I Woke Up as the Villain

Chapter 43

“I don’t blame hyung-nim too much. But that doesn’t mean I like you. Honestly, I thought it would be okay, but when I look at you, I do feel angry.”

“…” A slight sadness passed by Ji-Ho’s face. He kept his mouth shut as if he had nothing to say.

‘As expected, he is not a harsh person like the one in the original novel.’

Yu-Seong could guess Ji-Ho’s innermost thoughts and continued saying after a short sigh in his heart, “Nevertheless. I thought about it and tried to find the reason. And after making my own guess, I can understand why this happened. I don’t know what the gift from father is, but it must be something great enough to be called a treasure, and so many people would be after it. In case such a thing is given recklessly and causes problems, there must be an agreement to not give it out to people who are not ready and could cause useless risks.”

Yu-Seong drank the tea brought by Ji-Ho and wet his throat. The scent was quite deep and clear, and so honestly he felt like his swayed mind was calming down. “That’s probably what you were thinking.”

“…You’re right. But that doesn’t mean that I was right. It was a middle ground found after some struggle just because I could not just refuse father’s orders.”

This meant that, originally, the room of sacrifice was not a test prepared by Woo-Jae for obtaining the gift. However, Yu-Seong thought somewhat differently.

‘Perhaps Father expected Ji-Ho hyung-nim would prepare for such a test?’?

If one could not pass this test, then one did not even deserve to have the treasure. Doesn't this truly sound like something that Choi Woo-Jae would have thought of?

Yu-Seong laughed inwardly and threw out doubts and questions that he had in his head. “I’m going to ask you straightforwardly. Hyung-nim, do you simply hate the fight between our siblings?”

“…” For a moment, Ji-ho lifted the tea cup with a short silence. After drinking tea quietly, he soon nodded heavily. “You are right. What father wanted was for the siblings to grow through strife, but I did not agree with that. This is something that I’ve been thinking about since I was young and I’ve tried a lot to make it come true. But in the end…”

Someone who used Ji-Ho’s soft touch had caused his downfall.

“Who is it? The one who made hyung-nim like this.”

The original novel did not tell the story in detail.

‘There’s a lot of missing information.’

This was actually because the Comet Group’s story fell by the wayside of the novel after Choi Woo-Jae’s death. Therefore, even Yu-Seong could not complain that there was a gap in the setting.

“Do you think I’ll tell you?”

“Maybe.”

“Even if the result is like this, my thoughts are the same as before. I think it would be nice if we stopped fighting meaninglessly without anyone getting hurt or hurting each other. You could say it’s silly. That choice eventually made me like this… But it looked like your choice last night was the same as mine.”

“Hm…” Again, Yu-Seong couldn’t say that he didn’t really mean to die.

“I hope you’re different from me. And also…”

Ji-Ho also wanted Yu-Seong to be different from other siblings, but he couldn’t say anything more. Yu-Seong shouldn’t follow after him. Moreover, Ji-Ho also didn’t want Yu-Seong to be cold-hearted like other siblings. Then, what should he be like? It was unreasonable and excessively greedy for Ji-Ho to expect Yu-Seong to find the answer to a problem that even he did not know.

“My goal is just to live a moderately good life, but…”

Speaking of which, this also made no sense considering what Yu-Seong was like last night. Yu-Seong had no choice but to keep making awkward faces.

“No. Sorry for nagging you. I do not deserve to do so, since I am a sinner.”

“As I said, I do not like you, but I don’t resent you hyung-nim. Of course, I don’t even think of you as a ‘sinner.’ That’s hair-raising.”

Yu-Seong could understand more about Ji-Ho, who did not appear in the original book, now that he was facing the man in person.

‘He is a fragile but strong person.’?

Ji-Ho was weak-hearted, so soft and good that he hurt himself. However, he had no regrets about his choice. Perhaps he still wanted to change the family’s manner if he had a chance. However, he was afraid that someone else would follow his way. He must be thinking that the sacrifice he made was enough after all. In a different sense, Ji-Ho was an impressive person.

‘As a person, he’s more like bamboo rather than a flower.’?

Bamboo could be broken, but it would not bend. Even yet, the bamboo called Ji-Ho had not been completely broken.

“Thank you for saying that. But before I give you the treasure, can you promise me one thing?”

“Can I hear it first and decide?” asked Yu-Seong.

Ji-Ho smirked. “At least you seem smarter than me. Seeing that you don’t recklessly make decisions.”

“Please tell me what you want first.”

“Do not handle your life recklessly. That thing should never happen again by any means.”

That was for sure. From the beginning, Yu-Seong had no intention of dying. So he gave a bright smile and sincerely answered Ji-Ho, “Of course. I absolutely do not want to die, so I’ll live a long life.”

"You're a good speaker."

“That’s something I hear quite often. So, where is the gift?”

Looking at Yu-Seong urging him, Ji-Ho thought that Yu-Seong slightly resembled Choi Woo-Jae.

‘If he is someone like this, maybe I’ve been worrying too much about him.’?

Yu-Seong had a good and upright heart, a personality that could be trusted by the people around him. Also, he knew how to calculate like Choi Woo-Jae and make bold decisions. Finally, Ji-Ho could understand why Woo-Jae had sent Yu-Seong to him first than anyone else.

“The treasure is not far away. It’s right here.” Choi Ji-Ho stretched out and extended his hand to Yu-Seong.

Yu-Seong initially had a rather skeptical face, but soon became surprised. “This… Is this real?” He looked at Ji-Ho and asked. His voice unconsciously quavered.

***

The player’s equipment in this world was broadly classified into three categories. The first was the items made on Earth that were generally the easiest to obtain. Of course, even those items varied in price depending on performance. In the case of the handmade products made by the equipment manufacturer-type players, the price was raised to a ridiculous level. The equipment currently worn by Yu-Seong belonged to this category.

The second category was the treasures from another world that were purchased from the Dimensional Merchants. Although there were also many items with unknown origins, their ability often exceeds those of items made on Earth. These items could only be purchased with karma points, cannot be transferred to others, and even had a rank restriction when wearing the item. In fact, the scariest thing about owning the treasure from another world was that it was impossible to transfer to others but it was possible to rob others. And this robbery was not possible for a living person. A treasure with powerful power that could be stolen by killing! It was like a double-edged sword. Thus, those who actually use the treasures of another world were known to be at least A-rank or higher.

And third and the last, there were the equipment called ancient relics. These items were found very rarely in Earth’s old remains, ruins, or dungeons but it was known to be as rare and effective as the treasure of another world.

However, there was a great advantage that was very distinct from the treasures of another world. These equipment were transferable.

‘Other kinds of equipment will also appear as time goes on, but…’?

Currently, for Yu-Seong, it was a rather distant story. However, the ring on Ji-Ho’s ring finger of his right hand was none other than that rare ancient relic. Therefore, Yu-Seong couldn’t help but be surprised.

Ji-Ho had an odd face when he saw Yu-Seong’s reaction. “From your reaction, it seems that you already know what this ring is.”

At Ji-Ho’s words, Yu-Seong came to his senses as if cold water poured on his head. His face turned red.

‘Oops.’

He made such a mistake because he was so excited as the doubts led to some degree of certainty.

‘I always make mistakes in the end.’?

Like when Yu-Seong did it in front of Chae Ye-Ryeong, it seemed to be his kind of habit to eventually make mistakes after doing everything else pleasantly.

“No need to panic. Rumors that I have this ring have been circulated in the family for a while, so a clever kid like you might already know it.”

It was the first time Yu-Seong had ever heard of such news. As said, his information was from just a scrappy story from the original novel. Even so, many things went wrong due to the butterfly effect.

‘At first, I thought I could easily go through everything because I already knew the future…’?

In this state, the advantage of knowing the future seemed to soon disappear as time passed. Therefore, it was necessary to secure maximum safety requirements before too many things changed. The ring on the ring finger of Ji-Ho’s right hand—now in front of Yu-Seong—also belonged to such items.

“Your prediction is right. This ring, the Pharaoh’s Caprice, is one of the ancient relics that our entire Comet Group officially owns about only ten.” Ji-Ho clarified about the ring with a calm voice.

Whether he read the confidence in Yu-Seong’s eyes or thought that it didn’t matter to let him know remained to be seen, because it was a gift to be given to Yu-Seong anyway. He slid the ring out of his finger and placed it on his own palm.

“I was in charge of it for a while and now it’s yours.”

Choi Yu-Seong gulped and looked at Ji-Ho with a trembling gaze. He could understand anew why Kim Pil-Doo had spoken so sharply and why Choi Ji-Ho had even prepared a test to determine if he deserved the gift.

‘Pharaoh’s Caprice! It comes out in the original novel as Choi Mi-Na’s treasure, but this must be originally received from Ji-Ho hyung-nim.’?

Choi Mi-Na was the second child of the Choi family, and was an enigmatic woman like a beam who would later succeed the Comet Group after Choi Woo-Jae’s death. Her personality was simply—crotchety. Even Choi Woo-Jae—who could be regarded as the absolute ruler of the family—could not easily control her due to her unpredictable fickle personality. Nevertheless, there was only one reason why Choi Woo-Jae did not particularly suppress her.

‘She is too strong.’

Although it had not been revealed at this point, as a hunter Choi Mi-Na already rose to the same level as Choi Woo-Jae, who was considered the strongest in the family. Not as a business owner, but just purely as a hunter with more than Choi Ji-Ho. Choi Woo-Jae might have already fully recognized her as his successor and put his hands off if it wasn’t for her reckless unpredictable personality.

‘Because originally she’s a monster whose growth potential is within five fingers of the entire worldview in the novel.’?

When the entire Comet Group was busying themself to catch Kim Do-Jin after he killed Choi Woo-Jae, there was only one time she went into the battle herself. And in the battle, Kim Do-Jin surprisingly faced a near-death crisis which was a rare thing in the novel.