Although a Villain, My Wish is World Peace

But its bewilderment was short-lived, as it soon became enraged.

—How dare you lie to me! You insolent wretch! Your slit eyes!

A torrent of curses poured forth incessantly. Unspeakable words continued for quite a while. And somewhere in there, it even mentioned my eyes – which was a sensitive topic for me too, as my slit eyes were my own complex.

Had it been doing nothing but refining its vocabulary of insults while buried here? Its variations were quite extensive. It seemed utterly infuriated at having been deceived by me.

“Haha, I had no choice. If I hadn’t lied, you would have killed me, right?”

After a momentary silence, it asked.

—So you lied to me?

“Don’t even start about someone like me having no right to live. In any case, I survived, didn’t I? That’s all that matters.”

Was I imagining the exasperated expression on this formless being? Kuk kuk, laughter spilled out.

That’s right, I had survived.

Whether through lies or whatever, what did it matter?

If I had honestly stated the truth, I would have died right there. Was that virtue and justice? The ability I had once despised had saved my life once again this time. That was enough.

“By the way, do I have to keep listening to your voice like this?”

Was there no way to obtain the ability while breaking off from this thing? The voice echoing in my mind was quite grating.

—Ha! I dislike you just as much. But there’s nothing to be done, since you’ve taken me up.

“No mute or vibration function?”

—I have no such functions.

So I would have to endure this thing’s incessant babbling.

How had that bastard Park Se-woon endured it? Come to think of it, Park Se-woon might have vibed well with this thing, given his eccentric tastes.

“An artifact with a sense of self.”

Despite being fully synchronized with my body, it still retained a sense of self. This was a first for me.

I sat down. Although my broken ribs ached terribly, any such pain instantly vanished as I saw the window that had appeared before me.

-[Mana Circuit Expansion]-

Potential: S-rank

Type: Passive

Utilizes mana circuits to convert one’s mana into any form.

Park Se-woon had introduced his talent as ‘Protean Transformation’, but the name displayed in my system window was different.

As was the case with other talents in this world, the description was still sorely lacking.

But a lacking description didn’t mean the skill itself was lacking.

Quite the opposite, in fact.

“Incredible, this is.”

Leaving aside the S-rank potential, the part about being able to convert mana into ‘any form’ was mind-blowing.

After absorbing and subjugating the artifact, hundreds, thousands of mana circuits had been inscribed throughout my body.

Awakening referred to the process of mana circuits being etched onto an ordinary human body. That was why everyone’s talents were predetermined.

The mana circuits inscribed during awakening determined one’s talent.

In my case, circuits for ‘telling convincing lies’ had been etched.

And according to academic consensus, those mana circuits could never be altered no matter what…

But with this artifact, I could utilize thousands of talents.

The problem, as the voice kept pointing out, was that my body didn’t have a huge mana capacity, so there would be limits to the output.

I had obtained something far more incredible than I had imagined. The phrase ‘a pearl necklace on a pig’ came to mind, but I immediately shook my head.

I wasn’t a pig. Yeah, whatever. If I could just make good use of this, that would be enough.

The issue was that I couldn’t differentiate between the numerous mana circuits this artifact had laid down.

Unlike before, when simply channeling my mana naturally resulted in ‘Lie’, even as I drew out my mana now, I didn’t know what to do with it.

When I had used Condensation and Release earlier, the voice had provided guidance.

I glanced up and spoke:

“Ahem, ahem. First of all, thank you for saving me. I apologize for my rudeness earlier.”

Despite my apology, the voice remained silent. Acting all high and mighty for a non-human entity.

I recalled what it had said earlier.

“You mentioned having a great duty earlier. That you had drifted into this dimension for a great duty.”

—That’s right. By the way, what’s with the polite speech all of a sudden? Just talk like you normally do.

“But you are my life’s savior, so how can I speak disrespectfully?”

—Ha, now you’re trying to butter me up.

Tsk, it was happy while being rude for no reason. I flattered it a bit and casually asked:

“What is this great duty of yours?”

It wasn’t a simple question to gain its favor. If this artifact had truly come from another world, and if it had come here on a mission, wouldn’t that be dangerous?

—I am to save this world from the invasion of another dimension.

Oh?

At those words, I blinked in surprise. It was something I had never even considered. Seeing my stunned expression, the voice sneered as it opened its mouth.

—That’s right. It’s not something a lowly being like you could comprehend! But I have no intention of being swayed by your selfish desires.

“No, I’m just surprised because my goal is somewhat similar to your mission.”

—What?

“I too intend to save this world.”

At my words, the voice made a fuss as if in disbelief.

—You, someone like you moving with such a sacred purpose? Lies! You’re trying to deceive me again, aren’t you!

“Hey now, I was being quite sincere too.”

Although the weight of the salvation I had envisioned and the salvation this thing spoke of differed greatly, I had been sincere as well.

“Well, my idea was just to get rid of the bastards ruining this country, you know.”

I had thought that would naturally lead to this world’s salvation, but I had been mistaken.

An invasion from another dimension.

“Are you saying the gates are an invasion from another dimension?”

—Does it seem like mere coincidence that dimensional rifts have opened in your world, and people with talents to block those dimensional rifts have emerged?

From having a sense of self to begin with, this artifact was already abnormal, but for it to be aware of the gates was certainly strange. No matter how much it claimed to be an entity that had crossed over from another dimension.

“Are you saying there is an entity that has planned all of this?”

—Yes, all of this has unfolded for the invasion of another dimension. As the gap between the two dimensions narrows, at some point they will begin to overlap worlds. Then your world will end, just as my world did.

At those words, I bit my lip. What was this?

I had thought I just needed to somehow save Korea, but if what it was saying was true, the entire world was in danger.

My plan to deal with Korea’s corrupt leaders and then go abroad to enjoy the good life had just been upended.

To learn the reason for the existence of the gates here, something that couldn’t have been known until the world was on the brink of annihilation.

“Is there a way to stop this invasion from another dimension?”

—A way to prevent dimensional rifts from appearing? There is none.

“Then how can we stop them?”

—Eventually, they too will cross over into this world. We have no choice but to strike at their root.

I had heard the method, but it was so impractical that I could only gape. So we were supposed to attack the main force of those targeting our dimension for invasion?

Korea, which was already struggling with the vanguard gates, how were we supposed to deal with the main force pouring out of those gates?

—No matter how I think about it, it would be impossible with your abilities. You should have just obediently given up on me.

Those words left me feeling quite indignant.

Because the previous owner of this thing, Park Se-woon, had been utterly useless in saving this world!

He had only used his ability for his own selfish desires, never even doing the free gate conquers that other hunters normally did.

For such a short-sighted fool to lament at me made me want to laugh derisively.

But what was the point of revealing the future events that only I knew?

“I won’t give up. I told you, my goal is also to try and save this world somehow.”

Having said that, I threw out a question to it.

“Aren’t we in the same boat now that things have turned out like this? Whether we like it or not, we are one body now.”

At my words, the voice fell silent. No matter how it resisted, it had already been subjugated by me.

[Name]: Kang Yi-sin

[Gender]: Male

[Age]: 21 years old

[Talents]: Indomitable Will (S), Truthful Lie (B), Mana Circuit Expansion (S-rank)

—–

??? (??)-rank subjugated

That was the undeniable truth proven by the status window.

If I outright threatened it, it would have no choice but to follow my words. But I had no intention of doing so.

If I had swung the whip, I should immediately dangle a carrot as well.

“Of course, I’m a rather inept awakener. But with your help, I might become decent. Like how you guided my mana through the mana circuits to save me earlier.”

—Hmph! So you did notice that, you cheeky brat.

For all its haughty airs, in the end, this thing was just an artifact, not a human. Without a master, it had no value. It must have craved recognition from someone to that extent.

“I may be lacking, but I’ll do my best, so please help me out.”

—Shameless rascal.

Even as it said that, the voice didn’t rage like before. It seemed to have accepted that I was its best option. That’s right, no matter how dirty and wretched I was, I was its only hope.

“Then, may I ask your name?”

As an entity with a sense of self, it should have a name, right? Exchanging full names was considered the start of any relationship, it was that important. I had already botched the first button terribly, but just because a button was misaligned didn’t mean the world would end. I could just realign the damn button, couldn’t I?

—I have no name to reveal to the likes of you.

But it didn’t easily open up. Geez, so difficult. No, wouldn’t it be more entertaining to open up this thing’s heart?

“Come now, aren’t we in the same boat? Yes? Just tell me your name once.”

But no matter how much I coaxed and flattered it, it remained silent. Finally, with my patience worn thin, I blurted out loudly.

“Ah, fine! If you won’t teach me, I’ll just call you whatever. Yes? Mr. Dogshit?”

Only after I lashed out with such vulgarity did it finally speak to me in a small voice.

—I don’t remember.

“Did you lose your memory or something?”

—Yes. When being transmitted to this world, I had to discard all unnecessary things. It seems my memories were part of that.

If the voice was telling the truth, that was indeed quite lamentable.

—I do remember the most important thing.

The voice sounded quite somber as it said that. If everything it had said until now was true, then this voice had abandoned everything of itself solely to come here and save another dimension.

Well, damn. I couldn’t even casually insult it then.

“If you don’t remember your name, may I give you one?”

—You’re going to stick me with some vulgar name… If you’re going to call me something like ‘dogshit’ again, forget it! I have my pride too!

“Stray.”

The English word ‘stray’, meaning a wanderer. What could be more fitting for the name of this voice that had forgotten even who it was, drifting from dimension to dimension?

Seemingly quite satisfied with the name, it fell silent.

—Stray is too crude, let’s go with Ray.

Simultaneously, its name changed in the status window.

[Name]: Kang Yi-sin

[Talents]: Indomitable Will (S), Truthful Lie (B), Mana Circuit Expansion (S-rank)

[Gender]: Male

[Age]: 21 years old

—–

Ray (??)-rank subjugated

Its rank was still displayed as ??-rank, but that was understandable. Having lost all its memories, it might have also forgotten its own abilities. If there was a way to recover its memories, that would be great.

“I’ll be in your care from now on, Ray.”

I greeted Ray, but as if embarrassed by my greeting, it didn’t respond.

Haha.

“When someone greets you, you should respond, you know?”

It really had a special talent for being ill-mannered.