Surviving as a Brainwashing Villain in a Hero World

Chapter 38

As he entered deeper into the alley, there were more men in black suits.

Men of impressive build, not at all inferior to Si-yoon, stood in an orderly fashion.

‘All of them… have quite the physique.’

He stood beside the men who were standing at attention, silently.

Then, the man next to Si-yoon turned his head briefly to look at him.

“There was noise outside. What’s going on?”

The man with a thick jaw, thinking Si-yoon was a fellow agent,

asked quietly into Si-yoon’s ear as he walked in from outside.

‘Phew… seems like he doesn’t suspect anything.’

The distance between the alley entrance where the fight occurred and the back of the cafe was about 10 meters.

Even if they heard something, it would be hard to tell exactly what was happening.

“There was a brief scuffle with someone trying to get in.”

“I see.”

After Si-yoon whispered his response into the man’s ear,

the man nodded without suspicion and turned his gaze forward again.

‘Surely if smoke rose about 30 seconds ago… there would have been an uproar.’

The men standing at the back of the cafe were simply filling the alley tightly, silently waiting,

like hunters waiting for their prey.

Clearly, they were setting a tight trap to catch ‘Trickster’.

– Tatatatakㅡ!

Urgent footsteps sounded from the right door of the two visible at the back.

A butterfly was flying into the black trap on its own.

“All units, stand by. It seems the target is attempting to escape through this exit.”

The agents rushed towards the door where the sound came from, spreading their arms to catch her as she burst out.

Si-yoon, sensing that the noise from beyond the door was Chaeryeong, also joined their ranks,

standing at the very front to wait for her.

His goal was to make even the briefest contact with ‘Trickster’ Chaeryeong’s body.

To meet the condition for activating his ability.

Even if they made brief contact, he could track her location if she was a teleporter,

and if she was a clone ability user, he could verify it through the system status.

‘I hope… what’s coming now isn’t a clone.’

– Creakㅡ!

“Eek… Oh my?!”

A woman with a mature appearance burst through the door.

Si-yoon and the other agents immediately rushed to grab her by both arms.

“Let go of me…!”

The woman was quickly caught by her arms by Si-yoon and a man with an impressive beard.

‘Okay…! My hand touched her arm, so… success?’

Long black hair, red eyes, and an extremely glamorous figure.

It was unmistakably the ‘Trickster’ Chaeryeong from the report’s photograph.

“Bring the binding rope quickly!”

“Yes!”

A somewhat conspicuous man approached the captured Chaeryeong,

took off his sunglasses, and gave orders to the other agents.

“Do not resist and comply with our demands.”

“Tsk…!”

The man, who appeared to hold a high rank among the agents,

gave Chaeryeong a menacing look, telling her not to resist.

Chaeryeong bit her lip tightly and stopped trying to shake off her arms,

allowing her arms and shoulders to be bound by the special restraint rope another agent brought.

‘If I had been caught back then… would I have been tied up like this?

Would they not have used such special equipment on a low-level combatant like me?’

Stepping back behind the agents binding her, Si-yoon watched her being obediently tied up,

briefly recalling the time he escaped from the hideout in the past.

As he thought, the rope binding Chaeryeong was made of special material, an expensive piece of equipment,

usually used to subdue executive-level villains.

“Have you informed the Ice Queen?”

“Yes. She’s on her way here now.”

‘Ice Queen…? Is that the one who ran in with Do-hwa earlier?’

– Tatatatakㅡ

Sounds of someone running came from the opposite side of the alley where Si-yoon entered,

and soon Lumi and Do-hwa appeared among the agents.

“This way, hero!”

As Lumi and the agents exchanged greetings,

Si-yoon quietly bowed his head to bring up the Corruption System display in a small size.

[ Welcome, owner Ha Si-yoon of the < Corruption System>. ]

[ Currently commandable imprinted subjects nearby: Yoon Do-hwa / Yeon Ji-woo / Chaeryeong ]

[ Owned imprinted subjects: Yeon Ji-woo (Stage 2 – 41%) / Chaeryeong (Stage 1 – 0%) ]

[ Slave Management: Yoon Do-hwa ]

The names of three women were clearly displayed on the screen.

Yoon Do-hwa, Yeon Ji-woo, and Chaeryeong.

The presence of Chaeryeong’s name on the system screen was clear and undeniable evidence,

that the imprint had been engraved on her body.

‘Nice…!’

Confirming the success of the operation, Si-yoon sighed in relief,

and sent a text message to Do-hwa and Ji-woo stating that the operation had succeeded.

Then, he tapped on the shoulder of a woman with orange hair standing nervously nearby.

“Eh…?”

Do-hwa turned around upon feeling the dull touch on her shoulder.

‘Check this… check your phone.’

Si-yoon briefly lifted and lowered his sunglasses so Do-hwa could recognize him,

and pointed at his phone, signaling her to read the text message.

Do-hwa, following his instructions, checked her phone and, although somewhat bewildered,

nodded and waited for the situation to conclude.

While Si-yoon and Do-hwa were having this brief silent communication,

a transport vehicle arrived close to the alley to take Chaeryeong away.

“Hehehehehe…”

Chaeryeong, who was walking obediently towards the transport vehicle with the agents,

suddenly bowed her head and let out a mocking laugh at the agents.

“To think you only use such foolish and simple methods…

I can’t possibly be caught by you all, can I? Hehe.”

– Bang!

With a bang, a faint smoke rose from where Chaeryeong was standing,

leaving only the tightly knotted special restraint rope behind.

Chaeryeong had literally vanished like smoke.

“Search the surroundings quickly! She couldn’t have gone far!”

“Catch her! Find her quickly!!”

Caught off guard, the agents dispersed to search for her in the vicinity.

‘Is it now?’

Si-yoon also ran out of the alley, pretending to look for Chaeryeong like the other agents.

“Catch her…! Quickly… she wouldn’t come this far.”

Shouting as he ran out to the street where the cafe was,

He then slipped into an alley of a different building slightly away from the cafe.

“I just need to take off the jacket and sunglasses, right?”

He removed the black suit jacket and sunglasses worn by the coalition agents,

and threw the earpiece somewhere deep into the alley.

“Ugh… wearing such thick clothes on a hot day like this?

Those agents really work hard for a living.”

Now in just a white shirt and suit pants, he looked like an ordinary office worker.

Simply removing the jacket and sunglasses and rolling up his shirt sleeves drastically changed his appearance.

“Now… I’ll tell Ji-woo to come out quietly.”

***

“What… so that’s how! We succeeded in imprinting Chaeryeong.”

“I’m really glad. I thought we’d failed when she suddenly disappeared.”

Do-hwa, now aware of the detailed backstory behind the success message and the situation at the time,

breathed a sigh of relief.

“The agents suddenly falling asleep, that was Ji-woo, right?”

“Yes! I’ve used it in a spy game before.”

Ji-woo, with a proud face, immediately materialized a gun loaded with sleep darts,

shaking it in front of the two as if showing off.

“Hey! Don’t shoot that!”

“Oops! Almost shot you and the master by mistake…”

The sleep dart gun disappeared in a blue light from Ji-woo’s hand,

and the two narrowly avoided being darted like the agents, sighed in relief.

“Anyway… we succeeded in imprinting her,

and since she’s listed as a commandable target nearby, she can’t be that far.”

“If we say she’s a commandable target nearby… what’s the range?”

“Well, I actually don’t know how far that ‘nearby’ extends.”

Si-yoon, the ability’s owner, didn’t exactly know how far the Corruption System’s ‘nearby’ meant.

However, the exact range wasn’t important at the moment.

The fact that Chaeryeong was within a range where commands could be issued was what mattered.

“There’s no need for us to go find her. I can just order her to come here.

We just have to wait here comfortably.”

[ Applying ability nullification to target: ‘Trickster’ Chaeryeong. ]

[ Applying physical control to target: ‘Trickster’ Chaeryeong. ]

“Let’s wait for the great executive of the Dark Knights to grace us with her presence.”