Surviving as a Brainwashing Villain in a Hero World

A high-ranking villain of the Dark Knights, Trickster.

Her real name was Chaeryeong.

Not that she inherited the family name Chae from her parents—

She was simply a girl named Chaeryeong, without any family name.

The laboratory, filled with stark white walls and mysterious mechanical devices,

was the place where her oldest memories began.

“Test Subject Number H1789. 19 years old. Female.

Current health condition is excellent.”

A massive experimental tank, so cold it felt as if it were encased in ice.

Inside, a girl slept, connected to some kind of apparatus.

She had very fine, long black hair and bright red eyes like those of a rabbit.

The girl, who possessed truly beautiful features, gently lifted her eyelids.

“H1789 has opened her eyes!!!”

“Quick, report to the department head!”

As she awoke, like Snow White emerging from a deep slumber,

The researchers observing her were astonished and overjoyed.

However, the girl who was the subject of the experiment had no idea why she had awakened in this place,

why those people were looking at her with such joy,

or even who ‘I’ was in the first place.

Yet, she didn’t ask the researchers a single question—

not about who she was,

nor why she had awakened in such a place.

“Strange, indeed. All the test subjects up until now either showed emotional distress…

or, in some cases, their abilities went out of control.”

She, too, felt confused,

but for some reason, there were no signs of significant emotional distress or her abilities spiraling out of control.

To begin with, the fact that she even possessed abilities

was something absent from her memories.

“Fortunately, there seem to be no abnormalities in the results,

but just to be safe, assign a researcher to monitor her condition and look after her.”

“Yes, sir!”

Although she was nearly an adult at the age of 19 when she awoke,

a researcher was assigned to care for her and monitor her condition, as she had no memories whatsoever.

“You’re H1789…? You’re really pretty!

I’m Seo Youngchae. I hope we get along well from now on, okay?”

A female researcher with a neat appearance introduced herself as Seo Youngchae.

“It feels a bit strange to keep calling you by your test subject number… but I can’t exactly call you ‘you’ either….”

Youngchae pondered how to address Chaeryeong, who still didn’t have a name.

“Hmm… how about flipping my name to make it Chaeyoung? Or maybe Chaeryeong would be better…?”

“…I like Chaeryeong better.”

“Great! From now on, I’ll call you Chaeryeong. Got it?”

Unlike the other researchers, who always referred to her by her test subject number and treated her like an object,

Youngchae even gave her a new name derived from her own, always treating Chaeryeong kindly and comfortably.

To her, who had been strangely calm and numb ever since waking up in the experimental tank,

Youngchae was the one who taught her how to communicate and use emotions.

“How’s this? Doesn’t it look super delicious?

It’s a dish called malatang… I heard it’s trending these days?”

“It looks really spicy… like it would clear out your insides!”

Youngchae showed her things that people her age in the outside world might like,

and sometimes they exchanged silly jokes, causing Chaeryeong to gradually take on Youngchae’s cheerful personality.

“That thing you’re drinking, unnie… what is it?”

“Oh, this? It’s coffee. It has a slightly bitter but nutty taste.”

“Why would you drink something bitter…?”

“Coffee is amazing! The aroma is incredible… and it’s like it clears your mind, you know?”

One day, when Chaeryeong asked about the coffee in the tumbler Youngchae always carried,

Youngchae kindly explained it to her.

“If you’re interested, should unnie teach you how to make coffee too?”

Youngchae even brought photos of the coffee maker and beans she used,

and sometimes secretly let Chaeryeong taste coffee without the other researchers knowing.

“At first, I wondered why anyone would drink something so bitter,

but now I think I understand why.”

“Right? I can’t live without coffee, honestly.”

From the day Chaeryeong first tasted coffee, it became her favorite food.

Of course, the taste and aroma of coffee suited her palate and preferences well,

but it was also because she wanted to cherish the things Youngchae loved.

They spent a few weeks together—time that felt long in some ways and short in others—

and before they knew it, they had come to care for each other like real sisters, spending their time together preciously.

If you looked only at this, there would seem to be no problems between Chaeryeong and Youngchae,

but from the researchers’ perspective, there was one very significant issue with her.

“Test Subject H1789. Condition remains excellent today.

However… there seems to be an issue regarding her abilities.”

The researchers saw it as a problem that Chaeryeong couldn’t use her abilities,

and they began subjecting her to all sorts of experiments.

At first, they started with things like saying hurtful words to upset her,

or taking away and breaking objects she cherished.

However, perhaps because Chaeryeong had learned from Youngchae how to handle and control her emotions,

she didn’t show significant emotional distress, even if she felt a little down.

“This won’t do. We need to increase the intensity soon.”

Unsatisfied with this, the researchers exponentially increased the severity of the experiments.

They threatened her with weapons, cut her body with knives,

and used blunt objects to crush her fingers or toes.

Yet, even then, Chaeryeong failed to manifest her abilities as the researchers had hoped.

Youngchae always comforted and cared for Chaeryeong, who had to endure such harsh experiments,

and even promised to help her escape the laboratory one day.

“In this world… There are heroes who protect people from evil villains.

Someday… a hero will come to save you.”

‘Yeah… someday, I’ll be able to get out. Together with Youngchae unnie.’

Firmly believing that one day a hero would come to save me and Youngchae unnie,

I endured and endured the brutal experiments, no matter how harsh they were.

But despite Youngchae’s comfort and encouragement,

The intensity of the experiments only grew worse.

They locked me in a place with ferocious beasts, forcing me to face them,

and, not satisfied with crushing my fingers and toes, they mangled my limbs and face, leaving me covered in wounds.

For me, already tattered in body and mind,

even meeting Youngchae was no longer permitted.

‘Where is Youngchae unnie…?

Save me… Help me….’

A life of being monitored 24 hours a day, alone in a cold solitary cell.

It felt like things couldn’t possibly get any worse.

But I soon learned, not long after being locked in that cell,

that the saying about there being a bottom below the bottom was true.

Screeeech—

“Hey! Drag Test Subject Number H1789 over here.”

“I’m… not H1789, I’m Chaeryeong!”

“That doesn’t matter. Just drag her out!”

“What… What are you going to do to me! Isn’t it time to stop already!

Please… let me go… I’m begging you!”

After days of being confined with barely any water or food,

the researchers suddenly opened the cell door and forcibly took me somewhere.

The place I arrived at didn’t look much different from the solitary cell I had been locked in,

but there was one thing that was different.

“Let go of me!”

They forced me into a chair and fixed my gaze in one direction,

and then a shutter that had looked like a wall began to rise very slowly.

Whirrrrr—

Beyond that shutter was Youngchae, tied to a chair just like me, unable to move an inch.

“Un… unnie?! Why are you tied up there!”

Youngchae was shedding tears, looking at me with a deeply sorrowful expression.

“What are you saying? Hurry up and untie her! Quickly!!”

It was clear that Youngchae was trying to say something to me,

but with a transparent glass wall beyond the shutter, I couldn’t hear her words.

I tried to read her lips, hoping to understand what she was saying,

but I couldn’t make out a single thing.

After a short time passed,

a gun was aimed at Youngchae’s head.

“Unnie!!! What are you trying to do to unnie!! Do it to me instead…!

Cut my flesh if you want… break my fingers if you must… just please!!”

I tried desperately to free myself from the chair I was tied to,

and I even pleaded with the researchers watching the situation.

But my wishes were not granted.

Bang—!!

The gun aimed at Youngchae’s head finally pierced through it,

and an enormous amount of blood splattered around her.

The sturdy-looking glass wall cracked from the impact of the gunshot,

and through the gaps, I could hear the voices of the researchers on the other side.

“Unnie… unnie?! Unnie!!!!”

I shook the chair violently, crying out in a frenzied voice.

In that short time, she had taught me so many things, despite my lack of memories,

and Youngchae had become the most precious person in the world to me.

But that precious person had been killed, not by anyone else, but by her fellow researchers.

All for the sake of forcing me to manifest my abilities.

As I wailed, looking at Youngchae’s lifeless body drenched in blood,

through the tears clouding my eyes, I caught sight of someone else among the researchers who had come to retrieve her body.

It was a man, not wearing a white lab coat, but some kind of strange suit.

And the conversation I faintly heard through the cracked wall was nothing short of shocking.

“How did it go? Has there been any progress with the experiment?”

“Ah! The hero has arrived. Unfortunately… There has been no progress.