I Quit the Non-Virgin Party (3)

"You had a family too, huh."

"You should've said something."

Dazed mutterings drifted through the room. Even those half-conscious words scraped at Jain's nerves. With a face twisted in rage, he roared.

"Said something? I told you dozens of times—no, hundreds. Keep your virginity. I drilled it into your skulls until your ears grew calluses, because I was so fucking worried."

It was the truth. He'd warned them over and over to guard it carefully, even if it drew ridicule. This was tied to the System, and meddling with it could warp causality and diverge from the scenario he knew. That was why he couldn't explain before things spiraled into this catastrophe. All he ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠could do was beg them.

"Is this my fault? What the hell else was I supposed to tell you?"

As Jain growled, Karin and Leticia frantically waved their hands, scrambling to smooth things over.

"No, that's not what we meant. We never thought it was your fault..."

"I thought you were joking..."

Neither managed to finish. Jain cut them off with a snarl.

"I was always dead serious. You just told yourselves it was a joke because you didn't want to hear it. So what about you? What was I to all of you?"

"Huh?"

"What the fuck was I to you people?"

When someone who rarely gets angry finally snaps, it's terrifying. The same held true for Jain now. The man who'd quietly handled every dirty job and mistake in the party, never doing more than offer a mild rebuke, had finally erupted.

"If any of you had spared me even a shred of attention, if you'd ever once wondered why some bastard would join the party and slave away like this, if you'd worried even once whether his body could handle fighting every single day, you would've figured it out somehow, wouldn't you?"

It was the unvarnished truth. Karin hung her head and couldn't utter a word.

"You never thought about it, right? Because actually paying attention would be too much hassle."

Elaine trembled with her fingers tightly laced, looking terrified. The other heroines reacted much the same. Jain muttered under his breath.

"There were plenty of days I didn't want to fight. Plenty of times I was scared shitless."

"Jain..."

"There were days I was so exhausted I couldn't move an inch from my sleeping bag."

Ren's eyebrows quivered. She'd never heard any of this. He always rose at dawn, made breakfast, and wore that calm expression, so she'd assumed he was fine.

"Still, my family was waiting back home... I had to return, so I endured and fought. I handled all your shares too. And because of you, it's all ruined now."

"Th-there must be a way." Karin's voice cracked with desperation.

But Jain answered instantly.

"There isn't."

"If I go back, I'll ask the Tower Master to open the entire Grand Library. I'll find something, I swear."

"I said there isn't. It's over. Done."

Karin's direct mentor, the Archsage, was certainly powerful, but Jain's magic skills likely surpassed even his. When someone like Jain spoke with this level of despair, the words carried the heavy weight of truth.

When Jain fell silent, a deathly hush swallowed the room. Unable to bear the suffocating pressure, Karin sniffled.

"I'm sorry..."

"Fuck, that's so damn convenient. Just say sorry ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and everything's fixed, right?"

"I'm truly sorry..."

Karin looked like a puppet with its strings severed, completely hollow. The empty apology seemed to infuriate him even more. Jain ruffled his hair violently.

"What did you just say? That I had a family too? Is that even a question you ask a human being? Did I not look human to you because I'm an extra? I actually want to hear it now—what the hell was I to you people? Just a convenient pushover?"

Naelle, so flustered she'd dropped her bow, waved her hands frantically and stammered.

"N-no! I always thought of you as reliable, strong, sharp on the outside but deeply caring inside... a friend. A friend. I'm sure everyone felt the same."

"You thought I was a friend, yet you betray that friend after he begged you hundreds of times?"

In an instant, she had nothing left to say. Naelle hung her head. Her shadow on the floor looked tiny and pathetic.

At that moment, the hero who'd been sprawled on the ground suddenly bellowed.

"You're a monster!"

All eyes snapped to him. The bastard slowly pushed his upper body up, pointed accusingly, and kept screaming.

"You butted in and stole my destiny! Before you came, we were all happy!"

"Give me a fucking break."

"That thing you just said must be a lie too! It's definitely a scheme to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠take them from me!"

"Is this crazy fucker for real?"

Crack. Jain's knee slammed into the hero's nose. The hero, who had barely risen, toppled backward with blood gushing from his nostrils.

"You abandoned all your duties! You only chased harem events and played around! That's why you were happy, you son of a bitch! Who wouldn't be happy skipping out on everything?"

Jain reinforced his legs with power and savagely kicked the fallen hero, bellowing with every strike.

"This fucker doesn't look like he'll die, so he's throwing a tantrum already."

Jain glared down at the hero, now a complete wreck again, then suddenly let out a dry chuckle.

"Well, I suppose what this guy said is your true feelings."

"What?" Ren's eyes widened.

Jain continued in a calmer tone than before.

"Some monster you've never seen suddenly crawls into the party and handles every unwanted chore without being asked. Of course you wouldn't feel grateful. 'This pushover is showing off, acting like he's serving the great hero and us.' That's probably what you thought."

"N-no, it's really not..."

Karin spoke first, but then lowered her head. Come to think of it, she'd never once thanked him, never cheered him on, never asked if he was okay. Instead, she'd complained about the food or even scolded him. At some point, Jain handling the dirty work had simply become the natural order of things.

Whether they were all mulling over similar thoughts, the heroines remained silent with their heads bowed. Some trembled like leaves in the wind. Naelle's shaking was the worst.

So when Jain grabbed the hero by the collar and hoisted him high, no one tried to stop him this time.

"You said if I won the duel, you'd listen to whatever I said, right?"

Jain's right hand moved busily as he spoke, tracing countless shapes in the air. He was forming the spell seals.

Soon a giant eyeball appeared above his head, thick iron chains dangling where optic nerves should have been. Its pitch-black pupil stared at the hero with eerie menace. It was the eye that manifested when casting Geas, the highest-tier mental manipulation magic.

"That cum-rag elf who likes you so much begged me not to kill you, so I won't. Instead, first—baldness. From now on, your hair won't grow except for a single strand."

The eyeball flashed, firing red light. The hero's glossy hair absorbed it and burned crimson.

"And for the next fifteen years, you'll suffer from erectile dysfunction."

"What? N-no!"

"No? Then fifteen years it is."

This time the red light seared his groin. The hero's face twisted in agony like never before.

"How horrible! You're insane with jealousy! Do you really think they'll look at you after this!"

"I was going to make you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a eunuch for life but went easy on you, you bastard. Next, the name. Your name is no longer Lütel von Klaus. What sounds good... Wang Chunsam... Hwang Geun-chul... Park Bongpal... Yeah, Park Bongpal."

When Jain snapped his fingers, thousands of bloody spell characters swirled around the Geas eyeball before forming a perfect square that enveloped the hero. The highest-tier curse magic, Terminus—the forbidden spell that discarded a being's very history—was now being used to destroy this bastard's name.

"I, Jain, agent of causality, declare that your name has been Park Bongpal from the moment you were born until the moment you die."

The hero's name was now Park Bongpal. His mother, his father—everyone would remember naming him Park Bongpal. Such was the power of tampering with history itself.

Yet Jain still looked unsatisfied.

"Still not enough. This bastard's face is annoyingly handsome. How the hell can someone with a bald head, one stupid antenna hair, and the name Park Bongpal still look good?"

"Thank you for the compliment."

"It's not a compliment, you idiot."

Jain flicked Park Bongpal's forehead, then came up with the perfect final punishment.

"From now on, every sentence you speak starts with 'Woong' and ends with 'yong.' Understood?"

The red light of Geas bathed the hero's tongue. After writhing in agony for a moment, the hero slumped and muttered.

"Woong... I understand yong."

"Good. That should be sufficient punishment."

"Woong... How disgraceful yong. No matter what form they take, they will love me yong. Ouch, why did you hit me yong!"

"Your speech sounds fucking disgusting."

"Woong... You made me speak this way yong!"

"I did order it, but it really is fucking disgusting."

"Ouch!"

Jain smacked the glossy bald head once more, then hurled the broken Park Bongpal toward Naelle. She reflexively dodged, so he flew across the room and slammed into the far wall.

"Then I'm done with this fucking non-virgin party. Farewell."

With those final words, Jain opened a portal.

Elaine, who had been half-dazed by the rare spectacle of highest-tier magic, finally snapped back to her senses.

No. If I let him leave like this—!