The Crazy Villain Regains His Sanity - Chapter 77

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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 77

Man Dok Bul Chim thrashed desperately.
To repel every evil that existed within his master—that was the Gift’s reason for being.
The Gift Man Dok Bul Chim remained faithful to its purpose.
It scoured through its master’s body and Force, seeking to prove its own existence.
There was nothing amiss.
But as it probed deeper into the mental realm, it sensed something gravely wrong.
Beyond the Mental Barrier—stacked thick upon thick—came a severe distortion.
Every fiber of its being screamed this truth.
Man Dok Bul Chim tried to correct what had twisted in its master’s mind, only to have that very intention crushed beneath his heel. Nor did it stop there—his Force came down upon it like a merciless weight.
This is wrong. The master’s mind is wrong right now. It must be corrected. But why does he prevent me from doing so!
Man Dok Bul Chim thrashed with desperate loyalty, but the odds were impossibly stacked against it.

“Your Gift’s been acting up lately, hasn’t it?”

No… please…!
In the next instant, before a tsunami of Force came crashing down, Man Dok Bul Chim’s will shattered completely.

* * *

I exhaled quietly, sensing Man Dok Bul Chim fall dormant at last.

“Quite persistent, aren’t you.”

Truly, a legendary Gift.
It had briefly malfunctioned, but even so—it’d managed to breach my Mental Barrier in that fleeting instant and held its ground far longer than the situation would have suggested.
I’d heard that some of the legendary Gifts possessed a fragment of consciousness, and Man Dok Bul Chim might well be one of them.
Whether a Gift develops consciousness remains an unexplored frontier. Some say it’s granted as an inherent property of the Gift itself; others claim the holder’s subconscious bleeds into it. Even in my previous life, living as a Blood Demon, that truth was never fully uncovered.
But the fact remains—they do possess will.
Gifts occasionally activating regardless of the user’s intent was the clearest evidence.
Williams, the Awakened One from Britain known as Black Wall, wielded Protect—a Gift that formed a defensive barrier automatically in moments of danger, independent of the caster’s volition. With this Gift, Williams was said to have perfected an all-purpose combat style of offense and defense unified as one.
If Protect could do that, Man Dok Bul Chim could certainly do the same.
The way it convulsed at the very end like a creature crying out—seeing that the Gift possessed will of its own struck me as curious.
I emerged from the training chamber and ran into Jung Ju-ho, who was loitering about the National Guard Bureau office.

“What brings you here?”
“There was something I needed to check. What about you, Director?”
“The hearing’s tomorrow, remember? I’ve been preparing.”

He mentioned he’d even rehearsed beyond just preparing the anticipated questions.
Not long ago, he’d been speaking of death to me, but his expression was bright now.

“You seemed reluctant about becoming commissioner, but you look fine with it now.”
“I’ve accepted it, so I’ll do well. Once I’m a man of power, everyone will learn just how terrifying I can be.”

The sinister grin that spread across his face was pure Villain.
When people gain power, they tend to reveal their true nature—and most often, it’s toward something deeply unsavory. I was curious to see which way Jung Ju-ho would lean.

“But the hearing will bring up stories about you, and I’ll be talking about you too. Will that be alright?”
“What kind of stories?”
“With how many politicians you’ve beaten down, you think I’m going to say nice things? Of course they’ll be the opposite.”

I haven’t laid hands on that many, actually. How unfair.

“If it comes up, there’s nothing to be done about it.”

It’s not as though I’ve only been cursed at once or twice. I simply file away what people say and move on.
But then Jung Ju-ho said something unexpected.

“I curse you out too, sometimes.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re going to overextend yourself, and then people will point it out to me. So I’ll have to claim I ordered it and take the fall for everything, won’t I?”
“Don’t superiors usually accept that responsibility for their subordinates?”

When I worked at the National Guard Bureau, Jung Ju-ho was the kind of person who willingly bore criticism for his subordinates’ sake.
Watching him do that, I’d thought: here’s a true leader in this age.
But he reacted with outright indignation.

“To accept that? I’d have to resign. Am I insane? I’m going to climb the ladder, so you’re going to take the heat. You’re the one who pushed me toward becoming director in the first place.”
“Understood.”
“Okay, so I’m taking that as your agreement.”
“Yes, I’ll keep it in mind for now.”
……
“I was joking. Don’t make that face.”

It took me a fair bit of time to calm Jung Ju-ho down.
I was about to head out—the hearing was tomorrow, after all, and there was no point lingering—when Jung Da-hyun arrived at the National Guard Bureau, apparently fresh from a late-night operation. Blood stained her hair and upper garments, the marks of fierce combat.

“You made it back.”
I greeted her with a welcoming expression as she approached.

“Yes. It was a drug distribution ring, but they were so entrenched that the sweep took a lot out of us. They had connections with external Villain organizations, so there were quite a few capable ones among them. I gathered them all in one place and killed them. They won’t be getting up to their old tricks anymore.”
“Well done.”

But then she examined my face and her expression grew concerned.

“Me? I’m fine.”
“You look tired.”
“Must be from juggling multiple schedules today.”

On top of that, disciplining Man Dok Bul Chim had sapped quite a bit of my mental energy.
I’d thought nothing of it, but Jung Da-hyun’s eye for detail was sharp. Had her instinct sharpened?

“If you say so… but there’s something I wanted to ask you.”
“What is it?”
“Actually, I had a favor to ask, but you looked so tired I hesitated.”
“Go ahead. If I can help, I will.”
“…Yes. If you don’t mind, could you oversee my training?”
“Your training?”

“You know why that’s difficult.”
“I don’t mind getting hurt badly.”

I’m not the type of race that grows stronger every time I brush with death.
I couldn’t bring myself to dismiss the hope glimmering in Jung Da-hyun’s eyes.

“You’re okay with having your arms and legs shattered?”
“Yes.”
“Fine. When do you want to start?”
“Right now.”

If she wanted to experience it herself, I had no choice but to oblige.
We headed straight to the training hall, and I sparred with Jung Da-hyun. By the end, her limbs were broken and she was battered, yet she never surrendered her will to fight and kept coming at me.
Her killing intent had definitely grown, and the applications of her intuition had expanded.
She deserved praise. So I made things even harder for her.
Finally, when Jung Da-hyun’s will broke, I gave her unstinting encouragement.

“You’ve reached a considerable level. I think you’ll hit Level 7 soon.”
“…Thank you.”
“Can you stand?”
“Yes.”

I sprayed her with my Recovery Potion. Since I had unlimited refills, it wasn’t a problem for me. But Jung Da-hyun was a poorly paid civil servant, so I told her to save it for when things got truly dangerous and gave it back to her. Speaking of which, I’d used some on Berserker today too, so the consumption rate was considerably faster.
Jung Da-hyun, her broken arm reset, struggled to her feet.

“Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.”

Seeing her battered and grateful stirred something strange in me.
In my previous life, she’d stop at nothing to kill me. People really do turn out better when they choose to live righteously.
I gave Jung Da-hyun detailed feedback.
Overall, her skills had improved dramatically. At this rate, she’d reach Level 7 soon and catch up to her previous-life strength within three years.
As for becoming an Awakened One—I couldn’t say. If I knew how to do that, I’d be an Awakened One factory.
In any case.

“Hmm.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. It’s nothing.”

As I was heading out, I recalled Man Dok Bul Chim, who’d been quietly trying to slip through my Mental Barrier during Jung Da-hyun’s training just moments before.
I thought I’d already disciplined him, but apparently it wasn’t enough.
I’d need to go home and tighten his leash properly.

* * *

World Superhumans Day, held in Tokyo, was a storied event.
There had been a time in the past when monsters appeared and humanity was helplessly pushed back. When Awakeners emerged afterward, the world rejoiced, saying a hero had come to save them from annihilation.
But that fervor didn’t last long. As the conflict with monsters reached a stalemate, Villains appeared who rejected the existing social order, and the image of Awakeners plummeted rapidly.
Compounded by inadequate legal frameworks to regulate Awakeners, all manner of incidents erupted.
Social conflict reached a boiling point, and confrontation between Awakeners and non-Awakeners intensified.
World Superhumans Day signified the day when legal systems were fully established and Awakeners were completely integrated into society.
At the apex of them stood Level 8—Awakened Ones.
The current number of Awakened Ones in existence worldwide is estimated at roughly 150.
Including Villains, the unofficial count nears 200.
Around 50 of these Awakened Ones gather annually for World Superhumans Day.
It was one of the world’s largest festivals, where diplomatic coordination between nations and exchanges among Awakened Ones took place.
From South Korea, Lee Chan-taek and I were scheduled to attend as Awakened Ones, along with roughly 100 government diplomats and 200 Hunters affiliated with the National Guild Alliance—in total, over 300 personnel were slated to cross to Tokyo.
As one of the world’s top ten Awakener powers and with Tokyo as the host city, the scale was planned to be the largest ever.
Before departing for Tokyo, I met Lee Chan-taek at Cheong Wa Dae.

“I hope you’ve been well.”
“Indeed I have, thanks to you. I’m always grateful. I hope to learn something in Tokyo.”
“You’re too kind.”

After the Nuri Hunting, Lee Chan-taek’s Vanguard Guild endured considerable upheaval.
But the downward slide didn’t last long. Lee Chan-taek took the initiative to strengthen his forces, made concessions to the Shinseong Guild, forged a partnership with them, and became the first to introduce the BigBang Series.
The result was that, in a short time, he recovered much of the power lost during the Nuri Hunting.
And when questions arose about the Nuri Hunting itself, he stood by my side, expressed his support, and gave interviews—among other friendly gestures I made.

“The hearing was quite a spectacle. You doing alright?”
“No real problems.”
“You and Director Jung Ju-ho are both impressive.”

Jung Ju-ho’s hearing yesterday was a circus—the phrase fit perfectly.
The confusion between whether it was his hearing or mine was so thorough that my story dominated the proceedings.
In particular, starting with allegations that Jung Ju-ho had allowed my excessive suppression while I was with the National Guard Bureau, criticism of me formed the core of the hearing.
What made it even more absurd was that normally the opposition attacks and the ruling party defends, yet attacks on me came from both sides indiscriminately.
And the final touch was Jung Ju-ho’s response.

—Then should I have risked my own neck to stop you?

Those words created a miracle: both opposition and ruling party fell silent.
Wait—why were they assuming that if Jung Ju-ho had tried to stop me, I would have killed him?
Honestly, it was unjust.
The problem was that people calling themselves my fans flooded the comments with posts calling me a murderer.
Anyone reading it would think I was some Villain out there casually killing people.
Still, there was a silver lining.

“There were useful takeaways too.”
“What kind?”
“I got to see what both sides think of me, regardless of their politics.”
“…That’s a frightening thing to say.”
“I have no intention of acting on it. I’m just stating the fact.”
“I understand.”

Things lodged in your mind have a way of surfacing later.
While Lee Chan-taek and I were chatting in low voices, Cheon Myeong-guk stepped inside.
Usually his face wore a pained expression as a constant state, but today his expression seemed unusually pleasant.

“Thank you for coming. It’s heartwarming to see Awakened Ones united like this.”

Had something fortunate happened to his family? He couldn’t stop grinning.

“The goal of our headquarters for this event is to publicize the achievements we’ve accumulated thus far. At the center of that will be promoting the success of Nuri’s hunt.”

According to Cheon Myeong-guk, since new monsters designated as Harmful Stage 8 Plus appeared, my hunt of Nuri had become a hot topic once again.
The South Korean government was claiming the hunt was a success in fact, dismissing conspiracy theories as ridiculous.
Since the subject was under heated debate among Awakened Ones, Lee Chan-taek announced he would testify as someone with hunting experience.
He’d acknowledge his own failure and lift me up in the process?
Lee Chan-taek was nodding calmly. Seeing that, I got the sense something had been exchanged.
The odds of some underwater deal happening without my knowledge were high.

“But.”

The moment I opened my mouth, both their eyes turned toward me.

“Even if I say I hunted it, those who won’t believe me simply won’t.”
“True. But with evidence of the hunt and Director Lee Chan-taek’s testimony, those claiming it was fabricated will lose their grounds to do so.”

From what I could see, the kind of person who’d pick a fight would keep doing it.
Those types only change their minds right before death.
Of course, I’d never spared anyone who finally changed their mind that way.
If you’re going to think differently, you should take responsibility for your old one.
Then he asked about something that had been nagging at him.

“But if I kill someone who doesn’t believe the hunting happened and wants to see my strength for himself, what happens then?”

Curiosity was driving him forward, after all.
Would the World Superhumans Alliance come after him? Would he become a public enemy of the world?
Did world-class Villains actually exist?

……

Neither of them answered. Had they not understood? Or was the question wrong? Looking at Cheon Myeong-guk’s ashen expression, the question seemed to have come through clearly enough. Had they misunderstood something else?
Some other part of it?

“Ah, I have no intention of killing anyone. I’m just curious.”

Genuinely.
I was planning to hear the government’s position before taking any action.

……

Neither of them looked like they believed 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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