Squishing a yellow smiley ball in my hand, I began thinking.
I am tired of reading boring novels and watching tasteless new anime. They all felt incredibly stale, as if they had ceased being the things that I once used to adore. As if I had read all the good works; watched all the good animes.
Maybe I have. But that shouldn't be the case. There were so many novels in the world, so many more anime I haven't watched. There must still be good ones out there, waiting for me to find them.
I sighed. It was in such times when I had nothing to read that I felt… horny. And when I felt horny, I didn't go to CornHub like my peers—I despised corn. Both the food and the media.
Instead, when I feel horny, I like to read smut.
How is that better than Corn, you ask?
For one, It doesn't involve watching another man shag a woman I find attractive. Disgusting. And yes, when I read novels, I imagine myself as the main character and I do not feel any shame in that. It is much better than Corn at least.
Through the fantasy smut I read, I go on this colorful adventure, enter a world I could only dream of, and become close with women that are most of the time more beautiful than the ones in real life. With a personality I like, with loyalty I could trust—yes, it was my own secret pleasure to read smut.
I preferred smut more than corn due to that, too.
And to add, I liked many controversial themes in my secret pleasure when I am reading. For example, I loved reading stories with themes like inter-family romantic relationships, beast girls, harem, and many other forbidden fruits. But nowadays, there is a big issue with the smut market.
I am starting to hate this small pastime.
Due to one single thing.
NTR novels.
My blood boils with rage at the thought of those novels. I hate them. I hate them with a passion. I hate them so much, just the thought of them ruins my day. Why do I hate them so much, you ask?
Do you even need a reason to hate those abominations?
Ew.
Just ew.
Sometimes, it is not even tagged and happens all of a sudden in my happy little fantasy adventures. I couldn't even avoid them if I wanted to, unlike how I avoid all the other abominations at first sight.
These unexpected "twists" ruin my mood for more than a day sometimes. Because some legitimately good books also get ruined due to that.
Why am I thinking of all that now?
I crunched the yellow ball between my fist, feeling sullen.
"This disgusting fetish," I muttered, suppressing my rage as I deleted another novel I had been reading. The novel had ruined my mood today.
It had that abominable fetish.
I could fairly tolerate the main character doing the NTR to his enemies, but when it is the opposite, when the MC is the one to get the green hat, I just hate it.
Before completely moving away from the novel that made me so sullen today, I left a scathing 1 star review and then only did I throw my phone to the couch.
I stood up with a stretch.
Ring~
Ring~
My phone suddenly rang and I turned to look. Judging by the ringtone, the call was from my Orphanage. Feeling strange that they'd call me at this time, and in this number at that, I picked up the phone a bit reluctantly.
It must not be Cecilia if the call is coming in this number.
Were they going to ask me for that loan's payment I took in their name? I was not yet capable of paying it back.
"Hello," I said.
"Is this Melvin speaking?" A rough, unfamiliar voice asked.
I frowned. Strange. I knew everyone in the Orphanage, and this was none of them. "Yes, it's me. Who is this?"
"Melvin, your skills with a computer are impressive," the voice said calmly. "I tried to track your current location down, but your data is hidden in this mist of deception. You've got some skills. But turns out, you left a method to contact you in your orphanage."
My heart skipped a beat.
Was it the police?
I had hidden my own data from all databases possible for the fun of it. Not many could track me down. Hacking was an interesting thing to do when bored, and I never used it in a way that would bring trouble. But had it still brought trouble?
Was this the police?
No, there is no reason to panic even if they are the police, I thought. I haven't done anything that bad yet. At most, I'll have to pay some fine.
Hiding my own location from people with potentially malicious intentions was all I did. Even though I had entered some government databases and removed my details from them in order to do that, most hackers worth their money did such a thing.
Although I had more plans for a later time, I had not gone through them yet, though they might not be a very law abiding thing to do. Like hacking a bank to become rich. I had not done those things yet!
Did they find my intentions out somehow?
My lips felt dry.
"Who is this?" I asked.
"You don't need to know who I am," the man on the other side said. "Just know that I am here to make a deal and not threaten you."
I felt my heartbeat with my hand. It was still wild. Nobody in the world knew I was a good—no, great—hacker who could do a lot of things if I just wished. I had kept that ability of mine a secret, not even using it against the authors of NTR novels for the funs.
And now, this man had found me out. If the man was talking in front of the orphanage mother and the other sisters now, they would have also learned about my secret identity. I felt vulnerable for the first time after a long time in my life.
Thankfully, it was through phone, so I could still calm myself.
"What kind of deal?" I asked. "Do you want me to help you hack someone?"
"Eh," the guy on the other side made a sound that felt like an exclamation of contempt to me. "I don't want any help in hacking and such, we have our own people for that sort of thing and they are no worse than you. I want something else from you."
That made me annoyed. Indeed, I was not among the greatest of all even when it came to the only skill I had, which was hacking. I was barely at the level of a subpar professional, and those people were everywhere.
"If it's not hacking, what do you want from me?" I was starting to feel something very wrong in the air.
"Listen carefully, Melvin Lancelot. I won't repeat myself, so do as I say. We currently have your entire orphanage at gunpoint, and we are cold blooded enough to kill them all. The Orphanage Grand Mother. Your beautiful Orphanage Mother, still so young. Her sisters who help run the orphanage, the kids living peacefully here—we will kill them all. In fact, the only thing keeping my men from ravaging these women are my orders at the moment."
I didn't clearly grasp the words.
"What kind of nasty joke is this?" I asked a bit ridiculously.
"You should understand if it is a joke or not with this. Please wait a moment…" I felt my stomach sink. "Wait!" I shouted, but it was too late.
"Miguel, make the woman scream."
What came next was a scream of immeasurable pain and the voice was something I was awfully familiar with. It was from the woman I loved—the woman who rejected me because she had seen me grow up. Just because she felt as if I were her younger brother.
"Cecilia," I said with a stiff face.
"You should understand my words are no joke now, Melvin."
"What do you want?!" I asked through gritted teeth.
"Hmm…" The voice hummed without replying, solidifying his authority now that he had it.
I moved from my couch, kicked aside the rolling chair near my desk and pulled out a somewhat dusty laptop from my drawer. This was my most powerful system but I rarely used it.
While clicking the keys in my silent keyboard, I said with a bit of desperation, "Tell me, what do you want in return for their safety?"
The man chuckled. He seemed happy.