Everything was ready.
In just ten minutes, the Mimicker would bring someone to serve the prison sentence in my place.
Just endure it for 15 years.
Once the contract here was completed, all I had to do was stay quiet for 15 years while wearing the recognition-impairing mask. Then everything would be over.
“Haah… All this mess because I messed with the wrong person…”
Who would’ve thought that villain hunter guy would still be holding a grudge over something from more than a decade ago?
If he was going to make a fuss, he should’ve done it right after the incident…
Hoo… Enough. I won’t think about it anymore.
If I kept dwelling on him, I’d probably get sick from the stress.
Deciding not to think about him any longer, I began to contemplate how I should live from now on.
The plan is to send my wife and Hyeon-ji to study abroad… The problem is how I’m going to make money…
I sold everything that could be turned into cash. My house, car, jewelry, rings, necklaces, even a pension property.
Part of it was to compensate for the wrongdoings I committed during my time at the Hero Association, but the main reason was to get my daughter Hyeon-ji and my wife out of South Korea as quickly as possible.
Lately, Hyeon-ji kept saying things like “The villain hunter is bad” or “He’s mean”…
If she carelessly said things like that in South Korea, no one knows what the villain hunter who still digs up things from over a decade ago might do to my wife and daughter.
Sending the two of them abroad as soon as possible was the best choice I could make.
If only I could go with them, how great would that be…
Unfortunately, I was in no position to go with them.
Starting today, I could no longer live as Choi Won-il, the former Vice President of the Hero Association.
I had to live as a completely different third person.
Unless I smuggled myself out of the country, there was no way I could follow my wife and daughter.
So, the best I could do was to be satisfied with seeing them through video calls.
Thank goodness for V.
Fortunately, V had bought the two Ability Treatments I had purchased to eliminate the villain hunter. He paid a huge sum of money for them.
Thanks to that, I had enough cash left over to live for the next 10 to 15 years without needing to work.
If I used the network I built while serving as Vice President and invested this money into a reasonably good business…
I was confident I could make a successful comeback without the Association President’s help this time.
Let’s do it. Someone who’s made money before knows how to make it again.
A perfect plan.
Sufficient funds.
The right connections.
With those three things, it felt like becoming rich again was only a matter of time.
Step… step…
In the distance, I could finally see the Mimicker walking toward me.
“Why are you so late?”
“There was a bit of an issue on the way.”
“Did you finally learn some manners?”
The Mimicker was a villain who worked in the red-light district.
They say he made more money by turning unattractive workers into pretty ones.
Apparently, he could even accommodate customers with unusual preferences, like those who seek same-sex partners.
Anyway—
“Never mind. That’s not what matters right now. Where’s the person who’s going to serve time in my place?”
What mattered now was confirming the substitute who would go to prison for me.
When I asked where the stand-in was—
“Your wife took him with her.”
“…Huh? My wife did?”
“Yes.”
Hearing that my wife had taken the stand-in—
“…Was she trying to make sure he really looks exactly like her husband?”
I called my wife, who should have been waiting with our daughter in a parking lot about 500 meters away from here.
Click…
“?”
Suddenly, the Mimicker placed a hand on my shoulder.
“Sleep.”
Thud…
The moment he finished saying I should sleep, strength began draining from my entire body, and drowsiness quickly took over.
– Hello? Is it done?
At that moment, I heard my wife’s voice through the phone…
As I was falling asleep, the Mimicker placed a hand on my head and began naturally transforming into my appearance.
“Yeah, I was about to head back. Where was the meeting point again?”
– The third floor of the Eunpyeong parking lot.
“I’ll be there right away.”
No…
He used my voice to find out where my wife was…
…
My consciousness slowly begins to return.
“Ugh…”
I was sure I had arranged to meet the Mimicker in broad daylight…
But outside the window, a pale white moon hung in the sky.
“…What the…?”
I quickly looked around to understand the situation.
I was sitting in the driver’s seat of a car with the engine running, wearing my seatbelt…
And in the passenger seat, my wife sat buckled in, looking extremely tense.
“…What happened…?”
Just from seeing that scene, I instinctively knew—
Something had gone terribly, terribly wrong.
The moment I asked my wife what had happened—
Click—
I felt the chilling touch of cold metal press against the back of my neck.
At the same time—
“Dad…!”
I heard Hyeon-ji’s voice from directly behind me…
“…What do you want?”
Given the situation, it was clear:
The Mimicker had betrayed me and taken my family hostage.
I couldn’t help but wonder—
Should I have paid him extra for his trouble?
“I only want one thing.”
The Mimicker, who had said he only wanted one thing…
“To make you live the rest of your life in regret.”
I realized he had an eerily familiar male voice.
“…….”
Countless thoughts began racing through my mind.
How could I get out of this situation?
How could I finally end this cursed chain of misfortune…
“You look like you’ve got a lot on your mind.”
“…….”
I cautiously moved my hand, trying to find my phone.
But as if he had already predicted it,
The villain hunter had placed my phone in the console box between the driver and passenger seats.
“Did you find someone to take the fall and do time in prison in your place?”
“.…..”
“Thanks to you, I don’t regret not being the one to kill your family that day.”
“Can’t we… talk this out…?”
“I’m only here to talk today, so don’t worry.”
As countless thoughts flashed through my mind,
I desperately tried to squeeze out any possible way to get through this.
Tap…
“…..?”
He placed a revolver on top of the console box…
“Pick it up.”
He ordered me to pick up the gun.
And as I obediently followed the villain hunter’s command and grabbed the revolver,
I suddenly twisted my body, aimed the barrel at him, and pulled the trigger.
Click—
But…
Click-click-click-click—
The only sound from the revolver was…
The hammer striking empty air.
“Ah…”
“Looks like you were in a hurry. I hadn’t loaded it yet.”
“…Please… let my wife and daughter live…”
“Here, these are the bullets. Go ahead and load it.”
“Please… I’m begging you. Just let them go.”
“You’d better load it quickly.”
With no choice but to follow the villain hunter’s command, who ignored my pleas, I loaded a single bullet.
“Now, spin the cylinder.”
Whirrrrr—
As the villain hunter commanded, I had no choice but to spin the cylinder hard…
And once I no longer knew where the bullet was…
“Load it.”
Click—
My hand completed the loading.
“……”
“You know Russian roulette, right?”
“…I do.”
“Then I don’t need to explain. Now, just point it at your wife’s head and pull the trigger.”
“…What?”
“If you survive six times, your wife lives today.”
Six times… aiming the gun at my wife’s head…
“…Please, at least spare my wife and daughter…”
In a situation where I might be the one to end the lives of the very people I live for, the very source of my strength…
Just as I was desperately begging the villain hunter for mercy…
“Aim.”
“Wh…what?”
My hand was already pointing the gun at my wife’s head…
“W-Wait..! V-Villain hunter..! Please..! Please..!”
“Pull the trigger.”
As his voice echoed again in my ear—
Click—
“Aaaaaaaaah!!! Stop..! Stop!!”
I was following his command.
“Spin the cylinder again.”
Whirrrrr—
“V-Villain hunter…! Villain hunter!! T-Take me instead…! Kill me, not my family…!”
“Load it.”
Click—
“Please…! I’m begging you…!”
“Aim.”
“Let us live!! I’m begging you!!!!”
“Fire.”
Click—
“Uwaaaaaaaah!!!!!”
“Spin the cylinder again.”
Whirrrrr—
“Stop!! Please stop!!!!!”
“Let’s load.”
Click—
“Aim.”
“It was my fault!! It’s all my fault!!!!”
“Fire.”
Click—
“Spin the cylinder again.”
Whirrrrr—
“I’ll go to prison, properly…! I will!!”
“Load.”
Click—
“I’ll rot in prison for the rest of my life…! For life!! I’m begging you!! Please!!!!”
“Aim.”
“I’ll never show up in front of you again!!! So please!! Pleaaaase!!!”
“Fire.”
Click—
My hand won’t listen to me.
My hand kept following the villain hunter’s orders.
“Spin the cylinder again.”
Whirrrrr—
I catch a glimpse of my wife. Her eyes were tightly shut.
“Load it.”
My hand, unable to disobey the villain hunter’s command, moved on its own.
“Fifth shot, aim.”
“N-No… This time it’s loaded…! I saw it… I saw it, please… please…!!!!”
Because this time, my hand…
was truly beginning to aim the loaded gun at my wife’s head.
“Uwaaaaah!!!”
Without hesitation, I slammed my foot on the gas pedal.
The car roared forward at full speed—
Crash!!!
Bang— Bang—
—and slammed into a utility pole up ahead.
“Ugh…”
The airbag deployed on impact.
Since we were wearing seatbelts, neither I nor my wife suffered any major injuries…
…Hyeon-ji?
“That’s why seatbelts matter.”
“H-Hyeon-ji… Hyeon-ji…?”
“You killed her. With your own hands—no, your own foot. You killed your daughter yourself.”
“Ah… aaah… AAAAAHHH!!!!!”
Hyeon-ji, who had been sitting in the back seat…
was thrown forward in the crash. Her neck was twisted the wrong way.
“You son of a bit*h!!!”
Seeing that…
My brain was no longer capable of making rational decisions.
So this time, I turned the fully loaded revolver around.
Before he could force his will on me again, I quickly pulled the trigger.
Bang—
That’s when I realized.
“Tada~ It was a blank round. Surprised? First time seeing a blank that looks just like a real bullet, huh? I thought it was real too, the first time I saw the blanks made by our MBYHW.”
This whole situation…
From beginning to end, it was nothing but a setup—
A cruel trick orchestrated by the villain hunter.
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