I Became A Framed Villain – Chapter 9

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Vine
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Meanwhile, at the academy annex.

“Grrrr…!”

Lumia plunged her sword into the head of the last struggling monster and stepped back, breathing heavily.

“Ha… ha…”

Around her, deactivated monsters were piled up like a mountain.

“This isn’t right. This isn’t how it’s supposed to be…”

Exhausted from the fierce battle, she should have collapsed, but Lumia stood firm, her gaze fixed on one spot.

[Villain <Trauma> Debut (LIVE)]

[Viewers: 605,000]

A smartphone, covered in blood because she hadn’t let go of it throughout the numerous monster battles.

[Is this for real? Is this actually happening?]

[First time seeing Great cry lol]

[Academy half-destroyed wtf]

A live broadcast, already exceeding 600,000 viewers, was playing in real-time on the small screen.

[Who the hell is that hero who saved Great? I’ve never seen him before?]

[That’s the villain who debuted today lol]

[But why is a villain saving heroes and students? (Genuinely curious)]

Lumia glanced at the rapidly scrolling chat and gritted her teeth.

“That’s… not Trauma…”

Confusion and anger laced her voice.

“Trauma is supposed to be absolute evil… not some half-baked dark hero…”

Just as her voice was getting louder,

“Only my… my villain…”

“Your delusions are getting worse.”

“…!”

Something sharp grazed her cheek.

“Hello.”

“Y-you…!”

Lumia’s eyes widened as she raised her sword.

“Blondie!!”

“Call me Dice.”

Paradise, all traces of laughter gone from her face, was slowly walking towards her, hundreds of cards floating around her.

“You escaped by yourself last time, why did you come out yourself this time?”

“What?”

“Are you worried that Haneul might die because the story went off track? You’re quite devoted.”

Dice lightly snapped her fingers, and the floating cards began to resonate softly.

“Are you, perhaps…”

Lumia stared blankly, then opened her mouth with a puzzled expression.

“…a possessor?”

Dice cut her off, chuckling.

“But you’re the possessor, Lumia.”

Silence.

“…No way.”

Lumia, her mouth agape in shock, muttered involuntarily.

“H-how could an extra like you… know…”

“That’s funny, Lumia.”

Then, Dice spoke again with a cold smile.

“Why are you acting like you’re the only protagonist?”

Lumia’s face turned pale.

“You know there are two protagonists in this world, right?”

Dice, watching her, quietly stopped walking.

“The other one is a student in Class 1, Year 1, right?”

“That’s…”

“Fortunately, everyone in Class 1, Year 1 survives this episode.”

Dice whispered to the speechless Lumia.

“And we just took care of the few monsters hiding inside the academy.”

“Ah…”

“Only we villains can distinguish between ordinary people and monsters, right?”

And at that very moment,

– *Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!!!*

…countless cards rained down on Lumia.

“…”

However, not a single card hit her.

“As expected, your ability is a pain.”

“Ugh…”

“I thought your ability would be a little weaker at this point. Killing or kidnapping you is out of the question.”

Dice, looking at the cards that unnaturally missed and were embedded in the wall behind, spoke to Lumia, who was still in shock.

“Well, it doesn’t matter. I came here today to declare war.”

“Declare war…?”

“Use that precious knowledge of the original story and struggle as hard as you can.”

Dice whispered, a slight smirk playing on her lips as she watched Lumia’s hand holding the sword twitch.

“Just like in the last round.”

Hearing that, Lumia started trembling and muttering.

“Give him back.”

“Hmm?”

“Give… Senior… back.”

Then, she suddenly reacted violently.

“Senior is mine!! He’s only mine!!”

She lunged at Dice like lightning, swinging her sword with all her might.

“Only I understand Senior!!”

– *Crackle…!*

“Only I can save Senior in the future!! I’m the only one who knows how!! And…”

However, Dice dodged the attack effortlessly.

“Unfortunately, not anymore.”

Her blonde hair fluttered beautifully, shining brightly.

“Because I will be his companion now.”

At the same time, the cards embedded in the wall started returning to her.

“I’ll send you a mysterious videotape sometime soon.”

“Wait…!”

As the cards surrounded Dice, Lumia desperately reached out, but

“Use that to comfort yourself.”

…it was futile.

– *Whoosh…*

With those words, Dice disappeared in an instant.

“…”

Only a card with a comical clown drawn on it remained, clutched in Lumia’s hand.

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“A… villain?”

Hearing my words, my sister tilted her head with a dumbfounded look.

“B-but you saved us.”

“…Tsk.”

“I don’t know what your circumstances are, but first…”

Then, she started approaching me again.

“…!”

Her eyes suddenly widened.

“A-are you alright?”

“…Ugh.”

Just then, a terrible pain shot through my chest.

‘A piercing wound?’

It seemed I was stabbed near my heart by Resurrection’s tentacles when I sent him flying.

It wasn’t a deep wound, but since my durability was already at rock bottom, the bleeding wouldn’t stop.

“The b-bleeding is too much. Let me help you…”

As I gritted my teeth, my sister reached out to me.

“…Ah?”

But then, she froze, her face turning pale.

“That eye…”

It seemed she saw my eye through the cracked mask.

Well, since I changed my eye color during the transformation, there shouldn’t be any trouble.

Still, she kept looking at my bleeding eye, seemingly feeling guilty about it being blinded.

Would she have reacted this way if she knew my eye was actually blind?

Of course not.

“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.”

I didn’t particularly want to brag about losing my left eye to protect her, so I replied and tried to quietly leave, but

– *Rustle…*

…she hurriedly grabbed my arm and stopped me, her trembling hand reaching for my eye.

“…”

Her touch reached my unfocused eye.

“What are you…”

I felt quite uncomfortable and tried to push her away again, but she suddenly collapsed.

Did her legs give out from being beaten up so much?

“You…”

“…?”

“Why… did you…? What is… that appearance…?”

As I tilted my head in confusion, she started rambling incoherently, her face as if she’d seen a ghost.

Was she concussed or something?

I didn’t want to pay her any more attention, so I turned and headed towards the students.

“W-why… why are you doing this…?”

“Eek!”

Then, they started backing away with slightly frightened expressions.

“Did anyone see where Lumia is?”

When I asked, the students quietly shook their heads.

“Then, has anyone seen the vice principal?”

“H-he’ll be on the rooftop!”

Disappointed, I asked again, and someone raised their hand.

“He told us he would be on the rooftop.”

“Hmm.”

“We actually saw him going up to the rooftop!”

Justitia’s younger sister answered me with sparkling eyes.

“I see.”

My ultimate goal was Lumia.

However, with the top-ranking heroes gathered here, finding her, whose location I didn’t know, was impossible.

Then, I had to change my objective.

“Thank you.”

Having decided on my destination, I looked at the students for a moment and spoke.

“Wait here until the staff arrive. Don’t listen to the heroes’ orders.”

“Huh?”

“Only follow the staff’s instructions.”

For some reason, suspicious tentacles were wriggling within the bodies of most of the heroes.

However, only a small number of staff members had tentacles implanted.

And since they had already been dealt with by the executives, the safest people now would be the staff.

“Thank you.”

As I was about to head upstairs, Justitia’s younger sister, who was looking at me, muttered in a low voice.

“By the way, a villain?”

“…”

“No matter how I look at it, you’re a hero.”

I felt momentarily dazed.

A hero?

I’d never heard those words during my time as a black ops agent.

Except from Justitia.

“Ha.”

I chuckled wryly.

To think that the one who said those words was someone who resembled her so much.

“You’re the hero.”

I unconsciously placed my hand on her head and whispered in a slightly trembling voice.

“Not someone like me.”

I had a lot to say to her.

Because she was the child Justitia always boasted about, saying she was like a protagonist straight out of a shonen manga.

But there was no more time.

“Be careful of Lumia.”

“Huh?”

Leaving those words, hoping she wouldn’t follow the same path as her sister, I hurriedly quickened my pace.

“…There’s a saying, ‘A pheasant instead of a chicken.’”

Towards the vice principal, who should be on the rooftop by now.

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– *Bzzt…*

“Hmm?”

As I was climbing the stairs, something that looked like a drone flew towards me.

> Not an attack

Just as I was about to reach into my pocket, thinking it was an enemy attack, it quickly spun around and displayed text on its monitor.

> It’s me!

“Who’s ‘me’?”

> Genius girl. Popular Hero Magael user. Mascot of Dominating Hands.

Judging by the nonsense she was spouting, it seemed to be Pandora.

> Hey. Why did you save them earlier?

After confirming it was an ally, I started climbing the stairs again in silence, and she spun around, flew in front of me, and asked.

“Are you recording?”

> Turned it off for now. Don’t worry.

Noticing the camera attached to the drone, I frowned and asked, and she replied.

“…For now?”

Something about that bothered me, but I didn’t have time to worry about it.

“I just wanted to mess with him a little.”

> With who?

“With the one who made me like this.”

I gave a vague answer, but I was thinking something completely different.

‘I’m such a fool.’

I lost all my precious comrades.

Because of that, I lost the woman I respected so much.

I was even falsely accused of killing her and driven to the edge.

And in the end, blinded by revenge, I became a villain.

But foolishly,

…even after becoming like this,

I still liked helping people.

The idiot who became a hero simply because he liked helping and saving people still remained within me.

‘I don’t know anymore.’

The proof was that I burst out laughing when I punched the monster and lost my eye to save everyone.

“I should finish my revenge.”

> Revenge?

As I muttered so, feeling strangely relieved, Pandora spun the drone around and asked.

> What revenge…

“Shh, quiet.”

Even though I admitted I still liked saving people, revenge was a different story.

I was still filled with the desire to thoroughly avenge myself and Justitia on those who put us in this situation.

“Y-you useless piece of…!”

“Grr… I-I’m sorry…”

So, as I arrived at the rooftop and quietly peeked through the crack in the door, I saw two figures in the distance.

“This was a golden opportunity to end the war with the villains… no, with those disgusting bastards wearing the skin of villains! But, but…!”

“Grrrr…”

I identified the figures and quietly opened the door with a smile.

“W-who is it?!”

“…!”

The vice principal jumped back in surprise, and someone else looked at me with a shocked expression.

“You managed to crawl back even after being blown to smithereens with your comrade.”

“Y-you…”

It was none other than Resurrection.

“Your regeneration is a bit slow, must have been a critical hit?”

As his hero name, which meant resurrection and revival, suggested, the concept residing within him was ‘Regeneration.’

A rather overpowered ability that allowed him to recover from any damage.

“G-get rid of him! Get rid of him!”

“Grrrrrr…”

As the vice principal, his face turning blue, shouted frantically, Resurrection, dragging his battered body, approached me.

If it were anyone else, there would be no way to counter someone with an invincible recovery ability and monster attack methods.

However, unfortunately for him, his opponent was me.

– *Whoosh…*

He was walking towards me, unable to even maintain his sanity, unlike his extremely cautious demeanor from before.

Subduing him with hypnosis would be a matter of time.

“Just stay still for a moment. Let’s see…”

So, as I took out my smartphone from my pocket to launch the hypnosis app,

“…?”

…I tilted my head, seeing him stop and stare blankly at me.

‘What?’

This situation felt strangely familiar. Was it my imagination?

“Get down.”

– *Thud…*

Feeling unsure, I quietly gave the command, and he immediately knelt and bowed his head.

“W-what are you doing?! Get rid of him!!”

“…”

The vice principal, who seemed to be his superior, shouted frantically, his face pale, but he didn’t budge.

‘This is the same situation as with Spade.’

I realized instinctively.

That this situation was very similar to what happened with Spade yesterday.

I was able to control Spade even without hypnotizing her.

And, for some reason, I was feeling a surge of sadistic impulses.

Judging by that, it didn’t seem like my imagination.

‘Could it be… an ability I didn’t know about?’

People with a ‘concept’ residing within them could usually freely use abilities related to that concept.

However, supernatural abilities were still shrouded in mystery.

There were plenty of cases where a person’s ‘concept’ suddenly changed after experiencing a significant emotional shift, or where they had been misunderstanding their ‘concept’ all along.

Naturally, it was quite common for people to not fully understand their abilities.

‘I’ve already defeated Resurrection once. Then…’

Thinking from that perspective, this phenomenon could also be my ability. Then there was one possibility. Could it be that I could use hypnosis indefinitely on someone I had defeated once?

I wasn’t sure yet. But if it was true, it would make sense that I hadn’t known until now.
Since I had to use ‘Hypnosis’ to defeat someone, there would have been no difference.
But if that was the case, it meant I had defeated Spade in the past?
When did I ever meet her?

“Hey, you.”

After racking my brains for a while, but finding no clear answer, I decided to focus on what I had to do first.

“Tell me your true identity.”

“Grr… grrr…”

Now was the perfect opportunity to uncover the identity of these grotesque monsters. So, as I interrogated the prostrate Resurrection, he roared for a moment, then started speaking.

“We are… blessed by Him… the chosen ones…”

Those were his last words.

– *Bang…!*

“…!”

His head exploded with a bang just as he was about to say something.

“…Oh dear.”

His body went limp, and he didn’t regenerate.

“What a waste.”

I clicked my tongue quietly, then reluctantly looked away and moved forward.

“Eek…!”

Then, the vice principal collapsed and started trembling.

“S-save me…!”

He looked quite pathetic, but according to the data Dice gave me, there wasn’t a single pitiful thing about him.

Embezzlement of academy funds. Encouraging fraudulent admissions. Sexually harassing five female students under the pretext of additional admissions. And the biggest contributor to Justitia’s expulsion incident.

And now, the connection with Resurrection that had just been revealed.

“M-my wife and daughter are waiting for me. Please, spare my life…”

“Did I ever say I was going to kill you?”

I had no intention of killing him, though.

“R-really?”

“Of course.”

I’d always wondered.

“B-but… what’s that in your hand…?”

…why the death penalty was the highest form of punishment.

In this world where gods or the afterlife didn’t exist,

…the death penalty was too kind and humane.

“Alright, how should I alter your common sense?”

It was time to inflict a trauma that would last his lifetime.

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Meanwhile, at that time.

“G-get…”

Great Order, still dazed, looked at the black-masked figure holding her in surprise.

“…away from… me…”

“You alright?”

“Cough…”

The figure gently lowered her to the floor and turned their head at her question.

“…Who… are you?”

“…I’m just a passerby.”

Then, the figure, whose masked face was partially broken, muttered quietly and turned away.

“H-hey, wait!”

At that moment, Great Order’s eyes widened.

“That… eye…”

Under the cracked mask was a face and an eye that she would never forget.

“You…”

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

Kang Haneul was smiling faintly under his mask.

“You… why are you here?”

“Just passing by.”

Then, before she could react, he turned around and started walking away.

“You bastard… where do you think you’re going?!”

Great Order, gritting her teeth, struggled to get up.

“You haven’t answered my question yet! Why did you become a… villain…?”

Just as she was about to give chase, another voice came from the stairwell.

“Haneul, I’ve found Lumia’s location. The principal’s office.”

“…Finally.”

Hearing Ira’s report through the earpiece, Kang Haneul stopped and slowly looked back.

“It’s time to finish this.”

His remaining eye gleamed coldly under the mask.

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