Villain Training (2)
Deep within Black Moon's headquarters, in the executive conference room.
Beneath dim lighting filtered through black marble, the members of the Gu-ya-je — Black Moon's council of executives — sat in their respective seats, eyes locked on one another in silent confrontation.
On the enormous monitor atop the round table, a news broadcast was still playing, reporting the failure of the amusement park attack.
“We're three short again? Fine, I'll grant that Yu-gyeong is with that bastard Jo Jin-hyun right now, but the rest of them are absent yet again?”
“Aside from the two whose bodies are too massive to even fit through the conference room door, it's the same deadweight as always.”
“Enough. I'd rather they not show up at all than have to look at those mugs. Speaking of which, why is our main event so late?”
“…Ah, here he comes now.”
Jo Jin-hyun had walked into the meeting a little late, having just finished treatment on his injured right hand.
Combat officer Jeong Seok-hoon stared at the right hand now replaced with a mechanical prosthetic and sneered coldly.
“What a hilarious sight. I take it you gambled away your right hand somewhere?”
“…Stay out of my business.”
Jo Jin-hyun forced himself to ignore the stares boring into him from every direction and sat down irritably in his seat.
Tactical analyst Jin Su-rin, whose relationship with him had never been amicable, was the first to open her mouth and press the attack.
“Shall we hear your excuse, then? How does it feel to botch an entire operation because you couldn't properly control a single theme park?”
“It was an unanticipated variable that threw off the plan. Those goddamn blue-haired bastards showing up out of nowhere was not something I could have predicted.”
“If an operation falls apart over two academy freshmen, wasn't it garbage from the very start? Last time you blamed my operation for letting Kim Isabel slip away during the entrance exam — and yet the grand plan hatched by His Excellency the 'Field Commander,' who so loves running around on-site, amounts to nothing either?”
-Krrrk.
“Shut your mouth, Jin Su-rin. If you hadn't stuck your nose in, Kim Isabel would have been brought over to our side long ago, brainwashing and all.”
“Really? How tragic. Then you should have tried a little harder yourself. Isn't the operation dead because the great leader kept sending underlings while cowering behind them to the very end?”
“I agree with her. Bang Hwa-cheol may have been your man, but he was a fairly important piece for the organization as a whole. Kang Kal-jin was sloppy about keeping his crime scenes clean, granted, but when it came to assassinations his success rate was second to none. What a shame they had the misfortune of serving under the wrong leader.”
Confronted by the words of Jin Su-rin and then Jeong Seok-hoon, Jo Jin-hyun found no retort and carefully averted his head.
Two consecutive operations had failed, and he had lost more than half of his subordinates besides — his standing within the organization was now hanging by a thread.
“So? What's the plan now?”
“I kill them. Every last one of those goddamn brats.”
“In that condition? Your right hand's in pieces and it looks like you came back having lost your artifact to boot. You really think you can manage it?”
“That's none of your concern. Besides, if I happen to slip up and leave an executive seat empty, isn't that a good thing for you?”
“Where you go and die is none of my business, true — but they weren't your men. Those were people with every chance of being put to far better use than dying like dogs obeying your orders.”
“…Open your mouth and just spew whatever comes out, don't you.”
“If you have a complaint, settle it with your fists. In any case, if you're planning to drag whatever's left of your people into another half-assed stunt, I'll oppose it.”
“…….”
“Well, if you intend to charge in alone and die, I won't stop you. That much is your freedom.”
“Yes, yes. If you're going to do it anyway, couldn't you hurry up and start the next operation? Among all the schemes you've got brewing, Jo Jin-hyun, there's one I'm actually looking forward to for once. Honestly, the name Gu-ya-je is getting a bit stale, don't you think? How about we take the opportunity and rename it the Pal-ya-je? Hmm?”
-SLAM!
Unable to hold back his temper any longer under the mockery of Jeong Seok-hoon and Jin Su-rin, Jo Jin-hyun kicked his chair back and rose to his feet.
Where his mechanical arm came crashing down, a hairline fracture spread across the round table.
“Fine. You'll get exactly what you're asking for.”
“…….”
“…….”
“I'll handle it my own way, just as you bastards want, so keep your noses out of it and concern yourselves with your own work. As of now, I'm washing my hands of the Kim Isabel acquisition operation entirely.”
“Suit yourself. I had nothing more to ask of you anyway. No ability, nothing but a filthy excess of pride.”
“The man who nearly died after dragging thirty members plus Kang Kal-jin and Bang Hwa-cheol along with him wants to charge back in and get himself killed, does he? I won't stop you. I won't pray for you either.”
“…Right. Then let's see just how well you bastards manage on your own.”
With irritated strides, Jo Jin-hyun kicked his chair aside and marched out of the conference room.
The moment his footsteps faded beyond the door, the head of Gu Do-hyun — the logistics officer who had spent the entire meeting slumped face-down at the far end of the table — slowly rose.
“…Is the meeting over?”
Min Ye-won. Incoming first-year, Spear Department, Myeongwol Academy.
The woman who, acting on Jo Jin-hyun's orders during the Cheonmu Academy entrance exam, had isolated Kim Isabel alone inside the dungeon.
If she had simply been a villain who played her part and exited the stage, I wouldn't have bothered remembering her name. But Min Ye-won was not the kind of villain who appeared once and vanished.
Sure, she'd genuinely started the whole thing for money — but crime has a way of trapping you the moment you're in; once you join, there's no walking away.
Jo Jin-hyun, having lost his men and his credibility within the organization, would come to her then, using the money she'd received as leverage. And Min Ye-won, terrified that she'd be implicated in his crimes, would accept his proposal.
In other words, it was self-evident: left alone, she would go on to become a villain who tormented us alongside Jo Jin-hyun. So this time, I decided I would intervene and make my move first.
'It'll deviate a little from the original novel's flow, but this much I'll have to accept.'
Why let Jo Jin-hyun live according to the original story at the risk of danger, while intervening in Min Ye-won's case? Simple — it's my whim.
Whether Jo Jin-hyun dies or is ruined as in the original is none of my concern. Min Ye-won, on the other hand, interests me a little.
She isn't as beautiful as my other heroines, but she's decent enough on the eyes, so my main goal was to raise her as a toy to play with at my leisure. Villain or not, she's got a passable face and the right holes.
-Tap, tap, tap.
“Ugh, damn it! Goddamn it, goddamn it, GODDAMN IT!!”
'…He's here.'
Jo Jin-hyun appeared in front of the three-story villa where Min Ye-won lived, grumbling under his breath.
After confirming that he was heading up to her villa, I hid nearby and waited quietly. It was he who needed to persuade her — that would make my own approach to her far easier later on.
If I moved toward Min Ye-won first, even a fool would grow wary, so it was better to make her come to me instead.
'And he'll create that opportunity all on his own.'
In the original story, Min Ye-won's first assignment had been none other than 'seducing Seo Woojin.'
Both of his operations had failed because of Seo Woojin, and it was Seo Woojin who'd taken his right arm besides — so naturally, he became Jo Jin-hyun's first target.
And in this world, I was the one who had completely taken over Seo Woojin's role. Which meant 'seduce Seo Woojin' would become 'seduce Lee Seonho' — and land squarely on me.
'Not that Jo Jin-hyun is in any position to order her to attack or kill anyone at this point.'
Even if he threatened her into cooperating by dangling her criminal involvement, Min Ye-won wasn't stupid enough to go as far as murder.
So his plan would be to use her first — have her lure me into a dungeon of his choosing and settle things inside. Once you're in a dungeon, Jo Jin-hyun's Monster Dominance is all but invincible, after all.
A plan that exploited the fact that Min Ye-won was fairly pretty, and that she was, in any case, set to enroll at Myeongwol Hunter Academy.
So I waited in front of the villa for about an hour, hoping Jo Jin-hyun would do his persuading properly, and quietly watched from behind the shade of a tree as he stepped out of the villa doors with a nasty grin on his face.
“That goddamn brat Lee Seonho…. You're first, for now. Khekhek…”
…Yes, thank you for confirming it for me.
Things seemed to be flowing roughly along the original storyline, so tomorrow, maybe I'd go sit and wait at the café Min Ye-won frequented.
Ugh, so annoying!
Annoying, annoying, ANNOYING!
What is that man's problem?! He's absolutely insufferable!
Where was all that generosity when he promised money if I just shoved that girl Isabel into a dungeon alone? Why is he changing his tune now?!
What? The money's tied to a crime, so if he turns himself in, I won't be safe either? And if I don't want to do it, I have to give the money back?
Isn't that going too far?! He already paid my Myeongwol Academy tuition AND my dorm fees — how am I supposed to pay that back?
…Not that I had any particular intention of returning it, honestly.
'Well, I did think it was too easy, I guess.'
One hundred million just for pushing one girl into a dungeon alone? Thinking about it now, that was more than a little off.
But still, a man should keep his word! This is just too much.
Suddenly telling an innocent girl like me to go seduce some guy, of all things. I've never even really dated anyone, so I don't even know how you'd go about it.
…Though I did get confessed to plenty back in school.
'Lee Seonho, was it? An incoming student in the Combat Support Department at Cheonmu Academy?'
Combat Support? Whatever, that's nothing. Useless-looking, too — why on earth would he want me to seduce a guy like that? …Though I'll admit, Cheonmu Academy does make me a little jealous.
I heard later that there were so few applicants for this year's practical exam that catching three goblins was enough to pass.
Ugh, I regret it for no reason now. I should've just ignored that weird man and taken the practical exam myself. If I'd known it would be this much of a headache, I never would've taken the money in the first place.
'…If I'd just taken the entrance exam alongside her back then, I wouldn't be agonizing over this.'
Maybe I should defer for a year and take the Cheonmu Academy exam again next year. Though Myeongwol Academy is a pretty decent school in its own right…
Or should I just work part-time, pay the money back, and be done with it? What if I get tangled up with him again and it turns out to be some weird crime?
And where on earth am I supposed to find this Lee Seonho guy? What if I run into him by chance on the street? What do I even say? 'I fell for you at first sight, so give me your number?'
Blegh. No matter how I think about it, that's a no. I mean, this Lee Seonho guy wasn't even that handsome to begin with.
If anything, when it comes to confessing, it should be him doing it, not me. Hm, but how would he even go about it?
“Ahh, my head hurts. I'll just think about it later.”
I mean, I'd have to know where this Lee Seonho guy even is before I could seduce him or not, right?
I could always tell him later, 'I looked everywhere, but I just couldn't find him.' I'm not a detective — how am I supposed to track someone down from just a name and a face?
I didn't even want to think about it anymore. I'd just eat something sweet and cheer myself up. Yeah, that'll do. Whatever.
-Ding-a-ling.
“Welcome in~.”
“Hello~.”
Well, the money that man gave me was plenty. I'm getting honey bread piled high with fresh cream. And to drink… a caramel macchiato, I think….
“Lee Seonho-ssi, here's your order.”
Huh? What did they just say?
“You can grab your straw from the left side there.”
“Thanks.”
Wh-wha…?
I was planning to tell him later that I'd looked everywhere and simply couldn't find him, so I'd had no choice but to give up.
But if I've found him this fast…. Hm. What am I supposed to do now….