I Woke Up as the Villain

When he entered the Rank 6 dungeon alone, Yu-Seong could feel firsthand just how much he had grown.

‘It’s not difficult.’

Yu-Seong had been very strong even as a B-rank player. Even back then, it would not have been impossible for him to hunt in a Rank 6 dungeon alone; however, it wouldn’t have been easy. Back then, he would have needed at least ten minutes to hunt and defeat a single monster.

‘Actually, it wasn’t very efficient.’

However, the situation was entirely different now. Yu-Seong was now able to defeat a Rank 6 dungeon monster within three minutes and gain the commensurate experience points with relative ease. Moreover, he did not have to try as hard as he had done when he had been a B-rank player.

‘I can adjust how much physical strength I exert and be able to hunt in moderation.’

If he slightly exerted himself, he might even be able to solo play in a Rank 7 dungeon. However, he probably would not be able to contend against a Rank 7 dungeon’s boss monster.

‘Hmm, a solo raid…’

Recalling the boss monster in the Rank 7 dungeon, Tyrant of the Swamp, Yu-Seong could not help but feel a trickle of sweat running down his back.

‘It’s probably still a bit too much to deal with something like that all by myself, right?’

Of course, if Yu-Seong fought as if it was a life-or-death situation, the outcome might be different. However, he currently did not feel the need to risk his life for such a result.

Even while he had these various thoughts, Yu-Seong swung his spear and neatly pierced the heart of a Rank 6 monster, a Calvado, that stood in front of him.

The Calvado, which resembled a rhinoceros, was a monster that used its large size and hard skin to recklessly rush its opponents in a melee attack.

‘The problem is that a Calvado is about twice as big as the average rhinoceros, and it’s more than three times faster.’

Although the Calvado’s main form of attack was a head-on melee rush, it also had the flexibility to quickly rotate its body and attack from other angles. Due to this reason, Yu-Seong had to be careful and maintain his focus when facing off against the Calvados.

Even the slightest slip of concentration would open Yu-Seong up to be gored by the Calvado’s thick and sharp horns as it recklessly charged at him; if he should be struck by those horns, he would immediately be on the next train to the underworld.

However, even against such an enemy, Yu-Seong had the time to think about other matters. So, in essence, it was not very difficult for him to accumulate experience points.

- Your level has risen.

Yu-Seong easily leveled up. Moreover, thanks to his Star Factor, his speed in acquiring experience points was remarkably fast.

‘I’ve already reached Level 10 in the A-rank.’

He had achieved this in less than a week after becoming an A-rank player. The speed of his leveling up was incredibly fast, especially when one considered how it was exponentially more difficult to level up as one’s rank rose. If others knew of his leveling up speed, they would probably have rubbed their eyes in shock and amazement.

‘Not bad.’

Two days ago, Ye-Ryeong and Jin-Hyuk had contacted Yu-Seong to say that they had both successfully completed the promotion test and entered the B-rank. Moreover, they had also stated that they planned to immediately work on raising their levels to take the A-rank promotion test as soon as possible.

‘Just like how I felt that there was no meaning for me to remain in the A-rank for an extended period of time, the two probably also think that it’s unnecessary to stay in the B-rank for long.’

Although some might say that the two were being impatient, Yu-Seong was not concerned about the two’s rapid development because he personally knew Ye-Ryeong and Jin-Hyuk. In fact, if comparing only one’s growth potential, the two probably had an advantage over Yu-Seong.

As Yu-Seong was having this thought, he finished off the last of the Calvados. Afterward, he checked his dungeon timer while catching his breath.

‘Five hours and thirty minutes.’

He had entered the dungeon around 11:00 AM, so the time in the outside world was around 4:30 PM.

‘Perhaps I should call it a day and wrap things up a little earlier than usual.’ 

While having this thought, Yu-Seong turned to head over to the dungeon gate.

“…?!”

However, at that moment, Yu-Seong saw a pair of eyes gazing at him from a distance. It was a man with an impressive scar around his left eye, and from the man’s appearance alone, Yu-Seong knew that the man was not staring at him out of simple curiosity.

‘What? An ambush?’

An ambush would not have been strange. By now, In-Young would have already noticed that Yu-Seong had returned to Earth. However, the issue was that the man exuded a considerable aura as he slowly approached Yu-Seong.

“Choi Yu-Seong.”

Being approached by the man who had clearly called out his name, Yu-Seong had no doubt about the other person’s intentions. Hence, Yu-Seong smiled and said with a nod, “Did my sister, Choi In-Young, send you?”

Once Young-Hoon heard Yu-Seong’s response, he shuddered. Even the scar on his left cheek twitched wildly. He muttered, “…Perhaps. Anyway, I’ve heard that you’re quite talented, but I’ve never heard about you being so smart. Is it some sort of special Choi family trait?”

When Young-Hoon smiled and spread his palms, a wriggling brown energy soon solidified and formed a long rod in his hands.

‘Materialization?’

There were not many players who specialized in materialization, such as Yu-Ri, in the whole of Korea. Moreover, the man had a long scar near the corner of his left eye. Thus, it was not difficult for Yu-Seong to guess who his opponent was.

“Min Young-Hoon of the Heaven Guild?”

“…”

Silence could sometimes be an unspoken affirmation. The man, Young-Hoon, just smiled coldly as a strong sense of determination settled into his eyes.

“Since death will soon come, there’s no need for any elaborate introductions.”

Although it was unclear who he was directing his words to, whether to Yu-Seong or himself, Young-Hoon quickly disappeared from sight.

Yu-Seong became nervous, because he knew that Young-Hoon was not an ordinary S-Rank player.

‘He’s an Irregular.’

Yu-Seong knew that Young-Hoon was a player with overlapping abilities from two skill attribute areas: Phenomenal and Projection.

In addition, like Yu-Seong, Young-Hoon was famous for being a person who trained heavily. Although his official position was as the Vice President of the Heaven Guild, he could easily venture out on his own and create a Top 10 guild if he set his mind to it. And in terms of fighting style, Young-Hoon was incredibly fast.

In the blink of an eye, Young-Hoon’s weapon of choice, a rod, had precisely reached Yu-Seong’s forehead area.

Yu-Seong was clearly in a threatening situation, but he remained calm. His body moved reflexively and calmly.

Bang-!

With a sharp crack, Young-Hoon’s rod soared high into the air.

‘He’s able to block my attack? Didn’t he just register as an A-rank hunter?’ 

Young-Hoon started to understand why In-Young was so wary of Yu-Seong. Although Young-Hoon himself had seen videos of the well-known Yu-Seong fighting on NewTube, Yu-Seong’s fighting prowess was much better than what he had initially expected.

“Well, it’s my last fight, so I expect a challenge!”

Young-Hoon’s entire body exuded an explosive, ferocious energy as he had an angered expression on his face. At the same time, his deflected rod stretched out like a chain and was making its way to wrap around Yu-Seong’s body.

Yu-Seong used Wind Control to evade the chain-like rod that was wrapping around him. Then, he lunged at Young-Hoon with a spear stab move.

At that moment, Young-Hoon screamed out, “Ack-!”

Along with that loud cry, a powerful energy emanated from Young-Hoon’s mouth, like a Dragon’s Breath, and struck Yu-Seong’s body squarely.

Boom-!

‘He’s expelling energy through his mouth?’ 

Yu-Seong was taken aback because he had never read about this type of attack in the original novel. He also hadn’t come across such information in his present life; Yu-Seong scoffed as he watched his chest area, which had been cut up due to the attack, quickly recover.

‘If I was still at B-Rank, this sort of attack would have put me in a dangerous situation.’

The effects of the Nine-headed Snake’s rings and the Young Phoenix’s Heart skill had activated simultaneously, which allowed Yu-Seong to quickly recover from his wounds and regain his original state.

By the time the cloud of dust that had risen from Yu-Seong being slammed against the dungeon’s walls had cleared away, Yu-Seong was already able to stand up completely intact.

“…You’re fine after being hit by that attack? You’re much tougher than I thought.”

While waiting for the cloud of dust to clear, Young-Hoon thought that he had dealt a fatal blow on Yu-Seong. However, he soon saw Yu-Seong scoffing while standing steadfast.

After registering Yu-Seong’s state, Young-Hoon stretched his hand out and quickly shot out sharp thorns that he had materialized from his palm.

Yu-Seong could not help but be tongue-tied at his Irregular opponent’s outrageous attack that combined both Materialization and Projection. He swung his spear to deflect the oncoming thorns, took out his gun, and then fired magic bullets in succession at Young-Hoon.

“Ah… I see, you’re a dual ability player yourself. So, you’re also an Irregular.” Young-Hoon showed a rather surprised expression as he materialized a defensive barrier to deflect Yu-Seong’s magic bullets.

Of course, the reality was that Yu-Seong was not a dual ability player like Young-Hoon.

‘I’m just an All-Rounder type player.’

In a way, it was more accurate to say that Yu-Seong was a multi-ability player. It was the truth that the magic bullets that Yu-Seong had shot without much effort did not have much power behind them.

‘But the threat of it is enough.’

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Above all, if he could wield a spear and a gun at the same time, Yu-Seong could deploy various strategies to keep his opponent on the back foot.

‘And if I focus on shooting, I should be able to increase the power behind the magic bullets.’

However, it was almost impossible to wield a spear with one hand while maintaining a mana circuit with the other to continually send out magic bullets. For this reason, Yu-Seong had previously used both his gun and spear alternately, but he had never used them at the same time.

‘But…’

Now, things were different. He was able to use Dual Operation, a new fused skill that allowed him to divide his focused consciousness into two areas; hence, Yu-Seong was able to rush at Young-Hoon while wielding his spear in one hand and firing off with his gun in the other.

Bam, Bam, Bam-!

The muzzle blazed with fire at high speed. Focusing his mind on shooting out magic bullets, the power behind the bullets became much stronger than before.

Young-Hoon, who quickly created another defensive barrier to block the new attack, laughed coldly before materializing several sharp, spear-like barbed thorns and firing them at Yu-Seong. His thick thorns could not be deflected by the magic bullets.

Yu-Seong momentarily loosened his grip on his spear, extending it out so that his grasp was lower on the spear’s shaft. Then, he rotated his body with force.

The barbed spear-like thorns, which were imbued with Young-Hoon’s mana, got caught up in Yu-Seong’s whirling motion and were torn apart. Also, at the same time, the magic bullets that Yu-Seong had fired while making the whirling move quickly passed by Young-Hoon’s ear.

‘What…?’ 

Young-Hoon was thoroughly confused as to how Yu-Seong was able to shoot his magic bullets while wielding his spear.

Whether he held his spear short or long, Yu-Seong’s movements were natural and smooth.

As Young-Hoon felt cold sweat running down his back after receiving his latest, unexpected attack, Yu-Seong approached Young-Hoon and sent out a terrifying stab with his spear, which he now held much higher on the spear’s shaft.

Young-Hoon hurriedly tried to block and evade the oncoming attacks.

‘I’m at a disadvantage in close combat. Dragging out this fight won’t be beneficial for me either.’ 

Although Young-Hoon knew that he was only going up against an A-rank player, Yu-Seong’s attacks were much too fierce and powerful to be categorized as coming from an A-rank player.

‘Above all, this guy…hasn’t even used his signature skill yet.’

Young-Hoon was referring to Yu-Seong’s Wind Thunder Dragon God Art skill, where lightning crackled around Yu-Seong’s body following a flow of high-speed wind. Young-Hoon could not help but recognize that, ‘Yu-Seong has already surpassed A-rank in terms of power’.

Young-Hoon had to approach Yu-Seong as someone in the same rank as himself or even higher.

‘Choi In-Young requested that I bring you back alive, but…’

Regretfully, Young-Hoon understood that if he put any conditions or restrictions on himself, he would not be able to handle Yu-Seong.

Yu-Seong had already become a powerful existence who was difficult to handle even for Young-Hoon himself, a powerful player who prided himself on being ranked among the top 10 in Korea.

‘Choi In-Young, in the end, you’re clumsy and underprepared in regard to Yu-Seong.’

It seemed that everyone was still underestimating Yu-Seong. Everyone saw Yu-Seong developing at a frighteningly quick pace, but that was all they saw.

‘This guy will become a monster.’

If Yu-Seong was not stopped here, it was clear for Young-Hoon that Yu-Seong would become a tremendous existence who would eventually eclipse Woo-Jae.

‘It’s a waste to kill off such a talent; however…’

Young-Hoon did not forget what he needed to do.

‘I promised that I’d give up my own life for Choi In-Young…’

As a man, he had no intention of going against his word. Young-Hoon was certain that he needed to finish Yu-Seong off before Yu-Seong had a chance to use any of his hidden skills.

The killing intent in Young-Hoon’s eyes became stronger as the inner mana within his body circulated at a faster pace. He felt the sensation of his entire body being on fire when he drew out such a large amount of mana so quickly.

He felt a shot of pain that was enough to be considered dangerous, but Young-Hoon, who had already prepared for death, did not concern himself with such pain.