The Mad Villain
A short while later, Kang Hyuk returned to the original spot and quickly scanned his surroundings. Fortunately, time seemed to flow differently in the skill selection space, as everything remained exactly as he had left it. The pitch-black alleyway, the three corpses, and the dark crimson pool of blood they had pooled together...!
'Damn it. How on earth am I supposed to clean this up? And where did the Witch of Seduction run off to?' Kang Hyuk grimaced. Leveling up and acquiring a new skill was certainly exhilarating, but the reality of having killed a hero and his subordinates, only to let the Witch of Seduction slip through his fingers, left him feeling utterly stranded.
'I can hunt down the Witch of Seduction later. First, I need to dispose of these bodies. If word gets out that I'm a "Hero Killer," things will get incredibly messy.' With that thought, Kang Hyuk began dragging the corpses one by one. If he had it his way, he would have incinerated them all on the spot, leaving nothing but ash. But how could he pull off a stunt like that in a cramped alleyway? For now, his only option was to hide them deep in a secluded corner where no one would easily stumble upon them.
"Whew... At least they won't find them easily once the sun comes up." After dragging all three bodies into a dark, recessed corner, Kang Hyuk wiped the sweat from his forehead and muttered to himself. He had managed to put out the immediate fire.
'But I can't keep them hidden here forever. I need someone to dispose of them. A professional.' As he kicked dirt and sand over the pool of blood to cover it up, he searched his memories. Come to think of it, wasn't there someone in Hero of the World who specialized in handling corpses like these...?
"...Ah!" After a long moment of contemplation, Kang Hyuk's eyes lit up. He realized there was only one person who could cleanly dispose of a hero's corpse.
"I have to move fast." Using his frost bullets one last time, Kang Hyuk froze the three corpses as thoroughly as possible before quickly slipping out of the alleyway. The alley he left behind was bone-chillingly cold.
Her heart hammered wildly against her ribs.
"...Haah! Haah! Haah! I-I can't go any further!" Aila finally collapsed onto the pavement, unable to take another step. Her lungs burned, gasping desperately for air.
"Haah...! Haaah...! I almost died. It's been so long since I went out, and of all people, I had to run into a psycho like that...!"
Aila muttered under her breath as she tried to catch her breath. Her true identity was none other than the F-class villain known as the 'Witch of Seduction'!
She regularly went out to hunt men, as her ability allowed her to absorb their essence and convert it into her own life force. The more life force she accumulated, the younger and more beautiful she became. Even though she knew the men drained of their essence would die, she couldn't stop hunting. After all, maintaining eternal youth was the ultimate dream of every woman.
That was precisely why she had gone out tonight to feed. She had been briefly startled to realize one of the three men she ran into was an E-class hero she had seen on television, but it didn't matter. Once a man fell under her seduction, his essence was hers for the taking, no matter who he was!
But her grand plans had been utterly shattered by a single lunatic. The psycho had tried to shoot her dead without a second thought, and when his shot was blocked, he simply slaughtered the three men who got in his way. In essence, the F-class villain 'Witch of Seduction' had crossed paths with a truly 'mad villain.' Talk about terrible luck.
"Ugh... I ran all the way here, so there's no way he's still following me. Seriously, what did I do to deserve this bad luck?!" Aila grumbled, using two fingers to pinch and pull her sweat-soaked clothes away from her skin.
Passersby swallowed hard as they stared at her, but none dared to approach. She was currently resting on a brightly lit sidewalk near a major thoroughfare.
'Who on earth was that guy? To be that ruthless, he has to be a famous villain... I'll have to look into it once I get home. And warn my friends, too.'
Even villains had their own online communities, and as an F-class villain, the Witch of Seduction was an active user. Once she got back, she planned to dig up the psycho's identity and post a warning on the forums telling everyone to watch out for him. She would warn them about a crazy bastard of a villain who hunted his own kind.
Aila was absolutely convinced that the lunatic who attacked her was a villain. Otherwise, why would he have killed a hero? The hero he killed was the E-class hero, G-Force Man! Unless you were a villain, there was no way you would slaughter a hero so mercilessly.
"Sigh... I'm exhausted." After resting long enough to recover her strength, Aila picked herself up and started walking again. Countless eyes lingered on her as she passed, but she couldn't care less. She was all too familiar with the lecherous gazes of men.
Morning came. Visiting an internet cafe early in the morning, Kang Hyuk immediately accessed the deep web. The deep web referred to websites that couldn't be found through standard search engines, and Kang Hyuk's destination was the exclusive villain community forum, 'Black Dot Com.' The person who could dispose of the three corpses hidden in the alley operated there.
"...Hmm?"
But just as he logged into Black Dot Com, a particular post caught his eye. The title of the thread read: 'Ran into a total psycho last night.thread'
"...Hmm." Kang Hyuk frowned as he read through the post. The details felt incredibly familiar. If his guess was correct, the author of this post was undoubtedly the Witch of Seduction.
'Should I have chased her down?' Kang Hyuk felt a pang of concern. He wasn't strong enough yet. If the villain community started keeping tabs on him this early, his growth would be severely hindered.
'...No, there's no need to worry.' But a moment later, as he scrolled down, Kang Hyuk let out a sigh of relief. Looking at the comments, it seemed he didn't need to worry about being targeted at all.
"...Thank goodness she's an idiot." Kang Hyuk chuckled and navigated to the recruitment board.
In truth, he could understand the Witch of Seduction's perspective. Villains never viewed each other as allies. As expected of serious criminals, they prioritized their own self-interest above all else. In other words, writing a post that could easily expose one's identity on a villain forum was a foolish move. Revealing too much could easily get one quietly assassinated.
"...Let's see." After entering the recruitment board, Kang Hyuk began browsing through the listings. It didn't take long before he spotted a particular post. The title read: 'Disposing of corpses (Hero corpses preferred).' And the author of the post was none other than 'Gwang-ui.'
'B-class villain Gwang-ui...! The psychotic doctor who collects corpses to create chimeras...!' Kang Hyuk stroked his chin.
In truth, Gwang-ui wasn't particularly powerful. Furthermore, he had never once killed an innocent person. So why was he classified as a B-class villain? While others might not know, Kang Hyuk knew the reason all too well. It was because Gwang-ui had dug up the graves of SS-class heroes. And he had done it twice.
'Gwang-ui is absolutely obsessed with hero corpses...! There's no way he'll turn down my offer.' Kang Hyuk began drafting a private message to Gwang-ui. Once Gwang-ui received this message, the three corpses Kang Hyuk had hidden away would vanish without a trace in less than a day.