Villain wants to live as a commoner chapter 113

* * *

Seo Heewon disappeared, and in his place, the monsters he had sheltered in his shadow tumbled onto the hospital bed.

Their raucous cries echoed dully in the air.

I needed to do something, but my mind was blank.

I checked the faint traces of magic lingering where Seo Heewon had been.

If he had been moved, there should have been some residual sign, but there was nothing.

Where on earth could he have gone?

Where should I head to catch him?

I racked my brain but came up empty.

Just then, a cat bit my hand.

“There’s a way to follow.”

I was about to ignore it when a voice stopped me.

It was a clear, human voice.

I turned my head and saw the cat that Seo Heewon had treated like a confidant every round.

“You need to go to Naru.”

At the cat’s words, the other two cats reacted violently, as if the idea was intolerable.

But the first cat ignored them and spoke directly to me.

“Naru will be outside. Take me there.”

I hesitated briefly.

But based on what I’d observed, these creatures were incredibly resourceful and deeply loyal to Seo Heewon.

They wouldn’t be lying.

I scooped up the cat, and the other two scrambled onto me in a hurry.

Paying them no mind, I flung the window wide open and leapt out.

Being such a high-rise, the jump delivered quite a shock upon landing.

I looked at the cat in my hand.

“Come out, Naru.”

I felt a gaze from somewhere. I ran straight toward the source of that feeling, pushing through bushes to find a dark crimson dog and a red-furred fox.

“We need to go to where Heewon is.”

“Naru can’t do it. Can’t follow.”

“I’ll help. I still have strength left.”

“Naru hates Heewon. Heewon is a liar.”

Should I use force?

I was contemplating this when the dog lowered its head.

“But… I don’t want Heewon to die either.”

“Then we need to hurry.”

“…Alright.”

With that, the dog grew massive.

Its black-red fur looked like it was aflame, a creature I’d seen several times before.

The cat slipped from my hand and jumped onto the dog’s back, motioning to me with its eyes.

“Get on.”

I climbed onto the giant dog’s back.

It shook itself, displeased, but soon settled down.

“Let’s go.”

Following traces of interference in the world.

A system window appeared before the dog.

Tilting its head, it barked at the window.

Then, as if cracking open like a dungeon entrance, the air split.

Black darkness yawned wide, and the dog leapt into it.

I immediately blacked out.

---

When I came to, I jolted upright.

The dungeon’s scenery was bizarre.

The pitch-black space lacked a floor, and there seemed to be no gravity—I was floating in midair.

Distant, twinkling stars shone clearly, making it feel like I’d been tossed into outer space.

“So, you followed me here after all. I hoped you wouldn’t make it this far.”

Startled, I turned toward the familiar voice.

Standing there was a figure resembling a twelve-year-old Seo Heewon.

It obviously couldn’t be the real Seo Heewon.

“What the hell are you? Where’s Heewon?”

“Seo Heewon has been dragged into a nightmare. He’ll keep dreaming it until he succumbs to his fate.”

“What?”

“Take a seat. This might take a while.”

A chair that wasn’t there before appeared.

Instead of sitting, I glared at the Seo Heewon lookalike.

“I don’t have time for your nonsense.”

“How do you plan to chase after Seo Heewon without my help?”

“…”

“Listen. Talking for a moment won’t change much. You’ve got about 11 minutes and 28 seconds to spare.”

I tried to grab its collar, but my hand grasped nothing but air. It had no physical form.

“I won’t take more than 11 minutes and 21 seconds. Hear me out. Without me, you can’t do anything.”

I was desperate, but this wasn’t an opponent that threats would work on.

It was intangible, and I could instinctively tell it was immensely powerful.

I forced myself to remain calm.

Fighting something I couldn’t even touch wasn’t an option—talking was the better choice.

“Fine. Talk.”

“Good.”

The Seo Heewon lookalike smiled.

The joyful expression was identical to the real Seo Heewon’s, making my chest ache.

I wanted to yell at it to stop wearing that face, but there was no time to argue over that.

“First, let me introduce myself. I’m not an individual but a collective consciousness, one that exists to ensure no world meets its end. We’ve been observing this world… and you, for a long time.”

“…”

“On the other hand, the one interfering with the system to manipulate Seo Heewon seeks the destruction of all worlds.”

The mention of Seo Heewon made me tense.

I couldn’t help but ask.

“What are they? Are they the ones who gave Heewon those strange traits?”

“Not exactly. Both Seo Heewon’s traits and yours belong to you. While inherent traits awaken from within, EX-grade traits are more like… predestined fates.”

It raised its hand, and a glimmering halo of light appeared above it.

“When Seo Heewon defies his trait, there’s backlash. When you fail to meet conditions, your trait activates forcibly. Both of you possess overwhelming power, too great for any individual to bear.”

The light dimmed, flickering out.

“But nothing lasts forever. In this cycle of regression, your traits are weakening, as is this world, which has been twisted by those traits. That’s why we could intervene. They empowered the villains of this world, while we prevented Seo Heewon from falling into excessive misfortune.”

Did they mean they’d suppressed Seo Heewon’s trait?

Come to think of it, the backlash from rejecting an EX-grade skill did seem unusually mild in his case.

But that wasn’t what mattered now.

Suppressing my irritation, I cut to the chase.

“Get to the point.”

“…Because Seo Heewon persistently resisted and defied his fate, his trait is on the verge of disappearing. And those people, unable to let that happen, dragged him into a nightmare to strip away his humanity and revert him to the ‘Seo Heewon’ of the past.”

Those bastards.

Even without seeing the nightmare, I could imagine what it entailed: all the horrors the previous Seo Heewon had endured.

They wanted to tear apart the current Seo Heewon and force him to become like his former self.

It was disgusting.

“Seo Heewon can’t escape the nightmare on his own. He’ll believe it’s real. What he needs is a trigger to break free.”

“Then send me into the nightmare.”

-“What are you planning to do by going in there? It’s their world. You won’t be able to use your power properly. You might even lose your current memories and become completely immersed in the nightmare. If that happens, you could end up as someone born and raised in that world—someone who doesn’t even know Seo Heewon, just an ordinary Baek Gunho.”

“I’ll handle it.”

There was no need to think about it. If Seo Heewon was trapped in a nightmare, there was no way I’d roam reality alone.

If Seo Heewon was lost in a nightmare, I’d grab his hand and pull him out myself.

If I could meet Seo Heewon, even just once, I was sure I could save him.

“I still think you should consider returning to the past once more, like I mentioned earlier.”

“Don’t you dare spew that nonsense while wearing Seo Heewon’s face.”

“I only want you, the person I’ve watched until now, to avoid unhappiness. Even if it means toppling an almost-complete tower…”

“If you truly don’t want me to be unhappy, then take me to where Seo Heewon is right now.”

The figure resembling Seo Heewon looked at me with a slightly sorrowful expression.

After a moment of silence, he nodded.

“Alright, I’ll help you.”

At last, the nonsense seemed to have ended.

The one who looked like Seo Heewon reached out to me.

“I can’t interfere much with the nightmare… but I’ll make sure you cross paths with Seo Heewon at least once. That’s all I can do to help.”

“That’s more than enough.”

“I wish you the best of luck.”

With a sorrowful voice, darkness enveloped me. My consciousness faded, and I sank into the dream.

* * *