Although a Villain, My Wish is World Peace

The world is being annihilated.

Looking down outside, I muttered a curse.

The roads were paralyzed by the monsters spewing out from the gate and the people and vehicles fleeing from those monsters.

Government awakeners finally appeared to deal with the gate, but they could only handle the low-rank monsters at best.

The government awakeners were literally torn apart by the monsters. It was a meaningless death.

With the awakeners who were supposed to protect the citizens dying, there was no way the city could function properly.

I closed my eyes tightly as I saw someone trying to run outside only to be caught in the clutches of a monster and torn apart.

People covered in blood from the monsters’ attacks were running out onto the roads and outside buildings to survive.

The screams of people that should not have reached this high floor echoed in my ears.

The view from my office, which was a proud symbol of success until yesterday, had now become the best seat to witness the annihilation up close.

I stepped back from the window.

But no matter where I turned my gaze, the fact that this world was being annihilated did not change.

“Currently, the damage from the multiple gate breaks in the Seoul area is increasing. Citizens, please evacuate to shelters immediately. The government is currently deploying related personnel to respond to the situation…”

It was already the 30th repetition of the broadcast, but I couldn’t easily turn off the TV. It felt like if this noise disappeared, the ‘annihilation’ would really become a reality.

Damn, damn, damn.

Why did things turn out like this?

I knew the answer to the question that came to mind better than anyone else.

It’s because Seol Rok-jin and I trampled on the saviors who were supposed to save this world.

We got rid of them before they could properly grow to solve this gate break.

The reason was simple.

Because Seol Rok-jin thought it was better to get rid of a dog he couldn’t put a leash on.

Why did he do that?

‘Because he didn’t know the gates would open like this.’

He didn’t know! That this world would be annihilated like this!

It started just two weeks ago when unsafe gates began spilling out not only in South Korea but all over the world. A world that seemed to be stably managing the gates, a world where people were shouting that the age of gate conquest had arrived, collapsed in just two weeks.

Damn it, I can’t die like this.

I didn’t go through all that hell for the purpose of dying like this.

I tightly gripped my cellphone and muttered like a madman.

But I still had one hope left.

How long had I been waiting for this?

Finally, the call I had been waiting for came.

“Yes, Representative.”

Seol Rok-jin.

The master I serve, and the man who played a decisive role in the world ending up like this.

But ironically, he is also the only person who can save me now.

[Where are you now?]

It was a voice so calm that it was hard to believe the world was crumbling around us. With a trembling voice, I opened my mouth.

“I, I’m at the Yeouido office.”

I hope he’s not abandoning me? My nerves were on edge.

[Good. Take the box from the safe and come to Pyeongchang-dong.]

“The box in the safe?”

[Yes, the one we won the bid for in Egypt.]

At those words, I swallowed hard. If it’s the box we won the bid for in Egypt, there can only be one.

Just lifting the curse on that box cost several lives.

After going through all that trouble to remove the curse, instead of opening the box to check its contents, Seol Rok-jin just left it in his safe. When I asked him afterwards what was inside, he never answered.

So why suddenly this box?

“What’s inside that box that…”

[Well, if it works out, it could be the perfect hidden card to turn this situation around?]

If it’s that important, why did he leave it in the Yeouido office and make me get it at the moment the world is being annihilated?

I suppressed the words I wanted to say.

[Bring that.]

“Should I go to the Pyeongchang-dong estate?”

Going there across the Han River in this situation was practically a suicide mission.

As if reading my mind, Seol Rok-jin spoke in a reassuring tone.

[I’d like to send a helicopter if I could, but I’ve been told the skies over Seoul have already been taken over by monsters, so it’s safer for you to take my car.]

As Seol Rok-jin said, I could easily spot airborne monsters in the sky outside the window.

Would the roads be any safer?

Wouldn’t it be more likely for me to survive if I just hunkered down in the safe shelter here?

But Seol Rok-jin had ordered me, and I had no choice but to follow.

And I responded to him as usual.

“Yes, understood.”

After hanging up, I grabbed my head.

I had no choice but to go. Seol Rok-jin’s orders were that absolute to me. Even if I endured and held out here, he would not leave me alone.

What I feared more than death was Seol Rok-jin.

With a sigh, I stood in front of the safe. After fingerprint recognition and entering a complicated password, the thick metal door finally opened.

The inside of the safe, spacious enough for several people to enter, was already packed with various items.

What caught my eye was the trident glowing with a blue light. This trident, nicknamed ‘Poseidon’s Trident’, was a divine artifact with a frost giant’s heart as its core. The famous reincarnation of Guan Yu in China, Zhang Wuren, once openly stated that he would give up anything he had just to obtain this.

But this trident was just the beginning. Seol Rok-jin’s weapon collection was vast enough to fill an entire safe.

Weapons made from the remains of S-rank monsters that should have been in the hands of hunters on the front lines and used in battle were left to rot here without ever seeing the light of day.

Passing by the graveyard of those weapons, I took out the box Seol Rok-jin had mentioned.

The so-called relic of the Pharaoh, a small box that a 7-Circle curse breaker had to sacrifice their life to remove the curse on. I didn’t know what was inside this box that could fit in the palm of my hand.

But the important thing was that Seol Rok-jin wanted it.

Holding the heavy box, I sighed.

* * *

This Yeouido office, built from the byproducts of gates, was still standing strong amidst the chaos of entire buildings collapsing.

But I had to leave this safe space and walk directly into hell.

“This is madness. Madness.”

Anxiously, I muttered like a madman. But my body faithfully headed toward the car parked in the underground parking lot, following Seol Rok-jin’s orders.

Not that it matters if people say, ‘You say you don’t want to, but your body is honest,’ I have no excuse.

Looking at the eerily empty underground parking lot, unlike usual, I let out a hollow laugh. Even as I drove the car outside, I still didn’t feel any sense of reality.

But the moment I reached the underground parking lot exit leading outside the building, the hell of reality began to unfold before my eyes.

The instant I saw the corpses scattered everywhere, I squeezed my eyes shut.

The mid-to-low rank monsters classified as earth hounds all simultaneously looked at the new prey.

“Damn it.”

I grit my teeth and stepped on the accelerator. Whooooosh, the mana engine using high-grade mana stones as fuel spewed fire, propelling the car forward like a rocket.

Bang, screech, bang.

The sleek yet sturdy body of the car easily knocked aside the earth hounds’ bodies. I hurriedly turned the steering wheel. The car, which narrowly avoided crashing into the wall, spun half a turn, leaving long skid marks behind.

“Hah, hah.”

While I caught my breath, the earth hounds had also regained their senses. Seeing them baring their fangs at me, I grit my teeth.

Yeah, I’m going out. I’ll rot out there for you.

I squeezed my eyes shut and floored the accelerator.

-Crunch!

Leaving behind the pitiful whining of the earth hounds crushed by the car, I quickly left the Yeouido office behind.

The car I was driving was a custom vehicle specially commissioned from a master craftsman for Seol Rok-jin’s schedule. While this situation wasn’t anticipated, it was sturdy enough to withstand attacks from most monsters.

So I should believe that I can somehow make it alive to Pyeongchang-dong.

But the roads were almost paralyzed, just as I had seen from my office. Stopped cars were scattered everywhere, along with the corpses of those who had tried to get out and struggle to survive, tangled together to the point where there was no place to drive.

Moreover, monsters far larger than the earth hounds I had encountered kept appearing here and there.

Damn, damn.

Since I had come this far, there was no time to waste.

I forcibly made a path by pushing aside other cars. My feet were getting numb from how hard I was stepping on the accelerator.

The other cars were crumpled like wads of paper from my reckless driving. I tried my best to ignore the corpses scattered everywhere as I sped up.

Whenever a monster appeared in front of me, I squeezed my eyes shut and gripped the steering wheel tightly. The windshield, made sturdy enough to withstand anti-tank rounds, steadfastly endured every impact.

But there was no stopping the bloodstains from spreading across the windshield every time I hit something.

Each time, my heart pounded madly.

My back was already drenched in cold sweat.

This is madness. Madness.

“200 meters ahead, speed bump.”

A hollow laugh escaped me at the calm voice of the navigation system, which sounded no different from usual. I had already run over dozens of things no different from speed bumps to get here.

There were people raising their hands, probably asking to be saved, on the way, but I ignored them. Some seemed to be with children and families, but still…

‘If I hesitate even a little, I’ll be the one who gets eaten.’

My hands were shaking madly. My mind was not strong enough to withstand witnessing so much death up close.

‘What good is having an S-rank mental passive skill equipped? The mentality itself is as soft as tofu.’

I said that and laughed hollowly. How long had I been flooring the accelerator like a madman?

I had reached the front of Mapo Bridge. But there was a problem.

“Damn it.”

The massive monster that had emerged from the gigantic gate that had opened next to Mapo Bridge had destroyed the bridge. The moment I saw the bridge abruptly cut off in the middle, I sensed death.

The bridge cut off in the middle, the road completely blocked by cars, and people trying to run out and survive somehow. The moment I saw all that, the word ‘annihilation’ was engraved in my mind.

Yeah, this is annihilation.

Suffocating without any path to escape.

Crunch!

The impact from something hitting my car from behind sent my body lurching forward.

“Ugh.”

I hurriedly turned my head to look behind me. The car that had hit mine was completely crumpled in the front. Looking at the bloodstains spread across the rear windshield, I bit my lip.

Before I could pray for the person’s soul, I had to worry about my own life first.

The traffic accident that had just occurred alerted the nearby monsters to my presence.

Feeling their sharp gazes converging on me from all sides, I tried to shift the gear into reverse and back the car up, but the wedged cars didn’t budge an inch.

“Ah.”

And ‘that thing’ that had destroyed Mapo Bridge like a bamboo stick also turned its head toward me.

The moment I saw that gigantic, dragon-like creature, I sensed death. Thump, thump.

The cars and people crushed under its feet were pulverized like overripe fruit. I hurriedly opened the box I had placed on the passenger seat with trembling hands, the box Seol Rok-jin had mentioned. Believing there was some hope inside this box.

What was inside the box I had barely managed to open with trembling hands was a large, ankh-shaped metal fragment.

Holding that metal fragment, all I could do was mutter a curse.

“What the hell is this?”

The last thing I remember is the gigantic shadow looming over the car.

And the excruciating pain of my entire body being crushed.