My Villains Episode 236
48. The Artist (3)
The black disc, or the gateway to dreams, it was a dark space all around. It was as if I had fallen into space without stars.
It had always been like that, and it was similar this time when he escaped from Ellen’s dream.
However, there were a few differences. Once, I saw a light beyond the exit far away.
It wasn’t that bright. It looks like a torch… It was impossible to light up the vast dark space, barely lighting the basement.
Those carrying torches had vague, yet familiar silhouettes. They were mercenaries who followed me, such as the tight Steedman, the freckled mummy, and the ponytail Fritz.
okay. It was the underground throne room of Raven’s Cliff Castle. The place where I was tricked by Kelsenne and sat on the white throne. Middle World Real world.
The dim light that streamed into the dark space cast a thick shadow, illuminating the dotted Ellen Utequai bundles in front of me.
Their shadows wriggled slowly. Looking back, the party was repeating futile gestures as if swimming in a space without gravity.
Heila, held in my arms, was looking up at me with an unusually flustered look, her eyes blinking and her mouth half-open.
Glossy red lips and snow-white teeth groaned intently. However, despite her efforts, her voice was not heard at all.
“Are you here already? It’s faster than expected.”
A man spoke to me in a dark space filled with silence. It was a cold voice that gave me goosebumps.
When I turned my gaze, I saw a figure that was noticeably blacker than the surrounding dark space, looking at me.
“Are you sure you were going alone?”
“…you.”
“flaw. That doesn’t work.”
an unpleasant laugh. At the same time, a black figure swelled up and attacked.
Heyla’s eyes widened and she grabbed my arm, but the darkness eventually swallowed me.
There was a woman.
A twenty-three young woman who went to Seoul alone after finding a job in Seoul.
Just two months after starting to live in Seoul, she met a man.
A clean face and a good voice. A rare kind of kindness. That alone was an attractive man, but it turned out that he was also a talented person who graduated from a prestigious university and became an executive at a foreign company at a young age.
The two started dating and got married after a year.
The couple started living as newlyweds in a spacious and nice house. Around that time, the woman brought to her husband the meager inheritance left by her parents and the money she borrowed from her family and friends.
After a while, the husband disappeared without a trace. The woman was kicked out of the house and gave birth to a son.
The woman believed that one day her husband would return. I begged so
Her wish came true. Around the time of her son’s third birthday, the woman reunited with her husband. He was put in a small wooden box.
When the police explained that it was difficult to identify a suspect because there were so many
victims of fraud by their husbands, the woman laughed for a while before throwing the wooden box out the window.
A few days later, the woman made a final plan and put it into action. The plan was only half successful and the son survived.
Well, it’s definitely a sad story, but now I don’t shed tears. Maybe it’s because it happened when I was very young.
Apart from my feelings, there is something funny about it. The face of my real mother who raised me for three years is blurry, but after I became an adult, I clearly remember the face of the swindler I saw in a photo.
Anyway, that’s how I became an orphan and was entrusted to an orphanage. I lived there for 3 years.
“It is my hometown. home of the heart.”
Red brick buildings such as nurseries, rehabilitation centers, and special schools are huddled together, and empty playgrounds squeeze in between them.
I was drawn by the voice and
looked at the black figure standing on the other side.
under cloudy sunlight. A monster resembling a human appeared. The squatting monster had a truly terrifying appearance.
Its naked body was covered with black scales, and its limbs had long, sharp claws like hooks. It wore horns as thick and sharp as those of a bull, and its tail, as long and flexible as that of a lizard, slowly rustled. Bright yellow eyes flooded the vertical pupils.
“Huh—” His jaw, filled with serrated teeth, drew a long arc.
“……you.”
“It is like a dream. How can we see each other and talk like this? It really feels like a dream.”
It was a cold, but somehow familiar voice.
Looking back, the appearance of the monster was not unfamiliar either. The scales and tail were invariably those of a reptile, but the features and body shape were familiar.
The monster’s smile widened a little. It must be because I found my face hardening.
“Did you recognize me?”
“…what are you?”
“Tell me what you guessed first. Before I teach you the correct answer.”
The monster flicked its reddish-black tongue as if biting its lip. He was still squatting, his muscles twitching ferociously under his tightly scaly skin.
“Perhaps…
I slowly raised my hand and placed it on Hrunting’s permal. It’s because I felt a threat that I could attack at any moment.
“It will be another me. It contains my dark parts.”
“okay. Being quick-witted is one of our strengths.”
Fighting spirit, anger, hatred, vengeance.
A broken sense of superiority that can only be undone by defeating an opponent by force.
The monster in the form of those dark things slowly rose.
The guy looked exactly like me. That’s what I would look like if I were stripped naked, covered with black scales, and attached with horns, tail, claws, and shark teeth.
“what do you want?”
At the direct question, the monster crossed its arms and flicked its fingers. As if pressing a key, the claw-like claws tapped the scales that covered the biceps.
“I want some… adjustments.”
“adjustment?”
“Okay, tune in.”
Despite its hideous appearance and bright yellow eyes, the monster was trying to convince me.
“I don’t mean to hurt you. Absolutely not. It’s just that we need to make the distribution of roles a little more fair between us.”
“…I don’t know what you mean.”
“Hmm, was I a little fast? Understand me. I mean, I have a sweet heart.”
“Then where should I begin…
The monster scratched his eyes with his long nails before opening his mouth.
“I have been watching you for a very long time. No, we have been protecting ‘us’.”
He hit the building behind me.
“From that fucking nursery school. did you say Home of my heart.”
“…Nonsense. Did you exist since then?”
“Oh, of course, it took on a full-fledged form only after taking over the current body.”
The monster smiled mischievously.
“Phoenix
left me with a lot of useful things. Thanks to you, I got such a great body.”
“Even as I grew up in a new body, I fulfilled my role faithfully.”
“What is your role?”
“tutelar.”
“tutelar?”
The monster, which would be more appropriately titled ‘predator’, ‘predator’ or ‘murderer’, smiled proudly and nodded.
“okay. As a Guardian, I’ve done everything on your behalf.”
“On behalf of me?”
“To protect us on behalf of you.”
The monster flicked its tongue and continued.
“I love you. I love you more than anything in this world, even more than myself.”
“You are clever and selfish, but innocent and weak. Normally, you are lovable, but when something frightening or distressing happens, you immediately curl up and hide. Ugly.”
The guy smiled, revealing it.
“Then I will step out.”
“how?”
“Use different methods. Most of the time I’m a bit helpful, but sometimes I step up when needed.”
“If I do a good job killing enemies, you’ll say, ‘Oh, what a terrible thing I did!’ They’re talking stupid things together and covering their faces. It’s the perfect pair.”
“…that was you.”
“Aside from that, relieving pent-up desires or crushing unmanageable stress… Even small things like that are my duties.”
A few scenes crossed my mind.
Those moments when the unimaginable cruelty was done calmly. The moments that made me a bloody swordsman, a bloody beacon, and… an artist.
“…That was Kim Seung-soo, not Phoenix?”
“Fhh.”
The monster frowned as if he was talking nonsense.
“Didn’t you say that every time? Gimpo Innix Knee Multiplier of Zahakarni. Phoenix’s ego melted away long ago and became part of us.”
“As Phoenix, the only thing left is the lingering attachment to that ugly girl. You didn’t know that? you? under.”
The guy snorted loudly, as if he couldn’t do that. When I shut my mouth, the monster with a mean grin spoke again.
“It’s not Phoenix, it’s me. These are my majors.”
It hissed like a snake and added in a low voice.
“But I didn’t get any compensation.”
“……compensation?”
“Yes reward. Those who have made achievements deserve to be rewarded. But what is it given to me?”
The smile faded in an instant.
“nothing. There was nothing.”
The monster began pouring out cold fury.
“I couldn’t stroke Ellen’s fragrant hair, pinch Moongchi’s soft cheeks, or touch Heila’s mouthwatering lips. I couldn’t give Utequai a review of the painting or train with his subordinates. Even when you mix with a girl, you’re busy holding me down. I saved your life several times, but you tried to erase me by meditating. Treating me like a germ!”
By the time the words started with a whisper ended with a shout, I was already in a posture with my hrunting drawn.
“……flaw.”
The monster’s eyes flashed bright yellow.
“What are you doing?”
“I can guess what you want. I know how dangerous it is to grant that request.”
The guy kept his mouth shut.
He continued to speak while taking the upper level posture of aiming the tip of his sword at the opponent’s eyes.
“There were times when I had an urge that I couldn’t understand. The urge to hear the screams of a loved one. It must be your voice.”
“…I
solved it the right way myself.”
“The right way? Is it the right thing to do to hunt down innocent civilians and insult their corpses?”
“or not? Did you do what your heart tells you to do? Should I have violated Ellen and twisted her neck?”
“dog sound.”
“Yeah, that’s bullshit. Are you trying to insult me knowing that?”
“…It would be useless to hold you accountable. Because we are one.”
As the monster was about to twist its lips, I spoke in a surprisingly cold voice.
“But I cannot grant your request. never.”
“……why?”
“Why? you are a psycho killer It will put me and my colleagues at risk.”
“Is that why you point the knife at me? You know fighting me is stupid?”
The monster before me was a bloody swordsman, a beheader, a bloody beacon and an artist. Even if he had some equipment, such as Hrunting and the dragon slayer’s seal, he was not an opponent he could dare to attack.
“I already told you, but I love you.”
Knowing this well, I had to backtrack as much as the monster took a step closer.
“I have no intention of harming you. I just want a fair compensation and some adjustments.”
“stop.”
“think carefully. We still have a long way to go. I just finished the 4th chapter. No matter how you decide to solve Setenio and the royal road, think about the rest.”
“I told you to stop.”
“The sky, the underworld, and the dark world. Can you handle it?”
He muttered, “You’re welcome,” and kicked the ground.
I knew the X-arm would come out like that.
I took a quick backward step and swung a hrunting. The blade was dyed in a brilliant red light. Following the sharp punching sound, stormy sword strikes alternated left and right.
“Huh” The monster was flexible and agile, not befitting its size. He ducked his back to avoid the first sword attack and twisted his shoulder to avoid the second sword attack.
The blood-covered blade stretched one span at a time, as if it were flicking its tongue. The monster seemed to have expected even that. The third sword attack stretched out and tried to scan his chest, but he avoided it with a single piece of paper.
“You,”
the monster charged straight ahead, twisting its head and deflecting the third sword strike with its horn.
“Me” he burrowed into your arms in an instant and drove his nails into your thighs. Unconsciously, I screamed ‘Keuk’.
“I can’t win!”
He gripped his thighs tightly with his claws like white daggers. Then, it opened its mouth wide and charged at its neck.
“Turn off-!”
He gritted his teeth and tilted his head. The serrated teeth cut all the way down to the jaw! It made a sound.
The distance was too close to cut with the blade, so I slashed the monster’s neck with my permal instead. It felt like I was knocking on a
piece
of iron… He swung his left arm as if nothing was wrong and scratched my forearm.
“shit!”
I quickly let go of Hrunting and grabbed the monster’s wrist. At the same time, he lowered his posture and squeezed the guy’s neck with his left hand.
I don’t know if there’s a chance of winning, but for now, shut up and it’s grappling!
“Huh!”
When I tried to walk with my bloody right leg inserted deep from the outside, the guy let out a laugh with an ‘uhh’.
Then, after moving the center of gravity and holding out for a while, I quickly stepped to the side. Just like that, I brushed off my legs and hung onto them in a posture as if they were being carried on their backs.
“Weak and slow-”
Hearing the unpleasant voice in his ears, he quickly lay back and crushed the monster.
“Turn it off!”
Grieving this, I rolled on the sand and practiced all the skills I had learned from Utequai and the knights.
But… uh, this bastard was literally a monster.
Their physique and strength were roughly similar. However, its claws like blades, sharp teeth, thick horns, and long tail were too intimidating.
“You need my protection.”
I was being toyed with by monsters. Bitten by teeth, scratched by fingernails, and scratched by horns, the whole body was instantly stained with blood.
I poured my blood into the blood that flowed like that and exploded ‘Blood Blast’, but
go away!
The violently bursting bloodstains were blocked by the black scales and bounced away in vain.
“Oops.”
However, the monster hurriedly raised its arms to block its eyes, and I took possession of his back in that moment.
Half Nelson then put his right hand under his armpit and squeezed it tightly around the nape of his neck. It was the intention to press the monster’s shoulders and break its neck.
Quaang! At that
moment,
I felt a shock as if I had been beaten by a battering ram. I got hit by the tail of the guy.
While I was choking for a moment and my eyes were blurry, the monster turned over in an instant and sat down on my chest. His arms were held down by his knees and his pelvis by his tail, so he couldn’t even move.
“I think we’ve played enough.”
I couldn’t come to my senses because of the excruciating pain and rapid breathing that I felt all over my body, but the monster was smiling relaxedly rather than showing a tired expression.
“I want an adjustment, not to hurt you. There is no need for this.”
“You’re *hooking* bullshit. Psycho bastard.”
“You are me and I am you. Even if you say such a thing, you are saying that you are going to lie down and spit.”
The monster flicked its tongue and pressed my face with the palm of its hand.
“You may have already noticed, but I was the one who built the Dream Mansion. It was fueled by our darkest memories.”
“Off-”
“In this world, the soul and the self can be divided into two. Do you know what that means?”
The monster’s deep smile was visible between the black scaled fingers.
“It means they can lock you up in that nursery.”
“You crazy bastard.”
“Oh, don’t be too scared. I have no intention of locking it up forever.”
“Quack Quack!”
“And you are right. In fact, I am a psycho.”
The grip grew stronger. Fingernails dug between the hair and under the jawbone.
“But I also seek happiness. So give me half of the day. When the sun rises, you and when the sun goes down, me. That’s all you need.”
It felt like his head would explode just like this if he gave it a little more force.
However, he could not accept the monster’s request. Living half of the day as an ‘artist’? It’s a terrible thing that I don’t even want to imagine.
“Nothing changes. You are me and I am you.”
“Geuuuu”
“Accept. Just being a little more honest.”
His vertical pupils were swollen in anticipation of murder.
But it wasn’t that excited eyes. A little hesitation and concern permeated.
Yes, it must be somewhat true that this monster loves me.
It’s a strange thing. Instead of loving artists, I fear and hate them, so why do artists love me?
I barely opened my mouth in pain that seemed like my head would break.
“You can’t get any compensation.”
“…what?”
“You will continue to starve, suffer and suffer.” The bright yellow eyes gradually turned red. The guy was angry.
“…under. why me?”
“Because it is for us.”
“for us?”
“When you are full, satisfied, and happy… we become unhappy.”
“flaw. Don’t talk like a dog.”
“I am you and you are me. You know that what I say is true. I’m just pretending not to know.”
I realized while talking. Why do artists love me?
What constitutes a bastard is a spirit of struggle, anger, hatred, a desire for vengeance, a sense of superiority, and a lust for murder and sadism. They burn the heart and increase the power.
It is me, not the artist, who heals the burnt heart. Without me, the endlessly burned heart will eventually turn into ashes and crumble.
I could live without an artist. But an artist can never live without me. This unequal relationship is what made the artist fall in love with me.
“Heh heh. A selfish bastard.” Ignoring the angry murmur of the monster, he raised his blood. The blood that was soaking all over his body reacted to this and began to procrastinate.
“I just wanted a fair reward. I didn’t mean to get rid of you. But then-!”
Through the palms pressing down on my face and the blood-soaked parts of me, I channeled my blood into his body.
I am a monster and the monster is me.
Thanks to that, his blood quickly came under my control.
“……Uh huh?”
As the monster grabbed my chest with one hand, I twisted with all my strength and knocked it over.
“How?”
The monster’s vertical pupils trembled wildly, and it was stained with embarrassment. In the meantime, I picked up the Hrunting that had fallen nearby and dyed the blade red.
“no. Wait a minute.”
As its limbs stiffened, the monster tried to escape by scratching the floor.
Feeling very sorry for that appearance, I kicked him down and pressed his chest with my foot.
“I am you and you are me.”
“No, no…
“Sorry, thirsty, and sad. forever for us.”
“no. Zeba grurreuk.”
A brilliant red blade pierced the artist’s neck.
I pushed the knife with my weight to sever the hard, tough scales. The monster that looked just like me faced death while soaked in black blood.
