The Path of a Villain
“...It really is a skill selection space.” Kang Hyuk let out a dry chuckle as he looked ahead. A pure white space. Floating before him were two cards. The card on the left depicted a flame, while the card on the right depicted a sword...!
“...So I have to choose between Firearms Creation and Cold Weapons Creation?” Kang Hyuk muttered softly, his dry chuckle fading. The two cards bore only simple, minimalist illustrations.
But as a seasoned veteran who had played Hero of the World for three years, Kang Hyuk understood instantly what the two cards represented.
In Hero of the World, skill trees were determined by a character's unique traits. In other words, just as he suspected, the two cards undoubtedly represented Firearms Creation and Cold Weapons Creation. After all, the unique trait Kang Hyuk possessed was none other than Creation.
Phew... I have no idea how this happened, but looking at how things are playing out, it seems I really have no choice but to live in this world. Now that the game has become reality, 'Game Over' simply means death.
Kang Hyuk shuddered as he recalled the 'man with the skull tattoo' he had killed just moments ago. If he hadn't managed to kill him by a stroke of sheer luck, he would have been the one lying dead.
Come to think of it, the level-up notification rang the moment I killed that man... Which means the Villain Mode is active on me...!
Kang Hyuk's expression suddenly hardened. Hero of the World was a game set in a modern world where magic and superpowers coexisted. Fittingly for a hero, players could only level up by performing 'good deeds'—acts of salvation such as rescuing people or defeating villains.
However, with Villain Mode active, it was clear Kang Hyuk could not level up that way. According to the mod's description, a villain's only means of leveling up was 'killing'...! In other words, Kang Hyuk was now in a position where he would have to kill many more people besides the skull-tattooed man. To survive in this crazy world overrun by heroes and villains, leveling up was an absolute necessity.
Ha... This is driving me insane. To get stronger, I have to kill? That's literally just being a villain. If I had known this would happen, I never would have installed that mod in the first place...!
Kang Hyuk dragged his hands down his face. But he quickly shook his head vigorously. Regret was utterly pointless now. What he needed to do from this moment on was choose the optimal skill to prepare for what lay ahead.
“...Let's think.” Steeling his resolve, Kang Hyuk began to carefully weigh the pros and cons of the two skills. However, his deliberation didn't last long. No matter how much magic and superpowers dominated this world, firearms remained incredibly lethal weapons. Even an unemployed loser who couldn't kill a single ant could take down a low-ranking hero or villain if handed a gun.
On the other hand, cold weapons have lower immediate lethality and are too difficult for a beginner to use. For someone like me, whose only martial arts experience is Taekwondo—and a yellow belt at that—Cold Weapons Creation isn't a very good choice.
With that thought, Kang Hyuk reached directly for the card on the left. Now that his mind was made up, there was no reason to hesitate any longer.
Flash! The moment Kang Hyuk touched the card, it erupted in a brilliant flash of light, transforming into a cluster of particles that absorbed into his body. At that moment, a notification chimed in his head!
You have acquired the skill: 5.56mm Pistol-type Creation!
Just as he had anticipated, the card on the left was a firearms creation skill—specifically, one that allowed him to create small-caliber pistols. As his level rose, the variety of firearms he could create would surely expand...!
...Am I going back? A moment later, having absorbed all the knowledge related to the skill, Kang Hyuk felt the pure white space rapidly collapsing around him. One way or another, it seemed he would have to survive in Hero of the World from now on. As an SSS-class villain possessing the unique trait of Creation, no less.
Kerberos Headquarters.
“...What? The raid failed?” Harold, the boss of Kerberos, asked, his eyebrows twitching. He was in an extremely foul mood, all because of the report his subordinate had just delivered.
“It appears so, Boss. All contact with the strike team was lost immediately after their final report confirming entry into the underground parking lot of the Yongsan-pa building.”
“...Even from Skullhead?” Harold asked, hoping against hope. Skullhead was one of Kerberos's executives and a subordinate he trusted quite deeply.
“I'm sorry, Boss. Not a single word from him either...”
“Damn it...!” Harold clenched his fists. This raid was something Kerberos had been preparing for a very long time. They had targeted the weak Yongsan-pa, spending months just mapping out the optimal route and timing to strike their building! If this raid had succeeded, Kerberos would have expanded its territory in a single bound...!
“The Yongsan-pa bastards don't have the strength to stop our strike team! Who the hell was it? Who dared to stand in the way of Kerberos?”
“We are still looking into it... but it appears the Black Dragon Society interfered.”
“What? The Black Dragon Society? How on earth did those bastards find out? Did our intel leak?” Harold's eyes flashed with sudden fury. But his subordinate merely shook his head.
“That doesn't seem to be the case, Boss. As soon as we lost contact with the strike team, we urgently checked on the Black Dragon Society's movements, and they seemed just as bewildered. My guess is that the two strike teams crossed paths by pure coincidence in the underground parking lot of the Yongsan-pa building. Both Kerberos and the Black Dragon Society were targeting the Yongsan-pa branch, ran into each other, and ended up wiping each other out.”
“Wh-what...? What kind of bullshit luck is that...!” Harold let out a loud, dumbfounded groan. How could they possibly be this unlucky? Still, if there was any silver lining, it was that Kerberos wasn't the only one who took a hit. The elite forces of both syndicates had run into each other and mutually annihilated themselves.
“Ugh, fuck... If I had known, I would have moved the schedule up! Who would have thought those Black Dragon Society bastards were targeting Yongsan-pa too...!” Harold ground his teeth. No matter how positively he tried to spin it, this was just an incredibly rotten stroke of bad luck.
“Then, Boss, what should we do now?”
“Fuck, what do you mean 'what should we do'? We lay low for a while! Our forces have been gutted, so if we stick our necks out now, we're dead meat!”
“Will Yongsan-pa and the Black Dragon Society stay quiet?”
“Yongsan-pa didn't lose anything, so they won't say shit. The Black Dragon Society's forces were also decimated, so they'll shut their fucking mouths and lay low just like us. There's nothing to worry about!” Harold snapped irritably. Compared to the Black Dragon Society and Kerberos, Yongsan-pa was a minor player. Even with both major organizations severely weakened, Yongsan-pa wouldn't dare make a move. They would certainly be on high alert and try to bolster their defenses after this incident, though.
“If anyone makes it back, report it to me immediately. If not, we leave it at that!”
“What about recovering the bodies...?”
“There's no need to recover the strike team's bodies. They're already dead, so why waste the effort? The Black Dragon Society bastards are probably thinking the exact same thing. Let the Yongsan-pa guys clean up the mess.”
“...Understood, Boss.” The subordinate bowed his head at Harold's command. Just as Harold had predicted, the leader of the Black Dragon Society was issuing a nearly identical order at that very moment. Because of this, none of the three factions—including Yongsan-pa—had any way of knowing the truth: that there had been a single survivor among the strike teams.
A dark alleyway.
...I need a new identity, Kang Hyuk thought as he trudged along. Currently, his identity was that of a low-level combatant of the Black Dragon Society...! However, Kang Hyuk had no intention of keeping this status. To survive to the very end in Hero of the World, he had to level up consistently, and being a grunt for the Black Dragon Society was hardly the best way to do that.
Of course, fighting their rival syndicate, Kerberos, would present plenty of opportunities to kill. But that would only help him in the early stages. In his eyes, both the Black Dragon Society and Kerberos were mediocre, low-tier organizations. No matter how many of their members he killed, his leveling progress would eventually grind to a halt.
Besides, I absolutely despise working under anyone. If I have to kill, I'll be the one choosing who dies. I have no intention of taking orders from anyone.
Kang Hyuk thought with a bitter smile, quickening his pace. First, he planned to leave Yongsan-gu entirely and establish himself in a new area. Under normal circumstances, deserting the syndicate would have been incredibly difficult. But right now, the Black Dragon Society and Kerberos had just suffered a massive clash! With so many members dead, his sudden disappearance would go completely unnoticed.
When he thought about it, this was truly the perfect opportunity to secure a new home and a new identity.
“...Where to, sir?” a taxi driver asked as Kang Hyuk emerged from the alleyway and hailed a cab. Kang Hyuk pondered for a moment before speaking.
“Gangnam-gu, please.”
“You got it.” Soon, the taxi sped down the road with a loud rumble of its exhaust. A massive full moon hung high in the night sky.