A familiar female voice rang out through the endlessly dark void.
[An ability exceeding the default specifications has been detected. Please acquire 'martial arts' first.]
Martial arts.
Really? Martial arts?
The corners of Kang Woojin's mouth curled up. The empty space was about to hand him another ability.
To be honest, when he had read Beneficial Evil, he had thought, 'There are a lot of action scenes in this, aren't there?' So he had been hoping for something like this.
'Can I really acquire something like combat too?'
He had not been sure. But in Episodes 1 and 2 of Beneficial Evil, the male lead subduing people, defending himself, using fighting techniques, and resorting to violence had all left a strong impression.
The details of that past were still vague.
In the first two episodes, the male lead's background had not been laid out clearly. It might come later as the story progressed, but at the start it was barely mentioned. Because of that, the techniques he used were shown only indirectly rather than described in any concrete way.
In other words, unlike language, speech, or cooking, it had not been spelled out clearly.
Still, now that he was being given everything the character possessed, would even the martial arts movements settle into his body? That was what Woojin thought.
But what he was about to gain was not just the motions.
He was about to learn martial arts itself.
Kang Woojin marveled once again at the power of the void space and spoke toward the robotic female voice, but the voice gave no reply.
"I don't know exactly what this is, but thank you for teaching me martial arts."
As if answering him, the woman's voice spread through the empty space once more.
["Preparing to read martial arts..."]
["...Preparation complete. Beginning martial arts reading now."]
Soon, an enormous gray light swallowed Kang Woojin whole.
He had experienced this many times already, but he could never get used to it. In an instant, everything turned from black to gray, and a cold sensation prickled low in his abdomen.
But this time, something was different.
"Huh? What is this?"
Kang Woojin was not floating in the gray space.
Cut.
He could feel the ground beneath his feet. Or maybe it was not really ground. He could not tell for sure. What he did know was that his feet were planted on an unpleasant gray surface, one solid enough to support his weight.
He could even walk on it.
Woojin slowly scanned the space around him.
"..."
It was silent. Nothing happened.
Tilting his head a little, he crouched and brushed the gray surface with his hand. It was strange. It looked like nothing but gray, yet it felt as though he were sweeping fine dust aside.
That was when it happened.
Cut.
A brief gust brushed across Kang Woojin's cheek as he crouched there. It was the kind of sensation that announced someone's presence. A cold chill passed over his forearm, and he slowly lifted his head.
"Ah, damn. That startled me."
Something was standing about five steps in front of him.
No, something.
Could he even call it a person? Woojin flinched slightly at the sight before him. The reason was simple. What stood there was nothing more than the silhouette of a human being. Its height and build were almost the same as his, but unlike Woojin, it had only one color.
Black.
From head to toe, it was completely black. A shadow? Yes, shadow seemed like the right word. It looked as if Kang Woojin's shadow had risen up and was standing in front of him.
He lifted his right arm, wondering whether the figure would mirror him. If it did, then it really would be just a shadow.
But it did not move.
"...No."
What is this?
Woojin's body tensed.
"Oh?"
Then, without warning, his stiff body began to move on its own. It felt forced, as though someone else were guiding it. Like acting.
Kang Woojin slowly approached the standing shadow and threw a punch at its blank black face.
But—
Whoosh!
The shadow blocked his fist. It caught the punch, and before the recoil had even finished, it seized Woojin by the throat and slammed him down. In an instant, Kang Woojin hit the gray floor.
He felt no pain or discomfort.
But the action had happened, and his perspective changed.
"...What?"
Kang Woojin's body was lying on the ground.
He could not tell whether he was lying down or floating inside the grayness, but he was unmistakably stretched out on his back, staring upward. Everything had happened too fast for him to understand. All he could do was blink.
Then the shadow entered his field of view.
To be exact, the black figure seemed to be looking down at the Kang Woojin lying there.
Then—
Cut.
The black figure slowly pressed itself into the Kang Woojin on the ground. It began merging with his body. And in that instant, Woojin felt it.
"Ah."
Something had been engraved into his mind.
·
·
·
·
After that, Kang Woojin reappeared.
-[9/Script (Title: Beneficial Evil), S+ Grade]
Having acquired martial arts, he returned once more to the world of Beneficial Evil.
["Preparing the script for 'A: Jang Yeonwoo'..."]
["...Preparation complete. This is a highly complete script or scenario. Realization rate is 100%. Beginning reading now."]
Jang Yeonwoo.
That was the name from Beneficial Evil.
The world around him had changed, and so had the weather.
The sunlight was so fierce that sweat poured off him like rain. Kang Woojin stood there, clearly feeling the scorching heat against his forearms and scalp. The direct sunlight was blinding.
Then a flood of things poured into his mind.
Kang Woojin tasted sweetness in his mouth. He lifted his right hand and pulled something out.
A pink lollipop.
Strawberry flavor?
Ah, right.
He realized that his mind was overflowing with thoughts of cigarettes.
"Tch."
He wanted a cigarette. He wanted one badly. That craving and irritation filled his head.
Of course they did. Emotions, senses, moods, and even this world itself had been forced into him.
Yes.
This was another reality.
And Kang Woojin was Jang Yeonwoo.
Jang Yeonwoo was wearing a suit in the middle of this heat. It fit him perfectly, though he was not wearing a tie. Sweat slid down inside his shirt, sticky and unpleasant.
Woojin let out a deep sigh.
"Ha, summer is hell."
His voice was moderately low. The name Jang Yeonwoo did not sound dramatic. Nothing about him stood out in any special way.
His haircut was ordinary. His build was ordinary. Even the slight frown on his face was common enough. If anything, he looked absentminded.
He was plain.
Except for one thing.
His eyes held too much.
They were unnaturally deep. Dangerous. Threatening.
Woojin glanced around. He was standing in the middle of a fairly large apartment complex.
Right then—
Dududududu!!
A foreign car with a strange, roaring engine sound swept past him. The bizarre noise drew the attention of everyone in the complex. The car stopped right beside the entrance to the underground parking garage.
It was a no-parking zone.
"..."
Kang Woojin let out a wide yawn as he watched the foreign car closely. Just then, an older security guard who looked kind at a glance noticed it while picking up trash.
"Sir. You can't park there."
The elderly guard walked over. At that same moment, the driver's door opened.
A man stepped out wearing a tight short-sleeved shirt and shorts. His solid body was covered in tattoos. Soon, the tattooed man and the older security guard met eyes.
The older guard flinched slightly, as if he recognized him, but he still managed to speak.
"...Boss."
The tattooed man approached with a menacing expression.
"So what now?"
"I'm sorry, but if you park there, it causes trouble for the residents. Could you move your car?"
The tattooed man scratched his head and then abruptly started to boil over.
"You son of a bitch! Is this old man out of his mind again? Wasn't it enough last time when you ran your mouth at me?"
"No, that's not it."
"What do you mean, that's not it? Do I look like a joke to you? This is my home, I'm parking my car, so why the hell are you butting in?"
"Because it inconveniences the residents."
"What! You're saying I'm blocking the parking entrance? Look! There's plenty of room to get through! God, this is so annoying. My day's already been complete shit!! Old man, you don't want to keep living anymore, is that it?! Huh?!"
"..."
"You bastard, am I the one paying your salary? What's your name? You're finished now. Give me your number. I'll squeeze every last drop out of your life."
Red-faced with anger, the tattooed man shoved the elderly guard's shoulder. The way the two of them moved made it obvious this was not their first encounter. He forcibly snatched the guard's phone from his pocket, punched in his own number, and got the guard's contact information.
While they argued, the security guard lost his footing and fell.
"Ahh."
The tattooed man tossed the confiscated phone onto the fallen guard's chest.
"When I call, you'd better answer, got it? I'm annoyed, so I'm going to make sure you suffer too. Try not answering me. I'll head straight to the office and get you fired. And don't cross the line. I don't care if you're old or young. Got it?"
He kicked the fallen guard, slapped him across the face, and kept threatening him. As more and more onlookers gathered, the violence only escalated. Then he turned on the crowd and shouted viciously.
"What the hell are you all staring at?! Huh?! Get lost!!"
It was a display of power.
Then the tattooed man sneered down at the old guard, who was struggling to stand.
"Oh, come on. Don't make such a scene over nothing."
He was just about to shove the guard's shoulder again when it happened.
"Life's hard, huh? So just stay still. Why do you have to go out of your way to butt in?"
Bang!
The large man's body suddenly lifted off the ground and smashed headfirst into the car door.
"Cough!!"
It was a completely unexpected blow. Someone had kicked the tattooed man in the side.
As a result, the tattooed man clutched his stomach and head, then looked straight ahead. A man in a suit was standing there with one hand in his pocket.
Jang Yeonwoo.
In other words, Kang Woojin.
Woojin did not think much of the tattooed man at all. To him, the man ranked even lower than an insect. Rolling the candy around lazily in his mouth, Woojin's eyes did not waver in the slightest.
He simply sucked on the lollipop and looked down at him.
Soon—
"You fucking bastard! Who the hell are you?!"
Groaning through the pain, the tattooed man scrambled back to his feet. Woojin tilted his head slightly and gave him a slow once-over. The man was a bit taller and probably at least twenty kilos heavier.
But he looked completely helpless.
Kang Woojin pulled the candy from his mouth and spoke in a low voice.
"Pork soup. Why do you need to know?"
It was exactly the kind of tone that encouraged carelessness and bravado.
"...You son of a bitch!! You're dead today!"
The tattooed man marched straight toward him without hesitation. In an instant, Kang Woojin's eyes swept over his jaw, neck, and the rest of his body.
His weak points were already laid bare.
The man did not even realize how exposed he was. He was weaker than an insect. Knocking him unconscious would be easy. If necessary, killing him would not be difficult either.
But that would be wrong.
At that moment, the tattooed man hurled a thick fist at Woojin with a harsh grunt. To Kang Woojin, it looked like slow motion. It was slow, thrown with the right hand, and utterly lacking in technique. There was nothing behind it except inertia.
No, not even inertia.
It was closer to flailing.
There was no real strength in it. He was not using his legs or his waist, so of course the punch was empty.
'You know your hand can break if you hit someone like that?'
Whoosh!
Woojin casually brushed the fist aside. It flew harmlessly into empty air. The tattooed man looked startled.
But Kang Woojin gave him no opening.
He immediately grabbed the back of the man's neck with one hand and squeezed with enough force to make it seem as though he might tear it off. The tattooed man's waist bent helplessly to a right angle, and a strangled groan burst out of him.
"Kuugh!! Kkgh!! Ngh!"
Spit dribbled from his mouth. Woojin bent down until his face was close to the man's and stared into his eyes for a few seconds without a hint of expression.
Then—
Cut.
Woojin pulled the phone from the man's shorts, deleted the security guard's number, and spoke.
"Go."
He said it flatly to the elderly guard standing wide-eyed right in front of him.
"Just leave this to me and go back to what you were doing."
"...Ah, uh? B-but—"
"Go. You're in the way."
"What?"
His tone was far from gentle. The truth was, Kang Woojin found the man in front of him unpleasant too.
'I'm not justice. So there's no reason for you to be grateful to me.'
"I said go."
'I'm evil too. I just happen to be targeting another kind of evil.'
Soon, Kang Woojin's heart filled with darkness. That feeling coiled around his entire body.
The old security guard hesitated, then slowly moved away.
Even so, the tattooed man, still bent over with his neck trapped in Woojin's grip, kept raging.
"Kkh!! Hey!! Kkh! Let go!! Let go of me!!! Kkh!!"
The insect was unbearably loud. Woojin grew irritated. As if in response, his grip tightened further.
"Kuak!!"
Right then—
Bang!
A woman stumbled out of the passenger seat of the yellow foreign car, sobbing.
"Please, please stop! My brother's going to die!!"
Then she shouted toward the people around them.
"Someone, please!! Stop him!!"
But no one stepped forward.
Meanwhile, Woojin, who had been staring at the newly appeared woman, loosened his grip just slightly. Not completely. Just enough for the tattooed man to wrench himself free if he struggled.
"Kgh!! Damn it! Damn it!!!"
Coughing, the tattooed man staggered back several steps. The woman who had come with him immediately clung to his side.
"Oppa, are you okay?!"
"...I'm fine, I'm fine! It's nothing!!"
He shoved her aside a little. Watching him quietly, Woojin smiled.
"Getting hit seems like good treatment for you."
"W-what, you bastard?!"
Intention.
Everything had gone exactly the way Kang Woojin planned.
The man believed he had broken free of Woojin's grip by his own strength. No, more accurately, he had been led to believe that. That illusion turned into weak, swelling confidence. Beside him was a woman he had to protect. His pride had been wounded. People were gathering around him, feeding his need to show strength. Countless eyes were fixed on him.
But he noticed none of it.
All of it had already turned into adrenaline.
The tattooed man had lost his reason. His thought process was barely functioning.
'Well, he seems to have overcalculated over a bug this small.'
It did not matter. Kang Woojin, or rather Jang Yeonwoo, used the same plan on every kind of evil. He never let his guard down. He was always thorough.
Soon, the tattooed man spread his arms and charged, trying to use his size to overwhelm Woojin.
Tat-tat!
He meant to grab and pin him down.
But—
"In this heat, are you out of your mind?"
Muttering under his breath, Woojin lightly snapped his foot into the inside of the man's groin.
"Kkgh!!!"
The momentum of the bear-like charge died instantly.
"...Kueo—ugh."
The man dropped to his knees, clutching himself. But Woojin acted as though it still was not over. He walked over, grabbed the trembling man by the hair, and yanked him back upright.
"If you throw violence around carelessly, you get hit back."
Then Woojin casually slapped the tattooed man across the right cheek.
Smack!!
The man's pupils shook from the single blow. He went blank for a second.
That should have been enough.
But Woojin did not stop.
Smack smack smack!!
He kept slapping the tattooed man across the face. Blood sprayed from the man's mouth with every strike, but Woojin continued slapping him in a steady rhythm, the corners of his lips lifting faintly.
Tak tak tak tak tak tak!!
Before long, fierce madness was burning in Kang Woojin's deep-set eyes.
"That sound is crisp. Just like pork soup."
Because he was enjoying it.