The Crazy Villain Regains His Sanity - Chapter 48

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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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Chapter 48

No matter what, he’d taken my metaphor literally.
There was something melancholy about him not accepting humor as humor.
To clear up the misunderstanding, what I ended up doing was showing him the processing in real time.
After telling him not to come any closer, I began injecting Force into Nuri’s Heart.
Lee Myeong-hak, who’d been looking deathly pale just moments before, let out a gasp of admiration as if he’d forgotten his fear entirely, watching the light bloom from Nuri’s Heart in my hands.

“Oh, oh oh! Ohhh!”

He started to move closer, but when he saw the Force Wavelength rippling outward, he stopped and maintained a distance with impeccable precision—keeping just far enough to avoid the effects. The man had an instinct for spatial awareness that was frankly remarkable.
I’d begun the processing, but it was far more difficult than it had been with the Level 6 Heart. While much of the impurity had been refined away, some always remained; and since every ounce of Force within the heart had to remain under my control, the mental strain it demanded was substantial.
At this level, any other Awakened One would need to gird themselves seriously.

Hum! Hum! Hum! Hum!

The waves of power emanating from Nuri’s Heart were formidable. I’m not sure what craftspeople call this, but I believe it’s the monster’s lingering consciousness making one final, desperate stand.
The consciousness that had been processed to be hostile to humanity resists control to the very end.
But in the end, it’s nothing but a dead thing’s last thrashing.
Still, the resistance was weaker than I’d expected.
Had the brainwashing I’d poured into it before killing Nuri weakened it? Or had it been tamed? I couldn’t say for certain, but I crushed the feeble resistance easily and forced the Force inward, organizing it my own way. I’d learned from Heart Walker, but unlike him—who worked with natural dexterity and keen observation to carve intricate, optimal pathways—I simply forced my way through with overwhelming power.
The difference between Heart Walker and me is that he crafts with meticulous precision, tracing the most optimal routes, while I pioneer passages through sheer force.
That’s why my Force consumption is so severe.
It’s another reason I need to catch Heart Walker quickly. If he’s in Busan by now, I’ll need to make time for a visit.
After thirty minutes of concentration, the processing was complete. The Force within the heart was moving far more actively than before.

“This is….”
“Let me check it.”

Lee Myeong-hak accepted Nuri’s Heart carefully, and his eyes filled with rapture. The wonder only deepened when he measured the quantity of Force the heart held.

“I, impossible! I never imagined such efficiency would be achieved….”
“156.9% efficiency. It came out better than expected.”
“How did you manage this? I’ve never heard of a processing method like this.”

Well, it’s because Heart Walker was doing this in the future. The man was ruthless in his dealings with villain organizations, but his skill was undeniable.
In a single processing, a trillion won had become one trillion five hundred sixty-nine billion won. I’d made a fortune off one job.

“Then please calculate the payment based on the processed results.”
“B, but the processing method—!”
“I haven’t formalized it into theory yet, so I’ll share it gradually.”
“Understood.”

Besides, only I could do this right now. That was one more reason I needed Heart Walker.
Lee Myeong-hak’s expression brightened. This was a good moment to clear up the misunderstanding.

“And.”
“Yes.”
“I wasn’t actually asking you to offer your neck. You understand, right?”
“…Yes.”

After a brief silence, his answer came—and I didn’t much like the sound of it.

* * *

“With the Level 8 Heart we obtained this time, they say we can power an entire Power Plant. And keep it running longer than with conventionally processed ones at that.”

The President’s voice was brimming with excitement. His approval ratings had been climbing, and success followed upon success.
The National Institute of Science and Monsters wanted to use the heart that Choi Junho had processed for their research, but the President immediately began feeding them into the Power Plants instead.
Humanity had lost more than half its territory to Monsters and could no longer operate nuclear reactors, leaving the species in the grip of an energy crisis. But if they could harness a Level 8 or higher heart as a power source, a single Power Plant could run entirely on it.
More energy meant sustaining a larger population, which prevented citizens from becoming refugees and stopped the rise of Villains.

“How did he learn that Processing Method? Choi Junho is like an onion—peel back one layer and another appears. I wonder what else he’ll reveal next.”
“……….”
“Aren’t you eager to see? It’s like a gift box from childhood.”
“Sometimes those boxes held nothing but disappointment.”
“And you’d cry, wouldn’t you? What if the blank were something like this: what if Choi Junho was actually an Erased One?”
“That would be catastrophic, sir.”
“I’m joking.”

The President broke into cheerful laughter, but Cheon Myeong-guk could not. The mere thought of such a thing twisted his stomach.

“The Level 8 that appeared around the same time—that was just speculation. The Erased One hasn’t surfaced since his first appearance, so there’s either been a mistake or the Berserker was misidentified. And even that Berserker has become our asset through cooperation with Choi Junho. He’s truly a gift that keeps giving.”

The President turned to Director Cheon with a satisfied smile.

“With surplus power capacity, we could activate the smart farms.”
“We’d be able to produce far more food.”
“Housing matters, but food is the priority. We have to reward the ones we need to keep—that’s how we extract maximum Efficiency from them. That will reduce refugee generation.”
“The outer-city slums have largely stabilized.”
“Seoul is secure now. Busan is the problem.”
“But Mayor Yu……”
“He’s ambitious. Hungry for this seat.”

Busan, the second-largest city after Seoul, had been expanding rapidly in recent years, but beneath that growth lay a sharp surge in Villain organizations.
It was the offspring of the Mayor’s greed and the Villains’ hunger colliding.

“It’s still manageable, so let’s chalk it up to Mayor Yu being shrewd.”
“It will become a major problem within years.”
“Then we nip it in the bud before that happens. What if, before my term ends, I have Choi Junho go down there once? Wouldn’t he sweep it clean?”
“……….”

Cheon Myeong-guk imagined the waters off Busan stained crimson with blood.

“Still, so much change springs from a single Monster Heart. If the Guilds would only curb their greed a little, wouldn’t even more change unfold?”
“That would be unwise, sir.”
“Right, I know. The chicken-or-egg question.”

When Guilds hunt Monsters, they reinvest most of the byproducts back into the tools hunting requires.
It’s a cycle to enable more Monster hunts, something the President understands. Yet whenever energy runs short and he asks the Guilds for aid, their cooperation has been minimal.
Each time, he felt the power the Guilds wielded gradually eclipsing state authority. What happens the moment this acceleration crosses a threshold?
The government would be rendered powerless first. Then the decisions of the major Guilds would become the nation’s decisions.
Multiple governments around the world had crumbled that way, and now there were nations where groups backed by the League tore things apart, waging wars that verged on civil conflict.
But with Choi Junho, the story changes.

“This opportunity won’t come again—we’ll fall behind forever if we miss it. Let’s proceed with the plan to establish an organization above the three kingdoms. We’ll seize momentum and create a new current.”

The President intended to use this opportunity to overturn the balance of power between the government and the major Guilds.

* * *

I headed to Busan to find Heart Walker.
Since the emergence of Monsters, regional exchanges had withered, and Busan had risen several times over in stature as the dominant city of the Gyeongnam Region.
Busan strengthened its influence over nearby cities and pursued survival through trade with Japan, a strategy that proved successful.
More precisely, what had masqueraded as success.
Beneath the surface lay a surge in smuggling, the formation of black markets in multiple locations, and the explosive growth of Villain organizations.
The Heart Walker I’m searching for—Kim Jong-hyeon—was once a master craftsperson of Monster Hearts. But he insisted on being called a Processor rather than a craftsperson, and his talent for working with Monster Hearts was so exceptional that he earned respect wherever he went.
Still, he drifted from place to place due to reckless spending habits and a string of romantic entanglements. My goal is to capture him and bring him to Seoul, to make something of him.
In my previous life, he told me he’d spent his youth working in Busan before moving up to Seoul, so tracking him down wasn’t difficult.
I encountered him on the road back from delivering goods to the Black Market.
Heart Walker appeared before me wearing a young man’s face.

“Heart Walker Kim Jong-hyeon.”
“…I’m Kim Jong-hyeon, sure, but what’s this Heart Walker business? Who are you?”
“You haven’t been called that yet?”

He tensed at the sight of me.
Well, we wouldn’t meet for another twenty years yet. Heart Walker was the same age as me. Right now he’d just be starting out, still wet behind the ears.

“Your face looks familiar. Have we met before?”
“Maybe you’ve seen my face on TV.”
“TV? Wait—surely not!”

Recognition dawned on him late, and alarm flickered across his features. In the same breath, his eyes darted around, sizing up his surroundings. He was already calculating an escape route—the impulse to run when the odds looked bad was as true of him now as it would be later.

“Relax. I’m not here to kill you.”
“I haven’t done anything that warrants death.”
“I know. But you do have a record of supplying goods to the Black Market.”
…….
“That’s not what I came for, though. Follow me.”
“And if I refuse, you’ll kill me?”

Heart Walker flatly refused and subtly shifted his weight backward, preparing to bolt. He was under a misapprehension. He’d never had a choice to begin with.

“Should’ve mentioned this: if you don’t come along, I’ll kill you.”
“But I haven’t done anything wrong! Why would you kill me!”
“You’re supplying goods to the Black Market. The Black Market is run by Villains, so you’re supplying Villains. That makes you one too.”
“You said you didn’t come about that!”
“I changed my mind.”
…….
“Decide. Right here, right now.”

I meant it—push back any further and I’d kill him. The Monster Hearts he supplied ultimately strengthened the regional Villain organization known as Jagalchi.
In the future, Jagalchi would grow into an organization vast enough to become a pillar of Busan’s economy.

“Damn it! I’m just trying to scrape by, day to day! Why are you doing this to me!”
“Because I need your ability. Just come to Seoul and do the work. Don’t you want to go to Seoul?”
“What kind of work requires my hands so badly?”
“Want to keep talking here?”
“…I’ll come along.”

Following Heart Walker, I arrived at a shabby workspace no larger than a few square meters. This appeared to be where he did his work.

“So, what’s the grand Awakened One’s reason for dragging me along?”
“Like I said—I need your ability. Specifically, your Processing technique.”
“So my skills are that valuable, huh?”
“But if you get stubborn about it, I’ll kill you.”
…….
“Look at this first.”

Before coming to Busan, I’d taken a brief walk and caught a Level 6 Heart, which I now held out to him.
His rigid frame went slack as he studied the Force current flowing through the Monster Heart, his eyes widening.

“How did you do this? Wait—how is this even possible?”
“It’s a technique you’ll need to learn once you’re in Seoul.”
“You’re going to teach me?”
“Yeah. And I’ll get your mother admitted to Sungsong Hospital too.”
“……!”

Heart Walker’s eyes widened before returning to their normal size, and he exhaled a long, heavy sigh.

“I suppose if you came looking for me, you must have investigated. This kindness you’re showing—it’s because of my abilities, isn’t it?”
“That’s right. But you’ll need to work hard to learn it.”
“Of course.”

I wasn’t worried about his abilities. Since it was a technique he’d developed himself, he’d catch up quickly enough.

“So when should we go?”
“It’s not that simple. You probably know I supply the Black Market, and those Villains there think highly of me. If I just disappear without a word, they’ll chase me all the way to Seoul and cause a scene.”
“Then we can just kill them all before leaving.”

The easiest answer right there.
Heart Walker flinched.

“You really do say brutal things. Is that what you’re actually like, or just an act from the broadcast? Look, those Villains may be classified as Villains, but they’re not bad people. They’ve been benefactors to me, so I’d like to part on good terms.”

Good people among Villains? Since when did that exist?

“If you go and talk to them, that’ll work?”
“It’s worth trying, isn’t it?”

They didn’t seem like the type to let go easily. I’d played the Villain myself, so I knew—they’re terribly stubborn. That mindset, where what’s mine is mine and what’s yours is also mine, runs deep. And once something falls into their hands, they never let it go. They’d sooner die clutching it than hand it over to someone else.
If they’d already recognized Heart Walker’s skill, they absolutely wouldn’t release him.
I paused, thinking for a moment, then spoke.

“Then come with me.”
“With you?”
“Since the Villains might not let you go otherwise.”

If I, an Awakened One, said it, they’d have no choice but to back down.
Heart Walker had probably thought of this too.
Whether that was the answer he wanted, he nodded readily.

“Understood.”

* * *

Heart Walker and I arrived at Busan Port and headed for the Villain hideout where he’d been delivering goods.
When Heart Walker met with the person in charge there and announced his move to Seoul, a firm response came back.

“No. You can’t go.”
“But boss, last time you said I could leave whenever I wanted…….”
“You actually believed that? Do we look like suckers to you? You think we’d just let you walk out if you said you wanted to go?”
“Ugh.”

Heart Walker let out a heavy sigh. The Villain spoke to him in a soothing, gentle tone, as if coaxing a child.

“You’re doing well here, aren’t you? Is it about money? I’ll talk to the boss and make sure you get paid more. Come on, work with us. You’ve been doing great so far, haven’t you? We’ve been good to you.”

With the carrot and the stick alternating like that, escape on his own was impossible.
I’d been watching quietly from the side. Now I stepped forward.

“Let him go.”

If a Level 8 Awakened One spoke, surely they’d understand…….

“Who the hell is this pretty boy?”
“And who are you to butt in? Huh? You got a death wish?”
“Boss, let’s not push it too far. We might regret it.”

The result of my investigation was pathetic.
They didn’t recognize me at all—just hurled crude threats and cackled like hyenas.

“Okay, hold on…….”

Heart Walker’s face had drained of color as he watched the whole scene unfold. He seemed to sense what was coming next.

“…….”

Well, I had to admit I’d been naive.
I’d assumed that once I became a state-recognized Awakened One and captured Nuri, every Villain would know my face on sight. I’d worried they’d just turn tail and run without hesitation, leaving me uncertain how to catch them going forward. I’d even considered wearing a mask—but apparently that won’t be necessary after all.
I spoke to the Villains, who were still smirking.

“My name is Choi Junho.”
“What?”

The Villains froze.

“Boss, now that I think about it, wasn’t the Awakened One who caught Nuri a while back named Choi Junho……?”
“H-Head Breaker?”
“That monster who turned Jung Da-hyeon into a Rakshasi?”

The Villains’ pupils began to tremble violently.
I took a step toward the doorway, cutting off their escape route.

“That’s me.”

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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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