Being a Villain is My True Calling

Knock knock

‘Mr. Astra, Mr. Maker has arrived.’

In an office with a chilly atmosphere that reflected the owner’s personality, the woman called Astra let out a small sigh and responded to the voice of her subordinate from outside the door.

“…Please let him in.”

Shortly after, with a creaking sound, the door opened, and a figure entered.
Wearing an elegant black uniform and a half-mask covering the upper part of his face, with an ever-relaxed and smiling expression.

“Maker.”

As if he had used his ability before arriving, Maker, whose two eyes had been shining golden, covered them with a smile in response to her words.

“I’ve returned, Ms. Astra.”

The secretary of the ‘President’, Astra.
A woman who serves the President, who is currently unable to engage in external activities.

Maker looked at her for a moment, then smiled and gave her a courteous greeting.

Seeing his demeanor, Astra felt a slight chill and rubbed her arms.

“…Isn’t it a bit creepy for you to keep being so polite, even though we’re fellow executives?”

“Doesn’t Ms. Astra always maintain politeness as well?”

“That’s just a habit for me.”

“This is my habit, too.”

“Haah…”

Feeling a little frustrated by his unyielding response, Astra sighed.

‘Compared to the other executives, he’s certainly better…’

Sensing an uneasiness, she resigned herself and cleared the previous conversation from her mind before moving on to the main topic.

“So, did you bring the drug?”

“Yes, I brought it here safely.”

Maker took out a plastic bag containing a pure white powder from inside his coat.

“…So this is the drug called the ‘Ability Enhancer’, huh?”

“Yes. Not only does it simply enhance one’s abilities, but it also comes with intense pleasure and addictiveness like regular drugs.”

The Ability Enhancer.
A drug that has recently begun to spread in the slums.

Unlike regular drugs, it is meticulously crafted for those with special abilities.

“It seems like a good world, doesn’t it? They used to persecute people just for being born with abilities, but now they’ve even created something like this.”

“Is it because the ratio of regular humans to those with abilities has changed to almost 6:4?”

Maker smiled broadly, somehow sipping tea.
Astra looked at him in disbelief.

“What an old man’s way of speaking… Wasn’t there almost no discrimination like that when we were young?”

“That’s just how it is.”

Seeing Maker laugh, Astra sighed deeply.

‘This guy isn’t sane either, as expected.’

It was the first mission she had assigned him as an executive, but it was undoubtedly an order to commit murder.

Yet, he had completed such a mission without a care, and now, without even wiping the blood off, he was cracking jokes.

‘From the very beginning, there was something strange about the reason he joined the organization…’

“…Yes. Good work, Maker. I’ll think about your reward for this mission later.”

Pushing those thoughts aside, Astra waved her hand toward Maker, signaling him to leave.

“Very well.”

Maker briefly removed his hat, as if a gentleman from the old days, and slightly bowed his head.

As Maker opened the door to leave, he suddenly turned around and looked back at Astra, as if he had forgotten to say something.

“Ah.”

“Ms. Astra. Come to think of it, wasn’t there supposed to be a terrorist attack soon, as explained before?”

“Yes, well. It’s a regular event. It seems like it will start next month, why?”

Maker said it was nothing serious.

“Can I carry out that terrorist attack alone?”

“Huh? Why?”

Astra asked, puzzled.

“Just because it seems like it would make an impactful debut for me as a villain.”

“Let’s consider that as the reward for this mission.”

Seeing his smile and resolute demeanor, Astra pondered for a moment before nodding.

“Do as you please. But I hope you don’t make the organization’s executives look foolish.”

“Understood.”

With those words, Maker opened the door and left.

Upon arriving at the room assigned to me, I took off the stuffy mask and coat and tossed them aside, exclaiming:

“Got it!”

It had been about 20 years since I was reincarnated into this novel world.
Finally, after starting as a newborn baby, I had made it this far!

I neatly arranged the discarded coat and mask, loosened my tie, and sat on the sofa.

‘Acting is so tiring.’

However, looking at the towers I had built through my acting, all my fatigue seemed to vanish.

‘A solid organization to protect me, and an executive position within it, ensuring I won’t be disposed of like regular members.’

And…

‘It’s now easier to get involved in the original story.’

Considering how I had been fooling around since my reincarnation until right before the start of the original story, this was a decent achievement for rushing in at the last minute.
It made me think I should have stopped fooling around and just devoured all the elixirs to get to this side sooner.

“Ah, speaking of elixirs.”

I rummaged through my vest pocket and took out a small wooden box.
As soon as I opened the box, a refreshing fragrance wafted from the elixir inside.

“Hmm, hmm~”

Humming a tune, I popped the elixir into my mouth, and a refreshing sensation spread throughout my body.

“Ugh… bitter.”

Despite the bitterness, I had prepared a cup of tea in advance, which I used to wash it down.
After a short while, I smiled in satisfaction at my increased mana.

‘With this amount, my mana level should be around A-rank? Or close to S-rank?’

Since my ability itself consumes a lot of mana, I couldn’t be certain, but at least I wouldn’t get tired from dealing with a few C-rank villains.

‘Alright, perfect.’

Everything was so good that a natural smile formed on my face.

Having finished tidying up, I stood up from the sofa and approached the desk.

On the desk were various books and blueprints.
From among them, I picked up a notebook that was open on the desk.

Amidst the scattered sentences in the book, I crossed out the line that read ‘S-rank Villain Blue Scope Explosion Terrorism’ with a pen.

‘Nice.’

Seeing the crossed-out line, I felt an inexplicable sense of satisfaction and smiled contentedly.

‘He was a villain who indiscriminately carried out terrorism against other villain organizations, so I never knew when he would target me. It’s fortunate that as soon as I got an excuse, they assigned me the mission to eliminate him.’

Thinking back, it was a good decision to leave some drugs near the low-level henchmen.

‘Who should I deal with next? Or should I strip them of their elixirs? Or…’

As I smiled and contemplated my next move, there was a knock at the door.

Knock knock knock

‘Mr. Maker, are you in?’

“Please wait a moment.”

In response to the voice from outside, I tidied up my desk, put on my half-mask, and opened the door.

The moment I opened the door, I saw a man wearing a uniform slightly darker than mine, closer to gray, with his hat pulled low.

“What is it?”

“Research Department Squad 4 Member 37! The professor said he has completed the task you requested, sir!”

The man raised his voice in response to my question.
Although I hadn’t been here long, his apparent nervousness around an executive gave me a peculiar sense of exhilaration.

‘So this is what it feels like to be an executive!’

“Good work, 37. Please inform the professor that I’ll visit him shortly.”

“Yes, sir! Understood!”

I comfortably suppressed the urge to laugh and watched as 37 walked away.

‘Speaking of the requested task… I had asked for a widely dispersing smoke screen to ensure a safe escape last time, and it seems it’s already been made.’

Deciding to visit later, I closed the door and returned to the desk.
There was still a lot to plan.

Inside an abandoned building, partially burnt and giving off an eerie vibe.

“Wow… what’s all this?”

“Nothing worth looking at. Just junk.”

Amidst the numerous police officers running around the scene, two particularly noticeable women were conversing.

“Tch, looks like there was quite a ruckus.”

The woman with sky-blue eyes and hair frowned as she analyzed the scene before her.
Scattered all around were corpses that appeared to have burst open in places and others with holes riddling their bodies.

To any observer, it looked like a scene straight out of a war zone, with bodies strewn about.

“Grenades, smoke bombs, shotguns, and is that a handgun? And…”

“Too many!”

As the blonde woman remarked while wandering around, the traces of bodies were indeed too numerous, affirming her words.
The sky-blue-haired woman nodded in response.

“There’s a high possibility this was a gang war between two groups.”

For a single person to have done this, they would have had to use at least two or three different types of firearms and various consumables.
Regarding the firearms, more than just a few rounds were fired, as the magazines couldn’t have held that many bullets.
And when considering the consumables as well, one person wouldn’t have had enough hands.

Therefore, it was more likely the work of multiple people, or at the very least, an ability user with a power like telekinesis.

“Oh, sis! Look over there!”

Following the blonde woman’s words, the sky-blue-haired woman turned her head.
What she saw was a man, his whole body bound and a hole in his forehead, dead.

Curious as to why this particular corpse was in the cleanest condition, the woman approached it.

“Has this body’s identity been confirmed yet?”

“Huh? Yes, yes! Ice Queen! The identity check just finished! And based on the investigation… it seems very likely this is the villain Blue Scope himself!”

A man, visibly tense, handed over an identity report to the woman he addressed as Ice Queen.

“Hmm. So this is the Blue Scope, huh?”

Ice Queen gazed at Blue Scope with her sky-blue eyes.

‘Blue Scope. His personal villain rank was B, but due to his organization’s unique loyalty and cohesion, the association was considering promoting him to B+ rank…’

Seeing him in such a pathetic state, she felt puzzled.

“For someone like him to die so easily?”

Even if there had been rumors of him being on drugs recently, he was still a B-rank villain.

“Sis! Come over here!”

“What is it now?”

Momentarily lost in thought, Ice Queen stood up and walked towards the blonde woman’s voice.

“All the guns are here!”

The blonde woman pointed with her finger, and there were indeed firearms scattered around that area, likely used in the crime.

“Really?”

As she wondered why the culprits had left these behind, she picked up one of the guns to examine it.
And that’s when another question arose in her mind.

“Huh, where are the serial numbers?”

The gun she was inspecting lacked a serial number, which would typically indicate the manufacturing date, location, and other details.
The other guns scattered around were the same.

“Are these homemade guns? No, they look like they were made in a factory.”

She had seen guns from factories in places like Africa or America before, but never any without serial numbers engraved, as firearms were strictly regulated in a world where anyone could easily become a villain.

“Not just the guns, but everything else too! That…”

“Serial number?”

“Yes! That!”

She also checked a grenade fragment taken from another body.
As expected, there were no serial numbers visible.

“What are these people doing?”

Despite the evidence, there was no way to identify the culprits.
Whether they were male or female, an individual or a group, ability users or non-ability users – it was all unknown.

Based solely on the evidence, it seemed like the work of a perfectionist or a professional, but then they had carelessly left behind the firearms used to kill numerous villains, like discarding trash.

Was it an expression of confidence?
A statement that you could never catch them?
Or a challenge, daring them to try and find them?

‘…Interesting.’

A cold smile formed on her face, as if the culprit’s actions were taunting her.
Based on the situation, this incident seemed likely to be concluded as a simple gang war among villains, but…

‘I should keep a closer eye on this.’

Whether this was the end of it or if the culprits intended to properly start their activities with this as a starting point.

The sky-blue eyes of the A-rank hero, Ice Queen, rippled coldly.