Villain Hiring: Help! Author Wants Me Dead

I sat in my chair for a long time after Pixie left, staring at my hands…

They weren't shaking as much anymore, but they still felt foreign—like they were not mine.

Like they belonged to someone else.

Someone who had done things I could never take back.

Even now, I could still hear the screams.

See the blood.

The faces of people I didn't even know, twisted in fear as I cut them down.

Some had deserved it.

Others… hadn't.

I swallowed, feeling a lump in my throat as a dead boy's voice reached my ears.

"N-No…please don't kill me…I beg you, please! My mom.. my sister…they're all al—"

It had been months since Villo Greek, but I still felt like I was trapped there.

It was a never ending cycle, and no matter what I did…Every single life I took only haunted me in my dreams.

The weight of what I had done had clutched my heart so tight that I no longer recognised myself.

I had no personality…no sense of self.

All of this?

I did all of this to change my fate.

To make sure that my Ma lives… That Venus, the man who I even until now refused to fully acknowledge as my grandpa lives a happier life.

And I really had no regret for everything I did.

I had no other choice…

Right?

I was the fated villain after all.

And every time I closed my eyes, every time I tried to think about the future.

I saw nothing but black—

Because what kind of future was there for someone like me?

Someone drenched in blood?

Damien sighed in my head. "Noah, you need to snap out of it."

I exhaled slowly, shaking my head. "Easier said than done."

"Of course, it's not easy," he shot back. "But you're acting like you have all the time in the world to be stuck like this. You don't."

I didn't respond, thinking he would let it go.

But the stuck up bitch wouldn't stop.

Ughhh, I did not need this right now.

"Fate is shifting, Noah. The world is changing. And if you sit here, drowning in your own misery, you're going to be left behind."

Clenching my jaw, I half scoffed. "Maybe that's for the best."

"Really? You think so? You think the people who are after you—who want you dead—are just going to forget about you because you decided to be pathetic?

Because you decided to disappear from the world?

What about the Secret Society we tried so hard to make? Huh! Or did you just forget about it now that you lost hope?

Do you remember what you told me when we had finally taken over the piss filled halls of that Assassination Hall?

"Hehehe— So what? I just have to substitute someone in my place…Yes!"

"All I have to do is to hire a Villain."

I flinched, Damien's words echoing in my mind continuously.

"That's right," he said, mercilessly. "You're not some nobody, Noah.

You're the damn 'Fated Villain.'

Whether you like it or not, people will start to see you as a threat soon.

They're going to come for you. And what are you going to do when that happens? Hide?!"

Silence.

Damien's voice dropped lower, almost gentle. "You're not weak, Noah."

I laughed bitterly, lifting my almost skinny arms into the air. "Tell that to my system status, you damn bastard—"

"Okay."

And just like that, my status screen appeared in front of me.

[Status]

Name: Noah D. Romero

Race: Human

Title: The Fated Villain

Strength: 27=>91

Agility: 29=>97

Mana: 0

Charm: 9=>69

Soul Power: 72=>371

Skills: Soul Siphoning [Lvl4], Mana Drain [Lvl3]

***

What.

The.

Actual.

Fuck?

I could not believe what I was looking at. All these past few months, I had killed and killed and killed.

But I never had the confidence to check my status.

What use was it to grow stronger at the cost of the lives of innocent people?

Or so I had thought.

This was the first time I had seen my status in almost 5 months now, and there is also the fact that I have done nothing but mope around the house in my usual bouts of depression and guilt for the last 3 months...

Unable to believe what I was seeing, I stared at them again.

"What…?" My breath caught. "These numbers—"

"You idiot," Damien said, almost fondly. "You really didn't notice?"

I was speechless.

"When was the last time you actually checked your status?" he asked.

I swallowed, having no real answer to his question.

"I… don't know."

He sighed. "Exactly. You've been so busy hating yourself that you didn't even realize how much stronger you've become."

I clenched my fists. "That doesn't change anything."

"The hell it doesn't." His voice turned sharp. "You've been walking around thinking you're some broken, weak mess. And yeah, maybe you are mentally. But physically?"

He chuckled. "Physically, you're a goddamn monster, Noah."

I bit my lip.

Damien continued. "You remember the Slave Body Refinement technique?"

My stomach twisted. Of course, I remembered. It was a body-refining method I had started practicing 5 months back, and since following that breathing method almost gave me some peace of mind, I continued doing it even now.

That is, except the physical training part.

I still remember how Damien introduced this pussy named technique.

The Slave Body Refinement Technique.

The weaker you looked, the stronger you became~

At first, I hadn't even known if it worked. But now…

Now, I looked at my status again, and I realized.

It had been working this whole time.

All those fights, all that pain, even the breathing technique that I had been regularly doing for the past 3 months... it had made me stronger.

Stronger than I had ever been before.

Damien's voice softened. "Just because you feel weak doesn't mean you are."

I swallowed hard, my fingers gripping the arms of my chair.

"Noah."

I inhaled sharply.

"You need to take a mission already, the World Fate is shifting again."

I stiffened.

"No."

"Yes."

I shook my head. "Damien, I—"

"I'm not asking," he interrupted. "You need to do this. Not just because of your strength. Not just because of your status."

He hesitated before continuing, quieter. "You need to do this for yourself."

I looked down at my hands again.

I thought about Pixie's words.

Who's fighting for you?

I exhaled shakily.

"I…" My throat was dry. "I don't know if I can."

"You won't know until you try."

I clenched my jaw.

Try.

Could I really?

I thought about how I had been living these past few months—hiding, avoiding, pretending.

Pretending I wasn't the same person who had cut down all those people.

But what if…

What if I wasn't?

What if I actually sent most of the weird and evil quests that I received from the system because of what the Noah in the Book had done as missions to the Secret Society we created?

That was the sole reason we had made it…No?

Villain Hiring—

hehehehe

Yes! This was it.

"Damien?" I called.

"Yes, little villain?"

It's finally time to meet Grimwald, isn't it?

***