The Crazy Villain Regains His Sanity - Chapter 47

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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 47

After Choi Junho left, Cheon Myeong-guk studied the President with careful eyes.
The President’s face, which had seemed flushed with excitement moments before, had settled into composure. A president was the apex of politics. Changing one’s expression was hardly difficult.

“You dismissed President Gu Byeong-do because of Superhuman Choi Junho?”
“That’s right.”
“But why…”
“Because Gu Byeong-do lacks vision.”

The President’s voice was decisive.

“Before this, it didn’t matter what I said to Choi Junho. Our country has freedom of speech, after all. But now that Choi Junho has demonstrated his true power, everything has changed. He has to be responsible for what he’s said. You can’t talk a big game and then pocket the benefits he offers—that’s shameless. Wouldn’t you agree?”
“…”
“And Gu Byeong-do has been taking far too much from the Korea Magic Power Company. We were already considering a replacement, so the timing works out well. This incident will serve as a good warning—teach him to be more cautious when dealing with Choi Junho. Administrations change, but Choi Junho’s value will endure.”

Touch Choi Junho, and even the President’s closest advisors could be cast aside.
Gu Byeong-do was an excellent example.

“Remember this too, Cheon: Choi Junho is a dog you can’t train. When he’s in good humor, he’ll bend to our will. But when he decides otherwise, he’ll bite us without hesitation.”
“I’ll remember, sir.”
“Fire Gu Byeong-do immediately.”

* * *

The presidency of the Korea Magic Power Company was a post among posts.
Every byproduct collected by hunting teams under the Korean government flowed there, and massive profits were generated. Money meant power. For generations, the position of president had been accessible only to the President’s closest associates.
A presidential insider had vanished overnight. Though it was announced as a voluntary resignation, those who knew the hidden truth were busy whispering behind closed doors.

“…Gu Byeong-do was dismissed because he fell out of favor with Choi Junho. So everyone’s going to keep quiet about Choi Junho from now on,” Jung Ju-ho said to me with an ingratiating smile. It was obvious he was fishing for information while playing the simpleton.

“That could be true, or it might not be.”
“From where I’m sitting, this is a hundred percent right. The President tasted success with his approval rating, so now he’s following suit. Isn’t that it?”
“I wouldn’t know.”
“In any case, looking at this, I’d better watch myself from now on. If I put a foot wrong, I could get the axe too, right?”
“That won’t happen, so don’t worry. And if it did, there’d be a line of people waiting to bring you over. Why fret about that?”
“Hey, you think I don’t have worries? I’ve got plenty on my mind.”

All of that was dramatics.
Before Nuri appeared, Jung Ju-ho had earned great merit in the large-scale villain suppression operation that took place. The National Guard Bureau had led an operation to capture over a thousand villains. This gave Jung Ju-ho the reputation of being first among the three nations to seize the opportunity for promotion.
In reality, by successfully executing an operation that spanned all three nations, Jung Ju-ho’s Personnel Management had been evaluated highly.
The only flaw, perhaps, was that Jung Da-hyeon’s methods had become too harsh? But that was praise, wasn’t it?

“That’s an odd way to praise someone.”
“It’s not praise, you bastard! Why? Are you upset because she’s raising her voice at a Superhuman? Huh?”
“I’m not upset. This was Da-hyeon’s choice.”
“But you’re the one who influenced her. Assigning you as her vice was my greatest mistake in life. I thought she could control it, but instead she was corrupted—that pure, righteous girl now says villains’ legs should be severed first, and when a villain threw a grenade, she swatted it straight back into his mouth. Really, phew!”

I believed her current choices were the right ones. With more effort, she’d reach Level 7 faster than in her previous life.
I offered some comfort to Jung Ju-ho, who seemed lost in disappointment.

“Stress is terrible for hair loss.”
“That’s only because I’m talking to you. Besides, I’ll handle it myself, so don’t worry. If people hear about it, it just puts them in a bad mood.”
“When I saw Yu Heung-ryeol last time, I thought shaving it all off actually looked pretty good. Your head shape is quite nice too, Director. You might want to consider it…….”
“Get out. Now.”

Jung Ju-ho’s outburst left me no choice but to be ushered out of the director’s office.
I was beginning to wonder if I was imagining things, or if he was genuinely becoming more hysterical. He was supposed to be the strongest candidate for promotion, so I’d expected him to be a bit more generous. Still, I had to admit that if he shaved his head completely and grew a mustache, it would look incredibly sharp on him.
I’d have to bring it up again next time.
Before leaving the National Guard Bureau, I considered stopping by to see Jung Da-hyeon, but she was out on external patrol. She’d been promoted to team leader after the success of the Villain Task Force extermination operation, and had elevated the Villain Task Force to full team status.
I left her a message via text. My relatively sparse message thread was filled with updates about Berserker’s domestic tour.
In any case, Jung Da-hyeon’s growth was encouraging.

“Once you’ve found your path, progress comes fast.”

That conviction could consume you, but it could also become the driving force that keeps you moving forward without hesitation or doubt.
Everyone around me was astonished by my hunting skills, but catching Nuri wasn’t anything particularly special to me.
The only thing new about it, if anything, was that it was the first time I’d caught a Dangerous Level 8 Monster while in my right mind. It had been trickier than I’d expected, but that was all there was to it.
Yet the world’s perception of me had changed. Things had gotten so bad that Oh Jong-su had started complaining that the number of calls he was getting was becoming unmanageable. The solution was simple—I told him to pull the phone plug.
If anything was truly urgent, they’d contact Cheon Myeong-guk instead. With all the staff at his office, they’d filter things out properly anyway.
After leaving the National Guard Bureau, I arrived at Sacred Guild Headquarters. I bypassed the front desk entirely and headed straight up to the team leader’s office from the parking garage.

“Welcome. It feels like it’s been ages since we’ve seen each other.”
“We saw each other at the last Jeon Gil-yeon meeting.”
“That was just from a distance. Please, have a seat.”

Lee Se-hee, who greeted me, was as radiant as ever. Her voluminous wavy perm was framed by a black two-piece suit topped with a white jacket—a stark contrast to the composed impression she’d given last time.
I’d sought her out to hear the latest rumors circulating around us and to get her advice. I was also curious to see how the commission I’d placed with her was progressing.
The Reattachment Potion was still moving slowly. I decided that once money came in, I’d invest more, and Lee Se-hee readily accepted.

“There’s quite an uproar overseas about you, Junho.”
“Why?”
“Because you took down a Dangerous Level 8 alone. There was momentum behind the theory that Avant-garde Guild had pulled back its forces, but then Master Lee Chan-taek flatly denied it, and now curiosity is growing by the day.”
“What’s there to be curious about?”
“Well, exactly how Superhuman Choi Junho caught Nuri is the burning question.”

I’d seen Lee Chan-taek’s interview too. Avant-garde had publicly apologized for underestimating my abilities, claiming they’d had no part in this hunt.
I thought it was a decent approach. Now that I was a state-sanctioned Superhuman rather than a Villain, I’d decided to give the ones on the Blacklist a chance to apologize.
Lee Chan-taek’s apology had put the Blacklist back in the spotlight once again.
It was a positive development.
Even if I couldn’t personally confront every single one, just the mention of it was enough to make people nervous and afraid. They might all fall into line and apologize in sequence.
Lee Se-hee looked at me with curious eyes.

“How did you catch it?”
“I just beat it down.”
“How is it so simple? Surely you must have analyzed Nuri’s behavior patterns, understood its habits, exploited its weaknesses—there must be elaborate schemes and tactical plans hidden in there, right?”
“There’s none of that. I just got close and smashed its head. That’s it.”
“…If it were really that simple, Hunters wouldn’t struggle so much with Monster hunts.”

But it was that simple, and she just wouldn’t believe me.

“And the fact that you captivated Superhuman Lee Chan-taek is quite remarkable too.”
“You could do it yourself if you wanted to.”
“I’m nothing special?”

Lee Se-hee, playing the innocent, was a true fox.
Thinking about how defenseless my parents had been when she enchanted them—it was even worse than I’d thought.

“People are also paying attention to the fact that you caught Nuri completely intact. Usually corpses don’t arrive in such pristine condition. Is there some secret technique?”

Brainwashed him until the very end.
Now that I think about it, Nuri seemed to be watching my actions without responding.
Could that have been Taming?
The trouble was, I’d never actually performed Taming before, so I couldn’t tell if it had worked or not.
I could always try again next time.
Lee Se-hee led with foreign reactions, but I understood perfectly well that she was extracting information through this conversation. Her approach was cunning, but since we were both getting something out of it, I decided to let this much slide. I could squeeze her for more later.

“A lot of people will come to Korea to see Nuri in person. They’ll want to see you too, I imagine. You’re probably going to be pestered quite a bit.”
“If I think it’ll be annoying, I just won’t participate.”
“That’s not as simple as it sounds. If you do that, then Cheon Myeong-guk will suffer instead.”
“He’s a capable man.”
“True. He was already famous to begin with.”

I decided to dump all incoming calls and foreign visitors on Cheon Myeong-guk. At the very least, if they’re going to come, they’d better speak Korean, or I won’t bother with them.

“Ideally, I’d like to tell you that we want to purchase the Monster Heart, but that’s going to be difficult, isn’t it?”
“I heard the government is buying it.”
“Yes. Since you’re affiliated with the government, they have the right. It’s actually written into law. If the government waives their purchase option, we could try for the next in line, but an 8-level heart has never come up before.”
“If that’s what the law says, there’s nothing to be done.”

I don’t love the law, but at least pretending to follow it seemed wise.
Lee Se-hee’s expression fell slightly.

“But there’s one thing you shouldn’t just overlook.”
“What’s that?”
“You can process Monster Hearts, can’t you?”
“That’s right.”
“When the government assesses the value of a Monster Heart, they base it on the unprocessed state. If you process it and get it re-evaluated, you could extract significantly more value.”
“Is that so?”

This was something I hadn’t anticipated. I’d gotten three times the value from the 6-level heart, so what would the 8-level heart fetch? With the 6-level, there were many impurities, and through careful refinement I’d turned ten into thirty. But an 8-level heart is already substantially refined, so even if I processed it, revolutionary gains wouldn’t materialize. Maybe 1000 becomes 1500 at best?
Still, if the efficiency multiplies by 1.5, then 1 trillion becomes 1.5 trillion, so that’s not bad.

“Yes, but it won’t be easy. The government agencies have quite a bit of pride at stake.”
“I don’t care. If they keep digging in their heels, I just won’t sell to them—I’ll sell to the Sacred Guild instead.”
“That’s exciting.”

* * *

A Monster Heart is an excellent energy source.
Every Monster Heart contains a certain amount of Force, and because this energy is both eco-friendly and safe, all power plants were being converted to run on Monster Hearts.
The problem was that an astronomical number of them was needed. And the critical issue was that the primary power source had to be 8-level hearts.
Nuclear plants and similar facilities, if attacked by monsters, would face irreversible catastrophe—so the government had no real choice. Several had indeed been attacked, and worst-case scenarios had occurred.
That’s why each nation’s government attempted to secure power by obtaining Monster Hearts and operating eco-friendly power plants.
But Monster Hearts were needed in countless fields beyond power generation.
Guilds used Monster Hearts to create weapons that amplified destructive power and armor that enhanced defense, conducting endless research to apply them across various hunting-related domains.
This gave rise to an unspoken rule: hearts hunted by government teams went to the government, and those hunted by guilds went to the guilds.
In the early days, government-affiliated hunting teams had superior strength, but as the balance shifted, major guilds began bringing in far greater quantities.
You could tell from the fact that even people said the Sacred Guild’s research institute was better than the National Science Monster Research Institute.
Then I caught Nuri. According to the president, the moment word reached him that Nuri had been caught, the National Science Monster Research Institute called fifteen times.

“Oh, this is an 8-level Monster Heart!”

The middle-aged scholar-looking man, who introduced himself as Lee Myeong-hak, director of the National Science Monster Research Institute, gasped in admiration the moment he laid eyes on Nuri’s Heart that I offered him.
The fist-sized heart, to anyone unfamiliar with it, would have seemed like a jewel. The flow of Force undulating within it possessed a power that drew at the soul—it mesmerized anyone who gazed upon it.

“There’s no question—this is an 8-level heart.”
“What’s the valuation?”
“At this level, we’re easily looking at 1 trillion!”

Lee Myeong-hak spoke in a voice two octaves higher than usual.
With processing, far larger sums of money would flow in.

“I understand that processing increases the price.”
“Yes, our institute’s finest craftsmen will undertake the processing.”
“How much would the efficiency improve with processing?”
“An eighth-level heart is already refined, so we won’t see dramatic gains. Typically efficiency increases from 1.1 times to 1.2 times with skilled processing.”

Actually, I’d do better handling it myself.

“Then it would be better if I handled the processing.”
“What do you mean by that!”
“I know how to process hearts.”
“But this is still an eighth-level heart! Our institute has experts who’ve processed eighth-level hearts!”

If I counted my experience processing hearts back when I was a hybrid, I couldn’t claim to have more than you all.
It frustrated me, having to pretend I hadn’t done things in my previous life.

“I’ll do it more efficiently.”
“Absolutely not!”
“I can do it well.”
“Even so…….”

His eyes had completely rolled back — there was no reasoning with him.
I changed tactics. I thought about what these people feared most.
Civil servants always worry about their positions.
Wait — so why wasn’t I afraid back when I was a civil servant hunter?

“How about this, then: if I fail to process it properly, I’ll provide the next eighth-level monster’s heart free of charge.”
“…Are you talking about something worth over a trillion won?”
“Yes. In exchange, Director, you’ll stake your neck.”

Lee Myeong-hak’s face went pale. Why the sudden reaction?

“I, I’ve never cursed at you behind your back. I actually prayed for your successful hunt and safe return.”

His response was strange. He wrapped both hands around his neck and began backing away slowly.
The President and Cheon Myeong-guk, who’d been watching quietly, now looked at me like I was a lunatic.
I wondered what had gone wrong, and then I remembered mentioning his neck.

“Not literally your neck. I meant stake your position.”
“…….”
“I’m serious.”

He didn’t look even remotely convinced.

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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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