Being a Villain is My True Calling

“A, a villain…?”

She trailed off in bewilderment.
Well, it was only natural to be flustered when someone who suddenly came to her rescue introduced himself as a villain instead of a fellow hero.

‘I did save her since she seemed about to die, but…what now?’

Looking around, the vehicle’s black boxes appeared to be long destroyed, so…
As for CCTV, I could just ask Narin to hack into it, so no issues there.

‘The main problem is Tsukino Chise here, or rather, Phantom Luna…’

If she went around claiming I had saved her, or worse, spread word that I was a kind person, it would undoubtedly become troublesome.

The weight of statements differs vastly between an oblivious civilian and a high-ranking B+ hero like her.
If mishandled, the image and rules I had carefully established for Maker could become utterly meaningless.

‘…I need a pretext.’

Ultimately, what I needed was a pretext.
For a villain to rescue a hero, I needed a justification.

‘Is there anything I could use as a pretext?’

I glanced at her briefly.

‘Hmm?’

Then, I noticed a young boy behind Phantom Luna.
…An idea struck me.

“Why did a villain like you save me…”

“Are you alright, young sir?”

Ignoring her words, I smiled wryly and addressed the boy instead.
As if completely disregarding the hero before me.

“Y,yes…”

The boy nodded tentatively when I spoke to him.

“I’m glad to hear that.”

“Hey, wait a minute! Listen to me…!!”

Perhaps irked at being sidelined, Phantom Luna tried to protest, but she couldn’t finish her words.

Wheeeeee-!
KWAAAANG!!!

“Don’t ignore me, you foolish hero!!”

Another slighted individual raged and attacked us instead.

“My, you seem quite angry.”

“Yeah, I’m angry!!”

The villain lashed his whip as he spoke.
Each strike of the whip triggered a tremendous explosion.

Swish-!!

And then he whipped toward us once more.
From the distance, it didn’t seem like it could reach, but…

KWAANG!!

The whip immediately extended, lashing in our direction.
I raised a shield, blocking the attack once again.

‘Damn, that stings.’

Thanks to the advanced materials used in its construction, the shield prevented the surrounding buildings from suffering the same fate.

However, judging from the jarring impact transmitted to my arm, I wouldn’t be able to endure many more hits.

“KRAAAAHH!!! Move aside, man!! Are you a hero too?”

“A hero? Hardly, I’m a villain.”

“Then why are you blocking me!! Aren’t heroes the enemy?!!”

“Heroes are indeed clear adversaries. If you only intended to kill that heroine over there, I wouldn’t have intervened. However…”

I turned to glance at Phantom Luna.
More precisely, at the young child behind her.

With a serene smile, I faced the villain again.

“For someone like you, lacking even the most basic purpose or dignity as a villain, it seems some education is in order.”

Explaining myself to this villain would be pointless.
Better to simply appear composed while providing just enough clues for him to speculate.

‘His whip can adjust its size and causes explosions on impact…’

Shifting back into combat mode, I considered this villain’s characteristics.
He definitely didn’t exist in my recollection of the original story.

‘Where did this guy even come from?’

It was slightly puzzling, but I decided not to dwell on it too much.

After all, not every villain had to be from the original, and if the original storyline was diverging, then this was an expected outcome.

Woooong-

Creating a gun, I aimed it at the villain.

“If you won’t come to me, then I’ll go to you.”

I pulled the trigger, firing at the villain before me.

“Kuheck…kuheck…”

“I trust that was an adequate education?”

I looked down at the villain before me.
His entire body charred black, barely clinging to life with ragged breaths.

“I hope you become a better person in the afterlife.”

Click.

I aimed my gun at him once more.

“!! W,wait a minute!! Stop! There’s no need to go that far…!!”

From a distance, Phantom Luna, who had been shielding the child, seemed to realize what I intended and tried to stop me, but…

BANG!!

Without the slightest hesitation, I put a clean hole in the villain’s forehead.

“…You!”

Gritting her teeth, she rushed over and seized my collar.

“…Why!! Why did you do that?! There was no need to go that far!!”

“Well, this is a bit awkward. I didn’t expect gratitude for saving you, but I didn’t think I’d get grabbed by the collar either.”

I chuckled wryly at her outburst.

“Or were you perhaps expecting a villain to capture his foe safely and send him to prison?”

“…No, but…”

If you were so dissatisfied, you should have captured him yourself, right?
I brushed off her hands and straightened my collar.

“…Why did you help me?”

“I didn’t help you. I merely educated an ill-mannered villain.”

Regarding her quizzical gaze, I calmly replied.
Then I shifted my gaze towards the young boy.

‘Eyes as moist as possible. And look as sympathetic as you can!’

“…Ah.”

Nod.

As I observed the boy, he caught my gaze and quickly lowered his head.
Responding to his gesture, I waved my hand, leaving him flustered and uncertain how to react.

“…I’ll be on my way then.”

Other heroes were likely arriving soon, and this should suffice for her to speculate that I had acted not out of kindness or for her sake, but…
‘Due to some circumstance.’

“Wait.”

Just as I turned to leave, Phantom Luna called out and stopped me.

“You…you said your name was Maker?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

After composing herself, she continued.

“I’m grateful for your help today! But as long as you’re a villain! And as long as I’m in Korea, I will definitely capture you! Definitely!”

I’ll hold you accountable for this incident next time! You’ll see!

She glared at me defiantly.

“I look forward to it.”

‘Capture me if you can.’

With a wry smile, I took Polia’s hand and teleported away.

“Chise! You’re safe!!”

“Oh! Suzuki!!”

After Maker’s departure, other heroes arrived.
A woman came rushing over at Chise’s call.

And then…

WHACK!!

“Kyaah!”

She swiftly smacked Chise’s head.

“I was so worried, Chise! You didn’t answer your phone or LINE! Do you know how anxious I was?”

“Bu,but you and Kato went ahead first! That’s unfair!”

Chise clutched the spot where she was hit, her eyes misting as she looked at Suzuki.

“Well, I, I was just too flustered to think straight…”

“See! You ended up leaving me behind after all!”

“…No, so we should have just stayed together from the start!! I even offered to pay for you!”

“How can you be so shameless with a friend! And don’t change the subject! How is this my fault!”

Chise let out an indignant wail.
Suzuki sighed softly as she observed her.

“…There’s no way I can help, is there?”

A completely different topic from their earlier conversation.
Yet Chise immediately understood her meaning.

“…It’s my problem, so no. And how can I shamelessly ask a friend for help?”

“Why is accepting help from a friend shameless…!!”

Pursing her lips defiantly, Chise shook her head.

‘Ahh…this stubbornness.’

Stifling another sigh, Suzuki scanned their surroundings to dispel the heavy mood.

“So what happened here?”

“A villain appeared while we were heading to the Heroes Association…”

“…So you fought it?”

Facing an unknown foreign villain of uncertain threat level, all while risking her mask being dislodged and exposing her identity?

Suzuki’s arm trembled slightly.

“Well, I’m still a hero. I can’t just ignore civilians in danger…”

“That may be true, but…”

Suzuki glanced at the fidgeting young boy, then back at Chise, whose elegant green dress was now tattered rags.

“…Haah. Alright, I won’t say anything about this incident. No, you did well.”

Swish swish-

“Heh! This is nothing for the great Phantom Luna!”

Suzuki reached out and gently stroked Chise’s hair.
Her bravado instantly resurfaced as she proudly puffed out her chest.

After that brief respite, Suzuki and Chise began assessing the situation.

“Was it that villain that did all this?”

“Yes, that’s right! The whip kept extending and exploding!…But where did the whip go?”

Suzuki eyed the charred corpse riddled with bullet holes, then looked at Chise with a hint of suspicion.

“You didn’t do this, did you, Chise?”

It seemed too excessive, even for her.
While not strictly adhering to non-lethal force, she generally preferred to avoid bloody situations if possible.

‘Not to mention the distinct gunshot wounds. There’s no way she would have been carrying a firearm, which means someone else killed this villain.’

The realization that there had been another person present at the scene.
After observing the body for a while, Suzuki stood up and faced Chise.

“Who was it? The one who killed this villain?”

Chise hesitated momentarily before answering, as if contemplating.

“It was…someone named Maker.”

“Maker?”

According to her account, a villain had suddenly appeared and dealt with the other villain on her behalf.

“But it seemed like he had some ulterior motive, rather than just wanting to help.”

Perhaps he had his own circumstances?
Suzuki pondered Chise’s words briefly.

“Hmm…well, there are rare villains like that, I suppose. In any case, you were fortunate, Chise.”

“…I wonder?”

“Let’s check the other areas too, just in case there are any surviving civilians.”

Dismissing it as inconsequential, Suzuki surveyed the surrounding area while Chise contemplated Maker.

‘Maker…’

Though he had saved her, he was ultimately a villain who had taken a life.
An undeniable villain that heroes were duty-bound to apprehend.

‘I will definitely capture you.’

Gazing at the setting sun, she steeled her resolve.