I Became a Villain
I Became a Villain
A peaceful afternoon.
A city bustling with people.
I stood on the rooftop of a building there, looking down.
"Haah..."
An open sky, buildings stitching the ground below.
An ordinary scene indistinguishable from any other day in South Korea.
But I knew this world was different from the one I had known.
I was standing in the world of the superhero comic Stardust!
Yeah. A world where villains attack every day, and heroes with special superpowers fly around. That world. And I was transmigrated into it.
"..."
The superhero comic Stardust!
The day I read the final chapter of the comic I once enjoyed most, I fell into this world without any explanation.
"Still, I did get abilities, I guess..."
Even the god who dumped me here seemed to think sending me barehanded was a bit much, so they gave me some superpowers. Two abilities: teleportation and telekinesis.
The only problem was, surviving in this world with those two defective abilities would be tough.
The world I'd transmigrated into belonged to a particularly nasty category of superhero comics. Later in the Original Work, the power balance would collapse until most heroes and villains had cheat abilities capable of demolishing entire cities with their bare hands.
And I would have to survive that latter half with only two abilities: teleportation, which drained my stamina according to distance, and telekinesis, which imposed a penalty after every use.
"Ah, what's the use of just grumbling. Let's get to work."
...Thinking that, I shook off the gloomy thoughts.
Right. Get to work. Time's wasting.
The job, by the way, was killing villains.
To be precise, it meant preemptively dealing with villains who would eventually gain enough power to destroy an entire country.
Even if my own superpowers were weak, I had one special ability no one else did.
'Knowledge of the Original Work.'
I knew everything about this world from the original comic. That meant, naturally, that I knew the real names, residences, and everything else about the main villains.
And I was going to take them out while they were still weak—before they grew too strong to handle.
"...Right, let's go."
On the rooftop, I checked my outfit once more.
A black robe, a black cape, and even a white mask covering half my face.
...It looked like cosplay, but in this world, this was standard attire for an ability user.
Okay, perfect.
With preparations done, I teleported straight from the rooftop to the target villain's location.
Now.
Time to hunt a villain.
***
Rhino was an A-rank villain.
A main villain from the latter half of Stardust!, and a prime example of an ability user powerful enough to destroy a city single-handedly.
Wearing a rhino mask, he carried out terrorist attacks using his ability to control his horn. After his ability awakened further in the latter half of the Original Work, he went berserk, and his attacks alone killed hundreds.
To prevent that future, I needed to deal with him while his ability was still weak.
This early point in the original timeline was the perfect time.
So I teleported straight into the middle of his house.
As soon as I moved, I saw him: sitting in front of the sofa, holding papers.
He had been staring intently at the papers, but the moment I appeared in the middle of his living room, he jumped in shock.
"Wh-what the hell are you?!"
"Rhino."
I smiled, said that much, then locked his body in place with telekinesis. Good, he couldn't move.
Then I stood before the panicking man, casually aimed a gun at him, and said:
"Goodbye."
"What the hell are you doing?! You son of a—"
—Bang.
And with that, the gunshot rang out.
"..."
"Haah..."
I looked at the body collapsed on the floor and sighed softly.
A villain destined to terrorize the world had died just like that.
...Still, it doesn't get easier.
Honestly, this wasn't my first time dealing with a villain like this. It was already the second. Yet the feeling after the job never got any easier.
"Ah, jeez..."
Goodbye, Rhino. I did enjoy your fight scenes with the protagonist in the Original Work.
Forcing my gaze away, I picked up the papers he'd been looking at.
...Blueprints for a department store. And an attack plan written beside it.
"Tch, figures."
I set the papers—scribbled with plans to kill people—back on the floor, then casually stepped into his room and opened the wardrobe.
And there it was, hidden deep inside: the rhino mask he used for his terrorist attacks.
I pulled it out, returned to the living room, and flung it down next to where his body lay.
This much should be enough for the police or the Hero Association to realize instantly that he was Rhino.
"What else should I do..."
I muttered to myself in the middle of the living room.
Rhino was already down, and I was the one who had dealt with him.
The trouble was, this obviously wasn't legal.
By law, villains were supposed to be tried and punished through the courts. Vigilantism was illegal, and anyone who carried it out would be treated as a villain too.
But that didn't matter to me. No. If anything, it was better.
I was planning to become a villain in this world.
"..."
That was why I stood there, quietly looking down at the cold body of Rhino.
Everyone needed to know that I was a villain. Especially Stardus.
To do that, I obviously needed attention. Once his body was discovered, I had to make it clear that a villain—namely me—had been responsible.
What would work...
I thought for a moment, then snapped my fingers, decision made.
Right. Let's do this.
This would definitely make it look like a villain's work.
Having made up my mind, I began to move my gloved hand.
***
The Korean Association of Superpowered Individuals.
Commonly known as the Hero Association.
Shin Ha-ru, aka Stardus, an A-rank hero belonging to that organization.
She was currently standing with a grim expression, observing the atrocity that had taken place in a private home.
"So this is Rhino?"
"Yes, that's correct."
The officer beside her answered her question with a short nod.
He continued.
"...When we arrived after a resident reported hearing a gunshot, it was already over. The killer appears to have fled and is very likely the same person who previously killed another villain with telekinesis. In particular, look at that mark..."
He pointed beside the horrific body, which had collapsed as if struck by an explosion—likely caused by telekinesis. Something had been written there in blood.
To you, Stardus.
A phrase that gave off a strangely eerie feeling.
Stardus stared at the message and muttered under her breath.
"Bastard."
...No evil person, whoever they are, should die like this. They have to stand before a court and receive punishment through a fair trial.
"...'To Stardus,' huh. Hah."
She didn't know why this guy had singled her out.
But if this was a provocation, she almost felt like complimenting him.
A villain who broke the law and committed murder on his own whim.
This scumbag.
He would pay the price for messing with her.
With that vow, she left the crime scene with a grim expression.
Whether the dead man was evil or not wasn't the point.
What mattered was that a villain who hurt people was in this city.
And she would stop him, no matter who he was.
***
[At 7 p.m. today, A-rank villain Rhino was found dead in his home. He appears to have been killed at the scene, and the identity of his killer has not yet been revealed. The Association announced that the culprit is presumed to use telekinesis and officially designated him an A-rank villain.]
That night.
While resting at home, I turned toward the TV when I heard them talking about me.
The image of that house and Stardus's face appeared on the screen.
[...A-rank hero Stardus stated that the villain who singled her out was an unforgivable, lawless individual and that she would do her utmost to arrest him.]
The official news finally broke, huh.
There it was—the commotion I had caused.
Confirming that, I turned on my phone and skimmed the news articles. Even the comments below the breaking news articles...
[Wait, if he's only hunting other villains, isn't he a hero? Why label him a villain?]
[For real lol. I like him. Villains just escape jail anyway, so I support just killing them.]
[I support this villain. Do heroes have to catch him? He's better than them.]
...Huh, this isn't the reaction I expected.
"Mm..."
I let out a low hum as I read through the comments on the articles. People seemed generally favorable toward me. After checking the online communities too, I found that most reactions were similar.
"..."
I guessed it was because I'd only been eliminating villains so far.
That was a problem. It wasn't good. If public opinion of me turned favorable like that, public opinion of Stardus—the hero chasing someone like me—could turn negative.
Stardus.
My favorite character, and the protagonist of the original comic based on this world.
The reason I was going around dealing with villains like that was entirely for her sake.
Well, she'll never know.
My goal was for her to live a life free of needless suffering.
Rather than having her spirit worn down through life-or-death battles like in the Original Work, my wish was for her to live happily. Now that I'd already been transported into a grimdark hero comic, what was the point of life if I couldn't at least make my favorite character happy?
Stardus—I would clear out all the villains who tormented her in advance. I would sweep away the villains who destroyed cities, killed everyone, and carried out terrorist attacks, so our protagonist could live a life free of needless suffering...!
...The problem, however, is that she is the protagonist of this world.
Meaning, she needs some trials to grow stronger.
If I removed all those trials in advance, she could never grow. Especially since she needed to become strong enough to face the original story's final boss, her growth was even more critical.
That led me to one conclusion: I would become a villain myself.
I would become Stardus's arch-enemy and oppose her. Instead of preemptively eliminating the main villains who would kill hundreds, I would personally give her only trials she could handle.
Which meant that, for it to work, I clearly needed to be perceived as a villain.
...So what was I supposed to do?
Was there a way to reveal to the public that I was a villain while also letting Stardus grow through victory?
And I found a solution.
I needed a proper public debut as a villain—one that put me directly in front of the public.
A terrorist attack.
Villains always reveal their presence through terrorist attacks.
Okay, what was I supposed to do?
How could I stage an attack that barely hurt any civilians, made me look evil, and improved public opinion of Stardus...?
Granted, what could an ordinary former civilian like me come up with? Still, I had all the superhero stories I'd read in my previous life to draw on.
Meaning, if I drew on those, I could at least do a decent job.
"Alright, let's do this."
Having made my decision, I pulled out my phone and called the helper I had recruited beforehand.
"Uh, Seo-eun. What're you up to?"
Next, I needed to get bombs and install devices...
Gonna be busy.
***
At the Korean Hero Association.
Inside Stardus's office.
As Stardus sat working at her desk, a staff member burst through the door into her office.
"Stardus! Turn on the broadcast right now!"
"What is it?"
"That villain—the one who assassinated Rhino last time—has hijacked the airwaves and is broadcasting!"
"...What?"
She hurriedly switched on the television mounted on the office wall. A man appeared on the screen.
Against a black background, a man in a gray mask covering half his face was speaking.
[Hello, citizens.]
It was the moment the mysterious villain finally revealed himself.