VSP 29

Sejun could not even grasp himself. He had no idea what to do with emotions that bounced all over the place.

On top of that, the real problem was that in the end he still had to complete that damned “Eat Cha Dogyeong.”

It was such a ridiculously unrealistic mission that until now he had only paid attention to the sub-missions and not really thought about the main one. But when he recalled Cha Dogyeong’s words, “You could stay the night,” it felt like an alarm bell was going off in his head.

The truth was, he thought the kiss itself had not been that bad and even found himself enjoying it a little.

But the moment he faced the hand kneading his ass, the content of the main mission suddenly flashed across his mind.

<Eat Cha Dogyeong>

That Cha Dogyeong would ever be under Seo Sejun was never going to happen. Which meant Sejun’s ass was the one in danger.

“Haaa.”

Sejun sighed and lay back on the sofa. A few days passed since then, but there was still no news of an A-rank dungeon appearing, and naturally his routine of being shut in at home continued.

He was lying blankly when he reached for his phone. His hand naturally opened the hunter community site that he often browsed.

“Huh?”

And right there at the top of the main page, he saw his own name.

<Expert’s Statement on Seo Sejun’s Stats>

The title was obviously bait, something guaranteed to drag clicks.

Sejun tapped the post.

Turned out some so-called hunter “expert” had given an interview about his ability, and it had spread.

It was an interview where the expert analyzed the abilities of all current S-rank hunters, and at the very end there was a short mention of Sejun. That part had been screencapped and shared.

「Seo Sejun’s ability is Hoya, and Hoya can be said to be the whole of Seo Sejun’s ability. Anyone, not just an expert, can tell that Seo Sejun himself is not outstanding. But Hoya’s ability was already proven in the past ‘Infinite Dungeon.’ Hoya is strong. If he can perfectly control Hoya, his potential will surpass Cha Dogyeong.」

…a statement clearly made to drag attention.

Not “might surpass,” but “will surpass”?

“Ha.”

Of course the comments were packed full. Nearly a thousand. Sejun sighed as he looked at the comment section.

He hugged a cushion and rolled across the sofa before finally, like opening Pandora’s box, he clicked on the comments.

As always, there were almost no favorable ones.

-When is that potential supposed to show? ㅠㅠ

└Never lolololol

└Looks like it’ll never show ㅜㅜ

└He’d have to explode to surpass Cha Dogyeong… but he won’t, so lolol

└Eternal dud

└but if he uses mana potions, his momentary BP (Battle Power, combat efficiency per second) is top tier among S-ranks…

└BP, lol. Isn’t that just DPS?

└They changed it to BP because people said DPS sounded like a game term

└Ah, okay

└But Sejun’s total mana pool is so tiny that even if he gulps mana potions like water, Hoya can’t really fight properly. High momentary BP doesn’t matter.

└And he’s potion-addicted, so he can’t even drink potions freely lol gg

└He’s hopeless.

└He should just be removed from the S-rank list

-Surpass Cha Dogyeong lol

└Is that a joke?ㅠㅠ

└ insane

-If only they hadn’t said he’d surpass Cha Dogyeong, maybe he wouldn’t be mocked this bad ㅠㅠ

└Doesn’t matter. Just the name Seo Sejun makes people mock by reflex. Even without that line he’d be flamed.

└Honestly I don’t get why he’s always mocked. What did he do that was so bad?

└You forgot he almost killed Choi Yerin????? That’s why.

└But Choi Yerin already said she forgave him, so why are you people still whining?

└That case aside, he’s caused so much trouble. If he lacks ability, he should step back.

└Aside from that one incident, I don’t see why he should get mocked this badly. Doesn’t make sense.

Below that, too, the comments were full of ridicule, people saying to stop mocking him, people dragging up past incidents, just endless arguments.

That was the norm for anything related to Sejun on the internet.

“……”

He didn’t get wounded by each one anymore, but even if he’d been forced to grow a hardened heart, scratches still formed when scraped.

Sejun scrolled, sighed softly again.

The original story had said his role was the villain. In the novel, he was only a supporting villain. He had shouted at the system with “When did I ever do that,” but he knew.

He had caused a lot of trouble.

If someone asked him why, Sejun himself had no real answer.

Why did I do that?

At the time, he always just naturally thought, “I should do this,” and acted. But later, when he thought back, it was always, “Why the hell did I do that?”

Of course, just thinking that didn’t erase the incidents he had caused.

The trouble Sejun caused was still trouble Sejun had caused. He thought it, he acted it, and others had to clean it up.

Because of that, he was cursed out countless times, and even now he still was, yet he had never once thought, “That was wrong, I should reflect and never do it again.” At the time, that was how it was.

And after all those problems disappeared, Sejun hardly even felt the impulse to cause that kind of trouble anymore.

Of course, part of it was because overall the number of dungeons had gone down, so the stage where he could cause incidents was gone too…

Then, when he realized he was nothing more than a villain character in a novel, Sejun belatedly came to a realization.

Maybe all the incidents and accidents he had caused up until now were partly things forced on him by the original work.

Or maybe, mostly.

Because when the villain causes trouble, that’s how incidents happen, and through that the protagonist can shine.

So.

Maybe he had only been faithfully fulfilling his role as the stepping stone for Cha Dogyeong’s rise.

The problem was, he had been too faithful, ending up as the scapegoat in reality. And even now, when the original had ended and he had escaped the compulsion of being a villain, he was still being cursed out, whether by his comrades or by the world at large.

And he no longer had the mental strength left to ignore or endure that reality.

Sejun lay on the sofa and rested his arm across his forehead. For some reason, his forehead felt hot. He couldn’t tell if it was fever or just his mood.

Why am I so weak?

That was always what he thought.

Why am I so lacking…?

That too was always what he thought.

When others awakened as S-rank, people congratulated them, saying their lives had opened up. Even just A-rank would get them fan clubs, envy and jealousy all at once. B-rank was still treated as high-class hunters. Yet the world had always been harsh only to Sejun.

He did admit he had caused some accidents. He had shown off pointlessly and made things hard for others more than once. Now that he thought about it, he figured the original work’s influence had been big…

But…

While thinking that, Sejun suddenly asked the question that came to his mind straight to the system.

“Hey.”

[Yes.]

“Is it maybe also because of the novel’s setting that people hate me this much?”

The system was silent for a moment before answering.

[You can’t say it had no influence. You were in the role of someone to be hated.]

“Ah.”

[But now that the original has ended, that influence will gradually fade.]

Did the last part sound like hastily made comfort, or was it his imagination?

Well, strictly speaking, being cursed out was part of being an antagonist. That role was needed, and so a character was shaped for it. There was no need to blame the author. He understood that much.

But why did it have to be him… Weren’t he originally the protagonist… and what was with these lacking stats.

Sejun grumbled only to himself.

[Sejun-nim.]

“What?”

When the system called his name, Sejun answered right away. But the system could not find words immediately and hesitated.

Sejun looked puzzled for a moment, then soon noticed why and laughed.

“What, are you pitying me?”

[It’s not that.]

Sejun’s system had a clear self. Unlike most hunters, who felt uncomfortable when their system’s self grew and so shut it off, forcing it to only recite dry logs, Sejun had left his system to grow a self from the beginning of his awakening.

Whether because of loneliness, or for another reason, Sejun never regretted that choice. Because this was the only being that had always been by his side in place of his parents.

“What’s so wrong about pitying me?”

Sometimes he wanted it to pity him like this.

“Pity me a little. I’m pitiful.”

[……]

Even while knowing it was a petty thing to do, Sejun whined at the system, asking it to comfort him.