I Woke Up as the Villain

‘I don’t know for sure, but there will only be a few even if I search the whole world. No, I’m sure he’ll be in the top 10!’ 

Yu-Seong complained that he seemed stagnant and his level didn’t rise, but it wasn’t like that at all. At least in Do-Yoon’s eyes, he could see that Yu-Seong was growing faster than anyone he knew.

Do-Yoon was thrilled and his heart was beating like crazy. His eyes facing straight ahead turned red unconsciously. He muttered to himself, “How careless. Get your mind together, Jin Do-Yoon.”

Fortunately, Do-Yoon didn’t shed any tears perhaps because he was focused on driving.

***

It was 3 am and two days after Yu-Seong had received the skills of the three gods.

There were two men wearing thick, long padding jackets and hats. They stood near the entrance of a dungeon square connected to the entrance of 2nd rank dungeon—Goblin Fortress—located in Sinwol-dong, Seoul. What was unusual was that both men were clutching large titanium-based black bags with thick fur gloves on their right hands.

It was rather reasonable that their somewhat suspicious appearance would draw attention to them, but no one was passing by since it was a time when the floating population was so small.

A man on the left, who had a rather small physique and a stubborn mouth, was the Reporter, Park Jin-Hwan. He frowned slightly at the long road with his back against the dungeon square. He asked, “Reporter Kim. Do you know what time it is?”

The other reporter on the right, Kim Jin-Young, put his hand in his pocket and took out a handphone to check the time. “Do you not have hands or feet, Reporter Park? It’s currently 3:03. Was the appointment time 3:10?”

“Yeah.”

“Did we come 30 minutes earlier in vain? We were just early since they said he might arrive about 10 minutes earlier…”

“You’re looking forward to it pointlessly. Reporter Kim, did you forget who the opponent is?”

“It’s Choi Yu-Seong.”

No matter how quiet Yu-Seong was, not causing any accidents recently, his rascal image did not get forgotten easily.

“It’ll be fortunate if he comes on time.”

Jin-Young scratched his cheek at Jin-Hwan’s smirking expression. He didn’t have to spit out whatever was on his mind.

‘Well, you also look excited. You seem to be looking forward to it in case he comes early too.’ 

And naturally, they set aside their expectations. At that moment, three human silhouettes appeared blurry in Kim Jin-Young’s glasses, which were foggy from his breath.

“He’s here!” said Park Jin-Hwan, rejoicing as expected. Then, he took out his cell phone, checked the time, and his lips tugged up into a strange smile.

‘Arrived five minutes early. Faster than expected.’ 

Was it because he didn’t have high expectations from the start? Jin-Hwan felt good for no reason, even with this trivial thing.

Meanwhile, Yu-Seong approached the two at a fast pace and greeted the two reporters first. “You’ve been waiting. Nice to meet you. I’m Choi Yu-Seong.”

“I’m Park Jin-Hwan.”

“I’m Kim Jin-Young.”

“I look forward to your cooperation today,” said Yu-Seong politely with a smile.

Seeing Yu-Seong, Jin-Hwan felt his reporter’s instinct wriggling.

‘Ah, I should’ve shot it now.’ 

He felt a bit regretful not taking out the camera since he had thought the filming process should start a little later. The cold winter air was so severe that even Yu-Seong, who was a player, had a red face. Still, he looked just as amazingly handsome as Jin-Hwan had thought the other day when he had taken Yu-Seong’s pictures.

‘Choi Yu-Seong, even the dawn cold wind of January melted down with his smile. This smile would go straight to women’s hearts. Ugh, it’s a good title just by imagining it.’ 

Was it because of his thoughts? Without realizing it, Jin-Hwan blurted out, “Do you have any plans to become a model? Oops, pardon me.”

For a moment, Jin-Hwan thought Yu-Seong would be offended, so he quickly apologized.

However, Yu-Seong just shook his head calmly. He then looked at Do-Yoon and Yu-Ri who followed and addressed them. “I’ll be back, wait for a bit. If it’s cold, go to the car and rest.”

“It is not cold at all,” said Do-Yoon.

“Me too. Compared to the snowy dungeon, it’s not cold at all,” said Yu-Ri.

Yu-Seong smiled at their confident replies and nodded. He then looked at Park Jin-Hwan again. “Let’s go.”

He didn’t say anything else other than that. That wasn’t a particularly unpleasant expression or action, but Park Jin-Hwan sensed a strange hostility from it. He felt cold sweat running down his back.

Wasn’t there a phrase about how one's relaxation could make people look up to them? That was exactly how Park Jin-Hwan felt right now. Looking at the silent Yu-Seong, awe unconsciously began rising up in his heart.

“Reporter Park. Take good pictures. Got it?” Yu-Ri quietly said to Park Jin-Hwan from behind.

It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

Jin-Hwan turned back and agonized. Usually, he would offer a common saying as his typical response.

‘I’ll work as much as I got paid.’ 

However, today was different.

“I will do my best.”

When he remembered Yu-Seong’s back, it felt like Jin-Hwan had to say that.

‘Still, it’ll be a pointless effort if the results don’t come out well…’ 

Jin-Hwan grabbed a black bag containing a magic tech drone that could do filming inside the dungeon. The reason why he and Kim Jin Young had come here today was because of Yu-Ri. Of course, no matter how much money they were being paid, if there was no incident to blow up into a big story, the reports wouldn’t try waiting for them from dawn in this chilly weather.

‘It’s Choi Yu-Seong’s first Boss attack. The target is the most difficult 2nd rank dungeon, the Goblin Fortress.’ 

As he followed Yu-Seong who first entered the dungeon square after showing his hunter dungeon pass, Jin-Hwan felt his heart pounding for some reason even though the results have yet to come out.

‘Usually, for Goblin Fortress, a hunter will be recognized as a rookie the moment he succeeds Boss attack by Solo Playing before rank-D, level 50.’ 

According to the information Jin-Hwan had obtained, Yu-Seong was currently at rank-E level 90. This was no surprise since it had been less than three months since he first obtained the hunter license. Rather, the speed of his leveling up was surprisingly fast. Even so, failure should still be considered first, but it somehow felt like he would definitely succeed.

‘The important thing is the record, but…’ 

There were only five people in Korea who had officially attacked Goblin Fortress at a similar level, before E-rank max level, as Yu-Seong.

‘If narrowing them down to the person who made the most recent record… There’s only one person, Kim Do-Jin. Kim Do-Jin and Choi Yu-Seong, Choi Yu-Seong and Kim Do-Jin…’

Suddenly, Jin-Hwan remembered one of his published articles—‘The rascal who fooled the world raised Kim Do-Jin’s fighting spirit!!’ He clenched his fist as soon as he entered the dungeon square after showing a special access pass.

‘If this goes well, I might be able to post a decent series of stories.’ 

It was now impossible for Jin-Hwan’s heart to not race in excitement.

***

Upon entering the Goblin Fortress dungeon, Yu-Seong could describe his surroundings with a single sentence. It was green and full of a grassy smell. Everything was green, from unidentified sharp leaves that rose to the height of a person’s waist like a pole, small hills covered with vines popped out all over the field, and even small flying insects passing by at high speed…

‘Even the Goblins occupying this place are green.’ 

This was a world of one color unified enough to feel somewhat monotonous. Even if the Goblins did not try to hide their appearance here, they would blend into the surrounding colors and stay naturally hidden. This was the reason why the dungeon was called the ‘Goblin Fortress’ despite it lacking a building structure to be called an actual fortress.

‘I can see why this place has the worst difficulty among the 2nd-rank dungeons.’ 

It was late in the day. The unpreferred high-risk dungeon had the sound of insects hiding among bushes that would have cut the skin if anyone was not wearing suits transformed from Pharaoh’s Caprice. Moreover, there was a settled darkness since the world had no sunlight. Due to various factors, Yu-Seong’s muscles tightened in nervousness at the surrounding scenery that had no other presence.

‘It’s okay. I already looked around once yesterday. It’s quite familiar.’ 

Yu-Seong entered this dungeon the day before to grasp the environment and difficulty for today. He let out a short breath and tightened his grip on the spear.

Goblins, the second rank monster, were actually a rather weak entity to be called ‘monster’. In fact, it would be enough for an ordinary adult man who was not a player to deal a 1:1 match as long as he had his mind straight. To put it simply, Goblins could be easily overwhelmed by any average man in terms of strength alone.

Nevertheless, the reason Goblins were classified as second-rank monsters, which was a rank higher than the first-rank monsters which hunters would meet and hunt for the very first time, was that they had dangerous traits that could compensate for their weak physical abilities.

The first trait, needless to say, was aggression and ferocity toward humans. Goblins had a more violent nature than most fierce wild beasts for subjects that were very small and weak in power. In particular, their aggression reflected on humans was exceptionally strong among monsters of similar rank.

It would be so rough that a general person could lose his composure if they encountered Goblins for the first time. Then, they would be scared and that could lead to serious injury or death in the short period they froze up without any defense.

‘I was also surprised to see them for the first time yesterday.’ 

When Yu-Seong read web novels on Earth of the original world, the description and depiction of Goblin came out pretty funny that he had looked down on them. However, his thoughts completely changed after meeting them in person for the first time yesterday.

‘If you let your guard down, it will lead to injury straight away.’

Yu-Seong went through the bushes little by little and recalled other dangers Goblins had in his head.

‘They are secretive and agile.’ 

And unlike ordinary monsters, Goblins knew how to handle small tools. However, there was something else that made them even more dangerous.

‘They never move alone.’ 

Goblins were smart enough to handle tools, so they knew well that it was dangerous to move alone. They were socialized like humans, and they gathered together to hunt humans in their respective roles. As these social factors made humans the top predators in the world even without operating in dungeons, Goblin’s collective action was bound to be quite dangerous.

‘Goblins are hiding throughout this Dungeon.’ 

Goblins were hiding in the grass, between the vines of the rising hills, and even beneath ground level. Amid such threats, Yu-Seong entered the dungeon alone to attack the boss monster which was regenerated once a month. He wasn’t very worried about threats within the dungeon, such as the previous kidnapper incident, because he believed in Choi Mi-Na.