Although a Villain, My Wish is World Peace

I slowly opened my eyes.

What I saw was a damn familiar ceiling. As soon as I realized where I was, my mind snapped awake as if cold water had been poured on my head.

I looked to the side just in case, but I only saw Cha Song-jin sleeping leaning against the wall and Kim Jae-ho lying on the bed. Han Seo-hyeon was nowhere to be seen.

—You finally woke up.

‘What happened?’

—Cha Song-jin used his ability. And then ta-da. We flew here.

Now I remembered. The moment I grabbed Cha Song-jin, everything distorted and rough magic power tore through my body. Unlike normal teleportation, that teleportation was rough enough to tear my body apart. I fainted feeling pain as if all my mana circuits were burning up.

Is that why.

“How long was I unconscious?”

—Well, at least a day has passed, I think. Honestly, I haven’t been conscious for long either. I’m not sure exactly how much time has passed.

Damn, minimum a day, maximum a few days? No wonder my body condition felt unusually light. When I glanced down, I saw that my clothes which had been a mess soaked in blood were now changed to clean clothes. Kim Jae-ho’s appearance was also neat.

—That guy went through a lot in many ways. He took quite good care of you while you were unconscious.

“Haa.”

I sighed looking at Cha Song-jin sleeping leaning against the wall. Though he was the culprit who made me fly here, I couldn’t comfortably resent him.

Of all things, to sleep like that leaning against the wall without even getting proper sleep.

I changed clothes and gathered necessary items.

—What are you trying to do?

‘I need to go to the Gate.’

Han Seo-hyeon is still there. He’s alone there. Whatever damn bastard that monster in the Gate is, it made a mistake touching us.

I’ll tear it to shreds and kill it. I’ll grind it up so not a single piece of flesh remains.

While I changed clothes, desperately suppressing the murderous intent rising from inside, Cha Song-jin woke up.

“Y-you’re awake?”

I briefly nodded at Cha Song-jin’s question. Avoiding Cha Song-jin who staggered up, I reached for my jacket.

“Where are you trying to go?”

“Seo-hyeon is still in that Gate.”

Because of who. I swallowed those words, but Cha Song-jin’s face crumbled at my words.

Cha Song-jin asked:

“Are you going like that?”

Judging by his gaze on my fingertips, it seemed to be a question asking if I was going empty-handed. Certainly, it’s an insufficient appearance for heading to a Gate.

“I’ve already wasted a lot of time.”

But there’s no time. Even at this moment, Han Seo-hyeon will be alone in the Gate, and I don’t know what might be happening to him.

“Wait, I packed some luggage.”

Cha Song-jin hurriedly held out a bag to me. I opened my eyes wide at that bag.

This was Cha Song-jin’s bag. Unlike our backpacks prepared for Gate exploration, Cha Song-jin’s bag had no functions. It was prepared to hold Cha Song-jin’s personal items.

Cha Song-jin had filled it with items for me.

“I used your card a bit. I filled it with only necessary things. I, I’m not sure, but I did my best anyway.”

At Cha Song-jin’s words, I twitched my eyebrows. It was unexpected help. I could understand him not running away because he’s timid, but preparing a backpack for me like this was unexpected.

As if reading the question in my gaze, Cha Song-jin said:

“It’s because of me.”

Before I could reply, Cha Song-jin continued:

“I don’t remember clearly, but if I hadn’t used my ability, you would still be there, and then Seo-hyeon wouldn’t have been left alone…”

I rubbed my face at Cha Song-jin’s words. His dispirited face bothered me, but I didn’t have time to worry about Cha Song-jin right now.

Still, I should say a word or two.

“It’s not your fault.”

Certainly, right after regaining consciousness I did feel such resentment. Because Cha Song-jin’s ability was like this, we were expelled from the Gate without being able to do anything. Plus I lost consciousness and wasted precious time? Thinking about what might have happened to Han Seo-hyeon during that time made me want to curse.

But Cha Song-jin isn’t the one who should receive resentment.

“It’s because of some damn monster. So don’t think unnecessary thoughts either.”

At my words, Cha Song-jin blinked. Seeing Cha Song-jin’s eyes redden, I quickly turned my head.

“Thanks for the bag.”

Just as I was about to open the container door and go outside, Cha Song-jin grabbed me.

“W-wait a moment!”

I turned back with a scrunched face at Cha Song-jin’s call.

“What.”

“Let me go with you.”

“Don’t tell me you want to go to the Gate together?”

Cha Song-jin nodded at my words. I understand the feeling, but unfortunately Cha Song-jin is not helpful at all.

“What will you do inside the Gate?”

Setting aside the risk that he could be mind-controlled again right away, to be honest, Cha Song-jin wasn’t a force that helped with Gate conquests. Rather, he would be a burden if anything.

Cha Song-jin quickly added to my words:

“What if I can teleport based on people, not spaces?”

“What do you mean…”

At my eye signal, Cha Song-jin calmly opened his mouth:

“For the past two days, I thought and thought about how I could make up for my mistake… Then I felt like I could use my ability in a different way. So, safe zones aren’t limited to spaces…”

Cha Song-jin who said that stammered and added:

“I think anywhere is safe as long as it’s by Kim Jae-ho or Han Seo-hyeon or you. Thinking like that made me wonder if, if maybe my talent could be used that way too…”

I raised my hand to cut off Cha Song-jin’s lengthening words. So to summarize, it’s this, isn’t it?

“You can move targeting people, not spaces.”

“Yes, when I thought like that, the skill in my system window changed too.”

Expansion of thought? Sometimes after gaining realizations like this, talents expand. The most important thing in talents is the awakener’s imagination of how to use that talent.

“You’ve never done it before, can you do it?”

At my question, Cha Song-jin swallowed hard with a tense face.

Usually when talents expand like this, you check how your talent works through experiments several times.

But we don’t have that leisure. Especially since Cha Song-jin’s talent had an enormous cooldown of three days…

“Didn’t you say the cooldown is three days?”

“Only two days have passed, but I think I can use it if I push a little.”

Push a little, he says. He said it simply, but it means enduring pain like his body is being torn apart.

“It’ll take time to find Seo-hyeon inside the Gate too, right? If I go with you, I can drastically reduce that time.”

Cha Song-jin’s face showed enthusiasm never seen before as he passionately said he would be helpful, even blushing. But I can’t just nod right away because this enthusiasm is appreciated.

I pondered. If Cha Song-jin’s words are true, Cha Song-jin will be extremely helpful to me. Then, Ray’s words rang in my head.

—Leave him behind.

‘He could be helpful.’

—The enemy is someone who casually uses mind control. And he can even use talents without us knowing when he did it.

Certainly this point was concerning. I opened my mouth looking at Cha Song-jin:

“The enemy can use mind control. It doesn’t work on me, but you and Kim Jae-ho fell for it nicely. What will you do if you get mind-controlled again when we enter the Gate?”

I appreciated Cha Song-jin’s proposal, but realistic problems still remained.

“If you get mind-controlled again, no, that will happen. You have no countermeasures for that.”

“I looked into related information. You, you can protect your mind with magic power.”

“You looked into related information?”

“I wasn’t just playing around for two days either.”

Cha Song-jin stammered and told me what he found out. If you emit magic power around your body, you can deflect some of the opponent’s mental attacks penetrating your body.

“You can block mind control with magic power for a moment?”

“Yes, I should be able to buy enough time to use my ability. Or you can just knock me out.”

Even if he can’t endure the mind control, it won’t be difficult to subdue Cha Song-jin. I’m not confident I can protect an unconscious Cha Song-jin, but…

—Hmm, are you really thinking of taking this guy?

‘Han Seo-hyeon is a necromancer. If he decides to face me with only summons, I can’t find Seo-hyeon even if I die and come back to life.’

Expecting Han Seo-hyeon to directly reveal himself and face me is too optimistic an imagination. If it were me, that is, if I held the Han Seo-hyeon card… I would absolutely not throw Han Seo-hyeon in front of me.

Whether with sand or summons or other methods, I would chip away at stamina again and again until there’s no stamina left to squeeze out, and then appear to deal the finishing blow.

‘So finding Han Seo-hyeon itself becomes an incredibly advantageous thing for me.’

—Certainly if it’s as you say, that guy would be hugely helpful, but…

‘It’s worth taking a risk.’

If we can find Han Seo-hyeon right away in the Gate, the risk of bringing Cha Song-jin is worth taking.

“The problem is, I may not have the leisure to protect you.”

I wanted to guarantee safety as much as possible, but the opponent is Han Seo-hyeon. Honestly, I’m not confident I can properly face that kid myself.

It means I may have to risk my life. Fighting while taking care of an unconscious Cha Song-jin might be impossible.

“It doesn’t matter.”

Cha Song-jin said.

“The important thing is rescuing him, right? So let’s just think about one thing, without considering my thoughts.”

I don’t know what happened during the past two days, but I appreciated him thinking like this. At my nod, Cha Song-jin nodded with a grave expression.

“But, but I’d like you to be a little mindful…”

I smiled at the muttering heard from behind. Still, thanks to Cha Song-jin, my tension eased a bit.

I still felt I needed to go rescue Han Seo-hyeon right away, but at least I had enough composure to examine the situation.

Right, nothing will work if I get impatient.

Whew, after exhaling internally, I calmly organized my thoughts. While organizing my thoughts like that, I even thought of Kim Jae-ho who would be left alone in the container.

“Oh no, I almost forgot about Jae-ho.”

I narrowed my eyes. Should I leave a short memo? I went back to the container and checked on Kim Jae-ho.

Kim Jae-ho was still unconscious. I could wake him up, but unlike Cha Song-jin who can be easily(?) subdued in an emergency, I had no intention of taking Kim Jae-ho who would be an enormous threat to me.

I attached a memo note where Kim Jae-ho could see it when he wakes up.

I didn’t want to waste time when every moment was urgent, but it would be troublesome for us if Kim Jae-ho went on a rampage looking for us when he woke up.

After neatly leaving a letter for Kim Jae-ho, I headed towards the wall with Cha Song-jin.

Calling Norman and going to the Gate would be the surest method, but I had no intention of doing that. We couldn’t explain how we came out of the Gate without clearing it after entering, and we didn’t have time to waste on that right now.

Then how will we get a car?

The answer is simple.

We steal one. I broke the window of a car parked outside.

“Wh-what are you doing?”

After unlocking the driver’s seat by reaching through the broken window, I said to Cha Song-jin:

“Get in.”

“But there’s no key…”

“I can roughly handle things powered by magic.”

I started the car by moving magic power. As expected, it worked.

Vroom, the car raised dust and moved.

I saw someone who seemed to be the car’s owner belatedly running out from the wall spewing curses, but I ignored it.

“This is a complete crime…”

I twitched my eyebrows at Cha Song-jin’s words.

Well, what can I do? I’m a villain, you know?