I’m Not That Villain

38 – Assassin (4)

Night Owl, who was sniffling, spoke confidently.

“My ability is Magic Bullet!”

“Magic Bullet!”

Just hearing it sounds like a powerful ability. But you know.

The name of an ability is ultimately just something one makes up. So, the reputation of the Magic Bullet Shooter might be greatly exaggerated.

“What exactly is your ability?”

“I can enhance the projectiles I shoot. The bullets become magic bullets that will definitely pierce the enemy’s vital points. Even if I shoot roughly, they’ll hit! You can think of it as the bullets themselves following the target!”

“Oh?”

She made a “bang” sound with her mouth. I was slightly impressed.

Abilities that manifest through tools are not that rare. Although the number of ability holders is small, quite a few of them fall into this category.

However, abilities that use tools tend to break those tools easily. It’s natural that ordinary tools can’t withstand the abilities.

The main customers for specialized equipment are these tool-type ability holders.

So, I wasn’t surprised and impressed.

I was impressed because she might be an ability holder I could meet as a customer.

“Do you use disposable guns? They must be quite expensive.”

“I use my specialized equipment!”

“Oh, I see.”

“Come to think of it… where is my specialized equipment?”

“Don’t know? It’s probably lying around somewhere.”

“That, that thing is expensive!”

Not my problem.

I offered my condolences to the unknown specialized equipment that had become junk. Well, it’s not like she had the leisure to bring a shotgun while in a panic.

I looked down at the ability holder who had started sobbing again and patted her cheek.

“But… when I watched the combat footage, it didn’t seem that versatile. Was it just luck? It felt a bit like that.”

Flinch.

“Did I hit the mark?”

“…Well… it does require some… probability…”

“How much? You can’t control the magic bullets yourself? Is it related to the bullets you shoot? Or?”

“…There’s about a 1% chance of the magic bullets coming out.”

What a useless ability.

I clicked my tongue.

“It applies individually, right? There’s no guaranteed ceiling?”

“…Ugh…”

“So it’s basically just firing bullets and hoping one hitsit’s useless. This ability.”

“But, but it’s a magic bullet… if it hits, it can destroy anything…!”

“If you’re lucky, you might succeed in one go, but if your luck hits rock bottom, even firing ten thousand shots might not make it come out. Besides, I saw it… it’s not even worthy of being called a magic bullet, is it? It managed to damage some of the automatic turrets, but the power of the bullet itself wasn’t much different from a regular bullet. Is the auto-targeting function all it has? Any other enhanced abilities?”

“…….”

“None, huh.”

It might not be a bad ability against ordinary people…

But against ability users, it’s hopeless, isn’t it?

Of course, that wasn’t the only thing to ask.

“If you’re an assassin, you should do your work secretly like an assassin. Why make such a grand show of it?”

“I, I had to make it flashy since I borrowed the name of Night Owl!”

“Is that how your sister usually operates?”

“…Maybe…?”

“You don’t know anything.”

“Pl-please stop hitting me…”

A probability-based low-tier ability.

An absurd way of working.

And on top of that…

Once caught, spilling everything, a typical small fry who values their own life.

“Hey.”

“Y-yes?”

But that’s why you’re all the more useful.

“Let’s do a job together.”

“A-a job?”

“Yes. I’m not the kind of person who would let someone who pointed a knife at me go with a laugh.”

She rolled her eyes. She nodded frantically.

“I-I’ll do anything if you just spare me!”

“No, you won’t. You seemed like you were going to risk your life to keep your loyalty, but you just spilled everything, didn’t you?”

“…….”

“I can’t trust what you say. That’s obvious. But listen. If I become someone you absolutely can’t afford to lose, you’ll have no choice but to listen to me, right?”

“Y-yes…?”

“Your special equipment is broken, isn’t it? Right?”

She flinched.

“I, to be precise, lost it…”

“You don’t think you can lose something like that in the middle of Seoul and find it, do you?”

“…….”

“Don’t be too disappointed. Instead, I’ll make it for you.”

“M-make it? But your specialty is repairs…”

“That’s a side job. In the end, your ability, without specialized equipment, is just a half-baked ability that has to carry a disposable gun, isn’t it?”

“…H-how did you…”

“Obviously. The manifestation of an ability and the fact that a tool can withstand it are different realms. So I’ll make it for you instead…”

I smiled.

“But in return, from today, you’re my gun.”

“U-uh…?”

“My magic bullet. You.”

“M-magic bullet…”

In the meantime, she blinked, seemingly attracted to the name ‘magic bullet’.

Come to think of it…

She seemed a bit clueless.

. . .

Assassin Night Owl.

Real name…

“Joo Hwarin.”

I tied her up and began extracting the ability factor. It wasn’t because I lacked experience, but because it was a truly unique ability, the structure itself was peculiar.

For now, I put the ability factor into the extractor and had to wait a bit…

Until then, I decided to temporarily halt the work.

First, I asked Renata’s opinion.

“Renata.”

“Yes?”

“You can quit being a delivery driver. You must have felt with your body that it’s dangerous.”

“N-no!”

“…….?”

Renata Ludmila trembled.

Could this be… loyalty to me…?

“Wh-what do you mean, quit this sweet job?! I-I can’t do that! Do you know how much I’ve bought on installment payments?! If my card gets cut off, I’ll be kicked out of the last office I have!”

Of course.

“Well, I mean… if you want to keep doing it, I don’t mind… but aren’t you scared?”

“…It’s okay. It’s not that scary. Living in Seoul means you never know when your life might be at risk, right? I just realized that again after a long time. And more importantly…”

Renata hugged Scarlett, who was resting inside the cat’s body.

“Because I have the best partner…!”

“I am not your partner. Inferior creature.”

“Thank you for saving me and my bluebird… You were amazing… Do you want to live together?”

“Get lost.”

“Sniff…”

But you know.

To be honest, looking at the battle records, Scarlett was competent, but…

Her remarkable shooting skills also had a big impact.

“Do all hunters shoot that well?”

“My, my background is a bit unique…”

“You’re not an ability holder, are you?”

“Wouldn’t it have been better if I were…?”

Renata Lyudmila, a hunter from an unknown background.

I was curious about her past, but since she desperately tried to hide it, I didn’t pry. If someone has a secret they don’t want to share, shouldn’t we naturally keep it hidden?

I put the still-nervous Renata to sleep. After entrusting Scarlett with the repair of the peeled paint and broken parts, I looked at Juhwa-rin, who was tied to a chair and dozing off.

Lily spoke coldly.

“To eliminate variables, it’s best to kill.”

“Is that the bodyguard’s opinion?”

“Yes. Assassins are not to be trusted. They’re no different from villains. They kill for money, which means anyone can hire them.”

“They could become a knife that stabs me… Well, I know that. I’ve almost been stabbed once. I don’t trust them in the first place. It’s strange to trust someone like that, isn’t it?”

“They’re too sharp to use. It’s better to kill them.”

“Maybe, but…”

I glanced over the battle records again.

Fiery physical abilities like an ability holder. She got up even after crashing into the asphalt road several times. Not only that. Even after being hit by large-caliber bullets a few times, she just staggered and got up again.

The durability is high. In other words, the basic physical specs are quite high even among those with abilities.

All the weapons I made were designed based on the standard ability holders.

Setting aside the abilities, he must have trained his body for quite a long time. Behind that clumsy speech, there must be countless efforts hidden.

But, it seemed like he had completely stopped developing his abilities. There were no signs of any results from postnatal efforts.

No… Could it be that at first, it was something like 0.001% magic bullet? If so, I acknowledge it. It’s really like a gacha, isn’t it?

Anyway.

The training is properly done. It’s properly done, but…

He seems overwhelmingly lacking in experience.

“If it were you, Lily, how would you have assassinated me?”

“I would have approached disguised as a guest and then twisted your neck.”

Oh, that’s brutal.

“Then… what if you had no choice but to engage in a chase?”

“I don’t want to.”

“But if you had to?”

“…It would be inefficient, but I would first get close to the vehicle. Even if I had abilities, I would save shooting for the last. Closing the distance with the target is the priority. I wouldn’t recklessly pursue by climbing onto the vehicle. As soon as the bike is damaged, I would stop the chase and wait for the next opportunity.”

“So, you have no experience?”

“I don’t know about assassination. Since there hasn’t been a situation where close combat occurred. But if we only consider simple chases… it doesn’t seem like I have much experience.”

Maybe because she’s a pro. There were many grounds for her clear-cut statements.

Juhwa Rin drooled. I gently wiped the drool with a tissue.

Lily narrowed her eyes.

“He’s not experienced, so there’s even less reason to hire him. He’s a lightweight who would spill secrets immediately if threatened with his life. He’s someone who could betray at any time. I think ‘himself’ is the most important person to him.”

“That’s an accurate judgment. Probably.”

“And yet, you still want to take him in? It would be better to find another hitman…”

“Money doesn’t grow on trees. It seems like it costs thousands to kill someone, and I don’t have money to invest in such things. The money spent on upgrading facilities alone is considerable. Instead, if we use that guy, we can solve the work for free, so let’s use him as a disposable card.”

“…Then wouldn’t it be better to use me instead?”

I turned to look at Lily in surprise at her unexpected words.

She spoke softly without looking at my face.

“My duty is to protect Lee Seo-jun’s safety. So, if a definite threat arises, you can use me to eliminate the opponent. It’s also in the contract, so it’s okay for me to step in directly.”

“…….”

I stared at her blankly and then gently pressed her head.

“Uh… Ugh?! Wh-what…!”

“Why use a sledgehammer to kill a chicken? And besides, is Ms. Lily a hitman? She’s just my bodyguard. There’s no way I’d order my bodyguard to go kill someone. I use whatever I can, but…”

I chuckled.

“I don’t particularly want to use Ms. Lily. Just stay quietly by my side.”

“…….”

“Why? Don’t you like it?”

“It’s nothing.”

Lily turned her head sharply. I placed the tissue I used to wipe my saliva on the table.

“And of course, I won’t trust this person either. I’ll just use them as a disposable tool.”

“What’s important is whether you can use them properly and then discard them.”

“I can use them properly and then discard them. Why? Because that person seems to value ‘themselves’ the most, so I’ll give them something that affects that.”

“Special equipment? But can’t they just take the item and run?”

“Of course, I won’t give them a perfect product. I’ll give Ju Hwa-rin a very defective product. Once they use it, they won’t be able to escape…”

I grinned.

“Equipment that’s like a drug, frequently breaking down but too efficient to throw away. Only I can fix it, and it greatly amplifies their abilities. It’s essentially a leash I’m putting on Ju Hwa-rin. The person who receives it will slowly become addicted and eventually…”

I snapped my fingers lightly.

“In the end, they won’t be able to escape from me. Without me, everything they started to perceive as their own abilities will vanish into thin air. Ha. Perfect.”

“…You made a leash-like special equipment before, and now you’re not even trying to hide it…”

“It’s a metaphor.”