I'm Not Your Dad, I'm a Villain - Chapter 96

Chapter 96

Twisted Fate (4)

“This space contains all the information in the universe. This information isn’t limited by time or space and is described in incredibly detailed and precise terms. If I told you the one you serve visited here to alter her fate, would it make sense?”

So, she passed through here as well.

Does that mean my arrival here was also influenced by Boss to some extent?

“But what’s crucial is the difference in capability between her and you. While she can interfere with the fate of an entire planet, you’re just a mere human. All you can do is verify and adjust your own fate.”

Altering fate.

I can’t even fathom how challenging and demanding it is. No one, including myself, could ever substitute for the responsibility she feels.

But if it’s just tweaking the fate of one person, just my own…

-As I opened the book, I felt a pressure.

My entire body felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, as if the book in my hand resisted being opened.

“Indeed, it’s difficult. Interfering with predetermined fate is like that.”

“Grr!”

Gritting my teeth, I exerted more force on my hands.

Not the entire library, just one book.

Even just verifying it felt like my blood was being drained out of me.

But as I gritted my teeth and exerted force, the book slowly began to open.

“But you should be fine. If you can maintain your sanity even after entering this space with a human body.”

-Creak, creak!

As he said, the book slowly began to open.

With a final push, the book fully opened, revealing its contents.

But I didn’t have time to read it.

Before I could engrave the first page into my eyes, black lines from the book began flowing over my body.

“Ugh…”

Without time to scream at the strange phenomenon, something started to emerge in my mind.

Clearly, it was the contents of the book in my hands. The information Laplace referred to as ‘my fate.’

“Huff!!”

As I confirmed its contents, I struggled to breathe, feeling a violent shock.

The pain felt like being struck on the back of the head, and I collapsed to the floor.

“…Careful now. That book is your fate itself. What will you do if it breaks?”

Laplace picked up the book I dropped.

He too opened and skimmed through it, but his demeanor showed none of the burden I felt.

“So, how do you feel?”

So calm.

“How do you feel after confirming your ‘original fate’?”

He was asking for my thoughts.

Asking my opinion on my fate.

“What is this?”

But I couldn’t respond.

Because.

What was written inside wasn’t something I could accept.

“What the hell is written in here…?”

“Is it difficult to understand?”

“It’s not about understanding… It doesn’t make any sense!”

It can’t be.

No, it shouldn’t be.

How could this be the truth? How could this be my destined future?

“Something’s wrong. There’s no way this is the path I was meant to take…”

“Wheel of Fortune.”

Laplace spoke firmly to my denial.

The word that was written in the book I read.

“That is the name of the gift you were born with. As the name suggests, it allows you to partially alter your own fate to gain an opportunity to modify it… Your regenerative power is merely a fragment derived from that ability.”

The regenerative power was merely a defense mechanism to keep the intended fate on track.

It had devolved into a mere E-rank ability because it exhausted itself before maturing.

As Laplace said, because I did not follow the fate described in the book.

“But ironically, you never had the chance to accumulate that power. All the power that should have grown was used merely to sustain your existence as you defied fate.”

Yes, everything was twisted from the start.

“As someone who should have walked the path of a hero, you…”

[To the one who despises heroes. Come here.]

“…You saw the flyer from her followers, got caught in the twist of fate she caused, and strayed from your true path.”

“No…”

“Not a villain, but a hero. That was your true destined path.”

Even if I deny it, the future where I didn’t see that flyer keeps coming to mind. The future where I became an ordinary member of society with limited power, growing distrust towards society from my lowly position…

But despite the distrust, I walked the path of a hero, awakening my power, and growing into a hero who upheld the world. The book on the floor showed me this was the future I should have taken.

And in that future, unlike now, I achieved everything I wanted.

I vanquished everything called evil with my own hands.

Walking a path diametrically opposite to what I now desire, yet firmly believing it was the right way.

“Ginger Bread. The one who even discarded his own name to walk the wrong path.”

As I struggled with this revelation, Laplace met my lowered gaze.

“You can’t achieve anything because you’re serving her. Although you were born with the power to control your own fate, if you stay by her side, you’ll continue to achieve nothing.”

No matter how much I deny it, the truth remains unchanged.

His voice, whispering this truth, was nothing if not gentlemanly.

“So if you desire power, start correcting your twisted fate from now on.”

But why?

At that moment, his whisper seemed like that of a devil.

“Abandon your loyalty to her. And follow the path you were originally meant to take.”

I should never reach out, but.

It was an irresistible, sweet temptation.

***

“Do you remember a man called Vanguard?”

As midnight passed and dawn approached.

The transcendent, still gazing at the moon, quietly asked her loyal retainer.

“Oh, the hero we met in the mountains?”

“What do you think of him?”

“What do I think… I’m not really interested.”

Unless he was involved in a major operation, he was still infiltrating society.

He wasn’t interested in heroes or villains unless there was a suitable opportunity. Naturally, he hadn’t bothered to investigate the hero he met in the mountains.

At best, he knew the name from the news, where he was reported to have taken down Seolhwa.

Though he hadn’t caught her directly, if he truly was McCoy’s subordinate, he likely received multi-gift surgery.

If so, his total power would approximate an S-rank.

Not an opponent an E-rank weakling could overcome, even if he wasn’t on par with Spiritas or Ouroboros’s executives.

“Becoming a hero through such disgraceful means… Is there something about him that bothers you, Boss?”

“I’m concerned because he resembles Bread in many ways.”

“Resembles him…”

Gray Anatomy propped his chin, lost in thought.

Recalling when he faced him as a teacher, he spoke.

“When I saw his unmasked face, I thought he had a very common appearance.”

His face was as common as they come.

If asked to pick the most ordinary face in the world, it would be like his.

Not just his face, but his inner self as well.

Thus, it was predictable.

That his current self represented the fate his beloved man should have walked.

“If I hadn’t descended upon this planet… Bread might have walked the path of a hero like him.”

Still sitting on the bed, gazing at the moonlit night.

But her hands on her knees were trembling slightly.

“He was led astray from the beginning because of my existence. The reason he couldn’t achieve anything…”

It was a sight he had never seen while being in the organization.

Such emotions couldn’t possibly be directed towards a human.

“Boss, you…”

“Love.”

Before he could finish asking how she felt.

She quietly spoke and looked back at Gray Anatomy.

“By your standards, that’s the emotion I feel for him.”

It wasn’t an unequivocal certainty.

Just a rough understanding from the information she gathered about humans over the past three years.

Merely recalling his face made her smile, and she always wanted to stay by his side.

If her heart responded to such thoughts, causing her body to react, then it must be an emotion called love, as felt for someone of the opposite sex.

“Of course, I didn’t have such feelings from the start. Initially, I merely wanted to see the future of someone whose destiny I couldn’t foresee… At that time, it was nothing more than trivial curiosity.”

But even such curiosity felt more important than anything else at the time.

Descending to this planet to fulfill a mission given by an unknown entity, and feeling disillusioned by the clearly discernible limits of the predetermined future…

The ‘miracle’ that occurred at such a moment led her to whimsically cling to the life she was willing to abandon.

‘I want to see the end of a future I can’t predict.’

At that time, her only thought was that.

“…It didn’t take long for me to realize that such a desire was too much.”

Yes, this world is extremely unforgiving.

After that war, weakened, she could no longer display the majesty of a transcendent being.

He wished to entrust her to another organization to rebuild, but they thoroughly betrayed his expectations, preparing to use her as a tool.

They aimed to make the leader of the mighty Ouroboros organization their instrument, and further, to fill the void left by her and achieve their unfulfilled ambitions of continental conquest.

“I believed I had to respond to his efforts to save me from those people.”

For the first time, she had a desire beyond her mission.

So, with her insufficient power, she erased those who bound her and approached him.

“When I was finally in his arms after sacrificing much… I couldn’t understand why he was so sorrowful.”

Her gaze shifted from the sky to her hands.

“At that time, I didn’t understand human emotions at all. But even in my ignorance, I could tell that staying as I was would hinder him.”

Such small hands.

Yet, the fingertips in her memory were even smaller.

“Thus, I asked him to teach me how to live as a human.”

The excuse that they were powerless and couldn’t ask anyone for help, hence had to infiltrate society, was just sophistry.

Claiming to understand humans to discern the line of judgment was just an excuse to convince him.

She merely wanted to understand him.

Thinking that by seeing the world from the same level as humans like him, she might understand him.

“In the disguise of living as a child, I learned how powerless and ignorant a child can be. I gradually realized that even adults who grow from such children can’t overcome all the dangers of the world.”

Compared to this vast world, humans were very small beings.

That realization marked the starting point of her understanding of humans.

A long process.

But the realization could arrive in a moment.

“And at some point, I realized why he despaired so much back then.”

Why he cried holding her weakened body.

Why he blamed himself for seeing his wish come true.

The fundamental reason for understanding it was the ironic realization that his misguided fate was because of her.

Because he was weak, he couldn’t protect the one he served…

The despair of someone realizing his weakness was caused by her desire to stay by his side.

“To pierce your idol with your own hands, not despairing would be strange.”

Though they idolized each other, their inadequacies prevented them from achieving anything together.

Is it not a truly tragic story?

End of Chapter