Chapter 111: You're Not Ready Yet (1)
Yumir was joking. Yumir was subtly appealing.
I naturally noticed all of that.
Yumir was somewhat ‘resolved’ and, being raised in America, held concepts distant from Confucian cultures.
I was a Villain.
I was confident to utilize even such a mindset and wouldn’t awkwardly ask, ‘Huh? What did you say?’
“Student Yumir. Since you’ve finished eating, let’s talk seriously.”
After the meal.
After tidying up the table and having tea time in the living room, I sat face-to-face with Yumir and started a serious conversation.
“If you want to go in that direction with me, you need to be seriously resolved.”
“Resolved…”
“It’s completely different from what you think is normal.”
It was entirely different.
Whether it was the power originally possessed by the Goblin or because he had the potential to be the final boss in the original work.
I fully understood the power of the Goblin’s Bat and could handle it perfectly.
Apart from the honor of being an S-rank Villain, I was using the Goblin’s Bat almost close to EX rank.
With a bit more ‘adjustment’ and ‘assistance’, it was possible to truly reach infinity.
“My wife can’t handle it alone. It’s me.”
“….Is this, uh, about playing games with your wife?”
“This.”
Tang.
I pulled out an object from my wallet.
“…!!”
Yumir’s expression hardened.
Her face slightly reddened, and she murmured, unable to meet my eyes.
Suddenly, whether somewhat embarrassed or not, she corrected her posture from a gentleman’s to a kneeling position, and her pupils began to shake violently.
“Is that, um… a vitamin candy?”
“Normally, vitamin candies are labeled with C, not 0.01.”
Some called this a traitor’s shield.
In this world, where older people argued that having children was patriotic, this object considerably hindered patriotism.
Some called it a coward’s shield.
Unable to accept reality, they mocked it as something used primarily by the insecure, likening it to wearing an extra layer of clothing.
But someone called it a tool for true love.
When unprepared, patriotism led to unhappiness; they said it was a thing not to be used when one was truly prepared for patriotism.
In reality, this object was almost always exploited for treacherous acts.
Even recently, with the Gangwon-do incident.
“If you’re confident, come in. It’s fine if you say you don’t need this. If you’re confident to go all the way with me, keep acting like that, or quit.”
“…….”
“I’m very grateful that you’re doing that with me, but I can’t just sit still forever.”
“Who says….”
Yumir fidgeted with her fingers and slowly placed her hand on the table.
“They say all men are wolves.”
“I know what you mean, but wolves are surprisingly pure. Once they marry a female, they never marry another until death.”
It was true.
“Do you know Wolf King Lobo? He was a wolf in America. A large specimen among wolves, he hunted even larger prey like cows and deer.”
“He hunts…”
“He never got caught by any being. He was extremely intelligent and cunning, avoiding every trap or snare made by humans. But, eventually, he got caught by humans. Do you know how?”
“…Using a female?”
“Right. Hunters killed Lobo’s wife, and when Lobo found out, he went mad and was caught and killed.”
Wolves were surprisingly loyal and pure.
“But you, teacher, are different from such a wolf.”
“…Wolves live in packs, and each pack has different rules depending on the environment. Just as a wild wolf pack is different from a domesticated one.”
“So what are you trying to say?”
“The expression that all men are wolves is not always correct. But well, if you think about the wolf attacking the innocent sheep, it’s a metaphorical expression we can pass by. So…”
I pointed to the locked front door, and the curtains pulled down.
“Student Yumir is an innocent lamb who walked into the wolf’s den of her own accord, do you understand?”
“…….”
“If you don’t want to be eaten, put some distance between you and the wolf when it shows mercy. Because once the wolf eats you, you’ll never be able to escape.”
So much for the warning.
“I know Yumir likes analogies and metaphors, so I’m paraphrasing, but I’ll tell it like it is. I’m a scarier man than I look, and I can completely twist the path you’re about to walk.”
“That is.”
“If the man named Do Ji-hwan is a villain, like a goblin or an oni, and a wannabe hero named Yumir falls for him. Can you be confident that you won’t be swayed at that time?”
“……!”
Dilemma as a Hero.
“Yumir as a hero, or Yumir as a man-crusher. If you follow the hero’s path, you’ll be on the path of righteousness, but if you choose a man despite being a villain, you’ll be slowly turning Yumir to darkness. Are you sure?”
And I was not just talking about male-female relationships.
“There are so many villains in the world, especially heroes who have just come of age, who want to corrupt them in so many ways.”
Money, power, mana powder, demonic powers, etc.
“Power lust, dominance lust, money lust…. There are countless other villains that appeal to the desires of the humans in the group. Can Student Yumir really deliver her own brand of ‘justice’ against such villains?”
“Can she be a hero who is not swayed by desire?”
“Yes. I’ve seen many such heroes. Far more than Student Yumir knows.”
I was a human being who had lived on two worlds, with a culture that spanned twenty-five years.
In all those stories, I had seen countless heroes.
I had seen heroes defy all odds to do what they believed was right, and I had seen heroes become villains to protect what they hold most dear.
More villains than there were in this world.
“What did you enjoy watching as a child, Yumir? Movies, dramas, anime, whatever. In all those ‘stories’, did you ever see a hero fall? No, of course not, because to a child, a hero is supposed to be awesome and shouldn’t be corrupted into a villain, and that’s what adults’ only’ show them.”
In this world, the descent into villainy was a real danger and one he didn’t mess around with.
“I could be a villain who has become a demon, in league with the devil, to prove myself to someone who doesn’t love me.”
Not that it was like that.
“Or you could be a villain who was abandoned by a powerful man and captured by demons to become a demon queen.”
“I am indeed the Demon Queen.”
“Sometimes, beings, though clumsy, with a strong sense of justice, become the demon king incomparable to any evil in the world through mental conditioning.”
“Or currently succeeding the position of the Demon King.”
“Or suffering and being brainwashed by such demons, they fell into depravity, and ultimately, became a demon themselves; became entities that are neither heroes nor humans.”
…Somehow, only some places keep popping up in my mind, but to Yumir, these stories were all new stimuli.
“Are there such people in the world?”
“There might be. Either they existed, or they were created by someone’s story but couldn’t come out in the world due to unfavorable conditions.”
In this world, stories like the ‘Fall of Light’ were tales not to be shown to children.
“I don’t know about the specific trajectory Yumir has lived through. But if Yumir has seen with eyes and heard with ears—ah, of course, I’m talking about internet stories. If she has had experiences meeting the demons indirectly or directly.”
Before coming to Korea, as Solar Platina.
Now, as the Magical Girl Golden Priestess.
“Can you live by keeping your beliefs without being entangled in all kinds of evil, called temptations, coming from around?”
“…a goblin does.”
Yumir asked me, staring straight with a proper posture.
“What do you think the Goblin is?”
“He’s a villain. He wasn’t corrupted; he was ‘evil’ from the beginning, and it utilizes everything he has to achieve his goal.”
“And what is that goal?”
“World domination.”
To unify this rotten world under the control of the leader, and minimize conflict and corruption.
“The Goblin is a very simple being. He lives believing that his organization conquering the world will stabilize the world the most.”
“Even if he becomes a villain?”
“He must think that there is too much evil in this world to choose the means and methods.”
“Is there no ‘salvation’ in the way of the Goblin?”
“No. But if there is such a way, if there is a ‘hero’ with such a method.”
I raised my thumb towards Yumir.
“The Goblin would want them to join their organization, but as a human, Do Ji-hwan personally would like to support such a hero.”
“……You are really selfish and petty.”
Yumir pouted her lips and reached out her hand forward.
“Alright. So… if such a hero genuinely proves to be different from others, how would it be?”
Yumir picked up a vitamin candy placed on the table.
“If one can persistently follow the path of a hero who rescues everyone without being swayed by any temptation?”
“What if the loved one becomes a demon?”
“Simple. The Goblin would probably try to cut it down immediately if that hero becomes a demon, but I’m different.”
Yumir lightly fiddled with the vitamin candy.
“I would like to become a hero who saves even the Demon Goblin.”
Flick.
With a flick of a finger, she precisely threw the vitamin candy straight into the trash can.
Was that so?
Yumir expressed her will not with words but with actions.
Then, I must not betray that will either.
“Teacher, today I….”
Beep beep beep beep!!
From mine and Yumir’s Taeguk Watch, an ‘appearance of villain’ alarm rang.
And it was the emergency alarm signaling the appearance of a demon.
“Ah, darn.”
“….”
“…..Ahem.”
Yumir opened her eyes after closing them for a moment and took off her Taeguk watch.
“Teacher, I’ll be back in a bit.”
“….”
No one was going to die.
Probably.
Th𝗲 most uptodate novels are published on free(w)ebnov(e)l.𝒄𝒐𝙢