Although a Villain, My Wish is World Peace

I met Jeong Ho-san when I was seven years old, at the orphanage.

Having lost my parents due to a gate incident that had occurred, I encountered Jeong Ho-san, who had drifted there around the same time for a different reason.

To be honest, my first impression of him was the worst. Despite being in the same situation as me, the fact that he was grinning without a single tear stain really rubbed me the wrong way.

What did a guy who had nothing have to be so cheerful about every day? Having lost his parents too.

Unlike me, living in this crumbled world after losing everything overnight, Jeong Ho-san seemed perfectly fine. I was envious of that.

But the moment I saw him silently crying at dawn, I realized that Jeong Ho-san was just like me. He had simply been putting on a brave front because he didn’t want to appear weak.

I never told anyone what I had seen that day. I kept it a secret from Jeong Ho-san himself too. I thought he might feel embarrassed, and I just didn’t want to say it.

After that day, I stopped putting up thorns around Jeong Ho-san.

Still, I never thought we would become this close…

My connection with him lasted a long time. Just as we had lost our parents around the same time, Jeong Ho-san and I manifested our talents around the same time too.

Until we enrolled in the academy, he was always part of the future I envisioned. But as I attended the academy and eventually graduated, my thoughts began to change.

Unlike me, who couldn’t become a proper hunter and was just scraping by, Jeong Ho-san, with his A-rank physical enhancement talent, was immediately scouted by the guild, ranked 5th in South Korea, upon graduating from the academy.

While it was natural for Jeong Ho-san to be in my future, it was unnatural for me to be in his future.

As I matured, I came to realize the reality. I didn’t belong with him. A piece of trash with a talent so lacking that I couldn’t even become a hunter couldn’t be friends with him.

Jeong Ho-san was unbearably kind and looked after even someone like me, calling me his friend, but in the end, as I had expected, our friendship only pushed him toward death.

So, not anymore.

In this second life, I planned to completely sever my ties with him.

Wasn’t I going to become a villain anyway? It would be better for him to live without ever knowing my existence.

After deleting the text on my phone, I blocked Jeong Ho-san’s contact.

Tossing my phone onto the bed, I took a shower first. No matter how much easier I had mined compared to others, it was still a jungle-type gate, so my entire body reeked of sweat.

I threw the stinky clothes into the washing machine and hung them up on the rooftop to dry. No one would bother stealing these worn-out training clothes.

After doing the laundry, I cleaned up the mess inside the room.

I had been too distracted after realizing I had been revived to take a proper look around, but if I had stayed here any longer, I would have suffocated.

My mind, which had enjoyed the high-class life for years, was screaming in anguish.

While my body, fatigued from labor, demanded rest, I couldn’t sleep in a place like this.

Once I had gathered up everything emitting that musty odor inside the cramped dorm room, I could finally breathe a bit easier.

“Now I can live here.”

It was time to ponder the future.

What I planned to do required money. A lot of money. To remove Seol Rok-jin and the corrupt higher-ups of South Korea, many things were needed.

The 1.3 million won I had earned today was no small sum, but it was still woefully inadequate compared to the amount I was aiming for.

“After deducting living expenses, there’s really nothing left.”

I couldn’t achieve my goal by slowly saving up like this.

“I didn’t want to resort to this method if I could help it.”

The answer was simple.

If I couldn’t earn it, I would borrow it.

* * *

The bank clerk who examined my face spoke with a tense expression, “I’m sorry, sir. I tried looking into it, but with your conditions…”

“There are no loans I can receive?”

“Yes.”

The clerk gulped at my gaze. His frightened expression was pitiful. Without realizing it, my face must have become quite menacing. As soon as my gaze landed on him, the clerk quickly started speaking.

“Despite being an awakener, you see, you’re not currently affiliated with any guild, so…”

He droned on and on, but the gist was, ‘You’re not the kind of awakener worth any money.’

The primary financial institutions were indeed merciless.

Even as awakeners, those who couldn’t become hunters were not treated well. Especially someone like me wearing an identification tag around my neck.

The clerk’s hand was placed under the desk, ready to call security at any moment, as he glanced at the identification tag on my neck.

Who was treating me like a potential criminal? Well, I was one, to be fair.

In the end, I had no choice but to leave the bank empty-handed.

Fortunately, there was still one more place for me to borrow money from.

[Push N Cash]

It had a name that made it sound like they would squeeze out your internal organs to get their money back if you didn’t pay, but for now, this was my only option.

Unlike the banks, which appeared decent on the outside, the entrance to this place was so rundown that it reminded me of an underground gate with no exit.

The one who greeted me at the entrance was a man with a face resembling a bulldog. As soon as he saw me, he flashed a bright smile that didn’t suit his face at all.

“Welcome, sir. Are you here for a loan?”

The moment I heard that gentle voice contrasting with his face, a chill ran down my spine.

“Y, yes.”

The man gave me a broad smile as I stuttered my response.

A face that anyone would label as an easy mark.

“I see. You look like one of our awakener customers at a glance?”

Noticing the identification tag around my neck, the man lightly chuckled as he rubbed the back of his own neck.

Unlike the primary financial institutions that had visibly shied away from me for being a psychic awakener, this man seemed to welcome the fact that I was an awakener. Well, at a place like this, they could probably use me in all sorts of ways.

With an unsettling smile, the man led me down the hallway.

“Now, our team leader will try his best to accommodate your situation, so don’t be too nervous.”

How reassuring that a loan shark would consider my circumstances.

The man left me in front of a black door.

The ‘team leader’ he had mentioned must be inside this black door.

Letting out a soft breath, I opened the door as is.

“Excuse me.”

Upon opening the door and entering, I found a neat office with a dark tone. Inside was a man in his early 30s, dressed in a crisp three-piece suit.

He looked younger than his ‘team leader’ title would suggest. At most, he seemed to be in his late 20s or early 30s. And even that early 30s estimate was due to the suit that perfectly accentuated his slender build, making him look older – his face alone made him look like a complete youngster.

For such a youngster to be the head of a place like this.

“Are you here for a loan?”

“Y, yes.”

At my response, the man gestured toward the sofa. I sat down awkwardly, and the man kindly spoke up.

“Would you like something to drink?”

“Ah, no, I’m good.”

This team leader who introduced himself as Choi In-hyeok had a much better demeanor than the man who had guided me here.

Unlike that man with a rough face that would make anyone think he was ‘that kind of person’, Choi In-hyeok seemed like an ordinary office worker on the outside. But considering his young age and ‘team leader’ position, there must be a side to this man that he was hiding too.

The man handed me a blank form.

“Please fill this out first.”

I had to fill in everything from my name and date of birth to the school I graduated from and my family relations.

Not that it mattered since I had no relatives, but this certainly wasn’t a place I could visit with a light heart.

Eyes as sharp as a snake’s swept over my body. I guess a good appearance was just a disguise after all. Pretending not to notice that gaze, I calmly filled out the form with a composed expression.

Looking over the completed form, the man’s eyes lit up.

“You’re a Babel graduate awakener.”

The way his eyes scanned me up and down was quite unsettling.

“If you had become a hunter, you wouldn’t have ended up here.”

Tapping his own neck, the man grinned, baring his teeth.

“What kind of talent do you have to be wearing that?”

It sounded like a casual muttering, but it was clearly a question. While there was no field for my talent on the form, as long as I wore this damn identification tag around my neck, it was an unavoidable question.

“Low-frequency emission. Only good for shooing flies away. It’s pretty much useless against humans.”

But there was no need for me to honestly reveal my talent here. Since this wasn’t a government agency, they wouldn’t be able to properly look up my talent information, so I could get by with a vague lie.

While impossible if I had become a hunter, as someone who didn’t, I could freely make up my talent.

The man frowned at my words.

“They make you wear that for something that minor?”

“Well, they said there’s a slight possibility it could affect the human brain.”

At my words, Choi In-hyeok stroked his chin. He seemed doubtful of what I said, but he had no way to immediately verify my lie.

To check my talent, he would have to go through the Awakener Association. Unlike primary financial institutions, this place wouldn’t have direct access to that information. Even acquiring it illegally would take some time.

I inwardly gulped.

“With that as collateral, the maximum is 130 million won. But in return, you’ll have to pay an annual interest rate of up to 40%, with the standard interest being up to 5 million won.”

Choi In-hyeok’s speech, which had suddenly dropped the honorifics, was quite grating, but the amount was larger than I expected.

“I recommend the 5 million option, so which one would you like?”

Before Choi In-hyeok had even finished his question, I immediately shouted, “130 million won.”

At my words, Choi In-hyeok’s brow twitched.

“The interest will be quite burdensome.”

Having said that, Choi In-hyeok quickly added, “You know there’s no repayment for the first three months, right?”

As expected of those damned usurers. They were bound to make me pay at least three months’ worth of interest no matter what. As expected of these leeches draining the common folk.

“That’s 4,333,333 won in interest alone every month. The 15th of next month will be your first repayment date. Are you sure you can manage?”

After spelling out the amount, Choi In-hyeok stared intently at my face. It was an amount that would leave an ordinary commoner gasping for breath, but to me, whose guts had thickened from working under Seol Rok-jin, it was no big deal.

Seol Rok-jin’s extravagance with money had been something else. There were times when he would blow through billions or tens of billions in just a few minutes.

At my composed expression, Choi In-hyeok showed a slightly surprised look. He must be wondering why a guy who didn’t seem to have a single penny to his name could act so confidently.

Staring straight back into Choi In-hyeok’s eyes as if asking ‘What’s the problem?’, the corners of his mouth slowly curled upwards.

“Hmm, whatever you are, as long as you repay our money on time, there’s no problem. But listen, sir. If you’re even a penny short, if you’re even a day late. Then, even if I have to strip you down to your guts, I will come to collect my money.”

Despite such a warning, Choi In-hyeok handed the money over to me quite readily in the end.

I did have to provide the serial number of my identification tag as collateral, but that was it.

Choi In-hyeok’s easy lending honestly surprised me a bit.

Is this guy actually an easy mark?

Confirming the weight of my bag, I smiled.

130 million won. 40% annual interest rate?

Yeah, I just won’t repay it.