I Woke Up and Found I Had Become the Villain

Day 3

Rumble-.

The deep sea floor shakes roughly.

It was as if an earthquake had occurred, and if there had been a country somewhere near that tremor, they would have been startled and terrified.

And for good reason, as a sudden earthquake caused a massive tsunami over a hundred meters high to spread out for hundreds of kilometers in all directions.

Meanwhile, at the epicenter of the earthquake.
A space created by pushing away billions of tons of seawater and unimaginable water pressure, carved by a strange formation at the bottom of the deep sea.

A girl opened her eyes in that space.

“I’m tired.”

Blink, blink.

Cheon Seoa, the girl blinking with a still sleepy expression, muttered weakly.

Although she woke up to the alarm, she couldn’t say she had slept well with just a few decades.

In the past, when Cheon Seoa was in Daemacheon, she usually took long naps lasting hundreds of years.

However, Cheon Seoa still got up, pushing away the drowsiness that was washing over her.

The alarm ringing was proof that the current Earth year had reached 2024.

“What should I do first when I get to Korea?”

Cheon Seoa, who had driven away the endless drowsiness in the blink of an eye, now spoke with brightly shining eyes.

Perhaps because she was returning to modern Earth after a long time.
Cheon Seoa swelled with ‘anticipation,’ a feeling she had never experienced in tens of thousands of years.

With a single gesture from Cheon Seoa, the Yin-Yang Five Elements Reverse Heaven Formation that had been her resting place was withdrawn, and the displaced seawater rushed in madly.

The space created by the Yin-Yang Five Elements Reverse Heaven Formation was only a few hundred meters at most.
Compared to the vast deep sea, that much wasn’t even a drop in the ocean.

Perhaps that’s why.
As soon as the formation disappeared, the rushing seawater engulfed the space it had created without a moment’s hesitation.

But Cheon Seoa was no longer there.

* * *

“What could this be?”

Cheon Seoa muttered, tilting her head in confusion.

The place where Cheon Seoa, who had disappeared from the bottom of the deep sea, reappeared was Seoul, the capital of South Korea, her hometown in the past.

However, the scenery of Seoul she arrived at was vastly different from the Seoul in her memories.

The landscape of Seoul, lined with numerous skyscrapers, was not much different from her memories, but the issue was with the people walking around the streets of Seoul.

Most were ordinary people, but some had quite peculiar attire.

People in martial arts uniforms that seemed straight out of a wuxia novel walked around carrying cold weapons like swords, spears, and axes.
There were also people dressed as knights or wizards, as if they had stepped out of a fantasy novel.

And even among those in ordinary clothes, there were occasionally people who harbored an energy similar to the spiritual energy cultivated by the Transcendents of the Transcendent World.

No, all the people who looked like they belonged in wuxia novels or fantasy stories possessed some strange power.

If it weren’t for that, Cheon Seoa might have thought there was a cosplay event happening here today.

Of course, the number of such unusual people was so small that there might be one in a thousand…

“What on earth is going on here?”

So, Cheon Seoa was bewildered by Seoul… no, the modern world that had changed so much compared to her memories, and she just muttered blankly.

Bang!

A building not far away exploded, and a group of people emerged from it.

They were all wearing unique outfits, but if there was any uniformity, it was that they all had their faces covered with masks.
Furthermore, they were holding bags full of 50,000 won bills in their hands.

Kyaaak!
V-Villain!
Run away!

People nearby screamed and scattered in all directions.

However, an unfamiliar word in the screams of the fleeing people caught Cheon Seoa’s ear.

“Villain?”

What do they mean by villain?
This isn’t some boy’s comic book or a web novel about people with superpowers.

Why are they calling those bank robbers ‘villains’?

However, the situation that unfolded afterwards was also difficult for Cheon Seoa to understand.

And for good reason.

“How dare you run wild in my territory!”

Kwarrung!

A bolt of lightning struck in front of the fleeing bank robbers, or ‘villains’ as the people around called them, and a man appeared from within it.

A man appearing from within a lightning bolt, of all things.
However, what was truly unusual was the man’s attire.

He wore a blue bodysuit with his hair dyed yellow.
With a lightning-shaped mark engraved on his back and a spear in his hand, he was definitely not an ordinary person.

A hero! A hero has come!
I know that person! It’s Thunderman!
Thunderman! Thunderman! Thunderman! Thunderman!

A hero.
And even a somewhat childish name like Thunderman.

Really…

“Why has it changed like this?”

The hero, Thunderman, who appeared with a bolt of lightning, begins to fight with five villains.
Staring blankly at the scene, Cheon Seoa muttered.

Of course, when she arrived on Earth, Cheon Seoa, who had traversed numerous eras and places, could see that there was a hidden side to Earth that her past ordinary human self had not known.

However, they all hid their existence and never caught the eye of ordinary people.

It was the same even in the era Cheon Seoa had last visited, when Korea was still oppressed by Japan.

The few decades she had been asleep.
In such a short time, what on earth had happened for them to come out into the open as heroes and villains.

And why did people accept them so naturally?

As Cheon Seoa was still watching the fight between the hero and villains with an expression of genuine incomprehension, it happened.

“Damn it-!”

Hero, Thunderman.
One of the villains fighting him, whose name might be a bit childish but whose combat ability with lightning was exceptional, suddenly cursed and lunged towards Cheon Seoa.

Their plan was to take Cheon Seoa hostage, as they couldn’t defeat or escape from Thunderman with their own power.

“Oh, no! Stop right there!”

Who would have thought there was still a civilian who hadn’t evacuated!

Thunderman shouted in a panic, his body enveloped in lightning as he chased after the villain.

However, Thunderman failed to achieve his goal.

The two villains who hadn’t been taken down yet desperately clung to Thunderman’s ankles, and taking advantage of this opportunity, the villain was able to grab Cheon Seoa.

“If you don’t back off right now, I’ll smash this girl’s head in!”

The villain shouted, pressing a gun, the most modern-looking weapon, against Cheon Seoa’s forehead.

Thunderman, who had just subdued the two villains clinging to his ankles, looked bewildered.

Of course, fundamentally, it was Cheon Seoa’s fault for not evacuating despite the appearance of villains and instead becoming a hostage.

But Thunderman is a hero.
A hero whose mission is to protect citizens from villains.

No matter how much a civilian failed to evacuate, once that civilian became a hostage to a villain, it all became Thunderman’s mistake.

“Ugh-.”

Unable to do anything, Thunderman let out a suppressed groan.

With his abilities, he could turn the villain in front of him into a roasted chicken in the blink of an eye.

But Thunderman couldn’t do that.
Thunderman knew all too well that if he showed even the slightest sign of activating his powers, that villain would pull the trigger without hesitation.

“Damn it! Don’t you have any pride as a villain!”

“Bullshit! As if a villain would have such a thing!”

Thunderman shouted in frustration, and the villain sneered in response.

Thunderman could do nothing but glare at the villain, sparks flying.

But then.

“What exactly is going on here?”

Cheon Seoa, who had suddenly become the villain’s hostage, asked with an incredibly calm expression, tilting her head in a way that almost seemed innocent.

“I’m a bit confused. So you’re the villain, and that pervert in tights over there is the hero, right?”

…?

Thunderman and even the villain were momentarily taken aback by Cheon Seoa’s unexpected question, seemingly unaware of her predicament.

“I don’t understand. In the past, people with abilities were hidden in the shadows of the world, but now they’ve become heroes and villains opposing each other. Are there no dungeons, gates, or monsters? Oh! What about status windows?”

“W-what are you babbling about! Just shut up and stay quiet!”

Click!

As Cheon Seoa continued to chatter, the villain shouted angrily and placed his finger on the trigger.

A silent threat that he would pull the trigger at the slightest nonsense.
Thunderman showed an anxious expression, but Cheon Seoa maintained her innocent look.

And for good reason.

“Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve seen a gun. As far as I know, guns are illegal in Korea. How much has the Earth I knew changed? Could all of this be a butterfly effect caused by me?”

“I told you to shut up!”

As Cheon Seoa continued talking, disregarding his threats, the villain finally pulled the trigger.

Click.
Bang-!

As the trigger was pulled, the sound of gunfire echoed.
Surprised by this, Thunderman shouted “Crazy!” and rushed towards the villain.

To think he would actually pull the trigger!
Of course, the opponent is a villain. A villain who commits crimes despite having abilities.

However, Thunderman didn’t really think the villain in front of him would pull the trigger.

That’s because the name of the villain Thunderman was facing off against is Dark Wind.
A villain with a somewhat chuunibyou-like name, whose ability is merely being able to move as fast as the wind.

In other words, he wasn’t a villain bold enough to kill people.
That’s why he was classified as a mere D-rank, no different from a petty criminal.

To think such a villain would actually kill a hostage!
And a girl who appears to be a minor at that!

Just as Thunderman, with an angry expression, was about to throw lightning at the villain, Dark Wind, it happened.

“Is this self-defense?”

Cheon Seoa, with a bullet lodged in her forehead, said to Dark Wind with an incredibly eerie smile.

Dark Wind, surprised by Cheon Seoa speaking to him with a bullet in her forehead and an incredibly eerie smile, let out a scream, “Huaak!”

‘Mo, monster! It’s a monster!’

The surprised villain, Dark Wind, screamed internally and started to run away.

Of course, in this world where various ability users exist, logically thinking, the reason the bullet didn’t work was because Cheon Seoa also had an ability.

In other words, it was rational to conclude that she possessed supernatural powers.

However, Dark Wind, already pushed to the psychological limit and now burdened with the guilt of shooting at the girl, couldn’t make such a logical judgment.

Thus, Dark Villain fled without looking back, while Thunderman breathed a sigh of relief upon realizing that Cheon Seoa hadn’t died.

Cheon Seoa looked back and forth between the two, and then spoke to Thunderman.

“Hey, you pervert in tights. This is clearly self-defense, right?”

Huh?
Pervert in tights? Is she talking about me?

As Thunderman’s expression changed oddly at being called a pervert in tights, Cheon Seoa moved.

Taking a step forward, she appeared in front of Dark Wind in an instant, as if using teleportation.

Dark Wind, who had been running frantically, let out a strange scream when Cheon Seoa suddenly appeared in front of him in the blink of an eye.

At that moment.

“Hmm, I guess this will do for a snack.”

Huh…?
What’s this?
What just happened?

Cheon Seoa’s voice came from behind.
Dark Wind blinked again and belatedly realized that Cheon Seoa had disappeared.

Simultaneously.

“Ah…!”

With a short death cry, Dark Wind tumbled to the ground.
There was a gaping hole in Dark Wind’s chest, and Cheon Seoa still had something wriggling on her hand.

The heart of Dark Wind was swallowed in one bite.

“Hmm, as expected. Although I’ve trained in the Soul-Devouring Technique, a heart of this level barely registers. If only I had the heart of a cultivator who has reached the Golden Core stage, that would be nice.”

Shudder-!

Cheon Seoa muttered incomprehensible words, complaining while chewing the heart without hesitation.
In the eyes of Thunderman, who was watching Cheon Seoa, a deep fear flickered.