Villain Hides His True Colors

At a public bathhouse that had been closed for more than 20 years and one where even the residents had forgotten about its existence, an unfamiliar guest could be seen walking in.

Creak–

The tight sliding door opened with difficulty and made a shrill noise. The noise reverberated in the empty interior.

Soon, a person appeared through the opened door. It was an old man of short stature with a bent back like a hunchback.

“Huu…”

He took a moment to catch his breath, wiping off the sweat on his forehead. Soon after, he pulled a large vinyl bag inside before entering the bathhouse himself.

Following the footprints on the dusty floor, he headed to the women’s bath. The vinyl bag rattled up and down whenever it passed over a broken tile.

Then, at some point, the vinyl bag suddenly began to wriggle and a stuffy moan leaked out.

“Hmph!”

He stopped and looked around.

Coincidentally, a wooden surgical hammer came into view. He picked up the hammer and struck the vinyl bag.

After repeating it several times, the vinyl bag quieted down again.

Clink–

He lifted the vinyl bag using a pulley that was installed on the ceiling at some point.

As he pulled the zipper on the vinyl bag down, a woman bleeding from her head could be seen.

Nevertheless, there was still a thin breath coming from her mouth.

After observing her condition for a moment, he wheeled an iron cart from somewhere.

On top of the cart, a glass tube resembling an incubator for newborn babies was placed.

He carefully opened the lid.

Then, along with white smoke, a cold air that seemed to freeze one’s hands spread in all directions.

“Oh my baby. You must have been hungry, right? Grandpa will cook for you soon, so please wait a little longer.”

He looked at the incubator lovingly.

At the end of his gaze was a corpse of a ‘dog’ that was well preserved as if it was still alive. However, it had passed away 10 years ago.

Its name was ‘Pero,’ and it was his only family.

“Ugh…”

At this time, the woman, who was hanging upside down, slowly opened her eyes with a light groan.

Their eyes met.

After staring vacantly at him for a moment, she widened her eyes and began to struggle hard.

“Hmph! Hm! Hmm!”

“You’re already awake.”

He came to the hammer he had used a while ago and knocked her out who was struggling.

And, after taking off all of her clothes, he naturally drew magical patterns over her immaculate skin as if it was something he had done countless times.

“Ro ‘Pero’ cks kak.”

A low, ghastly voice resonated.

The woman’s skin that was fresh in its 20s quickly began to shrivel.

Her hair turned white and black liver spots bloomed across her face.

After some time, she had turned into a completely dried-up mummy.

And contrary to her, the fur on Pero had a more vivid glow than before.

“I’m so proud of you for enduring it so bravely…You’ll be able to play with grandpa again soon, so hang in there a little more, Pero.”

He stroked Pero with a sad look.

His name was Jang Wick, a four-circle level necromancer who had stolen a treasure and fled to Earth a long time ago.

And his current goal was to revive his only family, Pero, by turning it into a ‘living dead’ and have its heart beat again.

He had put in a lot of effort over the last 10 years with only this goal in mind.

Every year, during this period when the yin energy was the strongest, he would use the stolen treasure to revitalize the corpse of Pero little by little so it wouldn’t decay.

He looked at the ominous-looking mask emitting yin energy next to the incubator.

The cold air of the dead was flowing out from it.

There’s not much time left.

He recalled the ongoing rituals.

Thinking of the day he would be able to hear Pero’s voice once again, his heart began to beat faster.

But at that moment,

“Keuk!”

He sat down, grabbing his chest. The sudden pain made his eyes spin.

Wh-what’s this…

He soon realized the ghoul that had been connected to him had died.

And the place where the ghoul was currently located was none other than the place where one of the rituals was taking place.

He hurriedly checked the mask next to the incubator. The yin energy he felt from it was noticeably reduced.

Pero, who was affected by the yin energy, also had its fur discolored. In addition, it gave off a slight but murky smell as if it was decaying.

“N-no!”

The pure yin energy that was absorbed during this period was the most important energy in making a living dead.

He wasn’t sure what the problem was, but if this continued, Pero may decay.

His face distorted horribly.

The hell…who is it?!

But now, rather than anger, he was thinking of a way to solve this problem. He bit his lip.

Soon, he made a decision.

Anyway…there won’t be a promise of next year at this rate

Originally, in order to avoid the trackers chasing the stolen treasure, he had been saving this method as a last resort.

But now he wasn’t in a position to hide it.

He grabbed the mask and exerted force in his hands.

Soon, the forces he had arranged throughout Guangcheng District began to emerge.

* * * * * * * * * *

I took the sportswear out of my inventory, put them on, and headed to Pumpkin’s house. Perhaps because it’ll be winter soon, the weather was quite cold.

“H-hero…If you don’t mind, can you lend me some clothes? Even just a shirt…”

Of course, I was the only one wearing clothes.

Thugs appeared several times on the way, but each time, I was able to finish it without difficulty.

After walking for about two hours, we were finally able to arrive in front of Pumpkin’s house.

“Th-there’s my house!”

He smiled brightly with an expression of someone who had survived a tough ordeal. I smiled along with him.

“Then hurry inside. Hyung.”

To break another altar today, I had to finish this Challenge as soon as possible.

But for some reason, the boy didn’t go straight home. Instead, he stayed next to me and bowed his head.

“Um, thank you so much. Really…I don’t know how to pay back this favor…If hero hadn’t saved me, I would have…”

He suddenly started crying with snot running down his face. Then, as if he had come to his senses, he approached me.

“I-if you don’t mind, please come inside for some tea…” 

“No. That’s not necessary, so hurry up and go home.”

“You did such a good deed, but you don’t want anything in return…As expected, you’re truly…”

He began to drag his words with tears in his eyes again. He kept talking nonsense without proceeding.

I frowned and pushed him right towards the fence. But even until the end, he looked back and bowed his head.

“Th-thank you. Really, I’ll pay back this favor one day! And if you come here next time…”

“…”

Only after he had repeated the same words endlessly did he open the door and enter his house.

Why were side quests’ cutscenes so long?

I watched him from behind until the end and waited for the Challenge to update.

After some time. No matter how long I waited, the Challenge didn’t update.

What was going on?

Was there a part that I had missed? I opened my status window to check the condition of the task again.

[Challenge – Guide the Lamb (Chain Quest)]

Condition: Bring Pumpkin to a safe place.

Time: 3 days.

Reward: 1x Random Box (Medium).

[Bring Pumpkin to a ‘safe place.’]

I thought it would definitely be his house…

Was this not the place for the quest?

As soon as I thought as such, a frightened scream came from inside the house.

“Argh!”

It looked like something had happened.

My reward was in danger.

I ran to the boy’s house faster than I had ever ran before. When I kicked the door like I was breaking it down, a man with a ruddy face holding a kitchen knife caught my eyes.

“I’m sure I told you to obey the curfew! Are you making fun of me too?! Just going around with the money I worked so hard to earn!”

“D-dad, don’t do this! Actually, what happened was…”

“You rude punk. Talking back to your father who is as high as the heavens?! This won’t do. I’m going to kill you today if it’s the last thing I do. Stand there!”

The man threatened harshly with a kitchen knife and approached Pumpkin.

I had seen enough to understand the situation. It seemed I just needed to kill him.

I approached the father and son pair who were in the middle of an altercation.

Pumpkin looked at me in surprise.

“H-hero!”

“Who are you? I see! I thought Pumpkin was acting weird these days, so it was you who gave him false hope. You son of a bitch.”

The man walked towards me while waving his knife as if to threaten me. He reeked of alcohol.

Wuung–

I pulled out my sword. An eerie cry resonated in the house. 

“H-huh?”

Then the man, surprised to see my sword, stopped in his tracks and faltered.

As soon as I tried to cut off his neck,

“S-stop. Hero!”

“Huh?”

In response to the sound of the quest object shouting, I changed my trajectory at the last second and hit the man’s head with my hilt.

Thunk—

But my Body was 3. The man who was attacked by me fainted on the spot with his head bent.

In fact, I could have stopped if I wanted to, but I just turned it around because it was cumbersome.

“Uh…Uh…”

Pumpkin looked at his father’s figure with a bewildered expression before hurriedly running to him.

And after confirming that he was breathing safely, he looked back at me with a sigh of relief.

“Thank you so much for saving me once again…Heuk, Not once, but twice like this… Actually, my father wasn’t like this before, but after my mother left the house…”

There were signs of him talking nonsense again. He was unnecessarily talkative.

Cutting off his words, I asked.

“By any chance, is there a safe place around here, hyung?”

“What? A safe place? Hmm…”

He frowned as if he was facing a very difficult math problem.

***

[ Translator – Yasi ]

[ Proofreader – Karane ]

Everything about him was frustrating.

By the time I ran out of patience, all of a sudden, he made an ‘ah’ sound.

“A short walk from here, there’s a person who takes care of children in difficult family circumstances.”

“…Are you sure that’s the place?”

In a place such as Guangcheng District, there was someone who took care of children? I looked at him suspiciously.

I didn’t want to waste my time if it could be helped.

He nodded with a very reassured look.

“Yes, yes! He’s a trustworthy person. Everyone calls him ‘Hairy’ because he has a full beard on his face, and he runs a butcher shop in the next neighborhood.”

“…Hairy?”

A familiar name had come out.

Somehow, I felt like I knew who he was talking about.

Well, if it was that old man, then the condition should be right.

I sighed briefly.

“Then, I’ll take hyung there for now, so let’s go. I can’t stay here forever.”

“Oh, oh…Thank you. Hero. How can I repay this grace…”

As soon as my head was about to hurt again. Suddenly, the man who was lying on the floor staggered to his feet.

Thinking about it, I put my hand on the handle of my sword, ready to kill.

Since the condition of the task didn’t say I couldn’t forcefully take the boy away, I could just throw him to mister Hairy’s house somehow.

The father of the boy who had woken up looked this way while grabbing his head.

And he…Like a child, blew air into his cheeks.

“Why do only adults get to play!”

“F-father?”

The man suddenly hung on Pumpkin’s arm with a childish tone as if he had regressed to an infant.

“I want to play too! Play! Play!”

“H-huh? What’s wrong, dad? Huh?”

“Play! Play! Or I won’t eat!”

A middle-aged man with protruding belly fat was whining.

“…”

I had a thought while looking at the disastrous scene. As expected, I should’ve hit his neck earlier.

* * * * * * * * * *

Go Changsu, ‘Hairy,’ had been cut off from the rest of the world for some time and had been like an abandoned man.

Not only did he risk his life to avenge his son and only for it to be taken away by an unidentified villain, but he also couldn’t protect the child who resembled his son.

It’s all because I was foolish…

After his son’s death, he wasted away each day, drinking alcohol that he had never touched before.

And then, one day.

He found a little girl crying in front of his butcher shop.

Although he didn’t want to care about the world anymore, with the cry that lasted all night, he eventually took action and opened the door. 

“Why are you crying here? It’s noisy. Why don’t you go home right now!”

“Heuk…Heuk! M-my mom…”

The girl hugged Go Changsu’s leg while shedding tears mournfully.

“Huh? Hey, what are you doing?”

“Waaah!”

Thus, Go Changsu found the meaning of life again. Since then, he had lived with the mission of helping children in need.

He thought that was the only way to atone for the two children he couldn’t protect.

My body is still intact, so what have I been doing so far?

There was still something he could do.

He used all the money he had saved for his revenge and bought a building next to the butcher shop for the children to stay in.

The children, who were alienated in Guangcheng District, heard the rumor one by one and began to knock on his door.

As a result, before he knew it, more than ten children were living with him.

I…I guess I’ve survived until now for these children.

Strangely enough, he thought he had done this for the children, but it was them who had ended up saving him.

He felt each day was worth living again. To him, these children were like irreplaceable precious treasures.

But…Now in front of his house, those who seek such treasures had come.

“Grwaar–”

“Keuk! Keek! Kuaak!”

Dozens of people flocked in front of his butcher shop.

No, it wasn’t people. Their eyes were white, and their joints were bent in irreversible directions.

They banged on his home. Each time it happened, the children’s cries would grow louder.

“Waaah!”

“Ahjussi, I’m scared…”

These monsters banged on the door whether their bodies broke or not. The door’s hinge continued to shake.

Creak–!

“It’s okay, don’t you trust mister? This old man won’t let a single one of those bastards inside.”

He took out a handgun and held it in his hands to reassure the children. But inside, he had lost all hope.

It won’t hold out much longer at this rate…at least the children…

The moment he had such thoughts,

Crack—!

?!

Finally, the flimsy hinge fell off.

“Graaawr!”

“Keuraak!!”

Through the gap, the monsters tried to push each other’s bodies in. He intuitively aimed his pistol.

Bang–!

Bang–!

.

.

.

He fired his pistol at the monsters trying to climb the stairs.

Sparks flew in the dark interior.

Fortunately, it was effective and the monsters in front of him fell. But more continued to flood in, and as a result…

Click–

Click–

All the bullets eventually ran out. His face became colored with despair.

Ah…Then these kids…

He prayed to God.

Don’t take these kids again. Otherwise, he’ll really curse God even in death.

What did these children do wrong…?

“Fuck! Isn’t this too much?!”

His voice, full of resentment, spread through the night air. At that moment,

Wuung–

An eerie cry came from somewhere. And,

Swish–!

A smooth cut whistled but no wind could be felt. At the same time, something fell to the floor.

The sound immediately resumed without stopping.

Swish–

Swish–

.

.

.

After some time, all the voices from the monsters surrounding the area disappeared.

What the hell happened?

He slowly went down the stairs in a very nervous state. One step after another.

And when he finally came out of the building, a voice he had longed to hear came into his ears.

“It’s been awhile, hasn’t it, ahjussi?”

He slowly looked around. Then, a child with a big smile who he couldn’t protect a long time ago came into view.