I Woke Up as the Villain

”What? Khahaha! ” Choi Woo-Jae burst into laughter again.

Kim Pil-Doo smiled bitterly.
He hadn’t said it simply to make Choi Woo-Jae feel good.
Even though it was only the beginning, Choi Yu-Seong ’s growth was exponential.

‘He is also lucky and fearless.’ 

Pil-Doo thought that of Yu-Seong for a very good reason.
He was certain that no one else in the Comet Group had caught Choi Woo-Jae’s attention in such a short time.
Seeing how Yu-Seong’s actions were always what Woo-Jae wanted and liked, it was only natural that Woo-Jae favored him.

The thing was, Woo-Jae could not be understood through logic or common sense.

Kim Pil-Doo thought that Choi Woo-Jae ’s interest was not much different from a poisoned chalice.
However, the fact that Choi Yu-Seong had not been poisoned after drinking from the poisoned chalice made Pil-Doo highly appreciative of Yu-Seong ’s luck.
Of course, he had no clue what was going to happen in the future, since certain poisons gnawed at the body and mind silently and without knowledge.

‘And Choi Yu-Seong clearly knows that the chalice he is drinking from is poisoned.’ 

What if Yu-Seong fearlessly gulped down from the poisoned chalice and was lucky enough to absorb it all?

’Then a monster would be born.’ 

As mentioned before, there were no guarantees that Choi Yu-Seong could reach the finish line.
However, there was no doubt that if the young man moved at this pace, he would be able to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with his other siblings in a somewhat even competition.

”Okay, then, how about a bet instead of a suggestion? ” asked Woo-Jae.

”Sir, isn ’t that six of one and half a dozen of the other? ” said Pil-Doo.

“Hey, do you really think I just want to make fun of you? Let ’s make the opponent the fifth, not the third.”

Kim Pil-Doo recalled Choi In-Young, the fifth child of Choi ’s Comet Group.
Then, he realized that Choi Woo-Jae had had this conversation in mind from the beginning.

‘It ’s only a matter of time before Choi Yu-Seong gets ahead of Choi Jin-Woo.
But it’ll be different with Choi In-Young.’ 

Choi In-Young was one of the family’s monsters that Kim Pil-Doo could think of.
She was a terrible hybrid who once drank from the poisoned chalice just like Choi Yu-Seong was doing, but she had abandoned the chalice and embraced only the poison.

There was no way that Choi Woo-Jae had not thought of something that Kim Pil-Doo had thought of.
From the beginning, Choi Woo-Jae had brought up Choi Jin-Woo just to drag out the conversation to this point in order to stack the deck.

”What do you think? Since I suggested this bet, I ’m going to bet on Yu-Seong.
Do you still consider this as an order?” asked Woo-Jae.

Kim Pil-Doo looked up at Choi Woo-Jae, whose deep gaze did not reveal his inner thoughts.
In fact, knowing that he essentially had no choice, Pil-Doo said, ”How could I say no to you? It ’s just that…”

He had to make sure he received everything that he should.

”What do I get if I win?”

Choi Woo-Jae grinned.
This was a common trait between Choi Yu-Seong, Choi In-Young, and Kim Pil-Doo.

‘They are greedy.’

Aside from their ability, Choi Woo-Jae very much favored their attitude.
He also clearly knew what Kim Pil-Doo wanted.
He offered, ”I ’ll give you the authority to officially seek this position.”

”Does that mean…? ” asked Pil-Doo.

“Your name will become Choi Pil-Doo.
What do you think? ”

Choi Woo-Jae ’s eyes shone as brightly as the scales of a snake.

‘You clever old man.’ 

Pil-Doo knew that Choi Woo-Jae never intended to give Pil-Doo his last name.
The man had absolute faith in his blood relatives.
Nevertheless, the reason for the above conditions actually suggested one thing.

‘You think I ’m going to lose, don’t you?’ 

Even if Kim Pil-Doo won the bet, he wouldn’t be able to win the chairmanship in the end.
There was no way that Woo-Jae’s blood relatives would leave Kim Pil-Doo alone once he threw himself right into Choi ’s Comet Group.

’We ’ll see who wins.’ 

Pill-Doo swallowed the bitter taste and looked at Woo-Jae.
He wondered if Woo-Jae knew that the look in their eyes was the same.

”I ’m honored, sir. ”

”There are a lot of interesting bets these days that I can enjoy.
By the way, Secretary Kim.
You have a meeting with Chairman Yoo tomorrow, right?”

As such, the big event which would change the whole future of Kim Pil-Doo passed so casually.

***

Three days passed, and Choi Min-Seok spent that time feeling nervous.
He trembled in fear when he saw the guest who had come to visit him.

”What ’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost or something. ”

”You, you… ” Choi Min-Seok stuttered at Choi Yu-Seong, who entered the house with a smile.
Hardening his expression, he asked, ”Why did you come to my house? ”

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Min-Seok was still a member of the Choi family, so his emotional turmoil did not last long.
However, Yu-Seong did not seem to care about his reaction.

”Is it a problem for brothers to visit each other? Anyway… should we talk here or somewhere else?” asked Yu-Seong.

Choi Min-Seok frowned, trying to read in between the lines.
Being cautious, he had hired three security hunters above B-rank, and around them were also some housemaids who helped with the housework.
There were too many eyes around them.
He wanted to believe that it was not a big deal, but what if Choi Yu-Seong had come after uncovering everything?

‘It would be better if there is no one listening.’ 

But what if that wasn’t the case? If Choi Yu-Seong had come to harm him, Min-Seok had to have the security hunters near him.

‘What should I do?’ 

Looking at the worried Choi Min-Seok, Yu-Seong approached the living room sofa.
”Well, if you ’re worried, let ’s just talk here. ”

”No! Let ’s go to my room! ” Min-Seok shouted.

He quickly blocked Yu-Seong’s way.
His heart was pounding as he trembled.
He had blocked the way hurriedly without much thought because the uncertainty was worrying him greatly.

Choi Yu-Seong smiled and shrugged his shoulders.
”Lead the way. ”

Choi Min-Seok led the way, and the security hunters looked at Yu-Seong with wary eyes before following them.
Min-Seok spoke about 100 meters away from his room.

”You guys wait here.
I need to talk to my brother. ”

He had the security hunters on standby in a position where they could come to save him at any time and lead Yu-Seong into his room.

Choi Yu-Seong then sat close to the sofa in the room like he was the homeowner.
He asked, ”What are you doing? Why don ’t you sit down? ”

Choi Min-Seok could feel it intuitively this time.

‘Ah, this guy knows everything!’

His every step to the sofa felt heavy.
His mind was full of complicated thoughts, so each step forward wasn’t easy at all.

”Are you that scared?”

Choi Min-Seok paused at Choi Yu-Seong ’s question.

”Then why did you do that? ” asked Yu-Seong.

Choi Min-Seok decided to stop overthinking.
he asked, ”…What do you want? ”

”What? ”

”Damn, I ’m asking you what you want!”

”Oh, I guess you haven ’t figured it out yet.” Yu-Seong took out the file from his briefcase and threw it to Choi Min-Seok, who hurriedly caught it.

Min-Seok read through the file and turned pale.
The file was thick with a pile of papers, all of which contained details of his criminal activities, his overseas bank accounts, traces of alliances with government and business, voice messages he had sent to threaten Yu-Seong’s life, photos of him making a deal for the mana stone bomb at the time of Lee Jin-Wook ’s incident, and even some minor things that were unknown to him.
The information had all been collected by Jenny.

”How, how could you… ” asked Min-Seok in a shaky voice.

Choi Yu-Seong continued to talk after yawning.
“Let me get straight to the point.
I don ’t intend to hand the file over to the police because there are a lot of problems that could embarrass our whole family.
But I ’m certainly going to show it to Father.”

Choi Min-Seok immediately fell to his knees and began to beg Choi Yu-Seong for forgiveness.
”Yu, Yu-Seong, you can ’t hand this over to Father.
You know what will happen, right? If I get caught with all of this, I’ll be done for. ”

He would be driven out of the family immediately, and all his power and wealth would be taken away.
In that case, the only thing left in Choi Min-Seok ’s life would be to fall into hell.

”Then you should have lived a good life.
Too many people died because of you.”

”Yu-Seong, no, Yu-Seong-nim.
Please…! ” begged Min-Seok.
He crawled toward Choi Yu-Seong, who was sitting on the sofa.
Then, he continued to rub his hands and bow his head.
He couldn’t afford to be abandoned by the family.
He was desperate to be forgiven because knew better than anyone else that his suffering would be worse than death.

Yu-Seong looked at Choi Min-Seok indifferently.

”Please, I ’ll do whatever you tell me to do.
Anything.
I ’ll tell you who told me to slander you.
I ’ll tell you, sir! I mean it, please…”

“It was Choi In-Young, wasn ’t it?”

Choi Min-Seok could not hide his surprised expression.
He was hoping to use that name as a bargaining chip, so he didn’t expect it to be revealed so quickly.
Moreover, Choi Yu-Seong ’s eyes seemed to look into him so thoroughly that he felt naked.

The look in Yu-Seong’s eyes reminded Choi Min-Seok of someone.

‘Father…’

Choi Yu-Seong reminded Min-Seok of Choi Woo-Jae, the absolute king of their family who always sat high above and looked down at them.

”I ’ll give you one chance, Choi Min-Seok.
I won ’t let you get kicked out of this family.
Instead, you ’ll have to give me the majority of what you ’ve been enjoying so far, ” said Yu-Seong.

”Bu-, but this is…”

”I’ve already got permission from Father.
Let ’s start with this house.
How many buildings and cars do you have? Oh, and I ’m sure you manage a team with your influential power.”

”Yu-Seong-nim, if you take all that away from me… ”

”But at least your last name ‘Choi’ will remain, right?”

Choi Yu-Seong was right.
If Min-Seok gave up his last name, there wouldn’t ever be an opportunity for him to climb back up again.
This was especially true if Choi Woo-Jae found out about what he had done.

Choi Yu-Seong continued to talk to Min-Seok, who had his back against the wall with no escape.
”And you know who was managing the slush funds created by the dead Choi Byung-Chan, right? ”

”Not up to that point…. ”

”You don’t? If you don ’t know, go and find out.
I ’ll give you two days. ”

”What? ”

“Also, investigate and collect all the external forces created by Choi Byung-Chan.
I’ll give you two days to find this out as well. ”

”Now, wait, there ’s so much work to be done… ” Choi Min-Seok answered anxiously.

However, Choi Yu-Seong did not stop talking.
“The important thing is that you should not be caught by anyone while doing this.
If other siblings find out about this and I ’m in trouble, then… I ’ll leave the next thing to your imagination.”

”I ’ll do it, I will.
But I ’m saying it’s a race against the clock! ”

”Is it a race against the clock? ”

”Yes, I mean, yes, sir. ”

Choi Yu-Seong smiled and looked at the watch on his wrist.
”But you’re still here. ”

”What? ”

”What are you doing? Go out and run! ”

Choi Min-Seok became frightened at those words and quickly ran out of his room.
Having reaffirmed the fact that Choi Yu-Seong did not intend to give him any more time, he wrecked his brains to figure out how to handle things as secretly and quickly as possible.

‘So there’s a lot of work to be done…
Damn it, it ’s too much.’ 

Choi Min-Seok became desperate for the first time in his life and had to think and run with all his might.