Although a Villain, My Wish is World Peace

Edward muttered with a gloomy face.

[That guy chose him again.]

It’s obvious who ‘that guy’ is. With the media going on about it so much, I can’t pretend not to know. Oh Seung-woo casually exposed Edward’s private matters, and even to a third party like me, it seemed like a truly nasty thing to do.

[Ha, he was always that kind of person. I knew that too. No, but even so, there was no need to turn me into such trash like this.]

Seeing him muttering like a madman, I couldn’t bring myself to speak. No matter what I say, I probably can’t mend his broken heart.

[No matter how insignificant he thought I was, still…]

How on earth am I supposed to clean up this situation! Mr. Oh Seung-woo, what on earth did you do!

It doesn’t seem like any words will get through.

While I was pondering what words to say, Edward suddenly jumped up from his seat and grabbed my collar. I raised one hand to stop Han Seo-hyeon and Kim Jae-ho who rushed forward.

[It’s all your fault my life ended up like this! So take responsibility.]

[Even if you say take responsibility…]

I can contact Taika Cooper and tell him this was all a misunderstanding, but resolving anything beyond that is beyond my abilities. I pulled down Edward’s hand grabbing my collar.

[There’s one thing I can resolve. Talking to Taika Cooper and clearing up the misunderstanding.]

[Just clearing up the misunderstanding isn’t enough. Everyone in the world already…]

[A pathetic mercenary hunter who went crazy feeling inferior to the world’s strongest hunter. Yeah, that’s how they’ll see you.]

Those were Edward’s own words from earlier. No matter what we do, we can’t completely erase the image that’s been imprinted on the public.

I sighed.

To be honest, I don’t know how to clean this up either. I don’t even know what Edward wants right now. Unfortunately, I’m the only one who can somehow clean this up. I said to Edward:

[So how long are you planning to whine like that?]

[What?]

[How long are you going to sit on this street?]

At my words, Edward’s face crumpled with anger.

[You…]

[Yeah, your life fell into the mud because of our mistake. So what do you want us to do?]

[Of course, everything back to how it was…]

[You know it’s impossible to turn back time, right?]

At my words, Edward bit his lip. He must know this very well himself.

I looked at Edward and said:

[First, let’s get out of here.]

[What?]

[The smell from that trash can is really awful.]

The situation was like this so I couldn’t say it, but my nose has felt like it was going to fall off.

At my words, Edward flared up.

[You think I’m here because I want to be? There are eyes everywhere! If I go outside now, I’ll be reported right away!]

I shrugged my shoulders and gestured to call Kim Jae-ho.

“Why?”

“Lend me your mask for a bit.”

Kim Jae-ho, who is only quick-witted at times like this, stepped back slightly.

“…It’s mine.”

“I’ll just use it for a moment. You can hide in the shadows, but we have no choice.”

“I don’t want to…”

“That friend became wanted nationwide because of you. At least give up this much.”

I directly took off Kim Jae-ho’s mask as he grumbled. While I was taking off the mask, a scream came from behind.

[Aaaaargh!]

What? I frowned and turned my head back. Edward was pointing at me with his mouth wide open.

[Ah, no matter how angry you are, how can you tear off someone’s face skin! I didn’t want such a severe punishment!]

[Huh.]

I was dumbfounded.

I walked towards Edward holding the mask in my hand.

[No, this is…]

[Kyaaak! Put that away!]

Edward shouted at me with his eyes tightly shut. Seeing him even trembling, I couldn’t help but laugh. What on earth was he thinking?

[Look carefully. What is this?]

[What?]

I tapped the mask. Edward’s eyes widened seeing the blackened mask.

Soon Edward, whose face had turned red, said:

[Why, why do you have such a thing…]

[Just wear this for now.]

I handed the mask to Edward. Han Seo-hyeon’s mouth fell open.

“What? Are you thinking of taking that guy with us?”

“Yeah, we can’t just leave him here.”

“I think we could leave him…”

“His life was ruined because of Jae-ho, how can we leave him…”

At my words, Han Seo-hyeon hurriedly said:

“It’s a joke, a joke. Of course I thought we should take him with us.”

No, he probably thought we should abandon him.

“How can we abandon a person?”

He would have abandoned him very well.

“Of course, it’s our responsibility since it’s Jae-ho hyung’s fault.”

No, he probably thought it was none of his business.

“Because of me?”

Kim Jae-ho looked at me with a shocked face.

Oh no, what did you say in front of the kid. I shook my head.

“Well, um, it was just a small misunderstanding.”

I tapped Edward’s mask. I gestured to Edward with Kim Jae-ho’s face on.

[Now then, let’s move.]

[Wh-where to?]

[The hospital.]

Cha Song-jin is still recovering in the hospital.

* * *

Edward, who entered the hospital room through the window, made a dumbfounded expression.

[Why?]

[No, I just felt absurd thinking about all the trouble I went through trying to get in here.]

[Just rest for now. No one here will threaten you.]

Edward nodded at my words and lay down on the corner sofa. He must have been very tired, as he fell asleep as soon as he rested his head on the sofa. I clicked my tongue watching tears flow between the gaps of the mask.

—You brought that guy along for now… but how do you plan to clean this up?

‘First priority would be clearing up Taika’s misunderstanding.’

The reason Edward is wanted now is because of the crime of targeting none other than Taika Cooper. We need to tell him that was a misunderstanding.

I sent a prepaid phone to Taika with Han Seo-hyeon’s help. It was to somehow clean up this situation.

Taika’s whereabouts were confidential information not disclosed to the public, but Han Seo-hyeon quickly found Taika.

“I would have found him right away if Jae-ho hyung hadn’t hidden away in the shadows.”

—Seeing him grumble like that, it seems he was still bothered by losing track of Kim Jae-ho’s whereabouts.

Anyway, when I heard Taika had received the phone, I immediately called him.

[Who is this?]

[It’s me.]

[I thought you were the only one who would give me a phone like this, but it really is you!]

[How’s your body?]

[Wow, are you worried about me?]

[Yes.]

My heart is pounding since we’re the perpetrators. Taika answered my question in a bright voice:

[I recovered without a single scar. I shouldn’t have been hospitalized like this in the first place.]

Fortunately, Taika’s condition seemed fine. Certainly, for an awakener of Taika’s level, recovery is faster compared to ordinary people.

[Don’t believe what they say in the news. I’m healthy enough to leave right away. It’s just Mr. Oh torturing me.]

[Torturing you?]

[Yes, walls blocking everywhere. Just yesterday we moved lodgings twice. He says that friend might come for revenge.]

It was certainly a response that could be called an overreaction. At my silence, Taika continued in a light voice:

[Mr. Oh is always like this. If it seems like anything even slightly harmful might happen to me, he goes crazy.]

[It seems this isn’t the first time.]

[Haha, there were a few times problems occurred when I was young. Uh, have you ever heard of an organization called IMS?]

—IMS?

‘International Mercenary Society. It’s a place that recruits mercenaries internationally. Though they say mercenary recruitment, they mainly deal in human trafficking of awakeners.’

I know those guys are crazy about talented awakeners, but did they even target Taika whose potential was revealed to be SS-grade?

[Are you saying those guys targeted you?]

[Yes, that’s right. I was almost kidnapped by IMS when I was sixteen. There were various other incidents too.]

Taika continued speaking:

[Anyway, since that incident, it’s been extreme overprotection. I thought I had finally escaped that overprotection after becoming an adult, but it’s gone back to square one.]

Oh Seung-woo’s overprotection. Taika awakened his talent at fifteen and immediately contracted with Oh Seung-woo. Since then, he rose to the ranks of the world’s strongest hunters while receiving his care.

Now I understand the strangely excessive goodwill Taika showed me.

—Are you going to bring up that greenhouse flower theory again?

‘Yes, wasn’t it perfectly proven?’

We were the only ones who could approach by avoiding Oh Seung-woo’s iron-clad barricade.

All the people Taika has met until now would have been under Oh Seung-woo’s surveillance. I understand Oh Seung-woo’s overprotection, since even IMS approached and tried to kidnap Taika.

‘Taika Cooper is Oh Seung-woo’s most valuable contractor. He must have wanted to completely block anything that might harm that precious treasure.’

And according to Taika’s words, the quality of hunters around him didn’t seem very good either.

‘Come to think of it, there was a story in the news a few days ago about several guests dying of drug overdoses at a party held by hunters. There was even an expression that such incidents weren’t a one-time thing.’

Generally, the more magic power flowing through an awakener’s body, the higher their resistance to toxic substances and detoxification ability. Actually, mana itself is strictly speaking toxic to the human body.

The reason awakeners’ bodies can accept mana is because they neutralize the toxicity as soon as mana enters, not because they’ve adapted to mana.

That’s why awakeners with weak magic power experience mana poisoning.

Similarly, awakeners can easily detoxify other toxic substances on Earth. This is the reason why poisoning doesn’t work on awakeners.

The same goes for drugs. The problem is that ordinary people who come to play at hunters’ parties, or are invited, don’t have such abilities.

Synthetic drugs made for awakeners have incredibly high toxicity. There are even examples of mixing mana stones to make them for those who immediately detoxify most substances, and in such cases they can cause shock symptoms just by being nearby without direct contact.

—Is that what you’re trying to import from China?

‘No. The ones mixed with mana stones are really strong even among drugs.’

In the first place, we can’t release something that only awakeners can properly handle into the market.

But it was released here. A lot, very frequently. At places called social parties of famous hunters.

Didn’t Taika say? Even if problems occur, powerful hunters aren’t easily punished.

‘I don’t think Taika said those words for nothing.’

If I were Oh Seung-woo, I wouldn’t have let Taika associate closely with such hunters either.

Especially since Taika started activities at the young age of sixteen, the year after awakening.

But Taika was no longer a child, and his world needed to expand a little more.

—It bothers me that you guys were the first ones that guy took an interest in.

‘…I think I’m a slightly better friend than those guys having drug parties.’

Anyway, what’s important now isn’t Taika’s unfortunate adolescence.

I slowly opened my mouth.

[…The good news is you don’t have to worry about Edward Sihelis pouncing on you anymore.]

[Well, I don’t think I would have been defeated even if he came again…]

His confidence was amazing. Well, if Taika had seriously faced Edward in the first place, Edward would have been crushed by gravity the moment he entered Taika’s sight.

[But how do you know that?]

At Taika’s words, I swallowed hard.