{The worst exceeded my imagination.}

"Are you seriously telling your eldest son to die right now?"

"My goodness."

The other parents who were watching looked at Baek Hyung-won and Kim Yoo-jung with appalled expressions. However, all they did was stare in shock; no one stepped forward to intervene.

To them, Baek Seo-jun was just a child they had seen for the first time today.
No matter how pitiful his circumstances were, they had no obligation to save him at the cost of their own children and lives.

In fact, though they kept their mouths shut out of conscience, inwardly, they were desperately hoping that Baek Seo-jun’s sacrifice would allow them to escape safely from this place.

"What do you mean, why must you die? How could you say such a thing?"

"Y-Yes, it’s not like he’s definitely going to kill you, is it?"

Hearing Baek Hyung-won and Kim Yoo-jung, Baek Seo-jun let out a hollow laugh in disbelief.

"If it’s not definitely, then doesn’t that mean he might?"

"Why are you so negative? Don’t you trust the parents who gave birth to you?"

Their pathetic attempts to coax him into unwittingly walking to his death made Seo-jun nauseous.

‘These people are even more repulsive than I thought.’

In the original story, they were depicted as good parents, but by his standards now, these so-called parents were more disgusting than any villain.

"So, you’re saying you’re not sacrificing me? That if I go, I won’t die?"

"Y-Yes! That’s right!"

Kim Yoo-jung’s voice trembled, perhaps because she was lying. However, unlike his wife, Baek Hyung-won, who had likely told many lies as the guild leader, spoke without a hint of hesitation.

"That’s right. I’ll come to pick you up tomorrow. So just think of it as suffering outside the house for one day."

At those words, Seo-jun turned to look at Baek Seo-jin and said,

"If there’s no danger of dying, then Seo-jin can go instead."

"What?"

"If it’s just one day outside, then Seo-jin can go instead of me. Seo-jin, come on, let’s go."

"You brat!"

Baek Hyung-won roughly grabbed Seo-jun’s hand and flung him aside.

Although the SS-class Hunter didn’t use his full strength, the force he exerted was still enough to knock the small, underdeveloped Seo-jun, who was still a novice at awakening mana, to the ground.

"Ugh!"

"Trying to send your younger brother to his death? You ungrateful brat!"

"Haha, didn’t the story just change? ‘To his death’? I thought this wasn’t about dying."

Momentarily flustered by Seo-jun’s words, Baek Hyung-won’s face turned red with anger as he shouted,

"You little bastard! You know everything and yet you mock and lie to your parents!"

Genuinely enraged, Baek Hyung-won looked ready to kill Seo-jun on the spot. Kim Yoo-jung, too, screamed without trying to stop him.

"What kind of monster were you born as?! How could I have given birth to someone like you? You’re the older brother—shouldn’t you sacrifice for your sibling?"

"Sacrifice? You’re telling me to give up my life?"

"You brat! We gave birth to you, raised you, fed you, clothed you! Show some gratitude!"

"How dare you talk back to your mother? You’re the older brother—can’t you do even that much for your sibling?"

Baek Hyung-won and Kim Yoo-jung had nearly lost all reason.

The mere idea that Seo-jin could be sacrificed was enough to drive them into a frenzy.

"My goodness."

"How can they do this?"

Even though the onlookers had turned a blind eye to Seo-jun’s sacrifice out of self-interest, their gazes were still filled with disgust.

Even the villains watching were dumbfounded.

"I didn’t see this coming."

"Isn’t this level of morality enough to make us look good by comparison?"

"They’re both their sons. What’s with the blatant favoritism?"

Seo-jun let out a hollow laugh at his so-called parents.

"Yeah. I guess I was never really your child. I was just a disposable tool, something to be used and discarded."

Seo-jun’s expression was filled with ridicule as he stared at them.

But right now, all he could do was reveal the treatment he had endured.

"While Seo-jin got clothes worth hundreds of thousands of won…"

"Shut up!"

Realizing what Seo-jun was about to say, Baek Hyung-won lunged forward to silence him.

But his actions were halted by So Kang-seok.

"Stop, Baek Hyung-won. I’m curious about what this kid has to say. Don’t interrupt him."

At So Kang-seok’s warning, Baek Hyung-won had no choice but to stop. Thanks to that, Seo-jun was able to continue exposing his life.

"I always had to wear secondhand clothes that cost less than ten thousand won. While Seo-jin ate three expensive meals worth hundreds of thousands of won, I ate cafeteria food meant for janitors—until even that was taken from me, and I had to make do with lunchboxes costing less than ten thousand won, delivery fee included. And while Seo-jin slept comfortably in a nice bed, I had to sleep in the storage room with only a thin blanket."

"It’s true."

So Kang-seok nodded.

He had the ability to discern truth from lies in the words of those with weak mana.

Hearing So Kang-seok’s confirmation, the crowd began murmuring.

"My god, is that really true?"

"The Baekho Guild (White Tiger Guild) has gone too far."

Even if Seo-jun somehow survived this, the Baekho Guild’s reputation would undoubtedly take a hit.

A humiliating label would follow him as the Hunter who survived by submitting to a villain.

But now, many in this room had witnessed what he did to his own biological son.

‘Damn it.’

Baek Hyung-won didn’t regret how he treated Baek Seo-jun.

Though the boy was his biological son, he felt no attachment to him.

The very thought that this brat might someday take a share of what his beloved son, Baek Seo-jin, was supposed to inherit made him sick.

He was even doing Seo-jun a favor by letting him play his part and die, yet now this disgraceful spectacle was damaging the White Tiger Guild’s image!

‘Damn it. My poor Seo-jin, having to grow up with a brother like this.’

If he regretted anything, it was not killing the boy sooner, when he was just a baby.
No, he regretted not terminating the pregnancy altogether when his wife was expecting.

"Well, this is something. The way you’re treating your own son puts even villains like us to shame."

Baek Hyung-won trembled with fury at So Kang-seok’s mockery.

He knew how this looked to others, but he felt genuinely wronged.

The ignorant masses didn’t understand the deeper situation. He and his wife, Kim Yoo-jung, were doing the right thing.

After all, how could they not feel sorry for Baek Seo-jin, the good son who deserved everything?

"I will trust your promise to let us go if we offer up our child. Take Baek Seo-jun. He’s yours."

"Sure. A promise is a promise. I’ll let you go right away, and the others here will be set free soon enough!"

"…Thank you."

Expressing gratitude to a villain was humiliating, but survival came first.

He couldn’t let his sense of justice harm his beloved wife and child.

And of course, that beloved child didn’t include Baek Seo-jun.

"Oh, shit…"

Even after exposing all the mistreatment he’d endured, the 10-year-old Seo-jun realized this was all he could do for revenge.

He had been sold to a villain and would undoubtedly die.

‘To think I’ll die as the protagonist’s forgotten older brother before the original story even begins.’

He had often imagined what kind of life he could have led if he survived to adulthood.

With the mana awakening he didn’t have in his previous life, he had thought he would at least be able to make a living.

He had hoped to quietly live his life, intervening in the original story only as much as necessary.

But that was all just fantasy.

Today, at the age of ten, he was going to die.

"Now, get lost."

At So Kang-seok’s dismissive wave, Baek Hyung-won and Kim Yoo-jung hurriedly carried Baek Seo-jin out of the theater.

The villains didn’t bother to stop them as they left.

"So, kid. Your parents just sold you off. How does that feel?"

Grinning widely, So Kang-seok asked Seo-jun a question he already knew the answer to, clearly enjoying the situation.

"It feels like absolute, fucking shit."

The thought of being reincarnated just because he left a single harsh comment, being subjected to discrimination, and now dying a meaningless death filled him with bitter resentment.

But what was most despairing was that no matter how much he struggled, there was nothing he could do.

"So, are you going to kill me?"

Having already given up, he only hoped that if he were to die, it would be quick and painless.

"No, no. I can’t just kill a test subject who happens to be the eldest son of the White Tiger Guild."

Seo-jun remembered there were villains who experimented on talented mana awakeners.

Hearing So Kang-seok’s words, Seo-jun realized his fate was far worse than he had imagined.

"Goddamn it."

"Haha, don’t be too upset. I filmed the moment your parents sold you off, you see."

"Well, at least you did one thing right."

"Oh? A brat like you dares to compliment me? You’re getting cocky. Do you want to die?"

"Then go ahead and kill me."

Seo-jun, who had already given up on life, thought he would rather die quickly than suffer as an experiment.

He wished for a clean death, like the girl who had her head smashed in earlier.

But he couldn’t escape his reality—he was in a position where he had to envy even that girl’s fate.

This was only the beginning of hell.