Chapter 53 – Villain [for Sister]

『Since last year, Yangseon Electronics has been running Halloween discount promotions at Seoul Station. If we utilize that, we can deploy the summons more naturally.』

Yang Seungjun said that to Seo Juhwi.

As he said, Seo Juhwi’s summons—six skeleton soldiers—entered Seoul Station’s main hall naturally alongside the Yangseon Electronics promotional booth and were soon dispersed to appropriate locations.

Since the mana had been withdrawn from the summons, no mana was leaking out at all, and because of that, the Geondong Guild, responsible for security at Seoul Station, failed to notice their presence.

‘Could they have planned this for a whole year?’

Looking down from the hall railing at the promotional booth set up below, Seo Juhwi smiled coldly.

‘Well, those who have it always want more… They could have just left something like this to a small or medium-sized guild…’

Seo Juhwi shook his head side to side.

‘Well, from my perspective, it’s not a bad deal.’

Seo Juhwi recalled the 500 million won in cash delivered to him two days ago.

‘Yeah, go ahead and rake it in. That way, people like me will become more valuable too.’

Thinking that, Seo Juhwi took a wand out from inside his coat.

The mana of a C-Rank Necromancer-type villain amplified through the wand and flew in six directions.

Immediately, the skeleton soldiers standing in various places awoke and began to move.

‘Killing about 100 people should be enough, right?’

The skeleton soldiers would ultimately be destroyed.

Since there was no way to retrieve and take them back, once the Geondong Guild and the Superhuman Association agents waiting in the subway station mobilized, the skeleton soldiers would undoubtedly all be destroyed.

‘If I receive the Summon Storage Skill as a success reward, I’ll save on material costs from now on, right?’

Watching the moving skeleton soldiers, Seo Juhwi wore a sinister smile.

The men’s restroom was crowded with people.

From soldiers in uniform returning to their units to homeless people.

Siguk waited in line behind them for his turn.

‘According to Dmitry, it seems I should go to Dandong, not Sinuiju…’

It was easy to get close to the Russian FSB or the Far East Development Department. After all, in his past life, one of Siguk’s major overseas clients was the Russian Far East Government, established based on the Far East Development Department and the FSB Far East District Branch.

He knew exactly how to approach them.

But China was different.

‘The Ministry of State Security…’

In his past life, the relationship between Siguk and China’s Ministry of State Security was nothing more or less than that between a power organization and a villain.

‘If Bureau Zero is moving, that means the superhuman agents belonging to it are moving…’

The image of the Bureau Zero director of the Ministry of State Security, whom he had faced for the first and last time in his past life, surfaced in Siguk’s mind.

‘Zhou Peiling…’

A B-Rank Magic-type superhuman, estimated to be around the same age as Siguk, an agent of the Ministry of State Security, and also the director of Bureau Zero, overseeing all superhuman agents.

Recalling Zhou Peiling, Siguk shuddered once.

‘She was a vicious woman.’

Siguk recalled a fragment of his past life memory where he almost burned to death in the eternal flames of hell.

Just then, the urinal spot in front of him became vacant, so he unzipped and stood before the urinal.

And the moment he was about to urinate,

“!”

Seven mana waves felt from Seoul Station’s main hall.

They definitely weren’t from the two Hunters at the outpost located at the entrance to the main hall.

Siguk immediately zipped up and rushed out of the restroom.

And he could see it.

“Kyaaah-! Jungi!”

Hwang Jungi standing between Nayeon and a skeleton soldier, the skeleton soldier’s scimitar passing through his back, and Nayeon screaming.

Siguk’s eyes flipped.

His mana was unleashed all at once, and in an instant, a storm of mana erupted around him.

Crackle-!

The floor split, and cracks appeared on the walls.

Siguk charged toward the skeleton soldier trying to embed its scimitar into the falling Hwang Jungi’s back.

In the blink of an eye, space and space narrowed.

Siguk’s frenzied eyes met the skeleton soldier’s will-o’-the-wisp-like eyes.

Thud-!

The next moment, Siguk and the skeleton soldier collided.

Before the simple but powerful B-Rank superhuman’s physical charge, the skeleton soldier lost what could be called its life force and shattered into pieces.

Siguk caught the scimitar soaring into the air and falling.

His gaze turned to Hwang Jungi, collapsed on the floor, bleeding from his back, and Nayeon, wailing beside him, not knowing what to do.

The next moment, his gaze turned to the entire main hall.

Screams and the sounds of people falling could be heard from everywhere.

Clatter clatter.

With will-o’-the-wisps lit in their pitch-black empty eye sockets and making bone-clattering sounds, the skeleton soldiers were hunting people.

Before the scimitars they wielded, unawakened ordinary people could only flee or die.

“Jungi! Jungi! Snap out of it!”

Nayeon wailed.

“……”

Hwang Jungi, face down on the floor, bleeding from his back.

That scene, that sound, that emotion, that scream, that sorrow stimulated Siguk’s rage and madness.

However, his combat sense, honed over long years as a villain on battlefields, calmly assessed the situation.

‘Skeleton soldiers. Typical undead summons of a necromancer. Rank D. Troublesome entities; once they start pushing with numbers, they become difficult for melee dealers to handle.’

Siguk’s gaze turned toward the second floor of the main hall, where the strongest mana wave was felt.

‘But if the necromancer dies, they immediately lose their life force and disappear.’

The moment the judgment was made, Siguk leaped into the air.

His gaze, his senses, his blade all focused on a single person.

‘Kill.’

Toward the C-Rank villain Seo Juhwi, looking at Siguk with a bewildered expression.

‘Wh-what?!’

Seo Juhwi, who had been watching the scene of slaughter in the main hall with a relaxed expression, panicked upon seeing Siguk, holding a scimitar, leaping toward her.

Because she hadn’t even imagined there would be a superhuman.

But even while panicking, she calmly pointed her wand at Siguk and used a skill.

‘Bind!’

Mana was consumed, and a binding curse shot out through the wand, flying toward Siguk.

At that moment, Siguk’s two eyes turned into bright yellow snake eyes and emitted a powerful light.

In the instant the light burst forth, Seo Juhwi tightly closed her eyes and slightly lowered her head.

The next moment, she could see.

The man with snake eyes standing before her, and the blood-stained scimitar flying toward her neck.

‘He didn’t get cursed?!’

Seo Juhwi panicked.

At the same time, she calmly assessed the situation.

‘I can’t block this attack.’

Necromancer or Druid-type superhumans tend to be rated one rank higher than their actual rank.

Because with enough money and time, they alone could command a summon force larger than a company.

Indeed, the A-Rank Necromancer-type villain Ululu Tumbebe reigns as an absolute power in Central Africa using an undead legion capable of opposing a national army.

But where there are strengths, there are weaknesses.

While necromancers and druids, with their strong commander-like nature, exhibit exceptional power on the battlefield, in one-on-one close combat, they show weakness enough to be rated one rank below their actual rank.

‘But I can withstand one hit. He seems like a C-Rank melee dealer; I just need to withstand one hit.’

Trusting her fully charged life force, Seo Juhwi extended her wand forward again.

And at that moment, the scimitar lightly sliced through Seo Juhwi’s neck.

‘Huh?’

Looking at the world spinning dizzily, Seo Juhwi momentarily couldn’t make a normal judgment.

Thud.

And only upon seeing her own torso, losing its head and spurting blood, and Siguk kicking that torso, did she finally realize.

‘J-just one hit?’

Seo Juhwi’s eyes turned toward Siguk.

As Siguk looked at the sole of his shoe, she thought.

‘This bastard… At least B-Rank…’

Splat-!

That was the last thought she had in her life.

After stomping on and crushing Seo Juhwi’s head, Siguk, covered in blood, looked down at her remains with his bright yellow snake eyes for a while.

Siguk withdrew his Snake Eye. His eyes returned to normal.

His gaze turned to the main hall.

The skeleton soldiers that had been hunting humans had all fallen to the floor, their will-o’-the-wisps extinguished.

Countless people were trembling in panic and fear.

Amidst the dead and injured scattered everywhere, the screams and cries of what seemed to be their acquaintances filled the main hall.

Meanwhile, some people were looking at Siguk.

Most were those who had kept some distance from the skeleton soldiers, enough to avoid being hunted by them.

Ignoring those gazes, Siguk jumped down again.

Landing softly, Siguk immediately threw the scimitar aside and ran toward the wailing Nayeon and the fallen Hwang Jungi.

“Hwaaang-! Jungi! Please… snap out of it!”

Nayeon, crying like a child with tears and snot, laughing desperately.

Hwang Jungi, spurting blood, gradually dying.

And himself, who could only watch.

‘I… I…’

Siguk clenched his fist tightly.

His arm trembled violently.

The madly surging mana from his body shot out through the crown of his head like a storm into the void.

“Jungi!”

Nayeon wailed, looking at Hwang Jungi.

At that moment, her final appearance from his past life overlapped.

The helpless figure of a woman who, betrayed mercilessly by those she trusted, by the things she believed were love, betrayed again and again, until finally crushed, leaving nothing behind.

And his own incompetence, unable to offer any help or comfort to that helpless woman, who shared a bond like a real sister.

In the end, she ended her life vainly in his past life.

That’s why, after his regression, Siguk lived upholding two major principles.

First, I will live for my sweet life.

Second, I will create a happy life for Nayeon.

But now, Nayeon was screaming and grieving.

Watching the man who could have quenched her deep thirst for true love—the genuine love she so desperately wanted in her past life, no different from then—dying before her.

Crying helplessly, just like in his past life.

And Siguk was watching it too.

Unable to offer any help.

“What the hell is the Geondong Guild doing!”

“Report it to the Association!”

“Call 119 first!”

People who had relatively quickly snapped out of panic sought the Geondong Guild, the Association, and 119.

Amidst the bustle, talk about Siguk circulated among those who had already noticed him.

People who had regained their senses also began to be aware of Siguk.

Clap clap clap-!

Someone started clapping.

While some were still in a state of panic screaming, applause spread like an epidemic among the people around Siguk.

In the face of an unexpected villain’s terror, those who had lost loved ones and those who had panicked at the fact they could have died needed a hero.

And Siguk, who had instantly taken down the villain, clearly had the external qualifications sufficient to sit in that hero’s seat.

Siguk’s gaze turned toward the people.

As if entranced by something, they were clapping.

Some were even shedding tears.

Those who hadn’t noticed Siguk also joined in clapping.

‘Stop it.’

Siguk’s expression soured.

‘Stop it, you crazy bastards.’

Like those obsessed with fanatical ideologies, like those immersed in fanatical faith, the crowd was elevating Siguk as a hero.

‘Why are you clapping and making a fuss?’

But Siguk himself couldn’t accept their attitude.

‘What did I even do?’

Siguk’s gaze returned to Nayeon and Hwang Jungi.

“Oppa! Do something! Jungi is going to die like this!”

Nayeon looked up at him, wailing.

But Siguk had skills to kill people, not to save them.

119 wouldn’t arrive quickly.

The Geondong Guild is a small-to-medium guild, and generally, small-to-medium guilds don’t have healers.

The Superhuman Association doesn’t have healers either.

Healers can only be found in large guilds.

Hwang Jungi’s back is split wide open.

Trying to protect Nayeon at the cost of his life, he really looked like he was going to die.

But there was nothing Siguk could do.

‘……’

Before chaebols, before the president, before the FSB director, before North Korea’s supreme leader, Siguk had never once felt powerless.

Before Siguk, they were merely weak beings who could be hunted anytime, whom he didn’t hunt only because he disliked living a life marked as a villain and pursued.

But now, he was feeling powerless. And very desperately so.

Siguk tightly closed his eyes.

The dying Hwang Jungi, Nayeon wailing while looking at him, and his own useless self—

He couldn’t bear to look at any of them anymore.

[Do you desire power?]

At that moment, a single intense ringing pierced Siguk’s soul.

Siguk opened his eyes.

‘……’

Siguk clearly perceived himself floating in a space filled with stars.

Below him, he saw the blue planet, Earth.

Earth rapidly moved away from him.

Passing Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune in an instant.

Passing through the solar system, through the galaxy, Siguk was pulled deep into the universe.

Moving at a speed far exceeding light, folding and skipping through space, Siguk abruptly stopped at a certain point.

And he could see it.

A vast dark space large enough to contain hundreds of millions of galaxies.

Pure darkness itself, without a single point of light.

A swirling darkness.

The bleak, massive lightning constantly raging at the center of that darkness.

[You who have called me.]

The darkness that had called him.