—
[Villain Hunter… Is He a God?]
In the early morning hours, the server room of HSK Telecom was destroyed.
The culprit who wrecked the server room was Villain Hunter, and according to experts, if he hadn’t destroyed it, the personal information of around 23 million people would have been leaked.
“I have to renew my mobile phone contract because of Villain Hunter. How is that supposed to help me?”
For those Galaxy-board users asking that kind of question, let me explain what could have happened if your personal information had been leaked.
1. Voice Phishing—You’d be bombarded with scam calls using your leaked phone number.
2. Bank Account Hacking—Since all your personal data would be exposed, hackers could easily access your financial info. Of course, they’d even take out loans in your name, and you’d be stuck with all the responsibility, minus the pleasure.
3. Cybercrime Framing—They’d clone your phone and commit acts of terror, leaving traces behind with your number. Naturally, the investigation would end up targeting you.
4. Location Tracking and Eavesdropping—Through fake base stations, they could tap your calls and even track your location.
I firmly believe that if there’s a parallel world where our personal info was all leaked, it must be a total disaster.
Ah… To have been born in an era with Villain Hunter. I truly live a blessed life.
This incident was serious enough that all users of this telecom provider had to replace their SIM cards.
By destroying the server room, Villain Hunter even delivered a message to HSK: “Spend more money on security.”
Indeed, the one to normalize South Korea is none other than Villain Hunter.
(Image)
So…
Shouldn’t we be worshiping him?
[Comments]
-: That’s it. I’m stepping one foot deeper into the Villain Hunter cult today.
ㄴ: Everyone has their own way of worshipping… I respect that.
-: I’ve decided to teach my kid the phrase “Villain Hunter” before “Dad”.
ㄴ: That’s the way.
ㄴ: What do you mean “that’s the way”, you psychos.
-: Damn it, Villain Hunter again… I only meant to read one post before sleeping but ended up seeing Villain Hunter again. Now I have to shout… Even though I know shouting will make me wide awake, I must shout.
ㄴ: Go to sleep.
ㄴ: This guy must be on HSK. His phone probably doesn’t work now, lol. Turn off the computer and go to bed.
-: Kyaha… Just the GOAT. Kinda sad Villain Hunter didn’t post this one on the board himself.
ㄴ: Lol are you one of those people waiting for Villain Hunter’s posts too?
ㄴ: Yeah… These days that’s the highlight of my day.
-: Bro, did you really have to destroy the server room??
ㄴ: But honestly, this was the right call lol. He ran into villains stealing data from the server room, and instead of fighting them, he just wrecked the whole place and left lol
ㄴ (OP): To our man Villain Hunter, the real villain was HSK for spending half as much on security compared to other telecoms.
ㄴ: Whoa… That’s the truth.
-: But seriously, where does Villain Hunter even get this kind of intel? This time, he didn’t respond after the damage was done; he prevented it before it even started. Didn’t he basically save our data from getting leaked?
ㄴ: Yup, exactly. That’s why public opinion on Villain Hunter is at an all-time high right now.
.
.
.
To think that the people I ran into last night were villains.
They weren’t server maintenance staff; they were villains stealing data.
Of course…
“Well, no wonder the security was so weak…”
Even without any invisibility abilities, I had been able to infiltrate that place undetected.
It was true that HSK’s security was weak.
That must have been why those villains had targeted HSK Telecom instead of another provider.
“…They say nothing in life comes easy.”
In the end… in this situation where the worship of Villain Hunter had been completed,
The best decision I could make was…
“This won’t do.”
“What?”
“Hye-won.”
“Y-Yes?”
“Could you possibly manipulate public opinion?”
“Pu… public… public opinion… manipulation…?”
“Yes, public opinion manipulation.”
All I planned to do was use Hye-won to create negative public sentiment about me.
…
—
Other Party: I’ll buy it.
Me: There’s a chance to get a 10% discount. Would you be interested?
Other Party: Oh, really? Tell me more.
Me: After the terror attack, if you just leave a message at the scene saying it happened because of Villain Hunter, you’ll get a 10% cashback.
Other Party: Cashback? Oh… not bad. But instead of cashback, I’d prefer a service bonus. Is that possible?
Me: It’s possible.
Other Party: Let’s go with that, then~
—
That made it the sixth time already.
Whenever villains purchased terror-related supplies from Hye-won,
We asked them to defame Villain Hunter in exchange for a 10–20% cashback discount.
Thanks to this…
“Looks like another story will go up this time too.”
—
[Villain Hunter bro… when are you coming back?]
[Lately, attacks targeting you have been increasing… Why won’t you show up?]
[We… we’ve been abandoned… We’ve… been abandoned… We’ve… been abandoned… We’ve… been abandoned…]
[Well, we were idiots to begin with. Why were we even relying on a villain?]
[Why are villains leaving a Villain Hunter mask at every crime scene these days? What does it even mean?..]
[Don’t tell me… Villain Hunter got taken down?]
—
Even though the villains were clearly targeting Villain Hunter,
The number of complaints about my lack of activity was steadily increasing.
Now this… this is what you call public opinion manipulation.
Since I wasn’t a hero anyway, there was no need for any official explanation.
Negative public opinion about me had already started to build on its own, even if I just stayed quiet.
So all I had to do was wait and let time pass naturally.
“Th… This… Please… Please…”
“I’ll be back soon.”
And just like that, once again, I began heading toward the subway station for another deal, carrying the goods Hye-won had asked me to deliver.
Is this the place?
The meeting location changed every time.
This time, I had to go a bit farther to a more distant subway station to complete a bomb deal.
There are a lot of people here.
[The money’s already in. I moved the buyer to a different spot, so just leave it in there.]
Click—
As always, I tried to blend into the crowd and hide among the sea of people. Just as I was about to place the item in the locker…
“…Hmm?”
An instinctive sense of unease stopped me in my tracks.
“…..”
For someone who had lived for decades, instinct was something built into the system.
A lifetime of accumulated data had settled into my body, and without even thinking, my body naturally responded to each moment as it saw fit.
….What is this?
Now, every fiber of my being was sounding the alarm…
Signaling that something about this subway station felt off.
“……”
I slowly turned my head and looked around.
People were going down to catch the subway, scanning their tickets or cards as they passed through.
Down below, others were waiting for the train to arrive.
Some were opening lockers, seemingly trying to retrieve items they had previously stored…
It was a scene that looked completely normal just like any other day, but as the strange sense of discomfort kept growing, and I instinctively began to step out of the subway station…
I realized it.
It’s a trap.
More than half of the people filling this place…
They were familiar faces. Faces I had seen at least once before.
And then I remembered where I had seen them… during the reconnaissance for the past terrorist attack on the Hero Association.
Step… step…
Of course, not everyone here was likely a Hero Association employee.
But as the saying goes, “Hide a tree in the forest”…the Hero Association had hidden heroes among the crowd.
Fortunately, I had realized this quickly, and just as I turned to flee the scene…
“That’s the one.”
“?”
As soon as I heard the voice behind me…
“……!”
I felt my entire body freeze as if something had clamped down and held me in place.
And at the same time…
“Oh? It’s Mobia.”
“It really is. What’s a hero doing here?”
“Does Mobia take the subway too?”
Through the voices around me, I came to understand.
Right now… I was being completely restrained by the hero Mobia.
…Damn it.
Click– click– click– click– click– click– click–
Using the fact that my fingers hadn’t been restrained yet, I pressed the button seven times. I could hear a startled Hye-won’s voice asking me a question.
[…Is this for real?]
Click–
[……]
And with that final voice from Hye-won…
Tap–
I heard the mechanical sound of all the equipment connected to Hye-won shutting down.
That’s the end.
We had prearranged a set of signals in advance.
Pressing the button once meant “yes.”
Pressing it twice meant “no.”
In situations where speaking was difficult, I had used the button to communicate with Hye-won…
“I heard a clicking sound just now too. I think that’s how they’re sending signals.”
“There are too many people here. I’ll step outside.”
Telekinesis really is convenient.
Suspended in midair, I was moved to an area with fewer people.
As I found it oddly comfortable, I was placed inside a large cargo truck.
“We apologize. There will be a brief inspection of the items.”
I saw several heroes who had already been waiting inside the truck begin to search through the bag I had brought with me.
Naturally, that bag contained a bomb.
“Explosives confirmed.”
I had no choice but to be restrained on the spot.
And then…
“Shall we at least get a look at this guy’s face?”
Right then and there, I was restrained, and the recognition-impairment mask I had been wearing was removed by the hero.
The moment my mask came off…
“…Huh?”
I could see Hero Mobia who had brought me here wearing a visibly shocked expression.
Well, of course…
“Ahaha… haha… ha…”
“Is something funny?”
“You do realize what you did was illegal, right?”
“…I’m sorry. I just couldn’t help but laugh.”
Hero Mobia probably never imagined it.
That the face she recognized… actually belonged to a villain.
But then…
“From this point on, we’re going to ask you some questions. This is a lie detector.”
“?”
“Hopefully telling lies won’t just add to your sentence.”
“…I’ll try my best.”
As the heroes attached pads to various parts of my body for the lie detector, I began to feel a sense of confusion.
Because…
…Do they not know I’m the villain hunter?
The way they were speaking to me so calmly…
It seemed they had no idea I was the villain hunter, someone who killed people with ease.
Seo-yoon definitely knows all my personal information, so she must have reported me to the Hero Association… right?
Leave a Reply