I'm Not Your Dad, I'm a Villain - Chapter 86

Chapter 86

Disdain for the Weak (3)

In the distant past.

Before becoming a villain, he once felt a sense of fulfillment in saving people.

There was a time when receiving gratitude from those he saved was the joy of his life.

Until the person he saved killed someone.

‘Can you name the child you ran over?’

Every life holds its own life dear.

Therefore, it stands to reason that others would also value their own lives.

So why couldn’t this person remember the name of the victim they killed?

‘Please, spare me. This isn’t who you are, Doctor!’

Even though they once shouted their thanks for saving them, they began to plead for mercy when he held a knife to their throat.

But what he sought was not a plea for his own life.

He only asked one thing.

To say the name of the victim.

To say the name he heard countless times after the murder, during the arrest, facing the bereaved family, and in court.

‘Please, forgive me, Dr. Faust…’

But he knew all too well.

Society says all humans should be equally loved, but that too is hypocrisy.

What matters to people is not the ‘life of another’ but their ‘own life.’

There will always be perpetrators who don’t remember the names of their victims.

‘A doctor shouldn’t be doing this! Please, stop…!’

The beautiful world turning ugly in an instant.

For a man who revered the sanctity of life more than anyone, that realization…

That incident which confirmed it led him into a deep disillusionment with humanity.

***

“Friend, I somewhat understand why you’re doing this.”

A miserable pawn, thoroughly trampled by a great evil.

The fragments of his body were scattered everywhere, and his severed lower half was being slowly digested in the mouth of his beloved companion.

From the connected part of his body came a sweet sensation.

The appetite for human flesh, developed through physical modification, had even led him to abandon the trivial emotions humans should have towards one another.

“Even the mutts in a cesspit know to lick each other’s wounds and feel sympathy, so why would humans be any different?”

Of course, even those disgusting creatures sometimes show glimpses of beauty.

Love, friendship, camaraderie formed through shared hardships… Those are concepts that can be formed anywhere as long as there’s a sense of empathy.

Even if the person before him was someone who could watch a massacre with a calm demeanor, if he had past ties with the perpetrator.

It’s understandable that he would hold her in special regard, unable to forget that time.

“But not me.”

But he was someone who felt revulsion even towards such acts.

To him, the emotions humans feel for others were just means of preserving the species and protecting oneself.

Even if they once stood on the same battlefield, the camaraderie he felt for them was just a means to survive and achieve his ideals.

“To me, humans are not worthy of such regard. And if you wanted to impose that on me, you should have prepared accordingly.”

“You damn bastard…”

-Crunch!!

The monster, having finished digesting the lower half, began tearing into his arm and pushing him against the wall.

The mouth, soaked in gluttony, bit deeply into his shoulder, responding to his emotions.

But the urge triggered by the savory taste was suppressed through sheer will.

“Yes, friend. To me, you’re no different from her. You, who blindly blames me after realizing her mistakes too late, and her, who walked into danger without taking responsibility for her actions, are both equally disgusting.”

This person must not die.

He must at least hear out what he has to say.

“So instead of blaming me, you should have stopped her from the beginning.”

Ginger Bread.

A damn friend who doesn’t even remember him.

“No, it’s not that you didn’t stop her, you couldn’t. Why? Because you’re a weak, pathetic worm without any spine!!”

It wasn’t hard to tell it wasn’t a lie, considering the deja vu he felt every time they met.

But he still couldn’t understand.

Why did his past self consider this guy a friend?

Why did he see a weak worm who should have remained a pawn as a friend?

“Even now, look at yourself. You can’t even overpower someone as weak as me. What can you do with nothing but stubbornness?”

-Crunch!!

At that moment, a shadow filled his vision, bringing a sharp pain.

As agony pierced through his flesh and into his brain, the man hanging against the wall whispered weakly.

“…What does it make you, losing an eye to a spineless worm?”

Blood continued to gush from his severed lower half.

Though it was regenerating slowly, maintaining his sanity and stabbing his own eye with his remaining arm was impressive.

Even in this situation, seeking a chance to counterattack. Yes, his tenacity surpassed human limits.

“A monster that abandoned humanity.”

But even a flea that jumps twice as high remains just a flea.

-Slash!

At that moment, the monster’s mouth tore at him. His arm was ripped off, and his body fell onto the motel bed.

In such a wretched state, the man tried to lift his head with his remaining arm. But his opponent had long since recovered from the injury.

His natural Mega Drain ability amplified through the substances in his body, accelerating his healing. A crushed eye healed in an instant.

“Don’t worry. You won’t die because Boss loves you.”

Looking down at his opponent with perfectly healed eyes, he spoke.

The only reason he showed mercy.

Because he was loved by the only intelligent being that didn’t fill him with revulsion.

“I’ll make sure you stay alive… Just enough to live as a brain in a jar until this situation calms down.”

Although she failed, she still might have the power to change this world.

So forget the woman who abandoned the path, and use this man just enough to appease the one he serves.

-Crack!

With that thought, he saw a black shadow.

The sight of it made Anatomy’s footsteps freeze.

‘What is that?’

Black threads wriggling from his torn body.

The threads expanded, stretching towards his scattered flesh in the room.

What is that? A gift?

No, a gift is one per person.

And there was no evidence of Multi-Gift procedures on him.

‘It’s intangible.’

Moreover, the black threads spreading through the room couldn’t be physically touched. It wasn’t even light, blocking its path was impossible.

It seemed almost like an illusion.

“The, ah…”

But the gathered threads were converging towards his body. As if reconstructing his flesh…

“No, no…!!”

No, that’s not it.

He wasn’t turning back into a human.

The empty eyes showed an abyss, swallowing even the light that wriggled within.

Just staring at it made him dizzy, a precursor to something changing before him.

If he transformed, into what?

‘This guy is dangerous.’

Something unprecedented, inexplicable.

A sense of crisis gripped Anatomy, making him prepare a new injection for himself.

Instinctively feeling that leaving this person here would be a grave mistake.

-Whoosh!!

But then, a black wave filled the room.

The force twisted the space, blocking light and sound, turning everything to nothingness.

It was a phenomenon very familiar to Anatomy.

“…Shadow.”

Dimension Control.

The power used by Shadow, the No. 2 rank in Ouroboros.

Using that power, he spread his body to encompass the space, swallowing the target he aimed for.

As if to protect him.

“Step aside.”

-No.

A voice resonated in the space.

Anatomy gritted his teeth and scowled.

“He must die here. Hand him over now!”

-Boss’s request.

“Shut up!!”

-Crunch!

Countless tendrils sprouted from his body in response to the drugs.

The hormones triggered by his emotions reshaped his flesh, and his bloodshot eyes gradually turned beastly.

Human Chimera Anatomy.

He was about to unleash the numerous monsters within him.

“For Boss’s sake, he must not live. Hand him over, or else…”

-Tear!

But his violent outburst was short-lived.

One of his arms split open, and the tendrils collapsed to the ground, writhing.

Swallowed by the darkness on the floor, they soon vanished from sight.

-Anatomy.

It wasn’t just a slash through the air.

The cut severed ‘the space itself.’

From the moment the room was engulfed by his body, the space fell under the control of Dimension Control.

Within a certain spatial boundary, he could wield near-omnipotent power.

-You are mistaken. Boss’s order wasn’t to protect this person but ‘not to kill you.’

The being who severed his arm began to envelop his body with shadows.

Fingers too long and deformed to be human, too soft to be a weapon…

-Anatomy. Don’t you understand?

Only when he felt the countless tendrils wrapping around him did Anatomy realize.

-I am sparing you, even though you tried to kill him.

It wasn’t just the one cradled in his embrace who received Boss’s protection.

‘Why?’

He didn’t know why Shadow, who had been silently observing, suddenly acted.

But Anatomy didn’t dare question it.

Shadow was the No. 2 in Ouroboros.

Only second to Maestro in strength, his malevolence surpassed even that.

A pure evil born from humanity.

Mercy from such a being couldn’t come from a lukewarm heart.

“…Damn, why does everyone protect that guy?”

Feeling the threat to his life, Anatomy wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and let his body revert.

He expressed only his innermost thoughts.

Why both a being that surpassed humanity and a monster born as pure evil protected that weak worm.

“Hey. Weakling. Can you hear me?”

The darkness gradually receded. The expanded form of Shadow began to withdraw from the room.

Watching the remnants, Anatomy spoke quietly.

“If you can hear me, remember this. Boss is no longer the tiger that will save you from being a fox.”

“……”

Did his voice reach him?

Coincidentally, Shadow didn’t know.

Even now, within the space twisted by his body, that strange entity’s rampage was ongoing.

Suppressing that was all Shadow could manage, unable to inquire further.

-Mr. Bread, Anatomy says weakness is a sin, but I… I don’t think so.

He only spoke.

Remembering that day, from a place darker than anywhere on the surface.

-Because when I saw you then…

The intensity he felt then.

That led him to remain by his side now.

***

…And then.

“Bread.”

A long silence.

A quiet voice pulled me from sleep, and a strange ceiling slowly came into view as I opened my eyes.

Along with the soft touch on my head.

“…Boss?”

“Yes, I’m glad you’ve awakened.”

In my waking eyes was a girl cradling my head on her lap.

Her gentle smile showed the depth of her generosity.

“Well, Anatomy did something terrible in my absence.”

“…Boss.”

My lord. My ideal.

My everything.

“But if this is my sin, it’s because I was delayed in sending Shadow due to our long conversation…”

Her concerns fell on deaf ears.

In that moment, overwhelmed by emotion, I only held her tight.

“…Bread.”

“Just for a moment.”

I knew it was impolite, but I couldn’t help it.

Though my body was healed, I remembered everything that happened.

How pathetically I was subdued and humiliated.

“Just for a moment, can I stay like this?”

Fearing I might no longer stand by her side.

Fearing I might fail to protect her from threats.

“If you wish, gladly.”

She embraced me, easing my fears without question.

As she always did.

With an understanding beyond my comprehension.

End of Chapter