When I Finished Playing the Terminally-Ill Villainous Omega C1
by berryChapter 1
âWhy on earth do I have to repay money I never even spent?! If you keep harassing me, Iâll call the policeâŠ!â
Screechâ thud.
While fleeing from loan sharks over my fatherâs debts, I was struck by a bus and died. When I opened my eyes again, I had become the young noble heir of a medieval-era countâs household.
âI died, and when I woke up, I was basically a chaebol third-generation? Absolute win!â
Surely, I would never have to stress about money again.
I thought all I had to do now was enjoy the sweet scent of a flower-strewn path laid out before me. That was, until a damned system window appeared before my eyes.
[Scenario: This world is the Omegaverse novel The Emperorâs Mistress. You have transmigrated into the role of Cedric Allure Hestian, an antagonist Alpha-omega.]
Omegaverse?
I rarely read webnovels, so both the sudden system window and the terminology written there felt foreign. When I asked it questions, it refused to answer, so I roughly assumed it meant I had been hit by a bus and dropped into a different worldâ one that happened to be a novel.
Whatever it was, I had no intention of playing the villain the system described. If I could simply live idly in a fine house, wearing fine clothes and eating delicious food to my heartâs content, that would be enough for me.
At least, until the next window appeared.
[Scenario: Cedric Allure Hestian is a minor antagonist destined to die nine chapters later. To extend your lifespan, faithfully perform your assigned role and earn Life Points.]
Not only was I a minor villain, I was a terminal character who wouldnât even survive past chapter nine.
Stillâ if fulfilling my role was all it took to live, then despair was premature.
As long as I succeeded, a healing life as a wealthy young noble awaited me.
âŠOr so I thought.
[Mission: Hurl a glass at your attendant Locke and verbally abuse him.]
[Mission: Lock your attendant Locke in a storage room and strike his back with a whip, leaving wounds.]
[Mission: To your attendant Locke, âŠâŠ]
As expected of a villain, every mission involved tormenting Locke, the attendant. Moreover, each demand crossed the line more than the last.
I felt repulsed by the idea of tormenting an innocent personâ let alone hurling insults or using a whip. So I did not complete the mission properly.
âCoughâ gghk, ugh.â
Pain tore through me as though a burning iron skewer were digging through my organs, and blood surged up my throat. I writhed in agony for days.
[â„â„]
After each episode of agony, one of the hearts that had floated at the top right of my vision since awakening here disappeared. With a visible life counter, fear of death crept into me.
Unable to escape, I began following the scenario. And so, pathetically, I sustained my life for several years by feeding on the suffering of others.
Then one dayâ
Locke vanished.
For a moment, I felt reliefâ finally, I would no longer have to torment him.
That relief was short-lived.
Three years later, he returnedâ as none other than the Emperor of the Empire.
In truth, Locke had been the legitimate heir who was believed to have died as a sacrifice in a palace revolt.
âBy His Imperial Majestyâs command, from this moment, all titles held by House Hestian are stripped. The atrocities committed have far exceeded what can be tolerated, and the family line shall be permanently erased from the noble registry.â
The moment the envoy finished speaking, my mother collapsed.
My father called me the disgrace of the family and took his own life on the spot.
My eldest brother, who had blinded one of Lockeâs eyes, was beheaded then and there, and the rest of my household became imperial slaves. My sister, Ciel, had already left home to pursue archaeology and severed contact earlyâ thus escaping misfortune.
I was dragged to the palace and forced to my knees before Lockeâ no, Emperor Varzelon, now maddened by power.
âSeeing you like this is rather novel. Well, Cedric? Do you share my thoughts as well?â
âI- I was wrong. I didnât mean toâ I mean, what happened wasâ aaagh!â
A large hand seized my hair, and I was dragged like hunted prey. That day, I learned how a human could be stripped to the lowest depths and trampled.
He had become more than a tyrant; a mad hound. Quite literally, he turned into a beastâ and killed me brutally.
â â â
âYouâ you insane scenario! I did everything you told me, and I stillâ huh?â
I woke shouting in frustration at my unjust death, only to find myself lying atop an ornate bed.
âWhat?â
It wasnât the room I died in.
It was a room I recognizedâ Cedricâs bedroom, the one I first awoke in after coming to this world. How could this be?
As I sat there dazed, the unwelcome system window returned.
[Scenario: This world is the Omegaverse novel The Emperorâs Mistress. You have transmigrated into the role of the Alpha-omega Cedric Allure Hestian.]
[Scenario: Cedric Allure Hestian is a minor antagonist destined to die nine chapters later. To extend your lifespan, faithfully perform your assigned role and earn Life Points.]
The same system from the moment I transmigrated.
I had no idea what this novel wanted me to do. But I couldnât simply give up. Somehowâ for whatever reasonâ I had been revived. Which meant I still had a chance to survive.
This time, I would enjoy noble life and survive in triumph.
Come at me, world!
â â â
âCough.â
Spewing a basinâs worth of blood, I awoke upon a luxurious king-size bed, just like before.
Knock, knock. A timid knock sounded, and an attendant cautiously enteredâ only to freeze wide-eyed like a startled rabbit. Even before adulthood, he already had the face of a perfectly sculpted beauty.
Locke.
It begins.
I ran a hand roughly through my hair. From the moment I woke to Lockeâs entranceâ the scene matched the previous timeline perfectly. Which meant the system screen that had so kindly guided me to a dogâs death would soon appearâ
[Mission: Throw a glass at your attendant Locke and verbally abuse him. Select one of the preset lines:
- âYou worthless trash! Why are you staring blankly?â
- âGet out at once! Who gave you permission to enter?â]
As expected.
I remembered the first choices vividlyâ trauma does that.
Sigh.
I glanced to the upper right. Only one heart remained.
âDo I die immediately by refusing to throw the glass, or throw it and die in a few years?â
Having lived this life once already, I knew exactly how it would end if I tormented Locke again. The scenario had lied, striking me down the moment I fulfilled it.
Never again. I could not blindly follow the mission. But if I didnât, with only one heart left, I would die before doing anything at all.
What to do? My fist clenched.
Was there truly no loophole? Even a trick?
Think. THINK.
[Mission: Throw a glass at your attendant Locke and verbally abuse him. Select one of the preset lines.]
Before I could fully plan, the cursed prompt blinked rapidly, urging me to choose.
After deceiving me and guiding me to death, it had the gall to return and push me again.
Tch.
âI knocked several times but heard no response, so IâI apologize. I will leave immediately.â
Locke must have misunderstood my clicking tongue, for he bowed in flustered panic and began to back away.
The system window flashed fasterâ likely because the protagonist was about to exit the scene designated for the mission. Without the target, the mission could not be executed.
âWhich means, if the door closes, the mission failsâ and then IâŠâ
I had already died once and miraculously returned, but who was to say I would be revived again? I might truly die this time.
Fear surged anew.
We were in the early stages; perhaps one instance of hostility was still survivable.
Jaw set, I reached for the glass beside me.
Throwing it wouldnât kill me immediately. If I could just secure one more heartâŠ
âSorry, Locke. I swear Iâll repay you for this someday!â
Decision made, I gripped the glass tightly. As the door was about to close, I hurled it toward himâ
And thenâ
âCough!â
Why now?!
The glass slipped as blood rose again, flying in a ridiculous arc toward the ceiling. Ruined. My vision spun.
Locke flinched, then darted back with surprising agility and caught the glass mid-air. Wide-eyed, he stared at me.
At that moment, the heart icon began blinking.
Mission failureâ the heart would vanish. Was this it? Was I really going to die without clearing even a single scene in this new life?
âWhat kind of miserable life is thisâŠâ
All I wanted was to live peacefully onceâ to eat without worrying about tomorrow, to rest in the warm embrace of a loving family.
Instead, I ended up in another world, supposedly free from financial worry and surrounded by kind parentsâ only to be told I was terminal. Then told to follow a scenario. I obeyed, brutally, only to be discarded.
A small wishâ yet even that was too much for me.
âHic.â
Tears spilled down. They fell like raindrops onto the blood-stained sheets.
âIf you are in great pain, I will increase the dosage of your medication. Or shall I summon a physician?â
Locke asked carefully.
What use was a physician when death was moments away?
âHuuuwaaah!â
I wept bitterly, bracing for the agony I knew so well.
Locke remained frozen at the door, unable to approach, yet unable to leave.
But⊠something felt off.
âWhat?â
Wiping my eyes with the back of my hand, I lifted my head.
Quite some time seemed to have passed, yet nothing happened. No pain, no suffocation.
I blinked through tears.
âHuh. Why am I not dying?â