I Woke Up as the Villain

"Wow… Choi Yu-Seong!”

“Did you get the scene?”

“Someone check the filmed video!”

There was a huge commotion among the filming reporters, who were all exclaiming at Yu-Seong. Park Jin-Hwan and Kim Jin-Young, who believed they were quite used to Choi Yu-Seong's amazing talents and tricks, were also astonished by Yu-Seong. His short-lived Lance Charging scene just now was extremely shocking to them.

"Holy Moly! Reporter Park, that one just now....”

"He didn't just invoke one skill. The timing of the launch was a little slow for that," commented Park Jin-Hwan.

Usually, the effect would be immediate if the most common skills were used. However, Choi Yu-Seong's Lance Charging needed a short preparation time for the launch itself.

"Maybe it wasn’t an instant occurring skill in the first place?” One of the reporters who was listening to Park Jin-Hwan's soft voice asked while looking somewhat bewildered.

“That doesn't look like the power of a D-rank skill. Maybe it’s rank C… No, is it a special move? No way," speculated another reporter.

Soon, the buzz and uproar between the reporters grew much bigger.

"Hey! Get a hold of yourself!"

"Oh, sorry."

To add to the chaos, some reporters hadn’t been paying attention to flying the drones and caused a collision in the air. Their surprise could only be described as natural.

Anyone could simply use skills to achieve something. In addition, invoking several skills at once was a rare but often used battle method by hunters with plenty of mana. However, creating special moves through skill coordination was truly otherworldly in its difficulty.

The only known hunter in Korea who had developed the special move to this day was Cheok Jun-Hui, Korea's Swordmaster. In fact, there were exactly twelve hunters who could do it in the entire world. For this reason, the World Player Association even gave the title of ‘Death Star’ to the twelve people who had created and used such special skills.

The greatest advantage of these special moves was simple; they were not very much affected by rank. The base ability was indeed a registered skill, but it was the hunter himself who developed it. In other words, the special move’s power could be infinitely increased through repetitive training, practice, and the attachment of new skills.

The development of such special moves was desired by all hunters. However, there was a simple reason why the people who could develop this move were rare. As stated above, the difficulty level was too high. Not only did the hunter need to have a skill structure for his special move, but he also needed to come up with the idea of weaving the skills together.

On top of that, there was the burden of mana when activating various skills at the same time, using the powerful force that could conquer even powerful boss monsters with a single blow, and finally, a physical ability that could withstand the repercussions. Only when all of these were achieved would a move be recognized and called a special move.

However, Choi Yu-Seong, who was still only D-rank, had developed a special move.

“If it’s really the special move which Choi Yu-Seong developed... Wouldn’t this be the first time in Korea since Korea's Swordmaster?" asked Kim Jin-Young.

"We won't know for sure until we see the precision video and our skill analysis experts confirm it, but I have a feeling that Choi Yu-Seong was activating the skills by overlapping them right before the dash,” answered Park Jin-Hwan.

At that moment, a careful voice came from the Cheon-Ji Group reporters group.

“I don’t think even Kim Do-Jin has been able to make a special move yet…”

“If it’s true that Yu-Seong Choi developed a special move…"

Noticing the brief silence, Park Jin-Hwan smiled as he stood in the center of them. He then asked, “Now, who is the best super rookie in Korea?”

If the question had been asked just an hour ago, the reporters would have shouted the name of ‘Kim Do-Jin’ without hesitation. However, there was nothing but a heavy silence across the entire press corps now.

***

Bernard Yoo had no choice but to gulp as soon as he felt Choi Yu-Seong catching up with an explosive sound. He could feel the man coming up right behind his back.

‘What was that just now?’

Bernard Yoo did not see Choi Yu-Seong doing the Lance Charging, because he was concentrating on the battle against Orc Warrior. Even before he could become more curious about it, Choi Yu-Seong wove his way through the battlefield where he and Orc Warrior were fighting and started running ahead.

‘Jeez!’

Realizing that he had been overtaken, Bernard Yoo clenched his teeth and grabbed the thick ax blade wielded by the Orc Warrior with his bare hands. Then, he turned his waist to gain momentum, and with his outstretched fist, he punched a large hole in the left chest where the Orc’s heart was located.

As Bernard Yoo had hurriedly grabbed the ax with his bare hands, part of his battle suit was torn and blood flowed out. However, he couldn't afford to pay attention to it. This was because Choi Yu-Seong continued to run using the Wind Control and widening the distance with him while waving into the opening of the Orc Warrior who was attacking him.

‘Choi Yu-Seong, he's also a monster. How can a D-rank player avoid all of the elite Orcs’ attacks?’

Bernard Yoo had no choice but to smile bitterly.

‘I wouldn’t even dare to copy his movement.’

Bernard Yoo’s favorite skill, Explosion Shot, could instantaneously accelerate, but it still wouldn’t be possible for him to squeeze between the opening like how Choi Yu-Seong had done.

For this reason, Bernard Yoo had to inevitably fight when two or more Orc Warriors rushed in. If this situation continued, it was clear that their distance would widen by more than ten minutes until they reached the boss room.

‘Though, I still have a chance.’

In the end, Choi Yu-Seong would not keep avoiding the Orcs forever. The dungeon racing’s final goal was to knock down the Orc War Chief, the powerful boss monster. Thus, there would surely be a moment of battle with the Orc War Chief.

‘The Orc War Chief won't fall so easily and…’

Perhaps it was advantageous for Bernard Yoo to follow Yu-Seong at such a rather slow pace. By the time Choi Yu-Seong and the Orc War Chief were exhausted from each other, it would be possible for Bernard Yoo himself to become the final winner with a coup de grace.

It was the same with sports, such as soccer. No matter how well the advantageous team played the game, if they didn't score in the end, they would lose the game. Then, even the disadvantaged team could win if they score a goal. Bernard Yoo's current situation was similar to that. There was only one problem.

‘Ahh… But I don't want to win like that.’

It was Bernard Yoo’s competitive spirit. Taking the last hit of the monster that his opponent had been fighting against wasn’t something he would do. However, if the distance continued to widen like this, he would definitely lose the match. Choi Yu-Seong was as strong as he expected and smarter than he thought.

“Did you really have to choose such a sneaky way—not directly fighting the elite monsters?” Without realizing it, complaints he would not normally say escaped from Bernard Yoo’s mouth. However, his feelings were not toward Choi Yu-Seong but toward himself. A great conflict lingered in his eyes as he grabbed the approaching Orc Warrior's throat and threw it on the ground.

‘If I wear the ancient relics that my grandfather gave me now…’

Bernard Yoo could catch up with Yu-Seong. This was because, while using the ancient relics—‘Orc Hunt’, even the elite monster, the Orc Warrior, could be defeated and passed by as easily as an ordinary Orc. However, his pride did not allow him to use it so easily.

‘I'd rather lose like this…’

By the time Bernard Yoo thought he would rather feel comfortable losing this way, Chairman Yoo’s face, the man who had scolded him with a stern face, seemed to appear in front of him.

- Jae-Yeol, don't forget that you have the whole Cheon-Ji Group’s employees and their families on your shoulders.

Due to the conflict between pride and responsibility, Bernard Yoo was struck by the Orc Warrior on the side. He flew into the air, swearing, "Dang it!"

In fact, the answer had already been decided. If he really did not want to use it, Bernard Yoo shouldn't have brought it. His eyes became hard as his hands squeezed the Oak Hunt that was in his battlesuit’s storage box.

After this match, he might hate himself and wander for a while. He was even starting to hate seeing his grandfather’s face already.

‘But how could I not?’

With a responsibility to save countless families, Bernard Yoo took off the battlesuit’s gloves at a high speed and wore the Orc Hunt on his right index finger. He began to run at a breakneck speed.

***

Bernard Yoo, who seemed to be getting farther away, began to follow Yu-Seong closely.

‘I thought I had at least three minutes to spare…’

Before he knew it, the difference was reduced to about two minutes. There was nothing Yu-Seong could do about it. He was quick-footed, but he also had to sneak through the openings quickly to be ignored by the Orc Warrior. On the other hand, Bernard Yoo was chasing after him at some point, slaughtering Orc Warriors as if he was only dealing with a stronger general Orc.

Unlike Choi Yu-Seong, Bernard Yoo was pushing the Orcs hard without having to find the gaps. Thus, his speed was bound to be fast.

‘The Cheon-Ji Group’s secret weapon is an ancient relic.’

Seeing the sudden change in Bernard Yoo, Choi Yu-Seong easily guessed the reason. At the same time, confusion arose.

‘But why did he start using it now? Is it not an ancient relic, but a kind of secret weapon that’s similar to what I prepared?’

Of course, Choi Yu-Seong had also prepared a trump card. The first of them was the Lightning Burst, a medicine that had been hidden in a statue of a small shrine located somewhere in the northern tip of Hokkaido, Japan. It allowed the user's physical and mental abilities to significantly surpass the rank as soon as it was taken. Of course, as great as the temporary effect was, the risk was also equally great.

‘It lasts five minutes at the most.’

Also, when the medicine’s short effect was over, all system stats were locked, and the user would become incapable of combat for about five days. In the original novel, after the Japanese S-rank hunter Nioh was defeated in a fight with Kim Do-Jin, he discovered the Lightning Burst and dreamed of revenge. However, he ended up with the conclusion that he could not surpass the main character.

‘But the effect itself was described in a great way.’

In the original novel, the medicine was powerful that Nioh, who had stagnated in the S-rank, was able to cut off the arm of the SS-rank Kim Do-Jin. Kim Do-Jin had been able to survive because he had an S-ranked alchemist as well as Baek Ah-Rin, who would later be the only SS-ranked restoration-type and support-type in the world, by his side. Thus, it was clear that there was no doubt about the medicine’s strong effect.

Therefore, Choi Yu-Seong shortly suspected that Bernard Yoo had prepared a means to increase the firepower at the same moment as the Lightning Burst, but he soon shook his head.

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‘Such a medicinal item is not common in this world.’

It was said to be quite common in China, where it was no different from the divergence point of the Martial Arts’ world. However, it was not commonly used elsewhere since the risks were tremendously terrible. It ruined people to the extent that they would not be able to recover as a hunter forever. They couldn’t even recover after lying down for a few days.

Then, could there be two of the Lightning Burst? That was also impossible.

‘The original novel said that the alchemist who made the Lightning Burst hid it in a statue and died.’ 

Of course, there were so many errors in the novel’s setting that there might be a possibility. However, Choi Yu-Seong was also convinced that it could never happen.

‘The alchemist who developed the Lightning Burst was Kaito Sang, the shrine’s owner.’

And when Jenny's hidden team had visited the shrine, Kaito Sang was found dead.