I woke up to the warmth of someone else’s hand.
“Unnie…! Are you okay?”
“Hye-won…?”
“How’s your body? I mean, how do you feel?”
Thanks to Hye-won who was looking at me with deep concern,
I was able to quickly recall what had happened to me.
“My body…?”
I remembered that the drink I had at the club… had some unknown drug in it.
“My body…!”
Is my head still hurting?
Is there any part of my body that feels weak?
Am I excessively thirsty, or do I feel cold? Any signs of drug side effects?
Let me check for myself.
Surprisingly…
…Huh?
I realized that my body felt unbelievably refreshed, like I’d just woken up from a deep, restful sleep.
“…Is this what drug withdrawal feels like?”
“..!! Why? Wh-What’s wrong?”
“My body feels too good.”
“You idiot…!”
I laughed as Hye-won raised her hand and started hitting me.
Thump thump thump thump
“You know, this… might not be so bad, Hye-won.”
To think I could sleep so soundly just by being drugged—
I started to understand why people fall into addiction.
“No, don’t!”
“Huh?”
“Don’t do drugs or anything like that! You feel good because Sae-eun healed you!”
“Oh.”
I learned that the reason I felt so refreshed was thanks to Sae-eun’s ability.
“Do you know how dirty the diamond got while purifying you?”
“Diamond…?”
“Go look at it yourself. You were seriously in danger…”
“Oh no… You used a diamond because of me?”
“Don’t go around eating random things ever again!”
Accepting Hye-won’s scolding,
I quickly got up to thank Sae-eun for helping me.
“Is this the gem?”
“Yes…”
“Thank you for helping me.”
“O-Oh, no… I just used the diamond ring that the Villain Hunter gave me…”
“So, babe must be loaded. Even has diamond rings and everything.”
“Well…”
Then I heard something.
“It was… his parents’ heirloom…”
The source of the gem Sae-eun had used to heal me…
“…Huh? What did you say?”
“Th-This… it was… an heirloom from Villain Hunter’s parents…”
The cruel truth. That it was his parents’ keepsake…
“….…”
…
“If you could sell your ability, how much would you sell it for?”
“…Are you planning to forcefully take it?”
“Mhmm.”
“Th-There’s… no refusing, right?”
“I’ll respect your opinion… but I do personally want it.”
“Oh…”
I watched Dream Caster’s face as she began to think it over.
“…Does it hurt a lot?”
“It just stings a little.”
“Then…”
To her, who no longer walked the path of a villain, the sleep-related ability she had was probably more of a dormant power, hardly ever used anymore.
“Um… hey…”
“Yeah?”
“Would it be okay if I made it really expensive?”
“Of course. Abilities aren’t something you can just get even if you want to.”
“…But Villain Hunter, you always get what you want, don’t you?”
“…Except for me.”
“Hmmm…”
It was clear she would sell me her sleep ability.
“…A hundred million won?”
I thought she’d ask for at least a billion. That’s modest.
“But my ability… has kind of tricky conditions to use…”
“Like what?”
“You have to be in physical contact with the target you want to put to sleep…”
“Physical contact, and?”
“You have to think to yourself that you want them to fall asleep…”
“And?”
“You can only put up to three people to sleep per day.”
“That’s the limit, huh. Is ‘per day’ based on 24 hours?”
“No, um… it only resets if I sleep for more than eight hours.”
“Yeah… definitely sounds like a 100-million-won ability.”
“Yes…”
To use the reflection ability, you had to hold a specific posture.
To activate or deactivate the third-person perspective ability, you had to take certain actions.
To use the summoning ability, there were conditions: I had to have physically touched the object before, and it had to weigh less than 10 kilograms.
A lot of these abilities come with restrictions.
It was one of those moments when I truly realized just how overpowered my super strength was.
There were no limitations on when I could use it, and no side effects like being unable to control it.
“Summon.”
Feeling a bit proud of my unrestricted super strength,
I summoned exactly 200 million won in cash and pushed it toward Dream Caster.
“Here’s 200 million.”
“Huh?”
“What were you thinking trying to get by with just 100 million in this economy?”
“Hehe… Thank you, villain hunter…”
Right in front of the woman looking at me with eyes full of admiration for handing over 200 million—
“Well then…”
Tap.
“Huh…?”
I casually picked up a kitchen knife lying around.
I was just about to say that all I needed was a drop of her blood to drink when—
Crash—!
“?”
Suddenly, Dream Caster bolted out of her chair—
Bang bang bang bang!!
—and started pounding on the door of Seo-yoon’s place across the hall.
“Help me…! Please, I’m begging you…!”
She began pleading with Mobia to save her.
“…Are you going to kill her or something?”
Both Seong-won and I, watching the scene, were equally dumbfounded.
“No, just a drop of blood would’ve been enough…”
“Pleeease… Save me, Miss Mobia, pleaase…!!”
What on earth does Dream Caster think I am?
It’s not like I’m some bloodthirsty killer or anything…
Oh, right. I did kill all her teammates.
Come to think of it, from her perspective, I might still be an object of fear.
After all, I did personally kill all her former teammates.
“…What’s going on?”
“Th-The Villain Hunter is trying to kill me…! P-Please, help me…!!”
Anyway.
Right now, the priority was making sure Seo-yoon didn’t misunderstand.
I quickly walked outside to explain that it was all a misunderstanding—
“Well then, I guess there’s no helping it. It’s been fun.”
Thud—
“?”
“…Miss Mobia?”
Thump…
She sank to the floor, as if she gave up on everything.
“Ah… Please make it painless…”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Just get inside already. Why would I give you money if I planned to kill you?”
“…For the afterlife?”
“…Burning through 200 million won as afterlife money… That’s so original, I’m honestly speechless. Planning to throw a party in the underworld?”
“…So you’re not going to kill me?”
“I’m starting to want to, so hurry up and get in.”
“Okay…!”
I gave her a quick hand gesture telling her to stop messing around and get in already.
…
Sleep.
“Oh.”
As soon as I received Dream Caster’s power, I tried it out on her right away.
And sure enough, Dream Caster really did fall asleep.
“Or… should I say, former Dream Caster now?”
Whatever I ended up calling her didn’t really matter.
Since I could now confirm the hypothesis that the condition for stealing abilities was to either ingest the other ability user’s blood or somehow absorb it into my body—
Looks like things are going to get really busy starting tomorrow.
I made up my mind to start stealing or buying abilities from other ability users beginning tomorrow.
“The ability really does get stolen—”
“Sleep.”
Thud…
“Oh, so I can activate it by saying it out loud.”
For now, I decided to observe whether absorbing Dream Caster’s ability would cause a drop in its efficiency or possibly even an increase.
That makes two.
With Seong-won, who had fallen asleep right next to the former Dream Caster, I gently laid him on her bed as well.
Wanting to keep him from catching a cold, I even covered him with a blanket before quietly leaving the house.
As soon as I stepped out of their home, I immediately went to the next target’s house and knocked on the door to ask for consent.
Knock knock knock
“All done with your errands?”
“Are you planning to sleep soon?”
“Yeah, I’m going to bed in just a bit.”
“Great. Then… want me to help you fall asleep?”
“W-Wait… You’re going to… p-put me to sleep… yourself?”
“Mhmm.”
“I’d love that!”
“Sleep.”
Thud…
That makes three.
Since I had her consent, I put Seo-yoon to sleep right away.
Now that I’d hit the limit of three people a day like the former Dream Caster had said, I was at full capacity.
I headed back to my place, planning to continue experimenting with this new ability on Hye-won or Sae-eun.
“Good night, Seo-yoon. See you tomorrow.
I didn’t do anything weird, so I hope you don’t get the wrong idea.”
…
“Babe!”
The moment I got back home, Pyro Bomber came running full speed, arms wide open, trying to hug me.
Naturally, I sidestepped to dodge her—
Whoosh—
“…Isn’t it common sense to stop if the other person avoids you…?”
Worried that the woman might crash into something because she kept charging forward so confidently even after I dodged her, I quickly grabbed her.
“A Pyro Bomber rejected by a villain hunter has nothing left but to die.”
“…That’s a new level of nonsense… Haah… Still, judging by the way you’re talking, I guess you’re doing okay. Well… that’s a relief, in its own way.”
Just as I was thinking that I could be relieved, seeing how full of nonsense she was meant she must be in good health—
“…Hmm?”
—I noticed a familiar ring on her finger.
When I gently lifted her hand to take a better look…
“Oh my, if you wanted to hold my hand, you should’ve just said so. You can grab more than just my hand, you know, babe.”
“This ring… I’m pretty sure I gave it to Sae-eun.”
“I bought it with my own money.”
That’s how I came to hear the shocking news that she had sold someone else’s family heirloom for cash.
Mom, I’m sorry. Your son’s… a truly unfilial fool.
I could only let out a dry laugh at how shamelessly bold she was.
“Welcome home, my dear husband.”
Then suddenly, she switched up her whole vibe.
“It’s quite late; don’t you think it’s time to rest?”
“…You’re the one who needs to go to sleep.”
“This girl… Tonight, I’m prepared to endure any and all of your mischief…”
“?”
Just like that, she started spouting nonsense about giving me her undying devotion—wait, hold on.
“…You said you’d endure anything I do, right?”
“I did.”
She definitely said I could do anything.
She said it herself.
“Oh my… if you stroke a maiden’s cheek like that…”
Sleep.
Thud…
“…What the..?”
Half-joking, half-serious, I continued experimenting with my ability—
And seeing Pyro Bomber fall asleep, I realized something.
Has my ability… gotten stronger?
The Dream Caster’s sleep ability was supposed to have a limit of three people per day…
But once it passed on to me, it seemed to have been enhanced.
“That’s interesting…”
I was amazed by the fact that the ability had been strengthened.
First, I carried the sleeping Pyro Bomber to her room and laid her down.
Then, after quickly washing up, I tried to get some sleep myself.
Gulp, gulp
Feeling thirsty, I grabbed the water bottle next to my bed and drank it down in one go—
But then…
“…What is this?”
Right after finishing it, I noticed a strange bitterness in the water.
And at the same time—
“…Hmm..?.”
—I felt my consciousness start to fade.
Did someone put in the water some sleeping pills…?
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