I Only Meant to Castrate Him
I had been operating under one fundamental misconception, one that failed to account for mental maturity. Pog only laid hands on his own children after they reached fifteen—the age of adulthood in this world. I wanted the protagonist to start as a teenager, but anything short of an adult setting would be too risky. That had to be the reason. The thought Then why not simply remove that setting? had crossed my mind, but another theory was equally plausible: the age had only been raised because of censorship, and in the original draft he had been a genuine pedophile. Not that censorship magically made him any less of one, of course. Still, I wanted to believe it wasn’t true. Yet the decadent aura rolling off the currently twelve-year-old Eres was so overwhelming that doubt gnawed at me. No, seriously—her face and presence were almost identical to how she looked at the start of the main story six years from now. And that was the period when her sister had been kidnapped and she was desperately training to get her back.
Besides, we don’t need Pog around anyway. The man was superfluous. Since I would be personally overseeing Eres’s growth, there was no reason to leave him alive as a source of tragic motivation. If left unchecked he would either demand money or drug his daughter the moment she came home and lock her away. In the game he had existed solely as a device to deepen Eres’s tragic narrative. So here, I needed to handle this cleanly.
“You.”
Humans possess three primary desires: appetite, sleep, and lust. The first two cannot be removed while a person lives, but lust—I could erase that.
“You will never indulge in carnal desire again.”
If only there existed a procedure that drastically reduced male hormone production!
…Wait. If I used full power, wouldn’t he simply die? I needed to hold back. While I was at it, I should reduce the speed and lower the defensive impact as well. If he had originally been a warhammer, I would turn him into an aluminum bat.
Crunch!
The tip of my foot drove upward into Pog’s groin. Through the torn shoe I felt something soft and vital being pulverized. Normally a man curls up when struck there, yet this time there was no such reaction.
For a pedophile, castration is the only answer. Even if my suspicions proved entirely wrong, nothing would change. I had already discovered the white bones of Eres’s mother in the backyard.
“Ugh… aaack…!”
Procedure complete. The effect was spectacular. That arrogant, idiotic Pog immediately adopted proper etiquette, slamming his forehead to the floor in obeisance.
“Ah, Father…?”
“With this he will never interfere with us again. This is good for you, isn’t it?”
Having become a eunuch incapable of producing testosterone, his aggression should diminish. With no children left to support him, he could finally live like a decent human being. Then I could comfortably raise Eres and her siblings.
First, I would train them to my current level within two years. Having already organized the most efficient methods through trial and error, I could afford to take it easy. After making them strong… hmm, I really should have secured a sword instructor beforehand. That could be arranged somehow.
Hehe. At this level, I must look like a suitably dignified master, right?
I had punished the trash parents who had tormented her; her favorability toward me should have skyrocketed. Eres, the protagonist of my favorite game, was my absolute favorite character. If my favorite didn’t like me, that would make me the strange one. Besides, because of the magic sword’s nature, she had no official coupling—
“Daddy…?”
I had been happily envisioning the happy ending we would create together when Eres’s younger siblings, Melina and Pih, began shaking the motionless Pog. Well, after taking a hit there, it was natural he would be down for a while—
“Sister… Daddy doesn’t seem to be breathing…”
“What?”
“Huh.”
N-not breathing? T-that couldn’t be…?
“Father…?”
Eres sent her siblings back and tried to lift Pog’s body. He didn’t budge. When she finally managed to roll the heavy adult corpse over…
“Melina! Pih! Don’t look over here!”
A vile stench of alcohol poured out. There was no need to check for a heartbeat or pulse. His tongue lolled out, mixed with vomit and drool.
“……He’s dead.”
I-I killed a person…?
I had held back nearly all my strength! How the hell did he die?! Until now, no matter how villainous the opponent, I had never killed anyone—I had always let them live…!
“Why…?”
“What?”
“Why… why did you kill Father?”
I hadn’t meant to kill him either! Or had I? Seeing him had reminded me of my own parents back in the original world and anger had surged…
“……What of it?”
“What did you just say…?”
“I killed the trash. Leaving him alive would have done nothing but ruin your life.”
Stop acting like a strict, serious villain and apologize, you insane bastard! Don’t spout nonsense. If I dropped the act here, the terror of committing my first murder would make my legs shake. I had killed their biological father right in front of them—I should be apologizing!
No. If I lost dignity now, how could they possibly follow the brutal training that lay ahead?
“What is there to mourn? That man sent his own children to work while he drank himself senseless. If he dies here, not a single person will grieve him.”
“That’s…”
The words were harsh, but not incorrect. From his first appearance to his last in the game, Pog had contributed nothing but cancer-inducing moments and had never once apologized or helped his children.
“He was of no use to your life whatsoever. Shake it off and move forward.”
Crunch!
I kicked the corpse. Bones snapped audibly as it flew toward the house—the house Eres would never need to return to, now belonging only to Pog.
“Daddy!”
Ah, damn it. I must have used too little force this time; the body lost momentum mid-flight and dropped straight into the fissure I had split in the ground.
Oh shit.
“Daddy! No!”
“Sister…? Is Daddy badly hurt?”
“Can we look now?”
“No! Both of you go inside the house!”
Eres ran to the fissure and reached out. It wasn’t terribly deep, but pulling out a corpse that had fallen and lodged itself inside was beyond her strength. Even if she succeeded, the body below would already be crushed and mangled beyond recognition.
“Stop! You’ll fall in too!”
“Don’t try to stop me!”
“What is so precious about that bastard that you’re trying to save him! Did he ever do a single good thing for you siblings? He was a human better off nonexistent!”
“Still… he was our dad! No matter how much we hated him, he was still our dad!”
That’s gaslighting! A healthy father who leeched off his twelve-year-old daughter would have been stoned to death even in the Joseon era! But… that same foolish, self-sacrificing nature was exactly what had turned Eres into the protagonist of a tragedy. The nobility of erasing herself while fighting to save others. The reason I had played this game to the end had never been gameplay, graphics, or sound—it was because I wanted to find the route where this pitiful child could finally be happy.
Yes. This was the Eres of the world I had tried to save, the Eres I had wanted to protect—
“Was this what you intended to teach me? You were going to use me to kill people?!”
“Huh? No, that’s not—”
“I can’t trust you anymore. Rather than follow someone who commits murder so casually, I’d rather die here!”
“T-that won’t do!”
You crazy idiot! That’s why I told you to apologize from the start! Look at her eyes—eyes overflowing with distrust and hatred. There was no way she would listen to me now. I had twisted the narrative for nothing and made everything worse. At this rate our Eres would be ruined!!
“You must become strong! Stronger than anyone—you have the right to that strength!”
“What right? The right that no one would mourn me if I died? Like our father?”
“What…!”
You mustn’t belittle yourself like that! Have confidence! You’re the protagonist! You can become strong enough to face the inflated final-chapter mobs alone, without even needing the magic sword!
“In the end you only chose me because you can use and discard me whenever you want. I was crazy… to be swayed by the words that you would let me go…”
“No! I chose you because of your talent! If you train under me from now on, you have the talent to become far stronger than someone like me!”
“What exactly do you see in me to say such things? What could you possibly know about me?!”
“I do know! I’ve known you far longer than you realize!”
I cleared the game, read every piece of media, fan art, official interview, and setting book to stan you! It took four years just to confirm the power balance difference between the game and this world’s reality. All of it was for you! You are someone who can do this!
“You don’t want anyone to die? Then I’ll make that possible too! I’ll make you strong enough to solve every problem without a single death! So come with me!”
“You’re the one who created my problems! Disappear!”
This was bad. She was already filled with distrust and hatred; she had no intention of listening. Even if I dragged her away now, she wouldn’t follow my instructions. If she didn’t train of her own free will, my training methods were far too dangerous.
No. I already knew Eres possessed the same kind and strong heart she had in the game. But if things continued like this she would still reach the bad ending where she saved the world with the magic sword!
A way… there had to be a way… Ah!
“Here is a notebook organizing my training methods. I prepared it especially for you. I’ll also provide meals that are good for your body soon.”
“I have no intention of accepting anything from you! I—”
“No. You must accept it. And you will build your strength through your own will.”
What did she want to become strong for? To meet her kidnapped younger sister Melina again. To gain the power to travel the world in search of her.
“Your siblings don’t seem very obedient, do they?”
“What… Melina! Pih! What are you doing?! Get inside right now!”
The two children were watching us from a short distance away. Their feet must have frozen at the incomprehensible situation. Entering the house wouldn’t change anything, but—
“Kyaaak! Sister!”
“Melina, no! Stop!! Your sibling didn’t do anything wrong!!!”
She hadn’t. Not yet, anyway. Four years from now Melina would be kidnapped and sold as a slave to a corrupt noble. The tragic protagonist’s little sister, enslaved by a wicked aristocrat—did that require further explanation? When she reappeared she would be completely corrupted, driving a stake through her sister’s heart. In the end, even the magic sword would fail to save her, shattering both Eres and the players’ sanity. She must have been utterly broken to return to this hellish hometown seeking healing.
“Do you want to get your sister back? I believe I already showed you the method.”
“Method… you can’t mean…”
“Become strong, Eres. If you want to take your sister back from me, grow powerful enough to come and seize her!”
Right now it would be difficult, but I would take good care of Melina, so she wouldn’t have to suffer that future trauma. If Eres didn’t follow me now, the bad ending was inevitable. She didn’t know it, but this was all for her sake.
“Stop right there!!!”
“Foolish girl. This is why you should have listened to me from the beginning.”
She was crying and grieving now, but six years later—when she had grown strong and we met again at the academy—she would understand my true intentions. To the strengthened Eres, this world would no longer be dark fantasy. It would be a happy, happy romance fantasy.
“Why are you doing this to us! What did we ever do wrong?!”
You can do it, Eres! Become strong and save the world in a fun and safe way!