My First Performance as a Villain
The office carried a chill that perfectly reflected its owner’s personality. At the subordinate’s voice from beyond the door, the woman known as Astra let out a small sigh and answered.
“...Send him in.”
A moment later the door creaked open and a figure stepped inside.
A luxurious black uniform. A half-mask covering the upper half of his face. An ever-present, relaxed smile.
“Maker.”
His eyes, which had been glowing golden from using his ability on the way over, were now hidden behind that smile. He answered her calmly.
“I have returned, Lady Astra.”
Astra—secretary to the Boss. The woman who took care of nearly everything for their leader, who could scarcely appear in public anymore because of her injuries.
Maker studied her for a moment, then offered a gentlemanly bow with a smile. Astra felt a faint shiver and rubbed her arms.
“...We’re both executives. Doesn’t all that constant politeness feel a little creepy?”
“Don’t you always observe proper etiquette as well, Lady Astra?”
“That’s simply my habit.”
“It is mine as well.”
“Haa…”
His refusal to yield even an inch left Astra feeling slightly suffocated.
He’s certainly better than the other executives, but still…
Unable to shake the vague discomfort, she gave up, erased the previous exchange from her mind, and moved on to business.
“So. Did you bring the drug?”
“I have it here, safe and sound.”
Maker reached into his coat and produced a plastic bag filled with pure white powder.
“...This is the substance known as the Ability Enhancer.”
“Correct. It doesn’t merely amplify abilities—it also delivers intense pleasure and addiction on par with ordinary narcotics.”
The Ability Enhancer. A drug that had recently begun circulating through the slums. Unlike common street drugs, this one had been engineered exclusively for ability users.
“What a wonderful world we live in. People were persecuted simply for being born with powers, and now they’re manufacturing things like this.”
“Perhaps it’s because the ratio of ordinary people to ability users has shifted to nearly six-to-four?”
Maker was already sipping tea, smiling brightly. Astra stared at him, dumbfounded.
“What kind of old-man talk is that…? Weren’t such discriminations almost nonexistent when we were young?”
“I’m speaking in general terms.”
“Haha!”
Watching him laugh so cheerfully, Astra could only sigh deeply.
As expected, this guy isn’t right in the head either.
This had been his first mission, assigned so she could evaluate his capabilities as an executive. The order had essentially been to commit murder. Yet here he was, having carried it out without batting an eye, cracking jokes while still wearing blood that hadn’t even been wiped away.
From the moment he joined the organization, his reasons were already strange…
“...Yes. Well done, Maker. I’ll consider your reward for this mission… at a later time.”
Shaking off her thoughts, Astra waved him away. The gesture clearly meant leave.
“Then I shall take my leave.”
Like an old-fashioned gentleman, Maker removed his hat for a brief moment and gave a small bow. Just as he reached for the door—
“Ah.”
As if he had forgotten something, he turned back to look at her.
“Lady Astra. If I recall correctly, the terror operation you briefed me on last time is coming up soon, yes?”
“It is. Just another routine event. It will probably begin next month. Why do you ask?”
Maker spoke as though it were nothing important.
“Could I handle that terror operation alone?”
“Pardon? Why?”
Astra’s tone was puzzled.
“No special reason. I simply believe that moment would carry the most impact for my debut as a villain upon the world.”
I’ll take that as my reward for this mission.
His attitude was bright and smiling, yet resolute. Astra pondered for a moment, then nodded.
“Do as you like. Just ensure the organization’s executives do not appear ridiculous.”
“Understood.”
With that, Maker opened the door and stepped out.
Upon reaching the room assigned to me, I tore off the suffocating mask and coat and shouted in triumph.
“Finally!”
It had been roughly twenty years since I was sucked into this novel. After starting over as a newborn baby, I had finally climbed this far.
I neatly folded the discarded coat and mask, loosened my tie, and sank onto the sofa.
Acting is going to be the death of me.
Still, when I looked at the tower I had built through that very performance, every ounce of exhaustion seemed to vanish.
A powerful organization that will protect me. And within it, an executive seat where I won’t be thrown away like a common foot soldier.
And most importantly—
It’s finally easy to intervene in the original story.
After my possession I had wasted time on pointless antics, yet for someone who had rushed in right before the main plot began, this was a respectable achievement. It made me regret not simply devouring every elixir in sight and coming here first.
“Ah, speaking of elixirs.”
I rummaged through the inner pocket of my vest and pulled out a small wooden box. The moment I opened it, a refreshing fragrance wafted out from the pill inside.
“Hmm, hmm~”
Humming cheerfully, I popped the elixir into my mouth. A refreshing sensation immediately spread through my entire body.
“Ugh… bitter.”
The bitterness was unavoidable, so I reached for the teacup I had prepared with black tea and rinsed my throat. A short while later, I smiled in satisfaction at the surge in my mana.
With this, my mana capacity should be A-class? Or perhaps even approaching S-class.
My ability consumed an enormous amount of mana, so I couldn’t be certain, but I was confident I wouldn’t tire out after dealing with a few C-class villains.
Perfect. Everything is perfect.
A smile naturally rose to my lips. Everything was going so well.
Once I finished tidying up, I left the sofa and moved to the desk. Various books and blueprints came into view. Among them I picked up the notebook that lay open across the surface.
Scattered sentences filled the pages. I took my pen and crossed out the line that read S-class Villain Blue Scope Explosion Terror.
Future Plot Points to Neutralize
S-class Villain Blue Scope Explosion Terror
Nice.
Seeing the crossed-out line filled me with a strange sense of satisfaction.
He was the type to launch indiscriminate terror attacks on villain organizations too, so I never knew when he might turn on me. To think they handed me the elimination mission the moment I gained proper justification.
Looking back, planting those drugs beside a few low-ranking grunts had been an excellent move.
Who should I handle next? Go after more elixirs? Or maybe…
While I sat there smiling and planning my next move—
Knock, knock, knock.
“Maker-nim. Are you inside?”
“One moment, please.”
I straightened the desk, put on my half-mask, and opened the door. The man standing there wore a uniform a shade lighter than mine—closer to gray—with his hat pulled low over his eyes.
“What is it?”
“Research Division, Fourth Squad, member 37! The doctor says he has completed the task you requested, Maker-nim!”
The man answered at full volume. Even though I hadn’t been here long, the way he tensed up simply because I was an executive gave me an odd thrill.
So this is why people want to be executives.
“Good work, 37. Tell the doctor I’ll visit him shortly.”
“Yes, sir! Understood!”
I smoothed my near-leaking grin into a relaxed smile and watched 37’s retreating back.
Come to think of it, the request… Last time I asked for a wide-area smoke screen to ensure a safe escape. Looks like it’s already been finished.
I decided to stop by later, closed the door, and returned to the desk. There was still a mountain of planning left to do.
Inside a half-burned abandoned building that gave off an eerie atmosphere.
“Wow… what the hell is all this?”
“Nothing pretty to look at. Just garbage.”
Amid dozens of police officers rushing about, two women stood out sharply as they conversed.
“Tsk. They really went all out.”
The woman with pale sky-blue hair and eyes frowned while analyzing the carnage before her.
Corpses that looked as if they had exploded from within. Bodies riddled with holes. The scene was littered with remains that belonged on a battlefield.
“Grenades, smoke bombs, shotguns… and this looks like a pistol. And…”
“There’s way too many!”
Just as the bustling blonde woman said, the sheer volume of traces on the corpses was excessive. The sky-blue-haired woman nodded.
“It’s most likely a large-scale gang fight between two groups.”
A single person couldn’t have used at least two or three different firearms along with various consumables. The guns alone had far too many bullets embedded to be discarded after only one or two magazines, and adding consumables would require more hands than one person possessed. Therefore it had to be multiple people—or an ability user capable of psychokinesis.
“Ah! Sis! Look over there!”
At the blonde’s shout the sky-blue-haired woman turned. What she saw was a man bound tightly with rope, a clean hole drilled through his forehead.
The woman grew curious that this particular corpse was in the cleanest condition and walked over.
“Has the identity of that body been confirmed?”
“Y-yes, ma’am! Ice Queen-nim! We just finished the background check! According to the results… it appears to be the villain Blue Scope himself!”
The nervous officer handed over the report with a trembling hand.
“Hmm. So this is Blue Scope?”
Ice Queen gazed down at the corpse with her pale blue eyes.
Blue Scope. His official villain rank was B, but the Association had been debating whether to promote him to B+ due to the unusual loyalty and unity of his organization…
Seeing him dead in such a pathetic state, her first reaction was pure bewilderment.
“A guy like him died this easily?”
There had been rumors he was on drugs lately, but he was still B-class.
“Sis! Come look at this!”
“What is it now!”
After a moment lost in thought, Ice Queen stood and walked toward the blonde’s voice.
“All the guns are right here!”
The blonde pointed. Sure enough, the firearms used in the massacre lay scattered on the ground.
“They really left them?”
But why would the perpetrators abandon their weapons? The question had barely formed when she picked one up to examine it—and another question immediately replaced it.
“What the… where’s the serial number?”
There was no manufacturing date, no factory mark—nothing. The other guns were the same.
“Homemade? No, the finish looks factory-grade.”
She had seen weapons from African or American plants before, but never anything completely unmarked. In a world where anyone could become a villain, firearms were supposed to be strictly controlled.
“Not just the guns—the other stuff is missing it too! That…”
“Serial number?”
“Yes! That!”
She soon checked grenade fragments recovered from another body. Again, no serial numbers.
“Just who are these people?”
There were traces everywhere, yet the perpetrator’s identity remained invisible. Male or female, one person or many, ability user or not—nothing could be determined.
At first glance it seemed like the work of a perfectionist professional. Yet that same professional had casually discarded the very firearms used to slaughter multiple villains, as if throwing away trash.
Was it confidence? A declaration that they could never be caught? Or an open challenge—go ahead and try to find me?
...Interesting.
A cold smile curved Ice Queen’s lips at the criminal’s provocative behavior. On the surface this would likely be written off as another pointless gang war between villains, but…
I should keep a closer eye on this.
Whether this was the end of the matter, or merely the beginning of something bigger.
The pale sky-blue eyes of A-class Hero Ice Queen flickered with cold interest.