I Became the One Who Takes. 18

## Chapter 18 - (2)

The address led me to a seemingly decent villa.

*Beep-beep.*

Was it muscle memory?

I effortlessly punched in the password to the front door of a house I'd never seen before and walked right in.

I was a little dazed even after opening the door myself.

My place in this world was, well, empty.

A refrigerator, a computer, a bed.

There were hardly any other appliances or furniture.

Not even a microwave, a dining table, or a fan.

Which made me wonder.

"Why did I rent a room in a place like this?"

The house wasn't far from downtown.

So, even without knowing the specifics, this room couldn't be cheap.

Considering I wasn't exactly flush with cash, why would I go out of my way to rent a place like this?

Pushing the question aside, I sat down at the computer.

I'd gotten a lot of information from the computer during the last quest, so I figured I could get a lot of information from this one too.

And I wasn't wrong.

'Hero Gallery.'

That was the name of the only bookmarked site on this computer.

True to its name, it was a site full of news about heroes and villains.

But with so much news, there were also a lot of rumors and misinformation mixed in, so you had to sort it out for yourself.

First, I searched for the female hero.

The search wasn't difficult.

Red hair, no pants.

Even with just that, the site turned up a variety of information.

"Choi Ga-eun."

She seemed to be famous even in the Hero Gallery.

The reason, of course, was her eye-catching red hair, her decent looks, and her shameless "no pants" fashion.

I wondered why she insisted on that fashion, but it turned out that Ga-eun's ability was physical enhancement, especially the power of her legs. She had the ability to greatly enhance her leg strength.

Normal bottoms would quickly become tattered, so she just wore light clothing.

It was a bold decision that only she could make, prioritizing efficiency over people's opinions.

The people in the Hero Gallery didn't think the outfit was that bold.

Among the heroes in this world, there were heroes who went even further with their exposure just to gain popularity.

There was other information too.

According to recent rumors, a lot of villains seemed to be gathering in Myeongdong.

There were many stories about the reason, but all were just speculations without any real basis.

"...Could it be?"

Could I, in this world, be a villain, or trying to become one?

It was possible.

I only had 600 won in my bank account, so why couldn't I be a villain?

Plus, the purpose of the quest was to corrupt a hero.

Doesn't corrupting a hero usually mean turning them into a villain?

All sorts of clues seemed to be telling me that I should become a villain.

And after doing two quests, I'd learned that.

Usually, following that impulse would greatly help with the quest, including hidden quests.

"...So how do I become a villain?"

Even the 'Hero Gallery,' where I'd been getting most of my information, didn't really say how.

They were just talking about how suspicious it was that villains were gathering in Myeongdong.

Among them, two places in Myeongdong were mentioned frequently.

One was a hotel, and the other was some alleyway.

"This is..."

It was a familiar place.

It was a place I'd been to just a few hours ago, so I couldn't forget it.

It definitely seemed like a suspicious place.

Come to think of it, what did they ask me for?

I was definitely trying to trade something.

"...Should I get a weapon first and then go?"

It was a short experience, but I could see how dangerous this hero world was.

I needed a weapon to protect myself, at least one that I could use my weapon skills with.

The problem was that there was nothing that could be called a weapon in this empty house.

The only thing I could find was a frying pan.

A villain wielding a frying pan.

I already felt a strange sense of shame.

I made up my mind that as soon as I had enough money, I would buy a decent weapon.

I was still reading the many posts on the Hero Gallery with interest.

It was different from the previous world.

Heroes and villains, and abilities that existed in the real world, meant that there were many eye-catching news stories.

Most of all, it was fun to see the heroes and villains.

The heroes here were almost like idols.

You could see them on TV all the time, and for some reason, they were all good-looking.

Villains?

There were some villains who were good-looking, but there weren't many of them, and it seemed like their fans were supporting them in the shadows because of their position as villains and the actions they had committed.

The Hero Gallery was a site where people were active anonymously, so you could often see fans who liked villains.

"Hmm, she was strong?"

Ga-eun was a hero classified as A-rank.

She was the highest-ranked hero except for S-rank.

Well, that's probably why she developed a fetish for strong men.

But it was a relief.

Sometimes in some hero stories, there were villains or heroes with abilities that were impossible to deal with, but at least in this quest world, there were no such abilities.

To be blunt, most of the heroes had abilities that seemed doable.

Just in case, I slowly memorized the heroes' weaknesses, and then I set out into the night streets of Myeongdong.

After some thought, I decided to pack the frying pan in my bag.

"So that's what they meant."

Late at night, in the downtown area of Myeongdong, I was feeling what the Hero Gallery was talking about.

First of all, there were a lot of foreigners.

This was the same in Myeongdong in the morning, so it wasn't that important.

The important thing was that villains were all over the streets of Myeongdong at night.

To be precise, there were a lot of people who looked like villains.

Of course, it was just my feeling, but when I saw men with irezumi tattoos all over their bodies or groups of bikers wearing leather jackets, it was hard not to suspect them of being villains.

Plus, in the morning, the streets were crowded with people, but at night, the alleys were crowded.

Every alleyway was full of hazy cigarette smoke and people with menacing looks.

Because of that, ordinary people didn't even look at the alleys.

They were afraid of getting into a fight if they made eye contact.

With familiar steps, I was able to find the alleyway where I had been.

And that alleyway had a slightly different atmosphere from the other alleys.

More people were huddled together in the narrow alleyway, as if blocking the way.

To pass through, you had no choice but to bump into the people standing in the alley.

That made me even more certain.

I had to go through this alleyway.

*Gulp.*

I took a long breath and swallowed hard.

The tension didn't go away, but I could put on a nonchalant expression.

I adjusted the position of my bag so that I could take out the frying pan at any time, and then I stepped into the alleyway.

"Oops."
"Hmm..."
"You're not a hero, are you?"
"Never seen him before?"

Every time I bumped into someone blocking the way, they threw a word at me with blatant suspicion.

It wasn't just menacing men blocking the way.

"Aah...♥"

A seductive woman with slightly heavy makeup and a rose tattoo made a strange sound in my ear as I passed by, and put something in my back pocket.

When I turned around in surprise, the woman gently stroked the front of my pants.

"You've got something good, if you're looking for a job, come to the address written there~"

I reached into my back pocket and took out what felt like a thin card. It was a business card.

[Black Market Violet BAR - Violet]

"Hey, he's not a hero, let him through."

When Violet, who gave me the business card, gestured, the crowd blocking the way cleared out.

The narrow alleyway was cleared in an instant.

It was so refreshing.

Passing through the cleared alleyway, I saw a huge iron door that I hadn't seen in the morning because I hadn't gone deep enough.

It was a door that didn't fit the alleyway.

When I got closer, two burly men on either side of the door opened it for me.

And inside was a paradise for villains.

A villain-only underworld was unfolding.

Maybe this huge place was the reason why villains gathered.

"Black market..."

The word "black market" that I had heard earlier came to my mind.

It seemed that the villains called this huge place the black market.

Among the many villains passing by, there were also villains I had seen in the Hero Gallery.

As the name black market suggested, there were places selling proper weapons and suits that I had been looking for.

Of course, the price was also evil, as it was sold by villains.

"...She told me to come if I was looking for a job, right?"

I fiddled with the business card.

My next destination was as good as decided.