Although a Villain, My Wish is World Peace

The location Han Seo-hyeon had procured was perfect. An abandoned warehouse littered with rusted, dust-caked construction materials that instilled chills just from the ominous sight. If an ordinary person awoke in such a decrepit place after being abducted, soiling themselves wouldn’t be surprising.

The light filtering through crevices in the rusted ceiling illuminated a pinpoint spotlight before me, akin to an interrogation room’s harsh lighting.

In the center of that dilapidated warehouse sat a man tightly bound with ropes. Carrying a chair, I slowly approached and planted myself directly facing him.

“Hmm.”

I studied the man before me – Sima Xuan. Having lost consciousness, he merely appeared an unremarkable man in his mid-fifties. A withered frame, hair halfway grayed, an utterly ordinary-looking individual.

His wrinkled visage and gnarled, calloused fingers seemed to bear the full weight of the hardships he had endured.

No matter how much opulence surrounded him, it could never erase the tribulations of his past.

Yet this man had chosen to reject that past, aspiring to build an empire that would fulfill his ambitions – by utilizing the formidable weapon that was Xie Haozhu.

But he had overlooked one crucial fact:

The ‘weapon’ he wielded was not an actual weapon, but a living person.

I struck Sima Xuan’s cheek while he remained unconscious. After several slaps, he finally stirred awake.

As his dazed gaze focused on me, I delivered one final slap – this time to jar him back to full awareness.

Stunned by the sudden blow, Sima Xuan’s eyes flickered. But that initial disorientation soon gave way to surging outrage.

“You bastard!”

His indignant outcry faded just as swiftly, however.

Trembling eyes surveyed his surroundings. Awakening from unconsciousness in an unfamiliar place, his body tightly bound, cheek stinging from the slap – even someone with formidable mental fortitude would have been rattled. But Sima Xuan didn’t possess such resilience to begin with.

Hence, panic ensued.

“Wh-what is the meaning of this…?”

His ability to merely mumble those words indicated his mind had completely shut down, incapable of processing the situation.

Leaving me no choice but to clarify matters for him.

“What does it look like? You’ve been abducted, Mr. Sima Xuan.”

Even with my courteous explanation, Sima Xuan responded by glaring at me with hostility.

“You abducted me?”

“That’s right.”

“Why? No, before that – who are you? Were you sent by the Silver Moon Society?”

Oh, he did manage some quick deductions, at least.

“I did strike a deal with those Silver Moon fellows. But the reason I’ve brought you here is entirely separate.”

“What reason is that?”

“Xie Haozhu.”

At the name I uttered, Sima Xuan’s face hardened. Slowly appraising me, he spoke:

“Now I recognize you. You’re the one who’s been persistently trailing after Xiaozhu recently.”

His demeanor shifted abruptly. Well, his years operating in the criminal underworld hadn’t been for naught, it seemed.

Yes, this was preferable.

I too would rather converse with the despicable bastard responsible for driving Xie Haozhu to ruin and attempting to murder me, rather than some pitiful civilian.

“What do you intend by abducting me here?”

Of course, the sudden tense situation and fear rendered him visibly stiff, but that was the extent of his control. While fortunate enough to have acquired the prodigious Xie Haozhu, Sima Xuan himself was neither an awakener nor a special ability user.

His panic in these unfamiliar circumstances was only natural.

Which was precisely what made him so loathsome.

Seemingly interpreting my silence, Sima Xuan suddenly shouted:

“You want to dispose of me here and claim that girl for yourself, don’t you?”

“As if she were some mere object to be possessed.”

“Well, isn’t she? She’s the ultimate weapon, after all. You approached her intending to exploit her powers for yourself, didn’t you?”

Sima Xuan’s expression held not a shred of doubt – he truly believed I had pursued Xie Haozhu with the intention of utilizing her abilities.

Well, while my initial motives toward her hadn’t been entirely noble either, being lumped together with this man still felt unpalatable.

“That’s not it.”

Which was why, uncharacteristically, I curtly refuted him.

“I’m not so easily swayed by power alone.”

“What?”

“I’m well aware Xie Haozhu possesses tremendous might. But that power came at the cost of sacrificing her entire life, didn’t it? Forsaking someone’s existence solely to obtain such strength is rather…”

While her sheer destructive force channeled through pure physical blows was indeed astounding, there had been numerous other hunters equally or potentially more powerful than Xie Haozhu.

The USA’s top-ranked hunter Taika Cooper, for instance, could likely replicate similar feats with her ‘Gravity’ talent. And the psychic ability user Yu Seon-je could ‘erase’ a wider area of targets simultaneously.

Xie Haozhu was extraordinarily powerful, but not the most powerful existence in this world.

“Moreover, she didn’t forfeit her life for some noble cause like world peace – it was merely territorial expansionism, wasn’t it?”

My words caused Sima Xuan’s face to redden furiously. When struck too directly, people tended to lash out violently against the one who had pierced their facade, desperate to eliminate them from their sight.

“Shut up! What do you know, you brat!”

See, such a predictable reaction that I could only sigh.

But I spoke truthfully.

I had witnessed the world’s destruction. The inescapable ‘end’ rapidly encroaching no matter how desperately one struggled.

Surely, that warranted sufficient justification for sacrificing one’s entire existence, did it not? Merely to prolong a life of luxury for a while longer, to grasp at fleeting power rendered meaningless by impending apocalypse – was that worth selling someone’s soul?

“It’s too paltry a reason, isn’t it?”

My words caused Sima Xuan’s face to redden until it seemed on the verge of bursting.

“What do you know? You, who has lived life to the fullest!”

“Yes, perhaps I can only speak so candidly because I’ve lived a fulfilling existence myself. With a full belly and warmth at my back. But you too could have lived such a contented life, couldn’t you?”

Sima Xuan likely hadn’t harbored delusional dreams of unifying China with Xie Haozhu from the very beginning.

Perhaps when he had first extended his hand to her, it had merely been out of pity or compassion.

But he had changed. Greed could corrupt even the noblest intentions. Yes, with Xie Haozhu’s abilities, he could undoubtedly attain the power and wealth he coveted.

However, if he had simply sought a reasonably comfortable life, there would have been no need to forge Xie Haozhu into such an overwhelming ‘weapon’ – no need to sacrifice every aspect of her existence.

In the end, it had been his own excessive greed that had ensnared her.

No matter what excuses, that fact remained unaltered.

“Xie Haozhu likely did everything you instructed her to. You must have explained the ‘transactions’ to her as well. If you had been satisfied at a certain point, if you had stopped there, Xie Haozhu would have had no reason to continue making those sacrifices.”

“That girl was unaware of her own strength. To an ignorant child, I taught her how to live. If not for me, she would have died in that village!”

“If your words were truly genuine, you wouldn’t have demanded she even forfeit her memories.”

At my statement, Sima Xuan fell silent.

“Do you genuinely believe she’s living her own life now?”

“That girl loves me. She said she’s happy being with me.”

“Does she even remember that?”

“Her past memories should be enough…”

“Aren’t you fully aware of the utter nonsense you’re spewing yourself?”

I fervently hoped Sima Xuan would gain some self-awareness from my words.

If not full realization and repentance for the transgressions he had committed, at the very least some semblance of regret.

“You’re the one who transformed Xie Haozhu into a monster. In fact, you’re the individual truly deserving of the title ‘Monster of the Anti-Society.'”

Driven by your own greed to acquire overwhelming power, leading to this catastrophic destiny – doesn’t that epithet fit you perfectly?

“Haha! Just be honest! You want to kill me here and claim that girl for yourself!”

Sima Xuan shouted at me like a madman, his face flushed crimson as he repeated the same accusation incessantly. Watching him, I could only sigh.

He adamantly refused to confront the truth of his actions until the very end.

No matter how many times I spoke, it would be futile.

In truth, I had half-anticipated this outcome from the moment I brought him to this place.

For this was the kind of man Sima Xuan truly was.

“But it won’t go as you wish. If you kill me, that girl will never forgive you. Haha, you fool. Kill me, then try taking her away? Absolutely impossible!”

Sima Xuan had descended into full-blown raving, consumed by the certainty of losing Xie Haozhu and the terror of impending death.

“She can only be happy with me… I’m the only one in this world who can make her happy.”

While the ravings of a madman, those words didn’t elicit even a shred of amusement from me.

Still, I had wanted to attempt one final effort, understanding how deeply Xie Haozhu cherished this man.

If he harbored any intention, from this moment onwards, to be even a passably decent father figure to her rather than the atrocious parent he had been, I had considered releasing him here to negotiate terms with the Anti-Society.

But Sima Xuan proved to be a man utterly devoid of such capacity for redemption.

“Heheh, you can’t kill me. If you kill me, she’ll go berserk. That girl dotes on me quite dearly, you see. You can’t kill me…”

Having mercilessly hurled insults and verbal abuse at me mere moments ago, Sima Xuan now clung to me pleadingly, as if that had never occurred.

And witnessing that pathetic, desperate display only reinforced my conviction that this man deserved to die.

Sima Xuan was a human being unworthy of living.

Devoid of shame, beliefs, or even a shred of self-respect.

A man consumed solely by greed and an excessive attachment to this life.

“If you had been even a halfway decent person, I might have spared your life here.”

“Wait, just wait a moment!”

“It’s fortuitous that you’re rotten to the core.”

Sima Xuan’s very existence was undoubtedly a parasitic blight on Xie Haozhu, leeching away all the vital nutrients meant for her growth to bloat his own wretched self.

As long as Sima Xuan remained, Xie Haozhu could never properly mature, eternally deprived of the nourishment to thrive, left withered and stunted.

Some part of Xie Haozhu likely recognized this truth already.

Yet she lacked the capacity to sever that attachment herself.

Why, you ask?

Because she loved him.

This wretched man, she still perceived as her father, her ‘Papa.’

Which was why Xie Haozhu had perished.

On that fateful day when she had surrendered her entire being through those disastrous ‘transactions,’ forgetting even her own self in the process. In that single moment of insanity, she had struck down her ‘Papa’ with her own hands – an act she could never forgive herself for.

So instead of truly living, she had opted for death.

To prevent that tragedy from unfolding, Sima Xuan had to die here, this very day.