Although a Villain, My Wish is World Peace

Looking at the text message from Jeong Ho-san, I let out a deep sigh.

That day, I ran away like that and then made him see such news. It’s natural for Jeong Ho-san to be angry. I’ve repeatedly tricked him like this several times already.

It’s fortunate, I guess. He immediately realized that news was a false accusation someone framed us with.

Nevertheless, the reason Jeong Ho-san is angry is probably because he’s worried about me.

「Why do you have to go through something like this?」

Ray spoke to me as I was making a complicated expression looking at the message.

—You know the answer too, don’t you? If you can’t bring him in, it’s right to let him go.

“Let him go, how?”

—Stop the nonsense of ‘we’re still friends’ despite all this. You two are already walking different paths. He may have been your most precious friend in the past, but he can’t be in the future.

At those words, I clenched my fist.

It’s the right argument.

—Haven’t you already warned him several times? That if he follows Do Chae-hee, you’ll never meet him again. He’s the one who broke that warning. From now on, whatever you say, he’ll ignore it. Are you planning to act so foolishly every time?

Ray’s words painfully stabbed my heart. That’s right, as Ray said, I’ve left countless warnings to Jeong Ho-san until now.

Though I spoke in a somewhat light tone, all the notes I sent to Jeong Ho-san were my sincere feelings.

Jeong Ho-san ignored all my notes and decided to chase after me together with Inspector Do Chae-hee. Not only does he not acknowledge me as Weltschmerz, but rather it’s his own resolution to catch me who joined Weltschmerz.

—Wasn’t preventing the destruction of this world the most important thing to you? For the sake of your precious friend too, right?

“Well, that’s true.”

—And you know, you already have precious ones now. You’re not planning to abandon the kids who only look at you just to take care of that one friend, are you?

In the past, I would have taken care of Jeong Ho-san without hesitation. Because he was the only precious one in my life worth calling a friend.

But as Ray said, in this life I’ve taken in kids who only look at me.

—That day, you said you weren’t running away but returning.

“Yes.”

I sat on the floor, looked up at the ceiling and muttered.

“Before I knew it, I came to have a place to return to.”

Someone might call it a shabby brick house, but each brick making up this base was imbued with the memories we spent here.

The pictures drawn by the kids still remained in one corner of the living room, and even the traces of covering the wall with furniture when we ran out of paint were still there.

The furniture Han Seo-hyeon personally chose and arranged, and the nameplates he wrote himself and hung on the doors.

It was all ‘our’ home touched by my hands, by our hands.

“The day that guy understands me will probably never come. Because the understanding I want will feel like giving up to him. And he’ll think giving up on me is the same as abandoning me.”

Jeong Ho-san is the type to think it’s his duty as a friend to somehow persuade me and get me out of Weltschmerz. He thinks that’s what friends should naturally do.

Do I have the right to blame Jeong Ho-san? Actually, I acted the same way. I thought it was my duty to break down Jeong Ho-san’s resolve, to somehow separate him from Do Chae-hee and send him back to the guild to live a stable life.

Even though it was time for one of us to break our stubbornness, neither Jeong Ho-san nor I did.

—You become uncharacteristically indecisive when entangled with that guy. Being able to give up cleanly when things don’t work out was one of your few good points.

‘What do you mean few good points. I have so many good points…’

—Don’t try to gloss over it with such words.

At Ray’s words, I shrugged my shoulders.

I had no intention at all of doing as he said, but I couldn’t cut ties either, so as Ray said, I wasted the past few weeks uncharacteristically.

—Wasn’t the answer obvious from the start?

“Haa, it’s easy for you to say.”

—Anyway, aren’t you and that guy fated to walk different paths until this matter is resolved? Both you and that guy are incredibly stubborn, befitting friends.

To me who was still stubbornly silent, Ray said:

—Stop running away now. For your sake, and for the sake of those poor kids who only look at you.

At Ray’s words, I clutched my chest.

“Ouch, my conscience is stinging especially today.”

As Ray said, though I knew the conclusion between us was obvious, I gave up on reaching that conclusion several times.

I ran away recklessly whenever there was a chance to escape while making suitable excuses.

Why?

Because I didn’t want to push Jeong Ho-san away with my own hands.

But as Ray said, the conclusion was already there.

—Or use your talent. Send that guy back to the guild as you want, and keep him as your friend. You can’t do that either?

A way to magically solve all this. I thought about doing it with the excuse that it was for Jeong Ho-san’s future.

But when I actually saw his face, I just couldn’t do it.

“I told hundreds, thousands of ‘lies’ while under Seol Rok-jin. I ruined someone’s life as I pleased, and made them do terrible things. The worst part was that all the people who fell for my lies mistook the thoughts I planted as their own original thoughts. So they don’t even resent me. Because they thought it was all their original plan.”

There was a loving couple.

I once tore that couple apart. The woman who had been saying she loved the man until yesterday left, despising him.

Seeing the woman who had changed so much, I thought. Is the woman of yesterday and the woman of today really the same person? Perhaps my lie killed one woman.

Love to contempt, friendship to hatred, paternal love to indifference. I even messed up and ruined someone’s memories and emotions as I pleased.

Lying to someone, and making them sincerely believe that lie, is quite a terrible thing.

To the point where I don’t want to do it unless necessary.

Of course, I’m the kind of person who can do such things dozens of times if needed.

“If I change a friend’s choice because they made a choice I don’t want… How can I call that friendship?”

Even if it means I can never call that guy a friend again, I didn’t want to cross that line.

At least I had to give him a sincere farewell instead of a false friendship.

What I tried to grasp was a piece of the past that can never be returned to.

Longing and lingering attachment must be cut off now.

For my sake, and for his sake too.

I picked up my phone.

* * *

When Jeong Ho-san smashed the ice wall with his fist, there was no one there. Looking at the empty space, Jeong Ho-san had a hollow expression.

It’s understandable to feel deflated after losing the Weltschmerz group right before his eyes, but isn’t this too much?

If depression itself were to be embodied, wouldn’t it look exactly like that?

“Ho-san.”

Do Chae-hee carefully approached Jeong Ho-san. Even at Do Chae-hee’s call, Jeong Ho-san still had his head buried in the bench.

He’s really not in good shape today. Should we postpone the Gate exploration to another day, she was thinking.

Jeong Ho-san who raised his head dropped a shocking fact to Do Chae-hee.

“It turns out Yi-sin is Weltschmerz.”

“Waah!”

At the sudden news, Do Chae-hee let out a scream.

“I-is that really true?”

“You don’t need to pretend to be surprised. You saw everything yesterday.”

At those words, Do Chae-hee belatedly let out an awkward laugh. Actually… she did see and hear everything yesterday.

When the face under the mask was revealed, she was so surprised internally.

“So that’s why you’ve been asking about Weltschmerz so much recently, I thought.”

Do Chae-hee could finally understand Jeong Ho-san’s recent behavior. Ah, he’s known that Kang Yi-sin is Weltschmerz since a few days ago.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you. Honestly, I thought I could pull that guy out of Weltschmerz before telling you frankly.”

“Umm, I see.”

“But it didn’t work.”

Jeong Ho-san’s expression as he said that looked truly depressed.

Not knowing what to say, Do Chae-hee just rolled her eyes.

My friend we thought was dead turns out to be Korea’s top villain?

What on earth should I say in this situation!

“How about you, Inspector? I heard there was a commotion at the Awakener Crimes Department… Ah, as you know, that absolutely wasn’t done by those guys!”

At Jeong Ho-san’s words, Do Chae-hee smiled bitterly.

“Yes, fortunately. There was no one I knew. I also thought it wasn’t Weltschmerz who committed that act.”

Weltschmerz had never once harmed ‘completely’ innocent civilians until now. Even if Xie Haozhu was their target, they wouldn’t have deliberately touched others who were there.

“Once again, someone framed them.”

At those words, the two sighed.

“Actually, after seeing the news today, I contacted Yi-sin.”

“Y-you could contact him?”

“Actually, I had a mobile phone that could contact that guy, which I kept secret from Inspector Do Chae-hee.”

It was a shocking revelation, but she doesn’t feel particularly betrayed. Because she knows how precious Kang Yi-sin is to Jeong Ho-san.

“What did he say?”

At Do Chae-hee’s question, Jeong Ho-san smiled bitterly.

“I couldn’t say anything. Before I could say anything, Yi-sin gave me an ultimatum.”

“An ultimatum?”

“He said he’ll never meet me again. He won’t contact me separately either. He said my friend ‘Kang Yi-sin’ is dead, and from now on he’ll live as a member of Weltschmerz, so I should know that.”

No words could fit better than ultimatum for those words.

‘Well, it’s understandable to be depressed.’

While Do Chae-hee was rolling her eyes not knowing what comfort to give, Jeong Ho-san continued speaking.

“Actually, I roughly expected it. After hearing what that guy said yesterday. When I saw his face saying he wasn’t running away from me but returning, I somehow felt he would reach this conclusion.”

It’s a ‘sense’ as a friend who has gone through countless things with that guy.

I realized that guy has come to sincerely cherish Weltschmerz now.

“At first he might have entered Weltschmerz for some purpose, but now Weltschmerz has become precious comrades to Yi-sin.”

Though he always spoke gruffly and couldn’t act honestly, making more enemies than friends with his hellish mouth, Kang Yi-sin was sentimental.

He also had a uselessly wide caring nature, so he even approached people who disliked him and got hurt several times.

So he ended up embracing even Weltschmerz who are villains. It was shocking that he chose those guys he met recently over his childhood friend, but given the situation, he couldn’t childishly quibble about it now.

After all, it was Jeong Ho-san’s choice to ignore Kang Yi-sin’s warning.

“I don’t know what to do.”

Depressing! So depressing! Do Chae-hee racked her brains looking at the despairing bear in front of her.

How can I comfort this unfortunate bear!