“Come to think of it, when I was young, I disliked villains who acted pitiful as if they had a backstory.”
“Pardon?”
Jongsik responded to the words Sa-yoon quietly muttered after escaping his wretched and sticky past recollection. After a brief deliberation on whether to praise or scold him for faithfully answering his every mutter, Sa-yoon chose to ignore him.
“This is why you should watch what you say in life.”
There’s a saying that life doesn’t go as planned, and it seemed true. Sa-yoon’s imagined future self as a middle school student was an upstanding member of society working as a civil servant, but after growing up, he somehow became a crazy villain.
And at that, the type of villain with a backstory he disliked as a kid.
Thinking his lot in life was so twisted, Sa-yoon let out a self-deprecating chuckle. As he recalled a past that was hard to call a fond memory, Jongsik’s car stopped in the parking lot, likely having arrived at the guild.
Sa-yoon got out of the car, took off the unpleasant bloodstained robe, and handed it to Jongsik who followed after parking.
“Shall I wash it?”
“That thing?”
Sa-yoon cringed at the natural question. Jongsik examined the robe draped over his arm, following Sa-yoon, and nodded without noticing anything. Judging by his expression alone, he looked hopelessly naive.
“Yes.”
“…Jongsik-ah, are we beggars?”
“Still, this is a D-rank robe.”
“If E-rank blood is on it, it’s E-rank. I deliberately wore a low rank since I was going to throw it away anyway, so just toss it.”
When Sa-yoon clicked his tongue and scolded him, Jongsik reluctantly nodded at a turtle’s crawling pace, looking down at the robe with wistful eyes. Sa-yoon gazed at him with thoroughly unimpressed eyes and opened his mouth.
“Don’t secretly wash it and reuse it.”
“……!”
The loyal man’s shoulders flinched at the words Sa-yoon tossed out suspiciously. Jongsik tightly grasped the robe, revealing his thoughts through his face, and Sa-yoon swallowed a chuckle.
“How did you become an executive of Night Rats?”
“Because you appointed me, boss.”
“Don’t go around saying you’re from Night Rats. It’s so embarrassing I can’t show my face.”
Where in the world would you find a top guild that cleanly washes and reuses a D-rank robe stained with blood?
Moreover, the Night Rats guild wasn’t just any top guild.
Although they stayed in the underworld and didn’t receive an official ranking, the money they earned was likely among the top few in the world.
Sa-yoon shook his head at the pathetic sight that was hard to believe belonged to an executive of such a guild.
Goodness, he’s just too pure and kind.
It would be nice if he only worked as much as he looked, but his heart was exceptionally soft. His frugal, penny-pinching nature was also a problem. At this rate, he seemed ready to even strip the clothes off enemy guild members and wash them.
As Sa-yoon looked at Jongsik with pity, who had a burly appearance at a glance but a personality as soft as a teddy bear once you dug deeper, he waved his hand.
It roughly meant he was tired, so figure it out himself.
“Enough, enough. Wash and reuse it or give it away, do as you wish, and what’s going on with the Yongho Guild[1]?”
“Seonjae and Hyungin went.”
“The report?”
“Seeing as they haven’t returned yet, it’s likely things aren’t going well or they’re tied up there. Should we put some pressure on the kids?”
At Jongsik’s question, Sa-yoon frowned. It was the Yongho Guild that had groveled before him just three months ago when he personally met with their guild master Chunbok to discuss a merger because they had accumulated debt and didn’t repay it. Ignoring their plea for a chance and giving them the consideration to at least provide time to clean up their guild, they had a change of heart in the meantime.
It was a mistake to pity their groveling and show compassion.
This is why you shouldn’t be flexible and act weak when dealing with people. At the very least, he should have known not to show the slightest flexibility in situations that required decisiveness.
Chunbok’s annoying face came to mind, and Sa-yoon’s expression turned even more menacing.
Goodness, with his stiff neck despite his incompetence.
They were a guild that provided not the least bit of help.
“Contact them and if it seems Chunbok won’t yield, just tell them to come back. I’ll go in person.”
“Boss, still, regarding Baekryong and Chunbok…”
“What Baekryong? He’s totally consumed by his concept. Tell him to proudly reveal his real name. Is Song Chunbok that embarrassing?”
“Baekryong’s real name is Park Chunbok, boss.”
“Right, Park Chunbok.”
Sa-yoon couldn’t understand for the life of him why they would choose nicknames like Baekryong[2] or Cheongryong[3] when Chunbok sounded so traditional and rolled off the tongue. He must be around forty, but did he want to be so childish at that age? Even the guild name Yongho reeked of the sensibilities of middle-aged men from that era.
Anyway, as Sa-yoon muttered that Yongho had poor naming sense from the start, Jongsik, who was listening beside him, picked a fight that wasn’t quite a fight, saying the boss had a similar naming sense himself. Sa-yoon, who glared at him for always making a remark to bring trouble upon himself when he could have gotten away with half of it if he stayed quiet, boarded the elevator.
“Since I’m going, check the gate clear period for District A again and gather the kids for a report.”
When Sa-yoon tossed him a task, thinking he kept picking fights because he had nothing to do, Jongsik happily trembled the corners of his mouth. Sa-yoon lightly dusted off his hands to send him away and leaned against the elevator going up to the top floor. The moment he exited the elevator that arrived with a sound like bouncing-
Buzz buzz—
Suddenly, the cell phone he had roughly shoved into his pants pocket rang. It was a notification that he had won the A-rank gate he targeted at the gate black market auction held in Ulsan. Since it was a deal he knew would go through, he shoved the phone back in without much excitement, and then a familiar notification sound struck Sa-yoon’s ears.
Ding!
<‘The true evil of humanity has about 1,000 gates’ achieved! 1,000 karma will be awarded as a reward.>
- Current Karma: 999,789
<Congratulations! 1,800 ‘Quests for the True Evil of Humanity’ completed! ‘Status Window’ will be awarded as a reward. ( oᵔ▽ᵔ)o>
“…What?”
While the forgotten quest notification was somewhat understandable, the other system window that followed was not. Sa-yoon widened his eyes at the unfamiliar phrase that didn’t seem to be from his system window and unconsciously leaned his upper body forward to check the blue window more closely.
Status window.
It was something that came to mind next to the system when you thought of hunters, a symbol of hunters, and something Sa-yoon hadn’t even glimpsed for 10 years.
A whole 10 years, not just 1 or 2.
He had never seen it even once, the thing others could check as soon as they awakened. It was only natural. No matter how much he called it a status window, the system never showed it to him.
He had lost count of how many times he resented the system that seemed to have thrown sense and respect into the River Styx, envied ordinary hunters, and felt jealous. When the same situation persisted for several years, at some point he gave up hope that he could obtain a status window.
Sa-yoon was skeptical of the words saying they would finally grant him that.
“Are they trying to scam me again?”
There were countless times he fell for the system’s despicable tricks. Suspecting there might be some cowardly trick hidden somewhere this time as well, he read the blue window with distrustful eyes, but no matter how many times he reread it, it was correct that they were giving him a status window.
The sense that usually readily turned on red lights to detect misfortune was oddly quiet today. Sa-yoon raised his hand and touched the corner of his mouth. The corners of his lips were twitching a little.
It was nothing but gain if he just received it.
Although it was somewhat off-putting that it was his system, the fact that they hadn’t given it to him for a whole 10 years meant there must be something rare about it.
Convinced, Sa-yoon moved his hand.
<You have received the status window.>
<Congratulations! You have obtained the status window. The true evil of humanity does not view an ordinary status window. Say ‘Status Window’! ( oᵔ▽ᵔ)o>
‘The true evil of humanity does not view an ordinary status window.’
A phrase similar to what he expected appeared, making him laugh.
Not wanting to check the status window he was opening for the first time in a place like in front of the elevator, Sa-yoon entered his room, washed up, and sat on the bed with a somewhat solemn heart. In case a monster jumped out like last time during the reward acquisition, he tensed his body to be prepared for all sorts of attacks.
He couldn’t let his guard down until he perfectly acquired the reward.
“Status window.”
At the small whisper, a vertically long window popped up before his eyes.
+
<Kwon Sa-yoon’s Status Window>
Age: 26
Gender: Male
Rank: S-rank
Disposition: ‘True Evil of Humanity,’ ‘Resister (Inactive)’
Titles: ‘Watched by the Gods (?)’, ‘Could I Be a Descendant of God? (?)’, ‘Follower of the Evil God (?)’, ‘Leader of Night Rats (A)’, ‘Slayer of Gwangryong (S)’, ‘The Boss (S)’, ‘Master of Frost (SSS)’……
Skills: [Communication (A+)], [Sharing (S)], [Malicious Remarks (A)], [Murder Play (SS)], [Self-Justification (A-)], [Assassination (S)], [Disruption (B)], [Fraud (SS)], [Frenzy (B)], [Curse (SS)], [Frost (SSS)], [Terror Induction (S)], [Stealth (S+)], [Discernment (SS)], [Formless Dagger (SS)], [Kinsman Shield (A)]……
Exclusive Skill: [Voice of the Spirits (S)]
Unopened Skill: Exclusive Skill [Eyes of Catastrophe (L)]
Benefits: ‘The Worst Catastrophe of Humanity (?)’, ‘To You Who Will Be Most Unhappy (L)’, ‘Forced Execution (?)’, ‘Even Evil Spirits Weep and Go (A)’, ‘Survival of the Fittest (S)’, ‘Genius of Surprise Attacks (S)’, ‘Cold Resistance (SSS)’……
-Stats
Strength: S+ (SS)
Agility: SS (SSS)
Vitality: S (SS+)
Luck: A- (F-)
-Others
Karma: 999,789
Reputation: 10,390,091 (Infamy)
+
The amount of information displayed was too vast to capture in a single glance. The status window was so long that he had to scroll down about three times.
When the skill acquisition notification popped up, there were unfamiliar ones besides the skills he had memorized. It felt like peeking at someone else’s status window.
Sa-yoon made a subtle expression, then quickly pulled himself together and began memorizing the contents written in the blue window. Not knowing when that damn system would delete the status window, he had to memorize as much as possible while he could see it.
As he was memorizing the information with passion, driven by a deep-rooted system distrust-
His rapidly moving eyes stopped. Sa-yoon, who confirmed with his own two eyes a part he had tried to pass by without much thought, tilted his head slightly. Unfamiliar and foreign letters caught his attention.