Although a Villain, My Wish is World Peace

After safely returning home, I grabbed my side. Urgh, folding space to move put quite a strain on my body. It felt like the bones I had just mended were aching again.

“That bastard’s hand is hot.”

To begin with, a few of my ribs were broken. It was unreasonable to recover in such a short time.

Seeing me like that, Kim Jae-ho raised and lowered his fist for some reason.

“Should I hit him once…”

“What did you say?”

I tried to get closer to hear what on earth he was saying, but Han Seo-hyeon blocked Kim Jae-ho’s front.

“What was that just now! Why was Boss’s friend there?”

“Well, it just happened?”

“It just happened?”

“Don’t you meet enemies while walking on the road, and friends who believe I’ve been brainwashed by villains? Anything is possible since the earth is round.”

“Wow!”

Han Seo-hyeon looked at me with a dumbfounded face, but I went on shamelessly. Plus I really didn’t know Jeong Ho-san would come there, and if I say I got like that while trying to catch Cha Song-jin who ran away, Han Seo-hyeon might beat up Cha Song-jin.

‘It’s better to just let me take the scolding and end it.’

To change the subject as well, I opened my mouth.

“What about Xie Haozhu?”

“I safely guided her to the destination.”

“I see, no one was seriously hurt, right?”

“Jae-ho hyung safely knocked everyone out, so don’t worry. No one was hurt.”

I nodded at Han Seo-hyeon’s curt response. Though he speaks like that, I believe he handled the work neatly.

“Come to think of it, what about my mask?”

At my words, Han Seo-hyeon took something out with a thud and threw it to me.

“I was going to leave it behind, but I thought you might make another one if I left it…”

“Thank you!”

To think he took care of my mask in the meantime. As expected of Han Seo-hyeon.

“Good. Everyone did well. Applause!”

I said that, but no one clapped. Kim Jae-ho clapped belatedly, but my mood was already ruined by then.

“Now everyone rest. Do what you need to do.”

At my words, Han Seo-hyeon immediately said grumpily:

“You’re running away because you don’t want to talk about that friend, right?”

I felt stung. But I deliberately opened my mouth shamelessly.

“What are you saying. You really have a lot to do. Jae-ho needs to do his homework, and you said you were going to refine your skeleton more. Didn’t you say you’d look into how to modify bones into weapons.”

“Ugh, that’s true, but! You can’t just gloss over this incident like this… Jae-ho hyung, wait! Where are you going?”

“Homework.”

Following Kim Jae-ho who silently left to do homework at my words, Han Seo-hyeon had no choice but to head to his room too. Good, I got rid of the nagging one. I said to Cha Song-jin who was left awkwardly in the living room:

“You go do homework too. I’ll check tomorrow.”

I staggered as I moved. Well then, shall I go to my room and focus on recovery now. I had some thoughts to organize too.

As I was about to enter my room like that, someone grabbed me.

It was Cha Song-jin.

“W-why didn’t you say anything?”

“About what.”

“That I ran away…”

“Ah, that.”

The answer is simple.

“Because there was no need to say it.”

“What?”

“Even if I said it, you and Seo-hyeon would have just fought, so why bother?”

There was no need to intervene unnecessarily when I was already tired.

“Aren’t you angry? Y-you got hurt like that because of me…”

At those words, I tilted my head.

“Is there any need for me to be angry?”

That’s right. Is this something I need to be angry about?

Cha Song-jin is not ‘us’ anyway. He’s someone who will leave this place someday.

“You’ve always wanted to run away from us. I can’t blame you for seizing the opportunity when you found a gap.”

If we’re being honest, Cha Song-jin was staying here unwillingly, and he didn’t hide that fact. Rather, he kept telling me. That he wants to leave this place.

“So there’s no need to be angry. If anyone did wrong, it’s me for giving you an opening… Well, anyway, it’s fine.”

Even if this gets known, Han Seo-hyeon will explode at me. Well, I’ll pass on that. So let’s just keep it a secret.

“But I’m the one who disobeyed your words…”

Despite my explanation, Cha Song-jin was still hesitating and looking at my expression. I don’t understand what the problem is at all. Should I say it more clearly?

“You need expectations and trust for feelings of betrayal to arise. I had no expectations for you, so I have no regrets. Do you understand?”

“Uh…”

“I’m the one who said you could leave this place anytime if you could, right?”

So there’s no reason to be angry. Because I said those words.

At my words, Cha Song-jin bit his lip hard. I don’t know why he’s making that expression.

Isn’t it right to be happy if I don’t get angry?

I patted Cha Song-jin’s shoulder.

“But as you saw this time, acting like that is dangerous in many ways. If you want to leave, do your homework diligently first. When all preparations are done, I’ll let you out even if you say you don’t want to leave.”

* * *

After Kang Yi-sin went into his room, Cha Song-jin was left alone in the living room.

Though it had been so noisy just now, the living room soon became quiet. In that silence, Cha Song-jin quietly chewed over the words Kang Yi-sin had said.

That you need expectations to feel betrayed. So there’s no need to be angry at your actions.

There was really no regret at all visible on Kang Yi-sin’s face as he said that.

Only then did Cha Song-jin realize.

He didn’t know because he had been vaguely inside Kang Yi-sin’s ‘line’ since first coming here. Though he said later ‘you don’t have to join Weltschmerz’, Kang Yi-sin was still kind to him.

But not anymore. Cha Song-jin had somehow become a person outside the ‘line’.

If something happened to Han Seo-hyeon, Kang Yi-sin and Kim Jae-ho would go crazy.

But if something happened to Cha Song-jin?

These people would probably just click their tongues once.

Because Cha Song-jin is nothing to them.

Didn’t he feel it when he saw them happily sharing uniforms last time?

‘Right, this is correct. I’m not in any relationship with these people…’

Though it was clearly himself who pushed them away, what is this strange feeling? Cha Song-jin sat on the sofa and rubbed his strangely tingling chest.

It’s strange, I should be glad he’s not getting angry. Yeah, until just now I was worried about what would happen to me, but it’s totally to my advantage that he’s just letting it go like this.

Even muttering like that, Cha Song-jin’s heart was still turbulent.

“By the way, what terrible manners, really.”

I’m older, but he keeps speaking casually until the end.

“Really, what, doesn’t have expectations, what…”

Cha Song-jin quickly wiped his eyes.

The reason Cha Song-jin’s eyes became hot that day was all because Kang Yi-sin had terrible manners. Really.

* * *

As soon as I entered the room, Ray spoke up slyly:

—Were those words to that guy sincere? That you had no expectations.

“Well, yeah.”

At first, I had quite high expectations for Cha Song-jin. No, rather than expectations, it was a misunderstanding.

“Given his circumstances, I thought he would gladly want to become Weltschmerz like Seo-hyeon and Jae-ho. I foolishly misunderstood.”

Isn’t it normal for an ordinary person to be wary of me, of us? It’s not common for someone to want to become a villain because they have nowhere to go or their circumstances are difficult.

“He says he doesn’t want to become a villain even if he dies.”

Right, normally people don’t think about wanting to become villains just because they have nowhere to go.

It’s not that Cha Song-jin is strange, but Han Seo-hyeon and Kim Jae-ho are special.

Anyway, now that I’ve realized all that was my misunderstanding, I don’t intend to put unnecessary pressure on Cha Song-jin.

“I’m just going to think of him as a guest who will stay on our side for a while and then leave.”

We won’t meet again after this is over anyway.

“I think acting like this will make him feel more comfortable too.”

—Hmm, well, do as you like.

Somehow Ray didn’t seem satisfied with my answer, but it can’t be helped. Now that things have turned out like this, we can only try to get along as best we can.

—By the way, was it right to entrust Xie Haozhu to Reporter Nam?

“I thought it was the best option when making the plan, but thinking about it again, it seems more fitting to call it the lesser evil rather than the best.”

Still, we can’t just abandon her on a mountainside after going to the trouble of rescuing her.

Whatever Xie Haozhu’s actual age is, her apparent age is only mid-teens.

What if some weirdo targets her?

“If that happens, Xie Haozhu’s personal information will be posted on the public wanted list before long.”

—So that’s what you were worried about.

“Well, though she’s weakened, she’s still strong. I should worry about the civilians.”

Even if she regained her emotions and memories, Xie Haozhu was still a dangerous person since her terrible growth process doesn’t just go away. Hmm, she might be no different from a walking killing machine.

—This, shouldn’t we worry about Reporter Nam?

“Still, Lee Hye-won is with her too, and I thought she’d be better than Professor Geum…”

—It just sounds like you abandoned her without any thought.

“It’s not abandonment. It’s foster care. Besides, who do you think is providing their activity funds? This is a legitimate request, a request.”

—It’s probably a threat disguised as an order.

Urgh. Well, I did ask in a somewhat desperate tone because I really wanted her to help with this…

“But it was still a request.”

—It was a threat. Shall I recite the messages you wrote verbatim? ‘If you want to receive this month’s activity funds, you’d better listen to me obediently.’, ‘Don’t forget that I know all your information…’.

The words that followed were too much even for me to hear.

“Okay, it was a threat.”

I finally raised the white flag to Ray.

—Anyway, what do you plan to do after entrusting her like that?

“I asked them to persuade her to return to China if possible, but…”

Now that she knows I’m in Korea, she probably won’t go back easily.

“Well, I guess I’ll just tell her to try living diligently without being killed for now.”

I casually sent a text message to Reporter Nam.

「Fighting ^^」

* * *

Nam Ju-hyeon quickly handed over the letter given to her by Weltschmerz’s leader to Xie Haozhu who was glaring at her.

Xie Haozhu expected something from that letter, but there wasn’t much content. At best, it could be summarized as ‘The woman in front of you will help with your life in Korea’.

Half anger at being toyed with and disappearing again, and half anger at daring to entrust her to the woman in front of her. But Xie Haozhu suppressed her anger. Because if she killed the woman in front of her, she felt like her connection to Shen would be cut off.

[What’s your relationship with Shen?]

Xie Haozhu’s face as she said that was truly like a yaksha. Nam Ju-hyeon who was completely terrified by the murderous gaze trembled and said:

“Oh my! Of course, you’re speaking Chinese.”

The problem was that these two people’s languages were different.

[What are you saying, you can’t speak Chinese? What on earth did Shen trust about this woman to entrust me to her?]

“Haha, oh my! I don’t understand a word you’re saying at all. Ni chi fan le ma?”

[What are you saying, is that a curse?]

Reporter Nam Ju-hyeon brought out the Chinese she knew, but unfortunately her Chinese with poor tones didn’t work. At that moment, Lee Hye-won stepped in as Nam Ju-hyeon’s relief pitcher.

[It’s not a curse. She was curious if you had eaten and was trying to ask.]

Nam Ju-hyeon gaped at the smoothly flowing Chinese.

“H-Hye-won! You can speak Chinese?”

“Yes. By the way, it’s better not to say that as it can be rude to Chinese people. You memorized it because the pronunciation is similar to a curse, right?”

Nam Ju-hyeon closed her mouth, stung by those words. It was right on target. For reference, the only Russian Nam Ju-hyeon could say was spasiba.

“I’ll interpret, so you can speak comfortably.”

“Th-thank you.”

With Lee Hye-won’s help, Nam Ju-hyeon was able to converse with Xie Haozhu.

When she insisted that she had no connection to Weltschmerz at all and that she too had come here after being threatened, the murderous intent disappeared from Xie Haozhu’s face.

When she conveyed that all they asked for was Xie Haozhu’s settlement in Korea or return to China, Xie Haozhu cursed and shouted that she would absolutely not return to China.

[I’m going to stay in Korea no matter what!]

At those words, Reporter Nam Ju-hyeon shed tears internally. In the end, Nam Ju-hyeon had no choice but to take Xie Haozhu to her lodgings.

Nam Ju-hyeon who silently gave everything to her was only able to exhale after Xie Haozhu fell asleep.

“By the way, you’re really amazing. I didn’t know you were so good at Chinese. Are you hiding anything else?”

Lee Hye-won was none other than the right-hand woman of Sirius’s vice guild master. It meant she wasn’t just excellent as a hunter.

“Chinese, Japanese, English are my specialties. I can do simple conversation in Spanish too.”

Nam Ju-hyeon’s mouth opened at those words.

“G-good heavens!”

She was a more incredible talent than expected.

“W-why didn’t you say that until now? If I could speak 5 languages, I would have introduced myself in 5 languages every day even if no one asked.”

“What? Why bother…”

Nam Ju-hyeon slapped her forehead looking at Lee Hye-won tilting her head.

“This is why geniuses are!”