Fated to Be Loved by Villains

The slums were always enveloped with a gray and lifeless atmosphere.

Dark, grimy alleyways, vagrants, sewage, the foul odor seeping from every corner, and the gloomy air radiating from those who sold their future to survive another day.

Anyone with common sense would avoid a place like this, and even those with an unusual sense of curiosity wouldn’t easily consider strolling through such an area.

In that regard...

“...My lady, I don’t think we’ll find anyone suitable in a place like this.”

The person those words were directed to was clearly someone who rarely encountered such a place.

It was a well-built man who said such words to a young girl walking ahead of him.

Just a single glance was enough to tell that she was from a wealthy background.

Considering the class difference, it was obvious that most people living in this street would likely never encounter someone like her in their lifetime.

The man’s words were likely out of concern, as just walking around here could expose someone like her to all sorts of threats.

“Don’t be so dull.”

Her response came immediately.

As if his words weren’t even worth considering.

“Dad said I could pick whoever I wanted, no?”

“My lady, you don’t have to come to a place like this to find suitable candidates for your ‘personal guard’. There are plenty of—”

“A personal guard is someone that has to be around me 24/7. The thing that matters is that we could get along well. I’m not interested in someone who’s just after Dad’s money.”

“...”

If anything, those from the slums would be the most desperate for such opportunities. He didn’t get why she needed to come here to search for candidates.

Although he thought this, he didn’t voice it out.

He knew all too well about her eccentricity, and it was unlikely he could change her mind at this point.

Besides, he didn’t have the right to say anything, as he was in this job because of her parents’ money.

‘Maybe she’s just craving some real human warmth,’ the man chuckled inwardly.

“Oi.”

Probably because he was lost in his thoughts, the man’s reaction came a little delayed.

A boy, sitting against a wall, wearing nothing more than a bundle of rags, called out to them.

“...”

The man frowned.

It wasn’t just the boy’s sudden appearance that bothered him.

...There’s something upsetting about his eyes.

They were empty.

These were the pair of eyes that one would see in people who were alive simply because they hadn’t yet died.

While the man frowned with an inexplicable discomfort, the boy spoke again with a hoarse voice.

“Can I do that?”

“What are you talking about?”

The girl asked in a flat tone to the boy’s words.

He had interrupted their conversation out of nowhere which was strange enough, but the fact that she replied so nonchalantly was just as strange.

The bodyguard’s frown deepened as the boy continued with an unhurried voice.

“Becoming your personal guard.”

“...”

The girl paused, then gave a faint smile.

“Are you confident you’ll be useful?”

“Yeah.”

“How are you going to prove it?”

“Well, I’m pretty sure I can do the job better than the guy next to you.”

“...What bull—”

Before the guard could finish his scoffing remark.

The boy moved like lightning.

In an instant, the street urchin had snatched the gun from his side holster and pointed it at his face.

“Bang.”

“...”

He didn’t pull the trigger.

But the man’s expression froze. In that moment, it really felt as if he had truly died.

“You should always stay on guard. You got caught cuz you let your guard down.”

He could have reacted if he had really tried. The boy’s movements were fast, but the man was a trained professional.

However, the boy was right, he had been too complacent.

He never even considered that the boy could move so decisively.

As the man stood stiffly, the boy calmly tucked the gun back into the man’s belt.

“I couldn’t do better cuz I’m hungry.”

His voice was thin, hoarse, and cracked.

But his eyes were blazing, as if there were flames contained within.

“Normally, I could do better.”

“...”

“What do you think? Am I not worth considering?”

The girl looked at him in silence.

After a long pause, she scratched her cheek and opened her mouth.

“A personal guard, huh? You don’t even know who I am, so why do you want to do it? What are you hoping to get out of it?”

“I don’t want to starve. That’s it.”

“...”

His motivation was simple.

At the very least it was more straightforward than all those empty flatteries she usually heard from the people who were clearly just after her family’s wealth.

The girl let out a small smile.

“Hey, why don’t we take him along?”

“My lady—!”

“He seems interesting, don’t you think?”

Ignoring the man’s protest, the girl’s smile grew wider.

“It’ll be fun to see what’s going to happen if we were to raise this kind of beast.”

That was...

...the first meeting between the boy and the girl.

It was merely a faded memory from beyond the dream, but for the boy, said memory was etched deep within his soul.

●

[-HEY, HEY!]

I could barely open my eyes at Caliban’s shout through the Soul Linker.

“...What is it? You’re so loud...”

[You alright?]

For once, unlike usual, there was no sarcasm or laughter in his voice.

I was so surprised that I couldn’t blink, much less give him a response.

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

[You were sweating, groaning, panting in your sleep—like you were dying. What kind of nightmare did you have?]

“...”

The slums...

That girl, that man...

My first employment as a guard...

“...It’s nothing.”

Throwing out that curt reply, I sat up.

I hadn’t dreamed of that time ever since I entered this game, so why did that memory resurface now?

Dreams containing memories of the past were always exhausting.

I pressed my temples with both hands, trying to clear away the lingering weariness and discomfort.

“What time is it?”

[Am I your butler now? It’s 9 in the morning.]

Despite his grumbling, he still answered properly.

Letting out a faint smile, I rose from the bed. It wasn’t too late at least.

“Nice weather we have today.”

Today was the day for Professor Klein’s experiment.

...From what I heard...

He’s a professor specializing in matters regarding brains.

Compared to other professors, his achievements aren’t particularly impressive, but the degree of his cunningness is something else.

But, so what?

“...Shall we go?”

That didn’t matter.

I had faced far worse people than him before.

So, let’s just go.

To kill that fucker.

●

“Have you handled everything that I asked?”

I asked Alpha as we were moving towards Professor Klein’s lab.

What I was asking about was the preparations we had discussed prior—setting the ‘stage’ for me to kill Klein.

“...Yes, everything was taken care of.”

Alpha, who’d been guiding me deeper into the lab, spoke with a somewhat sour expression.

I only asked for a few things, so it shouldn’t have been too difficult.

First, to confirm that the ‘safety net’ used in the previous experiment with Professor Borris was in place.

It was a device meant to keep me from dying no matter how bad things would get.

Second, to confirm the full list of professors participating in today’s experiment.

And lastly, to prepare this thing I was currently holding.

“What the hell are you planning to do with that?”

Alpha pointed at the box—which was filled with random everyday objects—in my hands.

No, I wasn’t kidding, it really was filled with a bunch of random stuff. Cards, a screwdriver, a drinking cup, a ladle...things like that.

“They’ll all come in handy”

“...”

It seemed like Alpha was about to say something but he gave up halfway and let out a deep sigh instead.

As if saying, ‘I’ll just assume that you know what you’re doing...’

“...It’s not that I don’t trust you, but you’d better not get too confident.”

To that, I just shrugged in response.

Of course, he was right.

I had to keep my guards up  at all times. Getting ahead of myself was how I’d get myself killed.

As we walked, eventually, we...

[Ah, you finally arrived.]

Reached the massive dome—similar to the one I’d seen before—and a voice echoed through the loudspeaker above us.

[Get into position, Subject. This time, we’ve added some extra precautions for control purposes—]

“I won’t be using Demonic Aura.”

[...]

Hearing my calm interruption that cut through his sentence, Klein immediately fell silent.

He probably hadn’t expected me to say that right off the bat.

Not that it mattered anyway.

“It’s weird since the whole point of this farce is to monitor my Demonic Aura, but...”

The goal of the experiment was for them to collect data on my Demonic Aura, supposedly, but they decided to seal that away just to mess with me, which was dumb, honestly.

Well, either way worked for me.

“Just to be sure, I’ll cooperate with the restrictions. Feel free to suppress the Demonic Aura or whatever. However, in exchange, you’ll have to let me use...these.”

Saying that, I shook the box once to make it rattle.

The items inside were obviously just some harmless junk.

[...What are you trying to pull?]

“Oh, c’mon. I’m just asking to use these.”

I glanced up at the observation deck where Professor Mobius was watching, then turned my gaze back to Professor Klein, who seemed equally bewildered.

And then...

I dumped the contents of the box onto the floor.

The random items scattered everywhere, and I scanned them calmly.

Hmm, which one should I use?

What about this?

This would be perfect to ‘start’.

Thinking that, I picked up the cup used for drinking water.

“First, I’ll start with this.”

Silence enveloped the room.

They clearly had no idea what I was on about.

After a long pause, Professor Klein spoke in a dumbfounded voice.

[What?]

“Since this is a combat-type experiment, you must have prepared some kind of opponent for me, right? I’m saying I’m going to kill it with this.”

[...With a cup?]

“Yes.”

[...]

“Whatever it is that you prepared for me, this should be more than enough.”

Once again, silence.

Except this time it lasted a bit longer.

And then...

[...INTERESTING.]

I could just see veins popping on Professor Klein’s forehead from all the way here.

Here we go.

The first step to kill your opponent.

Piss the hell out of them.