The Crazy Villain Regains His Sanity - Chapter 1

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 1

Intoxicated by power, I ran rampant and became a beast thirsting for blood.
Everything I saw, every sensation that touched me, every nerve that bristled—I killed and killed again.
Those who harbored intent to kill me, those who coveted power, those who sought to use me—I slaughtered them all.
Blood Master.
That is the name the world gave me.
Occasionally my mind would return, but only for a moment.
The thirst for blood would sweep over me again, fast and merciless, seizing control of my body.
An indelible self-hatred consumed me.
If I had not craved power, none of this would have happened. I only wanted to be stronger than others, to stand above them.
The price was hands that would never stop bleeding.
At some point, I realized I could no longer feel even the thirst for blood.
Perhaps because I had achieved my purpose—painting the world red.
When doubt seized me in the face of something I could not comprehend.
My consciousness began to slip away again.

* * *

The sensation of losing control to madness is always the same.
The world turns hazy as if shrouded in fog, and a heavy weight crushes down upon my chest. Within that suffocation, I thrash helplessly. And mocking my struggles, the other me—the one gone mad—breaks free without restraint, satiating its thirst for blood. I have fought back countless times, only to be met with ridicule.
Each time I resisted, I was only laughed at.
The Blood Master is a monster born from my own inability to control myself. Only I can erase this monster.
Every time I struggled, I was swallowed by it, but I refused to surrender—I waited for my chance.
The Blood Master is another me. Its abilities, its memories, its thoughts—they are both its own and mine.
Then at some moment, my dimmed consciousness grew sharp and the sensations around me became clear.
The madness that had been clawing at my mind was no longer there.
Had I overcome it? Or was it deceiving me in some new way?
What loosened my guard was a longing scent seeping into my nostrils.
Mother’s Doenjang-jjigae.
A dish I thought I would never taste again.
I had longed to taste it once more, but I could not bring myself to find my family, fearing they would suffer further harm because of me.
I had lived mad for blood, pushing my family into ruin, drowning in endless regret.
Though I call it ‘that thing,’ in the end all of it was my own karma. In a situation where I cannot even end myself, the best I can do is reclaim my freedom, atone, and take my own life.
Separate from that, being able to taste Mother’s food again is a great blessing to me. Even if it is a dream, even if it is deception—it does not matter.
I thanked God and reflexively reached out my hand. And just as that thing licked blood, I licked clean the contents that rested in my palm.
Unmistakably, Mother’s Doenjang-jjigae. It was delicious.

“······Junho!”

At that same moment, a voice reached me.
The moment I took in that sound, the scenery around me began to shift.
Before my eyes were my parents’ faces.

“Junho!”

Could this be a dream?
I thought it could not be real because my parents’ faces were far too young.
My parents, whose faces I thought I would preserve unchanged forever. But after triggering the Blood Calamity several times and losing my body to that thing, all I could do was occasionally glimpse them from afar.
Each time, I watched them grow older, saw them weaken day by day, and wept tears of blood.
Even if this were a dream, I was grateful to see this sight once more.
Yet the sensations I perceived had the vivid reality of the waking world.
Unable to distinguish between reality and dream, my expression grew vacant.
And my parents gazed at me with confusion and alarm.

“Junho. Why are you eating the Doenjang-jjigae with your hands?”
“With my hand?”

When I glanced down reflexively, there was my hand—smeared thick with Doenjang-jjigae broth and vegetables.
I’d thought it was a dream.
But what was this sense of reality?

“No way…….”

I scooped up more of the stew with my hand and put it in my mouth.
I could taste it. The savory depth of soybean paste, tofu crumbling softly on my tongue, the sweetness of potato and zucchini layering through it all.
A dream could never be this vivid.
My parents looking young, my own face unmarred by madness—
It wasn’t deception on its part. I had returned to the past, before I made that mistake.

“Junho! Why are you eating with your hands!”

It was why I could smile even as my mother’s startled voice cut through the air, even as my father stared at me like I’d lost my mind.

“It tastes better this way. Food just tastes better when you eat it with your hands.”

I scooped up another handful of stew.
Mother’s cooking, seasoned with the one spice I’d been craving for so long, was delicious beyond words.

* * *

When I woke the next morning, the world hadn’t changed back.
I hadn’t gone mad again. There was no thirst for blood.

“I really have come back to the past?”

I was grateful I could stand in the sunlight with a clear mind.
The fact that I hadn’t gone mad made the world feel this happy. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d slept deeply—always fleeing, always hunted, always facing death. Now there was none of that.
It had always whispered to me. To give up resistance. That though we were two, we were ultimately the same. That we should become one, become the sole existence in this world. I refused, and I wanted everything it had. Every time, all that came back was its mockery. And as if to prove itself, it would unleash the Blood Calamity, and I would be stained with the blood of countless people.
That was how I became the worst Villain of all time.
In reality, I was a jobless twenty-five-year-old.
I got out of bed, folded back the blanket, did some light stretching, and stepped into the living room. From the kitchen came the homey sound of Doenjang-jjigae bubbling on the stove and a knife cutting through ingredients.
I breathed in deeply, drawing the scent down into my belly. And with each breath, Mother’s expression toward me grew more strained.

“Morning. You’re up early?”
“Yes. Is there anything I can help you with?”
“No, it’s fine. But are you sure you’re all right?”
“All right about what?”
“Well… never mind. It’s nothing.”
“Ha-ha.”

Or was it? They’d always called me mad, so maybe a madman doing mad things just meant I was living up to my name. When you’re fighting a Blood Master, you don’t exactly think you’re normal. If something in me hadn’t broken, I wouldn’t have survived its mockery and lies.
Both of us were broken. So the first priority was to hide that brokenness as much as possible. How could I appear normal?
Should I go out and hunt a Harmful Monster rated 7th stage or higher right now? Wouldn’t my parents be pleased to see their son’s strength?

“Yes.”
“Wash your hands first. Use a spoon.”
“Understood.”

Even if she treated me like a child, I was simply glad—glad beyond measure—that I’d returned to this past.

“………”

Throughout the meal, my parents said little. After we finished eating, they refused my offers to help clean up, cleared the table themselves, and headed off to work.
Left alone at last, I sat before the computer in a daze, lost in thought. Should I really hunt down a Harmful Monster of Level Seven? But wouldn’t something that size shock them? Were there even any small ones at Level Seven?
I turned it over in my mind, but found nothing.
Unable to resolve it, I abandoned the plan and focused instead on the present moment.

“Those were the days—living as a bum, weren’t they?”

Judged as an Awakener-compatible in my teens, I’d thrown myself at corporate and guild recruitment drives starting at twenty, only to taste defeat for three straight years.
Then, despairing, I’d locked myself away for two more years, squandering my youth and driving a nail through my parents’ hearts—that was me, Choi Junho at twenty-five.
That was who I was.
To others, it must have looked pathetic. But from the perspective of someone with twenty-five years of history as the greatest mass murderer, the view was rather different.

“I was harmless, wasn’t I? How admirable of me.”

At least I didn’t kill over trivial irritations, didn’t kill out of boredom, didn’t just kill for sport, didn’t feed on blood I had no need for.
It was a moment when I felt genuinely proud of my inaction.

“But wasn’t living this way drinking my parents’ blood in another sense?”

Then again, it wasn’t literal blood, so it should be fine. It had to be fine.
As I retraced the distant past, now mere memory, fragments of the old days came rushing back.
Back then, I realized, I’d had no thoughts of my own.
Only blame for others.
I resented the world and despised my own weakness. That resentment twisted into a hunger for power, and to become strong, I abandoned all restraint. Or so it seemed.
I believed that once I had strength, wealth and authority would naturally come to me.
The result of such foolishness was the birth of the greatest Villain—the Blood Master.
I gained the power I craved, but it came at a price. My choices brought calamity upon my family.
My parents, condemned to a lifetime of surveillance for the sin of having a wretched son.
My sister, cursed for having an older brother like me—talented, yet unable to blossom.
I would not repeat that mistake. No longer a blood-drunk Villain, but a son they could be proud of—that’s what I wanted.
But what did a son they could be proud of actually look like?
The answer that came to mind in this moment was hunting down a Harmful Monster of Level Seven.

“I’ll ask them about it later.”

I lay down on my bed to wait for my parents to return.

* * *

“…What do you want to become?”

Choi Jingyu and Lee Young-hee, returning from their farm work, blinked at their son’s question.
Like yesterday, they still hadn’t grown accustomed to his transformation.
At first they’d wondered if he’d lost his mind, but they’d concluded it was better than the pointless despair and resentment of before.
And now, instead of that grim expression, he could actually smile.

“I’ve been nothing but trouble to you both. I’m going to get myself together and do things properly.”
“………”
“I’d like our Junho to become a Civil Servant Hunter.”

While Choi Jingyu sat in silence, Lee Young-hee quickly stated her wish.

“A Civil Servant Hunter?”
“Yes. Not all Hunters become Civil Servant Hunters, after all, do they? And not all Civil Servant Hunters hunt monsters or arrest Villains… isn’t that right?”
“What do you think, Father?”

At his son’s question, Choi Jingyu felt the nudge of Lee Young-hee’s hand beside him—a silent signal to agree.
But he found himself unable to look past the eyes of his son, which gazed upon the world as if he’d transcended all its cares.
The sudden change in his appearance still felt unfamiliar, but how could a father stand in the way when his son wished to paint a brighter future?

“I’d like you to take heart in the fact that you’re trying again. If I’m being honest, I’d be happy if you pursued what you truly want to do.”
“But there’s nothing I particularly want to do.”
“Then why not spend some time thinking about it now?”
“What are you saying to a son trying to steel his resolve!”

Lee Young-hee cried out from beside him, but Choi Jingyu’s gaze remained fixed on his son.

“I’m not speaking carelessly. Junho hasn’t found the way yet, but if he discovers the right path, there’s no reason he couldn’t land a respectable position.”
“You know that’s not easy, yet you say such things?”
“It depends on how Junho approaches it. What do you think?”
“Before that, I’m curious what you think, Father. What about the Civil Servant Hunter?”
“It’s not a bad choice.”
“Really?”
“You’re deployed to relatively safer missions, you serve the nation, the salary comes on time, and the work is stable. If you prefer security, it could well be the most ideal profession.”
“Then I’ll do that.”
“You won’t consider anywhere else?”
“It seems the most straightforward option. Besides, I’ve been home long enough.”

After pausing for a moment, his son met both his and his wife’s eyes before speaking.

“And since you both say it’s good, I’ve come to want to do it.”
……

Silence settled in the face of his son’s sincerity.
Choi Jingyu was seized with emotion, and his wife too seemed deeply moved, her eyes glistening with tears.
The careless boy had grown wise in a single day.

Ahem!
“Of course. The pay may not be much, but how valuable is stability! Junho, you’ll do well.”
“But to become a Civil Servant Hunter, you need to reach at least Level 1.”

Even as his wife’s elbow jabbed at his ribs again, Choi Jingyu pressed on steadfastly.

“Level 1—do you think you can manage it?”

Level 1. For Choi Junho, that had once been a sore point. But the regressed Choi Junho cared nothing for it now.

“Level 9, even?”

* * *

“Our Junho really has changed.”
“Men tend to grow wise at some point or another.”

So he said, though he never expected a troublemaker son to transform so suddenly.
Even when the boy was slurping down doenjang-jjigae by hand, he’d thought the situation had spiraled beyond recovery.
But the dignified bearing he’d shown since then was quite satisfying.

“Do you think he’ll manage?”
“He will. He didn’t speak with his usual careless attitude.”
“But it’s never been easy to be recognized as an Awakener……”
“He’ll have to find a way. All we can do is believe in him and watch over him.”
“That’s true enough.”

Believing in their son and watching over him—it was no easy thing to say, but this time they resolved to have faith.

“Still, Level 9? Our Junho really does exaggerate. I wonder who he takes after.”
Ahem!

* * *

I’d made my choice of career based on my parents’ counsel, and I’d come to believe it was a good one.
After the Regression, when I couldn’t control my power and was branded a Villain, hunted relentlessly—the Civil Servant Hunter path was the best choice I could have made.
A Civil Servant Hunter was a legitimate national civil service position.
Stable employment and reasonable workload.
And though it was a pittance, I held public authority.
Public authority—what a glorious ring to those words. There was no clearer testament to my resolve to change, to live this new life, than standing on the side of law and order.
Money wasn’t an issue; I could always hunt a few Harmful Monsters on the side, and there were bounties on Villains too. Becoming a Civil Servant Hunter wouldn’t leave me wanting.
The decision made, it was time to act.
My plan was to head to Seoul and take the Civil Servant Hunter exam. The house we’d left two years ago was still in Seoul, where my younger sister Choi Yun-hee was preparing for employment.
Another sore point—my sister. This time, I wouldn’t block her path. I’d help her succeed.
Though I’d never taught anyone before, which gave me slight pause.

“Push her to the brink of death and her skills will improve, right?”

Any creature whose skills didn’t improve was already dead, so improvement was inevitable. The trick would be moderating my intensity—she was my sister, after all.
I mapped out my future plans and, to shake off the sluggishness of months of idleness, trained by hiking the mountains. Then, catching sight of my parents’ orchard, I stopped and made my way there.

“I’ve been callous.”

Not killing people and not drinking blood didn’t mean I’d reformed.
The expanse of the orchard, not readily grasped at a glance, spoke volumes of my parents’ toil.
A world transformed by the emergence of Harmful Monsters.
I circled the orchard, taking in the apple trees ravaged by creatures fused with local fauna, then headed inside.

“The number of Harmful Monsters has increased lately.”

At my question, Father’s mouth twisted into a bitter smile.

“Things were fine until recently, but apparently the monsters evolve too. It’s gotten to the point where I need more expensive extermination equipment.”
“How much more?”
“It’s steep. The stronger the creatures get, the higher the prices climb.”
“I’ll handle it.”
“You have a way?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t do it if it’s dangerous.”
“It’s not particularly dangerous. Just a bit tedious.”

Being hunted was exhausting, but the Awakeners were one thing—what really wore on me was the constant stream of Harmful Monsters seeking me out at all hours.
After years of running, I knew exactly how to drive them away. Even the strongest Villain still had to eat, shit, and sleep.
Eventually, I’d grown so tired of it that I killed every monster I came across.

“All right, then. I’m counting on you.”
“It won’t take long.”

I went to my room, changed into comfortable sweatpants, grabbed the truck keys, and headed outside.
Monster Extermination Equipment was essentially used to repel low-tier Harmful Monsters.

“Should be manageable with Tier-3 Harmful Monsters.”

* * *

My son left around noon and never checked in—the evening turned to night with no word. The fact that he’d left his smartphone behind only deepened Lee Young-hee’s worry.

“He’ll be all right, won’t he?”
“He’ll be fine.”
“What if he’s pushing himself? Maybe he’s acting hastily, eager to show how much he’s changed.”
“That wasn’t the impression I got.”

Choi Jingyu swallowed hard, picturing his son’s casual composure as he’d headed out—as if taking a neighborhood stroll.

“He took the truck! Didn’t you even ask where he was going?”

Choi Jingyu shook his head at Lee Young-hee’s increasingly agitated voice.

“Let’s wait a little longer.”

Then the truck engine sounded from outside.

“Junho!”

Choi Jingyu followed as Lee Young-hee bolted from her seat and rushed outside. The couple could see a massive shape loaded in the truck bed.

“Could you turn on the lights?”

She nearly fainted.

“······.”

Yet he’d captured it.
Then the boar’s body convulsed.

“It… it just twitched. Is it still alive?”

“Got it cleanly, didn’t I?”
“Are you out of your mind? Why would you capture a monster alive!”

Choi Junho lowered the boar from the truck bed onto the ground.

“······.”

The couple stood speechless as their son casually set down a creature that must have weighed hundreds of kilograms—perhaps even a ton. What came next was even more shocking. Choi Junho grabbed the boar by the neck and twisted. With a sickening crack, its neck rotated a full turn.

Squeal! Squee-eee!

The wild boar’s eyes went wide and it thrashed, but within seconds its breath was gone. Blood poured forth in torrents as Choi Junho caught it in the basin.

The Harmful Monster that any traveler feared most in these mountains was being handled like a toy in his son’s hands.

“Since this wild boar is a Level-3 Harmful Monster, if we spread its blood across the orchard, the weaker creatures won’t dare approach,” Choi Junho explained.

And if we hang the bones, even the apex predators will think a higher-tier hunter is nearby and keep their distance.

“The Monster Extermination Equipment works by mimicking the scent of a top predator, after all. It’s a system designed so prey won’t linger where predators are present.”

Choi Junho’s hand plunged into the wild boar’s belly. His fingers worked through its innards, and when he withdrew his blood-stained hand, he brought it to his mouth and licked the crimson away. A rich smile spread across his lips as though he were savoring a delicacy.

“Ah! The blood is so fresh. The smell and taste are intense too. The Monster Extermination Equipment will definitely work,” he said with satisfaction.
“……”

His parents found themselves unable to speak as they watched their son grin brightly, his lips smeared with blood.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————