Second Year of Villain Life (2)

“It’s been a while.”

A few days after receiving news from Haru.

Maker visited Roy’s laboratory.

“It’s really hard to see your face.”

“Well, I’m a very busy person. But I’m still hearing monthly progress reports from Haru-ssi without fail.”

“Even so, there’s a big difference between hearing about it and seeing it directly. Anyway, welcome.”

Roy with his usual blunt expression.

However, from his tone and actions alone, one could tell that he was welcoming Maker.

His eyes were burning with passion, as if he wanted to show his results as soon as possible.

‘..Well, it’s good to have passion, I guess.’

Although those overly passionate eyes were a bit burdensome to Maker, he thought that good things were good and didn’t make much of it.

“Follow me.”

Roy led Maker and started walking ahead.

“Take this, it’s the result data so far.”

After arriving, he handed the research data directly to Maker and began explaining.

“First, we worked on stabilizing the drug for the terrorism, and also considered how to accumulate more diverse data in one terrorism event…”

And the explanation continued for quite a long time.

Despite the potentially boring conversation, Maker showed maximum concentration, and Roy also enthusiastically explained in response.

“Excellent. With this level, there shouldn’t be any errors in the terrorism.”

In conclusion, his research satisfied Maker’s requirements.

“Now it seems we just need to cleanly finish the terrorism preparations.”

There was nothing to criticize about the research material.

Through the research so far, they had eliminated as many variables as possible and made it into a form much closer to practical use.

‘This should be enough to go back and forth with ability users? It seems to be at a level where we can barely win.’

The difficulty was good, and personally, it could be considered satisfactory research.

Maker thought for a moment about what kind of terrorism to commit with this research material.

‘Seeing that it’s divided into types, a wave format would be good for this terrorism. Starting from stage 1, which is weak but easy to handle, and gradually increasing the difficulty. And then..’

After thinking for a while like that.

Maker, having roughly finished his thoughts, grinned and extended his hand towards Roy.

“Good work, Roy-ssi. It seems choosing you was indeed a good decision.”

“……”

“Roy-ssi?”

“Ah.”

Roy looked at Maker’s extended hand with a stiff expression.

Then he took the hand.

His face was full of bewilderment.

“I’m sorry. It’s the first time someone has acknowledged me.”

At his subsequent words, Maker asked quizzically.

“What about the Chief Researcher? Didn’t he acknowledge your research?”

“The Chief Researcher didn’t say such things to me. He just said he’d let me participate in the main project if I brought it.”

Roy released the handshake and blankly clenched his two hands tightly.

“So this is how it feels to be acknowledged by someone.”

Eyes filled with a strange ecstasy.

They seemed somewhat crazed, but they were the eyes of someone who had purely tasted the thrill of success and recognition.

He stared at Maker with a serious expression.

“I’ll work hard on the terrorism too.”

“Uh, um.. Yes. Fighting.”

And seeing him like that, I could only cheer for Roy halfheartedly.

---

The day after somehow finishing the conversation with Roy.

I was heading to her office due to a sudden summons from Astra.

‘What’s going on?’

I’ve already finished reporting on the Black Night that happened before, and I shouldn’t have skipped any work?

Is she going to assign a new mission?

She said she had something to talk about, and it didn’t feel like I was going to be scolded, so that guess seemed right.

Thinking that, just as I was opening the door.

Whack-!

Clang-!

As soon as I opened the door, a sharp sword came swinging to cut my neck in an instant.

Without even thinking, I instinctively created a shield at the impact point to block it.

“What-“

Swoosh-!

Before I could be surprised, the assailant’s sword came flying again.

This time it was a straight thrust.

The location the assailant was aiming for seemed to be an organ attached to the torso.

Thud!

Taking advantage of the fact that there was a door standing, I pulled my body back as much as possible and strongly closed the door with enough force to break the sword, defending against the attack.

Crack! Crackle!!

Of course, probably because it was sturdy, the sword didn’t break.

‘What’s this all of a sudden? Where did Astra go?’

Perhaps due to the sudden attack.

My head wasn’t working properly.

‘Calm down. You can think about that later.’

The only thing to think about now is that I need to survive somehow.

Clearing the confusion from my mind, adrenaline started to secrete strongly.

Woong-

The particles in my hand instantly formed mass, and soon a grenade with usable explosive power was completed.

Ting-!

‘Eat this and get lost!’

Timing it with the sword coming through the gap in the door, I stomped on the sword and kicked the door open.

The door opened wide like that.

Wheeee-!!

I was about to throw the grenade, but I was a bit surprised, contrary to expectations, at the sharp silver color visible before my eyes.

‘What? How did it withstand the recoil that should have been on the sword?’

According to the original expectation, the opponent should have lost grip on the sword, or at least been unable to respond for a moment due to the sudden recoil.

However, contrary to expectations, the sword was flying straight towards my neck.

‘Shit.’

It’s awkward to dodge, a situation where I need to protect my neck with the resolve to lose at least one arm.

Wooong-!!!

It was do or die.

I instantly activated my ability and equipped all sorts of protective gear on the arm I was going to sacrifice.

Not only that, after plastering minerals that hadn’t even properly taken shape all over my body.

Swish-!

With the opposite arm, I strongly swung the grenade towards right behind the assailant.

Just as an intense explosion sound and the sound of metal clashing were about to be heard together.

“Stop.”

Along with a familiar voice that landed heavily, the falling grenade and the sword flying towards my neck stopped in mid-air.

At the sight of them stopping in mid-air as if physical force had completely disappeared, I turned my head to look in the direction the voice came from.

“..Astra-nim?”

“..Sword Ghost. What on earth are you doing? I thought I only heard about a simple test?”

Astra, muttering quietly with a cold expression.

What, she’s alive?

‘What’s going on?’

I rolled my eyes for a moment as if assessing the situation.

“Answer me. Sword Ghost.”

“Ah~ Sorry sorry~”

Following Astra’s gaze, what I saw when I quietly moved my eyes was a middle-aged man with an embarrassed expression.

“It got more fun than I expected while fighting, so before I knew it.. haha.”

“..You call that an explanation now!!”

“Gwaak!!”

The middle-aged man’s nonsensical babbling ended lamely with her punishment.

‘Shabby clothes, a middle-aged man carrying a sword. And he treats Astra this familiarly.. damn, I think I roughly know.’

Having roughly finished assessing the situation, I let out a sigh.

---

“So, you’re saying this person is another executive who has returned after carrying out missions in other regions.”

“..His name is Sword Ghost. He’s in charge of one pillar of our organization’s military force, at least in name.”

“Hey, what do you mean ‘at least in name’?”

“Shut up..”

Astra holding back her anger, and the middle-aged man quipping beside her.

I looked at that sight incredulously.

Sword Ghost.

True to his name, a fighting demon obsessed with swords.

While his uniquely stubborn personality makes many people struggle, he’s a man who has proudly put his name among Eclipse’s executives with his insane, ghost-like fighting skills.

‘Finally meeting him.’

I heard that he had gone on an overseas mission before I joined, and has just now returned.

I nodded and gave a small greeting.

“I’ve heard your name many times. Sword Ghost-nim. Nice to meet you.”

“Yeah. Nice to meet you too. Sorry for pointing my sword at you when we first met. Once my switch is flipped, it’s hard to stop me, you see.”

Sword Ghost says, looking embarrassed.

By the way, what he’s saying isn’t an excuse, but his real tendency.

Should I call it a kind of mental illness?

‘Well, it’s not right to say anything to someone with a mental illness.’

It felt similar to not calling an idiot an idiot.

“It’s alright. I understand.”

“Really?! Hahaha!! You, you’re a good kid!”

If he wasn’t useful and wasn’t an executive, I would have only thought about putting a hole in his head, mental illness or not.. but as long as he’s useful, I should treat him well.

I nodded and accepted his apology.

Astra, seeing that I accepted the apology, didn’t seem to have any intention of saying anything more.

The atmosphere that had become somewhat harmonious like that.

“By the way, why were you so late? It wasn’t a mission that should have taken this long, right?”

“Ah, that? I got tangled up with some crazy fanatics along the way, and things got complicated.”

At Astra’s question, Sword Ghost thought for a moment as if recalling the past and continued speaking.

Sword Ghost spent all his time in Egypt during the period when I joined the organization as an executive and was about to reach my second year.

The purpose was an artifact in Egypt that Astra had designated.

They were sent to Egypt out of the blue for the sake of restoring the boss’s health.

“I managed to come back somehow, but I wandered a lot and made a lot of enemies in the meantime, so it was quite troublesome.”

“You must have had a hard time.”

“Phew, don’t even mention it. I don’t know how much I rolled around with that crazy Poppy bastard.”

Sword Ghost chuckles and sips the tea placed on the table.

He turns his head to look at me with an “Ah” sound.

“I wonder if our newbie knows about Poppy?”

“I’ve mentioned him a few times before, but this is probably the first time Maker is seeing him directly.”

“I see~”

..Actually, I know well what he looks like too. Though from the original work.

Somehow, an atmosphere naturally settled that it was natural for me not to know, so I nodded with an awkward smile.

“You must be talking about Black Wolf-nim? It’s indeed my first time meeting him face to face, but I’ve heard the name a few times.”

The character Black Wolf was personally one I disliked in the original work.

He was a hot-tempered and rude character.

‘I’d like to avoid him if possible, but it can’t be helped since I’ve become an executive of Eclipse.’

Thinking that and holding back a sigh inwardly for a moment.

Suddenly having a question, I lifted my head and looked around left and right.

“By the way, where is Black Wolf-nim? I assume Sword Ghost-nim didn’t return to Korea alone.”

“Ah, that guy? I guess it should be about time for him to arrive.”

Did you really leave him behind and come first?

Seeing Astra’s nonchalant appearance, it didn’t seem like this was the first or second time.

‘An executive abandoning a fellow executive and returning.’

What kind of crazy organization is this?

Bang-!

Just as I was thinking that, something with a large form walked in, forcefully opening the door.

A long snout that was clearly different from a human’s, and sharp eyes like a bird of prey.

“Yo- You’re here?”

“Grr.. Here, my ass!”

The man with the form of a black wolf approached Sword Ghost in large strides and shook him by the collar.

“You crazy sword maniac, you left me behind and came?!”

“What are you talking about? You’re the one who took the wrong path.”

“What?!”

Grrrr!!

The man whose eyes had gone wild opened his large mouth wide and started chewing on Sword Ghost’s head.

“Ah! Ow ow ow ow!! You bastard!! Aaaagh!!”

Sword Ghost screaming and tapping on the black fur in response.

The situation that unfolded in an instant was bewildering on one hand, but somehow seemed amusing.

‘It really is amazing seeing it in person.’

Not just ears and a tail like Lir, but the appearance of a perfect bipedal wolf.

If Lir was a mainstream character that didn’t provoke strong likes or dislikes, this guy had an appearance that somehow seemed like rich people with suspiciously large amounts of money would like.

‘Is that Black Wolf?’

Eclipse’s last executive and an ability user with ‘Anthropomorphization’.

It was a few minutes later, after he put on a sign saying “I bit someone because I went crazy” and a muzzle, that I was able to have a proper conversation with him.