Chapter 30
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: Shall We Try Being a Villain?
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Reina and Han Su-ji came in after wrapping things up outside. Lee Yoo-jeong trailed behind them.
From the looks on their faces, they had a ton of questions for me.
"Eun-ha. You've become a monster, haven't you?"
Well, not exactly a monster, but in normal human society, anyone seeing my body structure would classify me as one.
"That's not wrong. But having a core was the condition to awaken my power in the first place."
"Becoming a monster was the condition?"
Han Su-ji and Reina tilted their heads.
They sat demurely, and at least it didn't seem like they were about to distance themselves from me as a monster.
Lee Yoo-jeong, however, looked a bit uneasy.
She probably already knew my identity. Someone like her could dig up my real name easily.
Finding out the girl she'd been intimate with was the evil dragon that killed ten billion people? Even I'd feel weird about that.
"Yoo-jeong sunbae, you know now, right?"
"Uh... yeah."
"Then show these two the info. I give permission."
With my approval, Lee Yoo-jeong stared at me for a moment, then started adding details to the status window that only had the name Azidahaka on it.
Powerful authorities that didn't really need skills to back them up.
Reina and Han Su-ji stared at my updated status window, their faces twisting like Munch's The Scream.
"You're joking, right? Yoo Eun-ha is Azidahaka? That's horrifying."
"Look at my eyes and tongue."
After my full abilities awakened, my eyes and tongue had changed.
Personally, I didn't mind. Awakening meant different treatment.
Azi in Azidahaka meant snake or dragon, so some change in appearance was inevitable.
I could merge my split tongue back together, so it was basically just my eyes turning golden.
"Whoa."
Han Su-ji gaped at my eyes and the tongue that naturally split and rejoined.
Reina just blinked wide-eyed.
Of course, convincing these three took quite a while.
As I said, I told them I wasn't the Azidahaka from back then.
I was just a being with her power and memories.
Why was that convincing? Unlike the various photos of Azidahaka, I had proof of birth as Yoo Jin-seok's little sister.
I framed it like the vanished Azidahaka had passed her power and memories to me.
If Choi Si-woo became the second-generation Divine Sword Hero, then I was the second-generation Azidahaka.
That convinced the heroines.
Good thing—I was ready to subdue them with this body again if needed.
"So, what about that constellation thing you mentioned before?"
"That..."
It was hard to answer. I missed my old life as an office worker so much that even struggling day-to-day, I wanted to live like that again. I'd hallucinated it without realizing. I hadn't even talked about that era.
I was originally from this world. My office worker days were just buildup to becoming the current Yoo Eun-ha.
"It was just my hallucination."
"Even if we say it's fine, isn't handling demonic energy dangerous? If the Association finds out..."
"I don't need to use demonic energy at all."
Demonic energy was just what amateurs who couldn't control mana spread when they turned into monsters.
Unfortunately, I could act like the old Yoo Eun-ha with this body just fine.
"By the way, Yoo-jeong sunbae, where'd you go earlier?"
"When you were beating down Kim Jae-su. I submitted this video to the Association."
She showed me footage of me pummeling Kim Jae-su.
"When did you film that?"
Why do I only have stalkers around me?
"I couldn't keep a legendary scene like that to myself. Besides, we needed to show that Kim Jae-su died to a Hansung Academy cadet."
Did we really? Hansung Academy had been attacked.
With Kim Jae-su's backers still unknown, people needed to know what happened to him and who killed him if he was dead. That would reassure the remaining cadets and citizens.
That's how this world worked.
The generation that survived the monster invasions all craved heroes.
Especially Koreans, still reclaiming rural cities from the invasions.
Now an S-Rank hunter and comrade of a hero had betrayed them—citizens would be shaken.
Propaganda that Yoo Jin-seok's sister, the first-generation Divine Sword Hero and great hero, repelled Kim Jae-su could calm them.
"True, with the barrier breached and 300 casualties, we couldn't hide it anyway."
"The one thing dead Kim Jae-su overlooked was that he thought the hunters would get one-sidedly crushed. They fought back harder than expected and protected the cadets."
That was the problem.
The Hunter Association was a key organization even to the original story's end.
Amid guilds constantly brawling, it was the only mediator. But with such heavy losses to Association hunters, guilds wouldn't obey easily.
No Hunter Martial Law now.
Hunter Martial Law: In wars or massive monster waves, the Association could deploy hunters like a military without government approval.
Greed—or Gluttony—of the Seven Deadly Sins would incite China to invade. The Association used Martial Law to unite guilds. Well, just gather guild masters; protagonist Choi Si-woo handled the actual unity.
But with a traitor exposed and massive damage, Martial Law was off the table.
The future had changed big time again.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. So, group battle prep?"
Could we even do the group battle?
"Postponed for now."
Makes sense. Holding it now would be insane.
Choi Si-woo left the three to me and headed home first.
He had his own issues piling up.
The story had diverged too much from the original. The girlier Choi Si-woo was weaker than me now. I didn't know how strong he'd get, but with me alive and Azidahaka's powers awakened, I was basically the protagonist.
No one else could handle the Sins yet.
Congratulations, Master. You have found your true name.
"I'm still Yoo Eun-ha. If this is the original novel's setting, things just got dangerous. Choi Si-woo's like that, the Association's in shambles—how are we supposed to handle China?"
The protagonist is you, Master.
"Who doesn't know that? So what now?"
My head could handle it better now, so future info was fine.
The Association's weakening makes it hard to suppress villains across Korea.
"Exactly the problem."
Instead of subjugating them, recruit them as forces.
"As if they'd follow. Half are monsters."
Strictly speaking, Master is a monster too.
Go villain route, huh.
It was better than rebuilding hunters.
Subordinate all villains under me, use them to block Sins from China or elsewhere.
Villains were stronger than hunters anyway.
But problems arose.
In the original, subjugating villains let Korea reclaim the whole south. Ending the villain warlord era in hunters' name. This way, villains would usher in their era.
The current government is useless anyway, isn't it? Guilds aren't doing their jobs either.
Korea's government in this world was trash, from the president down.
Unlike my old world's president, this one—Ha Jeong-seok?—was a hunter origin, ambitious to reclaim power from the Association. He eyed gates for cores and artifacts to fatten his pockets.
UN's Gate Proliferation Ban Treaty forbade nurturing gates for resources.
Ha Jeong-seok pretended compliance while coveting gates in Pyongyang.
The Association kept the government in check, but now villain route seemed best.
"Where to start villainy?"
Have you made up your mind?
"I'll run it with the academy. Villains and cadets—both."
Villain side in secret, precisely.
I recommend taking full control of the Black God Cult.
Why Black God Cult first?
Excluding Seoul, nearby villain groups: Black God Cult in Incheon's Michuhol-gu, Sangok Alliance in Bupyeong, Villain Club in Bucheon.
Sangok Alliance and Villain Club—no named villains, probably small fry.
"Why Black God Cult?"
They collapsed once and lost major forces thanks to Kim Jae-su, but capable executives remain. The Black God they worship is Azidahaka—the Master.
"Use my identity to seize them instantly."
Yes.
I hated playing god for a cult.
But it was effective.
Just pose as their god, and Black God Cult falls under me, plus Incheon's villains.
"As they say, strike while the iron's hot."
Michuhol-gu, Incheon—head to the thickest demonic energy spot.
Problem: getting from Seoul to Incheon.
A barrier separated them, isolating demon-corrupted Incheon post-cataclysm.
"Hmm."
I could fly. Not full dragon like Azidahaka days, but wings were possible. Seoul wasn't that lax, though.
Flying to Incheon would draw pursuit.
I could shake them, but it'd be annoying.
"Geum Tae-yang for this."
But that meant revealing my identity to him.
It was illegal too—risky if my cover blew.
Academy break was perfect timing.
"Huh? A text?"
XXX-XXXX-XXXX: Hey, Yoo Eun-ha. This is Jeong Na-yoon, Hunter Association secretary and vice president. If you have time, can you come to the Association?
Jeong Na-yoon. Yoo Jin-seok's other heroine.
This might get me to Incheon.