Chapter 45
Chapter 45
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: Public Opinion
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"...?"
"P-Please spare me, and I'll do anything! I beg you!"
What the hell is this?
For a split second, I couldn't wrap my head around the situation, leaving an opening—but she didn't notice, her forehead pressed to the ground.
"Whoa... You really want to live that badly?"
"Yes! Yes! Sh-Should I lick your feet?! Master!"
"No, that's not necessary."
"Understood! Master!"
Master? What the hell?
Anyone hearing this would mistake her for a dog beastkin.
Well, not really—her lower body was distinctly lamia-like, serpentine from the waist down—so her appearance wouldn't fool anyone. But her behavior...
"Sigh. What now? I was planning to kill you."
"Eek! Don't kill me! I'm great at laundry! I can cook, clean—use me as a housework slave!"
"..."
Was she lost in full-blown panic? She didn't seem capable of rational thought.
...My mood soured.
Did she want to live that much?
I'd planned to kill her mercilessly at the first sign of attack or resistance. She was marked for death anyway, and I felt nothing about it.
But seeing her grovel like this... it left me feeling strangely conflicted.
No one who'd ever come at me had ever debased themselves this far just to survive.
⚙ WRITER-NIM ⚙ Reader-nim, second-guessing yourself? Just kill her. That's why you came, isn't it? "...You're right. Yeah."
Writer-nim had a point.
This snake beastkin was an obstacle to the story's flow. Nothing more than a disposable doll—presence optional.
Just one of the 2,400 villain dolls spawned by Writer-nim's setting tweak.
Besides, dragging this out too long might draw the fear-shaken villains back here en masse.
She could get bold with numbers on her side and go for my back.
Killing her was simplest, safest. No reason not to.
...Yeah. Killing her was convenient.
⚙ WRITER-NIM ⚙ ...? Reader-nim? "Can you hide those legs?"
"Y-Yes! I can! Please don't kill me!"
"You said you're good at housework?"
"Y-Yes! Just leave it to me!"
I fired off a bunch of questions at her.
Maybe she intuited a chance at survival—color returned to her face as she grinned.
⚙ WRITER-NIM ⚙ Reader-nim?! "I've always wanted to try having a maid."
⚙ WRITER-NIM ⚙ Ugh, that's just an excuse! Why the sudden change?! Yeah, I knew it was an excuse.
2,400 villains courtesy of Writer-nim's slip-up. Current goal: eliminate 1,600 of them.
No reason to spare even one—especially not an executive.
This was a risky move, one that could sour things with Writer-nim herself. Killing her was the smart play.
...But. But.
I stared at her wide, fawning smile.
Sensing my gaze, she slammed her forehead back to the floor.
Bowing and grinning to the killer of her comrades, all for survival.
She didn't feel like a doll anymore—like a flesh-and-blood person. It stirred up complicated feelings.
Not some dashing storybook hero raging at a friend's death, but a realistic type prioritizing self-preservation.
Not some glamorous ideal I'd never known, but the everyday ordinary I'd seen a thousand times.
Her desperate scramble for life felt alive—it twisted something inside me.
"...How about joining the Secret Society?"
⚙ WRITER-NIM ⚙ Wha—...? Secret society?! "Perfect timing. I've been feeling a bit empty with just the two of us."
"...Huh?"
"Welcome aboard, Spira. You're an Arachne member now. Looking forward to working with you."
"Huh?!"
No way.
She's a doll. Has to be.
So this was just my whim.
A trivial one, at that.
⚙ WRITER-NIM ⚙ Hmm, yeah—a secret society of just two is kinda lacking... Nice! A secret society with a defector from the enemy ranks... that's cool too! Good—Writer-nim didn't seem upset.
I let out a quiet sigh of relief and glanced at my new comrade, Spira.
"Alright, first order as maid."
"Y-Yes! What is it?!"
"Go outside... and kill your old comrades."
"?!"
"...Can't do it?"
"N-No! I can!"
Only after watching her scramble out the door did I hurl the heavy wool aside.
Ugh, too damn hot.
Heavier than it looked, too.
"Haa... This thing's seriously heavy."
⚙ WRITER-NIM ⚙ Looks so fluffy. I wanna hug it. "Sure, the texture's nice... but it was scorching hot! Even dressed like this! ...No—more importantly, clothes! Quick!"
⚙ WRITER-NIM ⚙ Oh, right. Almost forgot. Forgot what?!
I'd been buried naked inside that wool!
Almost got caught buck-naked!
I had just barely enough thread left to take out Spira.
If she'd fought back hard or things had gone south, it wouldn't have been enough.
Precisely once. One shot, that's all I had.
"Lucky for me her personality puts self-preservation above all."
I let out a small sigh.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 📰 Arachne Real-Time Update.jpg (Gore warning photo) (Photo of abandoned factory drenched in red blood) (News portal hyperlink) Übermensch villain organization wiped out. One presumed male exec and one female exec dead. Last one missing. Are they gods? Apostles sent down by the divine to grant our wish and massacre those trash villains? 💬 Comments - 1176 Amelia set her phone down and scrolled through the comments.
A gloomy voice slipped from Yoo Siu's lips as he peered over her shoulder at the news.
"Praise here, praise there... Everyone's all hyped up."
"Of course they are. Someone just erased the guys they hate."
Siu seemed uncomfortable with the overheated vibe.
A few comments echoed his sentiment, but public opinion crushed them in seconds, burying them out of sight.
"I don't get it."
"I get exactly why they're acting like this. You do too. So do they."
Siu just couldn't fathom cheering hundreds of deaths—even criminals'.
He'd killed villains himself, so he knew the weight of taking a life.
Having internalized that gravity, he recoiled instinctively at the sheer number dead.
Criminal syndicate or not.
...But I had a pretty good idea why people were reacting this way.
"Plenty of folks have suffered at villains' hands, big time or small."
"Yeah, but..."
"I know—not those guys specifically. But come on. People's hearts don't just let go that easy? To them, they're all the same villains."
Most citizens weren't supers. Most villains were.
Civilians inevitably got swept up in super-crimes.
"They think the punishment's too light compared to what they endured. Blood for blood. Tears for tears."
Villains who killed often walked free fast—chronic super shortage.
Judicial deals abounded: serve a stint on the frontlines, get out.
Not the majority of cases, but common enough.
"Villains walk via deals. The dead stay dead."
"...Frontline survival rates for villains are hellish, though. Near impossible. Frontline heroes despise them—won't help when they're cornered. They get isolated."
"Everyone knows that. But some do come back."
"..."
Efficient system.
Association fills ranks; villains trade life sentences for a shot at freedom.
Emotions don't give a damn about efficiency, though.
Direct victims couldn't stomach villains getting any shot at freedom.
Not even when frontline returnees numbered in the thimbleful.
"Can't blame 'em. If a villain killed my parents and got to rejoin society? I'd lose it too."
"...Yeah. I get that. Not judging them."
"Then what don't you get?"
Had I misread him?
I figured he hated the festive mood over villains dying en masse.
"Hey, this. Artea did it, right?"
"...Probably. Arachne's a group—if Artea's involved, yeah."
"Then... what's Artea feeling right now?"
"Huh?"
It came out of nowhere.
Artea's feelings? How should I know?
I wanted to brush it off, but Siu looked dead serious.
"When I killed someone, Artea's help kept me from spiraling for a while."
"Yeah, probably."
"So... after killing that many—is Artea okay?"
"What are you even..."
"I have no clue what Artea's going through right now."
Arte Isis's feelings?
Random as hell.
"Obviously she's fine. She's a villain too, y'know—villain."
"...Yeah?"
"Exactly. Quit overthinking and focus on seducing her or finding that artifact."
"Got it."
They made no progress that day.
Siu couldn't concentrate, nagging nonstop.