Although a Villain, My Wish is World Peace

Nikki who saw me asked:

[Did you find out everything you wanted to know?]

[Yes.]

I learned the name of the organization holding the craftsman, and got information about the secret vault Diana had hidden here. This was a sufficiently productive time.

Nikki looked at me and said:

[Then shall we introduce ourselves again?]

[What?]

Before I could say anything, bewildered by those sudden words, Nikki said:

[My name is Jackie Lockwood. As you probably guessed, Nikki is not my real name, but a nickname.]

How can Jackie’s nickname be Nikki! The only thing they have in common is ‘ki’! Really, I can’t understand foreigners’ minds.

I answered with a sour face:

[Yes, nice to meet you.]

At my deflated greeting, Nikki twitched his eyebrow and said:

[Is that all?]

Was I supposed to have some great reaction when hearing Nikki’s name?

Come to think of it, maybe this was when I should have acted out something like ‘Gasp! To think you’re here!’?

But even after hearing the name Jackie Lockwood, nothing came to mind. Something was tickling my brain, but there wasn’t anything that felt like ‘this is it’.

It certainly feels like a famous hunter whose name I should know, but the problem is I’m not American.

At times like this, the answer is to be brazen.

[Well, what kind of reaction do you want?]

At my words, Nikki burst out laughing.

[Right, I guess. This would be a normal self-introduction. I’m silly too, I’ve been living under the delusion that I’m an incredibly famous person.]

—It doesn’t seem like a delusion though.

‘Well, she does look that way.’

Isn’t it more accurate that I just don’t know much about America? Meanwhile, seeing Han Seo-hyeon searching for something on his phone, it seems he was trying to somehow interpret our conversation using a translator again.

[Then have you perhaps never heard the name Black Comet?]

Black Comet?

—You don’t know?

‘No…’

—You really only know Taika among American hunters.

‘Well, I wasn’t in charge of the American awakener side!’

To think they assigned the American side to someone else after teaching me English.

I mostly only went to China for business trips too.

Ahem, anyway, Nikki’s second self-introduction ended like that. It would have been good if we went our separate ways here, but unfortunately, Nikki looked at me and asked for my name.

[Then what’s your name?]

[Didn’t I tell you last time?]

[You told me a name that’s obviously fake.]

That’s too much. Someone is really living their whole life with that name. But it is a name that’s like the epitome of fake names. It was actually fake too.

I could just throw out another name and be done with it, but my mouth wouldn’t open easily. Seeing me hesitating to give my name, Nikki shrugged.

[It’s okay if you don’t want to tell me. Instead, I’d like you to clearly explain this situation. I just let it go earlier because I was flustered, but thinking about it, there are quite a few strange things.]

I guess she needs an answer she can accept. Giving that answer wasn’t too difficult.

I said what I thought Nikki would most want to hear in this situation:

[We came from China.]

My words that started like that continued into natural lies. It wasn’t a complete lie. It’s true that Major Justin Hotel & Casino was taken over by Chinese gang capital, and it’s true that illegal things were happening at that casino.

Especially at the mention of artifacts installed in slot machines to mesmerize people, Nikki clicked her tongue.

[Damn, I did think people here were overly passionate about slot machines…]

[Hmm, that’s certainly true.]

[So you came from China to investigate this?]

[Yes, I’ve mostly found the truth I wanted, but there’s still more to find out. Though I can’t tell you about the investigation.]

Nikki completely fell for my lies mixed with some truth. I didn’t even need to use my ability.

[Then what are you planning to do now?]

[I plan to organize the remaining data here and find other victims.]

[Other victims?]

[There are people who were taken to the mansion with me.]

[Ah, right. Those people were there?]

I gently threw words at Nikki who was looking surprised.

[Shouldn’t you return to your friends, Nikki? They must be worried.]

[You’re right.]

Nikki said to me in a fluster:

[Can I borrow your phone?]

I willingly lent my phone to Nikki. This would expose my contact information too, but it was a phone I was going to discard when leaving America anyway. After contacting her friends, Nikki said to me:

[You said you need to investigate the remaining data here, right? Go investigate.]

[Yes, and Nikki…]

[Oh, don’t worry about me and do your work comfortably. I’ll sit here.]

Nikki cleared away a collapsed corpse and sat on the chair.

As expected of a professional hunter. I was impressed by her composed attitude even in this situation.

Well, anyway. I said to Han Seo-hyeon and Kim Jae-ho:

“Let’s go to the second floor.”

On the second floor here was the secret vault Diana had carefully hidden. I opened the vault door.

Han Seo-hyeon who opened the vault door exclaimed:

“Wow. This was the real gold mine.”

There we were able to obtain an enormous amount of cash and precious metals, as well as various documents.

Unlike the mansion where we couldn’t find any information, here valuable documents popped up everywhere we touched.

Diana said she was being played by Sea Star Society, and unfortunately, that seems to be somewhat true.

The decision-making power was not with her, but with Sea Star Society in China. Of course, Diana wasn’t just being played either.

Diana was secretly siphoning off money behind Sea Star Society’s back and preparing for independence.

If things had gone as originally planned, Diana would have successfully become independent. Sea Star Society, driven into a corner by Red Society, would have lost power and become unable to exert influence overseas.

I roughly gathered those documents. It was too late for me to clean up this incident alone anyway. I can hand them over along with the request to deal with the drugs.

I decided to take the precious metals and cash in the vault through Han Seo-hyeon.

“This…”

“…Yes.”

With an entirely cold attitude, Han Seo-hyeon put the precious metals I handed over into his sand. Even in this suffocating atmosphere, Kim Jae-ho was bright.

“We’re rich!”

At Kim Jae-ho’s words, I felt a sense of crisis.

‘Doesn’t it seem like Jae-ho has been talking about money a lot lately?’

—Come to think of it, didn’t he take an autograph saying he had to sell it last time too?

Since when did our Jae-ho start acting like such a slave to capitalism?

—In my opinion, I think you coming to the casino was the start of the decline.

‘The casino is innocent!’

—Innocent my foot!

Is it really because of me? I stared at Kim Jae-ho’s face, but Kim Jae-ho’s eyes were still just clear. I couldn’t see any filth of dirty capitalism.

It meant there was still plenty of opportunity to fix it.

After thoroughly cleaning out the secret vault, we went back down to the first floor. Ignoring Han Seo-hyeon’s resentful gaze from the side, I went to Nikki.

[We’re going to the mansion now.]

[Oh, I’ll go with you.]

[With us?]

[Yeah! You weren’t thinking of leaving me here alone, were you?]

“Are we taking that person too?”

At Nikki’s words, Han Seo-hyeon said to me:

“Even so, leaving her here…”

“I lent her my phone earlier. She can tell her friends to come.”

“What are her friends, a call taxi? Tell her to have them come here.”

“Boss seems to use me like a call taxi though…”

He’s upset, he’s upset. He’s really quite upset. But fortunately, it seems he only said that, as Han Seo-hyeon willingly let Nikki ride on the sand bird.

[Wow! This is amazing!]

Seeing that his expression didn’t brighten even at Nikki’s praise, it seems he was really upset this time, but well…

Arriving at Diana’s mansion, I immediately looked for John. John who had been pacing outside the warehouse ran over with a bright face as soon as he saw me.

[You’re here!]

[Yes, have you been well? The others…]

[Ah, they’ve all woken up! They’re all so angry that…]

Bang, bang bang!

The warehouse door shook.

[What’s that?]

[Th-they tried to hit me so I had no choice…]

[How could you lock them up for that?]

[Hahaha.]

John scratched the back of his head while grinning broadly.

—He doesn’t seem normal either.

‘No. John is, John is a good person!’

He’s just a little twisted from living such a harsh life.

I immediately opened the warehouse door. The people who saw my face looked at me with shocked expressions.

[Y-you!]

[You’re one of them too!]

Somehow this was a familiar development.

[Don’t misunderstand. I’m here to rescue you.]

[That’s right, I came to rescue you too.]

Nikki waved from behind. The victims who came to their senses all had puzzled faces.

[Get the details from Nikki here.]

[From me?]

[Yes, please. Ah, and there’s transportation here too, so please take those people to a safe place. I did rescue you, didn’t I?]

I was completely exhausted. I didn’t want to be bothered by people anymore. Nikki opened her eyes wide and tilted her head.

[Rescue? I think I got out on my own though…]

[Argh, anyway I brought you this far! Please!]

—Is that how you ask for a favor?

‘I’m tired! I want to rest!’

Seeing my tired expression, Nikki nodded.

[Alright! I’ll take responsibility from now on! All victims come over here.]

With a cheerful voice that didn’t match the situation, Nikki took all the victims and disappeared somewhere.

Now the only people left in this spacious mansion were Han Seo-hyeon, Kim Jae-ho, and John.

[Mr. John Smith…]

The moment I faced John, a belated sense of guilt rose up.

[Let’s talk for a moment first.]

Unlike the others who had places to go, John had nowhere to go. Moreover, unlike them, he was also a person who belonged to Diana.

After Nikki and the people left, John cautiously asked me:

[Is Diana really dead?]

I nodded at that question. John’s expression became complicated.

[I don’t know if I should say I feel relieved, or what I should say.]

John was an affectionate person. No matter how much she was someone who manipulated him at will, he must have grown attached after living together for years.

[You might think it’s really funny if you hear this, but thinking that even Diana is gone makes me feel somehow lonely. It’s strange, isn’t it? She was really a bad person. A terrible person to me and to others…]

Somehow, I felt like I could understand John’s feelings as he said that.