I Woke Up as the Villain

There was only one thing to note. In the original novel, the cause of Kaito, the alchemist’s death, was suicide. However, according to the Hidden Team’s research, murder was a possibility.

Choi Yu-Seong had asked for an investigation just in case, but nothing unusual was found. Needless to say, there was only one existing Lightning Burst. If Bernard had it in his possession, then he certainly wouldn’t have used it so hastily.

The race was about ten minutes long. After ignoring dozens of Orc Warriors, Choi Yu-Seong found the entrance to the boss room. He was once again convinced of one fact.

‘That's an ancient relic.’

Just then, Bernard Yoo pierced the heart of the Orc Warrior that was blocking Choi Yu-Seong. He successfully overtook Yu-Seong. For a moment, they made eye contact.

“...I'm sorry,” Bernard Yoo said.

Choi Yu-Seong tilted his head in surprise. "What?"

However, Bernard Yoo offered no answer to that question. He simply continued to move forward.

‘Does he feel guilty about using an ancient artifact?’

In the original novel, Bernard Yoo was described as a pretty loyal man. If that was still the case, he might be feeling guilty about it. Of course, Choi Yu-Seong didn't think it was a problem at all.

‘Being able to use proper items at the right time can also be seen as a proper ability. Anyway, if I get overtaken right here… Should I try to steal the Orc War Chief?’

Naturally, Choi Yu-Seong also thought of what Bernard Yoo had been thinking. He shouldn’t have a problem with stealing the Orc War Chief since victory was all that mattered. However, for some strange reason, the word "steal" felt heavy and pricked his conscience.

‘No matter what methods I use, I just have to win. I have to win…’

This particular race had a lot at stake. By losing, Yu-Seong’s safety would also be at risk. In fact, Yu-Seong’s greatest consideration was his personal safety. Therefore, he would choose whichever method that could help him win easily.

That was a logical consideration, but Yu-Seong’s heart told him something different. After all, this was a competition where they were supposed to show off their skills. He did not want to end the competition and seize victory through what he considered to be “stealing”.

Eventually, Yu-Seong came to a conclusion.

‘I don’t want to win by using such a cheap method.’

Yu-Seong obviously did not want to lose the competition and expose himself to danger. He still had to win. Fortunately, there was a way for him to do so.

‘I wanted to save both of my tools, including the Lightning Burst, but…’

Beggars could not be choosers.

Choi Yu-Seong had asked for more than just one Lightning Burst from the Hidden Team over the past week. He had prepared a second secret weapon.

‘I have the battle suit that has excellent flexibility and it has small holes that allows for attachments on top.’

’Of course, excellent defense was essential here.

To help Yu-Seong achieve this, some of the Hidden Team members had gone to Germany, the kingdom of mass production, to hire five battle suit craftsmen. They had requested for the battle suit to be produced quickly. In the end, they had custom-made a battle suit just for Choi Yu-Seong.

‘And its price alone is 10 billion won!’

There was a simple reason why Yu-Seong could sell the first, and very expensive, battlesuit and buy a new armor that could be considered a secret weapon.

‘It’s all thanks to Pharaoh’s Caprice.’

Choi Ji-Ho’s incredible ancient artifact had many great factors. Under current circumstances, its ability to transform into a vast number of forms was very useful.

‘In other words, it can transform into a rubber garment that wraps around the body.’

With a luxury spear made by a French craftsman in one hand, Choi Yu-Seong wore a battle suit made by a German craftsman. He quickly transformed the Pharaoh’s Caprice into a rubber material and attached it to his suit, so it wrapped around his entire body. Even his head was protected.

Even with the additional protection, Yu-Seong retained his clear vision.

‘It’s made of rubber, but I made it transparent around the eye area to facilitate vision. Wow, I know I already experimented with it before, but I’m still surprised that my vision is clear as day.’

The more he used the Pharaoh’s Caprice, the more Yu-Seong realized the incredible flexibility of the transformation of the Pharaoh’s Caprice. It could help him greatly increase the range of his battle abilities.

"Invoke, Dancing Electric Doll."

The Dancing Electric Doll was invoked right before Yu-Seong. It was the most powerful skill among the wide range of skills he had.

Orc Warriors were being electrocuted by the attack. They screamed and twisted their bodies like they were dancing wildly.

However, not even the Dancing Electric Doll’s powerful force could affect Yu-Seong much. He had the protection of the rubber battle suit.

‘My skin tingles a bit, but I can endure this much!’ 

Hunters who mainly utilized lightning power had an advantage, because lightning was the strongest out of all the attributes. As for their weakness, lightning was so powerful that it would become dangerous even for the hunters themselves. The hunters would also become powerless in the face of an opponent with the discharge ability.

Yu-Seong constantly checked the stats of his own abilities to survive, so he was aware of their weaknesses and even thought of ways to overcome them. That was why he thought that the Dancing Electric Doll and his custom-made battle suit were the best for this competition.

This competition helped Yu-Seong to confirm those speculations as facts. When he used his Magic Spear skill and delivered an even stronger electric shock to the stumped Orc Warrior that was caught by the Dancing Electric Doll, he instantly killed the Orc Warrior in one hit. It was similar to how Chae Ye-Ryeong had hunted the monsters in a first-class dungeon.

‘I can do it, too. One shot, one kill!’

Of course, due to the nature of the Dancing Electric Doll, Choi Yu-Seong's mana and chakra consumption was quite high. He couldn’t use it too frequently. To be exact, he thought he would not be able to use it again.

Your level has risen.

A level-up message appeared once Yu-Seong defeated five Orc Warriors. Through the system interface, he confirmed the amount of chakra that he had quickly consumed was restored. His physical condition recovered as well.

Beneath the rather stuffy rubber helmet, Yu-Seong wore a disappointed expression.

‘Oh, if I knew about this, I would have just come here without leveling up.’

Day by day, Yu-Seong’s greed increased.

***

Choi Yu-Seong had succeeded in overtaking Bernard Yoo, but Bernard had come back to overtake him. Throughout the entire competition, the reporters paid close attention and filmed with the drones. They sighed, cheered, and groaned with tense feelings.

Boom-!

With a loud explosion, the dungeon square shook violently.

"What's going on?!”

"Is it terrorism?"

The surprised reporters jumped up from their seats and shouted. The Hunter Association’s hunters who guarded the inside of Dungeon Square received a radio transmission, so they quickly regrouped and had a discussion.

“There’s an external attack from a villain. Everyone, evacuate to a safe place! If you leave now, you will die!”

The reporters looked at each other and their expressions naturally hardened. The competition had strict security measures in place, just in case the villains attacked. Due to that reason, most of the reporters themselves did not even know why they had been called to Bangbae-dong until they had arrived here.

However, villains still attacked.

"Someone tipped the villains off!"

The reporters wanted to believe one another, but… They couldn’t help but feel suspicious of one another.

"Don't be preposterous! I was called here without any prior knowledge.”

"You could have been contacted while already here.”

"How could I? You know that they took our cell phones and searched our belongings...!"

BOOOM-!

As the fierce and intense accusations began flying around, another explosion could be heard. Dungeon Square couldn’t withstand the villain’s consecutive attacks. Its magic barrier was starting to collapse.

“Run-!”

“The villains are coming!”

The reporters began running to find a safe zone.

"What are you doing? Aren't you going?!" Kim Jin-Young shouted.

Park Jin-Hwan, who was watching the monitor from his seat, bit his lower lip. "Ah… This is a scoop...”

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“You madman, is that more important than your life right now?!"

Park Jin-Hwan was already aware that it would be dangerous for him not to escape now.

Beyond the perforated mana barrier, a huge commotion and loud screams could be heard. From the distant cloud of dust, a black huddle could be seen coming closer and closer.

“Reporter Park!”

"I'm going. I'm going. Damn it, what a waste!"

Kim Jin-Young forcibly grabbed Park Jin-Hwan by the collar and pulled him along, at which point Park Jin-Hwan finally got up from his seat and started to run.

- Five S-rank villains, twelve A-rank villains, and thirty or more B-rank villains! All of them were Demon King Worshipers!

The Player Association’s hunters protecting Dungeon Square all had stiff expressions.

‘We only have about ten people even when combining internal and external forces…’

The situation was made worse by the fact that not a single S-rank hunter was guarding the rank 4 dungeon. There were only two A-rank hunters here. At best, the rest were B-rank or C-rank hunters.

However, the enemies who attacked were the Demon King Worshipers, a terrorist group with villains all over the world. Among them were S-rank hunters too.

The hunters couldn't help but feel tense.

- The supporting hunters from the Comet Group and Cheon-Ji Group are on their way. Stop the enemy from entering the dungeon no matter what!

Once they heard that radio transmission, everyone inside the Dungeon Square felt a slight sense of relief. Of course, that did not mean they were letting their guard down.

"Everyone stay focused. We don't know when the villains will come...”

Before the chief hunter inside Dungeon Square could finish speaking, a round and small object flew across the dust cloud. Looking at the object, the chief hunter shouted, “It’s a stun grenade. Everyone close your eyes...!”

At the same time, the stun grenade exploded, and villains began to rush into Dungeon Square. Fortunately, there weren’t too many of them. Perhaps it was due to the deployment of outside forces and the two Groups working together, but the villains seemed like a number that could be dealt with.

‘Ten?’

After counting the number of villains, the chief hunter took out two batons, which were his main weapons, and stood in front of the dungeon entrance. He commanded, "Do not let them enter the dungeon by any means!"

A black-masked villain attacked the chief hunter with a baseball bat.

Bang-!

The chief hunter was slightly pushed back along with the explosion.

‘This guy is also an A-ranker!’

The opponent also paused with a slightly surprised expression upon grasping the chief hunter’s rank and the fact that the others were also B- or C-rank hunters.

‘There’s a total of five internal hunter troops.’

Soldiers who had just been waiting there rushed out and began to fire warning shots. Of course, it was impossible for them to fire direct bullets because of the narrow interior space.

‘The villains…are cleverly using us as a shield.’

The location restricted their movements. Although they were at a disadvantage in terms of the number of hunters, they could still prevent the villains from entering the dungeon.

The chief hunter focused on the fight against the nearest villain who used a baseball bat. Well, he tried to do so.

Perhaps nervous about the first large-scale villain's attack, a hunter belonging to the Hunter Association got struck. His legs were twisted before he collapsed in vain and died.

“Kuagh-!”

Hearing the scream, the chief hunter turned slightly toward the noise.

The A-rank villain, who was looking for an opening, approached and swung his bat widely. He yelled, "Stupid… Where are you looking?”

Kwang-!

A loud noise rang out once again before the chief hunter concentrated all of his power on the enemy.

“Hey-! It's an entry!"

"Get in there-!"

Two B-rank villains stepped over a Hunter Association’s dead hunter to enter Dungeon Square.