Dohyung's Painful Past

Dohyung sat on the sofa in his room, thoroughly enjoying the spectacle unfolding in the basement through the CCTV monitor. He leisurely picked up the wine glass from the table, brought it to his nose to inhale the rich grape aroma, and took a sip, savoring the flavor. He didn't need any side dishes when he drank. Every single scene playing out in the basement was the perfect accompaniment to his wine. What he was watching now was far more entertaining and delicious than any TV show, so why would he need anything else?

"Yes, fight. Fight like crazy. Hahaha!"

Tipsy and lightheaded, Dohyung laughed out loud at the monitor. The captives in the basement knew there was a camera, but they had absolutely no idea that their audio was being transmitted to him as well.

"Argh! I-I'm sorry! I mean, I'm sorry, please!"

"You piece of shit! You're the lowest-ranking trash in this place!!"

It seemed Taehyun had accidentally spoken informally while listening to Jia and Jiseon. Seizing the opportunity, Jiseon had rushed over and was now beating him mercilessly.

Watching the three of them trapped in a hell of their own making, inflicting pain on one another without him even having to lift a finger, made Dohyung feel utterly ecstatic, his mood soaring alongside the alcohol.

On the screen, Jiseon kicked Taehyun a few more times before bursting into laughter at his desperate pleas, finally halting her assault.

"Right, can't beat him too much. If you give them just the right amount of pain, they'll do whatever you order them to. Just like you bastards did to me."

Watching Taehyun trembling in agony, unable to even stand, Dohyung clinked his wine glass against an empty glass on the table, producing a pleasant, ringing toast.

How much more enjoyable would this hilarious show be if I could watch it with someone who shares my feelings? Dohyung thought, feeling a brief pang of loneliness. Or rather, the tiny, residual shred of humanity left inside him had momentarily stirred.

But he quickly shook his head. He knew that no one could ever truly understand his pain. Back when he was living through a daily hell at school because of those four—Jia, Jiseon, Taehyun, and Eunji—not a single person had ever reached out to help him.

Not his classmates, who acted as mere bystanders, watching him get tormented every single day in the very same room; not the teachers, who were bribed by Taehyun and completely ignored his cries for help. He had even been abandoned by his own father. For Dohyung, an only child, his parents were the only people he could have relied on to save him from the school violence.

"Ha, fuck... Just thinking about those days makes my blood boil all over again..."

Seeing their son constantly coming home covered in wounds, his father and mother had vaguely realized that something was happening to him at school. However, because Dohyung refused to speak, they hadn't been ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠able to step in.

Even after Kkami was kicked to death by Jiseon, Dohyung hadn't reached out to his parents for help. To an outsider, it might have seemed incredibly foolish, but back then, Dohyung was fiercely determined not to show his pathetic, shameful state to his parents of all people.

But as the bullying intensified and the physical wounds on his body multiplied, his parents finally cornered him, demanding to know what was going on. Ultimately, Dohyung broke down and spilled everything.

He had cried non-stop for an hour. The sheer shame and resentment of recounting every single torment he had endured made his tears flow like an open tap. Yet, his mother's warm, gentle embrace had been a powerful force that melted his frozen heart and allowed him to open up completely.

After hearing his story, his parents told him they would go to the school the very next day. They comforted him, saying they could never let this slide and that they would make sure those four bullies faced the full judgment of the law.

Until then, Dohyung truly believed he could finally escape that hell. It wasn't just classmates or teachers stepping up; it was his own flesh and blood. He firmly believed that even if the entire world turned against him, his parents would stand by his side and walk the path with him.

But the future he believed would be filled with hope was shattered all too easily. By a single sentence.

"Here, this is the settlement money. Will this be enough to keep your mouths shut?"

Dohyung had been utterly flabbergasted to see Eunji smiling as she offered the money. She knew exactly what she had done to him, yet she dared to try and buy them off with cash. He was sure his parents wouldn't budge for such a thing, but—

"O-One billion won?!"

His father had gasped in shock at the astronomical sum. Dohyung could still never forget it—the way his father's mouth split into a massive, greedy grin at the sight of that fortune. His father's eyes were glued to the money, completely oblivious to his own son's well-being.

Watching his ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠father eagerly accept the money, Eunji had turned her gaze to Dohyung and smiled brightly. To Dohyung, however, her smile looked like that of a venomous viper baring its fangs at its prey.

After taking the money, his father signed a written pledge promising never to speak of the school violence to anyone. The terms of the pledge bound not only his father but also his mother and Dohyung himself. By signing it, his father had legally barred them from ever exposing the bullying to the outside world.

His father had signed the pledge on the spot, blinded by the money, without even consulting his mother. Dohyung's heart, which had placed all its trust in his parents, was torn to bloody shreds.

When they returned home that day, his father and mother had a massive, explosive argument. His mother screamed, asking how he could sell out their son's suffering for money, while his father bellowed back that with that kind of cash, they could start a whole new life.

For the first time in his life, Dohyung witnessed his usually harmonious parents screaming at the top of their lungs, and he watched in horror as his father raised his hand and struck his mother.

After that day, his father vanished with the money, refusing to even speak to his mother. He left without a single word about where he was going or how to contact him.

The shock caused his mother to collapse, her health failing. Dohyung was left utterly helpless. He couldn't even begin to fathom how to resolve this on his own, and he shuddered to think of the horrific retaliation and intensified bullying that awaited him once he returned to school.

With his family completely destroyed, Dohyung dragged his trembling feet back to school... and, as expected, he had to endure the full, unrestrained wrath of the four bullies. The physical scars, the psychological torment... his mind was completely shattered.

He came to believe that the only escape from this living hell was death. He wrote a suicide note filled with his burning resentment toward the four of them and climbed to the roof of a tall building, intending to jump. But even attempting suicide required an immense amount of courage, and unable to take the final leap, he ended up wandering the streets aimlessly.

He knew his mother was lying sick at home, but he couldn't bring himself to face her. He felt as though everything that had happened was entirely his fault. Even though he had done absolutely nothing wrong, his broken mind had twisted the reality until he believed that his very existence was the root cause of all this misery.

And as he was wandering the streets in that daze... he was hit by a truck.

"If I hadn't been transported to that other world back then... would I have just died wandering the streets?"

Dohyung downed the rest of his wine as he reminisced about those dark days. If he hadn't been hit by that truck and summoned to the other world, he undoubtedly would have spent the rest of his short life wandering the streets, never returning to school or home.

During his ten grueling years of survival in the other world, Dohyung had pondered a crucial question. He knew he would exact revenge on those who ruined his life, but he had to draw the line on who his targets would be.

The classmates who could have helped him but chose to remain silent bystanders. The teachers who actively turned a blind eye and rejected his pleas. The father who abandoned him and his mother to run away. And finally, the ringleaders who orchestrated it all: Lee Jia, Kwon Jiseon, Moon Taehyun, and Han Eunji.

Should he take revenge on every single one of them? As he neared the end of his journey in the other world, he had deeply contemplated how far his vengeance should reach.

Naturally, revenge against the four ringleaders was an absolute certainty. It was the sole reason he had endured ten agonizing years in that brutal fantasy world.

Next, he had to decide what to do with his father, who had abandoned him and his mother out of pure greed. He had no intention of sparing him; he had absolutely no forgiveness in his heart for his father. Dohyung had never imagined that his final beacon of hope would be swallowed whole by the monster of greed, discarding him without a second thought. However, he wondered if his father deserved the exact same punishment as the four ringleaders. While his betrayal was unforgivable, Dohyung felt that subjecting him to the exact same fate as the main perpetrators didn't sit right.

The same went for the school teachers. They were adults who could have saved him from that hell, yet they chose to bow to power and money, doing absolutely nothing. And so, Dohyung... gifted them an agonizing death as his revenge.

Before kidnapping Jia, he had brought those adults here, one by one. Seeing those teachers living peaceful, happy lives with their own families while he ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had suffered in agony filled him with an uncontrollable rage. To make them feel his pain, he tore away their flesh, piece by piece.

He used a variety of tools. He employed medieval-style torture devices and even used kitchen utensils to peel the skin right off their bones. The teachers begged and pleaded for their lives, but of course, their pathetic cries fell on entirely deaf ears.

No modern human could maintain their sanity while watching their own flesh being ripped away alive. They constantly blacked out, only to be jolted back awake by the sheer agony. Eventually, these adults would have died of shock or blood loss... but they weren't allowed to. Whenever they neared the brink of death, Dohyung used his magic to keep them alive.

He had no intention of showing his magic to the four ringleaders. To prolong their torment as much as possible, he believed he had to hide the overwhelming, hope-crushing power of magic. But there was no such need for the teachers. Thus, Dohyung unleashed every spell at his disposal to inflict maximum agony upon them.

Only when their minds completely shattered from the endless, inescapable torment did those adults finally escape Dohyung's grasp. Even with his immense power, he couldn't resurrect the dead. Yet, watching those teachers writhe in absolute agony had brought Dohyung immense satisfaction. He had inflicted the absolute maximum amount of pain, confident that they had felt every ounce of the suffering he had endured in his youth.

He had gifted his father a similar death. When he tracked down the father who had abandoned him and his mother, he found him living abroad, married to a foreign woman and enjoying a comfortable life. Dohyung kidnapped him immediately and subjected him to a death far more agonizing than the teachers'. No matter how much he tortured him, his deep-seated resentment was never fully appeased, so Dohyung killed his father by subjecting him to every conceivable pain a human body could experience.

The next targets on his list were... his classmates, the bystanders. In truth, Dohyung had agonized over whether to punish them. The adults he had killed were fully capable of helping him but chose not to. But what about the students? They were bystanders, yes, but could a mere high school student have actually stepped up and resolved his situation?

Dohyung shook his head, concluding that it would have been impossible. He could understand the perspective of those student bystanders. If he had seen someone else being openly tormented by those four devils, would he have had the courage to step in and tell them to stop? The answer was a resounding no.

Back then, he wouldn't have possessed the strength or the courage to do such a thing. Who knew if stepping up would turn those sadistic monsters' sights onto him instead? Some probably ignored it, dismissing it as none of their business, while others simply wanted to avoid becoming the next target. Thus, Dohyung decided to forgive them. They were bystanders, but they had no choice.

Dohyung believed that since he had forgiven his classmates, they deserved to live lives free of pain. And so... he cleanly killed them all in staged accidents. He granted them instant, painless deaths, ensuring they died before they could even register any suffering. Compared to the adults and the four ringleaders, Dohyung considered this an incredibly merciful choice.

"Ah, except for one person, that is."

Just one person from his class. He remembered a student who had reached out to save him before the bullying escalated to its worst, only to transfer schools shortly after. She was the sole survivor who had escaped his wrath. Back when the four of them merely used him as an errand boy—before the physical violence truly began—she was the only one who stepped forward when everyone else ignored him.

"Why are you bullying him? What did he ever do wrong to you?!"

A girl who had shouted at them in a fierce, sharp voice.

She had been completely excluded from his revenge list, and Dohyung had left her alone, never even looking into her whereabouts.

"I miss her..."

Dohyung muttered to himself, refilling his empty wine glass. He thought back to her—the girl who had been his very first love...