Chapter 3.1 – The Beginning of a New Mission After the fat man left, 233 drank some more wine in peace. He was ready to check out when he suddenly heard boisterous laughter and noises not far away. He searched for the source of the bustle and saw a group of men who had just entered the bar.
"Haha! You were just a background role, a roadside beggar! Even then, why did you try so hard to marr your face? Although the pain will be halved in the parallel world, you can"t just do this kind of self-mutilation occasionally.”
Another fellow joined the laughter, "No matter how hard you try, you will always be a bad person, a villain. Do you really think of yourself as the protagonist?"
233 turned his head to look closely at the scene. Four or five people made clamor as they barged in the bar, but looking at the other people, not one didn"t seem bothered at all.
This group obviously entered the same parallel world, played as a group of actors, and came back to have lunch together.
These actors was, in 233"s estimate, on their first or second performance. They had just graduated from the school of acting. City of Sin must have had arranged insignificant background roles for them, such as small gangsters and soldiers. Even if they made mistakes, no one would notice it.
Currently, they were feasting over the haphazardly finished job of one their comrade, pointing out the biggest problem of the city, that is, no matter how hard the people here worked, they would always be villains. Nothing more, nothing less.
Though there was a distinct division between small villains and big villains, they shared the same work — to give hardship to the protagonist.
That was why people saw life as only about inflicting harm on the protagonist, and getting harmed in return, or even much more. Meddling with the affairs of the protagonist, earning sin points, then returning to the City of Sin to continue surviving. In such a cycle, life and dreams would go on, and sometimes, life would pa.s.s.
Students who had just left school would follow the teacher"s training strictly, even if they were only given unimportant roles, they would do their duty to the end.
The person they laughed at was a small man who looked gentle and harmless. They taunted him but he refused to let their provoking go unnoticed. "This is the self-cultivation of an actor. Even if he is a villain, he must still show his temperament!.”
This sentence drew another burst of laughter: "Temperament? If the villains have temperament, he or she would be stealing the attention from the protagonist!"
The small man"s words were ridiculed even more, but to 233"s ears, it was something that stirred his heart.
Once upon a time he was just like the small man, doing his hardest to become more significant.
The only difference was, while the small man played his role well judging from the envy from his friends, 233 couldn"t do better when he was his age.
Looking at him, 233 couldn"t help but look back at his past. Memories came rushing to his mind like springs of water…
“Doctor, I"m alive…”
It was a simulated scene after being bombed by missiles. The ground was a mess and countless dead people appeared in various postures.
The marching doctor who arrived shook his head and sighed after observing the scene, and was about to go to the next place when a voice stopped him.
“Doctor, I"m alive…”
It was a man covered in blood. What was even more exaggerated was that his body was blown in half and he did not know where he was going. But even so, he was still able to raise his upper body and wave a hand to the doctor, shouting for help weakly…
"STOP!"
The livid voice of their teacher interrupted the scene. The scene changed from the battlefield to the playground, where students slowly got up.
“233, what the h.e.l.l are you doing? Can"t you play a corpse?” On one corner of the playground, the teacher put her hands on her hips and glared at 233, who was still lying on the ground and raising his hand.
The scene returned to reality and his body, along with his fellow cla.s.smates" were restored.
233 sat up and explained, "But Teacher, I think that although the missile is powerful, it is impossible for everyone to die. There is always one or two people who are still alive. My performance just now is to highlight those who survived. My own persistence in staying alive highlights the greatness of life and—“
"Enough!" The teacher interrupted and scolded, "Don"t forget your ident.i.ty, you are just a background character, a villain who must have the villain"s consciousness, and shall not rob the spotlight from the protagonist.”
"I am aware of that Teacher, however, villains can also be brilliant and charming.”
"Nonsense! All villains serve the protagonist You only exist to highlight the protagonist"s performance. Robbing the protagonist of attention is the biggest taboo and anyone who violates this seriously will get deleted! Do you understand?”