SOS! I’m Being Forced to Be a Villain - Chapter 8
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 8
After dousing myself with cold water from head to toe, changing into my school uniform, and stuffing apple slices into my mouth, the moment I stepped outside my house, I was greeted by two familiar faces. The guys who had been standing idly in one side of the apartment hallway spotted me and naturally approached.
Even when we took the elevator, exited through the shared entrance, and leisurely strolled along the path to school while enjoying the increasingly hot weather, those men in black suits stubbornly followed behind me.
To others, it might look like they were assisting and protecting me, but from my perspective, it was nothing short of bone-chilling surveillance.
Fortunately, those bastards didn’t chase me beyond the school gate. Thanks to that, I could finally enjoy some alone time as I passed through the school gate and entered the school courtyard.
At the same time, my mind, which had been stiff with irritation and pressure, began to turn sharply.
‘Even if I leave early, those things of unknown identity will obviously come to catch me.’
My brother still wasn’t answering my calls, let alone replying to my messages. Since my brother would never ignore my contact without reason, it seemed like the system window was interfering. So hoping for my brother’s help seemed unrealistic too.
‘Then what am I supposed to do? Just resign myself to living like this?’
As a villain? Leaving my mouth that babbles on its own and my body that gets swayed around to do whatever they want?
Nothing was more unpleasant and infuriating than being unable to control myself according to my own will. However, the problem was that there was no immediate solution that came to mind. I let out a fierce sigh and trudged across the schoolyard.
After that, throughout the morning classes until lunchtime, I had been lost in thought with no clear answer, and finally reached a conclusion.
‘Let’s endure it like this as much as possible.’
That seemed to be the best course of action I could take for now.
Of course, I had no intention whatsoever of living my entire life being dragged around like this.
‘The system window started appearing along with words suggesting the novel had begun… from last week, I think.’
Until then, I had lived just fine without knowing genres like BL that I neither could nor wanted to understand. Without anything being forced or controlled, purely as me, Yu Baek-hwa.
‘And if it’s a novel, there’s bound to be an ending eventually.’
Every story ultimately reaches a conclusion and comes to an end.
‘After that, it won’t matter whether you’re a protagonist or a villain anymore.’
When that time comes, there’s a high possibility that the unknown force trying to control me will no longer be able to exert its influence. I couldn’t be 100% certain it would be that way, but it would still be better to prepare for the future by seeking directions that were somewhat favorable to me.
“The key issue is…”
What kind of ending would I, as the villain, face within the novel?
Would I die like in any cruel fantasy novel or devastating apocalyptic story, or would it be a milder level where I fall into a coma or break a leg? Being a school story, it might simply end with the villain’s exit through my transferring schools.
For now, I decided not to resist and go along with what the novel wanted, but I had absolutely no intention of giving up my life. So I had to pretend to play along with that damn existence beyond the system window while occasionally testing the waters and reading the situation.
‘The only one who can protect me is myself.’
That was my long-standing principle that I had realized, experienced, and become convinced of since I was very young.
While continuing my thoughts, I had somehow climbed to the end of the staircase and was standing on a new floor. I had just reached the 4th floor, the top floor of the school building, in front of the door to the rooftop one floor above.
Having no appetite, I had even skipped lunch and came up here to get some fresh air. I was afraid of running into Seo Jung-hoo or Kwon Tae-min if I walked along the school outdoor playground or walking paths, so this was my second choice. Besides, I couldn’t keep my eyes wide open watching all directions all day, so I needed space and time to relax and rest, even briefly.
I exhaled a sigh-mixed breath and grabbed the door handle.
And then. Click. Click, click.
“…”
How is it that the world never once takes my side?
The rooftop door that opened just fine when I visited on other days was firmly locked today, at this very moment. After turning the door handle several more times irritably, I slumped down and fell to my knees.
“Fuck… Is this also because I’m the villain?”
Even so, what’s the point of throwing petty misfortunes at me even in such trivial daily matters!
I no longer had the strength to scream, so I could only chew on my deep dissatisfaction inwardly.
After struggling desperately while gripping the door handle until the very end, I finally let my defeated hand drop. I leaned my body and bumped my head against the rooftop door. Thunk, a heavy sound accompanied by sharp pain.
I could open this door if I found the teacher in charge of rooftop management and borrowed the key. But I didn’t feel like doing that. I had already lost all motivation to make such effort and move around. I didn’t want to show any spirit or initiative in this state.
‘I wasn’t supposed to enroll in this school in the first place.’
Before that, I wasn’t supposed to move here after my brother went abroad. No, even before that, I shouldn’t have listened to the words of my brother’s friend’s younger sibling’s friend who said this area was comfortable to live in because there weren’t many people.
‘Damn it. From birth, I was just someone who wouldn’t succeed at anything…’
“Yu Baek-hwa?”
My shoulders flinched. I hadn’t expected my name to be called out of nowhere, so I was just blinking blankly when a hand suddenly approached and grabbed my wrist, pulling me.
I couldn’t even think to shake it off and was helplessly led along. Caught off guard, I followed the touch and turned my body, taking a step forward on my knees.
What I ended up facing was.
‘Seo Jung-hoo?’
Unlike Kwon Tae-min whom I had coincidentally encountered yesterday, this was one of the other two rivals I had been persistently avoiding for days and thus hadn’t run into.
My arm trembled slightly. That was because the vibration from Seo Jung-hoo’s trembling body was transmitted through the arm he was holding.
“You…”
Seo Jung-hoo opened his mouth and hesitated for a long while. His eyes busily moved here and there, scanning my expression.
“…aren’t crying.”
I was completely deflated by the unexpected words. Before I could understand the incomprehensible sentence, I reflexively contorted my face.
“What?”
Rather, Seo Jung-hoo seemed flustered and at a loss, which was absurd, so I urged him fiercely.
“What do you mean? Are you crazy? Have you finally decided to stop hiding your stalker tendencies and reveal them?”
“…I was startled.”
“Bullshit. What do you have to be startled about?”
When I snapped back with a sharp tone, he seemed to finally come to his senses. After blinking a couple of times, Seo Jung-hoo belatedly refocused his vision.
Eventually, my wrist naturally slipped out of Seo Jung-hoo’s weakened grip. While I was rubbing my arm where the painless pressure had disappeared, he arbitrarily concluded the conversation.
“Anyway, it’s good that you’re not crying.”
What the hell is wrong with this bastard?
I was still glaring at him with sharp eyes, not understanding his words. Seo Jung-hoo, who had been slowly curling up the corners of his mouth, suddenly let out an “ah” sigh and rolled his eyes.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
“What?”
“Like getting hit by someone, or kicked… Your face looks fine for now though.”
“Hey, what the… Hey! You crazy bastard!”
I frantically grabbed Seo Jung-hoo’s hands as he tried to mess with my school uniform shirt without warning. However, he paid no attention and reached for the black buttons.
Son of a bitch. Son of a bitch!
‘He’s a seme, so he’s even making advances on me, a guy!’
I swallowed the outcry I couldn’t voice and squeezed my eyes shut.
“I’m not hurt! I’m not hurt, stop it!”
Seo Jung-hoo’s advancing hands paused momentarily. The buttons were still intact, but the shirt was pulled tight, exposing my nape and collarbone halfway.
“Are you sure you’re not hurt? Really?”
Seo Jung-hoo’s fingertips wandered around the shirt collar area, then tapped the buttons as if gauging me. It was an attitude suggesting he could strip it off anytime if he wanted to.
‘Perverted bastard…!’
I was desperately holding his wrists, but it didn’t seem to be of much use. Only my fingertips trembled as I tried my best to block Seo Jung-hoo.
“In the first place, fuck, whether I’m hurt or not, what does it have to do with you? I’ll take care of my own business, so don’t pathetically pretend to care and get aw…”
“I guess I’ll have to check with my own eyes after all.”
“Ugh, I’m really not hurt! Stop the bullshit, I’m fine!”
I blocked those hands trying to mess with me again, even using my nails. My not-short nails left long, red scratches on his veined hand.
It looked more like wounds clawed by an angry cat than traces left by a person’s desperate struggle. Perhaps because of that, Seo Jung-hoo withdrew his hand while letting out a laugh of unknown meaning.
Only then did I stop struggling and just panted heavily, my chest heaving. Before I knew it, I had been pushed back by Seo Jung-hoo and retreated while trying to escape, ending up leaning against the rooftop door in an excessively hunched position, but I didn’t even think I needed to fix that uncomfortable posture.
‘Damn world. Shitty world.’
There probably isn’t anyone more unlucky than me in this world.
‘Only I get picked on. Why!’
I swallowed my resentment full of injustice and rolled my eyes. Seo Jung-hoo remained in the same position where he had approached to grab and examine me, neither backing away nor standing up, just looking at his own hand.
‘…Fuck.’
Does it hurt a lot? Is he angry at me for injuring him? I was annoyed at myself for having to read the situation now. I muttered curses for no reason and turned my head, but my gaze that had been obsessively wandering in the air soon returned to Seo Jung-hoo.
I hesitated and moved my mouth, then frowned and raised my voice in anger.
…Does it hurt?
“That’s your own fault, you crazy bastard. So don’t protest or act pitiful in front of me and dis-, disappear.”
I belatedly rolled my tongue to change what I almost blurted out as “fuck off” into a somewhat milder expression, but that didn’t change the content of that damn sentence from fierce criticism to worried concern.
I let out an annoyed sigh and pressed my temples as if applying pressure.
‘Look at this.’
How much longer do I have to endure in this state? How many more times do I have to bear it?
I didn’t even want to think about it anymore. What would be the point of thinking about it when there’s ultimately nothing I can do?
‘I’d rather just give up on everything.’
Or rather, just get hit once and end it…
‘Right. I can just get hit and end it.’
Although I felt so wronged I could die, this was still better than constantly worrying every day about whether a fight would break out because of the curses and criticism that had inadvertently become my sins.
If it was violence that had been foretold to come to me, it would be less heartbreaking and less painful.
So then.
‘Alright, I’m ready.’
I released the tension from my stiffened body and quietly closed both eyes. Like a god descending upon earth welcoming those who follow him, I obediently spread my arms without covering any part of my face or upper body, and I could feel disapproving gazes sweeping over me.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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