Although a Villain, My Wish is World Peace

Eddie gaped in disbelief when he heard Cha Song-jin’s words relayed to him.

So they’re telling me, Edward ‘Albatross’ Sihelis, to make a textbook.

[So you’re telling me to make a textbook now?]

In case the translator was wrong (the distrust that grew after the miscommunication with Kim Jae-ho had not yet disappeared), Edward asked about the facts once more.

But the answer that came back was the same.

[Yes.]

Are they serious?

A textbook? How am I supposed to make something I only briefly touched as a very young child? Moreover, the materials were terrible.

All that the so-called leader of this criminal organization threw at him to make a textbook was just one lined notebook and a few ballpoint pens.

Even the one colored pen was already pilfered before it reached Edward’s hands.

Therefore, all Edward was given was just black ballpoint pens that could only express black and white. It was an environment where creativity could hardly be born.

[It’s just one notebook. How am I supposed to make a textbook with this?]

[Don’t know. Me too. Just, do it. Boss, order.]

At the robotic, stiff way of speaking, Eddie grabbed his head. The conversation was understandable, but the more he talked, the more his head hurt.

Anyway, yeah, if it’s an order, I have to do it.

Eddie sat down in the living room with the others and picked up a ballpoint pen. Glaring at the youngster holding the three-color pen he didn’t have, Eddie took a deep breath.

Now that it’s come to this. I’ll do my best to make it. I’ll make a textbook so amazing that just looking at it will draw admiration!

The subject he had to teach was ‘English’. Though it gave him a headache to think about teaching this language he’d used like breathing since birth to those ignoramuses, still, he was Edward Sihelis.

He’ll manage somehow.

Seeing how they couldn’t understand even the most basic words, it seemed they didn’t even know the alphabet properly, so he should start by writing down the alphabet.

Since their mental age is young, it would be good to match the level of young children.

Eddie diligently moved his hand holding the pen.

From A to Z. Adding cute pictures and explanations alongside, a quite plausible first page was completed even to his own eyes.

‘Hmm, I might have quite a talent.’

That’s when someone screamed behind his head.

“What, why are you so good at this!”

Eddie, startled by the man who suddenly appeared behind him, shouted.

[Wh-what is it!]

“Wh-what!”

At the two people’s dumb and dumber show, Cha Song-jin sighed and shook his head.

“Why are you two acting like that?”

“Th-this bastard suddenly shouted at me.”

At Han Seo-hyeon’s words, Cha Song-jin blinked and said:

“Well, isn’t that because you shouted first?”

“Are you taking his side now?”

How could you! Han Seo-hyeon’s eyes were full of betrayal, but Cha Song-jin just tilted his head. His face showed he couldn’t understand why he felt betrayed when he just told the truth.

Seeing that face, Han Seo-hyeon realized.

That Cha Song-jin was not an easy person either.

“Anyway, look at what he drew.”

At Han Seo-hyeon’s words, Cha Song-jin craned his neck to look at the alphabet Eddie had drawn.

“Wow.”

It was quite good, enough to draw admiration.

Only then realizing that they had taken interest in the alphabet he drew, Eddie showed the textbook he made to everyone with a smug expression.

[Yeah, take a look.]

After examining the pictures, Cha Song-jin raised both hands and gave a thumbs up.

[Cool! Perfect!]

Seeing Cha Song-jin praising in English, Han Seo-hyeon shouted as if frustrated:

“No, I didn’t tell you to praise him!”

“I didn’t?”

No! Han Seo-hyeon, who shouted like that, pulled Cha Song-jin close and whispered:

“When the boss comes and sees that, what do you think he’ll think?”

“That he did well?”

“Right! That’s the problem. L-look at what I drew.”

Han Seo-hyeon, in charge of Korean, had also worked hard to make a textbook in his own way. Cha Song-jin opened the notebook Han Seo-hyeon secretly handed him from behind.

“Hmm…”

Han Seo-hyeon couldn’t even properly raise his head. Cha Song-jin tried to say some words of praise, but no matter how he looked at it, the quality was really poor. The handwriting was crooked, and as for what was supposed to be pictures, well. It was a shape scary enough to appear in nightmares.

If it was before seeing the textbook Eddie made, he might not have thought anything, but after seeing that? It looked particularly shabby.

“It-it’s because the materials were terrible!”

“Huh?”

Cha Song-jin tilted his head at Han Seo-hyeon’s words.

“Materials?”

“Yes! If I had nice materials too, huh? I could draw much better than that!”

No matter what the materials were, it didn’t seem like much would change given the terrible basic skills. That’s what Cha Song-jin thought, but his life was important, so he decided to just nod while keeping his mouth shut.

[What are you all talking about?]

At Eddie’s words, Cha Song-jin suddenly raised his head.

[We, talk. Shopping. Go?]

[Shopping?]

At Cha Song-jin’s words, Eddie’s eyes sparkled. He had been itching to move around after being stuck in this hotel, so this was perfect timing.

However, he could only pout at the words that followed.

[Textbook. Make. Shopping.]

[Aw, I got my hopes up.]

Eddie, who grumbled like that, asked Cha Song-jin:

[By the way, what’s your name?]

[Me? I’m…]

At that moment, Han Seo-hyeon, who had been quietly listening to the conversation between the two, cut in.

“He’s asking for your name, hyung?”

“Huh, how did you know that?”

“Do you think I’m an idiot! I can understand ‘what’s your name’ at least? I did properly go to middle school, you know.”

“You didn’t seem to know much for that…”

“What did you say?”

“Ah, nothing. A-anyway, why are you telling him the name?”

Cha Song-jin quickly changed the subject. Han Seo-hyeon, who glared, opened his mouth with a face that said he’d let it slide this time.

“Well, that guy is a temporary teacher. We can’t reveal our identities to someone who’ll leave here someday.”

Aha. Cha Song-jin, who read the situation, casually asked Han Seo-hyeon:

“Does he know that we’re ‘that’?”

“I’m not sure, did the boss say anything?”

“I-I don’t think so. Besides, I was just lying in the hospital room so I don’t know well. Shouldn’t you know?”

“No, our boss. He doesn’t share work with me well.”

I really like the boss, you know? I like him, but… Han Seo-hyeon, who opened his mouth like that, poured out words as if lamenting:

“Sometimes when he does things so recklessly like this, I really want to hit him hard.”

Cha Song-jin trembled slightly at the killing intent felt from those words. Wh-what! You’re suddenly getting seriously depressed! Kang Yi-sin, what on earth have you been doing!

While Han Seo-hyeon and Cha Song-jin were lamenting their situation and emitting a dark aura like that.

“I’m Kim Jae-ho.”

Kim Jae-ho told Eddie his name without any restraint. When Eddie blinked, not understanding those words, Kim Jae-ho opened his mouth again while pointing at himself with his finger.

“Jae-ho.”

Only then realizing that Kim Jae-ho was introducing himself, Eddie quickly repeated his name.

[Jaeiho.]

Kim Jae-ho’s face crumpled at that terrible pronunciation.

“Jae-ho.”

[Chaeho?]

Han Seo-hyeon, who belatedly realized Kim Jae-ho’s actions, ran to him.

“No, hyung, how could you just tell your name like that.”

“He can’t understand even if I tell him.”

“That’s not the important thing…”

“It is important! It’s my name.”

Kim Jae-ho was very proud of his name. He couldn’t help it since it was the name of a precious friend. What kind of name is this. Not even able to say it properly. Kim Jae-ho shouted at Eddie:

“Idiot!”

[Baabo?]

“What, did you just call me an idiot?”

[Nawduwo baaboragoo han guoya!]

“This bastard, he’s doing this on purpose! This!”

Han Seo-hyeon blocked Kim Jae-ho who was trying to rush at Eddie and said:

“Hyung, calm down, calm down! No, the boss will get angry if you beat that guy to death!”

Fortunately, thanks to Han Seo-hyeon’s restraint, a murder did not occur.

What on earth are we supposed to do in this situation? Cha Song-jin put his hands on his head like Munch’s The Scream. It was already a mess just because Kang Yi-sin disappeared.

Cha Song-jin desperately gathered his scattered reason.

Still, I’m the hyung. I’m the oldest among us. I’m an adult! Cha Song-jin shouted to everyone:

“F-first, everyone sit down!”

Cha Song-jin calmly sorted out the situation.

“For now, let’s decide on some titles we can use to call each other. That’ll make things easier for everyone, right?”

At Cha Song-jin’s words, Han Seo-hyeon and Kim Jae-ho nodded. Han Seo-hyeon stubbornly insisted he couldn’t reveal his name to someone who could leave anytime (though this stubbornness had no effectiveness at all since Kang Yi-sin would call Han Seo-hyeon’s name when he returned), and Kim Jae-ho stubbornly insisted he couldn’t call his name anything else.

Cha Song-jin, who intervened between the two, said to just decide whatever they liked, as long as it was something.

“Call me Han.”

“Jae-ho.”

“I’m Cha.”

[Eddie.]

After Cha Song-jin’s tearful traffic control, they were finally able to finish introducing themselves.

Anyway, the four people who somehow finished introductions like that went to a stationery store to buy materials to make textbooks.

There, the group swept up stationery with the card Kang Yi-sin had left.

And after returning to the hotel, they tried hard to somehow make better textbooks than ‘Edward’.

At first, they said everyone except Edward worked together putting their heads together. But Han Seo-hyeon, jealous of Cha Song-jin’s skills, got irritated, so Cha Song-jin fled to the dressing room, and well…

From then on, it was exactly as Kang Yi-sin saw.

After hearing that whole story, Kang Yi-sin gaped.

“So you were trying to make textbooks?”

“This is all because that bastard made such a good textbook!”

Han Seo-hyeon muttered with a reddened face.

“He should know to match the level appropriately. Who makes such an amazing thing all by themselves?”

“So you caused this mess because you thought you had to make something better than that guy?”

Looking at Han Seo-hyeon’s face unable to continue speaking out of shame, Kang Yi-sin soon started laughing while holding his stomach. After laughing like that for a while, Kang Yi-sin looked at the messy living room and said:

“Let’s all clean that up later.”

“…Okay.”

Kang Yi-sin patted Han Seo-hyeon’s dejected shoulders and said with a playful smile:

“Let’s eat hot dogs first.”

* * *

The next day, on the way to the casino. I found the kid crouched behind a bench in front of the casino. I handed him a hot dog I bought from the food truck as is.

“What’s this?”

“I forgot that outside food isn’t allowed and bought a hot dog.”

“Mister, you really are a busybody.”

The kid grumbled like that but accepted my hot dog. I shrugged and sat on the bench.

As we silently swallowed hot dogs like that, the kid suddenly said to me:

“I wish people like you wouldn’t go in there.”

I don’t know how this kid who knows nothing about me can say such things. I tried to brush off the kid’s words lightly.

“I wish kids like you weren’t in front of here too.”

“I don’t have a choice.”

The kid munching on the hot dog said to me.

Those words made my heart ache. Why is such a young kid saying things like this? I wanted to tell him:

What do you mean you don’t have a choice? Do you know how brilliant your life ahead could be to say such things? For a young kid like you, opportunities are everywhere. So don’t say such depressing things.

But the kid’s next words left me speechless.

“You have a choice, don’t you, mister?”

Seeing me unable to continue speaking for a while at those words, the kid said:

“Why are you looking at me with that expression?”

“…I don’t?”

“Huh?”

Choice. That’s not something that a guy like me would have.

“I don’t have a choice just as your father.”