Chapter 82: Femboy or Assassin?

I stared silently at the words in front of me for several seconds.

[Objective: Kill Marven Voss.]

[Reward: 10 Eclipsie Points]

Frowning, I read the name again.

“Marven Voss? Who’s this son of a bitch?”

The name meant nothing to me. I couldn’t remember anyone like that from Noctis’s memories or the news I had seen over the past few days.

But that wasn’t the real problem.

Why did the System want me to kill someone?

Ignoring the water running down my shoulders, I stared at the window. Most of its missions so far had been embarrassing or annoying. But the line in front of me was telling me to end the life of someone I didn’t even know.

“Oii… Have you decided to turn me into a serial killer instead of a femboy?”

After a few seconds of silence, a new line appeared.

[The current mission was created for the Chosen One’s development and a better world.]

My eye twitched.

“A better world? Hearing that from something telling me to kill someone doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.”

The System offered no further explanation.

I turned off the water and stared at the wet floor for a while. Just moments ago, my biggest concern had been Talia noticing my sudden increase in speed. Now I had to kill a man whose identity I didn’t even know.

After drying myself with a towel, I left the bathroom. I put on a comfortable pair of shorts, sat on the edge of the bed, and picked up my phone.

At least I could find out who this man was.

I typed Marven Voss into the search bar and waited for the results to load.

The first photo showed a young man wearing an expensive suit. It had been taken at an event. While the people beside him smiled at the camera, he had raised his glass slightly.

I opened the article beneath the photo.

Marven was the second son of the wealthy Voss family, which traded in Nexus weapons. I quickly skimmed past the paragraphs about the family’s companies and business connections. My finger paused briefly when I read that his older brother was a Guardian.

“Of course… Expecting him to be someone ordinary would’ve been too optimistic.”

I closed the page and moved on to the other results.

The headline of the second article changed the expression on my face.

It was about a rape investigation.

The article named him directly and included statements from the victim’s family. After reading it to the end, I opened one of the related posts. People were saying that someone was trying to cover up the incident, repeatedly sharing screenshots of earlier reports.

The farther I scrolled, the worse it became.

Reports about drug addiction, incidents at nightclubs, and fights he had been involved in…

Then I found a video of him in an illegal Nexus fighting arena. The footage was blurry, but I could still make out his face. Behind the people passing in front of the camera, he stood in the middle of the fighting area.

I closed the video.

So he wasn’t just some spoiled rich kid living off his family’s money.

When I opened some older results, a student’s photo appeared. I checked the article’s date. The incident had happened during Marven’s middle school years.

The boy in the photo had been his classmate.

He had taken his own life after suffering prolonged bullying. The same name appeared over and over in his family’s statements and the other students’ accounts.

Marven Voss.

For a while, I stopped scrolling.

Then I returned to the search results. There were still plenty of articles and posts I hadn’t opened.

“You fucking son of a bitch…”

I lowered my phone slightly and took a deep breath.

I had thought the System had chosen someone at random. The more I read, the less I believed that.

This man really did deserve to die.

But thinking that didn’t mean I could just go and kill him.

“How am I supposed to do this?”

I raised my phone again and looked at the first photo. The relaxed expression on his face made my frown deepen.

If he had ruined this many lives, he had to have enemies. The victims’ families, the people he had fought, the opponents he had faced in illegal arenas…

At least one of them must have thought about killing him. Some might have even tried.

If he could still walk around so comfortably despite all that, he must have people capable of protecting him.

I doubted the Voss family would have any trouble hiring powerful guards. His older brother was a Guardian, and Marven himself took part in Nexus fights.

Meanwhile, I hadn’t even managed to touch Eris’s T-shirt earlier.

I put my phone on the bed and rubbed my face with both hands.

“Great. Either I’ll die trying to kill him, or…”

I trailed off.

Lowering my hands, I looked at the mission window still sitting at the edge of my vision. After examining the words again, I sat up straight.

“Hey, System. You haven’t told me the penalty for failure.”

A new line appeared at the bottom of the window.

[Failure Penalty: Certain Death.]

I read it.

Then I read it again, hoping I had misunderstood.

The System that had threatened me with headaches or embarrassing tasks before was now telling me this.

Certain death.

“Are you serious?”

The words didn’t change.

I swallowed, trying to ease the dryness in my throat. The mission had been dangerous a few seconds ago too, but at least I had thought I could ignore it.

Now even that option was gone.

I ran a hand through my still-damp hair. As my fingers tangled in it, all the exhaustion and frustration that had built up throughout the day hit me at once.

“Why can’t I just flirt with girls and live an easy life!”

The door suddenly burst open.

I jumped and turned my head.

Eris stood in the doorway with her arms folded beneath her chest. Her eyes were fixed on my face, as though she were examining a bug on the floor she had decided wasn’t even worth touching.

I slowly pulled my hand out of my hair.

“Hey! Don’t come into my room without permission. Knock first!”

Eris didn’t answer.

After staring at me with the same expression for a few more seconds, she turned around.

“I’m going out. Let my mom know before you leave.”

I frowned.

“Where are you going?”

“None of your business.”

“I was only asking.”

Eris looked at me over her shoulder.

“Maybe I’ll find someone to flirt with.”

She closed the door before I could open my mouth.

I stared at it for a while.

“What was that about?”

With a sigh, I leaned back on the bed.

I wasn’t in any state to figure out why Eris was angry right now.

“Ahh, whatever…”

I picked up my phone and opened my streaming account. Among the notifications were messages asking when I would stream again. I hadn’t managed to stream properly over the past few days.

If this continued, the followers I had gained would start leaving one by one.

I needed to go home and do a stream. I needed to earn money, and staring at the death penalty hanging in front of me wasn’t going to solve this problem.

I closed the mission window.

Getting Marven’s photo out of my mind wasn’t as easy.

I got out of bed and picked up the clothes I would wear outside. After changing, I slipped my phone into my pocket and left the room.

First, I would say goodbye to Aunt Miranda.

As I walked down the stairs, I heard voices coming from below. Miranda was talking to someone. On my way toward the living room, I thought about what to say. If she insisted that I stay for dinner, I would explain that I needed to stream.

Then I heard the other person’s voice.

My steps slowed.

The voice wasn’t loud. The few words reaching the hallway were simply part of a calm conversation. Even so, I felt my breathing quicken involuntarily.

Cold sweat formed at the back of my neck and ran down my back.

I knew that voice.

The moment I realized it, taking those last few steps toward the doorway became harder than I had expected. I pressed my fingers into my palm, but the tightness in my chest didn’t ease.

When I reached the entrance to the living room, I saw Miranda on the sofa.

Another woman sat beside her.

With her black hair, straight posture, and hands resting calmly together on her knees, she seemed to command the room effortlessly. When she turned from Miranda to me, my eyes remained fixed on her face.

Her blue eyes were the same color as mine.

My lips parted, but no sound came out. The memories that had existed only in my mind a few seconds ago were now connected to the face sitting before me.

My gaze wavered.

This woman… was my mother.

Or rather, Noctis’s mother…

Isolde Evernight.