That’s How They Became Villains

#15. A Stroke of Luck That Rolled In

Days passed by with ease, one after another.

Before I knew it, two weeks had gone by without me checking the status window.

Maybe it was the relief of having safely finished the prologue, or maybe it was because doing bad things didn’t really suit me; I’m not sure of the exact reason.

I just didn’t feel like opening the status window, even though the grand Chapter 1 was about to begin.

Chapter 1 is, so to speak, where Hero Last’s debut battle takes place. A fight with a monster that accidentally enters the city through an elevator connected to the surface. Through this, fragments of why humanity lives hidden underground are revealed.

In “Last Man Standing,” Earth has been conquered by what you might call hunter-class monsters. They suddenly came to humanity, which was struggling to survive on Earth after the sun had disappeared. This massive invasion was recorded in the history of all humans regardless of borders, and more than 90 percent of humanity died because of it.

The surviving humans hid deep underground to escape the monsters. Little did they know that place would become a prison built by humans themselves.

Well, that’s roughly the kind of post-apocalyptic setting that comes up.

And here, the background of the first enhanced human experiment also appears.

The researchers of Minos discovered an unknown substance while studying monster corpses, and within that unknown substance was compressed energy beyond what human technology could even imagine, and humans used that substance to create weapons to counter the mysterious alien monsters, and that was the first generation enhanced human project.

By this point in the explanation, you can probably guess that when Chapter 1 begins, a terrifying number of people die.

A hundred years have passed since humanity has been hiding in the city and no one remains who remembers firsthand how humans ceased to be the masters of Earth.

Evidence of this is the current attitude toward enhanced humans, who are supposedly weapons to fight monsters. In such a situation, if monsters invaded…well, the result was obvious without having to see it.

Anyway, let’s put that story aside for now.

So, I thought about what I should do to prevent this disaster.

But my stupid brain could only come up with one answer.

‘If they’re coming through a gap in the broken elevator, wouldn’t it be enough to repair it beforehand?’

For that purpose, I went to scout the elevator construction site.

You know, the place where I sent that lady was far away.

But when I went there and saw it myself, the value of the debris scattered around the area alone would be worth tens of millions of won.

I heard that many vagrants live around that area. Collecting debris and selling it illegally.

There was no solution.

I didn’t know when the elevator would break, and it was unlikely anyone would listen if I suddenly went and said, “A monster will invade through the elevator in the near future, so please carry out repair work~”

So I thought.

What if…I just let Chapter 1 play out as it is.

Although, except for cities like Unhwa that have prepared for monster battles early on, Minos would suffer devastating damage. Yujin and Cheol-ho, who have formed a long relationship with Last, would also die without resistance.

But what could I do? It was beyond my abilities.

[Playing video]

At that moment, the status window, which I hadn’t touched for a long time, appeared in front of my eyes as usual and began to show something.

The background of the video was the bustling area of Cheongang. A nearby water tank has burst due to fierce fighting, raining down like water.

-Thud.

Last fell powerlessly to his knees in front of the bodies of many people. Among the bodies were Han Yu-jin and Han Cheol-ho.

“I’m sorry…If I, if I had come a little faster…”

Last knelt on the ground with his hands and wailed in front of the bodies.

“……”

I stared blankly at the video and then shook my head vigorously.

“What are you trying to accomplish by showing me this?”

[…….]

“You, someone’s actually controlling you from behind, right? Pretending to be a program?”

As if answering my question, the status window ended the video and displayed a message.

[Sub-mission has been opened] [Goal: Find the five first-generation enhanced humans scattered throughout the city and make them allies] [Reward: Ability enhancement function unlocked]

-Ding dong.

At that moment, the doorbell suddenly rang.

“Ah, ah.”

Then, the intercom crackled, and a somewhat youthful female voice began to be heard.

“Ah, ah. Is anyone in there?”

-Creak.

Even though I hadn’t answered, the front door, which should have been tightly closed, opened easily after a few button-pressing sounds.

“I know someone’s in there, that’s why I came. I’m coming in. Yes, I will. I’d come in even if you refused.”

There stood a ponytailed girl wearing a white lab coat too big for her small frame.

Nazha Herald Punk is a researcher belonging to the Cheongang Group, the mother of nanomachine technology and one of the five first-generation enhanced humans.

Nazha had a purpose. To take revenge on the city that had brought such a terrible fate to her and her precious family. She had come all this way for that purpose alone.

Nazha was smart from birth. Whether it was due to the unknown substance that made up her body, or whether she was originally like that, her extraordinary intellect was always Nazha’s most powerful weapon.

“Hey, how long are you going to stand there staring blankly?”

Nazha looked up at Chae Yu-ha and said.

It was all set. She had deliberately mixed defective products among the nanomachines to make enhanced humans go berserk periodically.

Once the conflict between enhanced humans and civilians reached its peak, she would finally release the limiters of all enhanced humans simultaneously to turn Cheongang Special City, and further, the entire Minos City, into a sea of flames.

But this woman in front of her ruined that. She had shaken people’s minds with propaganda based on emotions.

“Hey, can’t you hear me?”

Nazha cast the antimatter laser installed in her wrist.

She had no intention of forgiving anyone who stood in her way. She had thought so since she first decided to take revenge on the city, and that was still true now.

“Hehe…”

At that moment, a faint laugh brushed Nazha’s ear. Chae Yu-ha was looking down at Nazha and laughing.

Why is she laughing?

Nazha’s body froze momentarily at that strange sight. Chae Yu-ha didn’t miss that brief gap.

Chae Yu-ha rushed to Nazha and hugged her tightly.

‘This…!!’

Nazha berated herself for her mistake. It wasn’t that fast for an enhanced human. She had even brought an anti-reaction elastic shield in case of this situation.

But why couldn’t she use it? Rather, it felt like Nazha herself instinctively chose not to use it.

Nazha shook her head vigorously in Chae Yu-ha’s arms.

Being in Chae Yu-ha’s embrace filled her heart with an inexplicable sense of security, homesickness, and nostalgia. It was as if forgotten memories of the past were becoming clearer.

This shouldn’t be happening.

Those who were my friends, family, and everything disappeared completely with the explosion that day.

But who are you? Who are you to make my heart flutter like this?

“Unnie.”

A voice seeped into Nazha’s ear.

A voice that, although much matured, she could never forget.

“I missed you.”

“…Sawol, is that you?”

Nazha’s small hands trembled.

And she tightly hugged Chae Yu-ha’s back.

“Sa… Sawol.. Sawol…”

Round tears welled up in Nazha’s eyes.

“Uwaaaaang!!! Sawol!!!!!”

The dam of her heart, which had been blocked for so long, collapsed.

“Hic hic, Sawol…”

She cries so cutely.

I smiled as I patted the back of Nazha, who was sobbing sadly.

Nazha Herald Punk, a first-generation enhanced human who laid the foundation for many of Minos’ new technologies from a young age with her extraordinary intellect. To glimpse at that intellect, the walking suit being operated as military technology in Unhwa was based on a rough blueprint that Nazha sketched at the lab when she was young.

She was truly a stroke of luck that rolled in.

But how did she know and find my house?

“Unnie.”

“Mmm? What is it, Sawol?”

Nazha answered in a gentle voice. It seemed like invisible ears and a tail were fluttering, making me want to pat her vigorously.

“How did you know I was here?”

Nazha tilted her head. Then, with a bright smile, she answered.

“I didn’t know at all!”

She’s so cute…No, that’s not the point.

Suddenly, I felt a chill. Then what business did you have coming here? At that moment, Nazha suddenly buried her face in my arms and said,

“You know, Sawol. Unnie has done a lot of bad things.”

“I thought everyone died except for me…I was so sad and angry? So I was going to destroy everything by implanting faulty nanomachines in the minds of enhanced humans.”

“But someone ruined my plan. Because Unnie is a bad person, I was going to eliminate whoever interfered with my revenge.”

“But, thanks to that, I met Sawol, so everything’s alright now.”

-Nuzzle nuzzle.

Nazha rubbed her tear-soaked face against my chest.

It should have felt awkward, but the words piercing my ears were so frightening and shocking that I felt numb.

So you were behind the prologue incident, which was never revealed until the end in the original work.

Then was I almost beheaded by this kid just now…?

“I see. That must have been hard for you.”

I patted Nazha’s small head gently to calm my mind.

It was summer.