Although a Villain, My Wish is World Peace

“Taika returns after dealing with the calamity of a top-tier sandstorm, only to be backstabbed by Weltschmerz and have the spoils stolen!”

“Who is Weltschmerz, who fooled Taika Cooper? A recently emerging villain in Korea!”

“The item stolen from Weltschmerz is a mana stone! What’s its estimated value?”

“What exactly happened inside that sandstorm? Tracing the events of that day!”

The internet was in an uproar. Most of the headlines that appeared as I scrolled down contained the words Weltschmerz or Taika Cooper.

While such attention wasn’t unfamiliar, given that he often made the 9 o’clock news even for a single cough…

Had his image ever been made to look this ridiculous before?

“You’re not angry, are you?”

To the man asking him that, Oh Seung-woo, Taika shrugged his shoulders.

“No. It’s strange that my image had become this good in the first place.”

Unlike what was known to the public, Taika Cooper was just an ordinary 21-year-old young man. A bit clumsy, excessively curious, sleepy, and prone to complaining.

But this ordinary young man possessed the power to erase, if not a continent, at least an island with a single flick of his finger.

“I’m sorry. We couldn’t completely block the articles…”

Oh Seung-woo kept watching Taika’s expression. To be honest, he felt sorry but also unfair.

Originally, Oh Seung-woo had arrived here chasing after Taika right after he disappeared. Of course, he expected the subjugation of Yebrica to fail. No matter how great Taika was, he was still just a 21-year-old hunter.

He only hoped that Taika would return safely.

When the sandstorm disappeared, Oh Seung-woo thought:

He must have caused an accident.

But this time, it was on the good side.

With this unexpected good accident, Oh Seung-woo’s head was spinning. Soon, his mind was filled with the thought that he couldn’t let this good opportunity slip away, and Oh Seung-woo called the reporters.

That’s right.

There was not only a welcoming crowd for Taika but also a bunch of reporters to deliver this good situation as a scoop.

Thanks to that, even the scene of that villain Weltschmerz snatching the mana stone from Taika’s hands was captured.

As far as Oh Seung-woo understood, the reason Taika was so down was because that embarrassing scene had been preserved.

“I don’t mind at all. The problem is those friends. If you think about it, they didn’t do anything bad to me.”

“Are you saying that sincerely?”

“Yes. If I say this, the agency will say I was played by them, but if it weren’t for those friends, the subjugation would have been impossible.”

Taika tried to tell the truth to the reporters who rushed to him asking for the facts. If it weren’t for Oh Seung-woo desperately trying to shut his mouth, a story closer to the truth would have gone out to the public, unlike now.

But Oh Seung-woo, who had been in charge of image-making for the frivolous Taika Cooper, contrary to the phrase ‘America’s hope,’ instinctively shut his mouth.

And he was able to hear the truth about what happened that day.

Although he still couldn’t quite believe that truth.

“You say those people helped with the subjugation…”

“Yes. And the mana stone wasn’t stolen, I had agreed to give it to them.”

“We absolutely cannot tell that truth. It could look like you cooperated with villains.”

Unlike Taika, who seemed to view Weltschmerz rather favorably, Oh Seung-woo pulled himself together properly. The track record of Weltschmerz that he looked into after hearing the truth was undeniably that of a villain, no matter what anyone said.

It would be troublesome if Taika got the image of cooperating with that villain. It was better to be seen as a fool who was tricked by a villain and had the mana stone of a top-tier monster stolen.

“Besides, we don’t know if they’re really good people or not. They might have come here to use you in the first place.”

“Hmm, even the US government didn’t know about my trip to Australia, but those friends knew? Their intelligence must be incredibly good.”

Despite Taika’s somewhat sarcastic words, Oh Seung-woo advised with a serious face:

“They are villains. You shouldn’t get involved with them.”

Oh Seung-woo showed the crimes they had allegedly committed, but Taika wondered if they were really bad villains.

‘Well, stealing from the auction, let’s say that’s one thing. But raiding the human experimentation lab and kidnapping the children, isn’t that actually good for the children?’

Oh Seung-woo said they deceived Taika to use him, but Taika didn’t think so at all. Until Taika mentioned it, they didn’t seem to know who Taika was. Far from being used, he only remembered being cared for.

Setting the watch order, sharing food, and even their ‘leader’ deliberately sticking close to keep talking to Taika so he wouldn’t feel left out.

What caught Taika’s eye was their leader who introduced himself as ‘Lee Seung-joon’. Later, he realized that the name Lee Seung-joon was all an alias and the face wasn’t real either, but his skills were real.

The man who instantly grasped and judged the monster’s condition and figured out how to defeat it. Such talent was rare. No, should it be called skill built up through effort rather than talent?

Of course, his own talents were also excellent.

‘Water, earth, lightning, wind…’

Taika realized that man’s talent wasn’t just one. It’s hard to pretend not to notice when he was wielding mana like that.

Taika saw at least four. He kept this fact a secret to reduce the eyes that would be on that man, even if just a little.

Everyone was making a fuss about them being great villains, but in Taika Cooper’s eyes, they were just minor crimes.

After all, they were villains from a small country stuck in a corner of Asia. To put it bluntly, if Taika Cooper, himself, stepped in, he could instantly and cleanly erase crimes like these.

“Ah, it’s really a shame. I should have insisted more strongly that they come to America.”

Despite Oh Seung-woo nagging for a long time with a pale face after hearing those words, Taika’s thoughts still didn’t change.

* * *

“So this is how things get tangled when they really go wrong.”

I should have kept my distance from the start, considering the opponent was that Taika. That means we should have parted ways and said goodbye as soon as we received the mana stone. It wasn’t the time to calmly send a rescue request.

“It was a misjudgment of the situation. I’m sorry. It’s my fault.”

At my apology, Han Seo-hyeon jumped up.

“Boss, you have nothing to be sorry for. It’s all that bastard’s fault! He must have called his people in advance!”

I was even impressed by his attitude of solely blaming Taika, as if he had a lot pent up against him.

I did say that it’s better for mental health to blame others rather than yourself when things are tough, but isn’t this excessive blame on others?

Anyway, we don’t have the luxury to make a fuss like that now.

I gritted my teeth looking at the monsters approaching before us. I created an ice spear with mana.

I frowned at the shadow that appeared behind the monster pierced by my spear.

“Damn it.”

We had to survive in that wilderness for a full two weeks until people’s attention faded away.

We were only able to return to Korea because the effective period of the farce unfolded under the name Weltschmerz had ended.

From the beginning, what they focused on was the hunter Taika Cooper, not Korea’s Weltschmerz.

Still, it wasn’t an easy task. First of all, we couldn’t use the identities we used when entering the country.

We had to change our faces one way or another.

I and Han Seo-hyeon at least had masks, but the problem was Kim Jae-ho.

After much persuasion, we succeeded in cutting off Kim Jae-ho’s long bangs that he had desperately protected until now.

Since we were cutting it anyway, we went for a dramatic transformation and cut it short, but Kim Jae-ho gritted his teeth, seemingly unhappy with his appearance.

To my eyes, it suited him very well. Maybe it’s because he has a lot of scars. But Kim Jae-ho’s face was quite handsome, to the extent that scars didn’t matter.

I’m not lying, his features are much closer to the word handsome than Han Seo-hyeon, whose features are still soft because he hasn’t finished growing, or me, who everyone would first describe as looking ‘cunning’.

“You look good, what’s wrong?”

“My head is too cold. I can’t believe there’s so little hair, my head feels too vulnerable.”

“If bald people heard you say that, they’d want to kill you.”

Anyway, after many twists and turns, we were able to return to Korea. For the past three days, we’ve done nothing but lie down.

Even I, who usually didn’t skip training and kept pushing them, just said let’s rest and lay down.

To be precise, I was too exhausted to even have the strength to push the kids.

The time we spent in Australia over the past two weeks was not easy.

We really almost died several times.

No matter how strong we were, the environment of Australia where Gate Breakthrough had occurred wasn’t easy enough for humans to endure.

When we ran out of food, we seriously considered eating monsters.

After returning from such a world, we had become bastards who had stabbed a 7-Circle hunter in the back.

Villains who even fleeced America’s hope.

Weltschmerz certainly needed infamy, but this was too much.

Hmm, what should we do about this excessive infamy.

I don’t know. Let’s just rest for now.

The mana stone in front of me glimmered.

How to deal with that thing, let’s put that off for later too.

I was too tired.

* * *

“Still no progress in finding that bastard?”

Choi In-hyeok stubbed out his cigarette butt. His composure had completely disappeared.

[Even though you were born with the Baek family’s seed.

If you can’t even handle money properly.

Should this hyung help a bit?]

He had received a text message from the person he least wanted to know this fact in this world.

Kim Du-sik trembled, spewing juice from his ugly face.

“I, I’ve been looking too. It’s not just us looking for that bir-, I mean, that bastard, there’s a nationwide search warrant out and all forces are chasing him.”

“And?”

“And still, this bastard hasn’t been caught. I think he might have left the country and gone abroad…”

“Abroad or wherever, damn it! Find him!”

He didn’t want to act so viciously, but now it’s a matter of pride. If he gets mocked by Baek Do-san again, he’ll really want to hang himself and die.

“I don’t care how much money it takes, put people on it and all. Or, this bastard. Doesn’t he have any friends?”

“Ah, there was one friend we identified…”

“Then shouldn’t you at least catch that bastard and bring him in?”

“He’s an A-rank hunter belonging to the Crimson Hound guild.”

At those words, Choi In-hyeok’s excitement instantly subsided.

“Ah.”

He couldn’t touch such a big shot.

But if he stayed like this, he’d only be mocked by Baek Do-san. Choi In-hyeok rubbed his face and said:

“I’ll have to meet him once. You never know. He might be hiding his friend or something?”

It was certainly strange that a common citizen who used to draw on private loans could hide so well when there was a nationwide search. If he belonged to the Crimson Hound guild, it might be possible.

The problem would be that it’s not an opponent you can easily meet just by saying you want to meet.

“Are you going to try to get the money from that hunter’s side?”

130 million. With interest for three or four months, it’s now close to 170 million won. It was certainly a large sum for ordinary people, but it wouldn’t be that much for an A-rank hunter belonging to the Crimson Hound guild.

But Choi In-hyeok shook his head.

“Since it’s come to this, I need to find Kang Yi-sin, that bastard, myself and beat him up.”

Come to think of it, from beginning to end, that bastard lied about everything except his name.

“That low-frequency emission bastard.”

Even that talent was a lie!

How unfair it was when he found out that the bastard’s actual talent was ‘lying’.

“I’ll get the money directly from him. Every last won of interest.”

And at this very moment, Kang Yi-sin, who was receiving someone’s intense curse:

“Why is my ear so itchy? Give me an ear pick.”

He had no thoughts at all.

The 130 million won he borrowed long, long ago didn’t even exist in his mind.