I Woke Up as the Villain

‘At least no one would die.’

No one would be crippled, and there wouldn’t be any major problems either. As this was a high-risk job, Choi Yu-Seong had put in much thought, and now, he was fully prepared for all possibilities.

"...Shouldn't I be treating you to barbeque, boss?" asked Chae Ye-Ryeong. Unlike Choi Yu-Seong, who felt somewhat relieved, she looked at the mana stones on the glass room’s ceiling nervously.

Yu-Seong smiled gently at Ye-Ryeong. “You know that I have a lot of money, right? So don’t worry.”

Of course, Choi Yu-Seong was not rich enough to put on a display of mana stones like this as much as, and as often as, he wanted since it consumed nearly 20 billion won each time. But at this moment, he thought it wouldn't be bad to bluff a little.

"And anyway, you are the one who is taking the biggest risk. So really, don't worry about money."

"But still, I want to treat you to barbeque."

Choi Yu-Seong turned and made eye contact with Chae Ye-Ryeong. She looked very gentle, but she was surprisingly stubborn. In the end, Yu-Seong shrugged as if he had lost. "Alright then, do as you please."

"Thank you. Then... shall we go in immediately?" Ye-Ryeong asked.

“It's not urgent, so you can take your time," Yu-Seong answered.

"Taking more time doesn't change anything, does it?" With that rather astute remark, Ye-Ryeong exhaled again and looked at Kim Hee-Jin. "Hypnotist unnie, don't go easy on me. I can bear it! I know I can count on you.”

"Oh, okay!"

Chae Ye-Ryeong then took as wide a step as she could with her short legs and approached the glass room. She grabbed the small handle, then entered without hesitation.

"Then, let's get started,” said Yu-Seong.

At Choi Yu-Seong's words, Kim Doo-Jun quickly moved a chair across the glass wall so Yu-Seong could sit and face her.

Kim Hee-Jin took a short but deep breath, sat on a chair, and looked at the calm-looking Ye-Ryeong. Then, she reached out with one hand to generate blue energy. The energy soon fell under her palm and formed a watch with a thin line.

"Okay then, I'll start. The hypnosis I'm going to show you is..."

For a moment, Kim Hee-Jin looked at Choi Yu-Seong. He had already requested what he wanted Ye-Ryeong to be shown.

'An illusion of being pushed by someone and sinking into the deep sea.' 

Last night, Choi Yu-Seong confirmed through his notes on his cell phone on what could be inferred about Chae Ye-Ryeong's Re-Awakening in the original novel.

‘The Sorceress of the Flood…was kidnapped by gangsters and dumped off the coast of Incheon after all her younger siblings died.’ 

Such an ordinary girl, who was the head of the household to her younger siblings, became a witch who threatened the world by Re-Awakening in the fear of dying and the sadness of losing everything. It was described in a short sentence, but it was still a very sad story.

At that time, Yu-Seong didn’t think about it seriously, since it wasn’t reality but the setting of the novel’s villain. However, it was different now.

‘Chae Ye-Ryeong is a living person.’ 

Moreover, she was not a villain either. She was an innocent, confident, and generous young woman. Even if it wasn’t real, it still felt harsh to have her experience something not only sad, but something that was exactly the same as what the Sorceress of the Flood had experienced. That was why Yu-Seong could not ask for the hypnosis to be exactly the same content as the original novel.

‘If it's about losing everyone around her…’

Even Choi Yu-Seong himself wouldn’t want to go through it, be it a false experience through hypnosis or not.

'Even if Re-Awakening happens, it would be very painful to have such terrible memories.’

So even if his consideration led to failure, Yu-Seong wouldn’t regret it.

Choi Yu-Seong nodded. He looked calm and firm like Chae Ye-Ryeong. Kim Hee-Jin's watch, which was waiting for the signal, began to move side to side like a pendulum. And according to plan, Chae Ye-Ryeong closed her eyes.

***

Two more cars arrived on the bumpy country road. One was the luxury sedan that Choi Min-Seok had been in, and the other was a sports sedan that made a rather loud exhaust sound. Choi Min-Seok arrived first, and his arrival was reported by the watchers. He frowned when he saw the sports sedan that arrived a little later.

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

‘You crazy guys, what if those over there hear the sound and react?’

As if they didn’t care about his thoughts, a man and woman got out of the car. Their music played loud enough to echo all across the surroundings.

"Are you Choi Min-Seok?"

The person speaking to Choi Min-Seok was in his mid-40s, with a fairly small stature for a man, an impressively long ponytail, and scars on his cheeks.

"Yeah, I am Choi Min-Seok," said Min-Seok.

"See, I told you he’s the employer.”

The man nodded slightly, as if the confirmation process was over, and hugged the waist of the woman in her early 30s who came near him. She also had long pink-dyed hair that came down to her hips and wore pink sunglasses so impressive that she looked like she would stand out wherever she went.

"I didn't recognize him because he looked more like a toad in person than I saw in the picture."

"My love, he’s still our employer, so you should watch your words.”

"Well, as long as he gives us the right money, it doesn't matter what he looks like, right? Haha.”

Choi Min-Seok tried to hold back a curse as he listened to the couple’s conversation. His face was heavily distorted.

‘What kind of guys are they?’

He had already experienced the grumpiness of the black mercenaries and villains a few times, but these two seemed to be worse. Their behavior of cursing him right to his face was also ridiculous, angering him.

‘I want nothing more than to kill them, but…’

There were villainous A-rank black mercenaries. Choi Min-Seok had nothing to gain from offending them, especially when he only had a few D-rank hunters beside him.

"Good, I’m glad you came. What's your name?” Choi Min-Seok asked.

"You’re curious about that? Isn’t it the ability that is important?" the woman tilted her head as she responded.

‘I’m asking so I can remember it and kill you later, you crazy bi…’

Choi Min-Seok suppressed his true feelings and smiled clumsily. "Yeah, that’s why I’m asking. I need to know your name in order to know your skills.”

“Since you don’t seem strong enough to know just by looking at us, I guess we’ll just have to introduce ourselves. I’m Geom-Gui, and this beauty is…”

"I’m Medusa,” said the woman with a smile.

Medusa's long hair instantly soared high in the sky. Her pink hair turned dark black, and the ends of her hair began to wriggle in the shape of a snake.

‘Kyah-!’

As soon as the snake opened its mouth and hissed, Choi Min-Seok and the chasers' expressions quickly turned to shock when they saw the poison beading on the sharp fangs. It was the first time Min-Seok saw their faces, but he knew exactly who the two were. Obviously, the two didn’t use their real names to introduce themselves either.

‘The villains, Geom-Gui and Medusa!’

Choi Min-Seok screamed inside.

'Oh, my God, they really are crazy bastards.’ 

Min-Seok finally saw the two swords on Geom-Gui’s waist. If it were as seen in the news, one would be an ordinary sword that was good for stabbing people, and the other would be in the form of a saw blade that tore through a person's flesh.

Geom-Gui was a villain who wore a horned mask resembling a demon and whenever someone was unfortunate enough to be attacked with his second sword, then no matter how much pain they were in or how much they wailed, he never let them die easily.

'The psycho killer who tears and rips the person for a prolonged period of time.' 

Therefore, Geom-Gui’s victims were often torn into pieces as if they were eaten by animals. The only part he didn't touch was the victim’s face, and he previously said that the reason was that he preferred seeing their suffering.

Medusa was a woman no less mad than Geom-Gui. She specialized in the ability to turn her hair into a venomous snake. The snakes’ venom was so powerful that even a single bite could kill large animals such as elephants and hippos. It was known that even A-rank hunters could die within 30 minutes. As such, Medusa's ability itself was scary and creepy, but the scariest rumor was something different…

"There's a rumor that she eats human flesh…." One of the chasers looked at Medusa and said with a pale face.

Medusa smiled at him as she stroked a hair snake that had gently winded around her neck.

"It's not that I like it, but my babies enjoy it quite a lot. It's not bad. My hair feels even better than getting a lot of treatment done." She responded to his comment.

The chaser trembled when he made eye contact with Medusa.

Nevertheless, Choi Min-Seok became aware of their ability after the villains revealed their names.

‘Both of them have been working as villains for a year, but they have not been caught by the Special Police Force.’

Korea was said to be quite a safe country as the average period of activity for new villains in Korea was about two months. This was because the Special Police Force, which only had a small number of people but excellent skills, persistently followed and arrested or killed most of the villains. The fact that these two villains had survived for nearly a year alone proved their abilities.

'These crazy guys wouldn’t have any guilt in dealing with things.’ 

That was a rather good thing.

"Picture!" shouted Choi Min-Seok. He extended his hand to the chasers who had arrived first.

Geom-Gui checked the picture and tilted his head. He asked, "They're kids. Well, isn't this handsome guy quite a celebrity?"

"Handsome? Let me see," said Medusa. She saw the picture together with Geom-Gui, who was next to her. She smiled and clapped. "Oh, he's Choi Yu-Seong!"

"Right? The ninth child of the Comet Group," said Geom-Gui.

"Yes. Come to think of it, our ugly employer's name is..."

"Does that matter?” Choi Min-Seok shouted sharply to the two who were looking down at the picture.

"Um, well, it doesn't matter as long as you pay us. But it’s a bigger case than I thought since it’s the Comet Group’s family fight,” said Geom-Gui.

"Hey, ugly employer! I think we'll have to stay abroad for a while after this. Doesn't it seem like 5 billion won is not enough?” asked Medusa.

"What?" asked Min-Seok. The corners of his lips began to tremble.

"The risk is too high. You’ll have to add 2 billion won each. Or we'll be out,” Geom-Gui said with a shrug.

"You crazy…!"

Naturally, Choi Min-Seok started to curse and swear. If 2 billion won per two were added to the original amount he had promised, the amount per person would be 7 billion won. If he spent about 3 billion more, he would be able to hire low-level S-rank mercenaries. Moreover, the combined cost of the two would be 14 billion won.

‘Does this make sense?’ 

Choi Min-Seok wanted to argue about common sense, but these two were villains who were called the Black Mercenary.