I’m Not That Villain

50 – Artificial Supernatural Factor (4)

Output control…

Why is output control so difficult?!

The direction of the energy burst was also contrary to expectations. The uselessly soaring stream of water proved it.

The direction was wrong, and the controllable part was out of reach…

No. Nothing matched the expectations? I tried to control it in a cool slash form, but it didn’t work, did it?!

Moreover, I tried to avoid damaging the property as much as possible, but that also failed…

It almost caused damage to the civilian houses. No, wait! Even with just the simple energy burst, some buildings got cracked…

Why is it so hard to handle?! It far exceeded the margin of error?

…Still, I have to finish what I started.

I approached the guy who was barely alive after narrowly missing the slash. He was trembling as he watched the huge slash that had split in half, and he gritted his teeth.

“S-save me…”

“Shut up.”

“I-I’ll never…show up again…”

I kicked Lee Minho, who was trying to cling to me. I also hurriedly collected the energy that was continuously destroying the surroundings.

My stomach growled rapidly. I felt a strong sense of hunger. What is this? I can endure it, but…

Wow. If I fire all seven shots at maximum output…won’t I starve to death on the spot?

And my hands are a problem. The outer skin of the hands that tried to handle the energy directly was completely peeled off. Not only that. The load on my whole body made me tremble all over.

“M-master…?”

The amount of shock felt internally was also considerable. Seeing that my whole body was tingling and the pain came belatedly…

The load on my body is no joke. Maybe because it’s an improvised ability, if I keep using it, I’ll die first.

I shoved a piece of chocolate into my mouth. Then I kicked his jaw again.

“B-brother! Brother! Aagh! Brother!”

It smells like urine…what is this?

Did this b*stard even pee himself?

“If you spare me just once…I-I’ll never do this again! B-brother! P-please…”

“……..”

“I-I’ll beg like this! I’ll do whatever you ask! Please…please just spare my life…”

“If you were going to say that, you should have said it earlier.

To the point where he couldn’t even resist, just enough to make sure it was scorched.

Splat!

In an instant, Lee Minho’s head rolled on the ground. Not satisfied with that, another slash extended and grazed the ground once more, taking out an additional fire hydrant.

Whoosh!!!

A fierce stream of water gushed out again. My already skinned hand now felt like it was burning, and I grimaced.

“Master!”

Scarlett’s orb clattered open. Various relief supplies poured out from the round orb and quickly disinfected my hand.

Thanks to the well-developed medical supplies of this era, the treatment was quick. Just a slight sting, that’s all.

I swiftly gathered the shattered corpses in one place.

I made sure to leave a clear proof photo so that no riffraff would dare touch me again.

“Now.”

Wasn’t there still one left? I turned my steps.

“Let’s go finish this.”

“Are you okay?”

“Killing? Hmm…?”

There was a slight bitter aftertaste, but that was all.

After all, they were the ones who tried to kill me first and ended up dead instead.

No pangs of conscience.

You reap what you sow. Yes. It was self-defense.

And more importantly, there was something I had to do before dwelling on the current events.

Black Mask.

With the testimony of the hitman, it was time to finish off this b*stard from the Steel Plate Workshop.

. . .

[…….!]

“No, I’m telling you! This is absolutely necessary! Workshop owner!”

[…….!]

“It’s not embezzlement! I’ll come and explain it to you in person later! To solidify our overwhelming position in Seoul’s Jung-gu, I’ve told you several times that this is a necessary procedure!”

[…….!!!!!]

“I’m hanging up!”

The next workshop owner of the Steel Plate Workshop.

Ha Tae-won hurriedly hung up the phone.

Once things started to go wrong, problems kept popping up everywhere. The assassin case, which had been blown up this time, was also being taken up by the workshop owner.

But…

But this is the best.

If the opponent is really from Yeongwon, isn’t it normal to press them with all your might now?

The fact that the target who sent the assassin was reverse-detected and killed already means things are going to get tangled. It is right to pour money into fixing it.

Still, most of the guys recently hired are skilled. Many of them had a remarkable past.

Even Lee Min-ho, for example. Wasn’t he a skilled person who was dishonorably discharged from a famous mercenary company for unknown reasons? I invested in as many similar guys as possible at once.

Even if the opponent is a high-ranking executive of a large organization, we have the numbers to crush them.

We can somehow make up for the immediate loss. Yes. Let’s just think about that. At least we saved our lives.

Even if the opponent is from Yeongwon, they can no longer use the name “Heukgyeong.”

Let’s wait for the results first. They promised to contact us as soon as the job was done, so by now…

Ding.

An alarm sounded. Ha Tae-won snatched up his phone.

But what appeared on the top bar was not the message he wanted.

An alarm that had been set on the opponent’s account in case things went wrong…

An alarm.

“…….?”

The person who should have been dead by now posted a notice.

With trembling hands, Ha Tae-won opened it.

“…Ugh?!”

A photo of a street with some parts mosaic-processed.

The surrounding broken street was not mosaic-processed. As if to say, “Find out if you want to know,” a plaque was prominently displayed.

But the ‘something’ piled up in the middle was definitely mosaic-processed.

The bloodstains around it. Although mosaic-processed, everyone would immediately recognize what it was.

What was piled up was definitely…

Corpses.

And below the photo, there was just one more phrase.

[Sending more hitmen?]

[I’m coming now.]

The view count started to skyrocket. The comment section exploded as a result.

[Wow, damn lol. I was here.]

[What’s going on?]

[Someone seems to have sent assassins to Heukgyeong… Looks like they’re all dead?]

[Was Heukgyeong really a superhuman?]

[Are you really from Yeongwon?]

[With this level of recognition, shouldn’t you reveal your true identity soon?]

[lol bye]

[Whoever it is, they’re screwed. Who sent them?]

[Are those all superhumans? Or just regular assassins?]

[Wow, damn lolololol. I brought some popcorn.]

[What’s happening?]

[Can someone explain?]

…Things.

Things got stranger.

No. It’s strange. Skilled individuals. They specifically chose only the skilled ones.

They invested thousands per person, sending a total of eight superhumans…

And they all lost?

Th-that’s impossible. This is. It’s impossible…

A-and what?

They’re coming? For me?

Ha Taewon jumped up. He urgently called the bodyguard who would be guarding the office outside the door.

A foreign mercenary. His skills were so outstanding that he was the best among the skilled individuals he had hired separately.

“M-Mr. Dexter! Please come inside! Right now!”

“…….”

“…Mr. Dexter?”

No answer. It’s as quiet as a mouse outside the office.

Why. Why is it so quiet?

He steps back. He clings to the wall. For some reason, he stares intently at the unusually red window.

A presence he noticed too late. The substance stuck to the window.

Creak.

The doorknob turns. Slowly, with the opening door, a corpse falls inside.

A corpse with wide-open eyes, Dexter.

“Please don’t use that ability unless absolutely necessary. If you use it without control, it’s just self-destructive. It’s a double-edged sword. The life recovery ability of an ability holder is the same as that of an ordinary person. Even though modern medicine has advanced, an injury is still an injury. It doesn’t heal instantly.”

“It’s because I don’t know how to control it yet. I feel like I might be able to get the hang of it… but it might take a little more time…”

“Keep it buried until then.”

Two people enter while having a casual conversation.

One is a child. A young child who looks like a middle school student. And next to him stands a man wearing a mask.

Black hair visible under the hat. Eyes slowly looking this way.

Clatter!

The object dropped unconsciously rolls on the floor. The body, with nowhere else to run, is cornered.

Calm down, let’s calm down first.

If I can find a way out of this situation…

“Ha Tae-won. The artisan of the Iron Slate Workshop. What are you doing there?”

“Bl, Black Mirror…?”

“What’s with the childish name Black Mask? Huh?”

“…Isn’t that something you would say?”

“No. My nickname is above average.”

“…….”

He stands right in front of me. Slightly taller than me. Looking down slightly.

A woman…

She’s not a woman!

Not from the Eternal!

Ha Tae-won hurriedly opened his mouth.

“Wa, wait! Just a moment!”

“What.”

“I think there’s a misunderstanding… I admit I made a mistake! But there’s no need to go this far, right? Huh?”

“What.”

“Let’s talk! I mean, let’s talk numbers! I’ll give you money! I have a lot! I can match the amount you want! Money! With that, you can do anything here, right?! Isn’t that so?!”

Let’s buy some time.

If I can just buy some time, I can manage somehow.

Cornered, Tae-won Ha hurriedly searched under the desk. Pretending his legs had given out, he desperately looked for the button.

The emergency button. A signal to call the security company at any time.

Th-there, so here…

“L-let’s calm down and find a way that benefits us both… Ugh?!”

Thud.

The girl, who had leapt onto the desk in an instant, lunged at him. The knife in her hand seemed to move, and then…

The hand reaching for the button was cut off along with the table.

Crash!

“aaah!!!!

Blood oozed out. The blood that quickly stained the floor intermittently seeped from the severed wrist.

“Help me! Damn it!!! Help me!!!”

“There’s no one around. I’ve knocked out everyone I’ve encountered and thrown them outside. The soundproofing work was done well too. Workshops with money are different, after all.”

The man walked over. He seemed to squint for a moment behind his mask, then stepped slightly away from the gushing blood.

The girl asked.

“You can step aside for a moment.”

“No. Well. After seeing it a few times, I got used to it. I even killed someone on the way here… There’s no reason to avoid it. It’s something you shouldn’t get used to, but there’s no reason to avoid it either.”

The man squatted in front of him. The mouth that had been chattering suddenly went silent…

The atmosphere changed.

As if a completely different person was standing in front of him.

“Why did you do it?”

“…D-damn it…”

His mind wasn’t working. It wasn’t working properly.

“Because you were ruining this industry! Damn b*stard! Do you know how many people have suffered because of you?!”

“Keep talking.”

“This industry has its own set rules! If you take money at such a damn low price, what are we supposed to do?! What are we supposed to live on?!”

“So?”

“It’s your fault! Damn b*stard! You’re ruining the market! What are we supposed to do when you’re messing up the market economy?! I stepped up for everyone!

“Isn’t it a bit much for the guy who started with hate comments to say?”

“…B-but you were the one who…!”

“There were plenty of ways to try to live together, or you could have contacted me personally… There were many ways to try. But who skipped all that and hired a hitman? And who started with the hate comments in the first place… wasn’t it me from my unknown days?”

“I, I…”

“You must have sent the Night Owl too, right?”

Ha Tae-won hiccuped. The man in front of him, Heuk-gyeong, slowly lowered his mask.

A handsome face he had never seen before. But rather than being captivated by that face…

Realizing his fate came first.

The person who had tried so hard to hide his identity revealing his face could only mean one thing. Ha Tae-won trembled.

“S-save me…”

After the anger passed, only desperate earnestness remained.

But that earnestness didn’t always work.

“Ha Tae-won. Still, thank you. Thanks to you, I was motivated to focus on my experiments.”

“……”

“And I even warned you, didn’t I?”

A hand approaches.

“That you would have to take responsibility.”

. . .

The Steel Slate Workshop was turned upside down.

Not only had someone infiltrated, but someone had died inside the office.

The deceased was none other than Ha Tae-won.

He was the one chosen to be the next workshop master.

It was only natural for the Steel Slate Workshop master to be extremely angry, but nothing else happened because of it.

Because they couldn’t determine exactly who the opponent was, the Steel Slate Workshop master also felt it.

Something…

Something had gone terribly wrong.

Not only had they taken out eight hitmen, but they had also infiltrated the office.

They had even dealt with the foreign mercenary Ha Tae-won trusted the most.

No one in the Steel Slate Workshop’s meeting room could even mention the word ‘revenge.’ And that included the workshop master himself.

A tarnished reputation.

As if it were a taxidermy, the body of Ha Tae-won from the Steel Plate Workshop was uploaded to the black market account, pixelated.

Of course, the photo was taken down before a day passed. But everyone who needed to see it had already seen it, and it was spreading all over the internet as if it were a taxidermy.

Now, no one saw Black Mirror as a powerless individual seller.

The Steel Plate Workshop had earned the worst reputation in the industry for hiring a hitman out of jealousy of a mere individual seller.

Regular customers also stopped coming one after another. Although murder was not considered a big deal here, it was a completely different story when it surfaced.

Murder was vulgar.

And what the wealthy valued most was none other than ‘face.’

The stock price of the Steel Plate Workshop plummeted instantly. At the same time, changes began to occur within Seoul.

The government’s policy, which had only been talked about. The urban safety of Seoul.

That…

For the first time, it ‘properly’ entered Seoul.

Along with the newly established enforcement agency in Jung-gu, Seoul.