I Woke Up as the Villain

The question was unexpected but not difficult.

‘I’m rather surprised since it’s a question I’ve always prepared to answer.’

Yu-Seong, the rascal, had completely changed overnight. At first, it was seemingly a simple whim, but they could easily tell that it was something beyond that the more they saw him. Thus, anyone would have doubts about him. Most likely, among other doubts, they would think that he had been hiding his abilities until now.

In the past, he had thought that it was an obvious cliché for a person to be possessed by the novel since it was a typical storyline in ordinary regression novels. Now that Yu-Seong was personally experiencing it, it made sense that no one would even imagine his truth.

‘Because no one has ever experienced this kind of soul possession or regression.’ 

It was impossible to open up possibilities with imaginary stories, for both common sense and smart people. Therefore, Yu-Seong was always on the lookout for someone who came to this conclusion and would ask him a question someday. However, it was definitely unexpected that the first person to ask him was Choi Mi-Na.

“Don’t even try to avoid giving a clear answer, such as saying that there’s a reason you can’t tell me. Despite my lack of intentions, I’ll be playing your nanny for a while, so I need a convincing reason to carry out my duty. Otherwise, I have no reason to try so hard at keeping my promise. You know, even to the day of my death, I never want to do what I don’t want to,” said Mi-Na with a confident smile.

Yu-Seong deliberately sighed deeply. “I have no choice but to answer since you are asking me that seriously. I will be honest with you. I am…afraid of dying.”

Yu-Seong had to start sincerely. As always, scams worked only when truth and falsehood were half-mixed. He continued talking while acting all sincere, with his voice and eyes expressing as much regret as possible for his past.

“As you know, my mother passed away early in an accident. Honestly, I can’t even remember my mother’s face now. But suddenly, a question arose in my mind. Was my mother’s death really an accident?”

Mi-Na’s mother also died suddenly from the Villains’ attacks, so Mi-Na could relate to Yu-Seong’s concerns. In fact, her gaze had become quite serious, which was different from before.

“I’m born to the Comet Group’s founding family. It may be a very envious realm for some, but for me… It feels like I’m alone in the jungle,” said Yu-Seong.

“So, you plan to hide to survive? If that’s the case, you should have stuck yourself somewhere without even thinking about breathing.”

“Because I am a coward. I don’t dare to let go of everything I already have and go live a normal life. In a way, I’ll become more defenseless when that happens, right? It’s the same with attracting people’s attention in a rather bizarre way. I am just a useless troublemaker at home, but everyone in the world knows me. If someone tries to harm me, wouldn’t they have no choice but to pay attention to those gazes? I think noo-nim should be able to understand.”

“Then, why are you suddenly changing your attitude?”

It worked. Yu-Seong raised his head once he felt that Mi-Na, who was called a nutcase by the entire family, was quite sympathetic to him. She had cold and calm eyes. In a way, she seemed to strongly resemble Woo-Jae, but the emotions reflected in her gaze was more than just fierceness.

“I have been thinking about the days after father passes away, which would come one day.”

Choi Woo-Jae was an absolute ruler who encompassed the whole family and was respected by many powerful people around the world now. However, like everyone else, he was just a person. No one thought that his life would last forever unless he found some kind of an elixir plant that existed only in the imagination.

“The ninth child, who is far from the family and a lout who only causes accidents. Even if I say I don’t want wealth or power, there would probably be more skeptics than believers.”

“Is that why you suddenly changed your stance?”

“Yes. Because I do not want to die. Just hanging on to a limited life… That’s not something I can continue to do for a long time.”

Mi-Na quietly looked at Yu-Seong, who calmly finished his sentence. Soon after, she suddenly got up with an unknown expression of perhaps anger or sadness, and threw something at Yu-Seong.

When he reached out and received the object in a daze, Yu-Seong widened his eyes. It was an unknown object in the form of an arm bracelet, which was recognizable by all but idiots. He commented, “An ancient relic?”

“It’s not like you don’t have eyes to see for yourself.” Mi-Na did not deny Yu-Seong’s guess, but her following words were somewhat absurd. She revealed, “But actually, I also don’t know what it’s for.”

“…Does it mean that noo-nim don’t even know what kind of ancient relic this is?”

“Yeah, I wasn’t that curious.”

Yu-Seong stared at Mi-Na, wondering if he should take her word as it was and believe her.

‘Probably not.’

It was an ancient relic, after all. If one got it, wouldn’t they want to know its properties and use? How could she never try to find out just because she wasn't curious? It didn't make sense. Yu-Seong would rather believe that people could make bean paste from shit. In other words, two speculations could be thought of here.

‘Research has been done, but Mi-Na still can’t find out how to use it.’ 

Search bit.ly/3iBfjkV for the original.

Or it could be that Mi-Na already knew but pretended she didn’t. Either way, it wasn’t a big deal. It was ‘the ancient relic’, so it would be enough to think about the use later and just rejoice for now.

“Thank you. Noo-nim.”

“I can hear the sound of your heart thumping in excitement. Don’t pretend to be innocent, kid.” Mi-Na smiled and continued talking with her arms folded, “I can only help you, for a year at most, decrease the family’s interest in you. No matter how aggressive I am, the rest of them aren’t idiots. According to my rough calculations, it wouldn’t last a month. Also, I can’t protect you from every single thing. There’s no way for me to cover the sky with one hand. I’m sure there’ll be some guys approaching you through the gap.”

To interpret her words, Mi-Na seemingly liked Yu-Seong quite a lot. It was a short conversation, but it was enough to change her mind about helping him for a year rather than just a single month, which had been her original plan.

Yu-Seong thought that Mi-Na’s last words were sufficient. No matter how outstanding her ability was, Mi-Na was not Choi Woo-Jae after all. She didn’t hold and wield all the family’s power, so it would be impossible to block all of the siblings’ actions. That was why the best thing that Mi-Na could do was to avert attention.

Of course, it would be nice if she could block all threats that came, like a real nanny, but if she did that, she would go against Woo-Jae and get on his nerves. That would cause a bigger problem, so Yu-Seong also did not want such extreme protection.

Anyway, with Mi-Na’s renewed promise, the intensity of interest and contaminants that should be directed toward Yu-Seong would be greatly reduced. In other words, he would be able to use time in a much more relaxed fashion. Why would he be dissatisfied by this?

“That is enough,” Yu-Seong said with a smile.

Choi Mi-Na answered with a nod, then said, “And in the future, if possible, stay around Itaewon when you go outside.”

“Huh?”

“I often go there to play, you know.” Without any further explanation of her cryptic words, Mi-Na turned her head hard and strode toward the door with her cheeks dyed red, regardless of whether Yu-Seong was flustered or not. “Father has already come. So, you don’t have to be unnecessarily nervous. Kid, say bye to your noo-nim.”

With that, Mi-Na left the hospital room. Left alone, Yu-Seong looked at the blackish-gray bracelet that seemed to have been burned for a long time.

‘A gray bracelet… I’m sure there was a similar mention in the original novel.’ 

Yu-Seong couldn’t remember well. After tilting his head this way and that, he ruffled his hair and laid on the bed.

‘Oh, whatever. I’ll eventually remember it.’ 

If he couldn’t think of it even if he forcibly tried to, it would be hard to find the answer no matter how hard he tried. Rather, there were times when an important memory would come to mind while being absent-minded.

‘Let’s rest for now.’

Yu-Seong needed a break.

***

After leaving Yu-Seong’s hospital room, Mi-Na briefly met and greeted the Jin siblings before leaving the hospital alone. There was no such thing as a fancy procession or a limousine waiting for her, unlike the other family members. Some might enjoy such privileges and treatment, but Mi-Na found all of it cumbersome.

‘Honestly, it’s faster to run than to drive if they tried hard enough. I don’t understand why people drive cars.’ 

No matter how great a hunter was, they commonly preferred transportation that kept them out of prying eyes. However, for Mi-Na, who valued efficiency above all, all of those considerations were useless and irrelevant.

However, today, Mi-Na did not run fast toward her next destination. Contrary to her typical thought, she chose to get on a bus even though it was public transportation. She sat down and thought deeply, not caring about drawing other people’s attention.

As mentioned, Mi-Na had never officially appeared in public events. Thanks to this, only people in the family, a small number of political and business giants, or a few fearless reporters knew her face. The probability of the former two groups getting on a bus was extremely low. Strictly speaking, it would be zero. How about the fearless reporters? Unfortunately, they had become similar to cowards these days.

In the name of social experience, Mi-Na directly taught them the true fear of the world. If not, how could she openly operate a lounge bar then? Anyway, she didn’t know if he did it consciously or not, but Yu-Seong had said a lot of pretty shocking things in his conversation with her. To organize all those thoughts, she couldn’t afford to walk or run as usual.

‘It’s clear that he’s hiding something about Rachel.’ 

Choi Mi-Na was not a fool. She didn’t interrogate Yu-Seong in detail since it could also reveal her weakness. However, she did not completely dispel her doubts about Yu-Seong. Rather, she felt suspicious of Yu-Seong’s confident attitude, but most of the reasons that came to her mind were absurd.

‘There’s no way that the kid knows that I’m a member of the Special Police Force.’ 

Choi Ji-Ho seemed to like Yu-Seong, but he would not have revealed Mi-Na’s secret. In the first place, Ji-Ho was not a man with loose lips.

‘If he made fun of me lightly, I would chase him down tomorrow and pull out his tongue so that he can’t talk again.’ 

With that terrifying thought in her mind, Mi-Na’s eyes became sharp. In fact, she would be able to find a brief answer through investigation if she spent more time thinking about this. What made it complicated for her was none other than the story of Yu-Seong’s mother.

‘The kid’s mother… It’s that woman, right? Baek Yu-Ri.’