A night in early spring, when the cold had yet to fade.
Flowers blooming here and there boasted their beauty, adorned beside them by collapsed buildings and bloodstains scattered across the ground. No matter how one thought about it, it was a scene that did not belong together—and within that grotesque sight, the boy smiled.
Was it because of the chilly weather? The atmosphere was sinister. No, perhaps it was not because of the weather. It might have been because of the screams that kept ringing out, or because of the shouts of people charging at one another to kill—or perhaps it was because all of these things had overlapped.
On a street where no living soul remained, beneath the faint moonlight that did not suit the mood, the boy bowed his head toward the corpse lying with its eyes closed beneath him, then simply moved forward.
Where was he going? Even he himself did not know.
All he knew was this: no matter how he looked at it, this place was no different from hell, and if he could not escape this hell, he would meet the worst possible end.
And so he walked without destination. Countless people were fighting with their lives on the line, but he paid them no mind, and no one approached him. No matter how one looked at him, he was abnormal. Even with blood flowing from the corners of his eyes, even with his cheek torn open and blood spraying, even with the clothes he wore drenched in blood—no one could approach him.
The criminals, the villains, did not spare him a glance as they screamed and held back the heroes.
And the heroes, though they rushed in to seize him, were blocked time and again, left only to grit their teeth.
He left that place behind and walked forward. He did not know his destination. Or perhaps he had no destination at all. But he had to go forward.
He kept walking, and just when it seemed he had succeeded in leaving that place—
“—Lee Hyeonu.”
A woman who called his name succeeded in blocking his path,
“Choi Jihyeon.”
And he looked at her and smiled bitterly.
“…Why are you here?”
“You’re not asking because you really don’t know, are you?”
They knew each other. To be precise—they had been childhood friends. The boy and the girl faced each other in the worst place, in the worst possible way.
“—Seriously?”
The girl stood there as a hero who captured villains—
“Congratulations, hero. The leader of the organization you’ve been chasing is right in front of you.”
And the boy stood there as a villain who killed heroes.
The boy and girl who had walked the same path and laughed together were no longer there.
The streets they had walked together, smiling, had turned into a hell filled with screams.
The friends who had once chattered together around them were now struggling desperately, crossing back and forth between life and death.
The heroes everyone had dreamed of becoming had now taken the girl’s side and were trying to capture the boy—
And the villains they had fought against had now taken the boy’s side and were trying to bring the girl down.
Hero and villain, the one who stops and the one who kills.
The girl and the boy were now in positions where they had to defeat one another.
The girl approached the boy and clenched her fist. As cold air flowed from that clenched fist, ice covered the surroundings, and ice beautiful enough to be breathtaking wrapped around the boy and imprisoned him.
A movement meant to restrain him at once. Judging it so, Hyeonu looked at her and quietly gripped his sword, but—
“—Why?”
Seeing his childhood friend looking at him with trembling eyes, he gave a faint laugh.
“…Why, you ask?”
There were likely many meanings contained in that one word, why.
Why had he quit school, why had he disappeared without saying a word to her or their friends, why had he given up on his dream of becoming a hero, and why—had he become a villain?
“Who knows.”
Even if she asked, he could not answer. If he spoke of the reason, they would cease to be hero and villain.
“I really—honestly don’t know. Why things ended up like this.”
Of course, that was not the only reason. He had no idea where to even begin explaining.
“You call that an ans—”
“How did it come to this? Was it because I lacked talent?”
All he knew was that this world inside a game was full of things effort alone could never resolve.
“Was it because a piece of trash with no talent, who couldn’t improve no matter how endlessly he struggled, didn’t know his place and tried to step forward?”
An extra who was not the protagonist had no talent, and even if he worked himself bloody, nothing improved.
“Was it because I didn’t know my place and wanted a happy life? Because I desperately wished to be transmigrated into a game? Because in the world I was transmigrated into, I couldn’t do anything?”
“…What are you talking about?”
There was no gentle world for the likes of an extra,
“Maybe the very fact that I exist is the problem.”
And for me, who came to live in such a world, for a mere extra, there was no salvation.
“Even after thinking about it, no clear reason really comes to mind.”
In the end, all of these words were nothing but excuses. He was a villain, and a villain was ultimately the evil of society. No matter what he said, it would not absolve him, and he was someone who could never be forgiven.
“If you surrender even now—”
“Do you think that makes any sense?”
The digression had been long, but the conclusion remained the same.
The one before him now was ultimately a hero, and heroes were ultimately fated to fight villains.
“…Is that all you have to say?”
“Hyeonu. Even now—”
“Then again, this is a meeting between a villain and a hero. Do we have time for idle chatter? We don’t. Nor should we.”
He drew his sword, immediately activated his ability, and smiled—
“Come at me, hero. Try capturing a villain.”
Sneering like a boss in a game, he swung his sword.
Did she know? That all of this was going according to his plan.
The boss who originally should have killed her had already vanished after being caught up in his scheme, and he had become the boss’s replacement to face her.
A hero captures villains, and the hero who will capture the villain that is him is none other than here; the hero kills the villain, gains honor and power, and builds her faction.
Above all, what mattered most was that this hero now attacking him while shedding tears—
No.
His childhood friend, the only one who had tried to save him, did not have to die here.
“—Please don’t die, hero.”
Unlike him, may she reach a happy ending.
At the end of this relationship, which had begun from that simple wish, he prayed one last time—and charged toward her.
This was merely the story of an extra struggling to survive—
“Keep me company until the very end.”
The life story of a boy who devoted everything for only one person.