I Woke Up as the Villain

Truthfully, Yu-Seong didn’t actually want to know about the distant future either. Like the saying ‘ignorance is bliss,’ wouldn’t he possibly be in danger if he knew too much about such a secret?

After securing a stable position, Yu-Seong's goal was to live a comfortable life and root for Kim Do-Jin from behind when he saved the Earth. Clearly, he did not want to pay attention to those secrets.

Therefore, Yu-Seong turned his attention elsewhere. He opened his cell phone to find out the current date and time. "The date is February 3, 2030. It was around January 28th when I entered the promotion evaluation…so about five days have passed. Now I understand why they said the flow of time is unpredictable.”

Yu-Seong thought the promotion evaluation ended shorter than he expected, but in reality, five days had already passed.

"It's 3 a.m. so everyone should be sleeping by now."

Of course, in the meantime, if Yu-Seong made a slightly louder sound, the Jin siblings who were waiting in the room nearby would run into this room urgently.

‘Do I need to call them?’

Having enough rest was also important for his growth. Yu-Seong did not bother to make any noticeable sounds and opened his cell phone notepad to check what he had written down. He had also written down events that have yet to be recorded due to their relatively low importance.

‘Now, if I don't look at the memo pad, I can't think of anything except the important episodes in the original novel.’

At the very least, it was fortunate that the contents of the novel came to Yu-Seong’s mind as if they had been imprinted when he first became possessed by the novel. Otherwise, he could not have even recorded it properly until now.

‘Let's not neglect this habit. This is as important as training.’ 

A good habit was hard to cultivate but easy to forget. Choi Yu-Seong had no intention to stop this process, even if it was a bit annoying and cumbersome. Anyway, this world was now his reality. And in case the cell phone broke, the contents were backed up on the secret hard drive. As he once said, he thought it was foolish not to write it down just because he was afraid that someone would know his secret.

‘There’s no point if I forget before the others know.’ 

Like that, Yu-Seong completed his habitual task, sighed briefly, and sat on the bed. He acted leisurely, but he had important work left to do after having completed the promotion evaluation and was back on Earth.

'Confirm compensation.' 

Yu-Seong needed to calm himself down so that he wouldn’t scream from happiness. Therefore, even when he spent time doing this and that, his heart would still pound like a five-year-old child distracted by a Christmas present in front of him. It could not be helped.

‘The heart when opening the gift box is no different from that of a child or an adult.’ 

Yu-Seong first opened his status window.

『Name: Choi Yu-Seong

Age: 21

Series: All-Rounder

Rank: E

Level: 100

Retention History: 1

Special Skills: Star Factor Quality E, Fusion E, Spearmanship Prodigy E

General Skills: Stylish E, Eye of Replication E, Spark E, Insight E, Vision Reinforcement E, Protective Shield E (deleted)-> Physical Strength Reinforcement E, Stamina Reinforcement E

Special Skills: Wind Control E, Dancing Electric Doll E, Twin snakes biting their tails E, Magic Spearmanship E++ → D-

Current Deactivation Skill space: No space left. If necessary, you can delete and overwrite general skills except initial skills.』

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『Name: Choi Yu-Seong

Age: 21

Series: All-Rounder

Rank: E → D

Level: 1

Retention History: 1

Special Skills: Star Factor Quality D, Fusion D, Spearmanship Prodigy D

General Skills: Stylish D, Eye of Replication D, Insight E, Vision Reinforcement D, Physical Strength Reinforcement D, Stamina Reinforcement D

Special Skills: Wind Control E(↑), Dancing Electric Doll E(↑), Twin snakes biting their tails E(↑), Magic Spearmanship E++ → D+(↑), Three Talent Mind Control E (added)

Current Deactivation Skill space: There are currently 2 spaces left for general skills. Learn and add new skills!』

Just by looking at the interface window, Yu-Seong definitely noticed the letter D rank that was finally achieved. Above all, after using all the Protective Shield he had stolen by the Eye of Replication, the basic maintenance skills such as Physical Strength Reinforcement, Stamina Reinforcement, and Vision Reinforcement had risen to D rank. He could clearly feel the direct growth of his physical ability.

‘I felt like I could roughly do 300kg of bench press in terms of muscle strength, but now I feel like I can easily do 400kg.’

The same was true of Vision Reinforcement.

'I deleted it once when I was in a hurry, but it's good to have it.’ 

As if confirming that it was D rank, Yu-Seong could see his surroundings rather clearly in the dark. Just in case, he checked the raw video of a car running at about 100km/h on his cell phone. It was slow since it was an ordinary punch, like when Yu-Seong was an ordinary game company’s employee.

‘Before, 100km/h was like a fist wielded by a martial arts fighter.’ 

Perhaps this effect would be felt more clearly during an urgent battle. There was no way to check Yu-Seong’s Stamina Reinforcement immediately through any media use for now.

‘Before, I didn't have a problem staying up all night for two nights... So, if the growth figures are roughly compared, I may be able to stay up for three nights and feel alright?’

In fact, these physical abilities varied greatly as the level rose. The skill only acted as an additional help aside from the level increase. Therefore, Yu-Seong organized his mind about physical-related skills while leaving his speculation aside. He turned his gaze at the initial abilities that helped him improve until now.

‘Let's first take a look at them all…’ 

『Special Skill: Star Factor D

The more people pay attention to the holder, the faster his growth level accelerates. Additional ability unlocked once the level of attention exceeds a certain number (50/100) → (86/100).

D-rank perks – Increases focus of attention when exposed to video media such as cameras. (Added)

Current acceleration rate +70% → +90%』

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『General Skill, Stylish D

Cannot be used with Fusion.

Additional effects are applied once the user demonstrates acrobatic and cool actions.

Receive additional effects of always-on application due to rank-up.

E-rank perks – Increased resilience.

D-rank perks – Increased pain tolerance (Added) 』

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『Special Skill, Fusion D

Except for the user’s initial skills, it fuses two general skills into a new one. The contents of that created skill may alter depending on the user’s luck. The skills used for fusion cannot be reused.

D-rank perks – Increase additional disable skill slots to 5 → 7 (Added)

The user can freely delete or overwrite the skills listed in the unactivated skill slots that can be used for fusion. 』

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『General Skill, Eye of Replication D

Cannot be used for Fusion.

When used, a skill with a lower rank is copied by the user. The usage count and capacity of the copied skill varies according to its rank.

After copying a skill, this skill cannot be used on the same person for three months. Similarly, recopying the same skill also requires three months.

D-rank perks – Increases the number of times and ability coefficients of copied skills.』

In a way, small but necessary growth had been achieved little by little.

'It's just my first rank up.’ 

Yu-Seong left behind some regrets, recalling that little drops make the mighty ocean.

‘The important thing is…’

These special skills with arrows, the ones that still remained in the E-rank…

‘As expected, it's the same with the original novel.’

Special skills and general skills ranked up immediately. This was based on the premise that the rank was sufficient when the rank rose due to the player’s own unique ability. However, the general special skills were different.

‘You need to spend Karma points to grow.’

This was why Yu-Seong thought that he should save some of the Karma points he had collected until recently.

‘I need to have enough skill points after I upgrade my rank, right?’ 

Yu-Seong immediately pressed the rank-up button for Wind Control, which was one of his most frequently used skills.

- Player Choi Yu-Seong's special skill, Wind Control E → Wind Control D

This novel is available on bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

The required karma point is 2,500. Would you like to rank up? Y/N

Choi Yu-Seong stiffened up slightly after he checked the message.

‘2,500?’ 

For now, Yu-Seong's Karma point was exactly 1,850.

‘There were originally 2,350 points but…’

This figure was achieved with the additional 600 Karma points that had been sponsored by the gods during the dungeon racing. However, the problem was that during the promotion evaluation Yu-Seong had spent 500 karma points to deceive Mr. Guy. Thanks to that, his current Karma points were 1,850.

"...falls far too short."

It was unfortunate, but it still wasn’t a big problem. Considering the ability of Wind Control, Yu-Seong could understand why it required this many Karma points.

‘Because powerful skills consume more Karma points…’

Yu-Seong thought that he could raise other skills, and checked the second skill and other additional skills. He then muttered, "...Is this for real? The cheapest—Twin snakes biting their tails—is 1,900."

Yu-Seong’s special skills were very powerful, but he still found this situation unfair. He did try very hard to save Karma points.

‘Is this not a time to cheer for joy? Instead, I have to go hunting right away and somehow get more sponsorship?’ 

For a while, Yu-Seong grinned in disappointment.

'Wait a second, what was the reward for the promotion…?' 

Suddenly, Yu-Seong's gaze turned to the special skill ‘Three Talent Mind Control E’.

『Special Skill, Three Talent Mind Control E

Cannot be used for Fusion.

It's a basic mana breathing technique that anyone in the Murim world has heard.

When the skill is invoked in a sitting position, the maximum mana constantly increases.

Skill invocation is automatically canceled when moving or speaking.

If you use the skill in other postures, you can inject mana into the weapon to increase its strength.

Perks are given if the rank is raised.

You are the 168th person on Earth to acquire mana breathing skills.

Special ★

There is a blessing of a special god.』

"Wow...! This is awesome! Is this really a reward from the promotion evaluation?"

After cheering out loud, Yu-Seong's expression naturally hardened.

‘You think you can let it slide this easily after putting me through all that hard work, huh?’