I Woke Up as the Villain

“...?!” Jackie shook once he was wrapped in a thunderbolt. His eyes rolled back.

Yu-Seong swung the spear outward and lightly bounced it off the ax wielded by the Orc War Chief, who had followed him.

The Orc War Chief fell back. Then, a loud roar rang in the cave’s surroundings.

Thud-!

There was a cloud of dust.

‘He's more than a monster! I'm going to die, I'm definitely going to die! How is this a D-rank?’

After having a lucky escape from the Dancing Electric Doll’s attack, Jackie ran toward the entrance of the boss room. As he made his escape, he left a vision behind. Despite his speed, it was not difficult for Choi Yu-Seong to follow.

"Lance Charging."

Once that command was uttered, the villain Jackie fell forward with a large hole from his left side of his chest to his right shoulder. He struggled. "Cough…!"

Jackie watched the trembling tip of Choi Yu-Seong's spear pass him at a velocity that he could not even attempt to keep up with. As Yu-Seong’s spear smashed through a part of the massive cave, Jackie couldn't help but utter a curse internally.

‘The information we received was way…off.’

Jackie was losing consciousness. He thought he should risk his life since this was a big operation, but he didn't know he was going to die against a D-rank opponent. His end was very quiet.

Keoow!

Meanwhile, the Orc War Chief, who had fallen from Choi Yu-Seong's attack, raised itself up with a scream.

With a last blow, Bernard Yoo broke Marlon's neck bone and fell forward from his position. Bernard Yoo looked at Choi Yu-Seong, meeting each other’s gaze.

‘I don't know what you've done, but…’

As Jackie thought, the current Choi Yu-Seong was not a D-rank hunter. Bernard Yoo didn't think it was a cheap shot.

‘At least one hidden weapon... Everyone has prepared for the worst.’

Bernard Yoo knew that cheap tricks weren’t to be looked down upon. Starting from the middle of the competition, even Bernard Yoo himself had used an ancient relic, the Orc Hunt, to win. Nevertheless, he couldn't help feeling angry and upset. There wasn’t a particular reason.

‘I lost.’

The feeling of defeat shook Bernard Yoo's heart. Fortunately, he managed to shake off the dark feeling quickly.

It was a shame, but the competition was already over. And most of all, the fact that he lost to Choi Yu-Seong, who was the same D-rank and a lower level than him, made him feel relieved rather than feeling empty.

‘And I wasn't necessarily bad, right?’

It was just that Choi Yu-Seong was incredibly strong.

Bernard Yoo organized his feelings in a short period of time. Then, without a word, he gave his trademark sophisticated smile to Choi Yu-Seong who had been waiting for him. Bernard Yoo strained to tense the index finger of his clenched fist.

'You win. I only have the strength to hold up a finger.' 

As Bernard wondered if he received the message, Yu-Seong lightly nodded and showed respect toward Bernard Yoo. Then, he suddenly faced the fierce, red eyes of the Orc War Chief that had come to him.

'Originally...I thought I would have to struggle a lot to catch it...' 

Yu-Seong had prepared many strategies to catch this stupid raid monster, but now they were all meaningless. Even the unique rough energy of the giant raid boss monster now seemed insignificant to Yu-Seong.

'This is why people are addicted to power.'

As he looked at the ax slowly falling towards his head, Yu-Seong quickly thrust the end of his spear forward. His weapon traveled approximately 500 meters in an instant using his Wind Control.

‘Activate Magic Spear, attribute: thunderbolt.’

Thunderbolt shot up from the end of the spear, releasing a shallow noise. Preparations were completed in an instant.

‘Lance Charging.’

As if the air was being compressed and then exploded, Yu-Seong leaped forward at the moment of his attack.

KABOOM-!

Across the short 500 meters gap, a single bolt of lightning tore through the air like it was tearing through paper. When the giant raid boss monster, Orc War Chief, was roaring and trying to swing its ax down, a massive hole had already been created from its chest to below its belly.

The Orc War Chief couldn't even keep up with its movements. Just by lifting its ax high, it breathed heavily and stumbled forward.

Thud.

Slightly shaking off the effects of the earlier concussion, Yu-Seong looked up at the cave’s expansive ceiling.

- Your level has risen.

- Your level has risen.

- Your level has ri….

Like rain pouring down, the never-ending stream of level-up messages appeared first. Choi Yu-Seong didn't even try to count how many there were.

'I can just check the system interface to see how many there are anyway...' 

Instead, he focused on the other messages that followed.

- The Friend of Thunder and Hammer is paying attention to the player Choi Yu-Seong. 200 karma points are donated.

- The Green Spring of the East is paying attention to the player Choi Yu-Seong. 200 karma points are donated.

- Sparkling God Who Loves to Love is interested in player Choi Yu-Seong. 100 karma points are donated.

- The Father of Magical Hymns has discovered player Choi Yu-Seong. 100 karma points are donated.

- The Oldest Hunter happily smiles at player Choi Yu-Seong. 500 karma points are donated.

- Culann’s Hound sends a message saying 'May your life be filled with only glory...'. 500 karma points are donated.

- A Joke-loving Prankster sends a message saying 'Stop eyeing my friend, you trashbags.' 3000 karma points are donated!

- Many gods with mythologies related to thunder and lightning are paying attention to the player Choi Yu-Seong. A history of "receiving the protection of the thunder god" is formed.

There were pouring messages of the gods and the acquisition of a new history after so long. If Bernard Yoo, who had lost consciousness, were able to see, he would have let out a scream of astonishment at the sight of the compensation.

Yu-Seong smiled contentedly and slowly slumped back in his seat. He was relieved that the tension was gone and his body was starting to lose strength due to the after-effects of the Lightning Burst. He wouldn’t be able to go on a proper dungeon hunt for at least five days, but he wasn't particularly unhappy about it.

'Anyway, I did well.' 

He just won the match with one of the protagonist’s companions in the novel and he even defeated the villain who had suddenly attacked them. Choi Yu-Seong closed his eyes with a joyful smile on his face. He felt a satisfaction that he hadn’t felt in a while.

'Since it’ll take more than a month for the boss monster to be regenerated...' 

Theft is never good, try looking at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

He wanted to rest a little.

***

When Yu-Seong opened his eyes again, he was in a hospital room. He looked at the familiar white ceiling before smiling bitterly.

'Now it's as familiar as home.' 

As if responding to the small movement, Jin Yu-Ri, who had been looking somewhere else, turned her gaze to Yu-Seong. She asked, "Are you awake?"

"Yeah."

As Choi Yu-Seong naturally tried to sit up, Jin Yu-Ri shook her head and said, "Lie down. Don't overdo it."

"I'm not overdoing it. Don't worry."

"Please... Yu-Seong oppa," Yu-Ri said.

Yu-Seong looked puzzled because Yu-Ri wasn’t saying much. Come to think of it, he found it strange just how serious Yu-Ri’s expression was. He was momentarily lost in thought when he saw Yu-Ri had tears in her eyes.

'Why is she like this?' 

Just in case, Yu-Seong checked if any of his body parts that he couldn't feel were missing, but there was still no problem. He tried to sit up again when he said, “I’m okay, Yu-Ri.”

Yu-Ri held onto Yu-Seong’s shoulder tightly as she shook her head from side to side. She exclaimed, "There's no way you're okay!"

Yu-Seong raised his eyebrows in surprise and asked, "Why are you saying that?"

"Have you tried using your mana?" asked Yu-Ri.

“Huh?”

Only then did Yu-Seong’s eyes widen in understanding.

‘Oh... Does that mean…’

One side effect of using the Lightning Burst was the inability to use mana for a while. One would then become no different from a normal person.

After being rescued by someone from the Player Association and taken to the hospital, Yu-Seong and Bernard's conditions were checked. If they had paid attention, they would have realized that Yu-Seong was unable to use mana for the time being.

‘Come to think of it, I can’t even feel the Chakra’s effects…’

It was like he had completely returned to a normal person. 

Yu-Seong knew that this condition would recover in a few days, but Yu-Ri had no idea. After all, it was Yu-Seong's own fault for not properly explaining the situation to anyone around him when requesting to use the Lightning Burst. He couldn't help but laugh at himself.

He started to explain in detail the effects and side effects of the Lightning Burst. He had thought that Yu-Ri might have trouble understanding since it was a type of medicine still unknown in this world. It was fortunate that Yu-Ri seemed to easily grasp the concept.

"So you'll be okay in a few days, right?" Yu-Ri asked.

"Yeah. Trust me and, you know, my hidden ability."

"Is it...the future foresight?"

“Similar,” replied Yu-Seong with a mischievous smile. With a shrug, he continued, "I can still do regular things except go on dungeon hunts or do intense training. Just think of me as a normal person.”

In the first place, Yu-Seong had spent most of his life living as a normal person rather than as a person with supernatural abilities. He had become strong and accustomed to this way of life, so while he did find his current condition somewhat uncomfortable, it wasn't unbearable.

‘In fact, I'm not feeling that powerless. Maybe It’s because I've been trained to some extent.’

That might be the reason Yu-Seong was able to smile comfortably.

"The doctor said that if you're not careful, you could become a person incapable of using mana," Yu-Ri warned.

"That's just the usual side effect of using the skill," Yu-Seong replied while looking at Yu-Ri. He then said reassuringly, "So let's just move on. I'll be fine in a few days. Rather than that, I’d like to hear about what happened."

Yu-Ri no longer doubted Yu-Seong. She explained, "You probably already know, but there was a villain attack. They were the Demon King Worshipers, and there were quite a lot of them. I think that there were five S-rank villains deployed. The commotion was quite intense, but with the combined efforts of the Cheon-Ji Group and us, it was quickly suppressed. The strange part was that the S-rank villains retreated too easily. If it weren't for that, the damage to the city would have been much worse.”

Upon hearing the name of the worst terrorist group in the world, the Demon King Worshipers, and the situation, Yu-Seong tried to think of the reason for their strange behavior. He then looked at Yu-Ri in surprise and asked, "Was the Slaughter Queen also there?"

"No, why are you..." Yu-Ri’s voice trailed off as she too looked at Yu-Seong with wide eyes. She then asked, "Was the plan from the beginning to take her out?"

It was clear that the leader of the Demon King Worshipers, the head of the clan, had taken in the Slaughter Queen, Rachel. However, it would not have been an easy task to quietly take out Rachel, who was being pursued by the entire Korean government and the Comet Group.

‘So they caused confusion...and took the opportunity to send Rachel out of the country.’

In this operation, it was likely that the Demon King Worshipers had judged that it was worth the risk to simply feel them out since they could capture either Choi Yu-Seong or Bernard Yoo.

"Since they treat all the hunters ranked lower than S-rank as expendables, so..."

By now, Rachel must have safely left Korea behind. For the South Korean government and for Choi Woo-Jae, it was like they had been punched in the face by the Demon King Worshipers’ leader.