I Woke Up as the Villain

“Any guesses about the skill just now? Is it an elemental type?”

“It looked like a firelight came out of the spear, but…”

Upon the activation of the splendid skill, questions arose for a moment. However, the two reporters had to focus on the drone’s controller which they gripped with both hands. They shut their mouths.

‘He is faster than I thought!’ 

‘I’ll miss him if I don’t focus hard.’ 

Chasing Choi Yu-Seong, who was moving within the splendid large flame in a blur, the talkative reporters found themselves speechless. However, their tense silence did not last for too long.

Both Park Jin-Hwan and Kim Jin-Young were experts even among the reporters who could handle magic tech drones. They were also experienced in chasing hunters who were much more agile than Yu-Seong. Their initial carelessness and fluster gradually went away, their movements becoming calmer. They could organize their thoughts at a rapid pace.

“Reporter Park, wasn’t there a rumor saying that Yu-Seong is an Irregular?”

“He has never admitted it himself though.”

“Then he’s not officially an Irregular.”

As if they had already come to a conclusion, the two reporters had similar smiles as if they had already made a conclusion.

‘Choi Yu-Seong is definitely an Irregular.’ 

‘Can this be used as an article?’ 

Because Choi Yu-Seong looked around the dungeon, seemingly appreciating the scenery for a while when he had first entered, the two reporters initially thought he was not that interested in the previous record. Normally, most hunters would try crazily hard to beat the record, even by a single second.

However, the reporters thought differently as soon as Yu-Seong rushed forward and set the fire.

“He’ll have no choice but to run fast, because the fire would roast him otherwise,” Jin-Young stated.

Jin-Hwan’s lips twitched. “Choi Yu-Seong, he is such a crazy guy.”

Jin-Hwan didn’t hesitate to talk behind Yu-Seong’s back, as if he had forgotten that they were hired by Yu-Seong. After all, people tend to talk where no one was there to listen, but more importantly, the silent Jin-Young also shared his thoughts.

Rough winds blew in the Goblin Fortress dungeon every day. The sound of the strong wind was also a nuisance that prevented previous hunters who had tried to clear the dungeon from reading the Goblin's movements. And now, the same wind was spreading the fire that Yu-Seong had lit up throughout the dungeon.

The flaming fire took no sides. It could even swallow the fire starter himself, Choi Yu-Seong, so he also had no choice but to look ahead and run. This brought about two clear advantages.

Firstly, there were only a few Goblins who managed to come his way. Most Goblins who should have jumped out of the bushes and interfered with him were now scattered, fleeing in all directions. Secondly, Yu-Seong still accumulated experience points every time the Goblins died by being burned alive.

‘I’m sure he’s leveling up by gaining experience points even while running right now.’ 

Park Jin-Hwan once again thought that Choi Yu-Seong was quite smart.

“Reporter Park. There’s an assumption I can think of, want to hear it?”

“I bet that our thoughts are rather similar, but sure, tell me.”

“So Choi Yu-Seong is leveling up by killing the Goblins with the fire he had lit, and thanks to that, minor injuries suffered while running are treated quickly. It looks somewhat dangerous, but in fact, he could maintain the best condition until he enters the boss room.”

“Same thought.”

“…Reporter Park, has Choi Yu-Seong ever been on something like a young talent tv show when he was young perhaps?”

“It can’t be true, silly. Kekek.”

“Of course, I’m joking.”

The two reporters shook their heads while exchanging light jokes, but their inner thoughts were similar as well.

Search bit.ly/3iBfjkV for the original.

‘Rank-E level 90 is the perfect time, since it allows him to try raising his rank and level even with normal monsters. Choi Yu-Seong must have calculated the experience points he could gain from the beginning when he had planned to start the dungeon racing.’

In general, there were three benefits to raising the level.

The first benefit was the strengthening of physical ability. This was a simple matter; the player would become faster, stronger, and his eyes would become sharper.

Secondly, the amount of mana would increase. The amount of mana was not expressed in exact figures, but it was clear that each player possessed different mana. In addition, this figure steadily increased every time the level was raised.

And lastly, the recovery effect occurred immediately after the level was raised. It was similar to how the stamina and mana were filled up whenever the player leveled up in general games.

‘The difference is that it's not at the level of becoming completely full immediately after death like how it’s like in the game.’

When the level was raised, most of the small things were healed except for major injuries such as a body part being cut off, bursting internal organs, and bones bending in reverse.

“That must be a very expensive battle suit. It’ll probably filter out serious burns.”

In reality, it was the transformed Pharaoh’s Caprice—the ancient relic that couldn’t be obtained even with money—but the two reporters could not know that far. However, one thing was certain. Unlike the other hunters, Choi Yu-Seong could reach the boss room in almost the best condition.

“This is a trick that supposedly cannot be done…” Kim Jin-Young muttered.

Park Jin-Hwan nodded. “Of course, it’s a trick. Unless you have already applied for a DBB exclusive attack like now, how could you set fire to the entire dungeon when there are a lot of other people in the dungeon?“

“You’ll be reported right away. If someone gets caught and couldn’t afford the fine, it’ll even be a prison sentence.”

This was why the dungeons made of forest areas including the Goblin Fortress were one of the most reluctant places for hunters with flame-type psychic abilities.

‘The most important thing is that even the people who set the fire wouldn’t be able to handle the fire.’ 

Most psychic-type players were naturally quite poor in physical ability. Therefore, no one in Korea had practiced the idea of setting fire and running away in the Goblin Fortress until now.

‘By the way, he would sufficiently be able to reach the entrance of the boss room before dungeon restoration at this speed.’ 

The principle of Dungeon Restoration indicated that all dungeons returned to their original form after an hour no matter what natural disasters occurred. Anyway, considering that Choi Yu-Seong’s movement was incredibly fast, chances were high that he would arrive at the entrance of the boss room before that no matter how wide the Field of Goblin Fortress was.

“Insanely clever and daring. Choi Yu-Seong… How did he come up with this idea and put it into action? No matter how much he calculated, he’ll kick the bucket if he makes a mistake. Is he not afraid of death? That can’t be true. A conglomerate is also a person, no, he shouldn’t want to die even more because he has a lot. Damn. But he burnt his bridge like that and ran? Is it possible? Crazy, he’s crazy!”

Jin-Hwan tended to talk a lot whenever his emotions became greatly agitated. Jin-Young looked sideways and said with a strange smile, “Didn’t someone write an article around a half year ago about Choi Yu-Seong, the worst idiot in the history of the conglomerate family?”

“That jerk is dead.”

“Huh?”

“He died just now. Stupid jerk, since he doesn’t have an eye for man of ability.”

Park Jin-Hwan’s lips twitched as he insulted himself; it was hard to tell whether he was angry or pleased. Of course, Kim Jin-Young—who had been by Jin-Hwan’s side for a long time—knew exactly what his feelings were.

‘Reporter Park. He must be so excited he’s going to die.’ 

When something really interesting and exciting happened, Park Jin-Hwan made that expression so as not to show his feelings. He said, “Leave the dead alone. Hey, Reporter Kim. How long did it take for Kim Do-Jin to reach the boss room?”

“Let’s see…The record…I think it was close to an hour and 20 minutes…”

The two reporters predicted that Yu-Seong, since he just had to recklessly run forward, would take at most an hour until he reached the boss room.

“Won’t Choi Yu-Seong be at least 20 minutes faster than him? Isn’t that the best record in Korea?”

Kim Do-Jin held the best record in Korea for reaching the entrance of Goblin Fortress boss room. Also, the Goblin Fortress Dungeon also existed abroad in a very slightly different form. Representatively, there were five dungeons in China, three in the entirety of North America, and two in Europe. Come to think of it, there did exist a figure who used a similar strategy to Yu-Seong overseas. It was so long ago that they forgot, but they suddenly remembered at this moment.

Park Jin-Hwan and Kim Jin-Young looked at each other and shouted.

“The Flame Emperor!”

“Exactly an hour!”

The two reporters recited the name and records of one of the Chinese heroes, who were considered one of the top five psychic-type players. Then, they turned their gaze to Choi Yu-Seong.

Lin Xiao Nuo, ‘the Flame Emperor,’ was a player granted the title of Emperor as a nickname. This was very rare in China.

No one could recklessly have titles such as Emperor and King in China without the permission of the President, who was regarded as the country’s absolute power. Naturally, those with the title of Emperor rather than King were treated more highly, commanding more respect and awe.

Simply put, Lin Xiao Nuo, ‘The Flame Emperor,’ had the second highest level of power and benefits. In China, he was right below the President who had absolute authority.

Now, Yu-Seong was moving toward a record that could be comparable to that. Perhaps he could even achieve a better record than Flame Emperor in his E-rank period.

“In fact, Choi Yu-Seong is an all-rounder type hunter.”

“He will definitely be faster than the Flame Emperor.”

Paying attention to the monitor again, the two were convinced.

“Although it’s unknown until clearing the boss…” Park Jin-Hwan wondered aloud.

“Well for now, isn’t it definitely breaking the world record before reaching the boss room entrance?” Kim Jin-Young replied.

The reporters looked at the monitors with anticipation and great interest. The moment Yu-Seong reached the Boss Room’s entrance, which would lead him underground, the two reporters checked the stopwatch. Their jaws dropped. They were left speechless.

“Hey, get a grip!”

Jin-Young was so surprised that he almost dropped the drone controller to the floor. He shook his head at Jin-Hwan’s shout to refocus his thoughts and covered his mouth with one hand. There was nothing else to be said. He gasped, “Holy moly! Choi Yu-Seong, he's crazy!”

For reference, Jin-Young studied abroad.

***

Yu-Seong took 49 minutes 38 seconds to enter the boss room. Lin Xiao Nuo, the ‘Flame Emperor,’ had a one-hour record, which was the best record for reaching the Boss Room entrance among the past world records related to Goblin Fortress. It simply crumbled with no comparison to be made.

It was no wonder that the two reporters who rushed to capture Yu-Seong, who entered the boss room, on their drones cheered for a moment. It was as if they were watching a goal in a Korea-Japan soccer match.

After entering the boss room, Yu-Seong also felt excited.

‘I don’t know the exact time, but I’m sure I’m the fastest so far.’ 

He set fire throughout the dungeon field and ran without looking back.