Chapter 0
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 0
Chapter Title: This Wasn't What I Wanted
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From way back, I'd never made the 'protagonist' my favorite.
Just how it was.
The only comics I read as a kid were Japanese shonen manga, and the protagonists back then were mostly the type who were "hopelessly good to the point of idiocy."
Of course, it's not like I hated them or anything.
No matter how idiotic their choices, no matter how many times they got stabbed in the back.
Protagonists never broke—they always rose again.
That unbreakable spirit was a true ode to humanity, a beacon of hope for everyone.
It simply wasn't my taste.
I preferred the "Inner Evil" lurking deep inside those pure-hearted protagonists.
The ones that slumbered within during normal times but inevitably burst out at the critical moments to wreak havoc.
Sometimes they appeared as an alternate personality of the protagonist, other times as a demon implanted from the outside.
At times, they were a hidden true nature—or perhaps the "self" that had always been there...
To me, those entities, brimming with some dangerous power as they inflicted trials upon the protagonist, looked irresistibly cool.
"..."
Inner Evils have no physical form.
They parasitize the protagonist's mind, endlessly granting trials and misfortune.
You are the Inner Evil.
One day, I became one of those.
But...
"Demon!"
"Demon, are you listening? Check this out!"
Something.
Something was wrong.
"I did exactly as you told me, Demon, and I've gotten so much stronger!"
"This is all thanks to you, Demon."
Is this really a trial?