Villain: Your Heroines Were Delicious

Chapter 189: Chapter 54

“Stop right there!”

Yumanbi ran, fear gripping his heart like a frozen vice.

The adrenaline coursing through his veins was no longer the heady, intoxicating rush of pleasure and dopamine, but was now the frantic, raw energy of a prey escaping from a hunter.

He was seen!

The thought vibrated in his skull with the force of a funeral bell. Once again, he was seen! And by the same person who had caught him on the act in the streets, by the same boy who had chased after him like he was a dog!

Why!? Why was his luck so catastrophic?

He had done everything right! He had waited for the cover of night, he had chosen a new building, he had stayed in the shadows.

Everything was perfect!

But the moment he stepped out of his sanctuary, there he was—that same dude who had seen him, standing like a sentinel of fate right at his doorstep.

“Stop right there!” Taro shouted, his voice booming in the narrow concrete stairwell, echoing off the stained walls.

But Yumanbi wasn’t so stupid as to listen.

He wasn’t going to just stand there and be captured like a common thief, so he continued to run, his breath coming in ragged, shallow wheezes.

In the back of his mind, he was cursing himself—blaming his own impulsiveness for not listening to Mister’s warning to lay low.

But more than that, he was blaming the Mister.

Why hadn’t the man given him a more powerful artifact? If he had a weapon, or a way to teleport, or the strength of ten men, he wouldn’t be running from a pathetic loser like this guy!

He hurled himself down the stairs, skipping three, four steps at a time, his sneakers squeaking violently on the cold stone.

“I said stop!”

Finally, Taro stopped relying on mere muscle as he reached deep into his core, pulling on the warm, thrumming reservoir of energy he had only just begun to understand.

He flooded his lower body with Ki, feeling his muscles densify and his nerves fire with electric precision.

[A New Skill Has Been Unlocked]

[Skill: Golden Legs (E) – By channeling Ki into the lower extremities, the user can exponentially increase travel speed and enhance the kinetic impact of kicking power.]

But Taro wasn’t paying attention to the translucent blue windows or the digital chime of the System.

He didn’t care about rank or skill names at this moment, the only thing he cared about now was the back of the black hoodie disappearing around the landing.

Within a single second, the distance between them vanished as Taro moved like a golden blur, his feet barely touching the steps.

He launched himself forward, his weight carrying him into a devastating tackle that slammed into Yumanbi’s midsection.

“Ah!?”

The two of them stumbled down the final flight of stairs, a chaotic tangle of limbs and gasping breath.

They hit the floor of the empty ground-floor hallway with a dull thud, rolling several times before coming to a messy halt.

Taro immediately scrambled on top of him, reaching for the black mask that seemed to cling to Yumanbi’s face like a second skin.

“Give it to me!” Taro growled, his fingers clawing at the fabric.

But to his surprise, Yumanbi fought back with a feral, cornered strength.

He wasn’t a fighter, but the terror of losing his power gave him a frantic edge as he shrieked, letting out a high-pitched, animal-like sound, and managed to plant a boot into Taro’s chest, prying the larger boy off of him with a desperate shove.

Yumanbi kicked Taro one last time to gain space and scrambled to his feet, leaning against the wall, breathing heavily.

His mask was crooked, showing one bloodshot, terrified eye.

Taro also stood up, his hood falling back to reveal a face etched with righteous fury.

He was breathing heavily, the Ki in his legs still glowing with a faint, dying ember.

“Surrender!” he demanded, his voice echoing in the lobby. “You can’t escape from me. Even if I have to break your legs, I will stop you from doing any more harm.”

Yumanbi gritted his teeth, a drop of snot hanging from his nose, his face a mask of pathetic defiance. “So what?! You think the police will believe you!? That I have a magical artifact that can erase presence!? Get real! We’re both just a student! And you’re the one who attacked me! It’s your word against mine!”

“There are many organizations that deal with people like you!” Taro countered, his eyes flashing. “People who hunt anomalies! People who won’t care about a police report!”

“What!?”

It was then that Yumanbi remembered as the Mister’s voice hissed in his memory, warning him about the ’Grand Order’ and the ’Church’—the greedy, overbearing organizations that wanted to steal their “gifts.”

His eyes darted around the lobby, searching for a shadow that shouldn’t be there.

“That’s why, just give up! Even if you hide, it won’t be long before they find you!” Taro said, taking a cautious step forward.

“I won’t!” Yumanbi screamed, his voice breaking into a sob of pure, concentrated resentment. “You people… you don’t understand what I’ve been through! None of you do! Everyone made fun of me! Everyone bullied me for my face, for my grades, for existing! But because of this mask, my life has changed! For the first time, I have power! For the first time, I’m the one who decides what happens! I will never give it up! I’d rather die!”

Taro froze.

And at that moment, he felt a sudden, cold tremble run through his frame.

’I don’t understand?’ he thought, the words stinging more than any physical blow. ’Made fun of? Bullied?’

Did this parasite truly think that he, Tadano Taro, didn’t understand that darkness?

Taro had been the punching bag of the school since he was in middle school.

He had been humiliated in the hallways while teachers looked the other way.

He had been abandoned by everyone he thought mattered.

His childhood friend had left him for that delinquent and every girl he had ever dared to dream about had fallen in love with Kageyama Seijirou without even glancing at him, the “mob” character in the background.

He couldn’t accept it either! It was agonizing!

Every night, he had laid in bed wondering why he couldn’t be the main character!?

Why couldn’t he be the one with the glowing aura, the one who was adored, the one who won the girl?

He had spent countless hours every night imagining a world where he was the “Alpha,” where he was the center of the universe.

After all, he was tired of being a “nameless character” in a story where Seijirou was the main character!

But did that mean he should suddenly become an absolute degenerate? Did being a victim give him a license to fall into the deepest pits of depravity?

“No!” Taro roared, the word tearing from his throat.

He was vain. He was self-centered. He was jealous, petty, and in no way shape or form was he a “good person” in the traditional sense.

But even at his lowest, even when he hated the world the most, he had never once thought of committing the soul-crushing crimes this boy committed with a smile.

“You bastard!” Taro screamed as he rushed toward Yumanbi, his fist cocked back.

“Just because you were bullied!?” He delivered a thunderous punch that snapped Yumanbi’s head back against the metal mailboxes. CLANG.

“Just because you were made fun of!?” He followed up with a hook to the ribs, the Ki in his knuckles cracking the air.

“You decided to do all this!?” Another punch, straight to the gut, doubling Yumanbi over.

“If that’s the case, then the bullying you received was certainly not enough!” Taro’s voice cracked, containing the raw sound of pure fury. “It didn’t teach you a thing about being human!”

“I will educate you in your parents’ stead!” He landed a final, heavy blow to Yumanbi’s jaw.

Yumanbi collapsed, wailing like a child as tears and snot were smeared across the lower half of his face, his mask partially torn.

“I… I’m not wrong!” he shrieked, his voice distorted by the fabric. “The world is cruel, so why should I be kind!?”

He let out a guttural scream, and suddenly, the temperature in the lobby plummeted as a thick, oily black mist began to seep out from the edges of the mask, swirling around his head like a swarm of angry hornets.

[Warning!!! Warning!!! Warning!!!]

[High-Density Cursed Energy Detected!]

[The Artifact is Undergoing “Forced Awakening”!]

Taro saw the scarlet flashing of the System’s warning windows and didn’t hesitate.

He kicked off the ground, using his Golden Legs to retreat to the other side of the lobby just as the air began to warp.

At that moment, Yumanbi’s mask didn’t just fall off—it dissipated into a cloud of foul-smelling black mist.

Slowly, that mist began to expand, taking on a horrific, transparent, ghost-like form, then it grew until it touched the ceiling—a mass of absolute darkness filled with countless eyes that blinked out of sync and dozens of mouths that opened and closed, whispering a thousand different obscenities at once.

Taro’s eyes widened, his breath hitching in his throat.

“What… what is that!?”