Although a Villain, My Wish is World Peace

The situation Han Seo-hyeon relayed wasn’t very good.

“The inside of the container is a mess?”

“Yes, it looked like a battle had taken place there.”

At Han Seo-hyeon’s words, I clutched my head.

Why on earth is the container, which was fine when I left, completely smashed up!

“Could it be something like this? Jae-ho woke up, realized he was alone, thought we abandoned him, got angry and then destroyed everything.”

Han Seo-hyeon looked at me with pitying eyes at my words.

“Though Jae-ho is sometimes so ignorant it makes you wonder if he ever thinks, and he’s fierce like a wild animal, he’s not that bad?”

—Listening to it, the words sound strange…

That’s right. Are you defending him or stabbing him in the back? Anyway, the conclusion was directed towards ‘Even Kim Jae-ho wouldn’t have destroyed the container for no reason’.

“Ahem, that’s right. Jae-ho may be fierce but he wouldn’t go that far.”

But if not that, why is our container completely smashed up!

“Maybe our identities were revealed… No, if that happened, this place would be in an uproar first.”

No matter how much I racked my brain, I couldn’t figure anything out. Kim Jae-ho, who would know the truth about this whole situation, was missing.

Therefore, finding Kim Jae-ho is the top priority.

“For now, let’s find Jae-ho first.”

“Yes.”

We’ve confirmed Cha Song-jin’s condition, so once we find Kim Jae-ho, we should be able to leave here.

Though I have no idea where he is or what he’s doing.

—Still, that guy isn’t one to get hurt somewhere.

‘Well, he might hurt someone else. He’s not the type to get beaten up somewhere.’

Still, I was worried about how the Deceiver’s trial might have affected him. Since Kim Jae-ho has the youngest mental age among us, he might have developed trauma…

‘If he thrashed about because of that trauma and ended up like that…’

Once that thought occurred to me, I couldn’t sit still.

—What are you going to do if you don’t sit still? It’s not like you can go out and solve it right away.

At Ray’s rational words, I laid my body back down on the bed after half-raising it.

“Nngh.”

For now, I have no choice but to wait for Han Seo-hyeon to find Kim Jae-ho. Still, since Han Seo-hyeon has taken action, we should be able to find Kim Jae-ho soon.

Before that, I need to deal with the uninvited guests who’ve come to our hospital room. Han Seo-hyeon frowned at the knocking sound on the hospital room door.

“Can’t we just chase them away?”

“We can’t do that to guests.”

“Haah…”

Han Seo-hyeon, who let out a sigh, got up from his seat with a displeased face and opened the door. I also raised my body from the bed.

As expected, Oh Seung-woo and Taika were standing outside the door. Oh Seung-woo, who strode in, said to me:

[I thought you might be finished talking with Mr. Byron.]

[Yeees.]

—That was a perfect scam.

‘It’s not a scam. He’ll be grateful to me later.’

—Grateful? Good heavens! It’ll be lucky if he doesn’t make a curse doll of you!

Ignoring the bombardment of conscience pouring in my head, I guided Oh Seung-woo to the sofa.

[Shall we sit and talk?]

The luxurious private hospital room was even equipped with a sofa and table for guests. I got up from the bed and sat on the sofa.

[I think it’s time to hear your answer to the question I asked.]

It was a confident face that didn’t doubt for a moment that his proposal would be rejected.

Sadly, the answer had been decided even before Oh Seung-woo left this room.

[I’m grateful for your good proposal, but the answer is no.]

At my words, Oh Seung-woo’s smile faded slightly. He was still smiling, but his eyes changed. Well, he probably didn’t think I would reject his proposal.

[For now, I don’t feel any inconvenience with just Mr. Byron’s care.]

[…I see.]

Oh Seung-woo closed his mouth with a face that had a lot to say.

He probably wants to immediately scold me saying ‘How can you be satisfied with the care of such a lousy agency?’, but he can’t say such things with his dignity.

Oh Seung-woo, who caught his breath, said to me:

[If you’re worried about the penalty fee, or if there are other special terms, tell me. We can match any conditions…]

[It’s not about conditions. I just like Mr. Byron.]

‘More than me?’ This time, Oh Seung-woo’s feelings were clearly visible. Taika, who had been staring at that face from the side, burst out laughing.

[Hahaha!]

He was so annoying, laughing while holding his stomach. Oh Seung-woo’s face turned red.

[Stop…]

[I’m trying to stop laughing but I can’t, khup. It’s been so long since I’ve seen Mr. Oh treated like this.]

[Ha. Ha. Yeah, keep laughing.]

Despite Oh Seung-woo’s grumpy words, Taika didn’t stop laughing. After giggling like that for a while, Taika said:

[Somehow Mr. Oh’s luck doesn’t seem to be following him here.]

Oh Seung-woo sighed at Taika’s words. Oh Seung-woo, who glanced at Taika who kept teasing him, said to me:

[It seems you’ve already made up your mind, so anything I say will be useless. It’s a shame. I thought we could have a mutually beneficial relationship in the future…]

Still, Oh Seung-woo was a professional. It’s impressive that he can immediately add such words to me with a serious face even while Taika is making the most annoying expression teasing him from the side.

The conversation I needed to have with Oh Seung-woo ended here.

As I watched Oh Seung-woo stand up from his seat, I let out a sigh of relief inwardly.

Oh Seung-woo held out his business card to me.

[If you change your mind, contact me through that card anytime.]

The business card with only Oh Seung-woo’s name and contact information shone brightly just by itself. Hmm, that’s not a metaphor. It really shone. What did you do to the business card? I smiled as I put that card in my pocket.

[Yes, I’ll be sure to contact you if I change my mind.]

[Well then, I’ll be…]

Oh Seung-woo, who stood up from his seat, gestured with his eyes towards Taika. But despite that eye signal, Taika’s butt showed no sign of leaving the chair.

[Taika?]

At Oh Seung-woo’s call, Taika opened his mouth in a nonchalant voice.

[Mr. Oh was rejected, but I wasn’t rejected, right?]

[What?]

Oh Seung-woo looked at Taika with a dumbfounded expression. Even at that gaze, Taika calmly continued speaking.

[Mr. Oh, go do your work. I’ll stay here and play for a bit.]

The only people who weren’t surprised by Taika’s words were Taika himself and Han Seo-hyeon who was poor at English.

[Wait, you’re going to play here?]

Oh Seung-woo asked the question I wanted to ask. Yeah, you’re going to play here! Why you? What exactly are you going to do?

[Yes. I have a lot of things I want to ask too. Mr. Oh said it too, right? That you’re curious how these people conquered an S-grade Gate by themselves.]

[That was just my personal curiosity… No, where do you talk about such sensitive information like this?]

[Did I say something I shouldn’t have?]

Taika still tilted his head with an innocent expression.

[Anyway, I’m going to stay longer.]

Taika who said that looked at me and said:

[It’s okay if I stay, right? If it was a difficult question, I won’t ask it!]

[Uh, well…]

I swallowed hard. I don’t know how to react to Taika’s sudden curveball!

[Honestly, I want to rest…]

[Oh! Then I’ll be quiet.]

The words I barely managed to say were rebutted before they could finish. As if you could be quiet! Your very existence is noisy! I looked at Oh Seung-woo with desperate eyes, but Oh Seung-woo had the same face as me.

What kind of face?

‘I don’t know, you handle it somehow.’

No, hey! You’re the hunter. I’ll take care of my kid, so you should take care of yours.

In the meantime, Oh Seung-woo and I desperately exchanged glances.

[Please?]

I was completely fed up with Taika’s appearance of rubbing his hands together like a fly.

‘Your kid is throwing a tantrum like this, are you going to leave him?’

At my gaze, Oh Seung-woo raised the corners of his mouth. As if telling me ‘Why should I be responsible? We’re strangers.’

The moment I saw that smile, I clenched my fist at the anxiety welling up.

[Well, Taika is on vacation right now. What does my opinion matter when he’s on vacation.]

No, wait. What about my opinion? Aren’t you going to ask for our opinion?

Before I could continue speaking, Oh Seung-woo got in first.

[Then, I’ll leave him in your care.]

[No, um…]

You’re running away! I became urgent at Oh Seung-woo’s exit.

[Mr. Oh Seung-woo Agency!]

I hurriedly tried to grab him, but the snake-like Oh Seung-woo had already started pretending to be busy by pulling up his suit to look at his watch.

[Ah, sorry but it’s almost time for my next schedule. I have to go now.]

Hey! Where do you think you’re going, shamelessly leaving him behind and running away! I almost shouted that without realizing.

[Haha! Have a safe trip.]

At Taika’s words that followed, my sense of reason evaporated. Have a safe trip? Is this your house or something? While I was dumbfounded, Oh Seung-woo quickly escaped from here.

‘Kuk! This is my defeat! I couldn’t do anything even though I clearly saw the number of enemies! I’m disqualified as a boss!’

—…Is this something to say so gravely?

‘As expected of someone called the world’s best agency.’

—No, it doesn’t really feel that way…

‘Kuh, I need to reflect on myself too. There’s no need to comfort me. Thorough self-criticism is the only way to move forward.’

Ray, moved by my self-reflection, chose silence. Whew, I exhaled and looked at Taika who was smiling brightly.

Now I have to deal with the burden Oh Seung-woo dumped on me. Han Seo-hyeon asked me as I was looking at him with a grave expression:

“Why isn’t he leaving?”

“That’s how it turned out.”

“No, this isn’t a situation where you can say ‘that’s how it turned out’!”

Han Seo-hyeon who shouted like that suddenly yelled towards Taika:

[Hey! Go jo! Go jo!]

Fortunately, perhaps because the pronunciation was poor, Taika didn’t understand those words. It’s fortunate it was such an honest “get out”.

[Haha, are you telling me to get lost now?]

No, you understood! I hurriedly waved my hands.

[No! No. It’s a misunderstanding.]

I quickly turned my head towards Han Seo-hyeon. No matter what, telling the world’s strongest hunter to get lost? This was too much.

“He just stayed because he’s curious about us. If we satisfy his curiosity, he’ll leave.”

“Really?”

Han Seo-hyeon narrowed his eyes and looked Taika up and down.

“I don’t think so, he has the face of someone who’s going to completely settle down.”

Why has your perception improved so much!

—Well, it’s a survival skill that can only improve when you have a boss like you who always backstabs.

Damn, so you’re saying it’s my fault in the end.

Ahem, I cleared my throat.

“That person just said he has something to say.”

As I was trying to smooth over the situation like that, Taika dropped a bombshell declaration.

[I’ve been wondering how you’ve been all this time. After all, it’s been a really long time since we met!]

Damn, ‘long time’? The ominous feeling I had every time I saw Taika revealed its true form.

Not knowing how I felt, Taika was still looking at me with a brightly smiling face.