I Woke Up as the Villain

At a 20-story high apartment redevelopment site, a place nobody would visit at night, a man sat hunched. Spreading a magic circle around him, he held his forehead and let out a long groan. "Ugh… Ahhhh...”

His pupils alternately flashed with returning sanity and a possessed craze.

“Stupid…” Do-Jin, the man cursing at himself, gripped the red mask covering his face with one hand. He yelled, "Get...off!"

Crackle-! 

With a sound like flesh being torn, the red mask began to peel off from his face. Droplets of dark blood began to fall on the cold and hard cement floor.

A purple light erupted from the eyes of the red mask as it moved away from Do-Jin's face.

- Kim Do-Jin, my son. Surely you're not going to give up on revenge?

The voice that momentarily assaulted Do-Jin’s mind caused his hand, which had been pulling at the mask, to tremble violently.

'Ah, ahhh......!' 

The red mask, not missing that brief gap, quickly reattached itself to his face.

Drip, drip. 

Blood trickling down between the mask and Do-Jin’s eyes fell onto his palms.

'Blood, corpses, binge eating.' 

To become stronger, he would have to destroy everything and consume without restraint.

'More power than now.' 

He had to be more violent and allow this instinct for revenge to bring everyone to their knees! Whenever this crazed emotion tried to overwhelm his mind, a single name tore through his thoughts.

"Choi Yu-Seong... Choi Yu-Seong..." Do-Jin, whose voice was barely audible as he called the name, was about to clench his blood-filled fist again.

- Don't forget your revenge! The Comet! Kill Choi Woo-Jae!

Once again, a purple aura flowed out from the mask and assaulted Do-Jin's head.

"Revenge!" Do-Jin finally cried out.

With that word on his lips, he abruptly rose from his seat and looked out toward the construction site. The dark night, already burdened with heavy clouds, appeared to sink into deeper darkness.

Before long, a chilling and alarmingly heavy downpour commenced.

Thud-thud-thud-! 

The sound of rain hitting the ground resembled the rapid-fire of a machine gun. Following it was the rumbling sound of thunder.

With his red eyes flashing, Do-Jin ran out of the construction site. He had decided to forget everything else. Right now, only one thing was important to Do-Jin, or rather, to the villain known as Red Mask.

'Revenge!' 

Once he could shake off the leash of fate that seemingly bound him, he could be free. When that time came, there would be no need to live with any burden on his shoulders.

With hatred in his eyes and freedom in his heart, Do-Jin, carrying the ancient evil spirit on his back, cut across the night of Seoul as he was buried in darkness.

***

"Hm?"

Sitting alone in his office out of habit, quietly reading a book, Woo-Jae turned his head with a short groan at the sudden sound of heavy rain hitting the window behind him.

"Hmm…"

Could it be due to the cold wind seeping through the gaps with the rainwater? A strangely chilly sensation enveloped his entire body, causing goosebumps to rise up his back. With a shudder, he reached out to pull the black curtain at the end of the window.

Just then, the shallow silence broke and a loud rumbling began.

Boom-boom-boom-!

The sound of someone rushing around inside the house was heard.

"Who's causing this commotion…?"

Feeling slightly irritated and apprehensive, Woo-Jae gripped the long spear he had set next to his chair with narrowed eyes. The office door, which had been closed, flung open, revealing the faces of two very familiar people.

"Chairman!"

"Father!"

Seeing the somewhat pale faces of both Pil-Doo and Jin-Woo, Woo-Jae let go of the spear in his hand. His face contorted uncomfortably as he asked, "What is this sudden commotion all about?”

"Didn't you receive the call?"

At Pil-Doo's question, Woo-Jae turned over his phone, which had been tucked under the book he had just stopped reading. He saw the notifications of more than ten missed calls.

Typically, he would set it to silent mode with no light when he desired to concentrate on a book.

Having been unaware of the missed calls, he furrowed his brow as he unlocked his phone screen and checked the call history. Tilting his head in slight confusion, he murmured, "What on earth is going on…?"

His mouth clamped shut when he recognized the name of the person who had called him five times at the start.

'Choi Ji-Ho.' 

It was his first-born son, who possessed extraordinary precognitive abilities that were rare even worldwide.

With those sudden calls and now the urgent arrival of these two men, Woo-Jae had to wonder just what did all this mean. However, for someone like him, finding the answer with just these small hints alone wasn’t a difficult task.

Slowly turning his head to look out the window, Woo-Jae muttered to himself in a barely audible voice, "Am I…going to die?"

At the same time, the surrounding world turned white. For a brief two to three seconds, a bolt of lightning that fell from the sky had swallowed his sight entirely.

Squeak-! 

The sound of the window opening reached Woo-Jae's sharp senses. The instant it happened, he roughly swung the spear that he had slightly relaxed his grip on.

The sound of the surrounding atmosphere being torn apart and sparks flying could be heard. The once white world returned to its normal state in a flash, and the surroundings were covered in darkness.

Noticing that it wasn’t due to the failure of their eyes to adjust to the sudden flash of light, Jin-Woo cried out urgently, "The light bulb broke!"

In fact, both Pil-Doo and Woo-Jae had noticed the same thing.

Cold rain and wind were pouring in through the open window.

'This is....'

With his intuition telling him that the situation wasn’t good, Woo-Jae bowed his head deeply.

Quickly accompanying the red eyes that floated in the darkness, a sharp silver sword light cut through the place where Woo-Jae's neck had been just a moment before.

As Woo-Jae swung the spear behind him, he gripped the desk and pushed down. All of a sudden, a battle suit sprang up from the floor and wrapped around Woo-Jae's entire body in an instant.

Meanwhile, the clash of the sword and spear occurred several times, with red sparks flashing and flying in all directions.

'I'm being pushed back.' 

He was being pushed back in every aspect—strength, speed, and skill. Woo-Jae felt a chill in his chest as he recognized his own shortcomings.

"Father, dodge!"

With Jin-Woo's voice, a large flame sprouted and enveloped the opponent who was wearing a red mask.

Splash-! 

At that moment, crimson blood sprayed into the air.

'What...?' 

Woo-Jae, who bent his waist deeply to dodge a nearly fatal attack, opened his eyes wide. He hadn't seen where or how the last sword strike had come at him. He had only perceived a red flash before instinctively dodging the attack. If he had been just one second late, his entire body would have been cut along with his battle suit and clothes.

In that brief time, Pil-Doo, who had noticed the opponent's movements through the flames, charged abruptly and overwhelmed the red-masked opponent with his body.

For a moment, perhaps thanks to the flames launched by Jin-Woo, the sprinkler system exploded in a burst of water, the emergency sirens sounded, and the room was plunged into utter chaos.

"Intruder!"

"It's the Chairman's room!"

The bodyguards who had been stationed in the mansion rushed in a moment late, raising a fuss. In the meantime, a large scream burst from Pil-Doo, who was brawling with the red-masked intruder.

"Arghhh-!" he cried.

Seeing Pil-Doo, with one arm severed and spouting blood like a fountain, Woo-Jae's eyes widened. He shouted, "Kim Pil-Doo!"

"Chairman, please seek refuge!"

Startled, Woo-Jae turned to Pil-Doo, who raised his remaining arm to block the red masked man's attack. Throwing himself forward, Pil-Doo shouted, "You have to live! Chairman, you must…!"

Ignoring Pil-Doo's desperate plea, the red intruder brushed past him like a shadow and stood in front of Woo-Jae.

"What the...!"

Just as the startled Pil-Doo tried to turn around again, a flurry of dozens of blows quickly transpired, and Woo-Jae came to realize one thing.

'This guy...' 

The intruder was not going all out. From beneath the mask, Woo-Jae could feel a derisive smirk in the intruder’s eyes, and amidst it all, he felt a peculiar question rise up in his mind.

'Surely, I've seen these eyes somewhere before?' 

He found the eyes to be quite familiar.

While Woo-Jae’s questions piled up, another attack from Jin-Woo, following Pil-Doo’s, once again engulfed the red-masked man. Within the billowing black smoke that rose as a result, Woo-Jae's eyes widened as an image of a young boy screaming at him, filled with resentment and anger, suddenly appeared in his mind.

"You... You can't be...!"

"So you've finally recognized me. Then you must know why you must die, right?"

The opponent finally spoke up for the first time, and his voice was deep and eerily distorted.

While Woo-Jae recognized the red-masked individual as the child from a company that had merged with the Comet Group, he failed to realize that it was the grown-up Do-Jin.

Do-Jin, noticing this fact, did not particularly care about it. What mattered to him was revenge. Erasing the tormenting voice in his own head would be enough.

'With this, it ends...' 

Without hesitation, he brought down his sword like a lightning bolt directly above Woo-Jae's head, symbolizing his determination to break free from the bonds of destiny.

The situation had now changed from before. It was as if Woo-Jae had been given a second of respite earlier on. As he watched the sword strike that fell like light itself, Woo-Jae could only let out a hollow laugh.

'Death... I knew it could come at any time.' 

However, he did not expect it to be like this. Still, he felt no regrets.

'Even if I die... My bloodline will remain.' 

Woo-Jae felt he had achieved all his goals in life. Just as he calmly accepted his impending death, a new voice rang out.

"Who says you can...!"

A somewhat low but definitely female voice echoed as Do-Jin's sword, which had been falling like lightning, was thrown into the air. Remaining in his collapsed position, Woo-Jae sat back on his haunches and addressed the woman standing before him.

"What's with that bizarre look, Mi-Na?" asked Woo-Jae.

She was wearing a rabbit mask along with a battle suit that clung to her body. Although the look was somewhat awkward, it wasn't beyond recognition for Woo-Jae.

"...I'm not Choi Mi-Na," said Mi-Na.

“It’s obviously you, my daughter.”

"You're mistaken. I'm meeting you for the first time, elderly gentleman."

"You unfilial..."

Just as their conversation was nearing its end, over thirty security personnel players rushed into Woo-Jae's office and swiftly turned on the lights.

"Chairman!"

"Are you alright?"

"Call the hospital immediately!"

Amidst the chaotic clamor, flames erupted sporadically, the sprinklers unleashed a torrential spray, rain poured outside the window, and Pil-Doo, losing consciousness, was bleeding profusely. Caught in a moment of surreal oddity, Woo-Jae and Mi-Na could only be overwhelmed in an immense sense of bewilderment.

"Did Kim Do-Jin disappear?"

"The Red Mask is gone... Wait, you're saying that guy was Kim Do-Jin?" After asking Mi-Na that question in surprise, Woo-Jae then burst out into a deep, hearty laugh. "Puhuhu, Puhaha, Puhahaha! What a fate!"

"Father... I mean, elderly gentleman?" Mi-Na asked.

Woo-Jae, however, was already looking out of the window. Ignoring Mi-Na, he said loudly, "So it’s you, Kim Do-Jin! The foolish child who has come to take revenge on me!"

Above, the sky was covered by a pouring rainstorm. Do-Jin, who had summoned a black dragon with a large magic circle drawn behind him, was looking down at the mansion with his sword raised.

Passing Do-Jin, the black flame wrapped around the tip of his sword rose like a black sun. It blazed fiercely, seemingly impossible to extinguish, and blew away even the pouring rain.

"My, my God!"

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The bodyguards who had rushed out after Woo-Jae were aghast.

"That... We can't avoid it. So this is what Choi Ji-Ho meant when he saw our destiny to die here, isn't it?" Woo-Jae said.

Mi-Na let out a sarcastic chuckle as she scratched her cheek. Even Jin-Woo, who boasted himself as one of the top talents among flame-type players, found himself kneeling in astonishment and his mouth hanging open.

"How could...this…?" Jin-Woo murmured.

Indeed, it was the end. As the sword whirled around, a colossal fireball descended from above, carrying the potential for a global cataclysm. In that moment, a sense of despair consumed everyone.

Once more, a brilliant white flash overwhelmed the world. Following it was a thunderous roar that seemed to foretell disaster, accompanied by the crackling sound of lightning that pierced through the heart of the black sun and propelled it into the sky. It was a miraculous moment when the seemingly unquenchable and unstoppable black flame soared into the clouds and erupted with a mighty explosion.

In front of the startled family, Yu-Seong emerged from a green space and shouted up at the sky, "Kim Do-Jin-!"