My karma.
What else could I possibly call it?
I can’t think of any other way to describe the girl standing before me.
A monster stitched together from the corpses of the countless people I’ve killed.
This is the price of your sins.
That’s what her appearance seemed to say.
It was a horrifying sight.
"You killed them…! You ruined all our plans!"
"…Yeah. I killed them. But you were all the kind of people who deserved to die, weren’t you?"
I replied to the girl’s voice, thick with hatred.
Words I’d repeated to myself dozens of times in my heart.
Everyone in this world is just a puppet.
But even if they were puppets—
I hadn’t killed just anyone.
…Had I ever tried to kill Haeul before? Oh right, the Author had stopped me back then.
I think I’d said something like, “He’s interesting, so I don’t want to kill him.”
At the time, I’d thought it was nonsense.
But now, looking back, I was glad I hadn’t killed him.
If I had, I wouldn’t even be able to justify my actions to myself like this.
"You’re all villains. Criminals who go around killing people."
Right.
Always causing harm, always the bad guys.
That’s why I could kill them without hesitation.
Because they weren’t good people.
Because they were society’s trash—so I felt no guilt burying them.
"And yet you’ve killed plenty yourself."
Webermensch was a villain group.
No amount of excuses about not causing harm would hold up.
Plus, this girl—she was definitely the reason Yu Siwoo had come here.
The one who’d ambushed and killed multiple Heroes.
I hadn’t noticed from her voice alone, but…
Now, I could tell for sure.
"That doesn’t matter. I came here for revenge."
"…Right. You’re not wrong. In the end, none of that matters."
But the girl didn’t seem to care about her own crimes.
Of course not.
That’s just how villains are.
That’s their way.
They hurt people, they wound people, they kill people.
None of that bothers them.
They only get angry when the same thing happens to them.
…I wasn’t any different.
Even if I killed villains, in the end, they were just villains—puppets playing the role of the antagonist.
I’d convinced myself it had nothing to do with me.
"…Come at me."
I forced my blurry vision to stay sharp as I unleashed my threads around me.
There was no room for trivial questions like who was right or wrong between someone who’d lost a loved one and someone who’d taken a life.
Just like how killing villains didn’t change the fact that I’d still taken lives.
Even if the person she loved was a criminal. Even if no one in the world mourned their death—she’d come for revenge.
The world wasn’t just, and it didn’t run on logic.
That’s why she’d come for revenge.
To make me pay for my sins.
"Sorry, but I don’t plan on dying quietly."
If Siwoo had died.
…Would I have ended up like that girl?
There was no way to know.
But even if that were the case, I couldn’t just die to satisfy her petty revenge.
"Die. I want to see your blood."
The girl’s arm twisted grotesquely, then swelled to massive proportions before swinging toward me.
Caught off guard, I forced my creaking body to move, extracting a thread and anchoring it to a nearby building before launching myself away.
Then the building behind me collapsed in an instant.
…Was it because of the earlier impact, or was her attack just that powerful?
One thing was certain—even a graze would have hurt like hell.
"…A damn fly."
"If you’re going to insult me, call me a spider. Flies can’t use threads."
"…."
I tried to buy time by talking, but she seemed to have run out of words—her arm rose again.
Fine.
I didn’t want to drag this out either.
Without hesitation, I unraveled every thread from my clothes.
Not a single thought about the embarrassment of being exposed.
No one was around to see, and besides, I was in real danger of dying.
[D-Dear Reader…! Are you okay?!]
"Please be quiet. My head is pounding."
No matter how I looked at it, that girl was far stronger than the last time we met.
I didn’t know how she’d done it, but maybe it was because of all those grotesque things stuck to her body.
To test her strength, I lashed out with a thread like a whip.
"…Is that all? You killed Mir with this pathetic skill?"
Then a mouth formed on her hand and spewed fire, burning my thread to ash.
…What the hell.
What was *that*?
I thought a person could only have one Ability.
Why was she suddenly breathing fire?
"Did you really think I wouldn’t prepare *anything* after seeing what you can do?!"
She shouted, voice trembling with rage, then stomped her foot—and the ground began to shake.
As I fled the collapsing building and moved to the next one, I saw a stream of water.
Wherever it passed, buildings were sliced cleanly in half like tofu, so I quickly used more threads to escape.
"…Haa."
[I-I didn’t do it…! I really don’t know what’s happening!]
Again, the author’s voice mumbled something, as if their feet had fallen asleep, but I couldn’t make out the words.
Because the girl was charging at me with a speed that rivaled Amelia’s acceleration.
"…Got you."
"?!"
But there was a downside to moving that fast.
At that speed, there was no way she could spot a nearly invisible thread.
And my threads were already hard to see—especially in broad daylight.
White threads blended right in.
She seemed to notice the thread in front of her just as she got close, but it was already too late.
Unable to stop her momentum, her body was shredded by the threads.
"…Ugh, my head is killing me."
Was that it?
I clutched my throbbing head with one hand and rubbed my arms with the other.
It was already late autumn, nearing winter.
Even in broad daylight, standing outside completely naked in this weather made me feel like I was about to catch a cold.
I need to ask the author to get me some clothes.
"Huu… just what the hell is that?"
No matter how I thought about it, it wasn’t normal.
Like something that had just escaped from a horror game’s lab—an awful appearance.
Multiple abilities, as if ignoring the rule of one per person.
…What in the world was it?
[D-D-Dear Reader! Behind you! Behind you!]
"…?"
Behind me?
There was no way I could’ve survived being shredded by my own threads.
Unless… unless she had transcended humanity…
"…What is that?"
Her limbs should’ve been severed.
She had scratches, sure, but no major wounds—the girl was still glaring at me with venomous eyes.
I frantically lashed out with the threads still floating in the air, but it was useless. Only more scratches appeared.
Her body didn’t so much as get cut.
"…Hiiik!"
Thump. Thump.
Every step she took toward me, the threads sliced at her.
…It didn’t work. The wounds kept piling up, but I couldn’t stop her.
The closer she got to me.
The closer my sin got to me.
I realized it.
There was nothing more I could do.
Before her, I was powerless.
And when we finally stood face to face—
The girl smirked at me, bitter and cold.
Then came the pain.
"Khehck…!"
"Ah, sorry. Your left side was all bruised up, so I made the right match."
"Hngh… hngh…!"
I couldn’t breathe.
Every gasp felt like my lungs were being torn apart.
Maybe my ribs were broken.
I tried to get up, only to realize I’d already collapsed from the pain. I could do nothing but writhe in agony I’d never known before.
"…Pathetic. How are you supposed to do anything if you crumple like this?"
The girl stared at me like I was ridiculous.
As if she thought I was some weakling who couldn’t even endure this much pain.
…But I could only sit there, unable to retaliate, under her scornful gaze.
This was the first time since coming to this world that I’d been beaten like this.
The first time I’d felt pain this intense.
I knew I was pathetic, but my body wouldn’t move.
I just trembled like a leaf.
My body refused to stand again.
"…Unbelievable. To think Mir died to someone like you."
"Hahk! Haaahk…!"
"Where’s the guy who was so defiant just a minute ago?"
"Kehk… hngh…"
"…Forget it. Just die."
Her arm twisted again with a sickening sound.
Instead of spreading wide for a broad strike, it sharpened—like a blade meant to pierce.
"…Mir… all of this is for you."
Thunk.
Blood spurted down my cheek.