Chapter 1: Weakness
In a small town in Florida lived a black-haired, sickly-looking, blue-eyed man with a hint of perversion—basically just an average Joe with no redeeming qualities apart from his slightly appealing height of 6'1". He was engaged in who-knows-what, doing only God knows what with his p*****.
The protagonist of this story, Ain Lalder, had finally managed to pull a girl at the age of 38 after countless failed attempts.
He had achieved what he always wanted, in his words: "a woman to ***." As the last among his peers to wed, Ain had exhausted the excuse of not being ready yet, claiming that everything was under control. Despite his claims, he still couldn't sustain a conversation beyond three sentences with any woman, no matter how hard he tried or how desperate he became.
Even to the extent of writing pre-prepared notes on his "targets"—their hobbies, likes, dislikes, icks, and red flags—Ain had spared no effort in improving his love life. Yet all his attempts ended in failure due to his peculiar tendencies, most notably a sickening smile that appeared whenever he was nervous.
To make matters worse, he was well past his prime, his face riddled with wrinkles. Fearing eternal loneliness, Ain resorted to trying a dating app. After months of surfing, he almost gave up, believing no one would accept him. Because during that period every time someone agreed to meet with him, they would leave mid-date because of his unsettling smile and inability to maintain a conversation.
However, there was one woman who didn't abandon him during his date—Lana. Apparently, she was in a hurry to marry and proposed to him, claiming that his perverted smile was "hot." Normally, such a woman would be instantly rejected as a red flag. But Ain, being beyond normal in his desperation, chose to believe it was merely one of her preferences.
A cornered man in desperation, Ain immediately agreed without much thought or asking too many questions, fearing she might reconsider if she found him nosy. As of result he scheduled their wedding for the following week.
In his mind, anyone who saw his sickening, perverted smile and still wanted him was undoubtedly his soulmate. And since Lana was a solid 8 out of 10 in his eyes, he had no qualms about the marriage.
His sickening smile, combined with his sickly eyes, had made him become a monster, giving off a perverted look that repelled any sane woman. Which had destroyed his self-esteem and drained him of any sense of self-worth.
But it wasn't always this way. It all began in middle school when his only female friend, Irene, asked him out—only for him to discover it was a cruel joke orchestrated by his "friends," who had figured out he liked her. His expression after realizing that fixed that perverted smile to his face .To this day, Ain still didn't know why or what he had done to deserve such treatment. Perhaps his only fault was his overly nice attitude. But apparently, that was enough for his "friend" Jack Stanford to bully him relentlessly, doing the worst things while calling it "just playing around" and playing the victim whenever confronted.
On second thought, the problem wasn't with his friends as a whole—it was specifically with Jack Stanford. Jack, standing at 6'2" at the age of fourteen (taller than Ain's maximum adult height), had the charisma of a protagonist from a cheap, degenerate novel. He could talk his way around anything and manipulate people into doing whatever he wanted. Jack Stanford was, without a doubt, the epitome of a fake friend.
Jack was not just any ordinary bully. He had influence, being the grandson of the school principal. With such support, Jack was free to torment Ain without consequence. It started with small pranks under the guise of "playing around," but quickly escalated to outright bullying. Jack even turned Ain's other friends into his lackeys, convincing them to join in the torment. These former friends began to beat Ain indiscriminately, crowning him the school's bread shuttle—a term for someone forced to run errands for others. Jack and his gang never ran out of ways to make Ain's life miserable.
Ain, standing at a mere 5'3" in middle school and despising violence, couldn't fight back or stand up for himself. Over time, he began to accept his role as Jack's plaything.
In Ain's eyes, he was just an average student destined to live as a background character in the story of life. If his life were a novel, he would be a throwaway side character, while Jack would be the villain—only, in this story, there was no hero to stop him. Hence causing Jack to run wild, tormenting Ain and anyone who dared help him.
Jack believed that the weak didn't deserve to speak on equal footing with the strong. To him, (the strong) in his view the weak existed solely to obey the strong. Ain, being an orphan on a book-writing scholarship, had no support system. With no parental backing or connections, he became the most bullied student in the school.
Even when Ain reported the bullying to the police, the principal, Jack's grandfather, intervened. The principal claimed that Ain was a masochist and that all his wounds were self-inflicted. From that day onward, the teachers and even lower-grade students joined in the bullying. Ain became the target of excess discrimination and abuse, labeled weak and unworthy.
Life for Ain became a living hell until he managed to apply for and secure a school transfer. To his relief, his request was approved. He left Florida and moved to Japan, where he finished his education in literature and started a new life.
T/N Now that you have probably understood how Ains life been until now I would be skipping to the day before his wedding
The Day Before the Wedding
Ain had been "preparing" himself for marriage in his own way, indulging in personal activities to calm his nerves. Since Lana had proposed to him, he had taken up working out, believing he needed to improve his stamina to prevent her from cheating on him due to dissatisfaction. That day, after his second "round of preparation," he was reviewing the events scheduled for his wedding when he received an unexpected phone call.
A deep, familiar voice spoke on the other end, sending chills down his spine. The caller informed him that his fiancée, Lana, had been kidnapped. If Ain didn't deliver a ransom of $5,000 in cash, he would lose both his fiancée and his life.
At first, Ain dismissed it as a prank call. After all, pranksters on TikTok loved these kinds of gags. But when the caller uttered the name Killjoy, Ain froze. That name was a relic of his traumatic middle school days. It was the nickname Jack and his gang had given him after a particularly cruel incident where they had stripped him naked in front of a female police officer. When he refused their orders, they beat him senseless, all while recording the ordeal.
The name alone was enough to trigger a wave of fear and rage in Ain. Without a second thought, he grabbed the money and drove to the location provided by the kidnappers.
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The Forest
The location was eerily desolate—a dense forest with no signs of civilization. In the middle of the woods stood a small hut, barely noticeable. After moments of hesitation, Ain gathered his courage and entered the hut.
Inside, he was met with a horrifying sight: Jack Stanford, sitting naked on a chair, while Lana knelt before him.
Jack greeted Ain with a twisted smile as he stood up, fastening his belt. "You thought you could escape, didn't you, my dear Killjoy?" Jack said mockingly. "But as I've always told you, I don't stop playing with a toy until it breaks."
Rage overtook Ain. Without thinking, he lunged at Jack, but before he could reach him, Lana stabbed Ain in the neck with a knife
Betrayal
Ain collapsed to the ground, the sharp sting of the knife's blade in his neck sending waves of cold terror through his body. Blood poured from the wound, pooling on the floor beneath him. His vision began to blur, and his breath came in shallow gasps, but through it all, one thought consumed him: How could she?
Lana, the woman who had professed her love for him, the woman who had proposed to him with such apparent sincerity—she had betrayed him. Her knife, now stained with his blood, glistened coldly in the dim light as she stood above him, expression unreadable.
He could hardly comprehend it. This wasn't how it was supposed to be.
He had been an idiot, hadn't he? A fool to believe in her when she had been playing him all along. The pain in his neck was unbearable, but the pain in his chest was far worse—the crushing realization that the one person he had trusted had taken part in the betrayal. She wasn't just an innocent bystander; she had actively chosen to hurt him, to betray him in the most savage way possible.
Ain's gaze shifted to Jack, who stood nearby, that same insufferable smile etched across his face. The man who had tormented him for years, the man who had taken away every ounce of self-worth he ever had, was now the one who was victorious. And Lana, the woman who was supposed to be his partner, was complicit in it.
Jack's voice broke through Ain's spiraling thoughts. "You really thought you could escape, didn't you?" he taunted, a laugh escaping his lips. "I told you, Ain, you were always just a plaything, a little toy for me to break. And now you're finally broken."
Ain's heart pounded in his chest, each beat feeling like the last. He had been the victim of Jack's cruelty for so long, and now, he was the victim of Lana's treachery. His body grew colder with each passing second, but the rage that burned inside him refused to die. Not like this, he thought, Not without making him pay.
With whatever strength he had left, Ain attempted to rise, to fight, to show Jack that he wasn't going to die like this. He lunged, desperation fueling his movements, but the world was spinning around him. He couldn't see straight. His limbs were heavy, his muscles weak from the blood loss.
Lana stepped back, the knife still clutched in her trembling hands. It was too late now. Ain could feel the last of his strength fading, but he wouldn't let Jack walk away scot-free.
"Pathetic," Jack spat, his voice dripping with contempt. He stood with an almost casual indifference, watching Ain struggle. "You're nothing. You were always nothing."
Ain's vision was fading, his body growing colder by the second, but that didn't stop him from trying. With a final, futile attempt, he lunged again trying to perish any chance of jack having children in this life. This time, Jack didn't even move. He just watched as Ain's body crumpled to the floor, too weak to even reach him.
Jack stepped forward, and with a single, effortless motion, he kicked Ain in the chest. The impact was enough to knock the air from his lungs, causing a sickening crunch to echo in the room. Ain gasped, the pain nearly making blackout.
"Let this be the last time you think you can stand up to me," Jack muttered, his voice cold and filled with satisfaction. "You're nothing but a tool to be discarded when I'm done."
Ain's breath became more shallow, his body betraying him, and with the last of his strength, he tried to force out the words that would make Jack know the pain he had lived with. But his voice failed him, his body unable to respond to his desperate will.
In that moment, Ain realized something he had long refused to acknowledge: he could never defeat Jack. The problem wasn't that Ain didn't try—it was that he couldn't.
The darkness began to close in, pulling him deeper, and for the first time, Ain stopped fighting. He could no longer feel the floor beneath him, the warmth of his blood, or the anger that had fueled him. The pain faded as he fell into the abyss, knowing that Jack had won—not just in the fight, but in destroying everything Ain had ever hoped for.