"Is this my reward? The reward for being a good man all my life?" The question echoes in my mind as I breathe gradually despite the sharp pain stabbing through my stomach.
I think as I'm lying on the ground, blood pooling around from the gaping wound in my abdon. My consciousness is slipping, and my body refuses to obey .
It all started years ago. First, the HR departnt called to tell I was fired FIRED! And the reason? They claid I was sexist.
Sexist, my ass! All I did was offer to help. What kind of idiot spends months on a task like renaming project files?
When I told her I could write a simple script in half an hour to rena the entire project's files according to the new standard, she ran straight to HR and called sexist!
Just because I think she wasn't doing her job well? Just because I think it's better to make the work go faster so that others can do their job better? What kind of f*ckery is this!?
But that wasn't even the worst part. Oh no, the real shit ca afterward. That day... I returned ho early, hoping that seeing my wife and daughter's faces would have helped after such a shitty day. But what did I find instead?
I found my wife, the woman I loved, cheating on . And my daughter... the daughter I've loved and cherished with all my heart... turns out not to be mine. She's the child of my wife's ex-boyfriend.
I'll never forget it. My wife was my first love in high school. Back then, when I found out she was in a relationship with her ex, I stepped aside like a man, wishing her the best. After all, that man was rich, and I thought he'd take good care of her and be able to provide her what I couldn't.
Years later, when that man tossed her out like garbage, she ca crawling back to . And I forgave her. I forgave her because I still loved her. In the early days of our marriage, things were good. She was kind, supportive, and loving.
We even had a daughter... or so I thought. I never questioned why my daughter didn't resemble . I assud she must have inherited traits from her grandparents, whom I'd never t. Oh... what a fool I was.
Today, I heard the truth with my own ears. She said it! She said it while moaning! Right in front of the bastard who tossed her aside like garbage years ago. While they were f*cking on my bed, she called a fool, A simp! and maybe she's right. Maybe I was a fool. It's fine. If I was a simp, all I ever wanted was her sincere love... for .
Maybe I was a fool for forgiving her and letting her back into my life after she ran off with that rich, second-generation bastard. I gave her a second chance, and this... this is how she repaid ?
Betrayal...
I ran out of the house, trying to sort through my sh*t. I decided to sleep at a hotel that night. I couldn't face that lying b*tch again, not then.
And that's what led to the current situation.
I saw a girl being robbed, and I tried to help her... What was my reward?
A knife in the gut. The girl didn't even thank . She just grabbed her bag from my hands and left. She didn't even call an ambulance.
Heh! Won... I bet that girl has gone ho and posted on Twitter, calling sexist for helping her. She's probably one of those feminist types: "I can do everything a man can do!" Heh... If I could rewind ti, I'd just let her be...
And to think, I once dismissed those rumors on the internet about n getting fired or sued for helping won with their jobs or opening doors for them. Turns out... those stories might have had so truth. It's too late for regrets now...
In all my life... nothing good ever ca my way. I tried to be a good man, a good father, and a good husband. I did my best to beco soone who could proudly call himself upright and righteous.
I helped people... so many people... in my youth and during my free ti as a disaster relief volunteer.
I wasn't a hero or soone with glorious achievents, but I gave it my all.
I wanted to be a man my daughter could proudly call a hero. That... that's all I ever wanted.
Heh... what a fool. Even my daughter isn't my own... such a pathetic fool.
If heaven or hell is real, I'd like to stand before whoever's in charge and demand answers. I'd ask why my life turned to shit.
Maybe I wasn't good enough for this world... or maybe this world just takes advantage of good n. Either way, to hell with being a good man! To hell with being a hero!
If I ever get another chance, I'll live for myself. For my own satisfaction. No more sacrifices for anyone else.
Doing good... never did any favors... anyway...
— ??? —
As darkness enveloped my consciousness, a sudden sense of weightlessness overtook . In the vast emptiness, glowing text appeared before my eyes.
"Welco... Maximilian Sterling Graham."
"Survive... and you'll gain power beyond your imagination."
"Die... and you'll beco nothing."
"Survive."
What? What the f*ck is this? What kind of insane bullshitting hell is this?
I barely had ti to think before the weightlessness disappeared. My surroundings shifted, and the endless void was replaced by a desolate, barren space. My feet stood on cracked, broken ground, like cracked glass.
Out of nowhere, a sharp pain seared through my neck. Sothing had sliced into . My mind scrambled to make sense of what just happened, but the only thing I managed to register was the flash of a blade before my strength abandoned . I crumpled to the ground.
"What... what kind of f*cking sh*t is this?" I muttered, blood gushing from my throat as a heavy boot pressed down on my head.
"This should be the last one," a voice sneered above . "I must say, none of these maggots put up much of a fight. Not even the ones with military backgrounds."
That voice. It had to belong to the bastard stepping on my head. The one who killed ! Rage burned through my fading consciousness. F*ck! I wanted to... I wanted to kill him!
"Huh? You're not dead yet?" A voice spoke before a sharp, searing pain tore through my head like soone driving a hot iron into my brain. "Just die already."
The excruciating pain was the last thing I registered before my consciousness slipped away. But... monts later, I found myself staring once again at the cracked, desolate ground. This ti, though... I saw the bastard who tried to kill .
A rugged man with a beard. His weathered face bore the scars and wrinkles of ti. This bastard was definitely so killer... or maybe a rcenary.
Why is he here? Where is this place? Why am I here? Questions about my reality raced through my mind. This place... it was strange. The sky was dark, void of a moon or stars, yet there was light.
I could clearly see him, his face, his knife.... military knife. But everything was a blur beyond the ten ters around like the world just stopped existing beyond that point.
"So, you're one of those types with strong willpower, huh?" the rugged man muttered. Before I could react, he lunged, and the blade in his hand sliced clean through my neck.
The sharp pain and the suffocating struggle to breathe overwheld . I... I can't breathe... Am I... am I dying again!?
No! No! NOOOO!!! I won't die! I won't! Not until I kill that bastard!!
Before I knew it, my body moved on instinct. My arms lunged forward, wrapping around the rugged man in a desperate, bear-like grip.
"What the hell are you doing!? I don't swing that way!" the man sneered, plunging his knife into my side. The sharp pain struck again, even worse this ti—the blade must've pierced my lung. Breathing beca almost impossible; my vision swam, but I refused to let go.
I opened my mouth wide and, before I realized what I was doing, sank my teeth into his throat. Hard. As hard as I could. I felt his blood flood my mouth and drip down my throat—his blood, the blood of this bastard who tried to kill .
"Arrghh!!" The rugged man stiffened, struggling to push away. He was stronger than , no doubt about it. But sohow, my arms locked onto him like iron clamps, refusing to let go. It was like this body wasn't mine. It was as if it didn't belong to the office drone I used to be. Yet, I managed to hold him down, barely overpowering him.
"Let ... go!" he snarled, stabbing again and again. I could feel my body growing weaker, my strength fading. But my jaws wouldn't release him. I bit down harder, trying to tear out his throat, even as a sharp, unbearable pain pierced through my brain, like a hot knife splitting it in two. My body started to fail , my control slipping...
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