-A Villain for the Ages
“Come on in. You followed me well, didn’t you?”
The three crows flitted into the room.
[Of course we followed you well.]
[No one pays attention to crows.]
[Though we were especially careful for that person.]
[But Oudin, why were you being held up back there?]
The moment Hugin and Munin came in, they started chattering nonstop.
“Hold on. Let’s talk after I put up the barriers first.”
I hurried to set up the magic barriers. I wrapped one around the entire resort, then added another separate layer around our room.
While I did that, the crows settled on the armrests and back of the sofa.
“Ren. You can return to your true form now.”
Only after I said that did Ren transform back into their original form.
[Why did the police stop you earlier?]
[They seemed wary of Oudin.]
The crows’ barrage of questions began again.
I briefly explained the bad rumors about me, about as much as I had told Cheon Danbi and Gil.
[So that was it. It’s a relief they didn’t drag you off.]
[Right. It’s strange they just let you go.]
[Maybe they wanted to take you in, but they were scared of Oudin, so they left you alone.]
[Well, how could the police arrest Oudin? If they tried, they’d be in for a world of hurt.]
The crows’ reaction was completely different from Cheon Danbi’s and Gil’s.
Cheon Danbi and Gil had been shocked, asking why such ridiculous rumors had spread, but the crows sounded as if they had expected it.
“What do you mean, ‘so that was it’? Do you know something?”
When I asked, Hugin and Munin looked surprised instead and asked back.
[Oudin, you haven’t even gone on the internet all this time?]
[You said you knew about the rumors.]
“The internet? What happened?”
“Why? Did something come up online?”
When I took out my phone, Cheon Danbi also whipped out hers and went online.
Meanwhile, the crows continued talking.
[They’re saying every terrorist attack so far was done by Oudin.]
[They say Oudin joined hands with black mages.]
[Some people are even saying Oudin is a black mage.]
[That you pulled a scam because you wanted to become a hero, or something like that.]
What the crows said was no different from what the police had been whispering earlier, and no different from the rumor Thor had once tipped me off about.
In the end, that rumor had spread widely and was starting to be treated as established fact.
[Do you know what phrase is trending among people right now? “This is all Oudin’s fault.”]
[Oudin has become a villain for the ages.]
What? “This is all Oudin’s fault” had become a catchphrase?
Even taking into account that false rumors had spread, wasn’t this going a bit too far?
I was so dumbfounded I couldn’t even speak.
“Wow! What is all this? It’s a complete mess. People are really going too far, aren’t they? They’re saying Oudin has fallen. They’re saying every terrorist attack happening now was caused by Oudin.”
After looking through the internet, Cheon Danbi shook her head in disbelief.
Beside her, the crows nodded.
[We told you.]
[Public sentiment truly is a frightening thing.]
“That’s too much. The Mage has stopped every terrorist attack so far, so how can they say things like that?”
Gil said, agitated in a way that wasn’t like him.
“When people fall into fear, they become irrational. They wanted to grab anyone and curse them, and just then a rumor spread, so all those arrows must have turned toward me.”
I stopped searching the internet. No matter how much I looked, it would just be more of the same.
Instead, I opened the Hall’s communication device and went to the message board.
“But still, how can they curse the Mage? Did the rumor suddenly spread all at once? That’s strange. Even earlier this afternoon, the Jecheon police called you a hero, Mage.”
“Mm. That’s because of the news that came out of the World Magicians’ Conference this morning. Apparently there was a debate at the conference. They say a mage named Loki publicly criticized Oudin there.”
When Gil, still indignant, voiced his doubts, Cheon Danbi answered with her nose buried in her phone.
As expected, Loki was the source. It seemed he had now openly taken aim at me at the World Conference.
It wasn’t especially surprising. It was only proof that Loki had joined hands with the black mages.
Because Loki had been caught by me, he was instead trying to pin it on me. It was a vile public opinion war.
The memory of having once been Loki’s friend brought a bitter taste, but those were Oudin’s memories, not mine. I maintained my composure.
There were posts about Loki on the Hall’s message board as well.
There were countless posts on the board, and most of them were criticizing and denouncing me, but unexpectedly, there were also quite a few criticizing Loki.
It seemed the one who had argued with Loki at the World Conference was Thor. Thor had actively defended me, and many people had apparently agreed with him.
But simply because news like that had leaked out, ordinary people had been provoked and were driving me into the role of a villain for the ages.
“Still, the fortunate thing is that neither the government nor the Hall is officially condemning Oudin yet. They haven’t acknowledged the conspiracy. Though they haven’t denied it either. They must be watching from the sidelines.”
Cheon Danbi lifted her gaze from her phone and said.
“Ah! Then was that why the police let us go earlier?”
“Probably. So in the end, a rumor is just a rumor. There’s no need to get needlessly shaken.”
Cheon Danbi’s conclusion leaned far too much toward optimism.
Considering the fact that there were people among the government and the Hall’s mages who had joined hands with the black mages, it was probably more accurate to say they were leaving the rumor unattended rather than watching from the sidelines.
If I didn’t reverse this flow of public opinion, the range of my activities would shrink greatly.
Not only that, if their side gained the upper hand, they might even officially brand me a black mage and try to arrest and imprison me.
“I’ll have to go up to Seoul first thing tomorrow. Being cursed at isn’t something I need to care much about, but I can’t let rumors about me keep spreading like this.”
I said.
“Good. They’re trying to paint you as a black mage, so you can’t just stay still. You need to hurry over and clear your name.”
“Uh, yeah. Let’s go straight up to Seoul and show them exactly what kind of person Oudin is. We can’t stay still either. Cursing Oudin is no different from cursing our team.”
Gil and Cheon Danbi chimed in.
“That’s right. I think it’s best to clear your name quickly. Otherwise, you might end up being hunted like me. And the dwarves who were framed with an absurd false charge, too.”
Ren, who had been quietly listening until now, spoke up.
“That’s true. Now that I think about it, it’s exactly the same as when they pinned terrorism charges on the dwarves.”
“And they’re not even chasing the black mages they should actually be chasing. Wait, but I wonder what the dwarves are doing now.”
Cheon Danbi opened her phone again and began searching the internet. Then she quickly let out a sigh.
“Ah……! The atmosphere really doesn’t look good.”
“Did something happen?”
“Why? What is it?”
Gil and I asked at once.
“Fortunately, it looks like the dwarves who returned to the underground village beneath Namsan still haven’t been discovered. There’s no news that the escaped dwarves have been found.”
“Then isn’t that all right?”
“The problem is that since they couldn’t find them, there seem to have been a lot of cases where people went around to dwarf districts and harassed them. Inspecting and searching dwarves at workplaces and even on the street, and sometimes absurdly dragging them off.”
“Right. That’s why they said the dwarves held a protest.”
“Yeah. But the situation got worse. It looks like counter-protests were held. Protests against the dwarves, I mean. They’re shouting that all the dwarves who are throwing society into chaos should be locked up, and even the zombies should be rounded up and locked away.”
Cheon Danbi furrowed her brow and shook her head.
“They’re saying all the dwarves and zombies should be rounded up and imprisoned? For what crime? That’s just racial discrimination!”
Gil practically shouted.
“It is racial discrimination. But a lot of people online are welcoming it again. The atmosphere is really bad.”
“Why are humans really like this? It’s not as if the other races did anything wrong, so why do they keep hating them? They’re all citizens too.”
Gil continued to fume.
Ren and I didn’t add anything and only listened silently, but our feelings were no different from Gil’s.
Especially Ren. Ren was none other than a member of another race, and a hybrid at that, so they must have had more complicated feelings than anyone else here.
Cheon Danbi seemed to sense that too, because she glanced sideways at Ren. Then she suddenly sprang to her feet and said.
“Ah, now that I’m angry, I’m hungry for no reason. We bought emergency rations, right? I should make something with those.”
When Cheon Danbi headed toward the kitchen, Gil followed.
“I’ll help too.”
“Good. Let’s cook together nicely and cool our heads.”
“Yes. Sounds good.”
The two of them really were quick to switch gears. They went into the kitchen, and after a bit of clattering, laughter soon rang out.
“Are you all right?”
I asked Ren.
For some reason, Ren’s face looked pale.
“It hurts to think that people are harassing the dwarves because of me. If I hadn’t hidden in the dwarf district, I feel like the government wouldn’t have searched the dwarf districts or framed them.”
Now that I looked, Ren was blaming themself.
“No. That isn’t true. It isn’t your fault, Ren. There’s no special reason villains do evil things. They would have done evil no matter what reason they gave, and every so-called reason is nothing but an excuse.”
“Yes. But still, in the first place, I…….”
“It would have been the same even if you hadn’t gone to the dwarf district. You can tell by the way they’re treating zombies now. Zombies have nothing to do with you, Ren.”
“I understand. I won’t blame myself.”
“If possible, go even further and think about standing against them. It takes a lot of strength to reveal the truth. You’ll lend us your strength, won’t you?”
“Yes. I will.”
I deliberately pushed Ren.
Because I wanted to force them out of blaming themself, even if only by compulsion.
Right now, Ren was hiding and fleeing, but before long, we would have to counterattack together.
Ren had done nothing wrong. The time would come when Ren could stand proudly before the world.
And as a powerful weapon that would bring our enemies to their knees.
“Is there anything I can help with?”
Perhaps feeling a little lighter, Ren got up and went to the kitchen, slipping in between Cheon Danbi and Gil as they cooked.
Seeing that put me at ease.
I opened the Hall’s communication device again and started scanning the board.
It wasn’t that I wanted to keep looking at people cursing me, but I needed to know the atmosphere at the World Magicians’ Conference and the situation in Seoul.
But there was new news on the board that hadn’t been there a moment ago. It was a dispatch alert.
Suspicious tremors were occurring near Samseong Station, and strange creatures were rising up from underground.
The notice was telling all Hall mages to deploy to Samseong Station.
‘Another black mage terror attack? Nasan Haegyeong and Yasin should both be on this side, so who is it this time?’