Although a Villain, My Wish is World Peace

When the masked man appeared at the auction hall, Seol Rok-jin, who had been observing from the highest viewing area, unconsciously clenched his fists.

It was that guy.

The one who had made a fool of him not long ago.

While the mask’s material had changed, that ridiculously unfunny grinning visage confirmed it was him.

“Ha.”

Seol Rok-jin laughed.

The smokescreen had obscured even his vision, but from this uppermost vantage point, the man’s movements were clearly visible. The masked individual briefly glanced up towards Seol Rok-jin’s viewing area, as if looking right at him, before turning his gaze back to the stage below.

The stage – yes, this was that man’s stage.

Different from Seol Rok-jin’s chessboard, the man had become the star performer, deftly toying with the people as he pleased.

‘A kindred spirit… perhaps?’

Could one even call such an existence a kindred spirit?

The man’s stage was crude. But therein lay its amusement value – such an unrefined spectacle clashing directly against the world was novel. And yet that very rawness had rendered everyone powerless spectators.

Simultaneously, the information filtering through Lee Hye-won’s eyes was equally entertaining.

“Vice Guild Leader Jin Yeon-hwa. You’ve ended up with egg on your face, it seems.”

Seol Rok-jin couldn’t contain his laughter.

* * *

Even when the explosions and subsequent smokescreen had occurred, Jin Yeon-hwa had been laughing. She had believed that simply deploying her shadow operatives would secure everything for herself. But an unforeseen factor had intervened.

The Red Flame Mana Stone had already been stolen, and all her carefully arranged pieces had become that man’s stage props for a magnificent performance.

Uncharacteristically, Jin Yeon-hwa was flustered.

So flustered that she hadn’t even mobilized her own people.

It was an utter farce.

Yes, she had lost in this battle of wits.

Jin Yeon-hwa exhaled deeply.

“Shall we try apprehending him?”

Those were Lee Hye-won’s words, suggesting they dispatch people to capture that audacious man, even now. But Jin Yeon-hwa shook her head.

“There’s nothing to gain by exposing our full strength now. If the Red Flame Mana Stone remained, perhaps. But it’s already been stolen.”

It was better to simply pin all the blame on that man. Revealing their own capabilities would only be a loss.

Jin Yeon-hwa swiftly organized her thoughts.

“How could he have known?”

The trap had been set barely two hours before the auction commenced. How had he discovered it, and then utilized it like that?

“Could there be a rat among us?”

At Jin Yeon-hwa’s words, Lee Hye-won immediately bowed her head.

“I will investigate.”

“Uh-huh, please do. I’m truly vexed by this incident.”

Saying that, Jin Yeon-hwa drummed her fingers on the armrest.

“I may not know who that bastard is. But this insult must be avenged. Hye-won, find that man by any means necessary, even if we must deploy Sirius’ full capabilities.”

Unbeknownst to himself, Kang Yi-sin had become a hunted man, targeted by Korea’s preeminent guild.

* * *

“Achoo!”

I wiped beneath my nose.

“It’s not even winter yet, but I’m getting strange chills.”

Yet whenever I looked at what I had obtained, I couldn’t help but smile. In my hands was none other than the Red Flame Mana Stone itself.

Just gazing upon it was euphoric.

“Heheheheh.”

And that wasn’t all. Before the operation, Han Seo-hyeon had even managed to swipe the Vampiric Lord’s Ring. Since I had occupied everyone’s attention for an extended period, he had enough time to pilfer both items. As praise, I ruffled Han Seo-hyeon’s hair.

“Well done, well done!”

“Don’t touch my hair!”

“My, so sensitive.”

Ever since the hair salon incident, Han Seo-hyeon had become overly sensitive, adamantly avoiding my touch.

“Ah, look here. Our boy seems to have entered puberty, avoiding my fatherly affections like this.”

I made that remark towards Kim Jae-ho, but he didn’t react at all to my banter. Right, who was I even addressing?

So lonely, so very lonely.

While no one appreciated my witticisms, I was satisfied for now with my abundant spoils, enough to keep me full for quite some time even without eating.

Moreover, there were additional gains as well.

Weltschmerz – the name I had introduced had become immensely famous.

“By the way, what does Weltschmerz even mean? If we’re choosing a team name, we should decide together.”

“I can hardly consult someone who named their summons ‘Rat’ about naming conventions.”

It didn’t hold any deep meaning. I had simply picked an edgy-sounding word. Well, if pressed for its significance:

“Just look at the state of the world right now. It’s an utter mess, isn’t it?”

People might think the world is still livable, but it’s not. The leaders of this nation only care about their own well-being, with no one truly acting in the nation’s interests.

“I’m telling those people that the world you’re living in now is utterly rotten. If things continue like this, the world will be ruined.”

It’s not a joke – it’s the truth. If this trajectory persists, the world will indeed be ruined. So how can I be positive?

“And this is a secret, but eventually, if the world becomes livable again, I plan to disband this ‘Weltschmerz’ organization.”

“…Because you’ll no longer be pessimistic?”

“Exactly, there would be no need for it anymore.”

In other words, it was a temporary organization with an expiration date.

At my explanation, Han Seo-hyeon nodded in understanding.

“Don’t worry, I have a feeling our organization will last quite a loooong time.”

Thanks to this incident, the name ‘Weltschmerz’ had become widely known.

It was only natural, after causing a commotion at an auction attended by countless hunters.

Strictly speaking, despite not actually defeating all those assembled hunters, the world had packaged us as formidable villains. Not that I didn’t intend for such an exaggerated perception, but had the overestimation gone too far?

“It was quite a successful debut performance, wouldn’t you say?”

For villains, image was of paramount importance.

Even the most infamous pirate in history, Blackbeard, had set his hair and beard ablaze to cultivate his fearsome reputation. For villains, image-building was half the battle.

But no matter how well the image was built, or how spectacular the debut, without constant fuel to stoke the flames, one would inevitably be buried in obscurity.

I began operating my phone.

“What are you doing?”

“Registering on the dark web.”

—The dark web?

Even Ray showed interest.

‘The portal site utilized by villains. A villain’s worth has traditionally been judged by whether they have a dark web ID or not, and what tier they rank at.’

I explained the dark web to Ray and Han Seo-hyeon.

Among awakeners, those who committed crimes were termed ‘villains.’ Typically considered scum to be eliminated on sight, these villains had banded together for survival.

The dark web was one such gathering place.

While I intended to maintain Weltschmerz’s aura of mystery, I didn’t plan to remain completely silent either.

Continuous publicity was necessary to gain further renown.

In today’s world, self-promotion was crucial. Not that I intended to do so under my real name, of course.

‘I used to do this a lot in the past. Seol Rok-jin made me engage in extensive viral marketing back then.’

—Viral marketing? What’s that?

‘Just a fancy term for posting malicious comments.’

It was a task Seol Rok-jin had forced upon me. While the humiliation from that time resurfaced, it had made me quite skilled at such endeavors.

I composed a new post:

[Title: Is Weltschmerz, who turned this auction upside down, Top ㄱㄴ material?

They only just debuted it seems, but to cause such an uproar amidst all those hunters, they must be pretty good, right? In my opinion, if they build a bit more of a career, they could make the Top.]

By dropping such bait, the inevitable bickering would ensue below. Awakeners were fundamentally incapable of resisting such ‘VS’ battles.

Had their obsession not evolved from childhood fights comparing lions versus tigers?

—What is this ‘Top’ you speak of?

“People love ranking things, don’t they? ‘Top’ comes from ‘Top Tier’ – it refers to those so exceptional that tiers become meaningless, the best of the best.”

Entering the Top was colloquially termed ‘climbing the ranks.’ Incidentally, the number of villains who had successfully ‘climbed’ in Korea could be counted on one’s fingers. When the Top villainsreached ten members, there was an attempt to collectively term them the ‘Ten Evils,’ but that suggestion swiftly faded due to its poor connotations.

Once those ten were established, at some point the ‘Top’ had shifted to refer to the top echelon among villains – the so-called Top 10, in other words.

To elevate someone new, another had to be dethroned.

How utterly entertaining.

Comments:

Anon: While turning this auction was quite remarkable, isn’t it too soon to compare him to the Top without showing anything else?

Anon: Kekeke This guy’s hilarious. Weltschmerz himself? Some rookie who just debuted can’t be Top.

Anon: Top is a stretch, but among recent newcomers, he seems pretty decent at least?

Anon: Isn’t there someone in the Top who’s been slipping lately? That Butcher has been sloppy and failing missions, so maybe replace him with this guy?

The post had only just gone up, but the bait was already igniting heated discussion.

What foolish people.

For a debutant to even be compared to the Top was already an immense achievement in itself.

In any case, with that piece of bait thrown out, it was time to complete my base.

At my words, Han Seo-hyeon opened his mouth with an exasperated tone:

“You mean after pulling off that audacious auction heist, you’re going to build a house?”

“I’ve only just laid the foundations so far. If winter arrives like this, we’ll freeze to death! And I obtained the Red Flame Mana Stone for a reason.”

“You, you can’t mean…”

“Exactly. To build a house.”

I intended to embed this magic stone, easily worth several billion won, directly into the core of our dwelling.

“I may not know much about construction, but that sounds utterly insane.”

“We’re villains, aren’t we? Everyone will be gunning to kill us. It won’t just be a house – it will be our ultimate shield, our sanctuary to return and rest whenever needed.”

And if annihilation ever came…

No, that was too distant a future to contemplate.

In any case, I planned to construct this place into a perfect haven. To that end, I had done quite a bit of research lately.

Disassembling various obtained products to study their mana circuits, reanalyzing the circuits engraved upon my own body – at the very least, I now had a rough grasp of how mana circuits should be inscribed.

But before building the house itself, I needed to draft the blueprints first.

I entered the cavern where I had prepared the foundations.

The horizontal length of this communal space spanned a full 100 meters. Just the vertical area I had carved out measured over 300 meters.

Wielding a branch, I ran about sketching lines directly onto that massive canvas. Drawing pictures with a stick in such an immense space was unexpectedly enjoyable.

“First, we’ll need individual rooms.”

I called out to Han Seo-hyeon:

“Seo-hyeon-ah, which area would you like?”

“You’re deciding room locations now?”

“Yes.”

Despite his initial indifference at the idea of building a house, once room placements were mentioned, Han Seo-hyeon suddenly adopted a very serious expression as he surveyed the surroundings.

While Han Seo-hyeon deliberated, I decided to first designate the communal areas. The living room and kitchen would undoubtedly be situated in the center – that way, we would cross paths at least a few times daily.

And each of us would likely require additional personal facilities as well.

“You’ll probably need a lab later on, so should I just allocate this corner for that?”

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

“You’ll build me a lab too?”

“Of course. Isn’t that essential for necromancers? You’ll need to store materials and such separately.”

“Just having my own room feels like a dream already.”

“Let’s furnish this place however we like.”

It felt like reverting to childhood giddiness. Swept up in the excitement, I called out to Kim Jae-ho as well:

“You pick a spot you’d like too, from this area.”

Looking at the barren ground, Kim Jae-ho tilted his head in confusion.

“Here? There’s nothing but dirt.”

“For now, but we’ll be building a house right here. So where would you prefer?”

“Anywhere quiet.”

Hmm.

It would be better to have his room right next to mine, so I could keep an eye on him if anything happened. I decided to construct Kim Jae-ho’s room adjacent to my own, with heavy soundproofing installed, of course.

And to accommodate any potential additional members, I planned to include three extra vacant rooms as well.

After roughly allocating the spatial divisions, I began producing bricks. The brick-making process was simple:

Mix mana stone powder with the surrounding soil, then bake it at extremely high temperatures. I would handle the high-heat baking portion myself.

By momentarily superheating the mixture with mana-enhanced firepower, incredibly sturdy bricks were produced.

Now, just one thing remained.

I just needed to make thousands, no, tens of thousands more of these.

Meeting my gaze, Han Seo-hyeon seemed to shudder as if foreseeing his imminent future.