Chapter 8: Living As A Villain (3)
First, you couldn’t buy a house while living as a villain.
No matter how beautifully you decorated it, the house was likely to be destroyed if you were caught.
So, villains typically created a natural fortress where nobody could approach recklessly or arrange for a mobile dwelling.
Or, they stayed in hotels for the long term, which meant spending considerable money.
Although it felt like wasting money, from the viewpoint of a temporary dwelling, it was just better to rent monthly.
Especially in the Busan of this world.
‘Reality’s cost of living is five times higher. It’s not like I’m going to live here for a lifetime. Who would want to buy a house here?’
The cost of living was expensive, too expensive.
There were several factors for this, but the biggest factor was indeed ‘mana’.
For superhumans, the cities on the east coast were the places where they could absorb mana the fastest and most efficiently.Not only Koreans but superhumans from abroad also found accommodation in Busan regardless of the cost and accumulated mana. So, anywhere you went in Busan, the rent was expensive.
‘Well, this is reasonable for Busan. If you go up there, it’s hell. Really.’
The trap was that it got more expensive the further you went north, closer to a place called ‘Sejong Island’.
In the case of Pohang, which was directly connected to Sejong Island, the cost of living was higher than in Busan.
Busan was the capital, so you might understand it to some extent, but why was Pohang more expensive than Busan?
The reason was simple.
Simply because of ‘distance’ and ‘environment’.
Pohang was the closest city to Sejong Island, and Sejong Island was the place you arrived at when you headed approximately 150 km northeast of Pohang.
‘If you go up to Uljin or Gangneung, there they charge 3 million won for a night in a full villa, so Busan is the most economical.’
Mana had shaped this world like this.
Despite such crazy prices, there was demand, so those who sold listings were trying their best to get as much money as possible.
Of course, whether the cost of living was murderous or not, it didn’t affect me much.
As the cost of living increased, my compensation also increased.
Heroes were civil servants and received a salary like in reality. Still, as a freelance villain, I received a minimum of 50 million won per month as long as the organization did not go bankrupt.
The organization must not go bankrupt.
Because it was my lifeline.
To ensure this, the primary element that could ruin the organization, the ‘protagonist,’ must be eliminated.
“So, in the end, am I destined to kill the protagonist for my survival?”
Whether it was a light novel or a fantasy novel, when one reincarnated as an extra in the original work, there were generally two ways to deal with the protagonist.
One was to become a supporter who supported the protagonist from behind.
The other was stabbing the protagonist in the back, sabotaging them, and eliminating them.
The easiest method for me, a villain, was to kill the protagonist.
“I’m sorry, protagonist.”
I mourned the protagonist, who was now coming from overseas to Busan to enter the academy.
“I need to survive, and you need to die. Besides, you’re a pervert.”
I’m sorry to the Korean light novel protagonist. Still, he sexually harassed all kinds of heroines under the pretext of ‘fan service’.
For instance, entering a dormitory room where men and women were changing clothes.
Or getting all over each other in a cabinet while searching for something.
Or seeing a swimsuit being removed during summer training.
Or having to exchange body heat in a cave after being isolated due to the attack of a villain goblin to endure the cold.
These countless sexually suggestive events were typical of the protagonist.
I could not forgive this protagonist.
Was it merely because he was the protagonist of a Korean light novel?
Was it because he had a harem with the heroines?
Or was it because he would hinder me from taking care of the S-class prospects, including the heroines, in the academy where I would live from now on?
Or was it because, like a typical light novel protagonist, he had a secret of birth related to significant power, and his personal superpower was also a secret to becoming a unique, world-class strength?
No, it was none of that.
I had already been harmed by him.
Not the ‘me’ before the reincarnation, but the ‘me’ after the reincarnation.
And if I left him alive, the world would head toward destruction.
“A meteor ending…”
This world.
The moment the protagonist gained god-like powers, it would perish.
[Everyone, please die with me and this world!]
With god-like abilities, the protagonist had everything he wanted. Still, the author, who couldn’t keep up with the long-term serialization, dropped a meteor from the sky.
And the Earth was destroyed.
Unfortunately, the protagonist had the power to collide with a floating meteor in space with the Earth.
Just when he was supposed to be left with only happiness after having all sorts of harem hijinks, the reason he dropped a meteor was just one.
[Thank you for staying until the end!]
It was because the damned author ended the series abruptly.
That bastard.
So I left a nasty review, but just as you’d expect from a conscienceless guy who ended his series abruptly, he forced me into this world.
Someone said this.
The protagonist was like an avatar, a mental embodiment of the author’s ego.
So in this world, the protagonist was effectively the author.
So.
By killing the protagonist, I would feel vicarious satisfaction as if I had killed the author who forced me into this world.
That seemed to be the only way to ease my frustration.
In order to enter the academy, I needed a disguise.
Luckily, I have an outward name, ‘Do Ji-hwan’.
It was a common name, but it was not my real name. It was a pseudonym created in this world.
I didn’t know if the author didn’t bother to come up with the real name of the Goblin, but my name was ‘Do Chang-nam’.
I mean, even if it was a villainous role…
Even if I ended up accepting all the evils due to the abrupt ending and became the final boss, despite all the terrible plot logic and development.
That name urgently needed a change, and after reincarnation, I decided to live under a new name.
‘Do Ji-hwan’ did have an odd ring to it, invoking something else entirely. Still, given that the boss had personally bestowed this name upon me, I decided to live with it.
Do Ji-hwan.
23-years old.
Neither the actual name nor age mattered, but this was my public identity now.
The tasks that I needed to do with this identity were two-fold.
One was to seduce the heroine per the Boss’s instructions and make her one of us.
The other, a problem only I was aware of, was to kill the protagonist.
To accomplish these two tasks, I first need to enter Sejong Island using this fake identity.
‘As an ordinary person, you can never enter Sejong Island.’
Sejong Island was a first-class military demarcation zone.
Even the students studying at the academy could not enter or exit without a ‘student ID’.
The entrance and exit were connected by a long bridge from Pohang, Gangneung, and Ulleungdo.
[How do you build this bridge?!]
[There are ability users]
[He’s a kindergartener!]
[Call the kindergarten teachers and try to figure it out somehow!]
This bridge was also built around 2005 with the help of ability users. Up to that point, it was necessary to travel by boat.
An identification card was essential.
The purpose of the visit was also checked regularly.
It was said that entering Sejong Island was even more difficult than the U.S. immigration examination.
As such, I needed a definite public identity.
When people in the world investigated a man named Do Ji-hwan, it would be a disguise that won’t be misunderstood by any factor.
So, I made a choice.
“I’d like to be a librarian.”
“…A librarian?”
“Yes, a librarian.”
I suggested a concept to the ‘Face Maker’, a professional broker for creating fake identities, who was a villain affiliated with the Boss.
“I personally like books, and I think people won’t pay much attention to a librarian.”
“Do you intend to get a job as a staff member at the Academy?”
“Yes, I intend to get a job through parachuting.”
“…That might be risky.”
The Face Maker, as she manipulated my ID, frowned.
“No matter how great Mr. Do is, if Mr. Do was discovered, doesn’t that immediately expose the boss’s line to the enemy?”
“That just shows how much the boss trusts me. There must be a reason for me to go to Sejong Academy, enough for the spies planted in Sejong Island to move recklessly.”
“If it’s the boss’s decision, I have no choice but to follow… But Mr. Do, wouldn’t it be very dangerous? That place is teeming with S-class heroes.”
“I know.”
I knew all too well.
“There’s even a rumor that Snow White, who we just encountered, is entering Sejong Academy as an instructor.”
“Are you going in despite knowing this?”
“Yes, because it’s the boss’s directive.”
“…Here it is.”
I couldn’t help but marvel at the newly created electronic chip, the librarian’s license.
“The computer problem will be resolved by the end of today. Now, you have become a 23-year-old ‘civilian’ who has completed librarian training… not an ability user.”
“I understand.”
I had to act thoroughly as a civilian.
“There’s no need for a Goblin in the first place. There’s no reason to transform into a Goblin.”
“…It seems like you’re going to get into trouble right away.”
“Even if I do get into trouble, it’s not my fault but the villains who made me transform into a Goblin.”
I was not at fault at all.
I just punished the trash that harmed civilians.
“But, why did you choose to be a librarian out of all the many jobs? Was this also the boss’s directive? There are many other jobs for such a purpose.”
“Being a librarian is just a personal hobby.”
No matter how much I had fallen in this world.
“…I just really like books. They say there are such novels at the Academy, don’t they? Novels that you can’t read outside.”
According to rumors that I’ve heard.
“I wouldn’t have entered the Academy if it weren’t for that.”
It was said that the Academy’s library had serialized novels ‘up to their completion’ in physical book form.