How to Redeem a Trashy Side Villain

Chapter 120: Theory Becoming Reality

'Master… you were a little scary there,' Kimi commented.

Back in my car, one of my eyebrows raised.

"Hmm? What are you talking about? That was a nice conversation we had there," I responded, confused about her statement.

Me? Scary? I was smiling the whole time and spoke in a soft, gentle voice. What about that could possibly be scary?

Oddly enough, Diana's heart rate was extremely fast, but it did eventually settle.

And she drank my blood before I left, so she should be good for a while. Lately, she's only needed to drink my blood once every two days and I think the reason behind that is that her mana capacity has grown and my own mana pool has also grown.

I did warn her never to drink or consume the blood or mana of anyone else unless it was absolutely necessary.

For example, if I were missing or the two of us were too far apart.

But I reminded her that she should reach out to her best friend, Peneri, before she attacked some random person on the streets.

Vampire hunters were powerful people in this world, each one trained specifically to kill vampires. Right now, Diana only has a few traits of a vampire but as she continues to get stronger, that other being inside of her will try more and more to take over her body, making her more susceptible to a vampire's weaknesses.

'I agree with Kimi. You were scary there. I'm amazed that Diana didn't pee her pants.' Liona and Kimi tend to bash heads, so the fact that they were on the same page meant something.

"Hmm…" I uttered.

"Maybe I'm tired from the training. My facial muscles must not be working like normal," I said as I moved my face around with my fingers as if it were made of malleable clay.

I paused for a second as I was stopped at a red light.

Then I looked up and asked, "What do you think?"

"...Do you really care about my opinion?" the shitty god asked.

Thinking about it for a second, I shrugged. "In the past, I would've thrown you a middle finger and told you that your opinion was worthless. But hey, we've gotten a bit closer over these couple of months, haven't we?"

"..."

"So yeah. I don't care about your opinion to the point that it would influence me if you disagreed. However, I'll consider your opinions when you agree with me."

"...That's a rather selfish way of thinking."

"Hahahaha," I laughed as I pressed on the pedal and accelerated through the green light.

The rest of the drive passed quietly as I listened to music. Kimi and Liona seemed to have understood that they wouldn't get through to me and make me understand what they saw, so they chose to keep quiet.

By the time I pulled back into the estate, the sky had already darkened. There were still hints of the gorgeous red, orange, and blue hue that had covered the sky a while ago but now, it was a few shades away from being totally dark.

Most of the lights inside the mansion were still on.

As I stepped inside, I called out, "Mom?"

"In the kitchen," she replied.

"Where's Dad?" I asked as I began heading over to where she was.

"He won't be able to make it to dinner tonight. He has some important business that he needs to attend to."

Whatever business he's dealing with, the fact that he's skipping our family tradition of eating dinner together… it must be really really important.

Hugging my mother from behind, I rested my head on her shoulder.

"Is something wrong?" she asked me, her hands stopping. She had been in the middle of cutting cucumbers.

"No," I mumbled. "Just tired. By the way, is Jaren still up in my room playing games?" For some reason, I couldn't feel his presence.

I pulled away from her and looked up in the direction of my bedroom.

"No," she responded as she wiped her hands with a towel. "He left not too long ago. Said something about going to hang out with a friend."

A friend? Is it the kind of friend that I'm thinking about?

"Oh yeah, he wanted me to tell you that he left you a message."

For a second, I was confused why he felt the need to tell my mother about that, but then I remembered that I had his messages on mute after he spammed my inbox a while ago during one of his drunken nights.

Pulling out my phone from my pocket, I unlocked and sure enough, there was a single message waiting for me.

[Yooooo! Finna ketchup on the flip. Got me a date with a baddie. Ttyl]

Ketchup? Catch up?

Putting my phone away, after confirming that it would be another hour before dinner was ready, I excused myself and went upstairs.

My body felt heavier than it should've been. I wasn't particularly sore because the potions had numbed that sensation. It was more like I felt drained.

I guess training is catching up to me. Tonight's sleep will probably be a really good one.

Once I reached my room, I tossed my sweater to the floor and didn't even bother changing. I took a light jump and collapsed onto the bed, my face buried into my sheets.

Flipping around, I was staring up at the ceiling.

Let's take a short nap.

After setting up an alarm so that I wouldn't be late to dinner, I closed my eyes and fell asleep almost immediately.

.

.

.

I was standing somewhere unfamiliar.

There was no ground beneath my feet, yet I wasn't falling. The space around me felt vast as if I was in the middle of the ocean.

"Bell," a woman's voice called my name.

"Bell," it called again.

I turned to where I heard it but there was nothing and no one there.

"Bell, I've been waiting," she continued with a soft tone. "Do you know… how long it's been?"

Scanning the darkness, looking here and there, I responded, "Waiting for what? I don't know who you are so I can't exactly give you an answer about how long you've been waiting either."

She laughed quietly at my answer.

"Silly boy. You do know me," she replied. "You just chose to forget."

…Silly boy?

They called me with such an intimate nickname that I reconsidered my assessment. Maybe they did know who I was. But choosing to forget? I shook my head. I didn't choose to forget anything.

The air grew heavier and it went from feeling like being in the shallow waters to being in the trenches where swimming without the proper equipment resulted in death.

"You know who I am. After all, you were the one who abandoned me," she chuckled. "Left me there alone."

"...I don't know—"

"I hate you," she whispered. The words stabbed into my chest like blades.

"Yet, I also love you," she continued, her voice trembling. "I love you so much that it makes me sick. It makes me resentful of myself."

"..."

"There are days I wish I could kill you," she said calmly. "Drag you down with me. Pull you into the afterlife so we'd never be apart again."

I stopped breathing as I listened intently.

"That way," she murmured, "you wouldn't be able to leave me twice."

Something shifted behind me. I turned and saw a silhouette with undefined features.

Wanting to get a better look at the person speaking to me, I took a step forward. "Who are you?" I asked.

The darkness peeled back just enough to reveal her eyes.

I saw the colors, the shape, the way they glared at me — and for a split second, I recognized them.

They belonged to—

I opened my eyes as I woke up.

Placing my hand on my chest, my heart was a little faster than normal. There was also a thin layer of sweat dampening my back.

The room was exactly as I'd left it when I went to take a nap. I was alone and there was no other voice keeping me company. Just silence accompanied by my breathing.

Sitting up, I grabbed my phone and saw that only ten minutes had passed since I fell asleep.

"...What a weird dream," I muttered.

❖ ❖ ❖

[Shitty God]

Hey there.

It's only been a while since our last talk.

How have you been?

Good? Bad? Well, I don't care.

I just thought that since you're reading this story, you might be interested in what I'm about to tell you. It's nothing bad… nor is it good.

Currently, I'm not watching Bell. I'm observing something else in the world.

Speaking of Bell, have you noticed that the two of us have gotten closer? Now, not that I care but it's good to see that I'm not being as disrespected as before.

"Have you heard?" a woman dressed in a black cloak asked her partner. Under the cloak, she was covered in scars.

She wasn't someone who exists in my novel. She was entirely an OC created by the world.

Her partner was also wearing a black cloak, and his frame was so large that he looked like he had eaten another man. He probably needed tens of thousands of calories a day just to maintain his weight.

"Heard what?" he responded. The two of them were walking along the streets of Noctyra. This city also wasn't one that I had written about before.

By the way, just in case you were wondering, Bell resides in the city of St. Vernon in the country of Valdonia. The world is known as Nara.

If I remember correctly, it wasn't until chapter 1000-something that I mentioned these names. Whoops.

Noctyra was a city that was covered in constant rain. It was heavily industrial with these rustic towers that stabbed through the clouds. There were barely any children roaming the streets and for good reasons. Most of the people on the streets were merchants, mercenaries, and the police force.

"There's a boy attending the academy of our former teammate," she said. "Bell Agnus. The youngest son of Duke Agnus."

"...I recognize that name. But what about him?"

"I've received intel that the boy has killed two demons so far."

The large man stopped in his path. That's right. You'd better be shocked. That's the boy whom I chose. Although admittedly, I didn't expect him to be this famous so soon.

Step. Step.

He resumed walking and asked, "What about it?"

"Don't you think we should target him?"

"...Kill him? What did he do? Just because we're considered an evil organization doesn't actually make us evil."

"Who said anything about killing him? I meant, should we recruit him? We have a few open seats."

In case you've forgotten since it's been a while that they were mentioned, these two had implied by bringing up the Headmistress that they were members of the Mai-Yad.

To tell you the truth, the fans theorized that the Headmistress was a member of the Mai-Yad but it was a complete coincidence. I just wanted to give her a cool backstory and later on, when I introduced the organization to the story, her backstory just happened to fit the organization.

Now that the world has become real, it seems that the theory is now the truth.

"...Would he consider joining us?"

"Once he hears the true purpose of our organization, I think we have a decent chance," she smiled.

The two of them stood in front of a building. It's where their target was currently staying.

They both reached into their cloaks and pulled out a mask. The scarred woman's mask depicted a yin-yang. The large man's mask had horns and was a red ogre's face.

"Shall we?" she asked.

"Ladies first."

She kicked the door open and there were fifty people inside. They had their weapons out and looked like they had been anticipating their arrival.

Standing on the second floor behind the railings was their target. He looked at them with beads of sweat dripping down the side of his face.

"Hey there, buddy. Let's not make this more difficult than it has to be," she chuckled as she dashed into the crowd.