I felt like I had a very long dream...
In that dream, I saw an unfamiliar boy energetically running around in a colorful playground. His fluffy black hair fluttered softly in the wind, while his ruby red eyes sparkled with a mischievous light as he chased after another kid with a bright smile on his face.
...He was playing a game of tag with his friends, it seemed.
It was a little boy who could still show an innocent smile on his face, untainted by the vile darkness of the world around him — drawing a sharp contrast against the future version of him.
Living with his father and mother in a small countryside town without any difficulties, they were a happy family of four, including a white, furry dog.
He was born and brought up in a plain and common household, lacking any sort of specialness to set him apart from others. But even without having anything special, they were still happy, and very much content to live their lives in this manner.
...It was really a shame that this happiness soon had to break apart like a fragile piece of glass.
One night, this little boy heard his parents loudly arguing with each other. For hours, complicated words and phrases that were too difficult for him to understand reverberated throughout their house.
He didn't know exactly what happened, but from the next morning onwards.... his happy family of four no longer existed.
From that day, his birth parents seemed to resent each other, spending most of their day in separation. Even during the small amount of time they had to come face to face, they predictably spent almost all of it quarreling again.
...It didn't take very long for them to become utterly tired of each other.
The little, innocent boy who they believed to be the proof of their sincere love only served to remind them of their past mistakes now. His existence, rather than becoming the glue that bound his parents together, instead became a bloody thorn that stopped them from easily getting rid of their torn and toxic relationship.
...But even that hesitation of theirs didn't last for too long.
– "...and the court is hereby adjourned!"
A middle schooler boy looked on with a blank face as his parents officially broke up with each other, with the court magnanimously ruling for him to be left in the care of his 'loving' mother.
...A loving mother who strangely seemed more concerned about the amount of child-support funding she could secure, rather than his own well-being.
Months later, I saw the boy crying himself to sleep at night, tired of living with an abusive mother who routinely slapped and beat him for all kinds of minor mistakes.
Dangerous-looking men he had never met in his life soon began to regularly visit their home, staying with his mother till late at night or taking her out on dinner somewhere.
But even then, sometimes giving him a candy or two with a smile, sometimes directly pushing him out of the house with an angry scowl, those dangerous-looking men slowly became the most impactful people in his life.
...Perhaps, even more than his own birth parents.
Not long after, his mother became too busy to look after him. The house mostly remained empty, with only him waiting in there for his drunk and disheveled mother to come back till it was late in the night.
Life still went on for this unfortunate boy, however. The shrimp-like middle schooler boy soon turned into a muscular and athletic high schooler, taking his first steps on the road to adulthood.
At least now, he wasn't called that gloomy kid in the background anymore. Despite the difficulties he faced, his inconsequential role in the societal hierarchy structure had now permanently changed.
And it certainly felt good to see the recognition everyone had in their eyes. As a handsome and well-built guy, people now approached him on their own, rather than avoiding him like the plague.
'All these mask-wearing hypocrites...'
His intelligence was also not something it was a few years ago.
Unlike back then, when he freely expressed whatever he felt on his face, now he only showed what people around him wanted to see.
'...They just can't stop buzzing around, can they?'
He had learned how to fake his expression, to fake that dazzling smile those shallow girls loved so much, and to fake his shitty upbringing and act like a f*cking normie in every sense of the word!
...In short, he had grown up to become a fine member of this rotten and hypocritical society.
And honestly, people around him absolutely loved it!
Girls who wouldn't give any of the straight-laced good guys of their class a second glance, stared at him with hearts visible in their eyes. Teachers who loved proactive students more than the silent ones showered him with their unending praise.
As for his parents....well, he didn't care about them anyway, so what was the point?
No one knew about the vile sea of darkness dwelling within him. And those who knew, definitely wouldn't dare to talk about it.
...Yeah, those being the victims of his regular bullying.
After all, putting on a pleasant mask all the time was a pretty stressful job for him. He needed a nice way to unwind after handling that much stress as a high schooler.
Thus, starting from the middle of his first year in high school, he started to viciously bully some of his fellow students, carefully picking only the most suitable and helpless ones.
His victims were mostly the silent type of guys in his class. But sometimes, depending on his mood, he even generously threw in one or two nerdy-looking girls in the mix too.
He was a benevolent person, after all.
Giving those poor virgins a chance to interact with real girls, no matter how dull and nerdy, was a superb privilege in his eyes – a privilege that only his victims could enjoy!
Plus, it felt funny to him, seeing how those nerdy girls looked up to his handsome face while blushing madly, thinking that they were the main character of a romance novel or something, for a smart and good-looking guy like him to ignore all the hot girls and chase after them....
'Heh. Must be nice, being able to live their lives in such delusions...'
He sneered at this blatant display of their naivety. But well, as long as they stayed in line, wasn't that even better for him?
Tormenting the weak, playing with the honest feelings of others, before hurting and discarding them at his whims — he was a person guilty of them all.
...Yeah, he was undoubtedly an evil person. But, so what?
He was still the same guy living his life in the limelight, and those whom he tormented were forever going to remain in his shadows, without any chance to ever stand up to him.
After all, God had gifted him with not just the physique of a warrior, but also with the brain of an academic genius. How could they even hope to compete with him?
Of course, it was unfair to the extreme, but such was life!
Wasn't his happy childhood destroyed by his parents' worthless quarrels? Didn't his life turn into a living hell when he was living with his abusive mother?
So, did he complain?
No. He just toughened it up, and was currently in the process of returning a hundredfold of the torment he experienced back to the world.
Since he couldn't have a nice life, why would others be allowed to have it? Wasn't it better to just burn it all down to the ground?!
'It's the survival of the fittest. Those who do not adapt will die...'
But he was confident, because he was someone who could adapt.
In the end, no matter what happened, he wasn't going to be the one rooted out by natural selection.
...And he also wouldn't be the one to die.
Right, he wasn't the one who was supposed to die...
...So why—!
– "...Damien Collins, you are hereby expelled from our school!"
Under the slowly darkening sky covered in gloomy clouds, a black-haired high schooler stood in front of his school gate with a blank expression, the red-marked letter of expulsion crumpled into a ball in his hand.
Someone had evidently reported the severe cases of his bullying to the school board authorities, even presenting them with some solid evidence of all his wrongdoings in recording format.
Now, there was nothing his good reputation or the math teacher's favor could do to salvage his sinking situation anymore.
The evidence provided was just too severe for it.
With this, his high school days were officially over...
'...Survival of the fittest. Those who do not adapt...will die, huh.'
That day, with his eyes filled to the brim with dark gloom, a silent Damien returned to his home, utterly drenched to his toe in a heavy downpour.
He didn't talk with any of his supposed 'friends' who incessantly tried to contact him, wanting to ridicule him in the guise of consolation. Nor did he engage with the girls who suddenly became compassionate saints after that event, vocally criticizing his actions and expressing their desire to 'fix' him into a better person.
Instead, all of his time was dedicated to one single purpose.
'...destroy that bastard. Whoever it is that reported me, I'll destroy that bastard's entire life!'
First of all, he didn't have enough money to move away from town and attend another school someplace else. And even if he somehow did, he didn't want to leave the guy who dared to muster his courage to report him unscathed.
Was he really going to let natural selection root himself out? Could he really sit back and let that bastard who ruined everything become the final winner?
God had gifted him with the physique of a warrior and the brains of a genius, right? Then, wasn't this the perfect time to make full use of it?!
But, since his face was a bit too well-known at this point, he first had to change how he looked. It was certainly something difficult to achieve, but Damien knew of a nice shortcut.
For days, he repeatedly bleached his raven black hair, slowly turning it into a bleak white color. Both of his ears eventually gained a bunch of freshly drilled holes, sporting a few cheap piercings.
Finally, he got himself a decent amount of tan on his skin, completing his transformation into the ideal form to fulfill his purpose.
'Nice. Now, no one will probably recognize me at first glance. This much will do for now....'
His appearance was now similar to all those dangerous men he had seen his mother hanging out with. The impression they had made on his premature mind was still lingering to this day.
Of course, he hadn't forgotten the reason why he needed this transformation.
...Not even for a single moment.
He was still looking into the identity of the anonymous guy who recorded his 'stress-relief' sessions and reported it, and had made considerable progress in it too.
Most of the effort was spent on getting his hold on the first few bits of clue. But after that, he was pretty easily able to find the one responsible for his expulsion.
"...Haha, I finally found you!"
Currently, he stood outside a cafe, suspiciously covering his face with a white hat as he silently monitored a pair of boy and girl, both of them close to his age.
"There you are, you little piece of shit—!"
Among these two, the glasses-wearing boy was the one who sneakily recorded his bullying session and reported him to the school authorities!
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[A/N: This is a disclaimer that I don't support or endorse bullying or harming others in any way, shape, or form – if it wasn't already clear enough from my writing. This character is evil and I'm trying to portray him as one. There will be no asspull justifications for his evil nature later in the story other than what's already been mentioned, so don't expect the original Damien Collins to get a redemption arc or anything. Because he won't get one.]