Although a Villain, My Wish is World Peace

Kim Myeong-cheol clicked his tongue.

If he went all out, it wouldn’t have been impossible to recapture that fleeing bastard here and now. But the moment Jeong Ho-san had intervened like this, he had abandoned that thought. Hadn’t he come here in the first place to gain Jeong Ho-san’s affection?

He had come to win over Jeong Ho-san’s heart, so going against Jeong Ho-san’s wishes would make the cost outweigh the benefit.

Kim Myeong-cheol gestured subtly at Jeong Ho-san.

“Forget about your friend for now, let’s take care of the people here first. You’re also curious about what happened inside there, aren’t you?”

At those words, Jeong Ho-san deeply bowed his head again in a gesture of gratitude. His face was filled with apologies.

“So who are you people?”

At Kim Myeong-cheol’s question, the men remained silent. Seeing their fearful expressions, Kim Myeong-cheol’s mood also soured.

“I know you were illegally mining here. It’s obvious just from looking at you, so there’s no use lying.”

“We’re, we’re sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologize to me.”

They had committed crimes, and to make matters worse, they had been caught by Kim Myeong-cheol, someone who couldn’t tolerate injustice. But while the situation was troubling, Kim Myeong-cheol had no intention of intimidating these people.

Because he could roughly guess the circumstances that had led them to commit these illegal acts. Kim Myeong-cheol scrutinized the men.

While their appearances were quite unsightly, they didn’t seem to be injured. And someone had even provided them with pouches of mana stones.

“Let me ask just one thing. What did that guy do in there?”

Even though he hoped that Jeong Ho-san’s friend wasn’t a bad person, for Jeong Ho-san’s sake who was bowing his head like a criminal, he didn’t receive the answer he wanted.

The tight-lipped people refused to say anything, no matter how he cajoled them.

But he also didn’t want to use force against people who looked like they would drop dead if poked too hard.

With their lips and even fingertips tinged blue, it was obvious their remaining lifespan was short.

How long did that suffocating silence last? Secretary Hwang, who had been inside the gate, finally emerged.

With a relieved expression, Kim Myeong-cheol asked him, “So, what was in there?”

“There were about five corpses that didn’t appear to have been dead for very long.”

At those words, Jeong Ho-san’s shoulders trembled.

“Huuh.”

It was obvious who had created those corpses. Come to think of it, that guy had reeked strongly of blood.

Kim Myeong-cheol observed Jeong Ho-san, who had fallen silent since then. Had that friend of his really been behind all of this?

‘I didn’t think he was the type to be capable of murder.’

Not just one, but five killed.

When he had first tracked that guy’s GPS to come here, he had thought he was an unfortunate awakener caught up in an illegal gate operation. But the reality was far different.

The person he had assumed was a victim had turned out to be a murderer instead.

Over Kim Myeong-cheol’s contemplation, Secretary Hwang’s words continued.

“There were even more corpses further inside.”

“That guy too?”

“No, those people seemed to have been dead for quite some time. With no external injuries, it looked like most of them had succumbed to severe mana poisoning.”

“Worked until they died?”

Even among illegal gate mining operations, blatantly working people to death like that was uncommon. Usually, there was at least some semblance of mutual understanding.

“It seems they were a group aiming for a huge score.”

Saying that, Kim Myeong-cheol furrowed his brows. Secretary Hwang nodded, seemingly sharing the same thought.

“The dead seemed to be hunters assigned as overseers in this place. I did manage to collect their identification tags, but none of them belonged to any proper guilds.”

So they had let all the miners live but killed the oversight hunters instead.

“Some kind of vigilante group?”

If that was the case, it explained why they hadn’t harmed the miners. The miners’ silence might not have been out of intimidation, but cooperation.

But there was still something that bothered him.

“If they knew about a place like this, why didn’t they just report it instead of taking matters into their own hands?”

There was a dedicated team for awakener-related crimes that would have thoroughly investigated, so why had that guy, a mere civilian, taken action himself?

“The GPS is still pointing to this location.”

At Secretary Hwang’s words, Kim Myeong-cheol clicked his tongue again. It meant he had removed his identification tag and fled. Not to mention, he had also taken a large haul of illegally mined mana stones.

Perhaps his intentions had been good, but the outcome couldn’t be considered as such.

“What do you think, Ho-san? Your friend seems to have…”

Seeing Jeong Ho-san’s crumpled expression, Kim Myeong-cheol could only trail off with his mouth agape. For a friend who was practically family to have become a criminal, well, damn.

“Ho-san, I’ll turn a blind eye to you helping your friend escape today. But it can’t happen again next time.”

Kim Myeong-cheol tried to console Jeong Ho-san. If he kept shielding that guy like this in front of outsiders, it would cause serious trouble.

But Jeong Ho-san, seemingly oblivious to Kim Myeong-cheol’s deep consideration, only said something foolish in response.

“Yi-sin wouldn’t do something like that.”

“Aish, that guy already killed five people…”

“They must have been people who deserved it.”

“No one deserves to be killed.”

Kim Myeong-cheol firmly declared. Jeong Ho-san’s words had crossed a line, and then some. Kim Myeong-cheol scolded him.

“Are we gods or something? We’re just humans with extraordinary abilities, humans! If a crime was committed, they must face the judgment of the law.”

Jeong Ho-san let out a sigh at Kim Myeong-cheol’s words. The reason he had joined this guild was precisely because of Kim Myeong-cheol’s upright character. Someone who was just as wary of injustice and the power of awakeners as he was.

“I’m sorry, I misspoke.”

Realizing his mistake, Jeong Ho-san immediately apologized. Seeing Jeong Ho-san like that, Kim Myeong-cheol clicked his tongue in displeasure. While he understood Jeong Ho-san’s affection for his friend, at times like this, he needed to act decisively.

“I’ll put out a wanted notice. No matter what they did, a crime is a crime.”

Simply removing his identification tag was already grounds for a wanted notice, and he had killed five people on top of that. No matter if the victims were criminals, no matter if he was Jeong Ho-san’s friend, this couldn’t be overlooked.

“No, I’ll look for him myself…”

“How would you find him?”

Even as a 5-Circle awakener, Jeong Ho-san was of the physical enhancement type. An ability that wouldn’t be of any help in locating someone.

“Leave it to the professionals.”

“What if those professionals harm him, kill him?”

Jeong Ho-san had meekly bowed his head until now, but this seemed to be where he drew the line.

“There must have been some circumstances.”

But even Jeong Ho-san himself didn’t know what those circumstances were.

The person there had undoubtedly been Kang Yi-sin, but not the Kang Yi-sin that Jeong Ho-san knew. Just what had happened in that short time span?

Kim Myeong-cheol relayed the information he had learned from Secretary Hwang to Jeong Ho-san.

“That Im Hyeon-su guy said your friend seemed to have gotten into a huge debt.”

“Debt?”

He wasn’t the type to accrue debts, no matter how little he earned.

“Something must have happened.”

“If he was going through difficulties, he would have told me.”

“Or perhaps because he’s your friend, there were things he couldn’t tell you, all the more so.”

“…Please make sure to capture him alive.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Kim Myeong-cheol reassured Jeong Ho-san like that.

“Ho-san, call Team 1 over here. We need to take these people away from here, don’t we?”

After sending Jeong Ho-san off to the side with those words, Kim Myeong-cheol addressed Secretary Hwang.

“How was it?”

Unlike someone utterly devoid of any sense, Secretary Hwang immediately provided the answer Kim Myeong-cheol wanted with just that brief question.

“It didn’t seem like the handiwork of an amateur.”

“Hmm.”

While Jeong Ho-san might still believe in that Kang Yi-sin guy, Kim Myeong-cheol couldn’t after seeing those corpses. Before witnessing the corpses, maybe, but not after.

“There were no signs of hesitation whatsoever. And with the first and third corpses, he had clearly confirmed the kill on someone already incapacitated. The second was a complete ambush. It was premeditated murder.”

No matter how much the world of awakeners had emerged, taking a human life was still a grave crime. Especially in cases of murder between awakeners.

“He didn’t seem like the type to commit murder though.”

“Either he had deceived the Master from the very first meeting, or something happened in between. Or the Master simply has poor judgment of character.”

Having heard such remarks often enough before, Kim Myeong-cheol couldn’t outright deny it. Observing Kim Myeong-cheol’s displeased expression, Secretary Hwang quickly added,

“But judging from Jeong Ho-san’s reaction, the assessment that he wouldn’t normally do such things seems accurate.”

At Secretary Hwang’s words, Kim Myeong-cheol let out a grunting sound.

“If only we knew what happened inside that damn gate of his.”

Thirty minutes after Secretary Hwang had emerged, the gate had completely vanished. If he had known, he should have told him to record the inside, but now all evidence was gone.

The people who had come out of the gate had also remained tight-lipped.

“Ugh, damn it all. I started this with good intentions, and this is how it turns out.”

With a complicated expression, Kim Myeong-cheol stared ahead.

* * *

That day, Kim Myeong-cheol took it upon himself to handle the entire situation. Not only reporting the illegal gate incident to the Awakener Crimes Team, but also arranging for the rescued victims to be transferred elsewhere.

Although he couldn’t help treat their mana poisoning symptoms, he at least had them taken to the hospital as well.

During this process, Kim Myeong-cheol tried numerous times to converse with those victims.

It was to find any leads on the missing Kang Yi-sin. But those people stubbornly kept their mouths shut.

No matter how much he reassured them that Kang Yi-sin wouldn’t be coming back for them, it was no use.

With their remaining lifespans being so short, even the great Kim Myeong-cheol couldn’t do anything about their silence.

What could he possibly say to those people who only wanted to spend their last days with their families?

“But that Han Jo-hee friend should know something at least.”

“It’s Han Jo-hee.”

“Let’s not get hung up on minor details.”

“A person’s name is not a minor detail.”

Rolling his eyes at the fussy Secretary Hwang, Kim Myeong-cheol continued speaking.

“He said he worked together with Kang Yi-sin, didn’t he?”

“Yes. But he claims they weren’t close acquaintances outwardly.”

“If they weren’t even close, there’s no way he would have gone to rescue him there. There must be something more. Ah, what about that Im Hyeon-su guy?”

Im Hyeon-su, the one who had arranged the illegal gate, had also been on Kim Myeong-cheol’s radar for quite some time now.

“The dedicated team says they’re investigating related individuals.”

“Let me know as soon as any information comes out. The Crimson Hound guild will cooperate.”

Having said that, Kim Myeong-cheol added to Secretary Hwang,

“Ah, and tell the miners we’ll give them a good price for all the mana stones. That we’ll be as accommodating as possible with their circumstances. It’s an awkward thing to say, but since they’ll be dying soon, they might have a weak spot. Let’s try to exploit that.”

At his words, Secretary Hwang nodded his head.

“Well, the quickest way to get to the bottom of this would be to find that Kang Yi-sin friend, but…”

Wrinkling his nose, Kim Myeong-cheol spoke.

“For Ho-san’s sake, I have to find that friend no matter what.”

And at the same time, in a different location, there was someone making the exact same statement as Kim Myeong-cheol.

“I have to catch this friend, no matter what.”