The Worst Villain is Actually a Cute Girl-Chapter 61

Chapter 61: Unwashed Sins

People were dying.

Those wearing skull masks were mercilessly slaughtering the powerless.

It must have been part of someone’s memory among the cultists.

It wasn’t a pleasant sight.

They were disguising death as salvation while cruelly stealing the lives of others.

They ignored the desperate cries of people begging for their lives, remaining silent.

Their faces were hidden behind masks, so it was impossible to know what expression they wore, but it was clear that not a hint of guilt existed within them.

That was what made the Grim Reaper Cult so terrifying.

They justified their actions, committing horrific deeds without hesitation.

They were no different from parasites eating away at the world.

They claimed to save the world, but in reality, they hastened its destruction more than anyone else.

People felt fear and doubt in the face of such contradictions.

Unable to comprehend that contradiction, they treated them as a mad group.

I didn’t understand them either. No—perhaps I understood a little.

Their logic might have been painfully simple.

‘Everyone has probably wished, even as a joke, for the world to end at least once. Especially in a world like this, maybe hundreds of times.’

Normally, those childish thoughts would end as mere delusions, but the Grim Reaper Cult sought to turn those delusions into reality.

When life becomes harsh, the heart inevitably grows desolate.

Pressed down by sorrow and suffering, there comes a moment when loving the world becomes impossible, and you just want to give up on everything.

You either embrace loneliness, sadness, pain, and hatred, sinking alone into darkness—or you pour it all outward, dragging everything into ruin with you.

The Grim Reaper Cult chose the latter.

Or perhaps they were truly lost in the delusion of saving the world, swept away by mob mentality, or maybe, without any grand reason, they just wanted to watch the world burn.

Whatever it was, I couldn’t entirely mock their actions, as I had once been consumed by the same kind of delusions.

But that was that—there was no way I could ever forgive the actions of the Grim Reaper Cult.

No justification could ever excuse what they had done.

No one should have the right to steal someone else’s tomorrow.

Scratch, scratch.

The more I took in the scene before me, the more disgusted I felt.

Even more so because I wasn’t any different from them—no, I realized I was even more despicable than they were. The self-loathing was so overwhelming it made me nauseous.

I seemed to feel this way more often after coming to the orphanage.

Before, I thought I could accept it calmly. But the longer I stayed at the orphanage, the more the weakness I had kept buried inside began to seep out, constantly gnawing at my nerves.

I thought I was okay. I thought I had gotten used to it. But in truth, nothing had changed at all.

It felt like the emotions I had killed within myself had only worsened in response to the happy days I had experienced.

Before I realized it, I had stopped scratching my neck. I must have used more force than I thought—my nails were stained with blood.

I considered healing the wound on my neck, but decided to leave it as it was.

For some reason, leaving it like this brought a small sense of comfort to a corner of my heart.

I let out a bitter, self-mocking smile at the foolish self-consolation born of pure hypocrisy, and looked up at the sky.

The sky was filled with thick, dark clouds heavy enough to drag down anyone’s mood.

It suited me perfectly.

‘Really... how pathetic....’

I took a deep breath and set off, passing through the fleeing people and the pursuing cultists.

I turned the doorknob and stepped inside.

‘This place...?’

A faint smile crept onto my lips at the familiar sight.

I had thought I might end up here, moving from one dream to another.

As I expected, I had arrived at a place from my old memories.

A dark, narrow alley untouched by the dazzling neon lights shining brightly in the distance.

It was oppressively dark, and a chilling cold seeped from the filthy ground, making the air unnervingly cold.

I didn’t care. I let myself drown in nostalgia and walked slowly.

Let’s see.

When was this again?

Ah, yes.

It was not long after I escaped from that cage.

At that time, all I wanted was to burn everything to the ground.

A cursed reincarnation. A damned world.

Just how great a sin had I committed in my previous life to deserve falling into such a hell? Why did I have to endure all this injustice? The pain was searing.

I couldn’t see a future worth living for.

I can’t see a happy future.

Only relentless malice boiled over, and people lived within it as if nothing was wrong.

Everything felt cursed.

Living in a world like this felt meaningless and futile.

So I began to burn everything in my path.

I couldn’t hold back anymore.

Even if my body turned to ashes and dust, I wanted to reduce everything to a pile of cinders.

I wanted to leave an unhealable scar on this world.

I knew.

I knew it was wrong.

No matter how much suffering I had endured, doing something evil could never be justified.

But once those emotions and thoughts erupted, I couldn’t stop them.

That day, too, I was busy trying to burn down an entire city.

Then suddenly, my stomach let out a loud growl.

Before burning the city, I decided to fill my stomach first and entered the nearest house.

Yes. This house.

I turned the doorknob of an old, worn-down house. Unlike that time, it wasn’t locked, so the door opened.

‘Nothing’s changed at all....’

The interior was filthy.

A musty stench stung my nose, and only worn-out furniture caught my eye.

At that moment, I thought I had stumbled into an abandoned house and was about to leave after a quick glance when I spotted a cupcake on the table.

The cupcake wasn’t moldy, but it was hard.

It looked utterly unappetizing.

But back then, I didn’t care about taste—I just wanted to fill my stomach, so I reached for the cupcake.

I shoved it into my mouth and chewed roughly.

‘As expected, it tastes awful.’

The moment I swallowed what was in my mouth, I heard a rusty creak, and someone was coming down from the second floor.

I closed my eyes.

After calming my trembling eyes, I opened them again and turned my head.

“Who are you?”

‘....’

It was an old man dressed in shabby clothes.

That encounter changed me.

While Lily was exploring dreams, someone else was wandering through dreams in another place.

A woman with red hair wearing a long black coat.

It was Red.

Caught in the grip of the prophecy’s power, Red also woke up in a strange place.

Red didn’t panic.

With a cool head, she assessed the situation, checked on the safety of Rene and the orphanage children, and set out to find the Prophet responsible for all of this.

Like Lily, Red also saw the memories of various people.

Strangers.

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The children from the orphanage.

Rene.

Even her own memories.

How long had she been walking like that?

While walking through a new place, she suddenly heard harsh voices echoing from behind her.

“There she is!”

“Chase her!”

“Don’t let her get away!”

A child passed straight through Red’s body. Others followed close behind, running through her as well.

Red’s eyes widened as she saw the child’s back.

It was Lily.

Lily quickly turned into the corner at the end of the passage.

Red hurried after her.

The chase between Lily and the strangers ended quickly.

"It’s blocked."

"This is the end, kid."

Lily was cornered against a wall.

Three sinister-looking men surrounded her.

Lily clutched the bread tightly to her chest and glared at the three men.

Even as Lily growled with a fierce expression, the men didn’t seem scared at all. Instead, they smirked, as if finding her defiance amusing.

Red wanted to help the endangered Lily, but there was nothing she could do within a memory.

She could only watch.

As the men approached, Lily bit into the bread and grabbed a nearby trash can, throwing it at them.

The three men flinched in surprise for a moment.

Seizing the opportunity, Lily dashed forward, slipping past them and successfully escaping.

Red chased after Lily.

In an instant, the world collapsed and a new scene unfolded.

Unlike before, it was now night.

An alleyway.

"So cold...."

Red turned her head toward the sound of the voice.

Lily was shivering on the ground, covered with a worn-out cloth.

Loneliness and cold brought tears to the corners of Lily’s eyes.

The world flipped again.

Lily running away from dangerous-looking people.

Lily reluctantly fighting to protect herself.

Lily sharing her food with another child her age.

Lily betrayed and thrown into danger.

Lily’s various memories kept appearing and disappearing, over and over again.

Knowing Lily’s past this way left Red with a sense of discomfort and guilt.

Why were only Lily’s memories appearing?

With that question lingering in her mind, Red continued to watch the little girl’s memories with sorrowful eyes.

And then.

She entered a memory where Lily was singing inside a prison shaped like a giant cage.

’This song....’

Red had heard this song before. It was the same song as the recorded "Angel’s Song."

’So Lily really was the angel.’

It was a beautiful song that wrapped around the heart.

But the situation was anything but beautiful. The longer the song continued, the more Red’s expression twisted.

While Lily sang with a sorrowful face, struggling, the masked people were filled with joy and delight.

Seeing the ugly truth behind the "Angel’s Song" made Red furrow her brows in disgust.

When Red blinked once, the world had already changed.

Dark blue flames spread out from Lily, swallowing the masked people whole.

’This power...!’

Red unknowingly clenched her hands tightly.

A familiar magic sent a chill down her spine for some unknown reason. Her arms trembled.

Her body was reacting instinctively, remembering the fight from that time.

With a complicated gaze, Red watched Lily, who was crying. A faint smile was on Lily’s face, yet she looked so pitiful and sorrowful.

The world flipped again.

This time, the place that appeared was different.

It was bright enough to blow away the gloomy, dark atmosphere from earlier.

A sunny, green meadow bathed in warm sunlight.

Dolls resembling the children from the orphanage were laughing cheerfully as they ran and played.

Watching the dolls play warmed the heart, but a content smile refused to form. Even if she smiled for a moment, it quickly froze again.

The memory she had just seen lingered in her mind, making it hard to focus.

Yet, she hadn’t closed off her consciousness, and feeling a gaze on her back, Red turned her head.

One doll was peeking out from behind a tree, secretly watching her.

That doll resembled Lily very much.

Red slowly approached the Lily-like doll.

The Lily doll looked directly at Red. Unlike the other dolls, the Lily doll recognized Red.

Red gently asked the Lily doll,

"Why are you just watching from here?"

"I don’t deserve to be there."

The Lily doll slightly turned her head away.

Beyond the Lily doll, countless dolls were sprawled out.

All of them were torn, with stuffing spilling out, broken and mangled beyond repair.

Red had a feeling she knew who had done this.

"Then why are you here?"

"......."

The Lily doll looked up at Red.

Even though her eyes were just buttons, Red could easily read the emotions within them.

Guilt. A sense of sin.

The Lily doll spoke weakly.

"Whether good or bad, it doesn’t matter. I destroyed so many dolls with my own hands. After destroying them like that, do I even deserve happiness? Can I live peacefully? After causing so much pain to those dolls, do I have the right to forget it all and find rest?"

The Lily doll lowered her head deeply.

Her shoulders drooped helplessly.

The childlike voice was heavy and full of sorrow, pushing away the bright atmosphere.

"No, I can’t. After doing something like that, happiness is impossible. But deep down, there’s still a part of me that wants to be happy. That’s why I can’t leave this place and just keep watching from afar."

The Lily doll sat down on the ground, covering her face with her tiny hands.

"Really, I’m so pathetic. And I hate myself for it—so much it drives me mad."

Red didn’t know how to comfort the Lily doll.

It’s okay. Don’t worry. It couldn’t be helped. You deserve happiness.

She knew well that words like these wouldn’t ease the Lily doll’s pain even a little.

Red bent down on her knees and hugged the Lily doll tightly.

She gave her a warm embrace, hoping to ease her pain, even just a little.