I Woke Up as the Villain

Chapter 23

The main character, Kim Do-Jin, received the secret of how to create the hunting experience boost potion for free from Oh Ji-Hoon. Because of this, he experienced growth much faster than others using this potion. In other words, Yu-Seong used the author's plan for Kim Do-Jin to take advantage of the potion before Do-Jin had a chance to use it, but that didn’t make him feel bad in the least.

‘It’s not like if I make the potion, no one else can, so why would it matter?’

The difference was that Yu-Seong had to spend his own Karma points to make the potion, but there was nothing that he could do about it. He didn’t have anyone like Oh Ji-Hoon, passionate fans, or those who acted as stepping stones for him.

‘Supporters, supporters…’

Yu-Seong was still thinking a lot about this fact. The first thing he had to do to survive was garner supporters, and there was a clear and easy way to do this.

‘The most convenient way is to steal Kim Do-Jin's supporters.’

The way the main character, Do-Jin, acquired his supporters was quite simple. First, he overwhelmed and fascinated his future supporters with his power and charisma, then showed them a little compassion. This world was filled with people who would show Do-Jin love, loyalty, and affection in response. Naturally, Yu-Seong could imitate this method somewhat. However, he didn’t intend to take the easy path like Do-Jin.

'If I take away Kim Do-Jin’s supporters, then who's going to stop the dungeon break or the upcoming disaster?’

Do-Jin was a regressor and could easily deal with the events alone without any help from his supporters. By contrast, Yu-Seong needed to consider the ‘what if’ scenarios.

Nothing was for certain in this world. Just as Yu-Seong's actions had caused Lee Jin-Wook to show up faster in this story, Do-Jin's story could have changed as well. What if Do-Jin took action by himself and died in a fight against the oncoming disaster? It would mean the death of the hero who was destined to save the world.

In that case, Choi Yu-Seong might have to run around as if his feet were on fire to prevent the oncoming disasters and dungeon breaks that would threaten the Earth. Moreover, he would have to deal with the villains as well.

This did not fit with his desired lifestyle. He wanted to enjoy his life after ensuring his own survival. So even though he was afraid of Kim Do-Jin, he didn’t want Do-Jin to die. He needed Do-Jin to survive, protect the world, and become a hero.

Yu-Seong wanted to change only one future event.

‘My survival.’

What of the death of Choi Woo-Jae?

He contemplated this issue quite a bit. After all, in this world, Choi Woo-Jae was Yu-Seong’s father. However, Yu-Seong had yet to feel any kind of affection for Choi Woo-Jae enough to care whether he died or not. That was where he currently stood on the matter.

However, what if the moment came when Do-Jin had the opportunity to kill Woo-Jae? Could Yu-Seong turn a blind eye to the situation if his own survival was guaranteed? He couldn’t say for sure.

"Eh, whatever."

The more complex and difficult a problem was, the more time he needed to spend thinking about it.

He shook off his thoughts and thought back to his first supporters.

‘The Jin siblings and Chae Ye-Ryeong.’

It wasn’t a bad combination at all, considering the high growth potential of the two siblings and Chae Ye-Ryeong, who was originally destined to become a major threat. Then, there was Yu-Seong himself.

But he still felt as if that wasn’t enough.

‘It would be nice if I had just one more person….’

Who would be an appropriate supporter for him? Someone he could recruit without getting in the way of Kim Do-Jin’s future? Yu-Seong recalled the list of the characters in the original novels as he continued walking through the endless field.

30 minutes passed.

There had been quite a few monsters visible at the entrance when he had first gone in, but after some time had passed, their numbers had dropped. Yu-Seong realized that he had been quite lucky for the first hour after he had entered.

‘There are many hunters around here.’

There were more F to D-rank hunters than he had expected in South Korea. Thus, it was more likely that there would be others who hunted monsters in low-level dungeons.

It was only natural, not only for him but for other hunters as well, to be entering dungeons. That was how they gathered experience points, monsters' by-products, and even mana stones if they were lucky.

‘Come to think of it, more people are here because it’s past lunchtime.’

Unlike the boss monsters, which took a month to regenerate, the monsters here regenerated every day at the same time. However, this field dungeon was quite wide, so the monsters were distributed over a large area. As such, it was quite difficult to hunt in an efficient manner.

Some of the hunters passing by Yu-Seong recognized him, and they looked at him with questioning eyes.

“Choi Yu-Seong?”

“Did he come here alone?”

“That’s crazy, look at his equipment.”

“Well, that’s Choi Yu-Seong. He should have lots of money.”

Yu-Seong could hear whispers behind him, but there were no hunters who approached him directly.

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This dungeon was merely level one, but no matter how low its level was, a dungeon was still a dungeon, and it was dangerous.

If the hunters were careless, they could suffer fatal injuries from a monster’s attacks. Unless they were fools, they couldn’t afford to get distracted just because they saw someone famous.

Choi Yu-Seong walked through the dungeon for another ten minutes, but he only found one more kobold. After defeating the kobold, he thought everything over.

‘This is ridiculous. This just won’t do.’

The current situation wouldn't allow him to make the best use of the hunting experience boost potion.

‘I must think of a way… But how?’

While he stood in place, he contemplated for a while before turning his eyes to the Retention History in the system information window.

‘Come to think of it...!’

He was looking for an answer that was staring right at him. He hurriedly turned his gaze to the History tab.

History referred to past events, and it was a kind of reward given to the player by the system. Concretely, the system performed an analysis of the player’s history and rewarded them with a suitable title. Usually, the title bestowed was a simple phrase rather than a complete sentence, and it was accompanied by some special boosts for the player. It was a reward, after all.

And the title Choi Yu-Seong obtained from the practical evaluation of the hunter test was…

?Crowd Puller

Player Choi Yu-Seong secured the attention of many humans and gods in a short period of time at the battle held in Yeouido, South Korea, on November 20, 2029.

When in effect, “Crowd Puller” attracts hostile beings toward the user.

Duration – 60 minutes

In gaming terms, "Crowd Puller was a provocation skill that taunted the opponents into attacking the user.” When Yu-Seong first checked his history, he had dismissed this title as something unnecessary. He wasn’t a defensive player whose role was to draw in the enemy’s attention in the field anyways, so he had never thought such an ability would come in handy.

Thus, he had forgotten about the title, but now, he had to admit that he’d been mistaken.

‘It’s perfect for a situation like this, isn’t it?’

Without hesitation, he applied the title ‘Crowd Puller’.

Instantly, red letters appeared above his head. The letters were only visible to him.

‘Crowd Puller’

After Yu-Seong confirmed that the title was in effect, he no longer walked leisurely but rather started to run through the field. He wasn’t scared of anything—he knew from his previous battles that he could handle the monsters of this dungeon.

‘I can take on ten kobolds without any problem.'

It wouldn’t do for him to just fight one or two and then take a break.

Soon afterward, he had gathered a large group of kobolds. He shouted inwardly.

‘Yes, the dungeon is everything I expected!’

Leveling up quickly by herding the monsters and then defeating them, the so-called grinding, was a great feeling known to anyone who played RPG games.

***

About a half year ago, Park Hyuk-Jin had found a new dream after awakening.

‘After I become a hunter, I’ll make a name for myself and become a superstar.’

He had liked to be the center of attention since childhood, and he had liked to receive attention ever since he was in school. As an adult, he became a so-called ‘keyboard warrior’, as commonly known in the internet world, to attract the attention of people around him.

His parents and younger siblings used to sigh and click their tongues as if he was wasting his time whenever they saw him sitting in front of the computer every day in his room. However, it wasn’t like there had been anything else to do. He didn’t get the job he wanted at the company he wanted. So, he had tried to study, but studying wasn’t something that he was suited for. How could something that he hadn’t been good at as a kid suit him now that he was older? As such, he had been stuck in quite a dilemma.

Then, like a miracle, he had been notified of his awakening from a system message. The skills he had gained were Strong Physique E, Roar E, and Shield Proficiency E. It was obvious from the skills given to him that he was suitable for becoming a tank. Thus, there was no reason for him to not choose the path of a hunter. As reflected by his skill, he was assigned the E-rank.

After proudly showing off to his family, Park Hyuk-Jin received their financial support to attend an academy, and with his own effort, he had finally managed to obtain the hunter’s license last month. After that, he had gone on a few hunts to confirm that he had the qualities of a tank. When hunting, he had stood at the front with a shield, to prevent monsters from attacking, and stood stalwartly with his strong body even if some attacks snuck past the shield. In addition, his voice—reinforced by years of arguing with his parents about his PC addiction—was perfect for drawing monsters’ attention using the Roar skill.

During his first hunt, he had found a party with difficulty and some awkwardness, and they had decided to hire Park Hyuk-Jin as their tank and herder. That was the first time he had received others’ recognition, after being treated as the third wheel in his own home.

In reality, while the tank could be considered the party’s leader, they could also be called a meat shield.

He would always be at the front and get beaten up, he would run alone when herding the monsters, and he would throw himself in harm’s way if the dealer was about to get hurt.

He had faced many hardships, and he had felt afraid of the pain he was experiencing for the first time. However, Park Hyuk-Jin had never neglected his position. He didn’t want to go back to his helpless and stupid ways, where he was left alone in his room.

Now, when Hyuk-Jin returned home in the evening after hunting, both his parents warmly welcomed him. They asked him if he was okay, saying that safety was the most important thing for hunters. They even prepared a hearty meal for him.

‘I can change. I can become a superstar, lead my family into prosperity, and become recognized by everyone.’

Imagining his changed future, Hyuk-Jin was firm and faithful to his role as his party’s tank. At some point in time, he had become the center of the party and was no longer awkward or afraid of interacting with them.

“What are you doing? Can’t you attack properly?! What's with the buff? It hurts like hell!”

Everyone in the party was an F-rank player except for Park Hyuk-Jin. There were many instances where they had acted somewhat clumsily with their hands and feet and failed to properly use their abilities. In addition, their hunting speed was somewhat slow.

Park Hyuk-Jin wanted to continue hunting longer and fight more monsters, but the party members wanted to take a long rest once they finished the herding hunt. Even so, the total hunting time they spent hunting was less than four hours This made Hyuk-Jin upset.

‘I should level up as soon as possible by hunting by myself more.?‘

He was grateful that the party members had hired him as a tank and were taking him out on hunts, but that was it.

‘I can't stay tied up here forever. I need to work harder to be a superstar.’

Hyuk-Jin had started off as an E-rank, and he also took pride in being different from the other party members. It was because he had a great skill composition no matter who saw it.

And his pride was often heard clearly in his words.

“Hey, I've got two attackers here, and it doesn't make sense to take half an hour to beat five kobolds. There's even a cleric in our party. Why are you guys so bad at this? Get a hold of yourself. Is the dungeon a joke?”

Park Hyuk-Jin's verbal abuse toward his party members began immediately after the hunt had ended.

The members of the party were each other’s teammates from the hunter exam—those who took the exam together usually formed such parties. They all frowned when Hyuk-Jin started his tirade near the end of the hunt.

‘Oh, should we recruit a new tank?’

Such thoughts occurred to everyone from time to time, but Park Hyuk-Jin's abilities, including the power to draw the aggro of the monsters through his Roar was a special ability that other low-ranked tanks did not have.

And compared to how clumsy he had been the first time he had fought against monsters, his tanking skills had increased rapidly day by day. For one reason or another, they inwardly recognized Hyuk-Jin's skills, so they could not argue with him, even if they were dissatisfied.

“Wow! Who is that man over there?” One of them asked in a surprised tone.

The eyes of the five party members turned toward the middle of the field. A man dressed in a nice, expensive-looking combat suit was running across the field.

“Isn’t that Choi Yu-Seong?” Someone else said, having recognized the man.

“Yes, that’s right. It’s him.”

“Oh damn, he is so handsome.”

Was it because of his luxurious-looking equipment, or was it because of his handsome looks?

He was running in the field, under the sunlight, and he looked like a prince out of a fairy tale.

“Damn…He is so attractive.”

Hyuk-Jin’s eyebrows rose as he heard the only woman in the party casually praising Yu-Seong.

‘Why can’t I look that handsome? I feel like I am good-looking too.’

He knew that wasn’t true when he looked in a mirror though.

In any case, while his thoughts were wandering, Hyuk-jin himself could not take his eyes off of Yu-Seong. It wasn’t only him—in fact, all party members paid close attention to Yu-Seong, as if they were in a trance.

Therefore, they were late to realize that the ones following after Prince Charming were vicious-looking monsters.

“T-that…!”

“Wow, how many are there?”

There were at least 8 of them.

Even if Park Hyuk-jin used his skill, Roar, it wouldn’t be enough to draw in more than three monsters at once. However, Yu-Seong was leading at least twice as many monsters. The monsters chased after Yu-Seong while screaming, without even looking left or right, as if they were possessed by something. Moreover, the number of monsters continued to increase.

Watching Yoo-Sun’s jaw-dropping herding ability, one of the party members asked Park Hyuk-jin about his ability.

“Part Hyuk-Jin, you are not at that level, are you?”

Hyuk-Jin frowned at that question. The question triggered his inferiority complex.

"Hey, who do you think I am? If there are monsters gathered, I can bring them all here."

“Oh, really?” asked the party member sarcastically. It was a rather disagreeable response. That response made Hyuk-Jin flip out.

"Hey, do you want to make a bet?" said Hyuk-Jin.

"What?"

"Wait right here."

Park Hyuk-Jin’s face turned red. He inhaled deeply. The party members were shocked as they knew that his following posture meant it was right before he would use his Roar skill.

"Hey, Park Hyuk-Jin, are you crazy?” cried one of the party members.

"That guy is Choi Yu-Seong. If you steal his...!" yelled out another member.

They tried to prevent Hyuk-Jin from shouting, but it was already too late.

“Kwaaaa-”

Hyuk-Jin closed his eyes and pounded his chest with his fists as he raised his head to roar at the sky. His inferiority complex acted as encouragement, and he did his best to use his skill as best as he could. Had he ever shouted with this much energy before? At least until now, he hadn’t. That was why he was confident in his own way. He was certain that all the monsters that were chasing Yu-Seong would look at him instead.

‘Were there about eight monsters?’

It was a lot, but he would be able to withstand their attacks and fight them somehow.

“Did you guys see that? This is what you would call a real tank’s skills. It’s on an entirely different level.”

Hyuk-Jin placed the shield in front of him thinking that the monsters would come from the front. However, as soon as he opened his eyes, he had no choice but to stop talking.

The field was empty, with only the grass dancing in the wind. Yu-Seong and the monsters chasing him went already far enough that they appeared blurry.

Not a single monster had been attracted by Hyuk-Jin.

Deafening silence ensued.

"Ha, ha. That was a little weird. What the…” Hyuk-jin laughed awkwardly. His face turned red.

“...Pffff.”

Somebody sneered audibly from behind him.

“Who was that?!” yelled Hyuk-Jin. He looked at them with anger in his eyes, but all the party members looked away and began to talk among themselves.

“Wow, Choi Yu-Seong is basically on an entirely different level,” said one.

“I heard that he passed with the highest grade in the hunter exam, even though Irregulars participated. That exam was no joke. Wow, I’m feeling a bit envious. He is handsome, rich, and even has a strong ability,” said another.

"If he has the ability to herd so many monsters by himself and deal with them alone, he’ll climb the ranks in the blink of an eye.”

"That was awesome. Really awesome."

Hyuk-Jin clenched his fists and left, realizing that his party members had turned on him. His pride was hurt, truly hurt. He had been thinking of staying with them until he surpassed the E rank, but now, there was no reason to join them anymore.

"Good luck without me. As of today, I'm out of this party," said Hyuk-Jin.

He started walking away by himself. However, no one called for him, nor made any attempt to stop him from leaving.

‘You bastards, aren’t you going to stop me?’

Frankly, he had expected the party members to stop him, but no one made a move. He was dumbfounded, but his pride was hurt and he had no intention of going back.

‘That’s right. Let’s take this as an opportunity and stand on my own two feet.’

He would hunt alone and find a new party once he reached a higher level. One of Park Hyuk-Jin’s strengths was that he was quick to accept an inevitable situation. He quickly forgot his anger. He walked through the field by himself, and he saw Choi Yu-Seong fighting against a group of kobolds in the far distance.

He thought about stealing the kills for a moment but quickly felt ashamed of his own thoughts. Soon, his shame turned into admiration.

‘Wow…’

Choi Yu-Seong’s movements appeared rather simple, but he was optimizing his movements to neutralize the monsters as quickly as possible. In addition, his ability to use his skills at just the right moments to avoid danger was excellent as well. Park Hyuk-Jin could tell since he had always battled at the forefront after joining the party.

‘He is fundamentally different.’

It wasn’t just about his skills, nor about his equipment. Although Park Hyuk-Jin possessed Shield Proficiency E, he couldn’t even begin to imitate Choi Yu-Seong’s movement. It was truly amazing.

Park Hyuk-Jin’s eyes burned with a new desire as he observed Yu-Seong.

‘I’ve decided. From today on, my goal is Choi Yu-Seong.’

He clenched his fists with determination.

***

After another hour of herd hunting, Choi Yu-Seong went up another five levels thanks to the number of monsters attracted by Crowd Puller. He plopped down somewhere in the wide field and chuckled.

‘The cooldown time of Crowd Puller is about twenty minutes. It’s perfect for a break.’

In a way, it felt as if he was wasting the effect of the hunting experience boost potion in the meantime, but he wasn’t worried. Unexpected situations could arise at any time during a dungeon crawl. Test-takers were tested on information from the dungeon manual for the written portion of the exam, and resting was described in the manual as an essential element within the manual. Moreover, it was quite useful to review the process of herd hunting from the previous hour while taking a break.

Choi Yu-Seong was a human, and he made mistakes as well. Although it seemed as if he had done a great job, there were still areas of improvement in his hunting process. As such, he identified his own mistakes, then corrected them during the breaks he took from hunting. In addition, he recalled the several parties he had encountered during the last hour.

‘There are definitely quite a few parties in the dungeon.’

Perhaps it was only natural, since forming a party in a dungeon reduced the risk in many ways. Yu-Seong wasn’t the only one who hunted solo in a dungeon, but such cases were quite rare. And although he considered a party to be a burden at the moment, he knew it would be impossible to keep hunting solo as the difficulty of the dungeons increased

‘Even Kim Do-Jin gave up on hunting solo from the A rank onward.’

Even the fraudulent protagonist of the original novel had been helpless at a certain point. It wasn’t as if he could do any better than that.

“Oh, that person…”

As he contemplated things, Yu-Seong saw a figure holding a shield, drawing in monsters and fighting them by himself.

It was Park Hyuk-Jin.

‘I’m sure he was with his party members earlier.’

So why was he alone now?

Yu-Seong felt puzzled for a moment but quickly shrugged it off.

‘It’s none of my business.’

Park Hyuk-Jin was basically a stranger to him. However, Yu-Seong never imagined that this would be the beginning of his relationship with Park Hyuk-Jin.