CH 16

{ Chapter 16 - Individual Goals }

The following day, I managed to escape the crime scene with the help of Noona. As I walked down the street disguised as a temporary professor at the academy with the help of Ira - my sidekick, I listened to the news on my smartphone:

– Class A Villain Trauma attacked District 17 this time; 12 casualties are reported, 5 are wounded…

It was a report about the Class A Villain Trauma attacking District 17 and how the hero dispatched to the scene, Miracle Shine, was now out of contact, and even her sidekicks remained tight-lipped.

“Good. You listen well.”

I couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction. The hypnosis I had placed on Miracle Shine must have weakened by now, so I was glad to hear that she was still taking my advice to be cautious of heroes.

It was because unless I used my special move, ‘Changing Common Sense,’ as I did on Noona, usual hypnosis would weaken over time and depending upon the mental strength of the target.

– As the citizens’ anxiety grows due to the increasing damage day by day, a girl who stood up to the trauma became a hot topic…

However, my satisfaction was short-lived as the report continued. It made me wonder if my plans were really going to work in the long run.

'Well, I can at least try.'

Finally hearing what I wanted to, as I put my smartphone in my pocket with a satisfied expression and tried to speed up my steps, a message suddenly appeared in the air—

Alert: 'Chapter 1: Two main characters' has started.

—announcing the start of a new chapter.

I quickly turned to the System notification, which was about to disappear, and asked a question:

“Wait, I have a question.”

Then the dimly fading system window quietly tilted to the side.

Judging from that, it seemed that it could actually understand what I was saying—

“What the hell are you?”

—realizing that fact made me even more curious.

The ability was unlike anything seen in the real world, as if straight out of a comic or novel. Even basic skills could be used at no cost, and a cost was charged only when a skill higher than one's capabilities was used.

How did Justia acquire such a suspicious ability? Did she receive it from someone else, just like me? Or was there some other explanation?

But before I could ask any further, the system replied:

This is an unanswerable question!

I asked the system questions about it in multiple ways, but it remained firm in not revealing its identity easily. Thanks to that, my curiosity multiplied, but there was no vigilance.

Because it was an ability that Justia, not anyone else, had squeezed out her last bit of strength to give me. I intended to use it as much as possible for my revenge.

But not getting any answers even after asking multiple times annoyed me...

“Then at least tell me about ‘skills’.”

Frustrated, I decided to change my approach and questioned about the "skills".

Loading help…

‘Skill’ is the ability provided by this system for you to walk the path of a villain, and you can save and use a total of 15 of them.

If you exceed the maximum storage capacity of 15, you can add a new skill by deleting the existing skill.

First of all, the maximum number of skills that could be possessed was 15.

I had 13 skills, so it looked like I could add two more in the future.

The skill level rises as you use it more often and as your proficiency increases.

“Okay, I understand. But how do you add skills?”

New users are given 2 ＜Skill Creation Rights＞

User Kang Ha-neul has consumed all the number of uses by creating ‘Detection’ and ‘Defence’.

And with the explanation of the system that followed, I could see the background of the creation of ‘Detection’ and ‘Defense’.

‘It’s a little sad…’

If I had known there was a limit, I would have been a little more careful.

Maybe I could have acquired fraudulent abilities such as instant death cheat or physical attack immunity.

No, at that time, these were the best skills to get out of those sticky situations. So, even if I knew about it, I would have to create them anyway.

A total of 13 skills are currently stored in the system, and 1 skill is in waiting.

While I was thinking about that, I tilted my head when I saw the message right below.

It was strange. I must have only 13 skills. But it said there were skills in 'waiting'. 

What the hell was it talking about?

Waiting Skill: Recovery

Description: You can recover physical damage.

(Warning: You cannot use it on yourself due to the Looting penalty!)

As I checked the detailed information out of curiosity, I had no choice but to widen my eyes.

‘Recovery’, Although the penalty of not being able to use it on me was quite unfortunate, it was a pretty useful skill.

But how the hell did I get this?

And what is this ‘looting penalty’?

If a user of the ‘Villain’s Path’ system defeats the concept owner, the user can bring the opponent’s concept as a skill.

It was the message that popped up in front of me on time that solved my curiosity.

However, the looted skills do not have levels and become backward compatible.

Yes, this was what it should be; since most of the monsters were heroes, it seemed that there would be no shortage of skills in the future.

“Oh, and…”

Alert: Question count exceeded!

I was about to ask the next question with a satisfied expression on my face, but the system popped up such a message in front of my eyes.

Alert: The system is shutting down automatically.

"Hey, wait a minute…"

User Kang Ha-neul, good luck.

Eventually, it left the message and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

“For some reason, the way you talk is similar.”

But for some reason, I didn’t hate it at all. Perhaps, it reminded me of Justia, who used to always say good luck.

“We can talk to each other, so maybe it would be nice to get closer…”

To me, it was like Justia’s memento, so I was somehow attached to it.

However, seeing that it didn’t come out even when I tried to call it back, it didn't seem to have any intentions of getting close to me yet.

Therefore, I put off annoying the system and headed to my destination, passing by the people who looked at me strangely as I continued to talk looking in the air.

“…Although, I didn’t expect myself to come here like this-”

-to my sister’s office, where I had tried to visit many times previously but was kicked out.

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“Excuse me.”

“Uh, you?”

“What is it? A guest at this hour?”

When the door opened, the atmosphere in the office was disturbed by an unexpected guest wearing a fedora(hat).

“What, it’s the first time I’ve seen this face…”

“Can you see his face? I can’t even see…”

The man’s appearance was hard to see because of a hat that hid his face.

However, the sidekicks in the office began to rise from their seats with wary expressions against the unusual aura that the man was exuding.

‘No way, I didn’t expect you to come so defenseless.’

Absolute Commander, who was resting her chin on her hand at the desk behind the sidekicks, frowned and thought.

‘Even when he nodded with the ridiculous condition of meeting at my office, I just thought he was playing along with my joke. But...’

It was a meeting place that was almost half-joking, but Trauma readily accepted her condition.

Normally, she would have thought it was just a villain’s childish behavior, but Trauma was already considered an A-class villain.

He was the one who destroyed the academy alone, defeated the 1st and 2nd-grade monsters with one blow, and completely subdued the 2nd-ranked hero, Miracle Shine.

Since he was such a person, getting out of Kang Maru's office shouldn’t be a problem.

“Come over here and have a seat, Mr. Oh Ji-seok.”

Absolute, who suddenly realized Trauma's strength and took a deep breath, pointed to the sofa in front of the desk with a calm expression-

“Oh Ji-Seok?” Her sidekicks finally got the answer, they were looking for.

-Even when she asked him to sit, for some reason, Trauma just stood in front of the seat.

“there…”

At that unusual appearance, the moment Absolute Commander frowned and was about to get up from her seat-

“Absolute Commander.”

-Trauma who was looking at her whispered in a low voice.

“Leave for a while.”

“Yes?”

“I want you to get out of this office for a while.”

Hearing that, Absolute stood up from her seat, hesitant.

“I understand, but why…”

Then she, who was about to ask a question, read the atmosphere and headed for the front door frowning.

‘What the hell? What does he want?’

Due to various verifications, she knew that Trauma was not the evil villain that the world knew him for. And most of all, since both she and Trauma would benefit from their collaboration, she was sure he wouldn’t do anything stupid to harm her... Well, at least until he had a good reason to do it.

-Kuaaaaabhbhhhh!!!

“……..!”

But her thoughts were shattered when she heard a horrifying noise from inside the front door.

“You may come in now.”

“What the hell is that sound…”

What she saw as she went back into the office with an anxious expression-

“The office was a little dirty.”

“……..”

“I did some cleaning.”

-was her sidekicks lying on the floor with their necks bent and Trauma expressionlessly wiping the blood from his face.

“You, what the hell are you doing…”

“They are all monsters.”

Absolute Commander, who looked at the bizarre scene with a blank look, was startled when she heard his words.

“Did you know that these guys were trying to kill you?”

“………”

“Well, don’t worry too much. I’ve put the non-monsters out there.”

As he said, the few surviving sidekicks were sitting in the corner with their eyes wide open.

“What are you doing, Absolute? Why are you not sitting down now?”

“This is too much, Trauma.”

Absolute, who was quietly grinding her teeth, began to raise her voice, staring at Trauma who pointed to the chair with a calm voice.

“Aren’t you supposed to at least tell me first?”

Then, Trauma tilted his head to the side as if he could not understand.

“I understand that these guys are monsters. But, if you kill them without saying anything like this, my position is…”

“Position?”

Then he intercepted her words in a low voice.

“Why do I have to consider your position?”

Hearing those words, Absolute looked at Trauma, speechless.

“My purpose is to hunt monsters. That is more important than anything else.”

“No, though…”

“Are you worried about the aftermath?”

The eyes of Trauma that were hidden by the fedora were shining quietly.

“I’m sorry, but I have no intention of collaborating with someone who is having a hard time handling this level of cleanup.”

Having said that, Trauma began to stand up from his seat, as if wanting to leave.

“Okay, I will.”

Absolute, grabbing her aching head, tightly closed her eyes, and took a step forward.

“I’ll take care of it, so sit down again for now.”

Trauma was not simply an apostle of justice fighting in the dark, as she thought.

He was twisted somewhere... he was like a time bomb that no one knew when and where would explode.

‘But the problem is, there must be no one who can defuse this time bomb.’

“Then, thank you.”

After silently reassessing Trauma in her mind, Absolute sat down, and Trauma, grinning, sat down on his seat too.

‘Then, at least I’ll be the person who can decide where to explode him.’

Then, she took a sip of coffee prepared in advance and tried to calm her mind.

“I’m thinking of infiltrating the International Hero Academy and the Hero Union.”

“… Cough!”

However, at that moment, at the bombshell statement that came out of Trauma’s mouth, Absolute, who took a sip of the coffee, instead of calming down, began to choke and cough.

“Cough, cough… what the hell are you up to? You…”

Trauma, who had been staring at her like that, took out a picture from his pocket and shook it in front of her.

“There’s one student I really want to protect.”

But Absolute’s face hardened after seeing that picture. Because, unlike Trauma's words, the picture was not of a student at all.

“And you definitely have someone you want to kill.”

Yes, it was the picture of her younger brother wearing the uniform of the League of Villains.

“Would you cooperate with me, Absolute ssi?”

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“Okay, we will cooperate that way.”

“Okay, then…”

I nodded and was about to leave the office-

“……..”

-but when I saw the contents of the trash can, which I had come across by chance, I stopped walking.

“Oh?”

The recipe I wrote down was torn to shreds and thrown in the trash can.

Well, I didn’t know about anything else, but this was a bit annoying.

After standing still and contemplating for a second, I passed my sister who had a mysterious expression on her face and went opposite the exit.

“Uh…?”

No matter what happens, wasn’t Absolute Commander a partner who will help me both physically and mentally in the future?

“Is that the kitchen?”

So, it was only polite to treat her with some hand-cooked dishes before she dies.