The Villain Appears (2)
The forest was alive with the sounds of fear and pain.
A burning flame ball the size of a human head rocketed through the air, spewing scorching heat as it hurtled straight toward me.
I’d been about to dodge, but something felt off the instant I tried to move.
My body weighed a thousand pounds. It was like sinking into a waterlogged cotton ball—every motion sluggish, heavy, impossible.
Then the strange numbness hit me full force. I couldn’t feel my legs. They just trembled helplessly, half-dead and weak.
…What the hell is this?
I swallowed hard and forced my mouth to form words.
Ah, right.
I’d burned through my stamina and mana in one go when I used Sword Qi Projection earlier. That was why my body felt like it had been hit by a truck.
It was the same tired feeling you get after a brutal workout—muscles screaming to stop but you’re still moving anyway.
I could have forced myself to move. But it was too late.
The flame was already closing in fast.
Shit… this is bad…
Just then a soft voice cut through the chaos.
“Hmph.”
Lee Siwoo’s hand flashed like a bolt of lightning as he swung his broken sword.
The fiery blob twisted along the edge of his blade, following its path with eerie smoothness, then veered off harmlessly to the side.
It looked almost like water flowing along a riverbed.
That technique… was it called Streamflow?
A defensive skill I remembered from the game. One of the defensive moves the legendary sword genius taught his disciples.
…How can a broken sword handle that? This guy is seriously something.
I let out a short, involuntary sigh inside my head.
Of course he wasn’t doing it for me. He was just brushing the flame off himself. Still, the relief was real. After the chaos earlier, it was reassuring to see Siwoo move like this.
“Hey, shorty. You actually manage to do something?”
……
The man wearing the twisted rabbit mask reacted with a faint twitch. I quietly studied his face.
Kim Hwasung.
A classic flame user who could generate fire without any fuel.
He could control the flames perfectly and his killing power was high, so using it required real caution.
But Kim Hwasung had zero hesitation. Since he was a kid he’d been obsessed with his own strength and the flames themselves. Watching things burn gave him a strange sense of pleasure and thrill.
After he grew up he burned down museums, forests, entire buildings—hundreds of times—chasing that same high.
Until he finally got caught by a hero and sent to prison.
But he was out already?
Kim Hwasung… even though he’s got a terrifying ability, he’s still just a pyromaniac according to the settings.
A pyromaniac was still a pyromaniac.
He hadn’t gone through any real combat training for hero-versus-hero or monster-versus-hero battles.
Because he never trained seriously, his actual combat strength was lower than his ability suggested. He was exactly what the nickname implied—a pleasure-obsessed arsonist.
At worst he was an ordinary civilian who’d been setting fires with his flames, nothing like the direct enemies the heroes fought.
He was the kind of guy heroes usually had to avoid, not the other way around.
That twisted rabbit mask was his signature—left at the scene of one of his crimes.
So as long as I stayed careful with his flames, he was definitely someone I could handle.
…I’ve beaten him a few times in the game. That’s why I know a lot about him.
I realized the gamer community had a soft spot for this extra NPC villain.
But why the hell was he here right now?
According to the main story, he was supposed to show up much later.
Anyway, first I need to take care of the rest of them. The others…
I glanced behind Kim Hwasung at the two guys there.
They looked like villains too, but honestly they gave off major back-alley thug vibes—small-time, annoying pests.
Especially since they were already flustered after watching Siwoo dodge the flame with nothing but his broken sword.
“Wait, he just called him Siwoo, right?”
“Siwoo…? No way, that sword genius’s disciple?”
“He’s the top student of the Union, apparently. We should’ve contacted them first, right?”
“Yeah… we should’ve.”
The name “Siwoo” made them uneasy. They hadn’t expected to run into someone with that kind of status.
Unlike Kim Hwasung, these two didn’t have any info on them. But.
If they get this rattled just from hearing Siwoo’s name, they’re not that big a threat.
Real villains who’d fought actual heroes would’ve been way calmer.
Siwoo might be a genius, but he was still just an academy student.
That reaction was proof of how skilled they actually were.
Still… contacting them? Is this the work of the Rebellion?
The Rebellion.
The villain organization that would eventually threaten the protagonist’s group.
They were made up of only a tiny elite core, but right now they were strong enough that the protagonist’s party couldn’t even touch them.
This feels like the main episode— the overnight training camp raid… does it?
The training camp raid was the first time the Rebellion ever got global attention.
They had weird abilities and insane power, but the numbers were tiny.
That’s why the “Hero Maniac” villain among them brainwashed some weak thugs on the street and used them as bait to attack the academy.
Originally it should’ve happened after finals, but it happened this early.
Was it because of something I did?
Maybe my actions had triggered a butterfly effect.
Or maybe not. Either way, I felt uneasy.
If this was all because of me… damn it.
For now, I’ll focus on dealing with these guys. I can worry about the big picture later.
I didn’t have time to analyze everything while villains were standing right in front of me.
First thing first—put out the immediate fire, then think.
I swallowed dryly and quietly tightened my grip on the bow I’d slipped to the ground.
“~Pathetic bastards. You’re already scared of kids?”
“What?”
Kim Hwasung glanced at the two villains and sneered.
“You scared little shits, huh? I’ll handle this Siwoo guy. You take care of the shorty. He’s pretty famous lately, right? A non-ability user no less. You think he’s gonna be scared too?”
“That guy… probably…”
“I saw him on TV. He’s some kind of archery prodigy or something. Not exactly impressive.”
The villains suddenly turned to me and Siwoo, ready to fight.
And I casually tossed the sword from my waist toward Siwoo.
He caught it reflexively.
“…Why to me?”
“You broke your sword, dummy. You can use this one.”
“What about you?”
“I’ve got this.”
I flicked the bow lightly.
“…You sure about this?”
“Probably.”
“…”
“The bow is better for you than the one I’m using.”
“Fine… yeah, okay. Jinhyuk.”
Siwoo looked at me with a flicker of hesitation before nodding.
Ah, does Siwoo really think I’m just a bow user? Not the sword guy?
Of course, I used Sword Qi Projection too, but still… I really am a bow user.
I even learned archery in my past life.
So don’t look at me like that, okay? Sorry for stealing your sword.
“Siwoo, this pyromaniac seems to be after you.”
“Mm.”
“I’ll handle the other two. Can you take care of the flames, Siwoo?”
“Sure.”
Siwoo glanced at the flames once before speaking.
“I’ll knock him out quick and help you, Jinhyuk.”
“Yeah, thanks. If you can do that, I’d appreciate it.”
…Sorry, Siwoo.
I punched the air in your direction.
Is Kim Hwasung really stronger than those two?
Maybe I should’ve taken him out first and helped you instead.
“Heh heh. I wonder if that handsome face will still look hot after it gets burned by flames.”
“……”
Kim Hwasung suddenly spat flames at Siwoo.
Siwoo swung his sword and stepped forward without a moment’s hesitation.
And me and the other two villains…
“Kid, you’re famous lately, huh? No abilities and you’re still standing there.”
“Tough luck. You got into the Union because you’re smart, but look at you now.”
The two of them were chattering away like they’d already won.
Well, I was a non-ability user, and the bow and arrows I was holding were just training gear. They had the advantage.
But do you know what?
I’ve got tons of items stored in my subspace ring.
Special monster-killing arrows, paper enchanted with all kinds of magic, explosive talismans, giant-villain capture nets, electric shock guns, sleeping powder, paralyzing gas grenades…
Real fights are basically decided by who has the better items, right?
Fighting with bare hands would be tough, but with this many items I wasn’t worried.
I wasn’t sure how strong they were, but they were probably just low-tier villains.
The kind who would’ve barely contributed any experience points even in the training camp raid episode.
Me, even though I was the weakest student, I still managed to enroll in the Union.
I had elite gear and now I had these items too.
There was no way I’d lose to them.
Probably.
Some area of the forest.
The once-quiet woods were now soaked in blood.
Screams of agony mixed with the thick smell of iron filled the air.
“Grrrk… ugh… you… you bastard…!”
“Ahh, what is this? This is supposed to be South Korea’s hope? It’s not as dramatic as I thought.”
Yu Dahui stood with her snow-white hair cascading down, lazily stretching out her arms to grab a student by the throat and lift him into the air.
The student in her grip was Kang Daehan.
The best spear user, rival to Siwoo in strength… but now he was dangling helplessly like a puppet.
Kang Daehan’s mind was growing hazy.
That woman… she’s a monster.
She was playing with him like a child.
Well, not just him. He slowly scanned the surroundings.
Countless bodies lay scattered around Yu Dahui—security guards and Union students.
No one seemed dead, but every single one looked critically injured.
Broken legs, crushed ribs, pools of blood everywhere.
The security guards were all former heroes, so they should have been strong. But they were completely helpless against this white-haired girl.
They looked no older than academy students.
How was she so strong?
It felt like watching the childhood of legendary figures who once dominated South Korea.
Or maybe more than that.
No one their age should have had this kind of power—even the Sword Master and Kang Cheolwoon.
Why did this villain have such talent…?