I Woke Up as the Villain

‘Bernard Yoo. Korean name, Yoo Jae-Yeol.’

Yoo Jae-Yeol was a 20 year old Irregular, currently active in Texas, United States. He became a hunter around the middle of last year, which was a little earlier than Choi Yu-Seong.

He was now a D-rank player, and was best known as the hero who saved the city by breaking through the third-rank dungeon break with about ten E-rank hunters, including the Texas Rangers, and killing the boss monster alone in the city of Alpine.

Listening to that name, a piece of information automatically popped up in Woo-Jae’s head. He asked, "Ah, I remember. Isn't he called ‘the Kim Do-Jin of Texas’?"

Yoo Chul-Min burst into laughter at Choi Woo-Jae's words.

- Oh no, Chairman Choi, you are mistaken. Kim Do-Jin, that fellow, is called the ‘Bernard Yoo of Korea’. As you may not yet know, my grandchild’s name has been included in the list of top ten rookies in the U.S. released by the U.S. Times. I heard that it’s the first time for a Korean to be in the chart, so it’s a great thing.

In other words, Kim Do-Jin was known as the best in Korea and had the world’s attention. However, Yoo Chul-Min felt a little unpleasant with the comparison between his grandson and Do-Jin. This was unsurprising, since Kim Do-Jin was a domestic rookie in his eyes.

- It's a sad story as a Korean myself, but isn't the United States the world's greatest awakening power? Korea will probably announce the news within the next few days, so the domestic evaluation of Do-Jin would slightly change.

"That remains to be seen."

- That's right. We'll see.

In any case, there was no need to deny that Bernard Yoo (Yoo Jae-Yeol) was as popular as Kim Do-Jin in Texas, or possibly even more popular in some ways. Also, he was receiving a good outlook evaluation.

Being aware of that fact, Yoo Cheol-Min finally brought up the main point for this call.

- That child will come back to Korea in about 15 days.

"For dungeon racing?"

Yoo Chul-Min immediately responded to Choi Woo-Jae's question.

- As expected, I'm glad that you're quick-witted. He is returning to break Kim Do-Jin’s record, the one he achieved when he was a D-rank player.

"So?" Choi Woo-Jae narrowed his eyes. Although he wasn’t sure, he was slowly getting the picture. The main point still wasn’t revealed entirely, but he could roughly assume Yoo Chul-Min's intention.

- Recently, there’s a friend in the Comet Group who became a hot topic from a similar incident.

As expected, it was about Choi Yu-Seong. He had recently broken Kim Do-Jin's record at the Goblin Fortress. There were only a few people in the world who didn't know about that, since Kim Do-Jin's reputation was one that extended beyond Korea.

Of course, there was no point in arguing with Yoo Chul-Min over this anymore. Choi Woo-Jae stated plainly, "You are asking to compete with dungeon racing.”

- Since they are similar in age, wouldn't it be an interesting game? I mean, there is a difference of one rank, but since my grandson will be in Seoul for about 2 months, your son should be able to catch up… Although the level difference will slightly widen in the meantime. Oh, unless you’re afraid?

"No way," Choi Woo-Jae said with a smile.

This conversation was only happening because neither of them knew that Choi Yu-Seong had reached the D-rank.

"Let's notarize it.”

- Great, Chairman Choi. I like how you make quick decisions. Preparations have already been done. The president of Dae-Hyun Group, the leaders of the ruling and opposition parties, and the Chairmans of Chun-Sang, Chang-Jo, Oh-Seong, and Dae-Han… They are among the top 10 guilds. Does this sound like enough witnesses for you?

Forget about the leaders of the ruling and opposition parties. It was obvious that Yoo Chul-Min had formed an alliance with six of the top ten guilds, including Cheon-Ji Guild of the Cheon-Ji Group and the Dae-Hyun Guild of the Dae-Hyun Group.

"All right."

- Then, Chairman Choi, you can decide the time, date, and place. Contact us later.

"Okay, I'll see you soon...at the notary."

-Haha, let's see each other with a smile.

Choi Woo-Jae's expression hardened, looking exceptionally cold, after he hung up the phone.

‘Six out of the ten top guilds, including Chun-Ji and Dae-Hyun.’

Originally, they would have been scared of Choi Woo-Jae. However, with the big shot named Yoo Chul-Min taking the lead, they had sneakily joined the alliance.

Once the Comet Group's guild business got on track, many things would fluctuate—including the guild ranking—so there would be people feeling anxious. Therefore, they decided to work together and set up a game to beat Choi Woo-Jae.

In addition to the competition between Choi Yu-Seong and Bernard Yoo, there would be a lot of secret tricks being played here and there. However, it didn’t matter much to Woo-Jae.

‘If they ask for a war, I should accept it.’ 

Choi Woo-Jae had a particularly good memory. He would never forget their names.

‘You all will become dead meat.’

They had just turned their backs on the most terrifying person in Korea.

***

Inside the hotel suite, a man was entirely covered from head to toe in a white blanket. He was on a bed that was spacious enough for five people. Feeling like someone was around, he slowly opened his eyes and removed the thick blanket that blocked the light coming through the window.

A quick look at tinyurl.com/2p9emv8w will leave you more fulfilled.

A long-haired woman walked out of the hotel shower booth. She was dressed in a gown. Looking at the man, she said, "Are you up? Wake up and get ready for work. My father accepted Chairman Yoo's proposal.”

The man, Min Young-Hoon, smiled bitterly at the woman with wavy brown hair down to her waist. She was Choi In-Young, the fifth eldest child of the Comet Group. He then said, “Those noblemen, who didn't even budge at my words, seemed to find Chairman Yoo's name quite reliable after all.”

"Of course. No matter what, you're just a vice president of one of the top ten guilds. However, Chun-Ji Group is the number one conglomerate group in Korea, and Chairman Yoo is the head. Isn’t it ridiculous for your pride to get hurt? As far as I know, about 20% of the Heaven Guild’s stake is also held by Chairman Yoo's family," said Choi In-Young. She grinned and looked at Min Young-Hoon out of the corner of her eye.

Despite sleeping in the same bed last night, Choi In-Young had an infinitely cool attitude.

‘She would never let me be happy.’ 

Min Young-Hoon himself was well aware that Yoo Chul-Min's Cheon-Ji Group and the Heaven Guild were incomparable companies. Nevertheless, Choi In-Young's attitude may be the biggest reason for why his pride had been hurt.

‘Why am I in love with a girl like that?’

Min Young-Hoon didn’t understand himself, but when he looked at Choi In-Young, he could feel the emotions within him running wild. It was not something to be angry about, but he got angry. He didn’t have to be frustrated, but he was intelligent and this bugged him.

"Oh, so. You know, my brother Yu-Seong."

"...didn't we agree to stop talking about him?"

When the kidnapping of Choi Yu-Seong had failed at the end of last year, Choi In-Young did not exchange a single word with Min Young-Hoon for more than a month. In the end, he had to give up all his pride, got down on his knees, and apologized after visiting her house.

Back then, the first thing Min Young-Hoon had heard from In-Young was a miserable phrase—’how lame’. He didn’t feel horrible from hearing that.

‘How funny is this? The vice president of the Heaven Guild chasing after a woman, begging on his knees?’ 

If the president, Oh Hyun-Woo, had seen Min Young-Hoon, he would have kicked his butt and said that it was pathetic. However, what could Young-Hoon do? It was true that whenever he looked at Choi In-Young, his emotions just never listened to his logic.

‘Especially those eyes.’

When he looked at Choi In-Young's arrogant and fascinating brown eyes, Min Young-Hoon could spit out a lot of promises that may be impossible to keep… Was this just a weird sexual fetish of his?

‘I just want to believe it as love.’ 

Looking at Young-Hoon being somewhat confused, In-Young approached him and patted his head with a soft smile. At the moment when their moving gazes met naturally, a strange red light poured out of In-Young's eyes.

Curiously, Young-Hoon simply frowned and grumbled as if he had not even recognized that. “You also admitted that it was just an unfortunate mistake.”

"I'm not trying to say anything more about that. The future is what’s important to us, not the past,” In-Young said.

"So what?"

"I know that Bernard Yoo is a fairly capable hunter. Even with common sense, it's still far too early for Yu-Seong to fight with him."

"Not yet?" Min Young-Hoon found Choi In-Young's words rather strange. He tilted his head.

"I watched the video. My ninth brother…was hiding a lot more than I thought. No wonder that you failed.” In-Young causally got into bed and held Young-Hoon's head in her arms. She continued to talk. "Maybe he’ll become an amazingly great guy one day. So it bothers me a lot to just watch him grow, but for now, it's already too much for me to handle Mi-Na unni."

"So you want to cause another incident, similar to the kidnapping? I don't think we should."

Min Young-Hoon was in In-young's arms like a baby, but he could still think straight.

In-Young resembled her father, so she didn’t easily evaluate others highly. If she had to watch out for Choi Yu-Seong—a child who had just come up to the surface—then it was foolish to think that the same method would work.

"No. Anyway, this game was prepared by my father himself. If something happens even before the match begins, it'll be over for both of us," In-Young said. Her voice was shaking as she unconsciously expressed fear. This was surprising because she had been calm even when she had mentioned Yoo Chul-Min, the Chairman of the number one conglomerate group in Korea.

“I need someone to do it quietly and do things at the right time. Do you know someone who can do it?” she asked, confident that he knew someone to carry out the task.

"I’ll call Bomber," Min Young-Hoon said calmly. Choi In-young smiled at his words.

Bomber was an A-rank villain. As his nickname suggested, he was one of the three most dangerous terrorists in the United States. Simply considering the offense, he was a S-rank player. What would happen if the world knew that such a villain and the vice president of one of Korea's top 10 guilds had a close relationship? There would be an outrage.

Perhaps the entire guild market would be overturned. The majority of guilds who were secretly joining hands with the Villain organization for their growth would be targeted. Among the current top 10 guilds, there was no guild that had never borrowed Villain's hand, to Min Young-Hoon’s knowledge.

"Bomber? He won't be able to enter the dungeon," Choi In-Young pointed out.

Above all, if Choi Yu-Seong's death was broadcasted in real time due to the sudden appearance of a terrorist in the dungeon, her position would be made disadvantageous.

"It's not well known, but Bomber has a skill called Time Bomb. It's an ability to plant bombs in the opponent’s body and have it detonate within 30 days through simple contact with Bomber's hands," Min Young-Hoon said.

"Oh…?" Choi In-Young's eyes sparkled.

"Give me a seat. A restaurant would be nice. It would be enough for Bomber to disguise himself as an employee and put his hand on his shoulder," said Min Young-Hoon as he slightly raised his head that had been on Choi In-Young's chest.