Only I Am A Reader-Chapter 553: The Real Vigilante

'Didn't expect to find this maniac from the get-go.'

Although the way Leo spoke made it seem like he had specifically gone out to hunt Murder Beast, in reality, this was all a product of pure coincidence.

Just like any nice Villain Hunter would do, he waited till night before starting to run around in search of his first prey. In the end, it just happened that the first fly to step on his spider web was someone… Or more like something familiar.

Unlike the Ability Eraser, this one wasn't brought to the story as one of Aurora's enemies, rather, his introduction scene wasn't that different from the one that just passed, the only difference was that capturing him took a lot more time.

'The other maniac did have a thing for crazies.'

A crazy vigilante. While that was the character that Leo based his current career choice on, he wasn't exactly fond of that weirdo. After all, even within the twisted City of Villains, he was considered an anomaly.

To begin with, classifying him as a Hero or Villain gave him too little credit. The way he moved about and his haphazard yet methodical actions made him extremely annoying to read.

Both the current Leo and the 'Vigilante' could be considered Villain Hunters. However, their approach to handling that task was completely different.

Leo wasn't the type to play with his food. He was as straightforward as possible, taking down his target as soon as he spotted it. On the other hand…

'Between the two of us, he is more deserving of the Hunter title.'

Contrary to his vague title, the Vigilante wasn't a warrior of justice, achieving what the lax authority couldn't do. Rather, he was more of a bored predator who chose to study its prey.

Even without Leo's ability to scan wide areas or his reading knowledge, the Vigilante didn't bother searching for leads or threads. In fact, since he wasn't doing it to make the world a better place, this would go against his purpose.

His detection method was very simple, he would just wander in the streets, searching for his next target. Unlike Leo, he didn't even need to catch them in the act.

Just by observing some simple everyday actions, he could spot a murderer. Villain or not, as long as they were psychopaths who acted on their bloody desires, they could never escape his eyes.

Of course, not all murderers caught his eye. When it came to those who killed for money or gains, using it as a simple tool, they didn't make it into the Vigilante's list.

'I'm still curious about his Ability.'

Unlike the rest of the interesting characters, the Vigilante was such an anomaly that even his Special Ability was never directly revealed.

His detection ability was already pretty supernatural, but his other supernatural aspects made it hard to imagine an ability that could encase everything.

In Leo's opinion, he believed that the author found it hard to explain everything that the Vigilante could do, so they refrained from defining the ability and creating plot holes.

However, the author's relation to this world was already part of a chicken-egg dilemma. Did this world come to be first? Or did it come to be after the book was written?

'Either way, I really don't want to meet him.'

Regardless of the true nature of his ability, the Vigilante was the last person that Leo wanted to meet in this reality. Not because he was afraid of him, but due to his innate creepiness.

Once the Vigilante found someone he was interested in, he would stalk him to start his studying process. Practically following them 24/7.

He never got too close. Sometimes, he could only listen to the sound or see the crime scene afterward, but the stories he retold from these fragments were often as vivid as the real thing.

Considering that he took his time to observe several murders without interfering, the Vigilante's disinterest in being a 'Savior' was evident. However, his vivid description of the atrocities he observed was the source of the problem.

'I almost skipped those chapters.'

Seeing through the minds of sick people with extreme accuracy was very disturbing, even Leo who didn't mind creepy books was a bit taken back.

He originally thought that the short 'Dark Hunt' arc would be a nice distraction from the constant Aurora-focused chapters, but that thought quickly faded away.

For example, the Murder Beast that Leo met was more like a scared kitten, but seen through the Vigilante's eyes, the word 'Beast' didn't give him justice. Both his heart and mind were the epitome of black.

Most importantly…

'I will clean up the streets, so stay away.'

The way the Vigilante 'hunted' his prey after completely studying them was the truly disturbing part. Although it was only a minor one, this was one of the reasons Leo chose to hunt murderers.

If he could be the cause of it, Leo hoped that the Vigilante would never make an appearance in this reality. Especially since he only disappeared after Aurora tried to stop him, which made even less sense.

'Naturally, the one true hero could never look the other way after seeing the remains of his 'hunt', but the monster meeting Aurora once was enough to scare him away?'

Towards the latter part of the novel where he appeared, Aurora was obviously a lot stronger. However, the Vigilante never cowered in front of simple strength.

Even if he found Aurora troublesome, he could have simply avoided her, but he suddenly disappeared from the novel.

Within the confines of the original novel, wrapping up a side arc might have been understandable since the focus needed to shift back to the main threat. However, in this reality, such a disappearance was as strange as could be.

Overall, he might have been a proficient hunter, but he wasn't very different from those he hunted. If he really did appear early due to Leo's butterfly effect, things could get very complicated.

'Well, until then…'

Watching the police arrive on the scene and receive his little indicator, Leo rushed away as his search continued. Regardless of who might interfere, his plans still had to be carried out on time.