I'm Not Your Dad, I'm a Villain - Chapter 99

Chapter 99

Despair, O Justice

[Those who hate heroes, come here.]

On a chilly winter day.

No one on the street paid attention to the phrase, but for some reason, it caught my eye that day.

It was probably just a provocative slogan meant to lure people. So, why was I so drawn to it?

Looking back now, it was likely a trivial act of rebellion, but at the time, even such triviality felt incredibly serious to me.

Back then, I was overwhelmed by my own problems and viewed the world through a very pessimistic lens.

No matter the scale of my feelings, they ultimately amounted to half-hearted resolve.

Coincidentally, the place I longed for was the battlefield, and battlefields are cruel to those without power.

Born with nothing, I could only face repeated failures.

Repeatedly failing made me question if my so-called conviction was just stubbornness or self-satisfaction.

‘Why am I still here?’

‘Why do I keep doing meaningless things when I achieve nothing?’

Maybe I stayed here just to avoid facing the wrong choice I made once.

A life filled with such regret and self-loathing was like wandering in a dark, muddy cave.

In a place where no one’s gaze reached, the moment I relaxed even a little, I was gripped by the fear of sinking.

Despite such misery, my body moved toward one place, regardless of my will.

A single beam of light illuminating the dark swamp.

I longed to see what was creating that light, so dazzling that I wanted to follow it.

‘I want to see what lies at the end of this path.’

Even if it was far from my initial intentions.

Still, I firmly believed something more valuable awaited me.

***

-Bang!!

At the place I reached, following that light, a series of fierce clashes erupted.

When I fell through the shattered floor from the impact, the ongoing battle entered a brief lull.

The rancid smell from the place where I landed caused me to momentarily pause.

“…What is this?”

The underground sewer beneath the facility.

But it had been abandoned for over ten years, with only traces of filth left behind.

No dirt, no sunlight, so the spilled substances decayed slowly without decomposing.

What clung to the walls and floor, dissolved in the sewage, were the remnants of what were once people.

Probably the children who died in this underground lab. The few white coats scattered around must belong to researchers who opposed the experiments.

“You.”

No matter what, the scene remained disgusting.

“Can you still take pride in your power after seeing this?”

“Shut up…”

-Boom!

A punch followed, sending my body crashing into the wall.

I tried to muster strength and get back up, but by then, his red-sparked fist was already aimed at my chin.

With a burst, my body was thrown through a ceiling, landing in a room above.

“You expect…”

Vanguard, who followed to track me down, grabbed my collar and aimed his fist.

“You expect me to do what?”

-Whack!!

“By the time I knew, it was all over!! By the time I found out what my power was, everything was already…!!”

Whack, whack!

The consecutive mounts.

Simple attacks, but repeated, they turned my head into a bloody mess faster than I could regenerate.

Even the bag I wore felt heavier, soaking with blood.

-Crack

But even at that moment, my arm was regenerating.

“So…”

With my barely healed hand, I grabbed his fist, locking my eyes on his.

“Because the water’s already spilled, you decided to just go along and live like a bastard?”

-Boom!!

Ignoring my strength, the force drove me back into the filthy sewer.

I scrambled to get out of the debris quickly but his fist was already aimed at my face before I could react.

-Crack!

This time, I didn’t just take the hit.

As my face got smashed, my lower body reflexively bounced up.

Using both legs, I grabbed his arm, using the force to reverse the attack.

-Crack!

In an instant, an armbar twisted his arm.

My body rolled across the floor from the force, but it was a minor issue, easily fixed with my regenerative ability.

“Living in a dream should have its limits.”

As my mangled mouth quickly healed, I sneered.

“If you loved that so-called justice so much, you should have lived righteously from the start without relying on tricks.”

“What do you know…”

“I know well enough. Once you start, you see it through to the end.”

-Bang!

The hammer strike caused his body to stagger.

He raised his arm to defend, but it had long been twisted from the previous counterattack.

If it were me, I would have forced my arm up to defend.

-Bang!!

Yet, hesitant to the end, he allowed the attack.

Still trying to maintain his balance, I aimed my hammer at him once more and shouted.

“When Spiritas received praise from everyone above, what were you doing?”

Stop. His body froze.

Seizing the moment, I leapt at him and swung the sledgehammer.

“That’s right, you were just tending to that damned old man. As long as no one noticed, you just took the scraps he gave you!”

-Bang! Boom!

Vanguard took the one-sided assault brutally. Each attack sent fragments flying, showing his defense was reaching its limit.

“Sure, selling your conscience makes everything easier. Good for you. Congratulations, idiot. If you beat me here, no one will know what you did, and the world will adore you!”

Crackle!! A fierce spark echoed in defiance of my shout.

He swung his fist, aiming at the ground instead of me.

-Bang!!

When his fist hit the ground, everything underfoot rocketed upward as if gravity reversed.

Crashing through several ceilings, I landed in a space.

Near an experiment table drenched in blood, flesh, and gore.

Unlike the buried underground, this seemed recent, only a few days old.

“For me…”

When I regained my senses, he stood near the operating table.

“For me, I don’t have the power of Justice or Heavenly Demon.”

The man pushed it roughly and staggered towards me.

“Just having a sense of justice… Just sheer willpower can’t achieve anything.”

Sparks flew from his body, illuminating his bloodshot eyes through the broken lens.

“To achieve what even they couldn’t…”

Blood tears flowed down.

“I must become a monster. To erase bastards like you from this world!!”

-Boom!!!

His fist sent me smashing through the wall, rolling down the hallway, blood spilling from my body.

Wounds burst open, surpassing my regenerative ability due to accumulated damage.

Yes, even though my limiter was removed, this power was still based on superhuman strength.

The more exhausted I became, the less effective my regeneration.

“I know best that it’s worth criticism.”

But that went both ways.

“But you, of all people.”

The man, widening the gap in the broken wall, approached.

Despite his broken defense, his willpower drove him towards me.

“You, of all people… have no right to criticize me.”

His voice dripped with pure hatred.

Yes, I understood.

Evil existed here long before us.

The heresy unfolding now was to counter the existing evil.

Though it was disgraceful, the need for power to prevent immediate collapse justified it.

“…Ginger Bread.”

But it was ultimately a result of a vicious cycle.

-Rumble!

He rushed at me, pinning me against the wall. His grip crushed my neck.

“Why did you become a villain?”

Even as his nails dug into my flesh, blood spilling, his intense hatred showed no sign of abating.

“You, a better person than me… What do you hope to achieve by becoming a villain?”

-Crack!

I felt the wall crushing behind me from his strength.

I, too, was exhausted. Falling behind his pace would be the end.

“…Everything.”

Then muster all my remaining strength.

If I lack teeth, I’ll use my gums. If my superhuman strength diminishes, I’ll rely on my will as always.

“Destroying everything…”

I gripped his hands around my neck, squeezing until my fingers broke.

At that moment, I gasped for breath, my words causing his eyes to widen.

“Is destroying… all you hope for?”

“Yes.”

“Do you really want to destroy this world?”

“Yes, all of it!!”

Crunch!

His grip pierced my tough skin, digging into his wrist. Yet he didn’t let go, determined to sever my hands.

“I will destroy everything in this land.”

I declared, applying force.

“For what…”

“To prevent bastards like us from appearing again!!”

-Boom!

As his tendons snapped, his grip weakened.

Taking advantage, I headbutted him away and picked up the hammer on the ground.

“People…”

Dragging the hammer, I approached him.

“People live in a time where they can’t choose anything.”

Despite my regenerated body, my legs trembled from exhaustion.

Yet I pressed on, determined to close the distance.

“In this era, where people think it’s common for children to starve, for others to die, pretending to be cool while indifferent to suffering is encouraged.”

In a society claiming equality and peace, such things should never exist. Yet, contrary to those claims, people practiced hypocrisy and patience.

But they must know.

The world isn’t equal, kind, but ruthless and cruel.

They only compromise because otherwise, they’d live in despair and pain every moment. So they worship idols to calm their suffering.

Disguising sorrow meant for someone’s funeral as praise for heroes, rejecting those who don’t accept that narrative as pure evil, creating false hope…

“What caused such a world…”

Ultimately, the world shunned anyone who didn’t conform.

“Was it because justice was cowardly? Or because evil kept increasing?”

“That’s…”

“No, it’s because the world was made that way!!”

-Boom, boom!!

As our bodies clashed, a tremor shook the deep underground, threatening to destroy everything.

A moment where only attempts to break each other’s bodies continued.

Determined to shatter unbreakable bodies.

To burst endlessly regenerating hearts.

“Justice, evil… Those aren’t things we can control.”

Even in this desperate fight, rage boiled in my veins.

“This land has walked a cursed path from the start. In this world where adapting means doing vile things comes naturally, what does justice or evil matter? Can we choose anything in this trash world?”

I hate this hypocritical society.

People who aren’t honest with themselves, hiding their shame and sins to receive everyone’s praise, disgust me.

Are humans such that they must hide their flaws?

Does revealing their flaws prevent them from gaining everyone’s trust, leaving them to watch their world rot?

“You may want to protect this damned world, but I don’t.”

If such a result naturally arose and we had to accept it, then heresy allowed under the name of justice would become common sense.

Eventually, the line between good and evil would blur.

When that time comes, and an ‘evil of the era’ that consumes everything emerges.

To crush that era, becoming a monster like the one before me isn’t enough.

“What…”

-Boom!!

Amidst the relentless barrage, his body faltered.

Seizing the chance, I slammed him to the ground and aimed my hammer.

Facing his eyes, filled with despair at my relentless will.

“What made you this way. The belief that destroying everything is right…”

His question might have been his last desperate cry.

The answer naturally came to my mind.

Ultimately, it was all because humans couldn’t defy their environment.

If a being not human governed everyone with broad tolerance…

Though not perfect, it might be a slightly better world.

“…Even if I told you, you wouldn’t understand.”

Her origin, derived from an ‘evil’ that threatened humanity.

Unless she achieved her goal, no one would understand her.

Only if she stood above everyone.

“So just fall.”

So I waited silently.

Enduring all humiliation until the promised day arrived.

Resolving to crush everything in my way.

“I can’t…”

“Shut up and fall!!!”

-Boom, bang!!

The hammer blows deeply embedded his body.

Even as he made a last-ditch effort, burying his fist into my body, my grip on him didn’t loosen.

No matter how fiercely he counterattacked, I wouldn’t break.

Even if I did, I would straighten up again.

Until I witnessed the end of this era, I would drive this nail in.

So despair, O Justice.

And despair.

For the seeds of evil you sowed.

Are now ready to sprout in the graves you ignored.

-Rumble!!

A chain of collapses spanning several floors.

The onslaught engulfed everything, burying it deep underground.

Barely escaping the debris, I caught my breath. I tried to plant my sledgehammer into the ground for support, but even the handle broke, causing me to fall.

My body had only minimal regenerative power left. After a long fight, even I was reaching my limit.

-Crack.

But at that moment, a hand emerged from the rubble.

No, it was so mangled it could no longer be called a hand.

“…How.”

Lacking the strength to stop it, I sat there, staring blankly.

A body without regenerative power, enduring a desperate attack and still standing.

“How did you stand. You…”

Like me, he had no insurance guaranteeing minimal life.

How could he maintain such desperate consciousness?

“…From the streets.”

Breathing heavily through his misshapen jaw, he murmured.

“A single flyer I saw on the street.”

Through the cracks in his broken mask, his hollow eyes clearly showed he had chosen to become a monster.

“Even without power, you can be someone’s hero…”

But he didn’t waver.

Despite his heresy, something within him still existed.

“That phrase… brought me here.”

Something only those truly called heroes possessed.

Such ‘nobility.’

End of Chapter