Although a Villain, My Wish is World Peace

Taika Cooper. The moment I heard those words come out of Han Seo-hyeon’s mouth, I let out an empty laugh.

‘I’m really glad I didn’t say I’d shit my pants back then.’

—Is that what you should be saying in this situation?

I rubbed my face.

“Why on earth is that guy here?”

“Actually, he’s the one who got Boss admitted to this hospital.”

“Me? Why?”

“I don’t know.”

Han Seo-hyeon frowned.

“As soon as we came out of the Gate, their people approached. At the time I only thought about saving Boss so I agreed, but now that I think about it, I wonder if I did something unnecessary.”

“Why?”

“Because Boss recovered completely in 1 hour. You know how you went into the operating room and came right back out?”

“Really?”

“Yes, they looked at Boss like a monster.”

“Hmm…”

It’s not good to have super regeneration exposed. No, but it’s still okay for now. They haven’t discovered our identities.

“He tried to talk to me, but I sent him away saying I was out of it for now.”

“Was there anything strange?”

Han Seo-hyeon just shrugged his shoulders. His face lacked energy unlike usual.

“I tried attaching a rat, but it was in English so I couldn’t understand what…”

Han Seo-hyeon’s cheeks were red as he said that. Khah! I couldn’t help but laugh at that sight. To think our all-purpose problem solver would be like this.

“Don’t laugh at me.”

“I’m not laughing at you, it’s just suddenly…”

He’d get angry if I said it’s cute, right? I swallowed those words and said. Han Seo-hyeon was quite proud after all.

“Why don’t you start studying English with this opportunity? They say everything you learn becomes flesh and blood.”

—It would be better to openly tease him instead.

As Ray said, Han Seo-hyeon’s reaction wasn’t very good. His face crumpled as soon as I spoke, making me flinch involuntarily. But after letting out an annoyed sigh for a moment, Han Seo-hyeon nodded and said:

“…I want to say I don’t want to, but I think I’ll need it. It’s so frustrating I could go crazy.”

Grind, at the sound of teeth grinding I rolled my eyes. This should be okay, right? Ahem. I quickly opened my mouth.

“Anyway, you still don’t know what they’re thinking, right?”

“Yes, but it’s Taika Cooper after all… You’re not thinking something strange, are you?”

“What strange thoughts?”

He read my mind even though I hadn’t said anything yet. I threw my gaze far away, avoiding Han Seo-hyeon’s suspicious eyes.

“I just thought that meeting them once to hear what they’re thinking is the best we can do for now.”

“You’re going to meet those people?”

“You said it yourself. That you don’t know what they’re thinking yet. We don’t need to overreact unnecessarily in this situation.”

“It’s not overreacting, it’s Taika Cooper!”

“Right, why would that Taika Cooper be interested in us now? Does he know we’re Weltschmerz who hit him from behind? No, rather it’s probably because rumors spread that we conquered an S-grade Gate despite being a C-grade mercenary group.”

“S-grade Gate?”

Well, Han Seo-hyeon wouldn’t know the situation since he was inside the Gate. I briefly explained the circumstances to Han Seo-hyeon.

“I don’t know why Taika Cooper is here, but it’s natural for him to be interested in us.”

A C-grade mercenary group conquered an S-grade Gate?! He might be thinking ‘An amazing rookie has appeared!’ He might suspect we’re hiding our identities, but he probably won’t think we’re criminals.

“But what if we run away?”

That would be like waving a red flag saying ‘We’re people with something to hide.’ Even after my explanation, Han Seo-hyeon’s face was still dark.

“But that person might recognize us.”

“Well, the possibility isn’t zero, but…”

I lowered my voice and continued speaking to Han Seo-hyeon as if whispering:

“Can we escape from here right now anyway?”

“What?”

Before I entered, people were swarming around the Gate. It means not only Taika Cooper, but it was receiving a lot of attention originally.

Of course, we’re not completely without ways to disappear even in this situation, but the situation is bad right now.

“We don’t know where Jae-ho went, and Cha Song-jin is hospitalized in a coma.”

I said to Han Seo-hyeon who didn’t answer:

“You know too. Cha Song-jin ended up like that trying to save you.”

No matter how much of villains we are, we can’t abandon someone who went through that hell for us.

‘We may kill some bad guys, but we’re not trash.’

—Don’t you think the first and second halves of that sentence are a bit strange?

Pushing aside Ray’s nitpicking, I said to Han Seo-hyeon:

“We’re going to take Cha Song-jin with us.”

He ended up like that for us, we can’t abandon him. So whatever our plan is, it includes safely taking Cha Song-jin with us. At my words, Han Seo-hyeon bit his lip hard. Han Seo-hyeon glared at me and added grumpily:

“I… wasn’t planning to abandon him either. I was just going to carry him…”

“You said he’s in a coma. We don’t even know what caused the coma, what if some problem occurs from suddenly carrying him?”

“I didn’t think of that.”

Until we know Cha Song-jin’s exact condition, we can’t carelessly move him. If something goes wrong, we have no way to treat Cha Song-jin ourselves.

‘Haah, at times like this the absence of a healing sorcerer is really felt.’

Potions can only heal external injuries. Even then, severe external injuries are often beyond healing potions. That’s probably why they put me in the operating room too. I managed to recover somehow with super regeneration, but most people can’t do that.

The talent to heal others is so rare that only a few have been discovered worldwide. I do know one healing sorcerer who will be active in the future, but…

‘It’s still before he awakened his talent.’

I’ll have to go meet that guy someday, but I’m not thinking of doing it now. I don’t even know where he was wandering around before awakening his ability… More importantly, I need to persuade Han Seo-hyeon who’s glaring at me.

“For now, we need to find out what Taika wants with us first. We just conquered an S-grade Gate under the name of a C-grade mercenary company. The goodwill they’re showing is most likely because of that.”

Their interest in us was probably just simple curiosity. Helping with hospitalization might be goodwill shown before satisfying that curiosity.

At my words, Han Seo-hyeon reluctantly nodded.

“But if they act suspiciously, we’ll run away right away.”

“Let’s just listen to what they have to say first.”

* * *

Sensing someone coming to the hospital room, Han Seo-hyeon sent the skeleton back. The skeleton waved its hands as if it had something to say, but unfortunately, the skeleton without vocal cords could only wave its hands uselessly.

“We’ll talk later, brother.”

Han Seo-hyeon sent the skeleton back with a rather affectionate farewell. Hmm, is it my imagination that the skeleton without even skin seemed to make an extremely angry expression? Well, it must be my imagination…

Next time he summons the skeleton, I should be a bit farther away. My crown health is very precious.

Right after Han Seo-hyeon sent the skeleton back, the hospital room door opened and people entered.

The people who came through the door were Taika, Oh Seung-woo, and…

[Norman?]

It was Norman Byron, in charge of being Golden Day mercenary group’s agency.

To be honest, I barely recognized Norman. His condition had gotten much worse in just a few days.

[You’re awake.]

Norman carefully gestured to me.

[You look good.]

Norman said with a tired face.

[Yes, you look… um.]

I don’t know what to say. I suddenly felt sorry for threatening Norman before leaving, and seeing someone who had become so worn out in just a few days made me feel needless guilt.

[Anyway, it’s good to see your face alive.]

But sadly, there are more important things to do right now than taking care of Norman.

I shifted my gaze to Oh Seung-woo and Taika. Unlike Norman who was visibly shrunken, those two were sparkling. Expensive custom suits, watches worth tens of thousands of dollars. Oh, I liked that brand too…

—Is this the time to be looking at such things?

‘Ah, without realizing it.’

I focused my mind again.

[And this is…]

As I casually threw out words, Oh Seung-woo immediately cut in:

[Hello, it’s nice to meet you like this for the first time. Lee San-ho of Golden Day?]

[Yes, you’re Oh Seung-woo Agency. I know you because you’re famous.]

[Hmm, I’m honored. To think the hottest person these days knows me.]

If I’m the hottest person these days, you’re the hottest agency in the entire hunter world. I forced a smile.

[Well, since you know me to that extent, you probably know who the person next to me is.]

[Yes…]

Taika Cooper. How could I not know him. I glanced at Han Seo-hyeon. Though Han Seo-hyeon’s face skin isn’t thick, fortunately he was wearing a mask. After checking on Han Seo-hyeon, I turned my gaze back to Taika. Taika Cooper, whose eyes met mine, grinned and waved at me.

—Was he originally such a loose smiler?

‘Well, I don’t actually know Taika personally either.’

America’s strongest force! Born with SS-grade potential strategic weapon! I’ve heard such things, but I don’t know what kind of person Taika Cooper is. I should have read gossip magazines earlier.

[I’m glad you’re safe.]

[Ah, I heard from my friend that you helped with the hospitalization. Thank you for your help.]

After saying that, I glanced at Oh Seung-woo and gestured with my eyes.

[To be honest, it was unexpected help so I’m curious. What business do two great people like you have with our mercenary group?]

At my words, Oh Seung-woo made a slightly surprised expression. Well, he probably didn’t expect someone like me to ask so directly like this. But time is gold for us.

[I’ll speak bluntly. I want to make a contract with Golden Day mercenary group.]

I was surprised, but soon I could understand this flow.

[That’s because we conquered an S-grade Gate, right?]

[Yes, that’s right.]

With Taika Cooper, who’s like Oh Seung-woo’s walking halo, tagging along, an ordinary mercenary group would have nodded without hesitation.

After all, it’s a situation where ‘the’ Oh Seung-woo and ‘the’ Taika Cooper have come to a C-grade mercenary group that was going around handling C-grade Gates with a temporary agency in a place like this, saying they want to make a contract.

But you see.

[First, I’d like to talk with my agency.]

At those words, Norman’s shoulders trembled. Oh Seung-woo’s eyebrows twitched at my words.

[Your agency?]

[Yes, I still believe Mr. Byron is my agency. And it doesn’t make sense to have such an important conversation without my agency, right?]

After saying that, I added to Oh Seung-woo:

[And if it’s alright, I’d like to have this conversation just between us.]

At my words, Oh Seung-woo burst out laughing.

[Haha, sure! I was being rude. This friend is still Golden Day mercenary group’s agency after all.]

I shrugged my shoulders. Oh Seung-woo nudged Taika Cooper’s side. Taika, who had been keeping silent until now, looked at me and said:

[That’s all fine, just don’t run away anywhere. I have a lot I want to talk about with you.]

I frowned looking at Taika grinning with his hands clasped behind his head.

‘What on earth…’

—That looks ominous.

It’s not something to say about a refreshing smile, but it certainly was.

What on earth does he want to talk to me about?

‘Maybe helping me wasn’t just out of simple curiosity after all.’

A drop of sweat ran down my back at the unknown ominous feeling.