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How to Redeem a Trashy Side Villain

章 1: A Conversation With God

"Fuck."

I looked around the room I awoke in and already, I understood my situation. I had a feeling this would happen someday.

What did that genius scientist say? In a world of infinity, nothing won't ever happen and everything is bound to happen.

But how is it my fault? If you're a god, then surely you're capable of writing a novel that isn't so boring and generic that I was questioning whether or not I've read it a hundred times before.

"Fuck," I repeated as I sat up, stretching my body that was chiseled like a Greek hero. At least this shitty god understood the concept of making the characters extremely good-looking and fit in order to get them to stand out from the rest of the background characters that won't ever get a single minute of screen time.

As I looked at myself in the mirror, I felt like cursing a third time but held myself back.

"I should've known it would be him. Of course. Of course," I sighed as I touched my face.

It was a good — no, a great-looking face but it wasn't one that I wanted to have. As I looked at the calendar on the phone, I felt like crying.

"That means... it has already been a month," I said out loud. A month since what? Since this person whose body I've now been inserted into sexually harassed one of the female protagonists.

"What to do... what to do." I looked up at the ceiling, or rather at the sky that existed past it, and asked, "Shitty god, what do you want from me? I know you brought me into this world of yours and in this body as a punishment. But what exactly do you want from me?"

An answer never came. I shook my head before getting dressed.

Once again though, I said out loud, "At least I'm good-looking. Maybe if I transfer to another city and restart my life there, I won't have to deal with the shitty story in the novel."

"No!" a voice blasted into my ear.

Finally. "What do you mean 'no'?"

"You must attend the academy," the shitty god responded.

"Or what? You're going to kill me? It's not my body. I don't care if I die. If anything, now that I know that gods are real, perhaps the afterlife might be a fun thing to experience," I began wondering.

"If you don't attend the academy, I'll... I'll put your soul in the body of this prisoner who was arrested for having intercourse with animals."

I looked up at the ceiling once again and shot a middle finger up into the air.

"Fuck you," I grunted.

Silence.

Then as I was about to leave the bedroom, the shitty god spoke once again, "Oh that's right. Before I forget—"

'Gods can forget?'

"—here's all of Bell's memories."

As if I just had my third eye open, a second mind awakened, etc., the memories of Bell rushed into my brain like a head-splitting migraine.

"That hurts... you shitty god," I said, getting up slowly from my knees.

I now understood everything about Bell, including his life story, his personality, his internal thoughts, his motivations, everything.

As I looked at the mirror once again, I shook my head.

What did I expect? Perhaps Bell was this horrible human being because he had a tragic past. Perhaps he was abandoned by his family. Lived in poverty all his life. Never experienced love before.

But no. As expected by a shitty writer, his backstory was perfectly fine. If anything, it was a lovely life full of joy. Bell was just a shitty human being because the plot of a generic novel demanded him to be.

"Again, you shitty god, what do you want me to do? Do you want me to suffer in place of the real Bell? Do you want me to... improve your story myself by becoming a better villain?" I genuinely asked, wondering why I was brought into this world.

I knew that it was punishment, so surely it wasn't something that I was going to enjoy.

"You said that Bell's backstory makes no sense for him to become a villain, correct?"

"That's right," I responded.

"Then... fix it."

"What do you mean 'fix it'?"

"In your opinion, what path do you think Bell would've followed if he was a real person?"

I thought about it for a second. Considering the life lessons his parents taught him, the plentiful love he received from his siblings, his financial circumstances, and his group of childhood friends, I finally had an answer.

"Well, if anything, don't you think that Bell should've been a good guy in your novel? If not the main protagonist then at least one of the side protagonists?" I asked the shitty god.

"Is that your honest opinion?"

"I mean... yes. Look at this person's life before he entered the academy. He was the definition of a respectful person who listened to his parents' teachings. Why would he suddenly have a drastic shift into a shitty side character just because one of the girls in your story bumped into his shoulder by accident?" I asked, venting my feelings about the terrible story I had read.

"If that is how you view Bell, then fix his story for him."

"What?"

What was this god asking me to do?

"Make him the main protagonist as you claim he should've been," the shitty god clarified.

I looked up at the ceiling, gave it two middle fingers, then jumped onto my bed.

I responded, "That sounds like too much work especially considering how shitty the novel is. Why would I bother putting this much effort into someone else's story?"

"Sounds like you don't care about being put in that prisoner's body?"

"That sounds a million times better than redeeming this character you've ruined," I responded. Worst comes to worst, I'd just kill myself as that prisoner so that I can head off to the afterlife.

"If you don't redeem Bell, then I'll trap your soul into an infinite loop where you'll have to read my novel over and over."

"No!" I screamed, jumping out of the bed. "No! Anything but that!"

"Then just do as I say and fix this character you've possessed. You've read the entire story. Insulted every paragraph I've written. Surely, it shouldn't be that hard considering you know more about the story than I do."

Pacing around the room, I looked up at the ceiling and sighed, "Fine. I'll do it. I'll redeem this shitty character you've poorly written. What do I get in return?"

"You're asking about that when you're being punished by me?" asked the shitty god.

"I mean, sure I can do what you've asked of me but as a god, you must know how human nature works. If there's a reward at the end of the race, they work a thousand times harder," I explained.

The shitty god must've thought about it for a while because there was radio silence for about a minute.

"Fine. What do you want as a reward?" the shitty god asked me.

"I want you to bring me back into my original world with no evidence that your novel never existed. I feel like your story was holding back humanity from advancing because of how terrible it was."

"Fuck you."

I laughed, finally getting the god to curse back.

"Deal?" I asked him or her; I think it's a "him" because of the voice but who knows? They're a god so they're probably genderless or all gender. Who gives a shit?

"Deal," said the shitty god. "You must become the main protagonist which means you must defeat the demon king and his council of 13 great demons."

I smirked and replied, "Piece of cake."

"We'll see," said the shitty god.

"Are you going to observe me the entire time?" I asked.

"No. Gods are far too busy to be focused on a singular human being for too long. I'll just check up on you once in a while."

'So he's not omnipresent.'

After waiting a while, the silence in the room continued. He must've "left the room".

Now that he was gone, I used the memory of Bell inserting his passcode onto his phone to open it. I checked the local news and just as I expected, the news of me, or rather the original Bell, harassing a classmate was still being talked about.

According to my memory of the novel, Bell had another month before he was allowed to return to the academy.

Which was a blessing to me who now had plenty of time to prepare for this trash character's redemption arc.

How do you redeem a trashy side villain like Bell? Simple. Gaslight everyone to believe that his actions were a misunderstanding.

First things first, I needed to acquire a few codes.

What are codes you may ask? They are a few sentences that are engraved in special places around the world.

If you make these codes your own, the engravement transfers onto your body and you're granted a special ability that doesn't require mana which is the source of power in this world.

Instead, the special abilities granted by codes are activated through a process known as fulfilling an oath.

It's where you make an oath, and every time you fulfill that oath, depending on how difficult it is, the number of times you can activate the abilities increases.

Walking downstairs, I was greeted by a loving mother who despite all the evidence that was against her son, she believed that he was innocent and that he was being framed.

'Don't worry Mother, I'll gaslight everyone to make your naive trust in your son become reality.'

"Do you want breakfast?" she asked.

"I'm fine Mother," I responded.

"Are you going to head off somewhere?"

"Yes. I have something I need to do as soon as possible."

Worried for her son's safety, she told me, "Take Jerman with you. I know you don't like having a bodyguard but I don't want someone to harm you because of the frame job they did on you."

"Thank you, Mother," I told her. "For trusting in me."

With a smile on her face that looked like it was ready to burst into tears at any moment, she responded, "I'll always trust in you, my baby boy. No matter what anyone says, I know that my son would never do such a thing."

'Sadly, you're wrong.'

"Thank you, Mother. One day, I'll be sure to clear up my name so that you don't have to be ashamed of me."

"Never! I'll never be ashamed to be your mother. Don't you ever say that again," she told me, hugging me tightly.

I wanted to shake my head and tell the sky, aka the shitty god, "You see how caring his mother is? How could he do such a thing to a woman when his relationship with his mother is as tight as can be?"

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nemolikessoju

Bro's got some big balls to curse at a god.

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章 2: Codes

Jerman, according to Bell's memories, was a loyal servant to the Agnus family. He's been serving the family since he was three years old.

Not only was he born into the Facold family, a bloodline of servants loyal to the Agnus, but he was also personally trained by Master Omi, a samurai from the East who helped resolve the civil war in his country.

Around the same age as Bell, it was interesting to see how mature he was compared to the young master of the family.

I wasn't surprised however because one was raised to become a servant and bodyguard while the other was spoiled and pampered. But that didn't make it any less interesting.

I was curious about how Jerman felt about the young master he was serving after the crimes he had committed.

"Jerman, follow me," I said. He was waiting by the door, guarding it along with what looked like a hundred other guards.

"Yes, young master," without hesitation he responded, bowing slightly, before matching his steps with mine. He didn't even question why he was being ordered to follow me, he simply accepted it.

I couldn't read his face nor did his voice show any sign of negative feelings.

'I guess when you're trained to become a living weapon, you also learn to hide any and all emotions.'

As we got into the bulletproof vehicle, I obviously sat in the back while Jerman got into the front and began driving me towards my desired destination.

"Jerman," I called his name after two minutes into the car ride.

"Yes, young master?"

I wanted to test him a little bit more. His loyalty meant that he'd probably take a bullet for me but that didn't mean it reflected his personal feelings towards me, or rather Bell.

"Do you believe what they're saying about me?" I asked him.

I looked at the reflection in the mirror to see if his face would twitch but nope. Not a single reaction.

"I believe in nothing but listening to my instructions," he responded. "There's no need for me to have my own personal opinion."

It sounded like a safe answer but if you listened closely, it implied that he actively chose to put aside his opinions about Bell's crime and allowed his loyalty to reign supreme in his mind.

I smirked at the layers of his answer.

It seems that Jerman was a man whose loyalty didn't blind him from seeing the truth; although his loyalty did mean that he would choose to ignore the truth if it meant that it was going to get in the way of his work.

I liked it. It was a shame that the original Bell didn't favor Jerman for some reason.

Jerman's loyalty to the family was probably second to none.

"One day, everyone will understand my actions, including you Jerman. If you're as loyal to the family as you claim to be, then have faith and await good news. I'll be sure to redeem the family's name."

As expected, zero reaction from Jerman but I knew deep down that he was hoping my words would be the truth.

It'd help justify his dying loyalty to the family.

On the smooth car ride where I didn't feel a single bump on the road, I happened to fall asleep because of how relaxing it was.

"We're here, young master," said Jerman, gently shaking my shoulder.

Yawning, I got out of the car and stretched.

We were just outside a forest and instead of questioning what we were doing there, Jerman stood behind me and patiently waited.

As I began walking into the woods, he followed closely behind me.

I still remembered everything the shitty god wrote in order to describe the journey to get to the location of the particular code I was heading to acquire.

"Look for the tree that is choking another," was the first description on the piece of paper the main protagonist miraculously found in a pawnshop.

'Who the fuck sells a random piece of paper at a pawnshop?'

"Between the trees is a rock in the shape of an arrowhead. Follow the trajectory of the arrow until you reach a dead-end."

I followed the direction pointed out by the rock and found myself facing a tree after three minutes of walking.

"From the line formed from the arrowhead, follow the other line to your left that forms a perfect right angle until you find a boulder the size of a human."

This was the hardest part because you had to walk for half an hour to reach the boulder and if you were off by a single inch during the initial step you take, you'll end up somewhere far away.

Looking back at the arrowhead, I formed an imaginary line in my head, and after mentally checking it ten times, I was finally satisfied and began heading forward.

It was a silent walk and regardless of how strange my actions were, Jerman didn't question anything I was doing.

'Yes!' I cheered in my head.

After a long walk, we finally reached the boulder.

I turned to Jerman and told him, "Turn around. No matter what you hear, ignore it all."

"Yes, young master," he responded, nodding his head, before turning his body in the other direction.

I walked over to the boulder and recalled the final line written on the piece of paper.

"Dig your hand into the hole in the middle."

It was a tight fit and I could feel my skin scrapping on the boulder but eventually, I reached the end of the hole and picked up a rock the size of a baseball.

Pulling it out, I looked down at the code that was engraved on the rock.

How come the code didn't transfer onto my body? Well, if it was that easy to acquire the codes then it wouldn't be such a rare thing in this world.

No. What you have to do is solve the code.

But luckily, I was a person who painstakingly read the three long chapters of the main protagonist cracking the meaning of this code that was written in an ancient language.

Out loud, I said, "One day at a time. One step forward. Regardless of the obstacles in my way, I refuse to call it quits. I will achieve my goals."

For such a complex code that required so much work to crack, the answer was rather plain and boring.

Another reason why the novel written by the shitty novel was so boring and lame.

As the code left the surface of the rock and began engraving itself onto my body, specifically on my right leg, it felt as if I was being branded by an iron hotter than the Sun itself.

Regardless of the unbearable screams and all the noises I was making, I was satisfied to see that not once did Jerman disobey my order.

As the burning sensation cooled off, I threw the rock away as it was useless now.

I walked over to Jerman and told him, "Let's head back. We have more places to get to before the day is over."

Without questioning what he heard, he nodded his head and began following closely behind me like a second shadow.

'Bell, you fool,' I shook my head, disappointed. Even as a side villain whose evil was resolved in a single chapter, if you really wanted to be a villain, you had this loyal servant on your side who you could order to do practically whatever you wanted.

I asked Jerman as we reached the car, "If I asked you to kill yourself, would you?"

There was a split second of consideration. Then he answered me, "If that is your order."

I was liking him even more. If he answered me right away, most likely, it would've been a lie. But the fact he had to consider it first meant to me his answer was probably genuine.

Until the Sun disappeared beyond the horizon, the two of us went to the destinations that were in close distance to the Agnus home and I was able to successfully acquire five codes.

Wouldn't that make me overpowered?

Well, no. I have the potential to be as overpowered as the main character of the shitty novel became in the later arcs but because I hadn't completed a single act of fulfilling the oath, these codes engraved on my body were practically useless.

As we crossed the gate, I told Jerman, "That'll be all for the day."

Heading inside, I was greeted by the entire family sitting at the dinner table.

Looking at the time, I understood that they must've been waiting for me for the past half hour because the family always ate at the same time every day.

"You're late," said my older brother, Cyro. Well, he's Bell's older brother but at this moment, he was technically mine as well.

"Sorry. I had some business to attend to," I explained.

"Which is?" asked my little sister, Rubi.

"Nothing a little kid like you need to worry about," I responded, messing up her hair with my hand.

Just like my mother, none of them treated Bell any differently and they believed that the accusations were wrong.

This only served to support my opinion of Bell's role in the novel making no sense because if his family is this supportive on top of being one of, if not the most, powerful family in the country, then why wasn't Bell present in the later arcs?

If Bell was truly a villain that would sexually harass his classmate just because of bumped shoulders then the fact that he had to serve time in jail, wouldn't he commit even worse crimes once he returned to the academy?

If I was alone, I would've cursed the shitty god once again.

"You guys shouldn't have waited," I told them.

"Don't speak nonsense. We will always eat as a family if we can," said Father.

With a smile on my face, I ate dinner while using Bell's memories to insert myself into the conversations as seamlessly as possible.

Once all the plates were empty, a maid quickly cleaned up the table without having to be ordered.

After dinner, the Agnus family always spends a few hours watching a movie or playing some sort of board game.

'How does someone raised in this family suddenly act like a crook whose never been loved in their life before?' I asked with disappointment.

The answer was simple. The writer sucked at writing.

As someone who was originally from Earth, I was rather interested to see a movie that was made in this world.

After two and a half hours, I left and walked into my bedroom with a sense of confusion. If this world was created by the shitty god based on his novel, why was the movie so good?

The writing, pace, characters, everything, all of it was a million times better than what the shitty god wrote in his novel.

"Your own creation is better than you at writing a story," I spoke to the ceiling, shaking my head.

"Fuck you," he responded.

Laughing at his annoyed response, I walked into my personal bathroom to brush my teeth before heading to bed.

I should've been uncomfortable in this world but perhaps because of Bell's memories and the fact that I've read the novel before, I slept better than I ever had before.