I'm Not Your Dad, I'm a Villain - Chapter 101

Chapter 101

Shattered Justice

-Splat.

Flesh and bones pouring down.

All of it spreading indiscriminately, soaking the ground where I stand.

A fountain of blood spurting from the cross-section.

That, too, didn’t last long before the body crumpled, soaking the ground with blood.

Convulsing, but not by its own will.

The moment its soaring wings were brutally broken and it fell.

No noble hero stood before me anymore.

“What the hell…”

“What the hell are you doing!? You useless piece of trash!!”

As I gazed blankly at the corpse, a shout echoed from afar.

The scream of a pathetic old man. Though I faced him directly for the first time, his voice was unforgettable.

Edmund McCoy.

The one who caused me to step into this place.

“You think I gave you that power to lose to a nobody villain!? Useless piece of trash… You were rolling at the bottom because you never knew how to use the opportunities given to you!!”

From a distance.

The shout echoed from the hole in the ceiling.

“Calm down, old man.”

A low voice tried to restrain him.

Starting with a gender-neutral male voice, shadows began to increase, one by one, in each level of the underground facility.

More than ten of his followers in this abandoned, lesser-known lab…

No, even though their figures weren’t clear, their voices and atmosphere made it easy to guess.

They weren’t heroes like Vanguard but a group of villains operating from the shadows.

“Even if he had some power, he was never someone easy to manipulate in the first place, right?”

“Think of it as a blessing. He kept interfering with everything we did… If we left him alone, he might have caused a big incident later.”

Did they call them in while I was fighting Vanguard?

The surface should be guarded by Shadow; how did they get in? Did they open a secret passage somewhere?

“I heard he was an unofficial S-class asset. To fight on equal terms with him, that guy must be quite skilled.”

“But is he really a villain? He’s wearing a bread bag…”

“Whatever he is, he’s already at his limit. Subduing him won’t be hard.”

Those guys began to show hostility toward me, but even so, I couldn’t focus on them.

Confirming their presence was only momentary.

When I regained my senses, my gaze was fixed on the fallen body again.

“…Ha.”

So, what is it?

The one I fought desperately with was nothing more than a cheap puppet made to fit the tune of that guy?

His position could easily be replaced with villains?

“Haha, haha!!”

It’s a laughably absurd story.

Not only did he use his authority to cover up all sorts of heresy, but he also deals with villains, bringing them in to protect himself and manage the situation.

If the outcome is right, anything goes, but there should be limits.

“…Bring him to me.”

But he seemed unaware of his situation, groaning in pain from his broken arm and shouting orders at the villains surrounding him.

“The one who did this to my arm can’t die easily… The one who brings me his head will get the power of Seolhwa, that damned girl!”

“Haha! That’s great! The chance to inherit the strongest power!”

“The first one to catch him is the winner!!”

Villains laughing heartily as if they would leap at me any moment.

Even so, I couldn’t bring myself to run away.

Not because I didn’t understand the situation. My emotions just couldn’t keep up with my thoughts.

When anger reaches its peak, one feels a cold calm… Yes, that’s what I felt now.

Borrowing that calm, I gradually realized.

Justice, evil, everything he and I fought and discussed—all just individual wills.

They weren’t even representative opinions of each side. Even allies could deny them at any time.

Villain’s enemy is a villain. I had already accepted and prepared for that.

But he…

‘Mr. McCoy. Why…’

He never expected such a result.

Though he took a heretical path, that old man also sought greater power to eradicate the evil of this land.

He might have thought the method was wrong, but the result would be right.

He firmly believed that following it would achieve his ideal.

“Indeed.”

Seeing the situation, I realized.

There are many types of justice.

Yet, they aren’t respected due to differences, leading to a world where those ahead dictate all order.

Justice isn’t perfect, but even the concept itself stagnates under such principles.

“Indeed, this era was wrong from the start.”

An era that refuses change, unaware of its own decay.

In such realization, the will I had suppressed was swallowed by anger, and black threads began to rise from my body.

The fate that constitutes my existence was ready to act without my will.

-Crack!!

But it never went out of control.

The body that should have crumbled stood upright in alert to the enormous calamity enveloping the space.

“Wha-what… what’s…”

-Crack!

All the air in the space froze, and frost started to form on the walls.

-Crack!

Cries burst out but quickly fell silent as if frozen. It didn’t take long to realize what caused it.

‘Absolute Zero.’

A power that nullifies everything within its range, regardless of the opponent’s strength.

With that power, it can instantly drain the warmth from any number of opponents, no matter how strong.

If used without restraint, it can make one forget they’ve even died.

“You… you crazy bitch. Do you even know what you’re doing… Heeek!!”

That merciless blade was now aimed at the last remaining one.

The old man’s wretched scream echoed.

There was no composure one should have when holding a control device.

What the hell happened? Coincidentally, this place couldn’t check what was happening above.

-Rumble!

As I moved with my barely recovered body, I distinctly felt the space trembling.

The scene collapsing under the fierce disaster.

-Crack!

But even that froze under the overwhelming cold filling the space.

As I navigated the seemingly frozen time, I imprinted everything I saw upon reaching the end.

Ice statues everywhere…

No, frozen bodies that could no longer be called alive.

At the end of the path, the old man with a broken arm was pressing a remote.

“What… why… why isn’t it working!!”

The control device that exploded Vanguard’s head.

Its function should have been more effective on Seolhwa.

The remote allowed them to control her, who was called the strongest.

-Crack.

But she was stepping towards McCoy with unsteady steps.

Frost clinging to her body and her joints moving unnaturally.

Just seeing her back, I realized.

While I was distracted, she used the faintly permitted power to freeze herself.

Raising it to a certain level would suppress the collapse within her body.

“Insane…”

Yes, more than 80% of her body wasn’t functioning properly.

Her limbs barely moved, and her head was frozen, making rational thought impossible.

Yet she moved with a determination bordering on madness.

Watching her struggle, I couldn’t bring myself to stop her. This moment, I couldn’t do it for her.

“You… you… How could you do this to me! I was the one who gave you that power! That power let you act as you pleased until now…”

-Crack!

-Crack!!!

With each step, icicles surged.

The uncontrollable power spread wildly, piercing the frozen space.

“W-wait. Let’s make a deal. Give me a chance! Then I’ll give you a power stronger than what you have. I can do it!! If you cooperate, you can rise higher than now…”

Despite the terrifying advance, everything around McCoy remained eerily calm.

He could kill her at any moment, yet he only flaunted his power before him.

“S-save me…”

As if he had waited for those words, she slowly reached out her frozen hand towards him.

“P-please! Aaaaah! Save me, save meee!! I was wrong, s-stop…”

At the very end.

Facing the slowly approaching calamity, the follower of justice wretchedly wailed.

Watching that scene, a faint smile began to form on my lips.

“Yes, in the end, that’s all you are.”

Yes, in the end, his sincerity was proven only when he had a knife to his throat.

Unlike the man who maintained nobility till the end, this follower of justice used it as a means, not an end.

Using justice as a pardon to justify his actions, elevating his achievements and existence.

“You’re just another common villain.”

He might have thought he was right, but it was just the mindset reinforced by staged scenes and statistical data.

That alone couldn’t understand the evil prevalent in the world.

For those dragged into the battlefield by such, despair was always waiting.

“S-save…”

Without even leaving a final scream, his body slowly froze.

Facing his solidified, wretched face, she placed her hand on it, supporting her leaning body.

Without saying a word, she brushed his face with her weak hand.

-Crack!

With that act alone, his body crumbled, turning into white powder and disappearing without a trace.

That was the end of a woman’s path of vengeance.

Her empty hands held everything she had left.

-Thud.

What happens after?

Her body collapsed onto the frost-covered ground.

I slowly stepped towards her fallen body.

Step by step.

As the frost melted instantly, losing its power, the cracks it filled reopened.

“Your revenge succeeded.”

Amid the crumbling space, I offered praise for her revenge.

“…How do you feel?”

But that couldn’t comfort her.

She came here not by her own will but pushed by circumstances.

“…Empty.”

Villain Seolhwa.

A fated existence who never desired anything, just swept into the path of evil by circumstances.

“I abandoned so much.”

But she was human, too.

Not once.

Even if she had turned away, she had never abandoned her humanity.

“On my way here, I used so many…”

With her revenge complete, she felt no thrill.

Having nothing left, she could only reflect on the past, not look forward to the future.

Reflecting on her life was the price for her sins.

“I ignored innocent people… for this moment.”

What if.

What if she had a choice?

Could this human aspect have contributed a bit to brightening the world?

“What should I do now?”

But what’s done is done.

If you spilled water, you could try to gather it again, but her vessel was utterly broken.

She sacrificed everything for this moment and could pursue nothing more, nor wish for anything beyond.

“To soothe this heart… Should I destroy the world?”

Having lost the will to live.

Now left with only madness, not reason.

“You know, don’t you?”

Yet she didn’t want such a future.

Not wanting to pile up more regrets, she abandoned her judgment.

“You have a future, unlike me. You know what to do, at least.”

The only one remaining.

An old connection not even in her memory.

Thinking he might reveal the choice she would have made.

“Please, tell me the answer. What should I… do…”

“Let’s go back.”

But ironically, that was just a glimmer of hope.

Ironically, I couldn’t give her the answer she wanted.

Just hoping her decision now was impulsive, a temporary result.

“Go back, where…”

“Anywhere.”

Though she might live in madness, still.

Still, hoping by the slightest chance she finds a way to stand on her own.

“Let’s go back.”

-Rumble, boom!

As the disaster site collapsed completely.

While everything underground was being buried, I carried her body, and shadows began to wriggle before me.

The elusive Shadow. An old comrade who came to take us away, sensing the anomaly above.

Memorizing that scene, I paused briefly.

Stopping my steps for just a moment, looking back at the path I had taken.

Footprints in the not-yet-melted snow, leading to a hole.

The falling rocks from the collapsing ground and facility would surely cover up everything that happened here.

The atrocities committed by the fallen follower of justice, the inevitable villain born from it.

And the tragic end of this era’s abandoned savior.

Forever…

Or for eternity…

End of Chapter