The Novel’s Villain

13 Vengeance Is Mine (3)

Jin-woo climbed into the car. Only one car headed to the Hanshin Building, a distinct appearance from the usual convoy that would follow him. The surrounding area of the Hanshin Building was all sealed off. When he arrived, the General Manager opened the door, and Jin-woo got out of the car.

He approached the building with a light step as if he was out shopping.

Large men were guarding the entrance to the building. They were competent people with considerable abilities as the officials of the Golden Breeze Guild. However, it wasn’t even worth checking their abilities with the Magic Eye of information.

As Jin-woo approached, those men came forward and reached out to stop him.

“L-Lee Jin-woo?”

“S-stop there. Except for League Guild officials, access is…”

Puuugh!

The man’s head was stomped to the ground. Before he knew it, a dark being was grabbing his head.

“What…kuugh!”

The man next to him panicked and tried to attack, but it was pointless.

Klang! Bang!

An iron mace slammed into the back of his head, dropping him to the floor. They both shuddered and fainted.

Shriek!

Their bodies were moved aside so they wouldn’t block Jin-woo’s path.

“The door is too shabby and small.”

When the General Manager reached out his hand, the door of the building, rather the entire wall with the door, creaked and cracked before completely falling inside. The front of the building was smashed open. It certainly seemed to be easier to get in.

“Do you like it?”

“Not bad.”

Jin-woo entered the building. The path he walked on was clean, free of glass or iron shards. As soon as he stepped into the building, the shadows flashed behind him, and numerous dark beings materialized. They politely stood by Jin-woo’s side. They didn’t even make a sound when breathing for fear of disturbing him. It was as if the dark beings had become Jin-woo’s own shadow.

The flags of the Golden Breeze Guild were hung everywhere. As a guild of the Korean Competent People League (KPL) first division, it was a popular guild in the middle ranks. It was a unique place where Chinese capital, Chinese owners, and competent Korean people were mixed. Since such a guild took part in the raid, it was natural that the security team couldn’t stop it.

The flags of the Golden Breeze Guild had all disappeared; the dark beings accurately understood Jin-woo’s mind. The guild office was an area where the Law of the Competent People was applied. It was enacted as a result of negotiations regarding competent people. It was a unique area where ordinary people were also applied to the Law of the Competent People.

The guild members of the Golden Breeze Guild rushed out. There were also officials from the legal team, but they seemed confused. But there was no way they couldn’t know Jin-woo’s face. The head of the legal team looked around in a cold sweat.

“P-please calm down…t-there must be a misunderstanding…”

“That’s right. T-there must be a misunderstanding, so let’s talk for a moment.”

The officials said so.

“Misunderstanding….”

Jin-woo shook his head at those words. They were trying to play innocent.

“Kugh!”

“Ugh! Sa-save me…”

A chain sickle flew from behind Jin-woo and caught their necks. The two collapsed and began to struggle like worms on the floor. The General Manager looked at them pitifully.

“Master does not misunderstand. How dare you insult him…”

Whrieek!

They were dragged on the floor and thrown out like garbage, leaving only silence. The competent people of the League Guild were bewildered. After all, they didn’t expect it would go this far.

There was a procedure. It was common procedure to acquire permission from the Association and to accompany the investigation team. No matter how fast-tracked the process was, it would be at least a day. They thought digging into legal loopholes would buy them more time. However, they didn’t know the JW Gate.

They didn’t know that Jin-woo could be more vicious than them.

“W-what are you doing? If you’re doing this, t-the Association…! Ugh! Keaaargh!”

The man who said so fell to his knees. No, his knees had disappeared entirely.

“C-crazy!”

“D-do you want a war?”

The League Guild members hesitated. They said it would be war, but it wasn’t. It was a one-sided massacre.

Jin-woo looked at the crowds. Not only the League Guild members but also the officials of the Snake Shield Alliance were there, although they were carefully hiding their identities. Everyone was nicely gathered. An executive of the Snake Shield Alliance broke into a cold sweat when Jin-woo looked at him.

“A-aren’t you afraid of the Association’s punishment? W-we claim the right of protection following the Act on the Protection of Competent People…”

Puck!

The man who was talking had his face broken, and he collapsed to the floor.

“I have not allowed you to bark.”

The General Manager looked down at him. The League Guild members couldn’t do anything but glance around. As the General Manager gestured, one of the dark beings moved bizarrely to approach the League Guild members.

Clang, clang!

As they moved, the sound of chains and blades being dragged to the floor filled the room. His neck was strangely twisted, and he sniffed the League Guild members.

Squeak-squeak!

His bizarrely twisted body stopped in front of one of the members. He was a big guy, wearing a League outfit from the Golden Breeze Guild. The dark being pulled out a bloody white cloth from his chest. He brought it close to the mask and sniffed it, then his body shivered. The League Guild members retreated at sight.

[The scent of mana in the blood matches.]

The mana contained in the bodyguards’ blood wasn’t something easily erased. Even washing it wouldn’t help. Jin-woo nodded.

The men in front of him were the culprits. Those people tried to hide their identity, but they couldn’t escape the nose of the dark beings. They were experts in blood and slaughter, the worst villains that even government agencies gave up on. Jin-woo looked at the League Guild members.

“So, it was your guys.”

Jin-woo’s voice was cold, causing a shiver to run through them. They were the culprits. They had the Rank C abilities as competent people of the 1st division.

“A-attack!”

“Eaaargh!”

Jin-woo took a step forward as they rushed toward him. The General Manager stood behind Jin-woo without moving. The weapons used by the League Guild had their ranks, and their abilities weren’t bad either. They weren’t Rank C for nothing. However, they couldn’t even reach Jin-woo. Compared to the Death Knight, they were quite lacking.

Light flashed around Jin-woo.

“Uh?”

“Huh?”

The rushing League Guild members stopped at once. Their bodies came to a halt as if they had been paralyzed.

Pssshhhh! Phseeek!

Their armor and weapons were shattered, and blood gushed out. They gasped for breath and fell to the floor. The others around them blankly watched. They took out their weapons, but they couldn’t think of fighting.

Thung! Thung! Teaaar!

A bloody iron mace fell under the black hem.

Grumble!

The sound of the blades being sharpened resounded terribly in their ears. Everyone was waiting for Jin-woo’s order.

“Put their lives on the line for now.”

The dark beings began to move quietly at Jin-woo’s command. The League Guild members ground their teeth. The Lee Jin-woo in front of them was a completely different person.

‘Demon…!’

‘He’s a monster!’

There was a huge difference between what he had shown so far and what they had grasped. The figure of Lee Jin-woo, which they recently discovered, was a person who kept the line even if he was going all out. Many analyses were being conducted on him because of greed for the position of the successor of the Frontline Group. They thought he wouldn’t be able to move easily.

Now, however, they were all going to die. No, rather, it would be better to die.

“S-stop!”

“D-don’t let them go up!”

One of them shouted. He was a well-known man reminiscent of a celebrity, but it was a name that would disappear today. He hurriedly showed off his abilities and tried to block the dark shadows.

“S-shield…!”

Puck!

A heavy iron mace broke the shield magic and collided with his face. He flipped over a few times in the air before crashing into a wall.

Brrrr!

His joints were broken, and his body was shivering, but he remained alive. The dark beings continued to take emergency measures according to Jin-woo’s order. A future worse than death awaited them.

A dark being appeared next to Jin-woo. He appeared as if he had risen from the shadows, with an evil, vibrating purple energy emanating from him.

[Master, we have located Kim Se-yeon and Kim Chan-young]

“Guide me.”

The black being complied silently.

“Eaaargh!”

The competent people rushed to stop Jin-woo. Although they were a mid-to-low ranking team, their willpower was commendable.

But there was no need for Jin-woo to move directly.

“Kugh!”

“Keaaargh!”

Jin-woo’s path had already been cleared. One of the competent people lying on the floor gasped for breath, managing to cling to consciousness.

“E-even if you push around a League Guild like this…d-do you think they’re going to let this slide away? W-we will formally protest…heeeck!”

Jin-woo stopped it the moment an iron mace was about to break his face. The mace stopped right in front of his forehead. His jaw trembled, imagining the pain, and his pants now had a dark splotch in the front.

One of the shadows burned his pants so that the disgusting smell wouldn’t dare reach Jin-woo. It was such a quick and neat incineration.

“K-keaaaargh!”

Jin-woo looked at him. How much did they get paid to move? Was the amount large enough to throw away both their honor and pride?

“How much did you get?”

“W-what…?”

“If those guys who move for just a penny are the best League Guild….”

The man, who was struggling in pain, froze at Jin-woo’s gaze.

“It would be fine if I bought it.”

The man was thrown aside. Like the others who fell to the floor, he crumpled up and was thrown to the side. If the League Guild protested, he could just buy them. There were too many means of retaliation. There were so many that it was hard to choose.

Jin-woo was different from Lee Jin-woo, who was ruined while struggling with a feeling of inferiority. He wasn’t enough of a good person to laugh at crises and pain like the main character. He would use everything given to him to thoroughly crush his opponent.

It was the way Jin-woo lived in this crazy world.

* * *

The Golden Breeze Guild’s office was originally crowded with people, but now it was very quiet. This was because the Golden Breeze Guild was in the process of escaping after disposing of its assets. A comfortable life awaited them abroad. They were able to acquire good positions as well as new nationalities. Although it was an honorary position, it was expected that they would obtain the rank of semi-Knight level too.

Fame and money seemed to be caught in their net right in front of them.

Se-yeon trembled. The man in front of her was creepy. His tongue was as long as a snake, and his pupils were slit like a viper’s. He was the leader of the Snake Shield Association, Blacksnake. Next to Blacksnake, the leader of the Golden Breeze Guild, Joo-won, stood with an edgy look.

“Ku-kugh…”

Kim Chan-young was already worn out. All the tortures he had received were too horrendous. He was poisoned, and there was no possibility of reviving him.

Clap!

Se-yeon’s face turned away. Blood dripped down her lips, but she clenched her teeth.

“Unlock it.”

“Uh, ugh…”

“You’re very determined.”

Blacksnake admired Se-yeon as he looked at her. He used poison that caused considerable pain and even poison that weakened one’s will. It was weak, but it was able to hypnotize his target. Yet Se-yeon was still refusing despite the sorry state she was in.

It was slowly progressing, however.

“Use some more poison.”

“Umm…then, she’ll be a total wreck. Well, there’s nothing we can do about it.”

That’s what the viper said when Joon-won, the leader of the Golden Breeze Guild, spoke. There wasn’t much time. Thanks to Se-yeon’s double security, they had managed to buy some time until now.

There was a laptop in front of her, holding Se-yeon’s data. It was high-level technology used to analyze patterns and mana wavelengths to create artifacts with similar performance. The disadvantage was that it was expensive to make. However, considering the value of the technology they had stolen, it wasn’t a waste of money.

‘I must not hand it over.’

Se-yeon vowed to do so and tried to slow down the pace of the poison. Her fingers moved freely with a blank head. She barely caught hold of her reason and tried to stop her trembling hands.

It was the property of G&P, a beautiful gem that prevented decomposition and detoxified poison. It was an artifact of immense value and technology that would change the world. Se-yeon’s tears flowed freely.

All of this happened because of her. She wanted to be helpful to Lee Jin-woo, to repay the favor. However, she was only causing great damage.

Joon-won paced back and forth while chewing his nails.

“Do something quickly!”

“I understand.”

“We’re out of touch! We have to leave Korea right now.”

“They won’t find this place. I’ve also prepared to defend myself…”

Blacksnake’s expression hardened. He, too, was full of impatience. Things had worked out so well until that point that it felt weird.

Blacksnake grabbed Se-yeon’s hair roughly. Then he opened his mouth and bit her neck.

“Kyaaaah!”

Venom flowed out of Blacksnake’s fangs and seeped into her body. Her eyes clouded.

‘What a shame.’

The black man clicked his tongue and looked at her. She was a great talent even to Blacksnake’s eyes. He could have captured an enormous amount of wealth If he used her abilities.

Se-yeon’s eyes went blank. Her hand moved, and she slowly began to unlock the security code.

“Hurry up!”

Joon-won felt extremely anxious. His suspicion of a competent person with a Rank C+ was accurate, but he tried to push down his rising fear as he watched the rapid security release. It was the same with Blacksnake. He was plotting it himself, so why was he so impatient and scared? Things were going smoothly as planned, so why was he so anxious?

“Cough, once this job is over, you will be treated like a semi-Knight in Japan. Mr. Joon-won.”

“You’re going to succeed, too, right?”

“It’s probably because I have a great relationship with the Seven Dragons Association…”

It was when the Blacksnake had cracked a small smile.

[We found them. We found them. Shall we peel it off?]

[No, Master is coming. Directly…]

[They’re lucky. Hee, heeheehee]

Creepy sounds were heard. It sounded like scraping metal. Joon-won was startled and stepped back.

“W-what? What’s that voice?!”

“I-I don’t feel any presence. S-something…”

The eerie voice sounded like the wind coming through the cracks in the door.

The security release was finally complete. As soon as it was done, Blacksnake quickly pressed the send button.

Thung! Drrrrng!

The floor creaked with a sound like a scream. Blacksnake couldn’t comprehend what was going on. As Joon-won looked at the guild’s competent people, each of them gathered their mana and approached the door.

It was now too quiet.

Paaang!

“Kugh!”

“Eargh!”

The door was smashed open, slamming into the group of competent people and sending them back. An old man with a gloved hand outstretched stood on the other side, his white gloves immaculately clean. The neat appearance of his outfit marked him as a butler.

Blacksnake trembled as soon as he saw him.

‘G-General Manager…?!’

He couldn’t believe his eyes. The General Manager who would never take leave of the Gate was standing in front of him.

It wasn’t just him, either. A group of people wearing black outfits and bizarre masks filled the room before they knew what was happening.

Tap! Tap!

The sound of footsteps rang off the floor. The General Manager politely stepped aside and bowed his head. Blacksnake and Joon-won’s eyes widened when they saw the man walking slowly in.

It was hard to breathe under the tremendous pressure he exuded.

“Lee Jin-woo…”

Lee Jin-woo, who is said to be the most difficult man to meet in the world, appeared in front of their eyes.