Even the Villain Has a Story

‘Son of a bitch, you didn’t tell me this shit was gonna hurt!’

Sayun bit his lip and brought his trembling hand up to his eye. He couldn’t even speak because of the pain. It felt as if the muscles in his neck contracted so much that it was blocking his airways and throat.

It was unusual for so much blood to flow out, but he needed to stop the bleeding, so he pressed his hand against his eye until a thick liquid flowed down his wrist.

Drip.

A red line of blood dripped onto the floor. At the same time, the pain was burning him.

It felt as if someone was poking the inside of his pupil with a heated iron, and it seemed as if he was pressing it in vain. It was hot and painful. The true evil of mankind easily tolerated torture, but even when he was tortured without eating or sleeping for a month, it was less terrifying than this.

Sayun’s entire body trembled. The pain hit his body like a wave and it was worse than everything he had experienced until now. 

“Argh!”

Sayun exhaled and pushed against his eye. It was so painful that he wanted to pluck it out if he could. He collapsed on the bed, scratching at the sheets frantically.

Curse words crawled up his throat, but the pain suppressed every single one. All he could spit out were pained sounds as he bit his lips. Even his lips burst open from all of his biting while he tried to swallow down every sound.

He thought that biting his lips would make the pain go away, but it was so excruciating that he didn’t even feel his lips burst open.

With his free hand, he clutched at the white bed sheets and stomped his foot against the floor. Even though the pain didn’t go away just because of anger, Sayun expressed it through actions instead of just suppressing his screams.

In the end, as his groans became louder and the sound of his pain spread throughout the room, the black snakes resting in the room slithered out and climbed onto the bed. At other times, Sayun would’ve patted the little snakes who came up to him all worried, but now he couldn’t.

Hiss!

“Ugh!”

Tears welled up in his agony. Even though it was a physiological reaction, the snakes who saw the blood in Sayun’s eye turned around and hissed. Feeling them covering him with their bodies, Sayun clenched his teeth.

It was only after a long time that the terrible and excruciating pain subsided.

“Haa…”

A tired sigh escaped his parched mouth.

He thought he was going to end up with dementia.

He wasn’t exaggerating in the slightest.

When the pain reached his head, he couldn’t think of anything, so it wouldn’t have been strange if he had gained a mental disability because of it.

Sayun’s energy was all drained out and when he finally stretched on the bed, the snakes approached him and put their heads forward, asking for pats. Sayun just looked at them because he had no strength left and turned his head. The sheets were all red. His right eye was wet with blood and it was hard to even open it properly.

It was common sense that if a person shed this much blood, they would die, right?

It didn’t make sense that the blood which dripped from his eye was enough to stain the bed sheets. Since it was obvious that his body was being played with again by the system’s pranks, Sayun stared at the ceiling and struggled to raise his shaky hands.

He swept a hand through his hair, wet with cold sweat, and closed his eyes due to tiredness. As he only focused on the sound of the snakes acting cute, a familiar notification rang in his ears.

Yes, he needed to check the results.

No matter how painful it was, he paid a cheap price for receiving the power to resist the system that seemed impossible to escape from for the rest of his life. Sayun opened his heavy eyelids to confirm the skill acquisition and stared straight ahead.

There was a floating blue window.

<‘Genius Eyes’ skill synchronisation is 50% complete! We will proceed with the remaining synchronisation in 10 minutes. (b ᵔ▽ᵔ)b>

<Synchronisation is possible. Are you sure you want to cancel the syncing? However, the karma consumed when cancelling will not be restored. (b ᵔ▽ᵔ)b>

The blue window was filled with information that Sayun didn’t want to believe.

“…”

Sayun was so weak that he couldn’t speak. Unable to make a sound, as if the system window had stolen his voice, he brought his trembling right hand in front of his eyes.

His blood drenched hand was hideous. Sayun looked at his clean left hand for a bit before laying it on the bed and stared at the ceiling.

“Ha, haha, hahaha…”

There was a delirious laugh.

“Yeah, you won’t just give it back.”

Burned by the system one more time.

All he had to do was get the Genius Eyes, find someone who met the requirements for activating the Resistance, then escape the system.

“Bitches.”

Sayun mumbled and pressed Proceed to Sync. If he was doing this one more time, that meant that he acquired half of it. If he gave up after already suffering through the pain, he was crazy.

<Synchronisation will start in 30 seconds. Be careful of the pain. (b ᵔ▽ᵔ)b>

As always, the unlucky emoticon was there.

18, 17, 16… Sayun was muttering along with the countdown, and he stood up when 10 seconds were left. Then, when the last 10 seconds were over, an intense pain struck him like lightning.

It wasn’t the type of pain Sayun could adapt to just because he’d been through it once. He struggled in the same way as before, twisting his body on top of the bed.

The snakes, who were relieved to know that it was all over, went wild again, and a groan escaped from Sayun’s mouth. If Jongsik was outside the door, he would’ve panicked.

At that time, a rattlesnake that was rattling its tail slithered out of Sayun’s bedroom. Naturally, Sayun couldn’t afford to care about it.

His body shook as the pain rushed in. He had never been so sick in his entire life. An innocent snake came up to him only to be hit in the face by a struggling arm. Sayun frowned at the little guy who shook its tail as if it liked it, and put his arms behind his back, enduring the pain with his fingers crossed.

“Ugh…!”

A few suppressed groans erupted. The pain that stabbed him in the eye and clouded his mind only subsided when he was about to faint.

Sayun got a hold of his clouded mind with pills.

He forced himself to get up, although he didn’t want to, and headed for the bathroom. His reflection in the mirror was no different from the main character of a horror movie.

His face was pale and tired, cold sweat was dripping down his body, and his white robe was stained red like the clothes at the scene of a murder. Sayun sighed, thinking how long it had been since he had such a miserable appearance, then turned on the water.

After washing his hands under the running water, he splashed it on his face as well. When he lifted his head after wiping away the blood, the blue system window he had been waiting for caught his attention.

<‘Genius Eyes’ skill synchronisation is complete! You will feel some pain when using the skill. Be careful not to overdo it. (b ᵔ▽ᵔ)b>

Sayun didn’t like that explanation very much, but he was happy when he saw ‘Genius Eyes’ in his skill list. He was so happy that he could forget about the pain he had suffered.

After all, hadn’t a path finally opened?

‘The One Who Changes Fate’

And—

‘The One Who is Revered Throughout Heaven and Earth’

Only one of those two had to be found. Then, he was free to say goodbye to the damn system.

Just thinking about it made him hum, and with a huge grin on his face, Sayun hung the towel he used to wipe his face and left the bathroom.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

As soon as he walked out of the bathroom, he heard a loud noise. Someone was slamming against the door, as if to break it down and enter Sayun’s apartment. So Sayun, who was a little suspicious, walked towards the door and opened it.

“Brother!”

As soon as the door opened, a huge man walked in. Sayun was impressed by the fact that the man rushed over without thinking about his body size, and then pushed Jongsik’s face away.

“What? How did you get here?”

“Brother! Are you okay? Your clothes… What’s wrong with your room? Why are the sheets so…!”

At first, Jongsik seemed worried about Sayun’s bloody clothes, but completely lost his breath when he saw the expensive craftwork and the sheets turned red with blood. Sayun scoffed, wondering whether Jongsik was worried about him or the room, and then hit his forehead.

Jongsik’s eyes widened at the hit, and then looked at Sayun.

“How did you get here?”

“Oh, this guy…”

Hiss! Hiss!

When Sayun lowered his head, the rattlesnake was shaking its tail, looking up at Sayun. Strangely enough, it seemed to have gone to call for Jongsik after seeing Sayun suffering in pain.

As he patted and praised the troubled snake, a small grumble flowed out of Jongsik’s mouth.

“I ran all the way here from the gate…”

“Did this guy go to the gate?”

“No, it was a crow. I think this guy asked the crow.”

If so, it was even more admirable. When Sayun seemed surprised that the snake had become so smart, the snake hissed as if it was proud of itself. Sayun also let the snakes enter the snack storage as a prize.

“Brother, I have…”

“Uh, since you’re here, please change the sheets.”

“…”

“You don’t want to?”

“…Who said I didn’t. What happened to your clothes? Was there an attack?”

He asked quickly. When Sayun replied that he shouldn’t have asked about that first while he was worrying about the sheets and ornaments, Jongsik scratched his neck in embarrassment. Sayun clicked his tongue and began taking off his blood-soaked robe and handed it to Jongsik, who screamed and covered his eyes.

“Don’t take off your clothes like that!”

“Well, why not? It’s not like I’m naked underneath, and we’re both guys. Anyway, Jongsik. I need to find someone.”

“A person?”

“It’s one out of two people, to be exact.”

“Yes?”

Jongsik didn’t understand Sayun’s explanation properly and blinked in confusion while holding the robe. Either way, Sayun walked into the closet, pulled out a shirt, and raised the corners of his lips.

“Where are you, my pretty ones?”

He hasn’t seen their faces yet, but ‘pretty ones’ still became the pet name of those who had the respective alignments. If they actually met, he would treat them well from the bottom of his heart, so it would be okay to name them in advance.

‘Let’s see where one out of the two of you are.’

Sayun knew nothing about their name, age, or face, but he was excited as if he had already met them. The pain vanished, and Sayun, who was humming a popular song for young people, walked up to the window, passing by Jongsik, who was standing while looking puzzled since he couldn’t understand what was going on.

Although it was like looking for a needle in a haystack, Sayun thought he could somehow find them.

It was only after three months that he realised how absurd that thought was.