The Crazy Villain Regains His Sanity - Chapter 7

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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 7

Recognizing a Face Fake isn’t particularly difficult.
The distinctive toxin couldn’t fool my Intuition. In my past life, when someone used it in front of me, they would peel away their facial skin along with the fake face.
Back then, I’d equated shameless people with those who wore a Face Fake, and shameless meant fair game to kill.
I don’t have that madness anymore, but when I see Villains hiding their faces, nine times out of ten they were exactly that. Face Fake itself is illegal anyway, so there was no reason to hold back. The occasional bold Villain who walks around without one does exist, but we can catch them when the time comes.
Watching the Villain’s shocked expression as I exposed their identity, I snapped their limbs clean and quick. I adjusted my strength carefully to avoid fatal wounds, breaking bone cleanly, mindful of Jung Dahyun’s order to preserve life.

“Ghaaaagh!”
“Apprehending a Villain. Everyone, please step back!”

While Jung Dahyun called out to the citizens, I crouched in front of the thrashing figure.

“Where’s your hideout?”
……

Crack.

I crushed their pinky knuckle.

“Ugh!”
“Each time you don’t answer, another one. Your location?”
“D-Dangsang District 1…….”
“Good. Next is…….”

Drowning in the pain of crushed bone, the Villain began spilling information. Whenever they hesitated, I’d break another bone, and they stopped stalling entirely—I extracted everything we needed.
Making a Villain docile doesn’t come from a warm hand extended in kindness. It comes from making them understand they are utterly weak in a world of the strong—from driving home the knowledge that one moment of carelessness means being shattered like an insect and left for dead.
My first attempt, but I’d calibrated my strength with precision. Their life wasn’t in danger. They would, however, spend the rest of it disabled.
I straightened, and Jung Dahyun approached with a startled expression. For some reason, her face looked even more beautiful that way.

“Choi Junho, what exactly are you…….”
“I’ve located their hideout. Let’s move immediately.”
“We need to report to command and request support.”

I shook my head and met Jung Dahyun’s eyes.

“That will be too slow. The moment they learn their comrade is in danger, they’ll abandon the hideout. We need speed. We have to.”
……
“I want to catch as many Villains as possible. That’s your goal too, isn’t it?”

For a brief moment, conflicting emotions crossed Jung Dahyun’s face. She hesitated only an instant, then resolved herself and nodded.

“…All right. Speed it is. Let’s go.”
“I’ll lead the way.”

After handing the Villain over to the Public Hunters who arrived later, we headed for the hideout.

* * *

Jung Dahyun followed behind Choi Junho, wearing the hat he’d given her.
It was a strange experience. She hadn’t expected to become a Public Hunter and end up raiding a Villain’s hideout like this.
She’d initially joined the National Protection Bureau to catch Villains, but ideals and reality had diverged. The work was less about proactively catching Villains and more about cleaning up the mess after they’d run wild.
Even if they succeeded today, command would disapprove. What mattered to them was procedure, the chain of command masquerading as a system.
This was how it should be—but it was still a burden to carry alone.
In that sense, Choi Junho was remarkable.
Despite having just become a Public Hunter, he drove things forward with the relentless force of a bulldozer.
Recognizing the Face Fake, extracting necessary information on the spot, and giving Villains no chance to prepare through on-site judgment—it was hard to call any of that ordinary.
Above all, the way he treated Villains with such ruthless brutality wasn’t that of a Public Hunter. It was reminiscent of the urban legend—the most vicious, most fearsome Villain who trampled even other Villains like insects.

‘But he catches Villains.’

It wasn’t the blade that mattered, but what it was used for. The thought of a man who’d reached Level 7 being unleashed into the world terrified her.
By then, the two of them had arrived at the Villain hideout located in Dangsang District 1. It was a decrepit pub of the sort found in any back alley.

“I’m going in now.”
“Understood.”

They entered the pub. Despite the early hour, there were three people inside.
Choi Junho, striding ahead, simply extended his hand.

Crack!

“Gasp!”
“What—what is this!”
“We’re under attack!”

The other two tried to prepare, but Choi Junho closed the distance as though treading on space itself, extending his hand again. The two caught in his Gift Mine collapsed with their shoulders caving inward.
Jung Dahyun, about to lend a hand, simply observed from a distance, then asked.

“You didn’t know the password?”
“When I thought about it, I figured they’d all end up in prison anyway, so there wasn’t much point to it.”
“I see.”
“And if you know the location, finding the hidden entrance isn’t difficult.”

Choi Junho surveyed the area where the leader had been standing, then touched a few things, and a passage to the basement revealed itself.
How on earth did he find such things? Remarkable.

“There’s something I need to do before we go down.”

Choi Junho, stepping forward, proceeded to break the limbs of the Villains.
Already unconscious, they writhed and moaned in agony.

“Is that really necessary?”
“This way they can’t escape.”
…….

The question ‘Why the arms?’ had come to mind, but Choi Junho’s method was the most certain. In the past, she would never have imagined such an action, and she would have thought he’d crossed a line.
Yet why did the resolute deftness of those hands draw her in?
Choi Junho’s unwavering conviction toward Villains burrowed deep into Jung Dahyun’s chest.

Villains operating within the city preyed on various interests and drained the lifeblood of the metropolis.
The connections between Villains and politicians, between entrepreneurs and Hunters—such things were hardly secret anymore. What brought them the greatest income was drugs and black markets.
Among these, drugs saw unending demand thanks to Awakeners.
Awakeners who wielded Force were beings for whom sensitivity mattered above all else. There were those who used substances for greater power, and this sustained steady demand.
These drugs robbed not only of addiction, but of humanity itself.
Before I went completely mad, I had indulged in narcotics to escape the agony of my Gift running rampant. I killed the ones who tried to negotiate with drugs, killed those who tried to rein me in. Like a beast, I chased highs to forget the pain—and so I knew narcotics better than most.
Creatures like these show their tails and immediately must be cut loose, their traces erased. Speed was everything.

“It’s a drug called Prun.”

I said this to Jung Dahyun, who was following close behind me.

“Prun? Then…”

Jung Dahyun’s expression turned grave.
By then we had reached the end of the underground passage. I stretched out my hand toward the tightly sealed door and yanked it open, revealing a spacious interior with over twenty people inside.

“Who’s there!”

Instead of answering, I extended my hand. The advantage of Mine is that it unleashes its full power with a single contact. The Force that burrows inward triggers a violent explosion, rendering them combat-incapable.
The drawback is that contact is necessary, but for me, that’s hardly an issue.

“Aaaagh!”

Two fell in an instant, and the rest immediately drew their weapons.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Gunfire erupted as Jung Dahyun and I engaged the Villains.
Their level was unremarkable—most barely scraped by at Level 1, with perhaps a few reaching Level 2 at most.
With her Intuition, Jung Dahyun neutralized them with her blade, while I crushed their limbs without compromising their lives.

Crack!

“Nggh!”

Once I’d subdued the last Villain, silence settled over the space. I turned my attention to Jung Dahyun as she approached.

“Junho.”
“You did well, Administrator.”

I moved toward the Villains Jung Dahyun had restrained and broke their ankles.

Crunch!

“Aaaagh!”
“G-ggh!”
“I’d like to say your hand was heavy, but I can’t exactly defend it. I’ll request support.”
“Through the Special Team?”
“That would be the standard approach.”
“Actually, it’s better if you contact the Director directly.”
“Why?”
“This involves both Villains and drugs. Do you really think distribution on this scale is possible with only these men’s abilities?”
“There must be someone on the inside.”
“Can you trust Wang Jooyeol in this matter?”

Wang Jooyeol—leader of the Special Team.
A textbook careerist, consumed with office politics and credit-hogging. Despite heading the Special Team, which ought to focus on capturing Villains, he lacks any real dedication and instead leverages his position to network—a model of uselessness.
In the few days I’d observed, Jung Dahyun must have sensed it too.

“…No, I can’t. I understand.”

Jung Dahyun nodded and contacted Jung Juho directly, while I searched the surroundings and discovered a space where a Gift had manifested.

“A Ward.”

I disrupted the flow of Force with Mine, dissolving the Ward and revealing a safe behind it.

Click.

Inside the safe lay drugs and cash stacked tightly, along with a single ledger.
I didn’t hesitate to take it.
I opened the ledger and scanned the names written inside. Wang Jooyeol’s name was there too.
What would an ordinary Public Hunter do with this ledger? Public Hunters eat from the state’s coffers and protect citizens’ safety. Naturally, everyone in this ledger is a social scourge who’s been taking drugs.
Since they’ve already snorted their humanity away along with the narcotics, it’s better to wipe them all out than to spend resources on rehabilitation.
As I secured the ledger, Jung Dahyun’s expression turned puzzled.

“Why are you taking that?”
“I think we should keep this and deliver it directly to the Director.”
“Why?”
“As long as there are collaborators inside, there’s a high chance it disappears somewhere in the chain of command. Wang’s name is in here too. Do you really think the entire National Protection Bureau will move to eradicate drugs when the situation involves people connected to internal personnel?”
“That’s…”

Jung Dahyun’s face was clouded with confusion. She became a Public Hunter driven by a sense of mission to arrest villains, but not everyone shares her conviction. Among Public Hunters, there are those worse than villains themselves, and far more who work simply for advancement or livelihood.
Sharing information and taking action only with people I can trust—that’s the answer I’ve decided on to achieve certain results.

“Our choice is for the ordinary citizens living ordinary lives.”
“…”
“Think of it simply. Arresting villains and dismantling the drug cartel is what we should do as Public Hunters.”

In that situation, even if we bend procedure slightly and someone gets bypassed, as long as the result is good, that’s what matters, isn’t it?

“…Do you really think this is the best course of action?”
“I believe it’s an extremely ordinary and commonsensical conclusion.”
“…”

Jung Dahyun was wavering. She showed emotional shifts again and again. Her sense of justice, the process that deviated from her principles, yet the achievements that emerged from the results—she was caught between them in confusion.
If she accepts this, it would mean my desire to live an ordinary life was justified.
And after a long deliberation, she nodded.

“I understand. I’ll do it.”

* * *

The arrest of over twenty villains. And the complete dismantling of the drug supply route.
It was an achievement Jung Dahyun and I had accomplished together.
Since it was a result achieved not long after becoming a Public Hunter, the way people around us looked at us had shifted considerably.
With an officially recognized level of five and concrete achievements, I was gaining recognition within the organization.
And while all this was happening, the villains ended up crippled and talk of excessive force emerged, though honestly I don’t quite understand that narrative. I’d been quite careful with my power control to ensure their lives weren’t in danger.

“How could your thinking process flow like that?”

Jung Dahyun, having heard my muttering, spoke with an exasperated expression.

“Isn’t it correct since we subdued the villains decisively?”
“But you didn’t follow a single guideline from the Special Team.”

An immediate report from the scene, requesting reinforcements, waiting for higher authority’s judgment—none of those procedures were observed in this case.
I knew this fact, and Jung Dahyun also knew we wouldn’t have achieved these results if all those procedures had been followed.
Most of all, there’s something I trust.

“That’s what makes being a Public Hunter good.”
“Why?”
“Because you don’t get fired for doing this.”
“…”

Watching Jung Dahyun’s speechless expression was one of the entertainment highlights.

“Jung Dahyun! Choi Junho!”

Wang Jooyeol’s voice erupted from the director’s office.
The atmosphere turned glacial in an instant.

“Is there something you wanted to say?”
“You think I need to hear this from my own mouth?”
“Yes, I’d like to hear it.”
“You bastard…….”

When I didn’t mention passing him by, his face flushed as though it might burst. I said nothing and simply watched him in silence.
It was definitely a familiar face.
In my previous life, after my Gift had awakened, I’d remained in a state of madness so profound that I retained few clear memories of anyone.
What I mostly remembered were those who had died by my hand or deserved to.
Most faces didn’t linger in my mind.
But then, one face drifted across my thoughts.
Older than he was now, heavier around the frame.
I recalled the image of a Public Hunter who had come strutting in with a full complement of subordinates to kill me on a day when I had eaten nothing for four days and nights, only barely shaking off the vicious pursuit of his hunters and growing exhausted.
What had he said—that constructing the encirclement was his handiwork, and that he could sacrifice ten thousand or a million worthless underlings if it meant capturing me.
He’d shown up because he thought my strength had finally run dry.
At the time, he was nothing more than a pawn to me.
For what it’s worth, I was far more savage back then, starved as I was for four days straight.
Whether there was any real difference between being mad in the first place and being mad with hunger, I couldn’t have told myself.
In the end, this was the face of the man who had lost all his subordinates, been caught by me while fleeing, and had his skull split open.
It was Wang Jooyeol.

“Ah, I remember now.”
“What?”
“Something like that happened.”

It seemed Wang Jooyeol wasn’t particularly inclined to cooperate with my plan to live an ordinary life as a Public Hunter.
Then I’d have to remove him.

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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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