Although a Villain, My Wish is World Peace

Upon standing up, my entire body was covered in wounds. The torn flesh stung. But at least there didn’t seem to be any broken bones. Some bruising would likely occur, but considering the tumbling on the ground, my condition was decent. The issue was that the flesh around the bracelets had been seared, as if crushed by intense heat.

“Ah, I see.”

Using iron must have been the problem. My body couldn’t withstand the momentary heat expelled from the rapidly heated bracelets. Blisters had formed and burst, leaving both my arms in tatters.

“Wh-what is all this!”

While Han Seo-hyeon freaked out, I didn’t consider it a big deal.

Though painful, I could quickly heal such superficial flesh wounds. By channeling mana for bodily recovery, the wounds visibly mended.

“Hieek!”

Seeing the wounds healing, Han Seo-hyeon looked at me like a monster again. But unlike the other wounds that healed seamlessly, the burned areas showed no signs of recovering.

Perhaps it was because the surrounding tissues had all died? Mere recovery might not be enough.

—That’s right, you imbecile! Burns can’t be healed through recovery alone. Unless you plan to fully regenerate, the cells needed to assist recovery have already been destroyed, so new flesh won’t grow!

‘So if I regenerate, it’ll be fine, right?’

—You just expended all the mana in your body, didn’t you? If you try using the bracelet’s mana again…

‘I’ll get burned again, is what you’re saying.’

—Exactly. So just wait for your body to recover first. Once your mana replenishes, we can treat those arms.

But I wanted to tinker with these bracelets as soon as possible.

‘What if I imbue fire resistance in advance before drawing in mana?’

—You imbecilic fool!

Just as I was about to imbue fire resistance and draw upon the bracelet’s mana again:

“What are you trying to do now?”

Han Seo-hyeon glared at me with terrifying eyes.

“Well, I was going to experiment some more.”

“Look at your arms! The wounds haven’t even fully healed yet, and you want to do that again?”

“If I imbue fire resistance first, it should be fi- Aack! What are you doing?”

Before I could finish, Han Seo-hyeon pinched my arm, causing me to leap up from where I sat.

“I was just testing if you’d lost all sensation.”

“Of course it hurts, I’m human too.”

Han Seo-hyeon silently glared at me.

‘The dignity of a boss…’

Still, he was only concerned for me, so it felt a bit excessive to brush him off completely.

“Don’t worry, I won’t be so reckless again.”

“I’ll go make dinner.”

Leaving an unspoken warning with that gaze, Han Seo-hyeon headed towards the tent.

—You’re being utterly foolish. Yet he conveyed what I wanted to say. Your body is the only one you have! So take special care of it. While you have many mana circuits engraved, your bodily durability is no greater or lesser than an average awakener’s. You always seem to forget that.

It was all true.

—Moreover, if you imbue fire resistance, you won’t be able to use any other abilities.

“Huh?”

—Didn’t I say you only have two mana circuit strokes to utilize? One stroke to receive mana from the artifact’s circuits. And one stroke for other abilities. You can only use two abilities at once.

“Ahh, I see.”

So the limit of talents I could simultaneously use was a combined two strokes.

“Come to think of it, I could divide those two strokes as well, couldn’t I?”

—Correct. You can either fully invest in a single talent or divide them like this. But the more you divide them, the harder it will be to control.

I still didn’t fully understand all the mana circuits engraved within my body. The concepts of ‘one stroke’ or ‘two strokes’ were just vague senses for now.

Perhaps through further observation and familiarization, I might be able to ‘visualize’ it somehow.

In any case, if I could increase those ‘stroke’ counts to simultaneously wield all the talents imbued within these countless mana circuits…

Could I become a true cheat character?

But as Ray said, the more I divided them, the harder control became – that much was true.

Unlike the mana bracelet augmented by the artifact and Ray’s calculations, simultaneously using other talents caused an immediate splitting headache.

The maximum number of talents I could currently use simultaneously was limited to two.

It was akin to writing an English diary with my right hand while solving complex math problems with my left.

However, I had no intention of abandoning this ability. The sheer cheat-like potential of wielding two talents at once was self-evident, without needing further thought.

—You’ll gradually become more comfortable through extensive practice.

I had no choice but to trust Ray’s words on this.

In any case, I spent that entire evening testing out the bracelets.

‘It seems the maximum output I can sustain without overburdening my body is around 30%.’

If I considered the mana contained within the fully charged mana stone bracelets as 100% output, the amount I could safely wield at once was around 30%.

Of course, if I was willing to damage my body, I could force out even higher outputs.

But then my body might just explode.

Regardless, these bracelets had significantly increased the combat capabilities of our team. More precisely, my own combat abilities as Kang Yi-sin.

As long as I maintained a steady supply of mana stone powder, I could potentially engage in prolonged combat without suffering from mana depletion.

Provided my mental fortitude and physical stamina held out, I could continuously unleash firepower for hours on end.

—You’ll simply endure better than others, but the more you use it, the more fatigue will accumulate in your body. It won’t go as smoothly as you envision. As I mentioned earlier, your body is the only one you have! It could collapse from the inside.

Although Ray warned me, I brushed it aside, feeling so upbeat I nearly hummed a tune.

Ah, so this is pay-to-win!

But the excitement was short-lived. I picked up a stick, sat on the ground, and pondered deeply.

With increased combat power, I needed to consider what to do with these new capabilities.

I wrote down the names of our three team members:

Han Seo-hyeon, Kim Jae-ho, and myself.

Han Seo-hyeon was still far too lacking to field in actual combat. But he could prove useful in other ways.

First, his exceptional information gathering abilities. And the hidden card of his summons and personal space. Han Seo-hyeon’s position was clearly here.

Han Seo-hyeon = Supporter.

If I deployed Kim Jae-ho as the combatant, with me as the brain and leader, it would form a perfect three-person team system.

But I glanced at the iron cage imprisoning Kim Jae-ho. While he clung tightly to the teddy bear I had bought him, even while asleep, it was still too soon to consider him as part of our combat strength.

I erased Kim Jae-ho’s name from the ground and wrote my own beside it instead.

Kim Jae-ho Kang Yi-sin = Combatant, Leader, Brain.

This meant I had to handle everything.

‘My original plan was to gather talented individuals and then leech off them from behind.’

Until we had a proper team assembled, I had no choice.

Converting my current strength to the hunter ranking system, I estimated I would be around 5-Circles at least. Using various underhanded tactics, I could potentially handle up to 6-Circles. But only if I didn’t confront them directly, of course.

‘If I disregarded bodily damage and unleashed full firepower…’

Momentarily, I could engage two 6-Circle opponents at once.

Of course, an extensive recovery period would be needed afterward. But it was still tremendous progress.

Obtaining Ray had truly been an immense stroke of fortune.

Alright, I could accelerate my plans considerably.

—Did you have some kind of plan in mind?

‘Originally, I had intended to remain holed up here until winter. But it seems I can depart sooner than that.’

Conveniently, an auction was being held this month as well.

I gestured for Han Seo-hyeon to come over.

“What now?”

Having constantly tasked him with work every time I saw him recently, his attitude had become slightly uncooperative.

“I thought we could take on a job you might enjoy.”

“Like the last time you said that and gave me the ‘honor’ of personally building the bathroom?”

“No, I’m serious this time.”

With a roll of his eyes, Han Seo-hyeon took a seat.

“There’s an auction coming up soon.”

“An auction?”

Recently, three high-level gates had been conquered.

One was the ‘Fire Dragon’s Nest’ cleared by Sirius, considered Korea’s top guild. The second was the ‘Labyrinth of Orpheus’ conquered by the Crimson Hound guild.

Unfortunately, the spoils obtained from those two conquests wouldn’t appear at the auction – at most, minor scraps. The truly precious items would have been consumed within the guilds themselves.

However, the third dungeon conquered last:

The AAA-rank ‘Village of Vampires’ had seen a staggering three major guilds participate, along with over ten smaller guilds. While minor items were likely divided based on contribution, the greatest treasures would surely be put up for auction.

The proceeds from the auction sales would be used to distribute profit shares among the participating groups.

“Yes, an auction. Hunters, those obscenely wealthy individuals – they’ll all flock there. There’s no better place for us to make our debut.”

“Debut?”

“That’s right, I already told you. We’re destined to become formidable villains.”

At my words, Han Seo-hyeon gulped hard.

“If we handle this mission well, all of Korea will come to know us.”

As it was an auction, all sorts of bizarre items would appear. While I didn’t have any specific recollection of what would be offered at this particular auction, having been an AAA-rank gate, something extraordinary was bound to surface, wasn’t there?

Not that my imperfect memory mattered.

Didn’t we have an exceptional information specialist on our side?

“You said you were confident in gathering information, didn’t you?”

At my words, Han Seo-hyeon’s eyes gleamed.

“Yes!”

“Then dig up everything you can about that auction.”

* * *

“What about Jae-ho during this operation?”

Ah, there was this issue. While I could have left Kim Jae-ho under Han Seo-hyeon’s care when crafting artifacts, this plan required Han Seo-hyeon’s involvement as well.

If left unattended for days, Kim Jae-ho might starve to death.

“Should we hire a pet sitter?”

“You can’t be serious?”

“Of course I’m joking.”

I had considered calling Professor Geum, but he wasn’t the type to look after others. Moreover, Kim Jae-ho was extremely wary of unfamiliar people.

Hmm, I had no choice.

I stood before the iron cage and placed my hand on the locking mechanism at the entrance.

“Wh-what are you doing! You’re trying to open it?”

Even Han Seo-hyeon, who had spent considerable time with Kim Jae-ho, seemed to think this was insane.

“You said it yourself – we can’t keep Jae-ho confined here forever. And you know, it’s ridiculous to claim we want to become closer while locking him up like this.”

It would be impossible to truly connect with Kim Jae-ho as long as this iron cage remained.

So I would release him, just this once.

If Kim Jae-ho went berserk, I could activate the collar he wore or use sedatives.

I was preparing for the worst-case scenario, of course.

Hopefully, it wouldn’t come to that.

Looking at Kim Jae-ho glaring at me from the corner, I spoke:

“I know you don’t want to stay in there forever either.”

“…”

No response.

But I believed my words would reach him. His gaze towards me had undoubtedly wavered.

“If you want to live like a human again, you need to come out of there. You know that, don’t you?”

Until now, Kim Jae-ho had been nothing more than a ‘dog’ we were raising. Rather than a pet, his state was more akin to livestock.

If he wanted to become our comrade, to regain his freedom, he had to walk out of this cage himself.

“If you want to remain a dog, you can stay there. But if you want to live as Kim Jae-ho again, you need to step out on your own two feet.”

After swinging the cage door open, I slowly retreated backwards.

At first, Kim Jae-ho only watched us with suspicious eyes, making no move to leave.

But finally, ever so slowly…

Kim Jae-ho began to move.

Having crawled out on all fours, he gradually raised his gaze upwards, an expression of disbelief at being outside the cage.

I wanted to help him stand upright, but it seemed too difficult.

Momentarily unsteady, he soon pushed off the ground and broke into a run. In an instant, he had passed between Han Seo-hyeon and myself, dashing forward like a wild beast.

“Huh!”

As Han Seo-hyeon gasped and looked to me, I immediately reached for the control device on Kim Jae-ho’s collar.

But…

My hand didn’t easily move towards that button.

“What are you doing! Hurry, hurry and press it!”

In response to Han Seo-hyeon’s words, I answered:

“Forcibly capture him? Only to repeat this whole process again? Locking him back in that cage and waiting once more.”

“But…”

“How long must we continue like that?”

At my question, Han Seo-hyeon could only open and close his mouth with a blank expression.

“But even so, we can’t just let him go like that…”

To the distressed Han Seo-hyeon creasing his brow, I gave a wry smile and said:

“It’s better than being forcibly confined by us.”

Entry into these mountains was prohibited for anyone. Perhaps Kim Jae-ho could somehow survive here. With physical abilities surpassing anyone else’s, he might just manage.

While Kim Jae-ho’s combat strength could be replaced by someone else, what would become of his own life?

“I can’t force him to stay against his will like that.”

Wanting Kim Jae-ho to remain with us had been my selfish desire.

I silently watched Kim Jae-ho’s retreating figure as he ran towards freedom.

This was likely the first ‘freedom’ Kim Jae-ho would experience in his life, and I had no intention of obstructing it.