigners appeared between alleys.

‘Two B-rank hunters.’

Do-Jin made a fishy smile and immediately used his Insight and confirmed his opponent's ability. He asked, "Another Demon King Worshiper?"

"Godfather just wants to give you a chance."

"Godfather..."

Do-Jin had heard of the ‘godfather’, the head of the Demon King Worshipers. He was one of the top three hunters in the world.

"By all means, he has a nice name on the subject of being the Demon King’s servant."

Kim Do-Jin had already once knocked down the Demon King before. In that sense, he was not being arrogant at all. Of course, it was only for those who belonged to the worshipers of the Demon King that his words sounded pretty distasteful.

"How rude! We'll see if you can say that even after you're captured," said one of the worshipers.

"I admit you're pretty good... but I don't know how far you can go without a sword," said the other.

Looking at them angrily, Kim Do-Jin jutted his chin. Then, he pulled out his hands from his pocket. “Bring it on. I can beat you with my bare hands."

In the first place, the sword was only a relatively easy-to-use weapon for Kim Do-Jin. There was nothing he was bad at including spears, sticks, bows, axes, irons, or bear fighting skills.

‘But at this point, I'll also have to use magic to deal with them…’ 

It wouldn’t be long.

‘Two more years.’

Kim Do-Jin grabbed the wrist of one of the approaching Devil King Worshippers, recalling the time when he had completely regained his power.

‘How much longer can you keep up with me, Choi Yu-Seong.' 

A cruel smile came over his face.

***

Time went by quickly and soon it was the day of the match. Before that date had arrived, Choi Yu-Seong had focused on raising his level by going hunting in dungeons.

‘I heard that Bernard Yoo is over level 90 in D-rank.’

On the other hand, Choi Yu-Seong was over level 30 in D-rank. Considering that Bernard Yoo was also a considerable talent, it was inevitably difficult for Yu-Seong to overcome this excessive level difference simply with skills alone. Therefore, he had spent more time training than usual and had focused on hunting in the dungeons, which allowed him to achieve more level growth than he expected.

‘D-rank, level 53.’

In less than a week, Yu-Seong had grown by nearly 20 levels. In fact, his growth rate was faster than anyone else in the D-rank. It was fast even considering his Star Factor skill and the help of experience boost potions.

‘If I am given enough time to focus on hunting like now, I’ll be able to get to C-rank quickly. And if I can monopolize the experience after hunting Orc War Chief in this state, I could possibly reach the max level in less than a month.’

It was not far off from Yu-Seong’s expectation of promotion to the C-rank, which clearly implied one thing.

‘Maybe I can stay in the same rank as Kim Do-Jin.’ 

It wouldn’t be instantaneous, but Yu-Seong could catch up with Kim Do-Jin's growth. That was rather pleasant news for him.

‘Kim Do-Jin suspects me. I should never overlook the fact that we might fight directly with each other someday.’ 

When that moment came, the narrower the power gap between the two, the better it would be for Yu-Seong.

‘It’s really not easy. I can't believe I have to get to the same level as the main character after being possessed by a villain who originally dies at the beginning of the novel…’

Yu-Seong smiled bitterly. Though, on the other hand, the fact itself was exciting.

'Unless I don't have to fight the demons directly, it's best to have that much power.’ 

Yu-Seong also felt assured when he thought of confronting the party of Kim Do-Jin’s supporters. Chae Ye-Ryeong, the disaster-level villain who drove Kim Do-Jin into some crisis in the original novel, was growing at a really crazy pace.

‘On top of that, there’s Yoo Jin-Hyuk.’

His new teammate, who would be recruited immediately after the match, was also a person with as much potential as Ye-Ryeong. In addition, after Jin Do-Yoon’s recovery, Yu-Seong was planning to accelerate the growth speed of the Jin sibling.

‘Anyway, starting with S Rank, it'll be incredibly difficult to raise even one level.’

Thus, first of all, Yu-Seong would focus on his goal for everyone to reach S-rank. For matters after that point, he found it safer to think about them afterward.

‘In fact, based on the original novel, a party of villains would be created.’ 

Except for Choi Yu-Seong himself, all of his supporters were characters who put the main character Kim Do-Jin in danger.

‘After it's completed, my party might be stronger than Kim Do-Jin's party.’ 

It was not bad. Actually, it was a rather good thing.

‘As long as I don't have to fight with the demons.’ 

As mentioned before, Choi Yu-Seong wanted to be in the position to secretly support Kim Do-Jin, who would fight against the demons with strong power. Fortunately, as a result of considering not wanting to fight dangerous demons, there was a good chance that he would achieve what he wanted.

‘If I could just get my father's trust and use the family’s power appropriately…’

The power of the conglomerate and the power of money shouldn’t be underestimated. Nevertheless, it was capitalism which this world used as the basic economic system.