The Crazy Villain Regains His Sanity

It’s a neat end.

That’s what I thought.

From today on, there was no more bloodthirsty monster.

If it were me from before, I would have torn them apart one by one.

But now, I had only smashed their shoulders and arms.

I didn’t succumb to madness, and instead kept my composure. The villains wriggling on the ground like bugs were evidence that I was still sane.

The armed police waiting outside came in and began to arrest the villains one by one, reassuring the frightened citizens.

I pulled out the unlock device and threw it at the armed police, who swiftly arrested them.

“Hey! Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Why did you rush in so recklessly? What if something had gone wrong?”

“Were you worried?”

As I asked with a smile, Yoon-hee’s eyes, which had been wet with tears, brightened.

“Then should I not worry about the possibility of you dying?”

“I just... I’m not used to others worrying about me.”

“I’m your younger sister. Of course, I’ll worry about you!”

“You seem to nag me a lot, though.”

“If you don’t want to hear me nagging, then just do better.”

I wanted to say that it’s hard for me to understand her actions if she didn’t properly express it, but I didn’t say anything more as I looked at my younger sister who was worried about me.

It felt a bit ticklish.

This scene also felt unfamiliar to me.

Standing tall at a place where a crime had occurred.

Most villains were people who had committed crimes. There were also those who could not endure discipline and control. Both applied to the me in my previous life.

When one became a wanted villain, it became impossible to roam around in society with dignity. Your freedom as a citizen was taken away. As someone who was not a villain now, I felt grateful for the freedom I was able to enjoy.

At that moment, a woman with a knife in her hand entered the room amidst the rumbling noise outside.

She had a clean ponytail tied neatly and was wearing a smart black suit, and she was beautiful as well.

Her splendid aura reminded one of an actress, but her calm eyes were like a well-polished sword.

Yoon-hee recognized her and looked surprised.

“Oh, Jung Da-hyun!”

Not only Yoon-hee but others also began to recognize Jung Da-hyun.

In the midst of the surrounding rumbling noise, the woman approached Choi Jun-ho.

“I am Jung Da-hyun, an official from the Villain Task Force of the National Protection Bureau.”

Jung Da-hyun was a talented individual who was considered one of the most promising awakened individuals in Korea, having transferred from the largest guild, the Sacred Guild, to a government hunter.

For your reference, the Sacred Guild was the place Yun-hee was aiming for.

Jung Da-hyun reached level 3 after just one year of awakening and her current level, level 6, two years later. Considering that a level 7 awakened individual was a key personnel for the country and level 8 was treated as the world’s best, she showed remarkable progress.

With her beautiful appearance, strong sense of duty, and outstanding skills, she was regarded as the person to safeguard the next generation of Korea.

In fact, ten years later, she became one of Korea’s top hunters.

I recalled the moment I encountered her in my past life.

“I have to kill you because you’re a villain.”

If they hadn’t chased after me, my talent would have blossomed even more.

Her gift was ‘intuition’. It was a gift I took through blood absorption.

“I am Choi Jun-ho.”

“You’re the one who subdued the villains here, right?”

“Yes, that’s me.”

“Excuse me, but which agency are you with? Avant-garde? Divine?”

There was a thick sense of wariness in Jung Da-hyun’s voice. I couldn’t understand her reaction. I didn’t kill anyone. I just immobilized them so they couldn’t rebel. Shouldn’t I be praised instead? But why was she reacting with caution?

Ah! Could it be because of her intuition?

During battles, Jung Da-hyun’s intuition was really annoying. She would just blindly chase after me even though I didn’t leave any evidence behind, all thanks to her intuition.

Still, there’s nothing to feel guilty about. I had returned to the past and cleansed all my sins. I was just a jobless person who had sucked the marrow out of my parents’ bones for two years in my hometown.

“I’m a civil service exam candidate.”

Jung Da-hyun’s eyebrows twitched.

“A civil service exam candidate?”

“Yes, I’m preparing to become a government hunter.”

“Are you preparing for grade 5?”

“No, I’m not.”

“Then grade 7?”

“I’m preparing for grade 9. I even bought books to study.”

“......”

When I showed various reference books I had purchased at the bookstore today, including “Civil Service Hunter A to Z”, “Complete Mastery of Civil Service Hunter!”, “Civil Service Hunter, All-in-One!”, Jung Da-hyun was left speechless.

Yoon Hee, who couldn’t bear the awkward silence, spoke up. “Um, Miss Jung Da-hyun. It’s true. My older brother has been preparing for employment for five years, and he came up from the province yesterday to become a government hunter.”

“I see. I thought he was a hunter with an affiliation because of his excellent skills. I’m sorry,” said Jung Da-hyun, though her eyes carried a gleam of exploration. “May I ask you a question?”

“Yes.”

“Why are you planning to be a government hunter?”

Most hunter aspirants nowadays aimed to become hunters affiliated with large companies, rather than government hunters. Considering financial benefits, treatment, and prospects, there were few who applied to become government hunters unless they had a strong sense of mission.

Did he have that sense of mission within himself?

“I couldn’t get a job. That’s why I changed my goal to become a government hunter.”

“Is that all?”

“Do I need another reason?”

“No, I crossed the line there. First of all, thank you for saving innocent citizens from villains.”

It’s probably just a gesture to disguise the suspicion she had in her heart by using gratitude in the name of ordinary citizens

In my previous life, Jung Da-hyun was a hunter who protected justice and was respected by awakened beings and citizens. She was one of the hunters who chased after me the most relentlessly when I went crazy.

“Can you give me your contact information? I’ll propose giving you a commendation from the upper management. Today’s heroic act will help you become a government hunter,” Jung Da-hyun said.

“Thank you.”

If in the past they had a relationship where they had to kill each other, now they were colleagues.

So it would be good to erase even the slightest suspicion.

I gave my number to the other person with confidence.

“By the way, just to let you know, I’m not a villain. And I’m not a suspicious person either.”

“......”

“I’m telling the truth.”

“......”

Okay. That should dispel any doubts she had.

***

Jung Da-hyun finished wrapping up the bank robbery case that happened today and looked around the scene.

Despite having taken care of all the villains, the recent increase in attacks seemed to indicate a growing cunningness among the villains, leading to more victims.

Among them, the innocent civilians suffered the most.

Today’s incident could have easily resulted in many deaths.

As someone who became a government hunter to arrest as many villains as possible, she didn’t like the rigid system of the special team.

Choi Jun-ho.

Jung Dahyun thought of the man she met today.

The protagonist who ruthlessly defeated all ten villains with his merciless hands.

Even just seeing him briefly was enough to guess what kind of person the other was.

What Choi Jun-ho did to the villains was one-sided violence.

His appearance did not evoke a hunter who should serve the citizens, but rather a villain.

Becoming a monster to catch a monster.

These were countless cases like that that Jung Da-hyun had seen before.

However, the purpose changes depending on how the knife was used. A knife that could stain the world with exhaustion could become the best knife for hunting villains.

Her gift, “intuition,” strongly warned her that if she didn’t catch Choi Jun-ho here, he would become an uncontrollable danger.

Choi Jun-ho’s career history, which she looked up, was nothing special. He had challenged himself for a few years to get into a big company, but ended up returning to his hometown after failing. His only purpose for returning to the city was to become a government hunter.

However, the problem was in the unknown area that was not in the report. Jung Da-hyun, who relied more on intuition than the given information, decided to follow the warning given by it.

I have to manage him myself.

***

After returning home, Yoon-hee expressed her intention to receive guidance from me.

She said that she felt something significant from the appearance of suppressing villains today.

“But didn’t you go a bit too far?”

“Not at all.”

“Why?”

“If I had shown mercy to the villains, they would have caused even greater harm to the citizens.”

“...”

“There is no ending that can satisfy everyone.”

The moment an immature villain became a cunning villain, it became a disaster that citizens could not bear.

When I went crazy, I often had that thought. Maybe if I had died before gaining complete power, this kind of tragedy wouldn’t have happened. I wished a stronger hunter had come to kill me instead.

“Are all villains bad people?”

“There are also innocent people.”

The world was never fair. That’s why there were people who became villains because of unfair situations.

“But those people are in the minority. And they eventually became no different from other villains.”

“It’s difficult.”

“Constantly think about what justice means to you. Remember that saving one innocent villain is not as important as saving 100 innocent citizens that the villain could massacre.”

“Okay, I understand.”

Yoon-hee’s gloomy expression lingered as she returned to her room, but I decided not to care. It was a pain that everyone had to experience at least once to grow.

Well, I was no different from those villains, really.

Weren’t I the ultimate villain?

I could still see the faces of the people who died in my hands when I closed my eyes.

I lost control of my body, but I tore out their hearts and drank their blood with my own hands. That’s when I became stronger, the pinnacle of evil.

Even if it was something I did in a crazy state, the past didn’t disappear.

I felt disgusted pretending to give advice while holding onto an unintended opportunity, but I wasn’t naïve enough to let go of the opportunity that came to me.

Live a normal life, just be ordinary.

After trying it today, it seemed possible.

The trigger for my abilities in my past life came from a series of coincidences overlapping. Gifts were only unlocked when certain conditions were met. However, in most cases, people were unable to identify the associated attributes even when the conditions were met.

In my case, I happened to know that my ability was related to blood and went to great lengths to unlock my gift. I even cut myself, drank blood, and applied it to my skin. As a result, I became addicted to demon blood.

Since I couldn’t unlock my gift and my level was low, my options were limited. Eventually, I gave up on getting a job and started working for the demon disposal team.

The demon disposal team secured materials after a hunt. The price of demon leather, meat, blood, etc., varied greatly depending on their freshness.

However, sometimes the team was ambushed by demons and I experienced a similar situation when I was awakened. During a hunt, demons who detected the smell of blood attacked us, and we were in danger of being wiped out due to their large numbers.

To survive, I ate the heart of the demon I was holding in my hand. I didn’t know why, but I acted on instinct and it became the trigger to awaken my gift.

I was the only one who survived that incident, and both the demons and the hunters perished. The ability became fully mine, and I became the worst villain, a blood addict, at that moment.

After purchasing a reference book to become a government hunter, time passed quickly. I helped Yoon-hee with her force manipulation and then focused on studying the reference book.

In the meantime, I received a commendation from the bank for subduing the villains. Jung Da-hyun was also there to congratulate me, and she said, “Since you stood up for the citizens, you will receive bonus points for the civil service exam.”

“Thank you for your consideration.”

“What are you talking about? I’m sorry I couldn’t do more.”

“It’s really okay.”

“Okay.”

When the award ceremony was over, Jung Da-hyun followed me outside.

“Excuse me, but when will the civil service hunter exam be held?”

“It’s most likely two months from now, or maybe three, if it gets delayed.”

“Later than expected?”

“There are some circumstances.”

The civil service hunter exam was held once a month with a competition rate of 3:1, but considering the actual number of absences, it drops to 2:1, and even as low as 1.5:1 when there were fewer vacancies.

After a brief silence, Jung Da-hyun asked, “What do you think about the Villain Task Force?”

“I think it’s an excellent place.”

“Then, if you pass the exam, how about joining our Villain Task Force?”

“I haven’t thought about it.”

“Oh.”

Jung Da-hyun sighed, and I added, “It’s not that I don’t like the Villain Task Force. As far as I know, the National Security Corps is only for elite government hunters. I don’t know if my score will be enough.”

“It’s good that you don’t dislike it. That’s a relief.”

“Passing the exam is the first priority.”

“Right, I was too hasty. I apologize.”

“It’s okay.”

Jung Da-hyun smiled without any change in expression at my response.

“I was impressed by the way Mr. Choi Jun-ho subdued the villain that day.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. But wouldn’t it be better to show a little mercy in your attack? Three of the subdued villains were in critical condition.”

“Ah.”

It was only then that I realized my mistake. Not killing them on the spot wasn’t enough. I should have incapacitated them and then take into account the possibility of their condition worsening.

No matter how good the recovery medicine was, if they died, they wouldn’t be able to say anything.

To interrogate them, it was essential to make sure they were still breathing.

In that regard, Jung Da-hyun was a pro. She was talking about regulating my attacks and taking into account the interrogation even after subduing them. As a former villain, I thought it was enough just to keep them breathing, and I ended up revealing my lack of expertise.

Next time, I decided to break their limbs just enough to keep them alive.

“That was my mistake.”

When I realized and acknowledged my mistake, Jung Da-hyun’s expression relaxed.

“Oh, it’s okay. Choi Jun-ho will surely become a great hunter.”

“I will work hard.”

I didn’t remember Jung Da-hyun breaking any limbs of the villains she arrested. Perhaps she used a different method.

Jung Da-hyun seemed to have a slightly more aggressive tendency than I had thought.

The two of us smiled at each other.