Being a Villain is My True Calling

“Haven’t we met somewhere before?”

“..Hiccup.”

At those words, Ga-yeon hiccups instead of me.
I pat her back and look at the woman in front of me.

‘Of course, it’s not a flirting line or anything like that.’

A pure curiosity thrown questioningly.

She’s suspicious of me.
Wondering if she might have met me in the past.

‘..Calm down, right. If I get flustered, it’ll only make me more suspicious.’

I composed my expression and put on a calm smile.

“I’m not sure. I don’t think I remember meeting you as a customer… Oh, maybe you visited before…?”

“This is my first time here.”

“Hmm. I’m sorry. No matter how I think about it, you seem unfamiliar to me?”

Without exaggerated gestures, just plainly.
I spoke calmly, not conscious of the fact that the person in front of me was the Ice Queen.

“..Is that so?”

Fortunately, whether my heartfelt acting worked or not, the Ice Queen – or Seo Yun-hee by her real name – ordered from the menu without further words and sat down.

“Phew..”

“Oppa, what do we do now? Should we kick her out?”

“No. If we do that, it might raise unnecessary suspicion.”

Besides, it was a bit surprising, but it wasn’t such a bad situation.
Isn’t it fine as long as she doesn’t find out that I’m the Maker?

If I could just get close to her, if I could maintain a relationship like the one with Chise, it was clear that I could gain various benefits.

‘She might be more tight-lipped than Chise, but she probably has a lot of detailed and high-quality information.’

After finishing my calculations, I put on a business smile.

Thunk.

“..? I didn’t order this.”

“It’s a service for first-time customers.”

First, I need to make sure our cafe appeals to her, nothing more, nothing less.
I had no particular worries.

After all, I know her tastes very well.
I went back to the counter and operated the monitor inside.

Comfortable.
It was Seo Yun-hee’s plain and satisfying thought, without any intention of adding flowery words.

Gulp.

-♪~♫

The warm coffee that naturally makes the body languid, and the gentle piano sound that’s barely audible.

Rustle, rustle..
And herself leisurely reading a book in the midst of it all.

As these three elements came together, an indescribable satisfaction naturally filled her.

‘This is healing.’

It was the most satisfying among the various cafes she had visited throughout the day.
There weren’t many people, the coffee and food tasted good, and above all, the atmosphere itself was to her liking.

She felt her stress properly relieving for the first time in a very long time.

“Oh, are you leaving now?”

“Yes. It’s getting late too.”

After spending such a satisfying few hours, Seo Yun-hee.
Outside, it had already started to get dark.

‘Come to think of it… I still feel like I’ve seen him somewhere.’

Looking at the cafe owner Kang I-an with his transparent smile, Seo Yun-hee felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
At first, she thought it was just her imagination, but the more she looked, the more she felt like she had seen him somewhere.

‘..Should I do a little investigation?’

It wasn’t going to be an intense background check.
Just the kind of personal information that a public servant could easily find with a casual search.

As Seo Yun-hee was pondering this, Kang I-an handed her a small cookie with a bright smile.

“What’s this..?”

“It’s on the house.”

“..This place has a lot of services.”

“Haha, we don’t have many customers, so it’s all an investment to make regular customers. If you come again, I’ll prepare more service items for you.”

Next time.. huh.
Seo Yun-hee smirked at those words and nodded.

“Alright, owner. I’ll come again next time.”

“Oh my, thank you.”

Seo Yun-hee turned her head and looked out the window.
What she saw was a surrounding area that felt somewhat empty.

It wasn’t that there were no buildings.
It just felt like there weren’t many places where people lived.

‘Such a delicious cafe with a good atmosphere, but no people… it’s probably because it’s next to the slums.’

A neat cafe close to the slums.
Adding to that, seeing the young owner with good looks and a young employee, was it just her imagination that an unnecessary uneasiness arose?

“..If any weird guys try to harm you, let me know.”

“Pardon?”

In the end, she impulsively blurted out those words and headed for the door.

“Take care on your way home!”

As Seo Yun-hee left the cafe like that.
Kang I-an, who had wiped off his smile, quietly stared at the door she had left through.

“..So she definitely liked it?”

“Phew..”

Thinking they had overcome a hurdle, sighs of relief flowed from the mouths of the two people.
That was the end of their somewhat dangerous? rest.

A few days later.
To proceed with my personal business, I put on the Maker’s outfit and visited a certain place.

“Ah, you’re here, Maker.”

As I appeared, researcher Roy greeted me.
The place I visited today was Roy’s research facility, which was conducting research with my support.

The reason was none other than to check on the progress of the research I had commissioned.

“How is the research going?”

“It’s progressing smoothly.”

Roy answered my question with a confident expression.

“Follow me. As we discussed beforehand, I should show our investor the research so far.”

I followed Roy like that, being guided through the research facility.

“First, I’ve improved on the ‘infectious berserk virus’ I had previously created.”

“Shall we check it out?”

While the existing drug induced strong physical ability enhancement and berserk state, the strengthened beasts were utterly uncontrollable, making it a very tricky substance to handle.

Therefore, what Roy primarily wanted to improve was the part related to commands.
No matter how well-forged a sword is, a sword that stabs its master is worse than useless, so this was only natural.

“Currently, if we classify the test subjects, there are three types in total.”

Roy adjusted the drug combinations and ratios, dividing the experimental results into three main categories.

“First. Cases where they unconditionally obey commands, but proper berserk state isn’t achieved.”

While they clearly carry out given orders,
The infectiousness that the original drug had has greatly decreased, and in some large animals, obedience caused their wildness and physical abilities to actually decrease further than before.

“The second type has acquired even stronger violence and physical abilities than the original drug.”

Of course, they don’t listen to commands at all, and along with enhanced physical abilities, their lifespan has drastically decreased.
However, in terms of physical specs, they are far superior to the other two types, and their infectiousness is also very strong.
And lastly, the third type.

“The third type is actually more appropriate to view as a collection of those that don’t belong to the first or second type.”

Instead of carrying out commands, they struggle with detailed orders, and their physical enhancement and wildness have increased moderately.

Just from the description, the third type seems the most useful, but because the variation between individuals is large, it’s actually more difficult to handle than the first and second types.

“..I didn’t expect the third type to have such large variations between individuals, even though we used the same combination and ratio for mass production.”

Roy seemed a bit dissatisfied, but I was quite satisfied with the research in my own way.

“Excellent. To have classified and experimented to this extent in such a short time.”

It’s just that he showed me three types, but in reality, to create such successful cases, he must have tried countless combinations and ratios beyond imagination.

And to have researched to this extent in just about a month or two at most.

“..It’s nothing. I had been working on the combinations and hypotheses for quite a long time. I just confirmed them with this opportunity.”

Roy spoke nonchalantly at my praise.
However, he couldn’t hide the embarrassment contained within from me.

“Anyway, the theory and experiments are being established to some extent. But we lack data on how it would work in actual combat situations.”

“Actual combat, huh.”

“Various variables can occur in real situations. For example, ‘what level of command obedience is appropriate for engaging in battle’, or ‘will a stage 2 subordinate refuse the ideal order given by the master even in extreme situations’.”

Roy was concerned about the lack of data in actual combat situations.
Thankfully. I don’t even need to guide this in any direction.

“If it’s something like that, there’s a simple method, isn’t there?”

“What is it?”

I smiled brightly and suggested a very simple method to him.

“Terrorism. Using the test subjects to carry out terrorism.”

We can conduct a large-scale experiment targeting cities and countries.
For researchers, terrorism wasn’t particularly exciting.

Z-Biotech’s goal was to directly create ‘God’.
Even if not, Roy’s goal was to be recognized by the organization, so he had no particular feelings about terrorism.

No, rather…

“That’s not a bad idea?”

He would be more than happy to be able to obtain more data.

“But with the current funds, it seems difficult to prepare for both experiments and terrorism..”

“Don’t worry, I’ll invest more.”

Roy nodded and looked relieved.

“How long would it take to prepare for the terrorism?”

“Hmm.. There’s still more to research, so it would take about 2 years generously to be ready for actual use.”

“That’s too slow. Let’s make it about 1 year.”

“What? Do you think research is that easy? Considering the labor costs and current investment…”

“One year. Instead, I’ll double the investment.”

If time and manpower are lacking, just buy them with money.
I raised the corners of my mouth towards him.

“..Double?”

“Mr. Roy. Money exists to make people work for you.”

And if you grind people, you can gain that much time.
Money might not be everything in the world, but there are overwhelmingly more things you can buy with money than things you can’t.

If money can shorten time, why not use it?

“I’m providing the lacking funds. Can’t you do it even with this?”

“……”

Roy falls silent for a moment at my words, calculating.

“…Hah, you really are an annoyingly capable investor.”

“I’ll take that as acceptance.”

In the end, I was able to hear high praise pouring from his mouth.