Although a Villain, My Wish is World Peace

Although I was surprised by the unexpected name, hadn’t I already anticipated that this Ramirez person would turn out to be quite a successful hunter?

I just didn’t expect him to be successful on a global scale, but still, it’s not so shocking that I’d…

It is shocking.

No matter how I think about it, it’s shocking enough to fall over.

To think that Taika Cooper, who will be considered America’s top hunter in just 4 years, is here. It gave me a headache.

—Is he really that amazing?

‘If his disappearance were discovered right now, the United States would issue an official statement and cause a national uproar. If the reason for his disappearance was kidnapping, America might even pull out the nuclear card.’

A hunter of Taika Cooper’s caliber can’t be considered an individual. It’s more accurate to call him a national asset. Why on earth is the most, or rather, soon-to-be most successful person in America here?

[I suppose asking why you’re here… isn’t quite right. You said you came to catch Yebrica, didn’t you?]

[Yes.]

Suddenly, I recalled what Ramirez, no, Taika had said yesterday.

[Did you come all the way here because you were angry that no one cared? I assume you kept it a secret from those around you.]

When I said Taika was a national asset, it wasn’t a lie. To ‘dispatch’ Taika here would require national-level discussions. Naturally, Australia is not in a position to officially receive Taika from the United States.

His coming here was Taika’s unilateral decision.

He simply took advantage of Australia’s ridiculously simplified hunter entry procedures and came here recklessly.

In many ways, this could be considered a disaster for both the United States and me.

I looked at Taika Cooper in front of me. Wasn’t he supposed to be the same age as me? He must be twenty-one now. There’s really nothing to say except that it’s the recklessness of a child. To act without any thought for the consequences, just doing it and seeing what happens.

Impressive, truly impressive.

[You didn’t just come without saying anything, did you?]

[Well, I did say I was going to hang out at a friend’s house…]

[And that worked?]

[Um, no. By now, they probably know everything. My agency is a bit overprotective.]

Taika Cooper’s fame is partly due to his agency’s excessive care. At least in Korea, that’s the case. The agency person is a Korean-American, you see. There were even many patriotic videos made like ‘The top American hunter raised by Korea!’ and such.

Anyway, the point is that Taika’s presence here itself is a problem.

[Haah…]

It’s giving me a headache in many ways.

[Even so, did you have to come here, like this?]

[But I couldn’t just leave it alone. If Yebrica crosses the barrier and moves, Australia as a country is finished!]

Hmm, certainly if Yebrica had been left alone, Australia would have been ruined. In fact, I think it did collapse a few years later.

But to fly all the way here from America. He’s not normal either.

[You said you could find out Yebrica’s location through reconnaissance. If you just tell me that, I’ll leave. I won’t cause any more trouble.]

That’s the problem.

[Do you think you can catch Yebrica alone?]

Of course, Taika won’t die here. He didn’t die in the past, and he won’t die now. But whether he’ll succeed in subjugating Yebrica is a completely different matter. After all, the main talent of the Taika Cooper in front of me is ‘gravity’.

It’s undoubtedly an incredibly powerful and destructive talent, but it’s not very helpful in piercing through this sandstorm.

[Even if we tell you the direction, won’t it be over if you lose your way in the middle?]

At my words, Taika smiled awkwardly.

[Well, that’s true, but…]

Wandering like that, he’d run out of mana before even finding Yebrica.

In fact, he probably failed in the past too, rushing in without any preparation like this.

For someone who’s probably lived his whole life without knowing the word failure, I wondered if this is why he’s so unprepared.

[Mr. Cooper can’t do it alone.]

[Th-then, perhaps you could help…]

Taika said that while watching my reaction. I stroked my chin. Should I help?

While my goal is to prevent this world’s destruction, I didn’t want to die doing something reckless.

This is a monster that can summon such a sandstorm.

Estimated top-tier. Of course, the highest danger rating is due to its enormous impact on the surroundings, so it might actually be weaker than that in reality. But anyway, it’s no ordinary opponent.

Moreover, I have no information about Yebrica as an individual in my head. What if it’s stronger than we thought when we actually encounter it?

Needless to say, we’d be screwed.

We only have one life.

Besides, there’s not much to gain by helping this guy. After all, my real identity is that of a villain, a bad guy, a shadowy figure from South Korea.

What good would it do for that shadowy figure to befriend America’s top hunter?

In many ways, I’m not very pleased with this.

I stared at Taika Cooper’s face.

Some people say this:

While it’s meaningless to rank hunters whose abilities vary greatly depending on their talents, if you were to pick the hunter with the strongest destructive power among humanity, it would be Taika Cooper.

[I’ll help you, but on one condition.]

I felt like using him.

The man who will later rise to 9-Circle and be called humanity’s strongest.

* * *

Despite the somewhat forceful condition that he follow only my instructions during battle, Taika completely accepted my terms.

Moreover, he said all the spoils would be ours. While it’s understandable for someone who’s probably earning more than enough money, I was speechless at his generosity in willingly giving up the spoils from a top-tier monster.

Well, I guess that’s the kind of person who would come here to subjugate monsters without pay in the first place.

So we were now moving forward for the full-scale subjugation of Yebrica.

Of course, Han Seo-hyeon wasn’t too pleased when he heard this news.

“So you’re saying that person is America’s strongest hunter?”

At my explanation, Han Seo-hyeon squinted his eyes and looked at Taika. Perhaps feeling the intense gaze directed at him, Taika looked at us with an awkward smile.

It’s ridiculous how he’s waving his fingers at us in greeting.

“Isn’t there nothing good about hanging around with someone like that?”

“It’s fine because he doesn’t know our true identities. Besides, it’s awkward to leave him alone here.”

“Can’t we just abandon him and go? You said he’s strong. He’ll probably survive somehow.”

“If something goes wrong, it could endanger the entire United States. Plus, as you can see, he’s fundamentally a good person. The more we keep him alive, the more it benefits this world.”

Moreover, it wasn’t that we had nothing to gain.

Now that his identity was revealed, Taika began to fully utilize his talent. And that talent was impressive.

A monster resembling a bald eagle, a vulture, that approached us didn’t even take two steps before it was pinned to the ground. That was the end of it. Only the blood splatter and scattered feathers remained as evidence that a monster had been there moments ago.

It was like that with all monsters.

From the moment Taika stepped forward, we had nothing to do.

[Ah, it’s not a very pleasant sight to see! I still find delicate control a bit difficult, you see.]

His face looked so innocent as he said that, which made it even scarier. While he surely had no malicious intent, Taika’s talent was definitely dangerous.

Because of the way he applies gravity to an entire area, he can’t distinguish between enemies and allies. That’s why he was using his ability as soon as he saw a monster to prevent us from approaching at all, but it would be truly troublesome when ‘joint attacks’ are needed.

Well, I guess this is when he doesn’t yet understand the concept of ‘center point’.

I heard that in the early stages of his career as a hunter, he only knew how to separate space and apply excessive gravity to that space, making it impossible to coordinate attacks with others.

Hmm.

Since it’s come to this, I might as well give him some tips.

It’s time for lunch anyway. I left Han Seo-hyeon in charge of lunch and beckoned Taika over.

[How do you feel when you use your ability now?]

[Huh?]

At my words, Taika opened his eyes wide. It’s a childlike innocence that doesn’t match his age of 21.

Before his identity was revealed, he did a good job of imitating a serious hunter, but now that he’s relaxed, he’s become much more playful.

—His eyes are so cute, I want to poke them out.

Sadly, our side’s reaction to his cuteness wasn’t very positive.

Taika’s eyes without sunglasses were unnecessarily pretty and burdensome. Sapphire-colored irises with pupils glowing yellow. It was a face that made me understand why he got the nickname ‘Apollo’, the sun god.

Anyway, getting to the main point, I wanted to change the way Taika uses his power.

[How I use it? I just use it with the feeling of crushing down on the space I see in front of me, like bang!]

[That’s quite an intuitive explanation.]

Taika’s talent manifestation must rely almost entirely on instinct. Certainly, when you first awaken your talent, that’s exactly how it feels. Like a new arm has grown. At first, just swinging that arm might make you feel like you’ve accomplished something amazing.

But if you’re satisfied with just that, you’ll never be able to bring out the full potential of your talent. You need to be able to use chopsticks and write with the hand attached to that arm, so to speak.

Taika’s problem was immediately apparent.

[There’s no finesse at all.]

[Ugh!]

Did I hit the nail on the head? But it was certainly not a good way of using his power.

[You’re just defining a rough area and then recklessly pouring mana into it, aren’t you?]

That’s right. This guy is just crushing space with sheer force! That’s not the true utilization of gravity as I know it.

[Simply crushing down is a one-dimensional use.]

[I know, but… isn’t gravity like that? Being able to manipulate weight at will.]

Certainly, Taika still doesn’t fully understand his own ability.

The key point of gravity is the ‘center point’.

I grabbed some sand in my hand. Then I levitated that sand using wind. Wind is always flowing, so levitating objects like this is an extremely difficult operation, but I managed it anyway.

I didn’t just levitate it to show off my mana control, it’s a kind of demonstration.

[The reason gravity acts downward on this Earth is because the center point is in the middle of the Earth.]

Following my words, a center point appeared in the middle of the sand sphere. I then reshaped the sand into a square.

[For gravity to work, there needs to be a center point. Gravity is the force that ‘pulls objects towards the center point’. The way Mr. Cooper is using it now assumes that center point is below the ground.]

That’s why monsters approaching us were smashed into the ground.

[We can’t change the center point of this Earth. But the gravity manifested by Mr. Cooper’s talent is different. It means you can create a center point anywhere.]

At my words, Taika blinked his eyes.

[Oh.]

It’s easy to think that gravity only acts in one direction. To us on Earth, that seems like an absolute truth. It’s natural for things to fall from top to bottom.

But if you have an ability like Taika’s that can change the center point at will, it’s possible to make gravity act in different directions.

[I never thought of it that way.]

[If you master the method of properly setting the center point, you should be able to manipulate gravity at will.]

[Hmm!]

[And have you ever thought about why it’s gravity in the first place?]

[Huh?]

[Gravity is the force that acts between objects with mass. The reason Earth pulls us is because Earth’s mass is incomparably larger than ours. So I’ll ask again. Why is Mr. Cooper’s talent gravity and not telekinesis?]