I'm Not Your Dad, I'm a Villain - Chapter 90

Chapter 90

Inevitability (2)

Entering deviation to oppose evil…

For those who aim for justice, it’s a common story. But there are also those who feel disillusioned by such aspects and choose betrayal.

Femme Fatale Familia.

A woman who pitied herself for turning to evil, lamenting her ignorance.

Seolhwa still remembered her.

“…Mr. Vanguard.”

And now she faced someone walking a completely different path.

“Mr. Vanguard… Have you ever listened to the voice of a dying person?”

She didn’t intend to criticize him.

If they were to discuss good and evil here,

It would be closer to evil for someone like her, who led thousands to their deaths for revenge, than him who entered deviation to oppose evil.

“What…”

“I’m not talking about rescue. I’m asking if you’ve ever listened to the breathing of someone about to die, without killing or saving them.”

She was simply teaching him.

No matter how much he sought guilt from someone like her, no matter how much he wished that her last moments would be human.

The expectations would be meaningless since her beginning was already wrong.

“They might say they’re in pain or to save them… but those words are just for a moment. Asking to be killed to end prolonged pain is also brief. Eventually, only gasping breaths remain, and later, as their body stiffens, a sound like bones twisting starts to echo. I think that sound is the sound of life ending.”

“…What are you talking about?”

“But children don’t even have that.”

How far can a human go in cruelty against another human?

He seemed to misunderstand, but she wasn’t talking about herself.

“Children only cry in pain. They just want everything that torments them to end. They don’t even think that dying might bring relief; they just cry and scream until they reach their limit and suffocate.”

In an era where tragedy was common.

She grew up in the deepest, darkest places, listening to screams born from pure fear and despair.

She couldn’t grow up in salvation, but had to grow as evil.

“Choosing extreme measures to escape never-ending pain is ultimately for adults. Newly born children don’t even know that such choices exist. They just cry in pain, asking for forgiveness from those who torment them. Children’s words before they gain sense never even hold hatred towards their tormentors.”

“What are you talking about…”

“Mr. Vanguard.”

Did he not understand why she suddenly spoke of children?

Or did he not want to understand?

“You asked if I felt any guilt for the path I walked.”

Regardless, she would teach him.

“Then let me teach you the answer. Out of the thousands and tens of thousands of children who died without knowing anything, one child survived, fled from pursuing heroes and into the depths of evil…”

The reason he was so curious.

The reason she could never end her life with atonement.

“Do you think a child who understood and adapted to evil, who became an adult there, could truly repent for their sins?”

Even if they tried, they’d choke.

How could a weakling who has always run away, plead for forgiveness from a society they don’t trust?

-Thud!

Before he could answer, the door burst open.

Vanguard turned his head in surprise, looking behind him.

“Mr. McCoy?”

“…Memories.”

A voice barely audible amidst heavy breathing.

Edmund McCoy, staggering forward while clutching his head, pushed Vanguard aside and approached the fallen Seolhwa.

“I remember.”

“…What…”

“I remember everything!!”

His trembling hand grabbed her collar, the eyes that had previously shown rapture now filled with seething hatred.

“It was you. You ruined everything!! You wretched wench! Do you know how much time I invested to create you!? You wretched wench! I’ll kill you!!!”

“Mr. McCoy, please calm down…”

“No! You ruined everything!!! It was all your fault!!!”

Ignoring Vanguard’s attempts to stop him, McCoy wailed while clutching her collar.

Just watching him, Seolhwa understood everything.

‘He remembered… those memories erased by his power.’

It wasn’t impossible. She had experienced recalling lost memories herself.

Such occurrences sometimes create a dissonance with reality, causing unbearable torment.

“Why did you come back to me now? To mock me!? Does my miserable downfall after you vanished amuse you so much!?”

The research he had considered a glorious failure now felt like a pitiful success, dragging him down.

It would be stranger for a human not to go mad.

“…Edmund McCoy.”

But Seolhwa couldn’t pity his miserable state.

“Do you remember my name?”

If he answered this question, she might have felt the ‘guilt’ the hero wanted her to experience.

-Wham!

But instead, she received a rough slap.

“You wretched wench… Did you think I came this far to hear your nonsense!?”

McCoy, trembling, kicked her prone body.

Her weakened body, shattered and frail from the separation of her gift, couldn’t even resist the violence of an old man on the verge of death.

“It was my lifelong research. To prove everything to the world! If I had just released you to the world, everything would have gone well, but to erase those memories… Were you out of your mind!? What was my humiliating time for!?”

But such violence didn’t matter.

Her life had seen worse pain and humiliation.

‘…Kill me.’

Compared to that day.

Compared to when the strong one who overwhelmed her turned their back out of pity.

‘I’m sorry.’

‘Where are you going?’

‘…I’m sorry I couldn’t save you.’

‘Where are you going? You’re a hero. You’re meant to kill villains like me!!’

Even in defeat, she gave her all.

Living as evil without regret, she was ready to bury her bones in this fight.

‘Come back now! Did I ask you to save me!? If you won, kill me!! Prove to the world that I was wrong and you were right!!!’

Why did he spare her?

He, like the one called the hope of the next generation, worked for the world’s peace.

‘If you leave, I might repeat the same actions. I might destroy everything you need to protect!’

If she escaped now, she couldn’t control herself.

Even though he knew this future, he never came back to her.

He just clenched his lowered hands.

That was all the emotion he showed her.

‘Jack Horse… What you showed me wasn’t mercy after all.’

She felt anger at the world she wanted to beautify, at the deviance hidden beneath.

Yet, unable to strike them down, he remained silent.

‘You just showed me the world’s filth.’

She hated him for taking that sentiment to his grave.

For leaving the world without voicing his opinion, without inciting these vile feelings.

“Mr. McCoy, please calm down. If you continue…”

“Get out.”

McCoy, catching his breath after his violence.

He glared at Vanguard with murderous eyes.

“Mr. McCoy.”

“Didn’t you hear me!? I told you to get out now!!”

The previously shown semblance of courtesy discarded in a shameful scream.

Vanguard, unsure how to handle him, finally bowed his head and turned away.

His gaze beneath the mask lingered on her for a moment.

A moment before he too exited through the door.

“Ah, I’ve shown such an ugly side.”

McCoy regained his composure once the gaze disappeared.

But even that was not sanity.

The familiarity felt from her existence, the lifelong research he had invested in… and the despairing reality of her return broke his reason.

“Yes. Nothing’s wrong. Just start again. From now… Just continue the research I couldn’t finish that day.”

Though confused by the sudden return of memories, he eventually settled for compromise.

If he didn’t, he’d find his situation too pitiful.

If he didn’t, he might ruin the results he had pursued.

“Yes, starting again… will work.”

Even if the failed success shamelessly returned.

He tried to suppress personal feelings for his pursuit and ideals.

“…Ha.”

But why?

Just watching him brought a laugh to her lips.

Watching him, she felt an inexplicable sense of satisfaction.

“What are you laughing at… Do you not know what will happen to you…”

“Ahaha, hahaha!!”

She finally burst into laughter, unable to hold it in.

It wasn’t a mockery.

She just realized.

That just a little bit.

“Edmund McCoy, you idiot old man.”

Just a little more.

And she could complete the fragment of revenge she longed for.

“…Do you know what you look like right now?”

“Shut up. What do you know, you who entered deviation…”

“What do I know? Do you want me to say it?”

Drawing the last of her strength, Seolhwa lifted her head.

Her eyes filled with madness between her disheveled white hair.

“Look at yourself. Even as an executive of the Association, you receive no recognition. Even if you’re just a nominal executive, you should hold your head high, but what are you so afraid of that you hide in this dilapidated room, playing with documents?”

A ruin, not a proper facility.

Spending so much time in such a place left his hair uneven, his skin spotted, and his teeth crooked.

Such an ugly appearance could improve with care, but he avoided people’s eyes.

Because without results, his actions would seem dishonorable to anyone.

“And you’re clinging to just one thing, the multi-gift…”

“Just? Do you think the power you hold is just a mere thing!? That power will soon reach its peak. It’s a mighty power that can eradicate all evil in this world…”

“With that great power, I was only a minor executive in Ouroboros.”

She only needed to teach him the reality he was avoiding.

If she provoked him enough to abandon his compromises and keep her alive.

“Maestro, Shadow, Anatomy, Beast Buster, Bathory… They were all stronger and better villains than me. And even now, villains worse than Ouroboros are emerging. And you’re clinging to research that’s ten years behind? Do you think that research can save the world!?”

“Shut up, you wretched wench!!!”

-Bzzzzt!

Pain surged through her body as he operated the remote.

“Ah, ha…”

Yet she laughed.

“Ahahaha!! Ahahahahahahaha!!”

Suppressing the pain tearing through her body with spite.

Laughing maniacally with genuine fervor.

“Edmund McCoy!!”

Grabbing his clothes with her trembling hand, cursing him.

“You and I are the same. No one will recognize your efforts, you’ll receive no reward, and you’ll be forgotten by this world!!”

“Aaaaah!!”

Unable to bear it, McCoy smashed her head with the remote.

As her body went limp, McCoy lifted the bloody remote again.

“So…”

Not stopping at inflicting pain.

A control device that could shatter her body.

“If you wish to die that badly, I’ll grant it.”

Killing the only successful creation with his own hands, erasing all results.

Hoping they’d suffer more.

Hoping the world’s filth would be known more, that the world would crumble more.

Using such curses as her final words, she decorated her end.

‘…Why.’

But why?

The rising feeling from within stopped her from uttering those words.

‘Why, in this situation… does your face come to mind?’

A life forced to grow as evil.

Recalling the last moment when she kept a human heart.

End of Chapter