I Woke Up as the Villain

Late dawn, a crocodile man covered with thick leather and scales was speeding along the Gangbyeon north expressway. He moved hastily, from running on the road with his two feet, crossing the enormous Han River bridge with a single leap, to even occasionally jumping into the river to hide. However, his movement was much faster than most of the vehicles running at around 100 km/h late at night.

After running for a long time, the crocodile man submerged in the dark shade under the bridge. Only the top of his head and eyes could be seen just above the water’s surface.

‘At this point, he can’t chase me anymore, right?’ 

There was a mixture of fear, worry, and anger in the crocodile man’s eyes. These emotions were rather inappropriate and odd for someone who was very much like a wild predator.

‘Fricking Korean Special Police Force bastards!’ 

The crocodile man was a foreigner. His real name was Yevgeny, a Russian mafia who was recorded as an A-rank Villain by the WPA, the World Player Association. Fifteen days ago, he had fled to Korea after a massive murder case due to conflict between organizations in Vladivostok. He had intended to stay under the radar for a while in Korea as he had entered through a disguised identity and fake visa. After all, the moment he got caught by the Russian Militsiya (the Soviet police in the past, the villain hunter group in the novel), things would become troublesome.

As with all his problems, this one took place at a small lounge bar in Itaewon’s [1] business district when he began flirting with a woman with the intention of taking her to bed.

The bar owner was quite a beauty, so Yevgeny was overwhelmed by a desire to sleep with her somehow as soon as he saw her. Although Yevgeny had traveled to quite a few countries, such as Italy, France, the United States, Japan, and his home country Russia, he could bet there were only a handful of women as beautiful as her.

He easily drank an entire bottle of vodka, lowering his inhibitions and intensifying his inner conflict. He soon decided that, even if he had to leave Korea, he would not be afraid to mess up. In fact, the task wasn't difficult for him.

Unlike his usual self, Yevgeny ignored the other women who shot curious looks at his blond hair and blue eyes, and waited until the owner of the bar got off work… By the time the bar closed, there would always be dark alleys no matter how bright downtown was. Yevgeny hid in a dark alley while waiting with a gloomy gaze for the beautiful owner to leave work.

However, an unexpected event occurred. From the back of the dark alley where Yevgeny was hiding, someone quietly approached, swinging a huge Claymore that aimed to cut his head in half.

“What the?!” Yevgeny shouted with wide eyes when he avoided the attack somewhat instinctively.

However, the mystery person wearing a mask of a big-eyed rabbit character—that was quite like the characters in old animations—did not answer. The person simply swung the great sword suddenly once again.

Yevgeny was frightened by the movement, which he couldn’t even follow, and had no choice but to transform his appearance and flee without thinking about anything else. He couldn’t understand it at first, but as he ran, he could soon guess that the mystery man was from the Korean Special Police Force that he had heard on the grapevine.

‘I remember hearing that they act while wearing a strange mask to hide their identity…’ 

Yevgeny trembled. The big eyes of the rabbit mask—which might seem cute to someone else—felt creepy to him.

‘He must have given up by now, right?’ 

While the opponent’s attacks were fast, the pursuit seemed to be slower. Yevgeny could not sense his opponent’s movement from the middle of the run. Still, Yevgeny remained quiet just in case.

However, even after 10 minutes, Yevgeny could not sense the bizarre rabbit mask anywhere.

‘I should leave Korea now that my identity’s been revealed.’ 

The fact that the hunters from the Special Police Force, who was in charge of Villains, chased him meant that both his identity and situation had already become known to the Korea Player Association. Although, it was very regrettable that he couldn’t do anything about the lady owner he last saw in Itaewon, the pleasure of his lower part was not more precious than his life.

‘I’ll just hide for another five minutes and then start going out slowly.’ 

He planned on running straight to Incheon Airport right after that because he didn’t want to see the terrible rabbit mask ever again.

“The water temperature must be quite low, but you’re good at putting up with it. Is it because you’re a cold-blooded animal transformation type? Aren’t you cold?”

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A rather low-pitched female voice was heard above Yevgeny’s head.

“Damn!” Yevgeny hurriedly rushed out from the water when the river he had been hiding in soared like an explosion. The thick claymore split the river. He gasped inwardly at the opponent's tremendous strength and burst into laughter pretending to be relaxed. “Puhaha! Zayats(заяц). Shall we see if you can play well inside the water too?”

“You're in Korea. Speak Korean, you trash.”

As Yevgeny spoke in a mix of Russian and English, the rabbit-masked person once again swung the sword, grumbling as if she didn’t like that.

Along with a loud ‘bang’, the water rained down on the roofs of cars that were driving on the Banpo Bridge. In the meantime, Yevgeny chose to dive deep into the Han River while cursing inwardly as he saw the impact of the water splitting in half right in front of his nose.

‘I did expect it, but she was truly a monster.’ 

His animal instinct did not choose to escape in vain. However, wouldn’t it be a different story if it was underwater? Yevgeny was a crocodile man. To be more precise, he inherited the power of Porosus, the sea crocodile that could even swim in the sea. He wasn’t sure about fighting on land, but he was quite confident that he would not lose no matter how great the monster was if they fought in the water.

The fearless rabbit mask plunged into the water of the Han River following Yevgeny.

‘How cheeky!’ 

Yevgeny had been planning to run away from her by swimming but now changed his mind. The eyes of the sea crocodile that were once trembling with fear now had the anger of a predator. Regardless of that, the rabbit mask jumped into the water with the Claymore slung on her back, spreading out her hands.

‘Although I don’t know what you’re trying to do…’ 

Yevgeny’s wide crocodile mouth smiled cruelly. The bite force of the sea crocodile was considered the most powerful among the naturally occurring predators in the ecosystem.

How powerful could it be if an A-rank Hunter dealt with that bite force that was several times more powerful than the bite force of a hippo that was generally thought to be terrifying?

Once bitten, even an S-rank hunter could be impossible to escape.

‘I’ll chew and swallow her whole.’ 

It was the moment when Yevgeny rushed through the water and opened his mouth wide. The rabbit mask clapped her outstretched hands. That was it.

It was impossible to believe it, but the water fluctuated while causing waves, and soon a vacuum space that was large enough to see the bottom of the deep Han River water was created.

Yevgeny was also nearly swept away by the immense monstrous strength, but the rabbit mask quickly reached out and grabbed his long snout that was unique to crocodiles. The surrounding area was still flowing with the water of the Han River, but it was somehow strange as if only the two were on the ground.

The rabbit mask threw the crocodile toward the park at once and ran. The split water of the Han River quickly found its original place and filled up the space again. Yevgeny flew through the darkness of the night in that short gap when the water was filled back, smashing the stone wall stairs in the park and getting stuck between them.

“Kuahuk-!”

The rabbit mask scattered her wet long black straight hair and thrust a fist into Yevgeny’s abdomen as he vomited blood.

“Kueeek-!”

With a scream, the entire thick stone wall stairs collapsed as if they had been hit by an earthquake. Even if he was a physical type A-rank player, he had no way to withstand such monstrous strength directly hit on his abdomen. Yevgeny’s transformation has been released. His eyes rolled over and his tongue was pulled out. The rabbit mask waved the stone powder and dusty clouds in all directions as if it was annoying. She grabbed Yevgeny’s head with her left hand and lifted him.

“What? Are you dead?”

The rabbit mask tilted her head and strongly slapped Yevgeny’s cheek from side to side. “Keok, kukeok…!”

“You’re still alive, huh.”

Along with those words, the rabbit mask slapped Yevgeny in the face once again with her right hand.

Crackack-!

The A-rank Villain’s neck turned widely to the other way along with the breaking sound of the bones.

“Just how nice it would be if you were obedient when I tried to kill you in one shot without pain. You Villain Crocodile punk.”

The rabbit mask casually verified the death of the notorious A-rank Villain, and looked around. It was utter chaos. After such a fuss was made, rumors must have already spread all over the place.

“I’ll probably get a phone call soon.”

With a frown, she scratched the back of her damp head as if she was annoyed, took off the cumbersome rabbit mask, and threw it into the Han River. Surprisingly, the face revealed from beneath the mask was the Itaewon lounge bar’s beautiful owner who Yevgeny had lewd feelings for. Speaking of the devil, her cell phone rang just in time.

“Uh, what?”

- A disturbance around Banpo Bridge, Han River Park has been reported. Did the Crocodile Villain…

“I had no choice but to kill him due to his excessive resistance during the process of suppression.”

-…killed again, huh. Myo卯[2], what do you think of my words as a leader?

“Didn’t I say that I had no choice? Nevertheless, he’s still an A-rank.”

- It doesn’t make sense that you had no choice with your skills, Myo. I respect you a lot and fully understand your situation. However, this Crocodile was a special request from the Russian Militsiya. He had to be kept alive and sent to Russia.

She looked at the grotesque corpse of Yevgeny that was hanging loosely on her one hand with a bent neck insignificantly. She expressed her annoyed feeling as she swept her wet and heavy bangs.

“Ah, so what? If you’re calling to nag me, I’ll hang up.”

- The Banpo Bridge…

“I didn’t break it. I just broke down some stone stairs in the park. I’ll cover the repair cost on my own. You know, I have a lot of money, right?”

- Myo, accepting you into the Special Police Force was also a very dangerous adventure for me. And the adventure is not even over. At the somewhat threatening remarks, the woman called Myo frowned greatly.

“That’s why you’re getting a lot of money from me, it’s nominally the risk allowance. Leader, don’t be mistaken. Our relationship is clearly made through business interest. If you say something like you’re making a sacrifice…” Myo clicked her tongue shortly as her gaze turned toward the crowds who gathered after hearing the commotion in the dark. “Let’s stop here. People are flocking. I’m going to withdraw now.”

-…Okay, Myo, I’m just asking. But can’t you listen to me at least once a year?

“I’ll think about it. But this guy, he called me zayats.”

- Zayats?

“It’s Russian. Don’t be a finger prince [3], search it on your own. The corpse will be at the usual place.”

Myo jumped naturally into the air to avoid the crowds and hung up the phone. She got annoyed and hit Yevgeny’s head once more. Then, she looked at her chest, which was somewhat flat because she was wearing a battle suit.

‘XXck. It’s ridiculous of him to treat me like a man, though.’

The Russian word ‘Zayats’ was a noun referring to male rabbits. Myo felt quite nasty. Though in the meantime, her cell phone rang again.

1. A foreigner-friendly international district, in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, South Korea. ☜

2. The sign of the hare or rabbit, the fourth sign of the Chinese zodiac ☜

3. A Korean slang used to describe people who don't search by themselves despite a very simple problem and ask others instead ☜