The Novel’s Villain - Chapter 37

《Act 3: Maximum Inspection》  

Chapter 37: Choi Hayeon (1) 

Now that Jinwoo’s potential talent was reaching its highest available peak, he was strangely growing more adept at it. 

Jinwoo was sure that he didn’t need to train harder to learn the skill or get migraines and headaches from it based on his learned experiences so far. 

Jinwoo inadvertently turned the pages of the ancient tomes carefully, surprised for a moment. Unlike the basic gestures of his hand, it was a gesture full of charismatic allure that exudes charm after charm. 

In addition, he looked at the mirror, unconsciously holding a masculine-like posture which surprised him as his reflection reflected back in the mirror. His pose looked charmingly natural, yet he looked as if he came out of a pictorial magazine. 

He looked unreal. 

Pulling out his phone and swiping open the camera app, Jinwootook a selfie, startled when he swiped the app to check the results. He looked strange, but he didn’t look hideous or anything. On the contrary, he gave off a sense of warmth and a kind, compassionate aura the original Lee Jinwoo previously lacked.
 

It was as if this faulty error of his had been auto-corrected to make him look more beautifully humane. 

Jinwoo wanted to confirm this change. He made another intentionally awkward pose and took a selfie. He looked… cheesy, almost, yet posed so naturally that it hardly looked forced and stiff. There was a certain charm to him. He didn’t look… indignant. 

“So… this is the side effect, huh… ah! Ah! Ahem… this is…” 

Even his accent changed subtly. It felt strange and foreign. 

Over fifty-thousand kinds of skills popped to mind, yet Jinwoo shook his head and cleared the thoughts pervading his mind. 

‘I’m sure it’s possible for normal books as well.’ 

The main character of the original plot didn’t attempt to acquire skills from books and tomes much due to the painful bouts of headaches accompanying him thereafter.
 

Since Jinwo confirmed that he wouldn’t receive backlash from his previous experiment, he thought it fine to give it a shot. And it seemed like not only books but any sort of medium that delivered information would work as well. But it would easily require a few million mana to absorb one single book. 

‘It’ll take a while till I get used to it. So I guess it looks like it’ll be a bit too difficult for me to absorb it all at once.” 

But this wouldn’t put a limitation on him. He was filthy rich and loaded with money. Jinwoo could have everything he wanted at the snap of a finger. 

He was slowly starting to feel the original novel’s settings, the world, and the information gathered from reality was starting to converge. He believed that once he had gotten used to and developed his mana further, then he’d be able to use the TV or MeTube to acquire skills and talents. 

It was no different than calling it a cheat key like those in a video game. 

Easy. Way too easy. 

‘Phew… looks like everything’s beginning.’ 

Evaluating everything he had done so far, Jinwoo could now confidently say that his first step of survival towards this world was of great success. 

He had fortuitously established a method for acquiring skills from tomes and books, created a company for gathering said books and roles to acquire those skills, and made detailed preparations in advance. 

Jinwoo stared at the numerous antiques and smiled satisfyingly, eyes twinkling and littered with speckled dots of stars. 

Even now his hired minions were collecting more antiques, planning diligently according to Jinwoo’s will. All the collected antiques would surely help boost his strength. 

Though he wasn’t able to use them now due to places limitations, it was much better than to have it in the hands of another stranger. 

Thinking of the hundreds of thousands and millions of innocent lives lost and taken away each time a new villain appeared in the story… Jinwoo felt good. He felt like he was doing some sort of philanthropic deed that was effective at preventing potential villains from rising to unlawful use of power. 

‘Once I’m able to protect myself properly…” 

Then he would need to start properly farming. 

As mining technology grew ever more advanced,  extraordinary amounts of antiques found inside the Gates were discovered. But when he thought of the original story’s progress, the important characters, the ones that mattered most hadn’t appeared as of yet. 

The Front Lines’ First Response group was an elite group and first in ranking throughout the world by a wide margin. 

It was even fitting to call the group a dark web of secrets controlling the whole world behind the curtains. 

Even Japan and the United States were commissioning the Front Lines Group for mining operations. 

‘I guess I should contact China’s side first.’