Although a Villain, My Wish is World Peace

[I was worried hearing he was captured, but here he is seducing some old man…]

Eddie who opened his mouth as if dumbfounded frowned and added:

[By the way, your boss’s taste…]

[No, no!]

Cha Song-jin hurriedly threw out words. If he left Eddie’s words alone here, Kang Yi-sin’s image would fall to an irretrievable level.

[U-um. I’ll believe it’s not like that for now.]

Eddie closed his mouth with an uncomfortable expression. Cha Song-jin also had nothing to say. He denied it for now, but to look at a middle-aged man with moist eyes and say ‘Do you believe in fate?’

‘Come to think of it, that guy told me he was a prince on a white horse.’

Shouldn’t someone who casually spouts words like that be arrested under some kind of law?

Just as Cha Song-jin was shuddering thinking that. Han Seo-hyeon poked Cha Song-jin’s side and asked:

“What are they saying?”

“Hmm, trust me. You don’t want to hear what conversation is going on in there.”

“Why are you deciding that on your own? I might want to hear!”

Though he only meant to protect his mental state, he got a sharp response. Cha Song-jin recited the character for patience in his mind.

Right, didn’t they say if you endure three times, you can even avoid murder?

Let’s endure. The kid in front of me is a super strong necromancer.

Let’s endure. Even if I’m reborn, I can never beat that guy. No, if I lose to that guy, I’ll be reborn.

Let’s endure, if I don’t want to live the rest of my life as a skeleton.

Cha Song-jin who barely composed himself like that said:

“It doesn’t seem like he needs our help right away.”

Though he was only worried about Kang Yi-sin until he heard he was being transported unconsciously, when he actually came, there seemed to be no need to worry at all.

Han Seo-hyeon nodded while pouting his lips.

“Shouldn’t we go back?”

Han Seo-hyeon who turned his head sharply at Cha Song-jin’s words said:

“But since we’ve come all this way, let’s wait a bit more. He might need our help.”

Though they clearly agreed to go back if nothing was wrong. Cha Song-jin shrugged his shoulders.

Well, it’s understandable to be worried with a boss who casually replaces his body at the drop of a hat.

And so the Yi-sin-less Yi-sin team decided to hide in the darkness and watch the continuing situation for now.

* * *

Do you believe in fate?

At my words, John looked at me with a puzzled face.

“Don’t you feel it’s like fate that I, who happened to be a fan of John Smith, happened to fall before you like this?”

“Uh, well…”

“You don’t want to keep helping with bad things here forever, do you?”

“But if I escape from here, my younger sibling will be in danger.”

“I’m sorry to say this, but do you believe your sibling is still alive?”

At my question, John’s eyes clouded.

“But Diana promised me she would take good care of my sibling…”

It seems that Diana person is the boss?

Whether he believes her or not is John’s freedom, but unfortunately, I already knew the answer.

John’s sibling died long ago. This should be accurate since I heard it from John’s own mouth. I heard he wasted time for a sibling who was already dead.

“Have you ever met your sibling here even once?”

“My situation isn’t very good for meeting anyone.”

“Then, have you seen any evidence your sibling is alive? Like calling them, or seeing a photo?”

At my words, John’s expression darkened.

“No.”

“You know what kind of person your sibling was. No one keeps a troublemaker they no longer need alive.”

Unlike John, his sibling wasn’t a very good person. Even if they lost a loved one, I had no intention of sympathizing with a man who got involved with drugs and ruined not only his own life but his brother’s life as well.

If it weren’t for that guy, John would have lived a normal life. Though he would have been teased as an unpopular announcer.

“Is it my fault?”

“What?”

“Because I didn’t look for Philip, so Diana…”

“What on earth are you thinking?”

“If I had looked for that guy often, if I had, wouldn’t Philip have not died?”

He’s really a damn good person.

“No.”

I told him firmly.

“You’re not at all to blame for that guy’s death. No matter how many times you saved him, that person would have jumped towards death.”

John’s face darkened at my cold words.

“But it’s true I turned my back on a guy who needed my help. Honestly, uh, after coming here, I deliberately didn’t look for that guy. Thinking I’d done enough…”

I couldn’t watch John digging his own grave anymore. I said to John:

“You’ve already sacrificed enough for that guy. Just looking at you quitting being an announcer and being here makes it obvious!”

“Actually, I wasn’t very popular…”

“But you loved your job very much. Writing scripts to flow on the radio, reading listeners’ stories…”

“H-how did you know? I never told anyone that.”

“I told you I was a fan. If you listen to the radio, you can know that much from fan sentiment.”

At my words, John said with an innocent face, ‘I guess it wasn’t a lie!’ Though it’s questionable how he became an announcer with that mentality, I should be glad it passed safely thanks to that.

“So tell me. Do you want to escape from here?”

John looked at the knots binding my hands and feet and said with an embarrassed face:

“Usually in this situation, our lines should be reversed.”

Well, it is funny for someone with their hands and feet tied to say this.

I drew up magic and created a small ice spear. The ice spear that appeared in midair cut through the ropes binding my hands and feet in one go.

“Wow, wow.”

“I could leave anytime.”

“I-I guess so. You wouldn’t have needed my help at all…”

The reason I deliberately made a sound and spoke to John was not because I wanted to escape from here. John who finally understood the meaning in my eyes opened his mouth:

“Why are you trying to save me?”

“I told you, because I’m your fan.”

It’s not a lie.

Because I loved the radio John hosted terribly.

* * *

John was the most affectionate person I met in the white room.

Even when he was suddenly locked in the basement alone with me one day, John never got irritated when dealing with me.

It was the same when he was told out of the blue that he had to teach me.

Seol Rok-jin locked me and John in that damn room with a small electronic dictionary, and thanks to that, I had to hold onto that tiny electronic dictionary all day to talk with John.

For me who could only do very basic English until just a few days ago, conversation with this blue-eyed gentleman was only burdensome.

The word John said to me most was ‘It’s okay.’

John said everything was okay.

It’s okay if you make a mistake.

It’s okay if you get irritated.

Even if I got angry, or cursed.

He said it was all okay.

Even though I never actually asked him if it was okay, John was considerate of me even in that situation.

Thanks to his consideration, I barely got my bearings and started learning English from him.

He was an announcer at a local broadcasting station and was good enough at writing to write the opening lines for the radio he hosted himself, and he told me new stories every day.

When I opened my eyes in the morning, John would recite new opening lines to me every morning as if he had become a radio host, and I learned about his world through John’s radio.

“It’s an exceptionally bright sunny day. On days like this, you feel good no matter what you do, but there’s nothing as refreshing as driving down a long stretch of road. With my heart wanting to be your driving companion, I’ll start today’s morning radio with Deep Purple’s Highway Star.”

John’s singing skills that followed were terrible, but it was enough to make me laugh.

When I listened to John’s opening lines, I could close my eyes and imagine I was driving through the American West, forgetting the current situation.

Thanks to that, I was able to spend a very enjoyable time locked up with John.

However, the more enjoyable time I spent with John, the more anxiety began to fill a corner of my heart.

Would Seol Rok-jin really keep John alive after my lessons with him were over?

Considering the pattern so far, that seemed unlikely.

“What’s wrong?”

“John, do you think you can get out of here?”

I was young and didn’t know how to wisely hide my inner thoughts. Out of guilt towards John, I made the worst choice of transferring my worries to him.

Almost none of the people locked up with me in this room so far have made it out alive.

The day I told John those words, I couldn’t even look him in the eye properly.

“I’m sorry, because of me…”

To me saying that with my head bowed low, John gave me warm words as he always comforted me:

“It’s okay. It’s not your fault. So don’t be like that. Let’s be happy until our last day, for my sake too. That’s enough for me.”

John who patted my shoulder told me new news the next day too, just the same.

I asked him:

“Why did you quit being an announcer? When you’re so good at it.”

“Well, maybe because of my name?”

“Name?”

“I guess John Smith isn’t a good name for a public figure. Too common, too unmemorable.”

“It’s certainly not an impactful name.”

“I thought about changing my name, but I didn’t want to change the name my parents gave me.”

John’s face looked lonely as he said that and smiled.

“It might be better to have a common name if I think about how there will be no one to remember me and call my name in the future. There must be tons of John Smiths in the world…”

“I’ll remember you.”

That was the only promise I could keep.

“There’s nothing more I can teach you.”

“How can there be nothing? There’s so much I don’t know. I’ve only just started speaking English.”

“No, you’ve learned everything I can teach. Anyone who hears your English will say it’s perfect.”

“No.”

I shook my head.

But John was firm.

“We can’t stay locked up here together forever, can we?”

Though my graduation meant his death, John calmly told me the time had come for me to graduate.

That day, I fought with him for the first time and didn’t say a word to him. And I deliberately started pretending I couldn’t speak English.

But that didn’t last long either.

The next day, Seol Rok-jin came and told me.

That he would give me time for a final goodbye.

Because he was an ‘excellent teacher’, it was a consideration he was giving.

Hearing those words, I couldn’t say anything like an idiot, but John was different. John who heard those words started the radio the next day with opening lines I could never forget:

“Today is the day my student graduates. The friend who couldn’t even properly recite the alphabet at first has now become a wonderful English speaker who could be an announcer. I’m happy and happy again. Because the world my student will live in from now on has become a little wider. Today, let me recommend one last song for my student. John Lennon sings. Bless You.”

I didn’t want to lose my first teacher I had barely given affection to like this. To me who was just wailing and crying, John said:

“Yi-sin, I think, you know. You don’t need to feel sorry for me at all.”

John who said that looked at my face and said:

“I can escape by dying here, but you can’t, can you? So you don’t need to feel sorry for me. Rather, I’m more sorry. For escaping and leaving you behind.”

He was a foolish teacher who only worried about me until the end.