"The worst goes beyond my imagination."

The puppet theater, once a source of joy for children, now resounded with nothing but screams.

However, under the threat of villain So Kang-seok, even the screams had subsided. Parents were desperately covering their children’s mouths, trying to calm them down. But the more the parents tried to suppress the situation, the more the children, unaware of the danger, cried harder, creating a vicious cycle.

“Waaaaah!”

Finally, a young girl, seemingly around 8 to 10 years old, broke into loud sobs.
At the piercing sound of her cries, So Kang-seok clicked his tongue and gave a chilling order to one of his subordinates.

“So, you ignored my words? Smash that brat’s head in.”
“Yes, boss.”

The subordinate, who answered obediently, approached the girl. Her parents turned pale and began begging desperately.

“P-please, wait! Our So-hee is just a child! She didn’t mean any harm! Please, spare her life!”
“Please, I beg you! Spare our So-hee, please!”

The parents pleaded pitifully, but the villain mercilessly kicked them away.

“Ack!”
“Kyaaah!”

The parents fell to the ground, screaming. The villain tore them away from their child, who was still crying uncontrollably, and raised a hand over her.

“Fuck, this brat’s crying is getting on my nerves. Shut your damn mouth and die, you little bitch.”

Unable to bear the horrific sight any longer, someone finally stood up.

“Damn it! Stop—”

The person who had stood, seemingly a hunter, tried to act out of righteous courage to save the girl.
But his words were cut short as his head vanished without a trace.

The man’s body collapsed limply, and the horrifying sight nearly triggered more screams from the crowd.
But survival instincts forced people to cover their mouths and suppress their cries.

Watching this, So Kang-seok smiled with satisfaction.

“Ah, this silence. Isn’t it wonderful? A puppet theater that was once noisy with children’s chatter is now so quiet. Isn’t it nice? Hahaha!”

The joy in his voice was genuine, and everyone present trembled in terror at his twisted glee.

There was no humanity in these villains—just as the rumors said, they were worse than anyone could imagine.

Splat!

“Kyaaaaaah!”
“So-hee! Nooooooo!”

The young girl, So-hee, was struck by the villain’s fist, her head shattering and scattering brain matter everywhere. Her small body collapsed into a grotesque corpse.

Her parents, screaming in despair at their daughter’s brutal death, soon met the same fate. Their heads were crushed under the villains’ hands, leaving them as mangled corpses alongside their child.

“Boss, I took care of them because they were being noisy and ignoring your orders.”
“Good job. You’ve improved. Last time, you were too slow, but now you seem to know what you’re doing.”
“Thank you, boss. I’ll keep working harder.”

The villains, having annihilated an entire family without a shred of guilt, prompted other parents to frantically stifle their children’s cries to avoid the same fate.

“This is horrific.”

Baek Seo-joon, watching the entire scene, trembled.

To see people slaughtered so mercilessly…
It was a completely different experience from reading about it in a novel.

What had been just words on a page was now a brutal reality, unfolding in front of him.

His father, Baek Hyeong-won, one of the strongest people present aside from the villains, sat holding Baek Seo-jin, Seo-joon’s younger sibling, and only looking out for his wife and younger son.

Meanwhile, Kim Yoo-jung, their mother, focused solely on Baek Seo-jin, not even sparing a glance at Baek Seo-joon.

It was natural for people to prioritize their families, but Baek Seo-joon had never been considered part of theirs.

‘Even here, this starts.’

Baek Hyeong-won and Kim Yoo-jung had never shown affection toward him.

While they didn’t overtly abuse him, they did nothing for him except provide the bare minimum of food, clothing, and shelter—marked by glaring disparities.

Where Seo-jin received expensive clothes worth tens of thousands, Seo-joon had just one old, worn-out set worth less than ten dollars.
Seo-jin ate gourmet meals, while Seo-joon ate the same meals as the lowest-ranking guild workers.

From age four or five, Baek Seo-joon was seen eating in the staff cafeteria, holding a tray alongside cleaning staff and janitors, leading to gossip even among the guild members.
Eventually, they banned him from the cafeteria and allowed him to buy boxed meals—cheap ones under ten dollars, with the delivery fees cutting further into the quality of the food.

Even for sleeping arrangements, Seo-joon had no bed and usually slept on the floor, with a blanket spread out. His "room" was a small storage space in the mansion.

Despite all the blatant favoritism, Seo-joon didn’t harbor deep resentment toward Baek Hyeong-won and Kim Yoo-jung.
He didn’t consider them parents anyway.

His plan was to cut ties completely once he grew older and became independent.
That was enough for him.

But this—this nightmare was something he hadn’t foreseen.

‘This wasn’t in the original story.’

So Kang-seok was a villain from the original novel Seo-joon had read in his previous life.
But there had been no mention of him encountering Baek Seo-jin as a child.

‘Could my actions have indirectly caused a butterfly effect?’

Seo-joon briefly wondered if his actions had changed the timeline. But there was no time to dwell on such thoughts. Surviving this ordeal took priority.

“Now that it’s all quiet, I’ll show you my special mercy!”

So Kang-seok grinned as he spoke.

“If everyone behaves wisely while I’m in a good mood, I’ll spare all but one person here!”

While the "all but one" clause was unsettling, the people clung to the hope of survival.

‘So Kang-seok doesn’t lie.’

In the original novel, So Kang-seok, though a maniacal murderer, had never broken his promise to spare those he said he’d spare.
He claimed it was boring to break promises and that hope made people more entertaining.

“From now on, parents with children, offer me one of your kids. Like Abraham offering his son to God, sacrifice your child to me, and I’ll let the rest of you go unharmed!”

It was a diabolical choice.
Sell out your child to save yourself.

Even for parents with multiple children, handing over any child was an unthinkable act.

“Now, which parents will step forward?”

Something unimaginable happened.

“H-here! We’ll do it!”

Baek Hyeong-won and Kim Yoo-jung raised their hands.

Seo-joon’s face twisted in disbelief, far beyond what a 10-year-old should express.

“Oh? Aren’t you the guild master of the Baekho Guild?”

So Kang-seok’s expression turned amused as he recognized Baek Hyeong-won.

“Yes, yes! We’ll give you Seo-joon! Please, spare me, my wife, and Seo-jin!”

“What are you waiting for, Seo-joon? Go!”

Baek Hyeong-won grovelled, pointing at Seo-joon, while Kim Yoo-jung even shoved him forward.

“Father. Mother.”

Seo-joon called out to them, his voice calm despite the absurdity of the situation.

But their expressions turned annoyed at him calling them.

“What are you doing? Go already!”
“You’re telling me to go and die?”

Seo-joon’s voice held quiet disbelief.

Even though he’d never thought of them as his parents, it was still shocking to see them offering him up like this to save themselves and Seo-jin.

Seo-jin, meanwhile, rolled his eyes, seemingly unable to comprehend the situation.
But even the sight of his clueless six-year-old brother felt revolting to Seo-joon.

‘So they’ll sell me out to save themselves and this kid.’

Despite enduring years of blatant favoritism, Seo-joon had never let it turn into hatred.
But now, he glared at his parents with unrestrained fury.

“Why should I die for you?”

Why should he sacrifice himself to die a meaningless death for them?

“Hoho! Now, this is unexpected!”

So Kang-seok watched the scene unfold with delighted interest.
Even for him, this was a situation he hadn’t imagined, making it all the more entertaining.