The Villain Wants to Live
chapter-234

Kim Woojin’s occupation was a designer. Due to his lack of talent, he couldn’t be a painter like Van Gogh or Millet, but instead, he painted characters and backgrounds onto a game world.

[Independent Quest: Game Designer Kim Woojin]

◆ Goal: Exploration

◆ Reward: ???

Even now, in this world, the characters I had modeled lived and moved, and their continent was the backgrounds and landscapes I painted with my own hands.

“…Unconscious manifestations.”

If so, was the current phenomenon a result of the unconsciousness of the ego named Kim Woojin? I was contemplating while I looked at the gold ore. My thoughts had grown a bit complicated because of this item that the adventurer had taken.

“…Wow. What is all this?”

Epherene exclaimed with a hoarse voice. Maho and Drent nodded blankly next to her as I explained.

“It’s the magic circle of the mental test. It was originally 300 pages, but when unfolded, it looks like this.”

A huge magic circle filled the mansion’s library with an entire four series, ductility, and manipulation as the main sequences and harmony and illusion as sub-sequences. If this magic circle was activated with the Magical EEG detector applied with Midas’ Hand, the test that the adventurers longed for would be realized.

“I see~! So impressive~. What are you going to do now? I want to try this test too~.”

Maho smiled while Epherene squatted to stare at the magic circle.

“…”

But I looked up at the night sky without saying a word and thought as I gazed at the stars. Kim Woojin. Not a person from this world, but someone from somewhere beyond that distant and dark heaven. He was the biggest part of Me, so this quest proved Kim Woojin’s existence and that of the outside beyond this world.

Then, if I cleared this independent quest, would I know the secret? Could I figure out why I was here? However, was it right for Deculein to solve Kim Woojin’s quest?

“…Professor. But what will you do about Sylvia?”

Then Epherene caught my attention. I looked back at her, my disciple with a still severe cold. That hazy and stupid expression broke my thoughts.

I smiled a little.

“…Why, why are you smiling?”

I was Kim Woojin, and I was Deculein. I wouldn’t get caught up in either side, and I wouldn’t agonize over it. Besides, contemplation wasn’t a virtue of nobility. Wasting time on slow thinking was the height of intellectual vanity. True nobility was a class with confidence in themselves.

Therefore, I was convinced that I was the chosen person. I was sure I was distinct from other scumbags. I was sure that I was in a position to be respected by the citizens and had responsibilities commensurate with it. Even if it was a result of this personality, that certainty never disappeared. It was a belief only in myself.

“Nothing.”

I shook my head. I almost forgot the most important thing with the system’s trickery.

“Use this test as a way to control adventurers. Even I wonder what will be at the end.”

Independent Quest, Kim Woojin. What awaited at the end of Kim Woojin’s world, where the adventurers wandered? Was it an event in the distant future, or was it the future that would arrive before I left…

I would find out if I just left it like this.

* * *

On the next day, I was handed IDs and resumed with the adventurers and applicants. I told Yeriel to select a place at Hadekain to safely conduct this test, and I received permission from Floating Island to create a magical space. At the same time, Floating Island gave me an official notice regarding my promotion.

—[Proposal of promotion for Monarch Deculein]—

∵ Currently, Monarch Deculein’s achievements are attracting attention on the continent and from the Floating Island, so at this addicts meeting, discussions on promotion will be held.

∵ Confirmation of the plan. Addicts will be dispatched to verify your major achievement, Magic Space Creation. We ask for your permission to enter.

∵ The item on the agenda for promotion is etheric rank. Monarch Deculein is already over 30 years old, so the approval rate required for promotion is over 80%.

∵ Please write your signature, enclosing a drop of blood below.

∵ [ ]

Rank Promotion Examination. When evaluating wizards, age was also a very important factor, so the younger you were, the less difficult it was to be promoted. It was common that a magician’s talents showed around the age of ten, stood out before 20, and were completed around 30. Therefore, promotion after 30, when one had already reached the limit, was extremely rare.

[Rank Quest: Etheric Promotion]

◆ Mana +300

◆ Acquire magic-related characteristic 3333

For that reason, the reward wasn’t that great. I signed the official memorandum of the Floating Island with a drop of blood and sealed the letter.

“…”

Then, I looked at the clock. It was midnight; the date was April 9th. The world no longer regressed. However, that wasn’t all good news. The fact that the return didn’t repeat meant that the Altar had also achieved what they wanted.

“Master. These are the things you mentioned.”

At that moment, the shadow under the study mimicked Ren’s voice. I stared at it indifferently.

“What joke is this now?”

“Fufu. Brother~, it’s been a long time.”

Josephine. She approached me as if dancing the waltz and placed several materials on my desk.

“This spring will be stained with the blood of the purge.”

“Did you do the job well?”

“I put everything together as you said. I even mobilized all my connections from the dark houses.”

A ledger of the approximately hundreds of informants in the Imperial Palace who worked with the Altar before the regression.

“…”

I read through the materials. Fast reading was my specialty, so ten minutes was enough.

“What do you think?”

I nodded at Josephine. She smiled.

“That’s a relief~. But there is still one problem.”

“A problem.”

“Julie keeps digging into you.”

“…”

“She’s a surprisingly sharp girl. If I hadn’t interfered, she might have found the truth on her own. She is cooperating with the intelligence service. They also have several informants.”

I flicked on the radio.

Click-

“Is this the intelligence agency? This is Deculein.”

-Yes. I-

“Just put the chief on the call.”

—…Yes.

“Wow~, as expected from you~.”

Josephine watched with admiration in her eyes.

—It’s me.

“Are you the chief?”

—Yes, Professor. What do you want at this time?

Tap, tap, tap.

I responded, tapping the desk.

“These days, there are rumors that the Intelligence Agency is cooperating with Knight Deya.”

-Yes. It was Her Majesty’s order.

“Her Majesty’s orders would have been just to give her access.”

—…Yes. Besides that, I heard that our agents are helping voluntarily because they think what Knight Deya is investigating is reasonable.

The chief’s voice was surprisingly firm.

“Reasonable.”

-Yes. It’s reasonable.

“Then, do you plan to cooperate in the future?”

—…We are an independent institution. Only Her Majesty can give us orders.

“I am also a servant following Her Majesty.”

I buried myself back in the chair. Then the chief’s voice turned hostile.

-Yes. The Professor is a servant, not Her Majesty. Don’t be mistaken. The Intelligence Agency is a special agency that focuses on information, including valid arguments and evidence, rather than pressure from aristocrats or families.

“…Is that so?”

-Yes.

“I understand. See you later.”

Click–

I turned off the radio. Josephine frowned as if disappointed.

“Brother. Is Yukline’s prestige not working on the Intelligence Agency?”

“Josephine.”

I spoke softly.

“Did you not read the list? The chief is also in here.”

“…?”

Josephine picked up the ledger that she had handed over. She glanced where I pointed and looked at me again.

“…There is no intelligence officer-“

“No.”

I interrupted her.

“It’s in it.”

“…”

Josephine’s expression hardened slightly. Suddenly, the pale moonlight of dawn shone through the cracks in the window, and a gentle wind shook the curtains.

“…How amazing. Do you want bureaucrats who follow you? Or…”

“Following my words is the correct way for the empire and the continent.”

“…”

“So, whether it’s on this list or not, that’s all up to me. Isn’t it?”

Josephine smiled a little. She shook her head.

“Then?”

“She’s just a replaceable boss anyway, so if she makes it hard to use her….”

The head of the intelligence service. Due to the anonymity unique to the intelligence service, her name had been stripped away the moment she became the director.

“I’ll have to cut her out and put it in a new one.”

“Do you have someone to replace her?”

“…”

Josephine handed me a list of their active agents. I read the names silently.

“I don’t know.”

There were no names that stood out. However, they had penetrated the intelligence agency, the Demon Blood group that lived in the desert and at the same time rejected the Altar. The last light of the Great Elder led by Elesol.

“I’ll have to look through the interviews.”

I was thinking of giving them a badge of honor.

* * *

…A wind of blood swept across the Empire. Countless nobles, regardless of family or status, were captured overnight, corporations were dismantled, and the bureaucrats’ corruption was revealed. Among the names on the kill list, some tycoons had once ruled the Empire. Yet, they all grew desperate as they learned who was behind their incarceration.

“…Deculein. That bastard…”

Romellock, one senior vassal of the Empire, and a member of the Imperial Palace faction that served two generations from Crebaim to Sophien, sat in his room and shook. This was due to the letter that arrived this morning.

[If you are thinking of your children and grandchildren and are worried about your family, please step back. Now the world is too rough.]

Not satisfied with influencing Her Majesty, that damn Professor wanted to devour the entire Imperial Palace. So, he sent this letter as a clear threat.

“…I knew it was going to be like this.”

Romellock pressed a wrinkled hand to his temple. His old fingers trembled.

“What should I do…”

He thought about Deculein. He was a noble who wanted to rule by himself by cutting off the heads of all the ministers and sitting on a blood-stained throne. He was a great evil that wielded the Emperor’s majesty at will and corroded the Empire. The face of that treasonous tyrant…

“Late Emperor. What should I, Romellock, do in the face of such a desperate, wicked man…?”

Romellock closed his eyes, praying to the distant sky.

…

“Today is April 9th.”

Meanwhile, Epherene, who didn’t know anything, smirked at Deculein. Deculein straightened his tie and nodded.

“I know.”

“What a relief! It’s over… oh, right, I heard you were ascending to the etheric rank.”

“They’re still voting.”

Deculein straightened his tie. He put several materials in his briefcase as he received reports by radio.

—We captured the Director of Intelligence. We’ll interrogate her.

“…Capture? Interrogate?”

Epherene blinked.

“Don’t worry. For now, just think about Sylvia.”

“Oh, okay.”

Sylvia was in the Voice. It was Epherene’s responsibility to think of a way to approach the island as soon as possible.

“Right now, I am revising the magic for the contest in that direction.”

Deculein nodded as he grabbed the doorknob.

“…Report to me later.”

“Yes. Bye!”

…So Deculein left, and Epherene glanced around the now-empty office.

“Ahem. Ahem.”

Coughing, she swiped open the office door.

Ding—

The elevator arrived just in time. As soon as Deculein boarded, Epherene went outside and opened the door to the assistant’s lab. Then, she whispered.

“You can come out now.”

“…Yeah.”

A head full of red hair peeked up from under the desk. Epherene faced her with a straight back.

“I see you, Your Majesty….”

Emperor Sophien. Epherene ran into Sophien by accident – well, it was premeditated for Sophien. They had met in the library. Epherene, in search of a book, accidentally pushed Sophien away, and at that moment, Sophien’s disguise was lifted…

“Forget it. Let’s just follow. I’ve always wondered about the death of Deculein’s ex-fiancé, too.”

“Yes, yes.”

Today, the two of them had only one purpose: the anniversary of Deculein’s ex-fiancée.

“It doesn’t feel good to be peeping, but well. Considering what he is doing in the Imperial Palace now….”

Who was the woman the cold-blooded and cruel man named Deculein loved so much? Also, how would Deculein look gazing at that monument?

Sophien was curious.

“Yes, Y-Your Majesty. But I… please leave me out…”

…Gulp.

Epherene lowered her head with a very tense look on her face. Sophien replied, looking at her as if she were cute.

“It’s no big deal. You just need to guide me. I will take care of the rest…”