I found myself standing in the center of a sea so calm, so unnaturally still, that it reflected the sky like a mirror.
Clouds above. Clouds below.
Blue overhead. Blue beneath.
I wasn't sure which way was up anymore, or if those rules even applied here.
『You have been inserted into your own dream』
"Ah, so that's what this is," I said, shifting my gaze from the system screen to the space around me.
It wasn't the void I first arrived in after falling asleep.
When I turned around, I saw a mountain of bodies.
Each one carefully stacked, balanced like they'd been sculpted into the shape of a hill.
The bodies of the people who begged for my downfall. The same ones I appeased, page after page, blindly, willingly.
How many were there now?
I must've lost count. Over 150,000... maybe 500,000?
I never thought there'd be that many.
It took so long. And I still doubt I finished them all.
Did I kill the bastard who continued the story?
I can't tell. I don't even know who he is or what he looks like.
Then again... why would the system put me, and the people I killed, in a place like this?
My dream?
Quite unbelievable.
I always imagined my dreams would look more like the life I was supposed to have.
Not this... this quiet, heavenly emptiness.
Suddenly, to my right, something appeared.
A journal.
Plain. Bound in soft, cotton-like fabric. Three characters printed across the cover:
「読裁者」
Reader. Judge. System.
"Why is this here too?" I muttered as I stepped toward it.
I had written my name on the inside. Not the first name, but the second.
Han and the title the system gave me.
I probably forgot about it, or maybe it was just too regretful and disappointing to remember.
Either way, I deserved to forget it.
My punishment for how willingly I failed again and again.
And yet here I am.
Inside my dream.
A mountain of bodies at my back and a journal that remembers more than I do.
I called it the Journal of Infinite Records.
I exhaled slowly.
For some reason, I began to remember when someone asked me why people do what they do,
Why they steal what was never theirs.
Why they kill, torture, and lie.
Why they promise their lover "forever," then end it when they seem to lose interest or get bored.
Why they destroy one another in the name of justice or revenge.
It all comes down to one thing.
Satisfaction.
Every act, whether soaked in kindness or cruelty, feeds a hunger.
To feel something.
Power, love, assurance, relief, peace, hatred, and sometimes salvation.
Or just a moment of silence.
But when satisfaction wasn't enough?
They turned to entertainment.
I didn't understand the point of that fully, until I met Jaren.
Not the goody two shoes protagonist. I don't write books with "good guys." Never have.
Who says villains can't be protagonists?
He was a good man, before they made him something to hate, right?
That bastard was supposed to rise above all, but instead, he turned his hatred on me.
The author.
He killed the protagonist in his era. The one everyone loved.
Thus the title: "The Last Villain Stands."
But what they failed to understand is I wrote one villain.
"The Last Villain Falls" was the same. There were more, but I never got the chance to write it.
Maybe he did, and I'm yet to find the other villains to fall before me.
Jaren remained the main anyway.
He had everything: a motive, tragedy, depth.
I gave him pain.
I also gave him tools, both living and non-living.
People who could've loved him.
Room to grow.
But he broke character and decided to hate me for his backstory and pain.
He was my best work. Flawed, yes. But powerful.
Too merciful.
Too soft on those who ruined him.
Then there's his brother.
Han.
My imperfect perfection.
His hatred ran thicker than blood.
If he truly hated me? I definitely wouldn't survive a second.
Because I took everything from him.
Unlike Jaren, he knew what family and love felt like before I took it away.
So I made him Jaren's replacement.
Han was never even meant to be the lead.
But I guess second place is the new first.
---
As my thoughts unraveled, the dream shifted.
The sea split in two, light and darkness.
I remained on the bright side, and across the border separating the light from the dark side, a familiar figure appeared.
The same hanfu, long hair, and features.
He looked exactly like me, but his eyes were missing.
No... gouged out was a better way to put it.
Black liquid streamed down his face, but he cared less.
Then he spoke, with an oddly calm voice that felt uncomfortable.
"Han... did you kill them all?"
He asked and I said nothing, but he kept going.
"Did you kill the one who stole your life?"
"You know we vowed to end them all. Why haven't you?"
He then stretched his hand past the border.
Black fluid dripped from his fingers into the sea.
The water below me rippled, then turned dark, like ink easily staining rubbing alcohol.
"Han, why haven't you killed them?"
"You let it trick you, didn't you? You didn't finish them all, right?"
"There are still 200,000 left, maybe more. We haven't even passed fifty thousand!"
"Han!"
He screamed, voice distorted, that it made me realize I was not in a dream, but a nightmare.
"You can't do it by yourself."
"Let me help you. You'll never get revenge unless I join you."
"Han, why haven't you embraced me yet, huh?!"
The surface under my feet went cold.
The water was now pitch black.
I quickly stepped away from the border, but he crossed it.
He reached out for me with both hands, and black liquid flowed more. He was crying.
"Han, don't run, please."
"Embrace me. You can't do this alone."
This must be a hallucination, I thought, backing away more, until everything turned white.
Another blank void.
His hands suddenly gripped my throat. My eyes widened, and the pressure he applied blocked my airways.
I couldn't breathe, talk more of speak.
"Zhrak!" he snarled.
"Have you forgotten what they did to us?!"
"They made you create something... only to watch it suffer."
"When you resisted, they made you feel bad and convinced you."
"You did nothing wrong. Authors have to satisfy their readers, right?"
"Zhrak!" He screamed again, louder this time. "We have to kill them all, every single one."
"Even the ones who still want us gone, even after your death."
"And then we'll kill ourselves. And the new author, so we can end this story of suffering, for we, the side characters."
"Remember they're the reason we lost Amy. And Jisoo."
"Ah…" I uttered, when he finally released his grip a bit, my memories finally became clear.
That's right.
I relived his life as Han too and witnessed everything.
So my real name… is Zhrak, huh?
Sigh, I wonder how it even began.