I Woke Up as the Villain

Chapter 36

Yu-Seong’s level was 61 before hunting the boss monster, which meant his level had risen by 27 levels. There were only 12 levels left until the Max Level of E-Rank, and that was not the end.

‘I gained one more special skill?!’?

Yu-Seong had already been surprised when he had not one, but two, skills. But now, there was even a third one. He wondered,

.

‘Is it a bug?’?

Obviously, it couldn’t be a bug. Such a thought was ridiculous since this was reality and not a game. However, it wasn’t strange for Yu-Seong to think it was a bug at this point.

“Yu-Seong oppa, Yu-Seong oppa…!”

Yu-Seong felt all the strength leaving his legs. Just as he was starting to fall, Yu-Ri ran to his side while shouting and supported him.

“Uh, what?”

“Can you hear me now?”

“Ahh, yeah. Sorry, I was a little distracted.” Due to the pleasure of successfully hunting the boss monster alone and acquiring a reward far beyond his expectations, Yu-Seong had not heard a single thing Yu-Ri had said. He asked, “What did you say?”

“I said that was incredible! It was extremely amazing. I’m not really the type of person who gets carried away like this, you know. But this is so, seriously, excessively great. What the hell just happened? Why didn’t I know that Yu-Seong oppa was such a great person?”

“…Stop it. It’s really embarrassing.”

“It’s okay to be embarrassed! I’ve been this surprised only twice in my life. Why, why! Do you keep trumping our expectations? Seriously, you give us goosebumps sometimes!” exclaimed Yu-Ri.

“...”

Just as Yu-Seong failed to hear her just a moment ago, Yu-Ri also did not seem to be in a state that allowed her to properly communicate with him. She excitedly repeated her words as they exited the dungeon. In the meantime, Yu-Seong checked the other messages and rewards.

‘Let’s look at the new special skill first.’?

『Spearmanship Prodigy E

Has a very good understanding and proficiency in pole weapons, and spears.

Get the effect of the normal skill – Cool-headed E – when using the spear.

Attack power increases when using the spear.

When learning techniques related to spear, the learning rate will be faster.

When acquiring skills related to spear, the starting point will be set at a rank one higher.』

As expected of a special skill, it had a significant effect. Even without the several additional effects, the special skill itself included a normal skill - Cool-headed E. Cool-headed was one skill that was highly regarded by high-ranking hunters because it increased concentration, improved composure, and lessened one’s agitation during combat.

‘I was hoping to get it someday…’?

But Yu-Seong managed to easily acquire it along with the special skill. The skill’s effect overlapped with Insight E, which he had gained from Kim Do-Jin, but he didn’t find this to be detrimental at all.

‘Now, the penalty for using Insight fully would be slightly lessened.’?

Of course, the real outstanding ability of Insight lay in its capability to allow the user to see through some of the world’s data, but what Yu-Seong currently needed most was mental power. He had such an impression upon first killing someone. If he couldn’t properly control his agitation, it would one day lead to his death.

Yu-Seong knew he could easily deal with such agitation without the help of skill one day, but it was impossible to deal with it right away. Until then, he definitely thought it was okay to borrow the skill’s effect.

‘By the way… I guess I actually have a talent for spears.’?

In the first place, a special skill was an ability that was close to one’s essence. Therefore, it would not have appeared without the talent that was imprinted on the soul or perhaps the body of the player.

‘Wait, even so, what’s going on with these three special skills?’?

It could be simply because of the sloppy setting of the original novel, but if possible, Yu-Seong wanted to know the clear reason for this situation. Unfortunately, that didn’t mean there was an immediate answer.

‘There’s no way for me to find out right now, so it’s just piquing my interest for now. And it’s actually good for me, just by looking at the results…’?

It was inevitable to sweep the questions under the rug until the opportunity came. Other than that, the message from the gods was also plentiful.

-[Private] The Joke-loving Prankster sends you a seductive look. Fifty karma points are sponsored. He is asking you to inherit the skill quickly.

Y/N

-The Oldest Hunter smiles at the player Choi Yu-Seong. Sixty karma points are sponsored.

-The Silky Beard wants to transfer a skill to the player Choi Yu-Seong. Fifty karma points are sponsored.

Y/N

-The Emperor of Great China wants to have the player Choi Yu-Seong. Thirty karma points are sponsored.

-The Red Fang of the Dark Night is smacking their lips, looking at the player Choi Yu-Seong. Ten karma points are sponsored.

-The Culann’s Hound sponsored one hundred karma points to the player Choi Yu-Seong.

Yu-Ri’s eyes twinkled when she checked the non-stop messages with Yu-Seong. She commented, “Even the gods have completely fallen for Yu-Seong oppa. By the way, ‘the Silky Beard’ wanting to give skill to you is…?”

“Perhaps it’s the one you are thinking of.”

“The Chinese God of Martial Arts…”?

Guan-Yu—the courtesy name ‘Yunchang’—was more famous as a general of the Three Kingdoms period and was called ‘the Chinese God of Martial Arts’ as Yu-Ri mentioned. However, unfortunately, Yu-Seong intended to reject the offer although Guan-Yu was known as the God of Martial Arts.

`In the first place, there are so many yangbans?called the God of Martial Arts in China that their influence is not special. And that gent’s weapon is guandao[ref]Guandao is a large sword shaped like a crescent moon, and it is famous that it was used by Guan-Yu in the Three Kingdoms.[\ref], right?’?

Guan-Yu seemed to admire Yu-Seong’s spearmanship and even wanted to transfer his skills to Yu-Seong. However, the guandao and the spear had quite different ways of being utilized even though they were both pole weapons. It could be said that the spear was a little sharper while guandao was heavier… In any case, Yu-Seong decided to reject Guan-Yu’s offer after a little while, thinking that they were not very compatible.

‘There are a lot of gods watching right now, so I have to think about saving his face.’?

Yu-Seong was also still thinking of ignoring Loki, who was still trying to seduce him or whatever. Rather, a new name appeared in the message of the gods sponsoring many karma points.

‘Culann’s Hound. Cu Chulainn.’?

He was a hero more popular than King Arthur in Ireland. He was handsome enough to be nicknamed the Prince of Light and was also a genius in spearmanship who dealt with a magic spear called Gae Bolg. In fact, his spearmanship was one of the abilities Yu-Seong coveted. Though he seemed to have no intention of transferring skills, Yu-Seong had to be satisfied by confirming his presence for now. Anyway, it could be said that Choi Yu-Seong’s battle was significant enough to attract the attention of Cu Chulainn.

‘By the way, there are already six gods watching.’?

Cu Chulainn was originally a hero like Guan-Yu, but he had become a god after his death. It was not just that. The background of the novel [Modern Master Returns] was that those who achieved great achievements or left their names deep in history became gods and could support others with karma points and raise their status as they were doing now.

The problem was that only up to about five gods could share karma points by sponsoring one human. In other words, from now on, the gods who wanted to support Yu-Seong would inevitably become cautious. Since there were gods who already settled and supported him, it was a difficult contest between them. And even though the other five gods did not know, there was also Loki.

‘The seats are actually full, but it’s a shame to let go of some of the powerful gods I see there.’?

There were gods with rather low in name-value or status. Yu-Seong had already noticed the identity of all the gods who sponsored him.

‘There’s nothing I can do. It’s not like I can choose the gods.’?

Rather, humans were in a position to be chosen. In addition, considering the situation just a while ago, it was certainly a hopeful situation that six snobby gods supported him. Especially since Choi Yu-Seong was still in the process of growing.

When he got out of the dungeon completely with Yu-Ri’s support, Yu-Seong could see the scenery of the mountain that was completely darkened. Looking at such scenery, Yu-Ri seemed to have come to her senses quite a bit; she turned to looked at Yu-Seong. “Can you walk alone?”

“Yeah, but I’ve used up too much energy. Though, tonight might be a little dangerous…”

Ji-Ho’s people had been kind to Yu-Seong and his companions so far, but he could not be completely off guard. Therefore, the Jin siblings took turns being on watch every night. Yu-Seong expressed his desire to be on the lookout too, but he had nothing else to say when the siblings said that he was excluded because he was less sensitive than the two.

“Both of us won’t sleep and be on watch tonight.”

“Uhm, that would be great. And if Ji-Ho hyung-nim doesn’t come back tomorrow morning, let’s just go home,” said Yu-Seong. He didn’t know what gift Choi Woo-Jae had prepared, but Yu-Seong had already gained satisfactory results after coming here. Therefore, he thought it was okay to receive the gift a little later.

“Yes, let’s try to be safe and aim for the next time.” Yu-Ri agreed with Yu-Seong, and the two went back to Choi Ji-Ho’s house to spend the last night.

***

Late at night, Yu-Seong heard a noise and woke up from sleep. He instinctively got up and picked the spear he had placed next to him. However, he failed to react further. That moment when he thought he saw long straight black hair fluttering, a pure white hand was placed against his nape. His eyes blurred in an instant.

‘Who…?’?

Bam-!

Yu-Seong collapsed to the floor. He was unable to even utter a question.

The long-haired man floated in the air above Yu-Seong after he passed out. A bitter smile appeared on Ji-Ho’s face.

“I don’t feel like giving you the ordeal, but I can’t help it. I hope you don’t blame me too much.”

Complex emotions were indiscriminately mixed in his pensive face.

***

Experiencing a severe headache, Yu-Seong slowly felt the sensations of his body return as he came around. First, he moved his fingertips and opened his eyes only a while later. He thought he could feel something cold and hard, but it turned out he was lying face down on the stone floor. For a moment he felt a bit creeped out. Yu-Seong quickly got up and looked around.

“…?!” Soon, Choi Yu-Seong found something that filled his eyes with surprise. The room looked like a spacious enough square for even ten people to lay down on the ground. However, the ceiling was so high and dark that it could not be seen, and only a few lights were shining inside the room.

The problem was the rooms on either side of Yu-Seong’s room. He could see the other rooms since the walls were made of glass rather than stone. Yu-ri and Do-Yoon were hanging from the wall with their arms and legs chained up. They looked like tortured prisoners. While a mixture of bewilderment and anger overwhelmed his mind…

[You’re awake.]

…a tampered voice was heard from a speaker somewhere.

1. Basically ‘yangban’ refers to the status of the ruling class during the Joseon Dynasty, but it is also used as a term to refer to a person who is decent and polite. It is also used as a term to refer to a man commonly or rudely.