Even If Everyone Hates You - Chapter 0

A blizzard blew. The rough air, mixed with white crystals cut the forest sharply, Seyad managed to raise his head in it. The wind was overwhelming enough to crush his back and make him fall. The cold wind of winter that has been with him all his life was unfamiliar and cold today. Everywhere he touched, it froze and hurt as if his flesh was falling off.

Blood filled his mouth from his insides as he coughed. The tears that were filled with blood flowed down every time his chest moved up and down. A sour and fishy smell came from all over the place. Despite the white snow, his surrounding were all red. He barely lifted his frozen eyelids, and slowly captured the sight of what was lying in front of him.

There was blood splattered all over the bloody and drooping faces. The bodies piled up on the cold ground formed small mountains in different places. Countless people were dead in silence. There was no unscathed body. There was a huge wound that seemed to have been cut at once by a strong force carved into the body of the deceased. The expressions of the dead were all empty and surprised, as if they had no idea what had happened.

Seyad knew what caused the wound. He could recognize the faces of those lying down.

“I can see it over here! I found it!”

“Everyone, come here!”

He thought he could hear someone shouting in the distance, and he began to feel the presence more and more. The energy that had been running a long distance at once surrounded Seyad’s back after a few minutes. The shadows casted in an instant surrounded Seyad. The strong impact same as Seyad’s, pierced his skin. It was the guardians and knights of the kingdom who chased him all this time.

“I’ll get rid of the shadow as much as I can so that the devil can’t use his powers, so be careful, everyone.”

As the man’s voice was heard, a white light brighter than the sun spread through the air. However, even the white-colored light everywhere could not hide the misery in front of them.

“Zion, be careful not to get too close to the him.”

“I understand, Nova, Get ready to cut his neck off at any time. Stella will tie him up.”

Buried in the snow, the quiet steps drew closer and closer. Seyad knelt down, looked ahead, and remained motionless. He could feel the eyes of those who were keenly wary of him sitting still.

Eventually, the frozen ground trembled and vibrated, and dried root vines sprang up from the hard soil. Thick and hard tree roots began to hold Seyad tight, holding his ankles, thighs, or waist. It wasn’t until the whole body was so tightly tied that it was difficult to move that people slowly approached him. A shadow casted over Seyad’s face.

“He was called the devil of Solias, and he eventually followed his name.”

A voice filled with hatred rang over Seyad’s head. Seyad neither raised his head nor responded. He just stared at the bodies he’s been looking at since earlier. The man, who turned his eyes to the place where his eyes were located, clenched his teeth as the scene was miserable. Then, he pulled out the sword that he had kept.

“Yes, they are all the innocent knights you killed! I can’t even count the number!”

With a scream like a cry, the man swung his sword as if to cut Seyad’s throat at any moment, but the woman standing beside him stopped him before the blade touched his neck.

“Zion, stop! The execution of Titer is beyond our jurisdiction.”

“This terrible devil ought to die as soon as possible!”

The word ‘Devil’ rang in Seyad’s ears. The sound of eardrums being severely damaged was deafening and muffled. The blood that had been flowing from his forehead flowed down his eyebrows and spread in his eyelashes. Heavy lashes covered his vision red. In the scenes dyed red, Seyad realized that all those bodies piled up in front of him were lives taken away by his own hands.

Not by anyone else, but by his own hands, the Titer who protects the country.

Memories that had been painted black came back slowly. It was strange. Like looking at other people’s work behind a glass, what he did began to come to mind one by one. I felt like I was seeing what someone else did.

The last month of the cold season. I was fighting nonstop to kill Nirah, a raging monster. Every time I used my powers, my consciousness disappeared, and when I came to my senses, I was killing things I should protect, not things I should kill.

Why the hell did this happen?

In the distant past, a Titer, who ran wild because it could not control its power, has existed, but there has never been such a large number of massacres in history. Even if there is some who killed Nirah and humans because they couldn’t tell them apart, he never heard of a Titer, who killed only their own race so horribly.

I don’t understand that at all. Seyad has been more wary of rampages than others. On days when I work hard, I always found a guide, and showed off my perfect match with the guide. I don’t know if it was compatible, but I had a guide who always looked after me, so this shouldn’t happen…

There was no way of knowing what had happened. I didn’t know where it went wrong, or why I suddenly lost consciousness at the end of the cold season.

“Nova, Zion. Back off. Your Highness is here.”

The cries and angry murmurs that had been ringing in my ears suddenly calmed down. In the quiet air, he heard the sound of someone walking. The sound of stepping on the snow rang, and soon the tall man stopped in front of Seyad. The smell of frost flowers spread softly in a space filled with only the smell of wind and blood soaked in the blizzard. So faintly that only Seyad could notice.

“Your highness, please…! Please, save innocent lives.”

Seyad finally turned around and looked up. At the end of his slowly rising gaze, there was a white and gentle face. Prince Lesas, the rising sun of Solias. The little boy, who once had to look up at Seyad, was now looking down at him at a height taller than he was.

“The Grand Duke of Axid.”

Unlike others, the low voice was not rough. It didn’t tremble with anger nor tremble by hatred. It was just as calm and relaxed as always. It has been a long time since the eyes that smiled at Seyad with eyes containing the night sky changed like that.

A dry, cold stare, as if it were a waste to even use one’s emotions.

“Is this the way you wanted it to be? How can you bleed so much blood because you can’t handle one of your own powers?”

Seyad’s moved his lips at the question that asked back as if he was genuinely curious. His neck, which did not move despite the criticism that was pouring out from him pointing out the terrible fact, flinched. He didn’t know what to say, but somehow he felt like he had to say something. But what came out of his open mouth was not his voice, but a dark red lump of blood.

Cough, a low cough echoed and blood poured out. Seyad vomited blood every time his chest swelled up and down. Prince Lesas watched the scene for a moment in silence.

The body, stronger than anyone else, was now at its limit due to the combined attack of all Titer’s in the kingdom. He was going to die anyway, even if his throat wasn’t cut, he would have died anyway. Death was getting closer. Seyad’s insides were muddy, and his outsides turned like a rag.

“There is no one to save you. The Crown Prince handed over your punishment to me.”

Seyad closed his eyes when he heard that the crown prince he had been serving would not come to rescue him. He expected it from the moment he realized what he had done when he came to his senses. The number of people he killed during the rampage was too many to count. In this situation, even the king, not the crown prince, would not be able to save him. No one.

The end of his life-long loyalty was futile. He wondered if the amount of the blood that had been buried under the crown prince’s order, was only for this ending. The crown prince, who had promised to reveal his mother’s death, did nothing in the end.

No one would have expected me to go berserk, so I couldn’t help it, but the fact that the master and my guide, who had always been by my side and said he would calm me down, was not here now, was endlessly miserable.

Pain flooded in, rather than anger and betrayal. I felt as if my heart had been empty, and felt so hopeless that I was frightened. Strangely enough, Seyad was overwhelmed by loneliness that was hard to handle, as if his soul, which had not felt anything for a long time, suddenly regained its emotions.

Was this the end of my life I had been running away without looking back all my life?

After losing his mother unjustly, Seyad lived with only one eye. In order to firmly put the crown prince on the throne, who vowed to reveal his mother’s innocence, he killed Nirah more than anyone else and built up his contribution, and kept second Prince Lesas, in check. The only thing left by his side was the crown prince, but his only existence was not here now. Far from saving him, he didn’t even watch his death.

Just, It was all in vain,

Seyad struggled to open his eyes and saw those surrounding him. Zion, the man glaring at him with bloodshot red eyes, was the beloved Titer of the kingdom, Nova was a girl who respected and followed Seyad, and Stella was a companion who had been taking care of him for some time after Seyad had beaten everyone around her. Of all these Titer, only Seyad was ugly.

He was all alone here now. with the contemptuous glares from all of his acquaintances, abandoned by his lord.

Looking away from them, Seyad looked at Prince Lesas. Seeing Seyad’s pale face, who had no will to rebel, the prince quietly put the tip of his sword in the center of his chest. The purple eyes of the night sky stared down at Seyad. Looking at his cold, dry face, with contempt. Seyad suddenly recalled a certain past.

‘Eid. Don’t abandon me…’

There was a time when only Seyad embraced the little prince. Since the day he approached the prince of the abandoned palace, whom no one was looking for, the prince only followed Seyad like a little bird. But it was a very distant past.

On the day Seyad told him that he would not visit him again with the fall of his family, The prince cried and clung to his feet. Desperately and desperately, as if his status didn’t matter.

The moment the moist purple eyes overlapped with the current prince, Seyad encountered a painful realization. That all these people, standing on the other side, were those whom Seyad had abandoned with his own hands.

“There will never be another person as terrible as you.”

The prince closed his mouth as if he didn’t even want to talk to him any more. A blue vein stood in his white hand holding the handle of the long sword. After a brief silence, the long, straight fingers clasped the handle tightly. The hand that made the decision moved at once.

Seyad felt a sharp, penetrating sword. The freezing pain cut through the bones and stuck deep into the body. I couldn’t breathe. Finally, the pulsating heart cracked, signaling the end. The pain was quick. Before long, consciousness began to disappear.

Seyad faced intense regret on the last path, which felt like an eternity. I wonder if every moment he goes back to this end were really what he wanted to do.

Yeah, at least one thing was certain. Seyad never wanted to kill this many people. I lived with no one next to me for a purpose, but there was always a desire to do my duty at the base of my actions. It was all from that will that the lives of a few were sacrificed in order to protect more lives.

If I could somehow turn back time, even for one day, I wanted to prevent this from happening even by killing myself. However, in the end, I know that it is only the belated regret of the dying, and that it cannot happen.

The lingering consciousness disappeared. A darkness fell, and he felt nothing. With the sensation of disappearing the body that had imprisoned him, a complete end came.

As he disappeared into the darkness, Seyad was suddenly swept away by a strange illusion. The Royal Palace was on fire, and the Nirah’s climbed over the broken walls. Countless people were trampled or eaten to death by large and small black monsters, and the sun that used to light up the sky, disappeared in an instant, and a moonless night came. Finally regaining their night, the Niras, slaughtered all those who fled. Blood flowed like a river, and screams filled the air.

‘What is this…?’

Seyad urgently looked around. Titer, who were suppose to kill Nirah’s, was nowhere to be seen. In the meantime, people disappeared with desperate screamed while being eaten by Nirah.

‘Stop, stop! Where is everyone!’

Seyad’s cry did not come out. It just echoed horribly in his mind. By the time many deaths were covered in his eyes, the place in front of him changed.

In the collapsing palace, Seyad saw Prince Lesas standing alone with a sword. At his feet, many knights who died fighting were lined up. In front of the prince who was alone, a huge Nirah, never seen before, cast a shadow. The snake-like monster, which seemed to have been made by collecting twisted nightmares, opened its huge mouth and soon rushed toward Lesas.

Then, as soon as the monster’s mouth swallowed the prince, Seyad opened his eyes.