A Charming Villain Needs a Narrative (2)
A narrative always follows a charming villain.
Even if he’s nothing more than a deranged serial killer, what happens when he has a story that explains why he had no choice but to become a villain? In that instant, the murderer transforms into a three-dimensional character.
Of course, some people would call it whitewashing. But whitewashing is exactly what I need.
Because I have to become a charming villain.
The uniqueness of Why is this guy different from the others? That quality has to exist. Only then will my value as a villain rise, and the upper-tier heroes—who were major or supporting characters in the original story—will start paying serious attention to me.
Right now the only audience member is Ice Queen, but… it can’t be helped.
She is the heroine of the original work, after all. If the woman destined for success keeps thinking about me and shows up at every one of my terror attacks, that’s actually a good thing.
Click.
“Please don’t come any closer, Ice Queen.”
I smiled at her. Ice Queen glared back with eyes like frozen blades. When she glanced at Chu Seo-ho—gagged and making desperate muffled noises—her expression grew even more murderous.
“Put that down.”
“And if I refuse?”
“What you’re about to do is murder. You’ll naturally face legal punishment.”
“Legal punishment, huh…”
I trailed off as if thinking it over, then turned to look at the glass tubes filled with green liquid behind me.
“This man might have massacred dozens—or perhaps even hundreds—of people. Did you know that?”
“What… hup!”
Only then did she seem to notice the tubes. Her gaze trembled as it swept across them.
-Bubble, bubble.
Inside, a person was quietly melting with their eyes closed.
Ice Queen stared at me, skin crawling with goosebumps.
“Even after seeing this, you still won’t let me kill him?”
“…Even so, killing a person is a crime. If he’s a criminal who did wrong, I’ll send him to prison. So—”
“Not even the death penalty, just prison. How amusing.”
“……”
When I sneered at her, Ice Queen fell silent.
“…This is exactly why I hate heroes.”
I need to plant the image that I only hate heroes here.
My anger is directed solely at heroes. Conceptually, I am a villain who holds the twisted belief that all of you should be broken.
The reason?
Well…
That’s for the heroes to figure out on their own.
Honestly, I don’t bear them any real grudge.
There are plenty of corrupt heroes, but I’ve never suffered at their hands. The only mental scar I have is the trauma of suddenly becoming a newborn baby while I was living just fine.
Aside from that, I lived a relatively peaceful childhood—death wasn’t a constant worry, which is rare in this world.
The reason I’m doing all this is purely for survival.
In a world where you never know when you might die, it’s far safer to belong to some organization than to live as a powerless civilian. And someday I’ll have to kill the final boss when he appears, or humanity will perish and I won’t be able to live well.
So all I need to do is look plausible—like the villains in dramas and movies.
I just have to look like a villain with a story.
Bang!
Without hesitation I pulled the trigger at Chu Seo-ho. He collapsed limply to the floor.
“You—!”
“Even a villain who kills someone right in front of you would only end up in prison after receiving severe punishment, wouldn’t he?”
The moment a person died before her eyes, Ice Queen charged at me in fury.
She slid forward, spun once on the spot, and—
Thud!
Her foot slammed into my right wrist. The instant the gun left my hand she snatched it up and aimed it at me.
I hadn’t moved at all during the entire sequence. Instead I simply smiled at her, as if inviting her to kill me if she dared.
“If you want to shoot, feel free to do so anytime.”
“……”
Even after my words, Ice Queen only glared. She never pulled the trigger.
“…Surrender quietly, Maker.”
“In the end, you really won’t shoot me.”
I grabbed the hand holding the gun and forced the muzzle against my own chest.
“!! What are you—!”
It must have looked insanely dangerous to her, but the truth was different.
Because this gun doesn’t have any bullets left.
I had only created bullets with my ability when I actually needed to fire them, precisely to prepare for situations like this. That’s why I could strike this fearless pose.
“You’re too soft. Far too soft.”
Tap!
She finally yanked her hand free and backed several steps away from me.
And right after that—
KWAAAAAANG!!!
A deafening roar shook the air as the building began to collapse.
“! Maker!!”
Ice Queen stared at me with eyes that asked, Did you do this too?
“……”
…What the hell?
I hadn’t done it.
Still, I couldn’t afford to look flustered. I simply shrugged and smiled.
“M-Maker…!!”
A familiar voice rang out. When I looked up, I saw the Training Officer poking her head through a gaping hole in the ceiling, smiling brightly.
Whirrr—
The sound of a helicopter grew steadily louder.
Perfect timing.
Now that I had a rough grasp of the situation, I looked at Ice Queen.
“Hero, Ice Queen. You really are too soft.”
Thud.
The sound of a ladder dropping behind me.
“That’s why you let me slip away right under your nose.”
I grabbed the rope and shook it hard. The helicopter ladder began to rise.
“Stop right there!”
Ice Queen instantly fired blades of ice to sever the rope, but—
Swoosh!
The Training Officer threw herself forward and smashed every chunk of ice with a hammer as tall as she was.
“Hupcha…!”
She then grabbed onto the ladder beside me.
Slip.
“W-whoa…!!”
Grab.
“You need to be more careful, Training Officer.”
She must have stepped on something wrong; she wobbled in front of me and nearly fell. I wrapped my right arm around her waist to steady her.
“…Hic.”
It ended up looking like I was hugging her instead of the ladder, but there wasn’t much I could do about it.
It hurts more than I expected after that kick earlier.
Worried I might actually drop her, I pulled her even tighter against me.
“Stop squirming and bear with it for a moment. I’m afraid you might fall.”
“Y-yes…”
The Training Officer’s face burned crimson as she held her breath. After glancing at her, I looked down.
Crack. Craaaack!
Ice Queen was desperately building the longest ice path she could, trying to chase after us.
“Until next time, Ice Queen. I’ll be sure to visit you with a proper terror attack.”
With the sight of Ice Queen growing smaller and smaller below us, this mission finally came to an end.
***
Whirrr—
A few hours after the mission, early morning.
Knock knock knock.
“Maker? Are you awake?”
Astra had come out to greet me and An Yeri, both of whom had fallen asleep inside the helicopter.
“Astra-nim? What brings you here…”
“Shh…”
Astra placed a finger to her lips, signaling me to stay quiet.
“Zzz… mmmnya, mmmnya…”
When I looked down, I saw that An Yeri had turned my lap into a pillow and was fast asleep. She was even grinning, as if she were having a wonderful dream.
Please move her with psychokinesis.
Yes, I was just about to do that.
Astra-nim. Please use this.
Oh my, thank you, 42.
At some point 42 had fetched a blanket. Astra took it, wrapped An Yeri up like a burrito, and gently floated her into the air.
“Shall we discuss the details in the office?”
“Yes, let’s do that.”
She led me, 42, and the still-sleeping Training Officer toward the office.
***
“First of all, I heard the mission was a success.”
“Yes. There were quite a few complications, but it ultimately succeeded.”
I handed her a USB drive.
“This was taken from the man who acted as the lab’s leader. According to him, it’s a copy of the Regeneration Drug.”
When I gave 42 a look, he approached her desk and placed a second USB beside the first.
“…This data is what the Training Officer found while searching the database.”
“Just in case the two files differed or one was missing information, I brought both.”
Astra fiddled with the two drives for a moment, then set them down and smiled softly at us.
“You all did very well.”
After giving additional details about the situations and variables we had encountered during the mission, the report finally concluded.
“Now then, have you thought about how you would like to receive your reward?”
“As always, I’ll take it whenever something comes to mind.”
Astra nodded, as if she had expected that answer. She turned to 42.
“42, will money be fine like before?”
“Yes. That will be enough.”
“Understood. The mission pay should be deposited into your account sometime today.”
Without the slightest hesitation, 42 had chosen money as his reward. When Astra said she would send it soon, he bowed his head.
“As for the Training Officer… she’s an executive, so we can ask what she wants later. Good work, everyone.”
When she signaled that we could leave, 42 and I slowly rose from our seats.
“Ah, right—Maker, you have something else to discuss, so please remain behind for a moment.”
***
After 42 left and An Yeri had been floated off to her room by Astra’s psychokinesis—
“So, what did you wish to speak with me about?”
I looked at her with a puzzled tilt of my head.
“Umm… haa, I’m not sure how to explain this. Could you take a look at this?”
Astra sighed and held out her smartphone.
…What the hell is this?