Being a Villain is My True Calling

“Phew…”

“You seem quite tense.”

“Oh, Mr. Maker…”

Inside the organization’s helicopter heading towards D District.
A modified military transport helicopter, larger than ordinary ones and capable of carrying dozens of people, yet we were the only passengers.

Swish

“…? Ah!, Th, thank you, 42…”

“Combat Division Squad 6 Member 42. It’s nothing.”

…Let me correct myself.
42, another individual I had brought along for this mission, was also present.

‘One more thing, I wish I could have added one more person for this mission.’

‘Another person?’

‘Yes, according to the mission details, I need to prevent the researchers from deleting the data before I can retrieve it. Which means after we split up, I’ll have to locate the control room.’

‘I see?’

‘Since the Instructor will be defenseless while decrypting the codes, I thought it would be better to have someone to protect her.’

‘Hmm… that makes sense. Did you have someone specific in mind?’

Swoosh

With an impassive expression, the one who handed the Instructor a glass of water was 42, who also passed me an iced tea.

“Thank you, 42.”

Nod
He briefly nodded in acknowledgment before retreating to a corner to take his seat.

‘He probably moved to give us privacy to converse.’

Just like during the previous terrorism, his perception was exceptionally sharp, which I appreciated.

Shifting my gaze from 42, I observed the Instructor sipping her water.

“Instructor.”

Upon hearing my call, the Instructor turned her head.
However, as if contemplating my address, she pursed her lips, then straightened her back and opened her mouth slightly.

“…Ri.”

“Pardon?”

“Ah, Ahn Yeri… that’s my name…”

“?”

I was puzzled by the Instructor suddenly revealing her real name.

‘Why is she telling me her name all of a sudden? Is she asking me to address her casually?’

“Just, just call me casually…”

Right, it was her way of signaling a desire to become more familiar.
I smiled as I looked at her.

“Unfortunately, I can’t do that right now. After all, we’re on a mission.”

“Oh, I see…”

The courage that had straightened her back seemed to deflate at my words, as she slumped again.

“…When we’re not on a mission, I’ll address you as Yeri. It’s not like this is the only time we’ll meet.”

“…!! Yes…”

At my words, Ahn Yeri’s eyes widened, and she giggled happily.

“But, but why did you call me over…?”

“Ah, it’s nothing major. I just thought it was important for us to fully understand each other’s abilities before the operation.”

“Ah, I see…!”

In truth, being aware of the original story, I had a general understanding of her ability.

‘When I first decided to join the villain organization, I put a lot of thought into efficiently utilizing abilities.’

Whether it was consuming elixirs to increase my mana, finding items or individuals to supplement my ability, or utilizing my original knowledge to acquire minimal combat power.

And at one point, I had considered contacting the Instructor, or rather, Ahn Yeri.

“…My ability is kn, knowledge sharing…! I can connect with a target and share my knowledge with them… and…”

Knowledge sharing.
The ability to share the knowledge an ability user possesses with others.

The more I understood the target and possessed relevant knowledge, the less mana was consumed in creating objects, and the longer I could maintain them – a perfect match for my Creation ability.

‘However, there was a reason I didn’t seek her out.’

“…But, but if I transfer too much knowledge through my ability, the, the recipient’s brain can become overloaded…”

Precisely because the more knowledge transferred, the greater the strain on the recipient’s brain when acquiring knowledge they previously lacked.

Moreover, what I desired was knowledge of complex principles behind weapons and munitions, which would undoubtedly overwhelm her if she shared that knowledge with me.

‘So I gave up on the idea of seeking her out.’

However, that didn’t mean she was useless.

“…So, so I thought of a way to, to control the output of my ability.”

“Control the output. Rather than reducing the amount of knowledge transferred, which would be ineffective, you mean temporarily transferring the knowledge, causing the ability’s effect to dissipate over time?”

“Yes, yes…! You got it… wow, you really understand…”

Well, I had been observing the applications of your ability throughout the original story.
As Ahn Yeri looked at me with sparkling eyes, I smiled faintly and met her gaze.

“It seems we’ll make better partners than expected.”

I had already been contemplating ways to enhance my ability by utilizing yours.

“I’m counting on you.”

“Yes… although I’m lacking… I’m counting on you too…!”

Clenching both fists, she struck an encouraging pose.

That’s right, trust big bro (nope, definitely not) Yeri!
Big bro (I’m definitely older) will borrow your help to catch the bus!

“We… can do this, right…?”

“As an executive of Eclipse, I must be capable of at least this much.”

‘Though it does seem a bit precarious.’

For some reason, despite having a perfect plan, I felt a sense of foreboding, as if a major variable was involved.
…Or was it just my imagination?

“Oh! Heroes! Over here!”

At a research facility in D District.
A man in casual attire greeted the heroes with a bright smile.

“Might you be the staff from the research facility we’re assigned to protect?”

“Ah! Yes! Nice to meet you! I’m Chu Seo-ho, the head researcher of the Regener research team here in D District!”

Regener (regenerate).
A research facility with the dream of restoring those who have lost part of their body or its function due to accidents or injuries back to their original healthy state.

This was the name of the research facility where Ice Queen and about a dozen heroes had been assigned to protect.

“Is it really okay for the head researcher to greet us like this?”

Surprised by the man who introduced himself as Chu Seo-ho’s high position, one of the heroes widened his eyes and looked at him.

“Hey! I’m a person too, you know? Of course, I need to rest! And with such a great opportunity to be so relaxed, I naturally volunteered to greet you all first.”

Hahaha!

The heroes burst into laughter at Chu Seo-ho’s comical demeanor.
With the lightened atmosphere, they followed his guidance towards the research facility.

“Welcome to our research facility, heroes!”

Upon seeing the size of the facility up close, the heroes were astonished.

“Wow…”
“It’s so big…”

“Haha, well, since this is a slum area, we were able to purchase and expand it quite cheaply.”

Seeing the heroes’ reactions weren’t negative, the man chuckled.

“Now then, let’s divide you heroes into teams and assign duties…”

After observing their interactions, Ice Queen, who had intended to gather the heroes and discuss strategy, tried to speak up, but…

“Ice Queen, you’re already getting to work? You can rest a bit more!”

“Huh? But…”

“No need for that! I’ll give you a tour!”

Cut off by Chu Seo-ho’s words, Ice Queen had no choice but to turn and gauge the other heroes’ opinions.

In all honesty, she had hoped to prepare a strategy in anticipation of an attack.

While familiarizing themselves with the layout was important, if they were attacked while clustered together like this, their response time would be delayed.

It would have been better for them to split into pairs and periodically change positions while memorizing the geography.

“Oh, this sounds fun!”
“I’m looking forward to it!”

However, the new heroes, unaware of her intentions, eagerly followed Chu Seo-ho without a care.

“……”

Ice Queen had no choice but to join the facility tour.

“This is our office. We mainly use it to send and receive necessary documents. Well, I suppose it’s also a place where researchers secretly play games, so it’s a bit of a nuisance for me.”

“This is the rest area. With the amount of late nights we often have to pull during our work, this room comes in really handy. Haha!”

“This is our research facility’s…”

“Ah, I can’t skip this when introducing our facility!…”

“This is…”

“And over there is…”

And so, the hero squad was led around for quite a while by the head researcher.

“…Phew. How about we end the facility tour here, Head Researcher Chu Seo-ho.”

Finally unable to tolerate the seemingly endless tour, Ice Queen stepped forward.

“Huh…? But…”

“We came here to protect this research facility, not for a field trip.”
I understand your pride in the facility, but please exercise some restraint.

Stunned by her blunt and straightforward words, Chu Seo-ho fell silent.

“The same goes for all of you. We didn’t come here to play.”

“”……””

“I went along initially to lighten the mood, but do you really think it’s appropriate to be this defenseless when we could be attacked at any moment?”

“”……””

Turning her head away, Ice Queen then shifted her gaze to the other heroes and voiced her thoughts.
The previously cheerful atmosphere suddenly grew tense and chilly.

‘Was I too harsh…? But someone had to say it…’

While Ice Queen felt a pang of guilt, she soon regained her composure.

As one of the supervisors for safety management on this mission, it was her duty to ensure these new heroes could safely carry out their duties and properly develop as full-fledged heroes.

Hence, she had to be strict with them, however harsh it may seem.

“Ice Queen… wasn’t that a bit too much?”

“…Pardon?”

She hadn’t expected such an outrageous reaction.

“He was kindly giving us a tour of the facility with good intentions, so that was a bit much…”

“You’re taking this too seriously all by yourself.”

“Nothing has even happened yet, so why are you overreacting like this?”

“We might be able to use this information later~ Why are you like this?”

Seeing their complete lack of crisis awareness and apparent absence of even the most basic hero consciousness, Ice Queen was rendered speechless.

“Are you being serious right now?”

“Aye, what’s with you, Ice Queen?”

In the midst of her disbelief, a man addressed her in a familiar manner.
It was the B+ rank hero Iron, who had been assigned the same mission as her.

“If you act too rigidly, your body will stiffen up when the real deal comes?”

“…Iron, are you aware that we’re on a mission right now? We’re in a position to educate and supervise these new recruits.”

“Well, what’s wrong with this kind of atmosphere? The villains didn’t give us advance notice of their arrival, so they might not even show up, you know?”

“Conversely, that means they could very well appear. We weren’t called here for no reason.”

“So stiff~”

No wonder Maker got the better of you.

Flinch

The offhandedly muttered remark caused Ice Queen’s face to harden as she glared at Iron.

“What did you just say…”

-Weeeeeeeeng!!!!

-Intruder alert. Intruder alert.

Just as their standoff was escalating, a loud alarm blared throughout the facility.

“What, what is it!”
“Did the villains come?”
“What should we do…”

Startled by the loud noise, the new hero recruits panicked.

“Oh, oh no!! The villain bastards must have arrived!”

“All heroes, stay focused!”

At the head researcher’s urgent shout, Ice Queen, who had been glaring at Iron, turned her hardened expression away and began organizing the heroes.

“…Tch, they really came.”

As Ice Queen led the flustered heroes, Iron watched her beautiful figure retreat with a hint of regret, smacking his lips as he gripped a flask in his pocket.

“That must be the research facility we’re targeting.”

Amidst the ruins of abandoned buildings, a pristine structure stood out.
Today, we would destroy that place.

“Instructor.”

“Yes, yes…?”

I extended my hand towards her and smiled.

“May I borrow your power for a bit?”

“…What, what kind of knowledge should I give you?”

“For the facility’s walls, something light enough to easily breach. Can you set a time limit?”

“How, how long…?”

“Then let’s go with a plasma bazooka for one minute.”

Nodding, Ahn Yeri took my hand.

Zzzzzzt
Along with a slight stinging sensation in my fingertips, I felt knowledge flowing into me like water as I activated my ability.