The Crazy Villain Regains His Sanity - Chapter 25

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 25

“……”

The moment word reached them that Kim Young-hwan was dead, Jung Ju-ho moved quickly to contact the Hunters who had been building the encirclement.
The message was simple: dismantle the cordon immediately and fall back.

“I’ll take the blame for it……”

A Level 8 Superhuman, dead. The shockwave would be anything but light. The government would have no choice now but to be dragged along by the major Guilds. And Choi Jun-ho’s value would only climb higher—the thought crystallized in Jung Ju-ho’s mind.
Kim Young-hwan’s death had much of his own hand in it. If he hadn’t tried to monopolize all the glory, the other Hunters could have helped him buy time to escape before the end came.
There was one thing that troubled him, though.
Choi Jun-ho had been hunting the Berserk Villain the whole time—so why had he merely stood by and watched the Berserk Villain and Kim Young-hwan clash? Since when did that bastard listen to anyone else?

“Surely not? No, it couldn’t be.”

Kim Young-hwan had died to the Berserk Villain before anyone could even intervene. As soon as word came in, Choi Jun-ho had rushed to the scene. There was nothing anyone could have done.
Jung Ju-ho pushed away the flood of hypotheticals filling his mind and refocused on command.
The moment Kim Young-hwan’s death became known, the mood around them grew turbulent. In an atmosphere like this, if the Berserk Villain broke through their lines, the casualties would be catastrophic.
The original reason for trying to capture both Villains was the fear they would cause even greater disaster if they joined the League. But with Kim Young-hwan dead, capturing them both now meant accepting heavy losses.
Jung Ju-ho decided there was no reason to pay that price. He ordered a retreat to save more lives.

“We stay behind to buy our people time to withdraw.”
“Yes, sir!”

At Jung Ju-ho’s declaration, the special task force government Hunters nodded in assent.

* * *

After reporting the Berserk Villain’s escape to Headquarters, I informed them that the Puppet Master was attacking a major Guild’s hunting team, then mounted my motorcycle and began moving into position.
The Puppet Master is qualitatively different from the Berserk Villain.
That creature had never revealed its true form once, yet had abducted countless Hunters and transformed them into puppets.
There was no pattern to it—sometimes for amusement, sometimes for no reason at all, sometimes out of a desire to kill someone.
What the Puppet Master enjoyed most was arranging for captured puppets to meet their families and then destroying them before their eyes, so the cruelty hardly needs elaboration.
That’s what the National Protection Agency Hunters say, anyway, but from where I’m standing, it’s just a pathetic thing that preys on the weak.

“Hunt those golden goblins hard.”

A real combat leveling opportunity had come.
Through my Clairvoyance, I can see where Yun-hee is.
The hunting team exhausted from the fierce battle. Puppets pouring in to attack.
Surrounded by numbers, locked in brutal combat. The perfect situation for her latent power to bloom.
I watched the battle unfold while twisting the throttle of my motorcycle.

* * *

Lee Se-hee, who had organized a reserve force in preparation for threats from the Berserk Villain and the Puppet Master, learned of Kim Young-hwan’s death after a brief delay.
Not long after, news came that the Puppet Master was attacking a hunting team in Southern Gyeonggi, and she immediately assembled a rescue squad.
Three teams were currently out on hunts. Lee Se-hee divided her forces and moved out to save all three.
The Puppet Master’s target was likely the bodies of talented Hunters. An ambush had been possible to anticipate, but the number of puppets deployed was far greater than expected.
Lee Se-hee revised her strategy, shifting her approach from defeating the Puppet Master to extracting the hunting teams. The problem was the sheer numbers pouring toward the three teams. Deciding she would have to act personally, she requested additional support from headquarters.
As Lee Se-hee’s troubled thoughts deepened, her driver’s voice reached her ear.

“Team leader, there’s a motorcycle coming up behind us.”
“Is it one of ours?”
“No. But it’s coming so fast—looks like over 200 kilometers per hour—watch out—Jesus!”

The driver cursed as a motorcycle shot past, missing them by inches. But Lee Se-hee couldn’t bring herself to join in. She’d caught a glimpse of the rider’s face in that fleeting moment.

“That’s…….”

It was definitely Choi Jun-ho. And he was heading straight for where Team 3 was under attack. He was going to rescue Choi Yun-hee.
Her anxiety melted away like snow in spring sun.
Lee Se-hee raised her voice, her tactical assessment complete.

“Follow that motorcycle!”
“Yes? Ah, yes!”

And Lee Se-hee redirected the reinforcements meant for Team 3, splitting them instead between Teams 1 and 2.
If the total rescue force added up to ten, she was sending five to each of the first two teams while heading to Team 3 herself.
Lee Young-tan, the assistant director of operations seated beside her, voiced his concern.
The Puppet Master might earn the epithet “immortal,” but the sheer number of puppets under his command approached that of a mid-tier guild.

“Team leader, if we split our forces like this, we might be able to extract Teams 1 and 2, but Team 3……” He trailed off, the implication heavy. “That’s where most of the puppets are concentrated right now.”
“It’s fine.”

Had Lee Se-hee not glimpsed Choi Jun-ho a moment ago, she would have agreed with Young-tan. But everything had changed the instant she saw him ride past.

“Right now, Team 3 actually has the highest survival probability.”

In that moment, Lee Se-hee watched as Choi Jun-ho’s silhouette on the motorcycle dissolved like a phantom.

* * *

……

Choi Yun-hee clenched her teeth. She’d heard countless warnings that hunting teams faced danger, yet she’d never imagined it would come like this.
She knew that a Hunter’s fate meant the possibility of being ambushed by Villains. But a Puppet Master? The difficulty had suddenly spiked far beyond what she’d prepared for.

“There’s way too many of them.”

The moment the puppet army surged toward them, Yun-hee activated the Location tracker her brother had given her and radioed the guild reserve for backup. She had no idea how long it would take them to arrive, but her job right now was simple: survive.
It was sickening, but the Puppet Master had singled her out. Recognizing even this as something she could exploit, Yun-hee hunkered down with her teammates and resolved to endure, minimizing their energy expenditure however possible.
She couldn’t fathom how many puppets the Puppet Master could actually deploy. No matter how many she and her team cut down, their numbers never diminished—if anything, they multiplied. After witnessing over two hundred of them, she’d given up counting.
Pushed to the brink of desperation, memories of all the grinding drills her brother had forced her through surfaced unbidden.
She hadn’t understood his methods then, but now—now she finally saw the purpose.
Her mind was chaos and her body screamed with exhaustion, yet her limbs moved of their own accord.
Had he known she’d find herself in a situation like this? Was that why he’d given her the Location tracker in the first place?
Had he already foreseen that she could overcome even this? If it was him, he’d probably be watching her right now, amused as she fought for her life with everything she had.
The memory of those brutal training sessions ignited something fierce in her chest.

“Do you have any idea how hard I’ve trained?”

Recalling the grueling sessions with her brother, the despair she’d felt moments before now felt almost absurd.
If he were the Puppet Master instead, it would’ve been infinitely crueler. He’d probably just hurl disposable puppets at them, collapse their formation from the start. Then he’d pour puppets through the cracks, isolate each teammate one by one, and pick them off in detail. Like a party getting devoured by a zombie horde.
Complete annihilation.
The bastard probably wouldn’t even hesitate to have puppets spit or fling dirt at them.
Her brother—wearing that beast’s face—had done every dirty, underhanded trick imaginable, all in the name of preparing her. Said Villains would spare no such courtesy.
He’d even forced her into dog poses to ready her for monsters.
Compared to that, the Puppet Master’s tactics were tedious.

-On my way. Just hold on a little longer. And Jun-ho’s heading there too.

At Lee Se-hee’s transmission, strength flooded back into Yun-hee’s limbs. Her brother was coming? Then the Puppet Master was done for.
She almost felt sorry for the Puppet Master. That bastard wasn’t going to walk away from this.

“Ugh!”

Sympathy meant nothing—the moment the Puppet posed a threat, all compassion evaporated.
Choi Yun-hee watched the Puppets’ movements intently when she spotted one with hardware far superior to the others charging toward them.

“Watch out, Ki Chul-min!”

Thud!

“Gah!”

The hunting team’s tank, Ki Chul-min, watched his chest plate cave inward as blood sprayed from his mouth. Though a seasoned tank and the team’s leader—a Level 5 Hunter with proven skill—he was utterly helpless against the Puppet’s relentless assault.

“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine—never mind me. It’s Jung Hae-sol. Don’t engage him head-on.”
“Jung Hae-sol…?”

Once among Avant-Garde’s most formidable fighters, rated Level 7, a martial master whose epithet was the Boom Fist—he had led the hunting team with his inspiring charisma. Everyone in the Guild respected and admired him. Even Choi Yun-hee had heard his name; he was that celebrated a Hunter.
A man who had shone so brilliantly was now nothing but a puppet master’s puppet.
The thought that she could end up the same way made her skin crawl.

“Hrk!”

A moment’s opening was all it took—the Puppet’s fist found its mark with surgical precision, slamming into Ki Chul-min’s shield. The shield that had withstood a Monster’s onslaught shattered into fragments, and Ki Chul-min, flung backward, lay motionless, consciousness lost.
Jung Hae-sol’s face twisted grotesquely. A sneer.
Then a voice, deeply fractured and unsettling, poured forth.

“Is that all? How disappointing. Hehehehe! Is it really the end? Hm?”
“Shut your mouth and come at me!”

A Puppet, no matter how you dressed it up.
Choi Yun-hee’s eyes widened as she tightened her grip on her blade.
The Puppet master orchestrated wave after wave of disposable Puppets while wielding Jung Hae-sol to tear through the team’s formation.
Slashing, thrusting, rolling, throwing themselves forward.
They fought with everything they had, but one by one they fell.
Choi Yun-hee lasted until the end, holding her own through roughly twenty exchanges, but it wasn’t enough. Her stamina had long since burned away; the taste of iron bloomed in her mouth.

“Damn, it’s strong.”

Her grip weakened and the blade slipped from her fingers. If not the sword, then her fists—she’d resist with whatever she had left.
In a situation like this, most would surrender to despair.
Standing whole in the midst of such darkness, Choi Yun-hee recognized that she was anything but normal.
Jung Hae-sol’s face twisted with something like joy—a terrible, delighted smile.

“Got you at last. Hehehehe!”
“Die!”

Choi Yun-hee summoned her last reserves and kicked at a vital point. She felt the impact of her heel connecting, but the Puppet’s movements didn’t falter.
Was this how it ended? She should have fought harder.
Just as Jung Hae-sol’s hand reached for her shoulder, Choi Yun-hee saw light flood from the Bracelet she’d kicked, and she squeezed her eyes shut.

Boom!

When Choi Yun-hee opened her eyes, the reassuring figure of her brother’s back was all she could see.
Jung Hae-sol, who had been wielding absolute martial power mere moments before, was sent flying backward.
That annoyingly familiar face now looked more welcome than she could have imagined.

“Brother!”
“You held up pretty well. Picked up some experience?”

Choi Jun-ho’s lips curved upward as he looked at Choi Yun-hee, whose eyes glistened with tears.

* * *

Yun-hee was exhausted. But she’d fought far better than I’d anticipated.
She’d been a formal Hunter for less than three months. Having hunted monsters and endured intense combat, the fact that she was still standing was remarkable enough.
That thirty minutes facing the puppet was likely the longest span of her life—but it may also prove the most invaluable in her career as an Awakener. Opportunities to gain experience like this without serious threat to one’s life don’t come often.
Yun-hee has genuine talent. I’ll need to push her harder going forward.
Now it’s my turn.
The Gift I just activated is Transference, which allows me to move to any location where an object containing my Force resides. The range is limited to three kilometers. It’s a useful escape method since the Gift works through objects held between people—but without anyone I could truly trust, it’s never been one I could properly employ.
I’d have preferred it without restrictions, like the Blink I witnessed once. Transference’s greatest weakness is its extreme Force consumption. Originally, whoever possessed this Gift would fall bedridden with Force depletion for a full two days after a single use. Spatial-movement Gifts tend to carry these kinds of severe limitations.
Of course, Force consumption is no concern of mine whatsoever.

“Get some sleep. When you wake up, it’ll all be over.”
“Yeah. I’m exhausted. But… you didn’t watch the whole thing before showing up, did you?”
“What do you mean?”
“You were watching the entire time and then appeared. Right?”

I offered only a smile instead of an answer.

“You’ve done enough. Rest now.”
“…Promise you’ll tell me later. But… did I do well?”
“You did fine.”
“Thank goodness.”

Yun-hee smiled faintly and collapsed into sleep.
I erased the smile I’d painted to reassure her.

………

I laid Yun-hee down and rose, reaching toward the sword rolling across the floor. I felt the cold touch of its hilt. I’d claimed I would treat the puppet master’s assault as a level-up in experience, but my heart was far from at ease.
No—honestly, I was furious.
I’d been forced to watch my sister threatened throughout the entire fight. I’d allowed her to stand and gain experience, but I couldn’t smile as I witnessed it.
That’s why I intend to kill the one who laid a hand on my sister, here and now.
I raised the sword and activated my Slash Gift. A tremendous volume of crimson Force erupted from the blade’s edge, sweeping through the surrounding area like a tidal wave.
In that moment, the world painted itself red.

……!!!

Thud! Thud-thud!

Over two hundred puppets caught in the Force wave collapsed, their upper and lower halves severed and scattered.
Only one puppet remained standing: Jung Hae-sol.
I stared into that puppet’s eyes.
Beyond it, I sensed the presence of the puppet master.

“So you claim immortality?”

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