Chapter 2: The Villain's Perspective (2)
In this nationalist light novel, there was a villain named ‘Goblin’.
As one of the executives in the evil organization’ Secret Society’, the Goblin was a villain who harassed the protagonist from the first volume of the light novel by attacking the academy that the protagonist attended.
“Keugh…! You! How dare you audaciously foil my plan! Just you wait!”
Of course, like all lower-level executives in the evil organization, all the attacks targeting the protagonist ended up in failure.
“You are always interfering with me! Drop that woman and disappear, then at least your life will be spared!”
“I don’t know what kind of brainwashing you’ve done, but you’ll pay with your life for stealing our organization’s executive!”
“You keep interfering with me! Our organization would have taken over this country if it weren’t for you! We would have ruled the world! If only you weren’t here!!!”
More specifically, the villain’s goal was to kill the protagonist after being continuously obstructed while attempting to kidnap the ‘heroines’ at the academy.
The heroine, who was a childhood friend, eventually became part of the protagonist’s harem.
Even the boss ended up in the protagonist’s harem.
Finally, in the last volume, even the chief of the evil organization became part of the protagonist’s harem.
“Die, protagonist! Even if I have to die today, I will make sure to kill you!”
Eventually, after awakening through despair and corruption, he became a hopeless final boss who robbed all the villains of their abilities, much like a true final boss.
I was him.
The villain was so lame and unpleasant in the original work that even if he was subjected to ‘BSS’ and ‘NTR’, people would say, ‘It serves him right’.
I ended up possessing this villain.
I still can’t understand why I, of all people, possessed this guy instead of the protagonist. Still, I was currently working as a villain for the secret organization ‘Secret Society’ that was aiming for world domination.
I needed to survive.
I had already become a villain when I possessed him and was trapped in this organization.
If I wanted to leave this organization, I must meet someone who can disable this special ability and receive ‘purification’.
But even that purification must be able to remove the ‘restriction’ directly imposed by the chief through her special ability.
I’ve considered turning myself into the Hero Alliance.
I hadn’t really done any villainous deeds yet, and there were far too many restrictions on being a villain compared to a hero.
But…
After living as a villain for the past few months, I’ve found it surprisingly enjoyable.
Ding dong.
The alarm on my smartphone went off.
The deposit history recorded in the bank app was the first thing I saw.
[MetaBurst Co., Ltd. Deposit. KRW 34,123,293.]
“…With 30 million, anyone would want to be a villain.”
A huge sum of money was deposited.
The corporation called ‘MetaBurst’ was one of our Secret Society’s several shell companies. I was registered as an employee of this shell company and received a salary.
Even for a secret organization, things fundamentally required money to operate, so a way to use this money legally was necessary.
If this company was traced by heroes, my bank account, passbook, and smartphone would immediately be seized. However, our Secret Society was not such an easy organization to handle.
Ding dong.
Another alarm rang from my pocket, and I took out another smartphone.
HeroArchive Co., Ltd. Deposit. KRW 21,413,989.
Another smartphone, another account.
“30 million plus 20 million more.”
HeroArchive was also one of the shell companies.
In case one shell company went bust, deposits could be made through another company. The Secret Society was managing its members more systematically than expected.
I worried about what would happen if I was caught by the International Hero Alliance, commonly known as ‘HERO’, but at least until then, I would be able to accumulate a vast amount of money without much trouble.
There were three other places besides these shell companies, but there was no ‘performance’ to deposit money from there yet. However, if I manage to increase my performance in the future…
“I could make 100 million won this month from my salary.”
This was the place where making millions per month was possible: the Secret Society.
Justice?
Heroes?
Protagonists?
They were all useless in front of money. I was a crass servant of capitalism, kneeling before the warm salary offered by the Secret Society.
[“Congratulations, Goblin. We will give you what you want.”]
[“No more, no less, just one, please.”]
[“One? Will that be enough?”]
[“Of course, leader.”]
[“Good. I put 100 million in your account. I’m counting on you for the next job. Hmm hmm!”]
-…!
And so, I became a villain.
It was not because the leader was a beautiful woman or because the executives, the so-called ‘Four Heavenly Kings of Darkness’, were all women.
I was not a womanizer but a money-chaser.
‘This is reality.’
Whether this world was a light novel world or a low-brow world, it was now my reality.
If there was no escape, wasn’t the correct answer to enjoy wealth while wandering about?
Vroom———-
“What’s that?”
Outside the balcony window, the sound of a harsh car horn filled the air.
I wasn’t sure yet if that was the sound of a vehicle that was ignoring traffic signals or the appearance of another villain.
Wee-wee-wee.
The sound of the villain alarm.
Here in Seoul, I checked my smartphone just in case of that often-heard alarm.
“… It’s not from our side?”
There was no news from the Secret Society.
However, if the villain alarm rang, it indicated a situation where a real villain had appeared.
Click.
I turned on the TV.
Immediately, I tuned into the news alert channel, specifically ‘HTN’, which professionally covered content related to superhumans, to check for the latest updates.
[Breaking news. Currently, the villain ‘Red Scarf’ is racing along the Gyeongbu Expressway. Eight cars have been destroyed, with many casualties…]
“Another villain, huh.”
A villain appeared every single day.
Today’s villain was ‘running’ at 200km/h on the Gyeongbu Expressway.
As if the expressway was his autobahn, he was enjoying his speed all alone.
[The suspect, the villain ‘Red Scarf’, real name Jeong Gong-in, is 19 years old this year and began causing a rampage as soon as he departed his home. Hero authorities are….]
“Tsk tsk. Such a young guy is already causing trouble.”
If there was one thing common among the villains, it’s that they were all under 25 years old.
That was only natural.
The year 2000.
The day the century’s first digit changed, a meteorite from far space struck the Earth.
The meteorite contained alien substances, and after those substances spread on Earth, a new kind of human was born.
Superhumans.
Beings who could use superpowers, children who could freely utilize a new energy known as ‘mana’, were born.
Only children.
“New humans.”
The oldest among the superhumans was just 25 years old. Born in 2000.
Commonly, in modern stories where people awakened superpowers, there were cases where adults also awakened these abilities. Still, this light novel had none of that.
Was it dissatisfaction with adults, or perhaps a form of protest?
In the settings, there could have been a way for adults to awaken as superhumans, or they could have set a scenario where those who first awakened superhuman abilities would become key figures in a mature society.
In the world of this light novel, among the adults dressed in suits, clearing their throats, there wasn’t a single superhuman.
No one who was 26 years old or older, or anyone whose birth year starts with ‘1’, could manifest superhuman abilities.
As a result, humankind began to experience a true generational conflict.
Pre-superhuman old humans.
New humans who had awakened their superhuman abilities.
Of course, the catch was that, officially, less than 100,000 new superhumans had awakened their abilities. Still, the influence of these 100,000 new superhumans was too great.
[We’re at the Dongtan junction on the Gyeongbu Expressway! The villain Red Scarf is confirmed to be heading towards ‘Seoul’, avoiding the gaze of the heroes, and the heroes who started from ‘Busan’ are still passing near Daegu!]
[Is there a hero at the scene who started from Seoul?]
[No!]
The world welcomed this era of great chaos.
[How can there be no one in Seoul?]
[Because it’s Seoul!]
There were no heroes in Seoul.
There were no heroes in Gyeonggi Province either.
Busan is filled with heroes.
Could the author be from Busan?
Seoul was still the capital of the country, but Busan had become the economic center.
To put it bluntly,
“The apartment next to the Haeundae Hero Union building is 5 billion won, and the branded apartment in Gangnam, Seoul, has dropped to 300 million won. That says it all.”
Even if it was a world within a light novel fantasy, the people living in this world were certainly ‘real’ beings.
I knew that this world was a light novel, but the people of this world were trembling in fear, not knowing when and where a villain or a brat might spring up and cause chaos.
Now, this world was also my reality.
Regardless of whether I was a reader in my previous life, I was now a villain and executive in a criminal organization in this world.
[Red Scarf’s objective has been confirmed! He has stated on SNS and other platforms that he will turn Seoul into a sea of flames, particularly planning to commit large-scale arson in Gangnam!]
So.
[He warned that he would set fire to Banpo Zai…!]
“……No.”
I looked outside.
“In our neighborhood?”
Updat𝓮d from freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.co(m)