Villain Unknown's First Job (3)
Why are they making such a fuss?
Lately her viewer count never dipped below two thousand, so the chat always scrolled fast. Even so, she never expected a single gesture—just pressing an index finger to her lips—to set the entire chat on fire like this.
Nearly identical messages flooded in so fast it was hard to even read full sentences.
Is that it… Do I look a little… seductive right now…?
And of course the reason was Lee Junwoo. Even in the middle of a live broadcast, he kept slipping into her thoughts. She would never feed cake by hand to a girl she disliked. It might have been a meaningless gesture, yet somehow that single moment still made Choi Hana’s heart race.
If Lee Junwoo is watching my stream right now…
She found herself hoping, without meaning to, that he would react with the same feverish excitement as the chat. If he truly liked Naharing’s broadcasts, then for him alone she could dance not as the avatar, but as her real self—Choi Hana.
W-what kind of ridiculous thought is that?
She forced her focus back onto the stream. Dancing while wearing full tracking gear was never easy, yet Choi Hana moved with practiced grace. She stripped away the usual VTuber subculture flair and streamed in the style of a female game streamer, but among the Underdolls, Naharing was still the highest-rated for both dance and song. Fans treated her less like a VTuber and more like an idol.
If only Lee Junwoo thought of me that way too… not just the viewers…
Ordinarily she would have crushed such thoughts at once. But right now, logged into VR War World with the headset on, she found it harder than ever to hide what she truly felt.
And just before she had come up to the third floor for the broadcast, something else had startled her. Lee Junwoo had almost taken her hand without thinking.
A misunderstanding. It has to be a misunderstanding, right? There’s no reason Lee Junwoo would try to hold my hand…
Yet even if she knew almost nothing about romance, she was no fool. In that strangely charged silence, she understood perfectly well what it meant when a young man and woman reached for each other’s hands.
If he really had taken my hand…
But at that exact moment Noeul unnie had called her name, and nothing more happened. That single instant might have been the first—and last—chance that would ever come to Choi Hana.
I don’t want that!
The cry inside her own heart was so loud it surprised even her. She had no choice but to admit it. She respected Lee Junwoo, yes—but she refused to let him remain nothing more than someone she admired from afar.
I have to be more proactive.
It was different when she was Naharing. As Naharing she felt confident. The viewer count that had hovered around two thousand was climbing fast; at this rate it would hit three thousand. Yes. Be confident. Get closer to Lee Junwoo… The word “seduce” was too embarrassing to even think, yet she genuinely wanted to be nearer to him than mere friends.
Once the stream ended, the all-night study session with him would begin.
If I get another chance to hold his hand tonight…
Just imagining it made her heart feel ready to burst, but Choi Hana kept those feelings locked away and continued the broadcast.
Just as Naharing’s short live stream was winding down, silence hung over the fifth floor of the Jaguar building.
Th-this can’t be happening. How did it turn out like this?!
Ghoul Hound—named villain of Crimson Teeth’s Baal Vanguard, the mad dog of the front line—was panicking. No, he was terrified.
“Ghoul Hound. I never expected a named like you to hang around with trash like Mad Knife. Anyway, it looks like the situation’s over. You know the underworld’s unwritten rules, don’t you?”
Standing before him was Hwang Yonggyun, an underworld operative. Just as Hwang said, Mad Knife was a worthless outfit. Their numbers were decent, but even their boss was weaker than Ghoul Hound, an A-rank villain. The only reasons he had accepted their back-alley contract were the enormous fee and the fact that Blood Jaguar looked like it might be fun. Mad Knife’s boss had even offered to hand over every pretty female member of Blood Jaguar as Ghoul Hound’s subordinates, but women had never really mattered to him.
That man… Hwang Yonggyun.
He knew the mafia reputation Hwang Yonggyun carried in the underworld. A fighter whose bare fists no one in the underworld dared casually compare themselves to. Even if he had been living quietly in a small-time organization and his name had faded lately, Ghoul Hound deliberately sought out strong opponents like him. The whole reason he had become a villain was so he could fight as much as he wanted without any annoying chains holding him back. That was why he had stormed in today with Mad Knife’s men—ready to pick a real fight with Hwang Yonggyun.
But… damn it. I never even got to fight properly… this is bullshit…
Every plan had fallen apart. He had never expected much from Mad Knife’s small fry, yet inside this unexpectedly complex building they had all been picked off one by one. A sudden ambush—and he couldn’t even tell how the ambush had begun. It felt like walking into the worst possible fortress and stepping straight into an absurd trap. Still, using the small fry as meat shields, he had managed to reach the floor that held Hwang Yonggyun’s office. Now, with Hwang standing right in front of him, Ghoul Hound’s body had locked up so completely he could barely speak.
It wasn’t because of Hwang Yonggyun. It was because of the someone standing behind him.
Ghoul Hound carefully raised both arms.
“I admit defeat. Cut off a finger or a wrist—do whatever you want.”
When he surrendered so readily, Hwang Yonggyun’s eyebrows twitched.
“More obedient than I expected. Or maybe you’re not a complete amateur after all. Even a fool would realize this is the moment to keep his head down.”
Hwang was right. Ghoul Hound’s instincts were screaming.
Run. Run. Run.
From the man standing at his back, pure terror poured out.
Me… Ghoul Hound… afraid of someone this much?
Admitting defeat at all was something the usual him would never have done. Yet right in front of his face, pitch-black fire was burning. Not ordinary fire. As a named villain, Ghoul Hound knew that sulfur-reeking scent well. Demon fire—the hellfire only a demon’s contractor could wield. And if the flame carried such an ominous stench, the contractor had to be skilled enough to deal with at least a high-ranking demon. High-ranking demons never formed contracts lightly; only something as precious as true-blood was usually enough payment.
I picked the wrong fight. In a small-time outfit like this… there’s another dangerous bastard besides Hwang Yonggyun?
Hwang alone was already an opponent he would have to take seriously. But the someone behind him—he couldn’t even gauge the depth of that strength.
I never even sensed him approaching from behind.
So for the first time in his life, he raised both arms in surrender. He was terrified, yet the terror only made him want to confirm the man’s identity.
In that moment Ghoul Hound saw him—a man wearing a blood-stained mask.
“Un… known…?”
Only then did Ghoul Hound understand exactly why he had felt such fear. It was true. That Unknown really was more dangerous than Horror Hole.
Almost nothing was known about Unknown’s true identity. That was why Crimson Teeth had dismissed the rumor that he had killed Horror Hole as Hunter Association propaganda.
No. All of it was real.
Ghoul Hound swallowed hard. At that moment Unknown extinguished the demon fire. Then, in a chilling voice, he spoke.
“I have no interest in your wrists or your neck. Instead, I’ll make you one proposal. Of course, the only option is yes.”
Ghoul Hound had never once forgiven anyone who spoke so arrogantly in front of him—yet right now all he could do was nod. That was how dangerous Unknown looked.
In a trembling voice he asked, “A proposal?”
Unknown continued speaking.
We had stopped Mad Knife’s raid without any real trouble. If we simply used the terrain properly, Hwang Yonggyun could handle Mad Knife’s members on his own. The real problem had been the named villain Ghoul Hound. Yet I produced the best possible result against him without throwing a single attack.
Well, it only worked because Hwang Yonggyun was there.
While the guy’s attention was locked on Hwang, I slipped perfectly behind him. After that, the fear debuff from Unknown made him self-destruct on his own. More than anything, the bluff with the demon fire had worked beautifully.
Just as I expected, Demonic Power is useful.
The Demonic Power I had obtained by turning Song Sia into a Marionette. The Evil Flame created from that power completely clouded Ghoul Hound’s judgment. Since the Demonic Power originated from Song Sia, who carried true blood, the hellfire was of extremely high quality.
I sent Ghoul Hound away as he was. He had accepted a certain proposal, so before long he would bring me an even greater reward.
Before Choi Hana’s stream fully ended, I had a long talk with Hwang Yonggyun. After we finished, I came back down to the first-floor café.
I didn’t expect Hwang Yonggyun to figure out so quickly that I was Unknown…
Ironically, that made everything easier. Hwang wanted me to work together with Blood Jaguar. I was about to think over our conversation a little more when Choi Hana walked into the café.
“I’m so sorry! Did you wait long?”
I looked at her. Somehow, the atmosphere around her felt completely different from just a few hours ago.