Although a Villain, My Wish is World Peace

There was someone standing in front of the gate where there should have been no one.

A man dressed in a black suit that looked sweltering just to look at. The moment he saw me, his face contorted.

“Who are you to be coming out of that illegal gate?”

I wanted to ask the same thing. Who are you to be standing here in front of this place? Perhaps one of Seol Rok-jin’s underlings? As I was thinking that and about to draw out what little mana I had left, I sensed movement from behind the man.

The man guarding the gate hadn’t been alone. And the moment I saw the person standing behind this man, I was stunned.

“Yi-sin?”

Jeong Ho-san, why were you here? Flustered, I opened my mouth wide.

But there was someone even more shocking than Jeong Ho-san present.

‘Why the hell was the Crimson Hound guild’s Kim Myeong-cheol here?!’

Kim Myeong-cheol, the Firehound of the guild, was standing right beside Jeong Ho-san.

What reason could those two possibly have for being here? If the man before me was also from the guild, then there were three whole members of the guild standing guard in front of this illegal gate.

Jeong Ho-san, an A-rank physical enhancement 5-Circle hunter.

Kim Myeong-cheol, an A-rank pyromancer 7-Circle hunter.

And the man before me looked to be at least a 4-5 Circle level, so no matter how many times I was reborn, there would be no way for me to escape from here.

Damn it.

I rolled my eyes.

To be caught coming out of an illegal gate, this was the worst possible scenario.

“Is that guy your friend?”

In contrast to my flustered state, Kim Myeong-cheol before me seemed overwhelmingly composed. Pointing at me as he asked Jeong Ho-san that question, Jeong Ho-san numbly nodded his head.

“Secretary Hwang, detain that guy first.”

At those words, the man named Secretary Hwang immediately drew out his mana. Seeing his pupils turn blue, I bit my lip.

Could I shake off this Secretary Hwang and get out of here?

“Hyung.”

At Jeong Ho-san’s word, Kim Myeong-cheol glanced at him with a displeased expression and changed his words.

“So since he’s our Ho-san’s friend, let’s bring him over politely and hear what he’s been up to, like if he was maybe forcibly, uh, held captive in that illegal gate and just escaped.”

At that moment, people began pouring out from outside the gate.

Kim Myeong-cheol and Jeong Ho-san reacted first.

“Who are those people?”

Secretary Hwang also rolled his eyes, seemingly flustered by the sudden appearance of the people. Well, it was understandable to be flustered. Not just one or two, but fifteen naked, emaciated, dust-covered men had come spilling out.

As gazes turned towards the people, I fiddled with the potion belt around my waist. I had a smoke potion or two left, didn’t I?

If it had just been this Secretary Hwang alone, I might have used the smoke potion.

But with Kim Myeong-cheol present, that pyromancer, a mere smoke potion wouldn’t work. He would instantly burn away the smoke with his flames.

I lowered the hand that had reached for my waist.

“Who are they?”

At Secretary Hwang’s question, I remained silent. My silence only heightened the tension. Secretary Hwang’s fingers twitched. The rings covering his fingers melted and reshaped into gauntlets.

Damn it, they were magic tools. I had wondered why he was wearing so many seemingly useless rings. I also grasped my dagger.

“Hey, Secretary Hwang. Why don’t we invite these new friends over too? We can all sit together and hear what happened inside there, can’t we?”

At Kim Myeong-cheol’s instructions, Secretary Hwang let out a brief sigh before gesturing for me to go over there. But I didn’t budge an inch.

Entering Kim Myeong-cheol of the Crimson Hound guild’s line of sight was far more terrifying than dealing with this Secretary Hwang.

“The Master wishes to speak with you. Please come over there.”

But even at those words, I didn’t move. Seeing me persist in not moving, Secretary Hwang spoke up.

“If you keep this up, I’ll have to escort you by force.”

Seeing the confrontation unfolding between us, Han Jo-hee looked like he wanted to say something, but I shook my head at him.

If Han Jo-hee tried to speak up for me now, everything would be ruined. Of course, it wasn’t like I had only done bad things inside that gate either.

Well, I might have killed some people, but if it was the only way to save those being exploited here, even these people would understand me.

But I couldn’t let that happen.

—Why?

‘Because Seol Rok-jin would learn about me.’

—You seem to truly fear that man.

‘Apart from that, there are plenty of other undesirable consequences, so I’d rather not be exposed if possible.’

I didn’t want to bring up anything related to Seol Rok-jin. Especially not here. As I deflected the topic, Ray also fell silent.

—So you can’t be caught by them here, is that it?

‘That’s right.’

So how could I obediently go along with what Secretary Hwang was ordering?

Seeing us sizing each other up, Kim Myeong-cheol let out an exasperated shout.

“I don’t know why you acquaintances are acting like this. Ho-san, do you want to bring your friend over?”

At Kim Myeong-cheol’s words, Secretary Hwang’s face crinkled. It seemed his pride had taken quite a hit from Kim Myeong-cheol speaking like that.

“I’ll escort him over.”

“No, Secretary Hwang, you check inside the gate too while you’re at it. It looks like there’s still some time before it collapses.”

“Are you sure about this?”

“I’m Kim Myeong-cheol.”

Those few words were enough. As a 7-Circle pyromancer with an exceptionally potent innate talent, practically at the early 8-Circle level, Kim Myeong-cheol could have subdued everyone here in an instant.

At Kim Myeong-cheol’s words, Secretary Hwang entered the gate with a resigned expression.

With Secretary Hwang, who had been blocking my way, gone, I still couldn’t find an opportunity to escape. In fact, with the barrier between Kim Myeong-cheol and me removed, I only felt more terrified.

Looking at me, Kim Myeong-cheol spoke, “I’ll bring that friend over myself.”

At that moment, I thought I was done for.

But then Jeong Ho-san said, “Wait, can I talk to that guy first?”

“You?”

“Yes.”

At Jeong Ho-san’s words, Kim Myeong-cheol nodded his head. He didn’t seem worried that I might do something to Jeong Ho-san.

“Well, I’ll have a little chat with those poor victims over there then. Why don’t you friends come over here? I’m Kim Myeong-cheol of the Crimson Hound guild, so don’t worry, I won’t harm you.”

With a friendly smile, Kim Myeong-cheol gestured for the people behind me to come over. As if he even needed to introduce himself when there wouldn’t be anyone here who didn’t know Kim Myeong-cheol.

The people glanced at me before slowly making their way towards Kim Myeong-cheol.

I gestured at Han Jo-hee. No matter what he said, I just hoped it wouldn’t cause any trouble for me.

Damn it.

And in that moment, Jeong Ho-san arrived before me.

Menacing. His light brown pupils glared at me.

“Is that you, Kang Yi-sin?”

“Hiya, Ho-san. It’s been a long time. I never expected to meet you here like this.”

I casually threw out those words. How nice it would be if we could simply exchange such pleasantries and move on.

“Yeah, I really never expected to meet you like this.”

I heard Jeong Ho-san’s teeth grinding.

“Up until I heard about you working as an illegal gate miner while searching for any trace of your disappearance, I was only worried about you.”

At those words, my mouth fell open. So my avoiding his contact had been the snowball that led to all this? I felt indignant.

“But now I don’t know. Just what did you do inside there? And what’s with all this blood?”

Saying that, Jeong Ho-san wrinkled his expression as he looked at my hands.

“It’s not my blood.”

—Saying that will only make things worse for you, won’t it?

Indeed. Seeing Jeong Ho-san’s eyes grow fierce, I realized I had pushed the wrong button.

“Kang Yi-sin, you really…”

Jeong Ho-san, who had been about to unleash a torrent of words at me, trailed off. The way his eyes widened, it was as if he had noticed something strange.

“Where’s your identification tag?”

Ah damn. Awkwardly laughing as I felt my bare neck, I replied, “I took it off, it was uncomfortable.”

Seemingly aware of the short distance between us and Kim Myeong-cheol, Jeong Ho-san lowered his voice.

“Does that even make any sense?”

He had an expression like he wanted to grab me by the collar right then and there. Well, removing one’s identification tag was considered an immense crime, potentially even more serious than murder. In this case, where I had even committed murder on top of it, the punishment would be severely aggravated.

I just hoped Kim Myeong-cheol wouldn’t come to detain me if he overheard this.

—Don’t worry about him, he’s not moving his mana at all.

Perhaps out of consideration for Jeong Ho-san, Kim Myeong-cheol wasn’t eavesdropping on our conversation here.

Then, this was my chance.

Gulping down my saliva, I looked into Jeong Ho-san’s eyes and said, “Just one favor, Jeong Ho-san.”

“What?”

Please. Save me just this once. What are friends for? Wouldn’t I really be done for if it weren’t for you?

As if reading my gaze, Jeong Ho-san’s eyes wavered.

“Just what did you do?”

“Something that would get me utterly done for if I was caught?”

“You.”

Jeong Ho-san’s expression turned serious.

Grasping his arm, I pleaded.

“Ho-san, I don’t want to go to prison. You know how dreadful the awakener-exclusive prisons are, don’t you?”

I let out a dry chuckle. It was the truth. The awakener-exclusive prisons were infamous for treating inmates as less than human. The moment you entered, you were bound in shackles that sealed your abilities, and confined to a space under 24-hour surveillance.

Not to mention the sentence was for life.

—Are you really begging your friend to let you off just this once? You think you can escape from here with words like that?

Ray scoffed at me in disbelief.

Yeah, coming from anyone else, it would be an outrageous thing to say. No matter how close a friend, who would help someone escape in this situation?

Moreover, Jeong Ho-san was an incredibly righteous person. Not the type to simply tolerate injustice.

But Jeong Ho-san was someone who had risked his life to protect me. To Jeong Ho-san, I was his one and only family.

So ‘just this once’, he would let me off just this once.

“Is there really such a foolish person in this world who would let you go without even hearing the full story, just because you’re friends?”

Squeezing his eyes shut before opening them again, Jeong Ho-san spoke those words in response to my earnest gaze.

“Time, I can’t buy you much.”

Got it.

—Oh, there is such a foolish person right here.

I nodded at Jeong Ho-san and immediately took off running, leaving him behind.

Finally realizing what was happening, Kim Myeong-cheol’s eyes widened as his mouth fell open.

“I’m sorry, hyung.”

Seeing Jeong Ho-san blocking his path, Kim Myeong-cheol let out a sigh.

“Ho-san, you’re really going to do this?”

Part of him wanted to immediately push past this obstacle and apprehend that suspicious friend to get to the bottom of things, but unfortunately, his own talent was pyrokinesis.

Kim Myeong-cheol didn’t want to burn the body of Jeong Ho-san, someone he cherished. Unarmed? There was no way he could defeat this guy unarmed.

In the end, he had no choice but to let the escapee flee for now.

“I’m sorry.”

Seeing Jeong Ho-san’s scrunched-up face, unable to even properly look him in the eye, any urge to vent his anger disappeared.