A Villain's Day
A Villain's Day
I didn't have the ability to read minds.
So, as for what Shadow Walker thought of me at that point—I really couldn't say.
...That said, knowing his simple personality from the Original Work, I believed it wouldn't take him long to trust me. A few more encounters might even have gotten us to the point of sharing a drink.
His simplicity would eventually get him deceived and betrayed, but that was a future problem, so I set it aside for then.
Once I'd prevented the most urgent crisis—Shadow Walker's girlfriend murder case—and earned a few points with Shadow Walker himself...
Mm. Peace of mind.
I could say that a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.
I felt myself relax a little.
I ran back through everything I'd accomplished so far.
The biggest achievement was still accelerating Stardus's growth far beyond the Original Work's timeline. Since Stardus was the alpha and omega of everything, that mattered most.
On top of that, Stardus's stress levels were probably a fraction of what the Original Work would have put her through—another major win. By that point in the manhwa, her mental state had already been ground to dust. But then? Compared with the original, she had to be practically happy.
What else?
Right. People who would've died without me—already dozens, maybe hundreds. Cities saved, several of them. And I used this chance to block Shadow Walker's corruption, too.
The Villain Alliance was coming together smoothly too. How smoothly? Ha-yul, who had just taken the college entrance exam, had finally chosen her university.
"Yeonhee University, nursing?"
"Yes! I didn't expect much from this one, but I got in!"
Ha-yul beamed as she said it. Honestly, she already had an S-rank healing ability, so what was the point of college? But if she wanted to go, who was I to stop her? University was an experience in itself.
Although... Yeonhee University. That's where Stardus—Shin Ha-ru—goes.
That thought made me pause, but then I remembered that first-years at Yeonhee used a different campus from the rest, so I could relax. Right, Ha-ru was a fourth-year by then, wasn't she? They wouldn't even run into each other. Hell, she would graduate the following year.
...Right? Yeah. I was sure they wouldn't. No way.
And hey—Stardus has never actually seen our Ha-yul in person, has she? It'll be fine.
While I was thinking all that, another thought started creeping in: if Stardus became strong enough one day and the Villain Alliance could run itself without me, couldn't I simply kick back and rest?
No, seriously. The world is actually humming along pretty peacefully.
It had been a long time since things looked anything like that bleak Original Work setting. At that point, was this a healing story?
I mean, the Moonlight Church was still very much active, and plenty of villains remained, so perhaps not. But anyway.
The point was that, as far as I knew, nothing major would happen for a while.
That meant I could stretch my legs and rest.
So I decided to take things a little easier.
What could go wrong?
***
A few days later, a bright afternoon.
Warm sunlight streamed through the window, softly lighting the living room. I sat on the floor below the sofa.
I swallowed hard.
"...Everyone ready?"
"Obviously. Big bro, get ready to lose. First place is mine."
"Heh. Sorry, Seo-eun, but first place is mine."
There I was, sitting in the middle with a controller in my hands, all set.
On either side of me, Seo-eun and Se-hee each held a controller of their own, matching smiles on their faces.
And Eun-wol, acting as referee.
In front of us, on the TV screen, the numbers were counting down.
[Three— two— one—]
[Go!!]
With that, three cars simultaneously launched onscreen, each controlled by one of us.
The three of us had made a bet. Finish all three tracks in first place, and the other two have to grant the winner one wish.
Thus began the villains' fierce battle.
"Agh! I got hit by a shell!"
"Sorry, Seo-eun! That was me!"
"Big bro, seriously? You're going to do me like that?"
"Tch... why is this so damn sweaty..."
A bloodthirsty showdown among villains.
The first track ended. The competition started getting more... electric.
No, literally electric. Static was starting to crackle around Choi Se-hee.
"Hey, Choi Se-hee! Do something about your static!"
"Tch. I'm concentrating. Stop bothering me."
"Big sis! My arm is actually starting to sting!"
The downside of electricity-type ability users: when they focus, they lose control of their electricity.
I judged that this situation was going to critically compromise our match. The emergency called for an emergency measure.
What else? Running away, obviously.
"Big bro, where are you going?!"
"Sorry, Seo-eun! I need to live!"
I teleported to a spot well away from the sofa.
The greatest advantage of teleportation was that one could change seats in the middle of a game without taking one's eyes off the screen.
But... why did it feel as though the static was still reaching me even from way over here?
"Hey, Choi Se-hee! How the hell is your static reaching all the way over here? You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?"
"Tch... I know nothing. Don't ask. Heh."
In a game where one slip means a one-way trip to the abyss, I couldn't exactly turn my head to look at Choi Se-hee. But I didn't need to see her to know she was grinning.
...Fine. That’s how we’re playing it, huh?
So there I was, stuck in last place under a harassment campaign of static electricity.
Yeah. That couldn't go on.
As I'd said earlier, emergencies called for emergency measures.
I activated my telekinesis and lifted controllers into the air.
Not mine. Theirs.
"Agh—!"
"Big bro!!! Why are you doing it to me too?!"
Screams burst from their lips—the once-in-a-lifetime shock of having your controller float up out of your hands while you're locked in on a game.
Harassment for harassment. Ability for ability.
They thought I was powerless? I was a respectable dual-ability user with telekinesis, thank you very much.
...I did feel a little sorry for Seo-eun. I apologized on behalf of trash adults everywhere.
Thanks to my sabotage campaign, I shot back into first place. Yeah, that was more like it.
For the record, Seo-eun, caught in the crossfire of two awful adults, had been knocked into dead last.
"...Fine. So that's how you two want to play this?"
Grinding her teeth, Seo-eun suddenly stopped driving and started manipulating her controller in bizarre ways. To an outsider, it looked like she was mashing random buttons—like someone trying to pull off fighting-game combos.
For a second, I thought she'd finally snapped and quit the game.
Then my car suddenly stopped driving and started soaring up into the sky. Like Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, my car left the track and hurled itself toward the distant cosmos!
"What the hell is this!!"
"Tch—Seo-eun! You did this, didn't you!!"
"Ha. Big sis and big bro started it. Did you think I had no abilities of my own?"
Having apparently input some kind of code to launch us into space, Seo-eun was now serenely speeding down the empty track in first place.
Choi Se-hee and I eventually plummeted back to earth, but by then it was too late to catch up.
At this rate, we'd lose one hundred percent.
As I was thinking that, my eyes met Choi Se-hee's from across the room.
Reading each other's intentions at the same time, we nodded slightly. Right. As the old saying went, the enemy of my enemy was my friend. Sportsmanship had been beaten into the ground and buried long ago. Pretending to be dignified then would have been pure hypocrisy.
Seo-eun, life was a practical exercise. When she went out into the real world, her enemies wouldn't fight fairly or follow the rules. They would use any means, no matter how cheap or dirty, to drag her down. To ensure Seo-eun wouldn't be caught off guard by the cruelty of the world, I decided to give her a little advance training.
Just as Seo-eun was about to cross the finish line, a crackle of static hit her back. At the same moment, the controller in her hands began vibrating like mad, wrenching her control away.
"Big sis! Big bro! Are you seriously doing this?!"
"Ugh... I'm sorry, Seo-eun. Forgive me!"
"Tch... I didn't do anything, Seo-eun. You trust me, right?"
"Hey, you."
"I mean it!!! No!!!"
In the moment Seo-eun was thrown off, the two of us caught up in an instant.
"Nngh!!!"
"Tch... coming through!"
"You think I'm gonna lose?"
Finally, one of us was about to cross the final finish line—!!!
—Ffft.
The TV screen abruptly went black, then shut off completely.
"..."
"..."
"..."
A momentary silence gripped the living room.
The three of us were all frozen from the sudden turn of events.
Only Eun-wol, who had been blankly watching our whole circus from the sofa, spoke up with an awkward laugh.
"...Uh. If it ends like this, it's a tie."
"..."
"..."
"Tch... Seo-eun! You did something weird earlier—you broke the TV, didn't you?"
"Big sis, you're blaming me?!"
"Pfft... no. Heh, this is seriously killing me. What the hell have we even been doing? Look at this ending."
Choi Se-hee burst out into full-blown laughter now.
Seo-eun stared at her, completely dumbfounded. Then, as if realizing how ridiculous the situation was, she snorted and cracked up too.
Watching them, I smiled.
...Ah. How long has it been since I just shut my brain off and goofed around like this?
I couldn't help laughing myself.
...Yeah. This is happiness. Happiness isn't some far-off thing, really. Gathered together like this, laughing and playing and talking—isn't that what real happiness is?
I didn't know how long I would be able to laugh like this without another thought in my head. But nothing major was supposed to happen for a while, so it was fine. I decided to enjoy this moment.
I was smiling at the thought when the TV—which had shut off earlier—finally lit back up.
"Oh? It's turning back on."
I pointed at it.
I mean, we'd paid for a fairly good television. How had it broken like that?
The power light was on, but the screen was still swallowed by pitch-black darkness.
Staring at that TV, I was the first to realize something was wrong.
...Wait. I didn't think it was a malfunction.
And as if to confirm my thought—
All of a sudden,
On the giant black TV screen,
All of a sudden,
on the enormous black television screen,
the moon—
a white moon—rose into the center.
"....What is that?"
Choi Se-hee tilted her head at the sudden development.
Behind her, Eun-wol—
spoke in a trembling voice.
"Moonlight..."
"Huh?"
"That moon is the symbol of the Moonlight Church...."
Eun-wol murmured, a hint of fear in her voice.
At the same moment, the crackling voice of an old person began to emerge from the screen.
[Ah....][Ah... dear children...][I am Cheon Wol-hwang, the Moonlight Cult Leader.... I greet you for the first time. Are you in good health....]
Listening to that crackling, grating voice,
my face hardened.
What the hell.
This definitely had never happened in the Original Work.