I Woke Up as the Villain

Chapter 228

Yu-Seong stared at Rachel with cold, sunken eyes and asked, “This is your last chance to answer. Did you really kill Helen?”

Rachel smiled mischievously and tilted her head. “Maybe?”

“I see that you don't understand my words.”

The voice that followed belonged to Do-Jin, who extended his sword. His weapon gently pierced Rachel's white neck, staining her skin with blood.

“Wow… If you kill me now, you'll regret it. Gold Nugget, you haven't forgotten my kindness, have you?” said Rachel with a smile that reached her eyes.

Yu-Seong frowned deeply. When the demons first descended upon Pyongyang, she had let Yu-Seong and Do-Jin escape the city.

“Don't waver, Yu-Seong. Just think about what's important right now,” said Do-Jin.

“I know. That's why I won’t kill her,” said Yu-Seong.

Just as Yu-Seong tilted his head slightly and slowly approached Rachel…

“You kids!”

Someone quickly approached from behind with an urgent voice.

Helen, showing off her black cape and purple hair, grabbed Yu-Seong's shoulder and yelled, “Why did you come all the way here?!”

“Helen?” asked Yu-Seong.

"Ahaha!" Rachel burst out laughing as the two met in a somewhat bewildering reunion.

“Do you even know where you are, you idiot!” said Helen to Yu-Seong.

"I know. That's why I came. I'm relieved to see that you don't seem to be hurt anywhere," said Yu-Seong.

Helen scolded him while Yu-Seong smiled and nodded in relief.

“What happened here?” asked Bernard as he tilted his head in confusion at the situation.

Meanwhile, Do-Jin briefly clicked his tongue and pushed the tip of his sword deeper into Rachel’s neck. He growled, “It means that she’s just playing with us.”

“It was just a joke. Gold Nugget’s friend, I believe you don’t really intend to kill me with this,” said Rachel.

“Unfortunately, I am someone who lacks gratitude. I also enjoy betraying trust,” said Do-Jin.

“...What a pity,” said Rachel with a wide grin.

She looked over at Helen, who was sharing the joy of their reunion with Yu-Seong. Then, she asked, “Hey, Grandma, these guys are trying to kill me. Can you help?"

“Just die,” replied Helen.

"No camaraderie here, huh, Grandma?" Rachel retorted, her expression souring at Helen’s response that had returned without any hesitation.

Just before Rachel was about to continue her conversation with Helen…

Thuuud-!

With a loud rumble, the two Counts of Demon finished their regeneration and began to rise from their resting places. In that situation, Do-Jin coolly clicked his tongue and sheathed his sword.

“Oh, now you want me to help?” asked Rachel.

“Even if you just want to leave here, you’ll have to help,” said Do-Jin.

In fact, from the beginning, Do-Jin had no intention of killing Rachel who also knew his intention well. There had only been one thing Do-Jin wanted to say from the beginning.

“Stop thinking about useless things. If I want to kill you, I can do it anytime,” said Do-Jin.

"Oh, how scary," Rachel said with a smirk. Shrugging her shoulders, she then raised her hand ax high and asked, “So, can I go and smash these guys' heads now?”

“Of course,” said Yu-Seong, having just finished a brief reunion with Helen. He also stepped forward onto the battlefield.

Finally, in addition to the original three members, Helen and Rachel were finally added.

‘Even if there are two Counts of Demon....’

There was nothing to be afraid of. The situation was completely different from the past, where he had to turn and run away in fear at the appearance of demons.

"Let's deal with them swiftly and calmly," said Yu-Seong casually.

In the end, they took less than 30 minutes to completely defeat the two Counts of Demon.

***

After arriving in Pyongyang and having defeated countless demonic creatures and demons, including the two Demon Counts, Yu-Seong had achieved level 80 of A-rank. This meant he only needed to level up 20 more times to reach S-rank!

‘I was expecting this, but the experience point gains are really hitting the jackpot here.’

As he conversed with Do-Jin and Bernard, Yu-Seong noticed that the two were also in similar situations. Although he was happy that he had achieved his goal of having his colleagues rapidly develop to prepare for the future, he knew that there were still some problems.

Despite having defeated the two demons known as the Counts of Demon, who had been as strong as a Marquis, they all knew that a greater monster still remained in Pyongyang.

“So...that white demon is the real problem, after all,” said Yu-Seong. While remembering the small white demon that had destroyed the stealth plane, he nodded.

Inside the secret alchemy-made hideout, Helen smiled wryly as she faced Yu-Seong. She said, “This place is much more dangerous than you think, Yu-Seong. Rachel and I have already surpassed S-rank, but… That little kid is impossible to defeat.”

Rachel grinned and winked at Yu-Seong. “Now that things have turned out this way, should we just live here like a normal family, Gold Nugget?”

“I refuse,” replied Yu-Seong.

He couldn't even manage a normal relationship, so how was he to become family with Rachel, the epitome of a crazy woman? Indeed, it was a terrible thing that he didn't even want to imagine.

“Ah... That's too bad. Is it because of the lover next to you?” asked Rachel.

“Lover? Who?” asked Yu-Seong.

With a sharp gaze, he turned to look at Do-Jin, whose expression had hardened in an instant. He then said to Rachel, “We should joke around in moderation.”

"We should have just killed her," said Do-Jin.

Just as the two of them simultaneously stood up and drew their weapons, Helen stepped forward to calm them down. “Let's calm down. Even if all five of us combine our strength, it may not be enough to defeat that little guy together. For now, let's endure her.”

Rachel laughed loudly and held her stomach as if she found the situation amusing. Yu-Seong sighed and approached her, but Rachel easily dodged his kick by twisting her body. Standing up from her spot in the corner with an excited expression, she said, “Didn't you hear what Helen just said?”

“I just wanted to kick you because you’re annoying,” said Yu-Seong. Then, he clicked his tongue in disappointment and sat back down.

Finally, Yu-Seong began to reveal the most important story that came to mind afterwards. He said, "Alright, let's get serious. There's something I haven't shared with you all yet. I have the ability of future foresight.”

“What...?” exclaimed Helen, her eyes widening in surprise at Yu-Seong's unexpected words.

“Future foresight….” mumbled Do-Jin with a strange expression. He clicked his tongue, because he already knew that Yu-Seong's words were false.

However, Yu-Seong had a pretty clear reason for bringing up this story. He went on to say, “Thanks to that… I found out who that little Demon King is.”

It was information from the original novel. Although he couldn't recall it at first just by looking at the white demon, Yu-Seong had now completely remembered who the little Demon King was after hearing Helen's explanation.

Naturally, everyone's ears perked up.

“For now, as you two predicted, he is indeed the Demon King,” said Yu-Seong.

However, it was just that the Demon King wasn’t fully awakened yet.

“The Demon King…!” exclaimed Helen.

“My goodness,” said Bernard in surprise.

Although they had anticipated it beforehand, the actual realization of the fact felt different. On the other hand, Do-Jin's gaze became even sharper. In fact, Yu-Seong found it easy to guess just what the man was feeling.

‘He probably thinks of this as the second Demon King hunt.’

Yu-Seong also felt a creepy feeling in his heart as he recalled the identity of the little Demon King. However, now that he was telling the story to the others, his heart was becoming more and more calm.

‘It's as if this was fate from the beginning….’

In a way, it was a strange event from the very beginning. It was strange that even though the power of the Philosopher's Stone had been activated, only the Counts of Demon had been summoned.

The Count of Demon, Clarius, had considerable power, but there was still too much power left in the Philosopher's Stone. Moreover, there were too many sacrifices in this summoning.

‘Since it consumed the blood of the entire Pyongyang….’

Therefore, Yu-Seong should have thought of it from such a perspective since the beginning.

“It wasn’t the Count of Demons that was summoned from the beginning,” continued Yu-Seong.

In fact, Clarius had been a Guardian Demon. The appearance of a Guardian Demon meant that there was something to be protected. In the original novel, there was only one existence that the twin Guardian Demons protected.

“The Demon King of Sloth, Acedia,” stated Yu-Seong.

“Is that the name of the Little Demon King?” asked Rachel with twinkling eyes.

“In the first place, he's not just a Little Demon King. What you two saw was probably...his avatar,” continued Yu-Seong.

As Yu-Seong calmly continued his story, both Helen and Rachel trembled.

“That was just his avatar?” Helen asked in a quavering voice.

She was shocked that the small being, whom even the two who believed themselves to have surpassed S-rank were unable to defeat, was not the real Demon King but merely his avatar. She could even feel shivers running down her spine.

“Yes. Acedia is known as the Demon King of Sloth. That’s why he isn’t moving around much,” said Yu-Seong.

“So, Gold Nugget, you mean you found all this out through your future foresight, right?” said Rachel.

“To be precise, I realized it while listening to Helen's story,” said Yu-Seong.

Yu-Seong's calm gaze now slowly moved past Do-Jin and toward Rachel.

Honestly, Yu-Seong was scared. The Demon King was truly powerful, but the reason that he thought there was still a way was simple.

‘Do-Jin is originally the Slayer of the Demon King.’

Do-Jin was the warrior who had fought and won against the powerful Demon King. In truth, if he wasn't here with them, it would have been even more difficult to guarantee victory. Moreover, this situation was one of the worst assumptions that Yu-Seong had already considered from the beginning. However, as he had said, this situation was like fate.

‘Of all the Demon Kings, it had to be Acedia…’

Yu-Seong's gaze passed Do-Jin and landed on Rachel, whose eyes glinted red under that strange gaze.

“What's wrong? Gold Nugget, what's with that look in your eyes?”

Previously, whenever Yu-Seong looked at Rachel, his gaze conveyed only fear and anger. However, this time, it was different. There was a sense of anticipation mixed with a strange display of unease in his eyes.

“...Everything is on you, Slaughter Queen,” said Yu-Seong.

“Huh?”

“In my future foresight, it is none other than you who will defeat the Demon King of Sloth,” he added.

The entire gathering's attention shifted to Rachel at Yu-Seong’s unexpected statement.

Rachel, with her red hair swaying, giggled as she pointed to herself with her index finger. She said, "Me? Well, I've always dreamed of battling a Demon King.”

She trembled from a potent mixture of excitement and curiosity, and she made no effort to conceal it. She then asked, “So, you mean that I am the destined one to kill the Demon King?”

“Yes,” replied Yu-Seong.

“Hm, should I believe you...?”

It was evident to Rachel that Yu-Seong's gaze was too unwavering for this to simply be a baiting tactic.

In fact, it was true that Yu-Seong did not speak falsely.

‘Because...’

In the original novel, Rachel had defeated the Demon King and died herself. And in that situation, the target had been none other than the Demon King of Sloth, Acedia. In other words, this fight was like a predetermined fate.

‘Rachel, you will defeat the Demon King and die together.’

Rachel smiled strangely and nodded as she looked into Yu-Seong's eyes. “It's a pretty cool destiny. I like it, Prophet Gold Nugget.”

Afterwards, she began to loosen up her body without hesitation. She declared, “If the future is like that, there's no reason to wait. Let's leave right away without dragging it out. I'll show you how hot-headed I can be. Hahaha!”

If fate was certain, why did one part of Yu-Seong’s heart feel uneasy for no reason?

‘...Is it because of gratitude?’

While Yu-Seong absent-mindedly thought of the idea of gratitude, Do-Jin grabbed his shoulder.

‘Don't be swayed by emotions.’

Facing Do-Jin’s cold gaze that seemed to say so, Yu-Seong nodded his head.

‘I know.’

He understood well enough.